On Friday, 5 October 2018, my husband and I travelled to Semarang on the Argo Bromo Anggrek Luxury train from Jakarta to Semarang. I haven't taken a train in decades. Curious about the train that is said to be the first luxurious sleeper train in Indonesia. So we decided to try the 6-hour journey from Jakarta to Semarang by Argo Bromo Anggrek Luxury train. We chose to take the train that departed from Gambir Station, Jakarta at 09.30 and arrived at Tawang Station, Semarang at 15.00.
Argo Bromo Anggrek Luxury Train
It just started operating on June 11, 2018. The Luxury train owned by PT KAI is one of the latest innovations in service improvement. Luxury class trains are additional carriages with different interior selling power from the Executive class. The location of the Luxury carriage is in the very first carriage.
Luxury Carriage
To enter the Luxury carriage, you must first go through the Executive 1 carriage, which is positioned in the second carriage. The travel route is the same as the Argo Bromo Anggrek train.
Entrance to the left to Executive Class and to the right to Luxury Class.
Argo Bromo Anggrek Train
The train, also known as Argo Anggrek, is a train owned by PT KAI (Indonesian Railways) since 24 September 1997. Argo Bromo Anggrek train is the fastest Executive train that serves Jakarta-Surabaya route twice a day.
Gerbong Eksekutif Argo Bromo Anggrek
With departure schedules from Gambir Station, Jakarta at 09.30 and 21.30. From Pasar Turi Station, Surabaya at 08.00 and 20.00. This means that trains departing from Jakarta-Surabaya at 09.30 will be used for the Surabaya-Jakarta trip at 20.00. Likewise, vice versa departing from Surabaya.Inside the Executive train
Along the journey from Jakarta-Surabaya, the Argo Bromo Anggrek train travels for 9 hours. It stops at Cirebon Station at 12.09, Pekalongan Station at 13.49, Semarang Tawang Station at 14.59 and arrives at Pasar Turi Station at 18.30. This train usually carries 7-9 Executive class carriages, one carriage for the dining area and prayer room and another carriage for the Luxury class.
Argo Bromo Anggrek Luxury Ticket Price
Before departure, I bought 2 train tickets at Traveloka with a price of Rp 1.1 million per person. Arriving at Gambir on the day of departure, I immediately exchanged the tickets at the Check In Counter on the left side before the entrance.
Buy tickets at Traveloka
For ticket prices, there is a price difference of almost 3x the Executive class which costs 450 thousand per person. As quoted in Passenger News,
With this price, the services provided are like business class on the plane. So that passengers who use the luxury class can enjoy services that are not much different from the business class of the aircraft.
Luxury Carriage
Entering the Luxury carriage is immediately greeted with a brown interior. Starting from the light brown leather benches to the dark brown wooden furniture. One carriage only contains 18 passenger seats. There are 3 officers in charge of the Luxury carriage, namely 1 janitor, 1 woman whose job is like a flight attendant serving Luxury class passengers and 1 Polsuska (Railway Special Police) officer who maintains security and order at the carriage door between Luxury and Executive 1. Only ticket holders and those who hold access are allowed to enter this carriage.
Inside the Luxury train
Passenger Bench
The highest selling point of the Luxury carriages is the design of the passenger benches, which are shaped like seats in the business class of an airplane. The bench can be adjusted with the electric control on the right side of the seat. From the controller, the footrest and seating position can be adjusted from sitting to 170 degrees and can be reclined like a mattress. So that we can lie down during the trip. That's why it's called a sleeper train.
Tampak depan kereta Sleeper pertama di Indonesia
Controllers to fiddle with the chair
The passenger bench measures approximately 150 centimetres. Each seat has personal facilities such as an Audio Video On Demand multimedia device with a 12-inch touchscreen TV along with a collection of music, movie and game channels. It should be accompanied by a headset as well.
Bench back view
Touchscreen Display
Unfortunately there is no movie
On the right arm of the bench, the area is quite spacious. You can put bags and drink bottles. In addition, there is also a gadget charging area in the form of one electric socket and two USB ports. I was able to charge my Ipad here.
The air conditioner is cold
Inside the locker there is a glass for looking at yourself
Next to it is a small folding dining table. Likewise, there are cup holders, trash cans, magazine holders and hangers for clothes or jackets. There is also a reading lamp on the upper side of the bench for light when reading a book. Since my train was in the morning, I didn't use the lamp. The glass is spacious. The curtains are just
Foldable dining table
Window curtains that just need to be pulled to open and close
There are three places to put your luggage: the cabin above the bench for cabin size luggage, the cabin block at the foot for bags/backpacks and the locker on the right side of the bench. Inside the locker is a USB charger. You can put your bag/important items or cellphone on charge. The locker also has a key. So if we want to go to the bathroom or dining car, we can take the key with us.
Space for cabin luggage
Unlike the seating positions in Executive class, which all face forward. In the Luxury class, the seating position faces two directions. One towards the front and one towards the back. Of course, this can be a problem for people like me who like to experience dizziness if they sit against the direction of the road.
Sebelahan setelah pindah tempt duduk
For the same number, the seats were not next to each other. I booked seat 7B and my husband seat 7A. Since the person sitting next to me was someone else. So I moved to seat 6A which was right next to my husband. Fortunately there were only 6 passengers in the carriage, including me and my husband. So I was able to change seats.
Dining car
Among all the sections on this train, the dining compartment was my favourite. For some reason, it made me remember when I took the train from Barcelona to Paris. The difference is that the train there is much cleaner.
It's nice to be able to see and choose from the menu of food and snacks that are sold here. The staff were also friendly. It was from them that I learned that Luxury carriages should have tea and coffee rations.
Dining car atmosphere
PT KAI's signature Nasi Rames
What is certain is that they are friendly and not Luxury class attendants 🙂
Bathroom
The bathroom is 2×1 metres in size. It contains a sitting closet, cleaning hose, black marble sink, hand soap and mirror. Unfortunately, there are no other toiletries such as fragrance or lotion like in business or first class aircraft. Sadly, the bathroom also smells like an Executive class bathroom. Hiks.
Luxury class toilets that are not very luxurious
Facilities and Services
During the journey, Luxury class passengers will get 1 big meal, 2 bottles of mineral water (300 ml), 2 tea/coffee and 1 snack along with dessert and juice box. An hour after the train departed, I was given a snack of 1 juice box, 1 bottle of Aqua 300 ml and a snack of Lays potato chips on a paper plate wrapped in plastic.
The snack treat
At less than 12 o'clock, I was given lunch in the form of a rice box containing Nasi Timbel and pudding. To be honest, I was a bit surprised when I saw the food served in this box. I thought, like the Luxury class, it should be served with plates and glasses. Honestly, if you look at the formation it is still much more interesting Nasi Rames which is sold in the dining car.
Hambar gak siy liatnya? Tempat makannya masih bagusan yang Nasi Rames
If you read from the review Catperku, she was given a dry towel as a refreshing towel. While I was not at all. I was only given a blanket when I asked for one. Unfortunately when I asked for a pillow, the lady said that there was no pillow on the Luxury train because she said, the headrest was already soft. Hmmm what a very unpleasant answer to hear. Even though if you look at the video shown on the train, there is a pillow that is the same color as the blanket.
Unfortunately, I forgot to ask the name of the lady who was on the Luxury train shift on Friday, 5 October 2018 from 09:30 to 15:00. In my opinion, she sat more in seat 1A than serving passengers. Every time I asked her, she said she didn't know more. When I wanted to re-enter the carriage, I could see her sitting position leaning back while playing with her cellphone. Wow. Really not worthy to serve a class that is given the word Luxury.
Should Argo Bromo Anggrek Luxury be called the most luxurious train in Indonesia?
The answer is absolutely NO. The price of 1.1 million per person is a very expensive price for services and services that are more or less the same as the Executive class. The plus points of Argo Bromo Anggrek Luxury are only in the seats that can lie down and cold air conditioning. Nothing more.
In fact, by paying 1.1 million, I did not get a pillow to sleep on, did not get a refreshing towel, did not get a headset (fortunately I brought earphones), no Wifi, no collection of movies that can be watched, smelly bathrooms, food arrangement, inappropriate food menu choices and none of the services that symbolize the word Luxury.
Disappointed
I also had a very disappointing experience with losing my Ipad on this train. I went from thinking positively about PT KAI to finally being annoyed with the customer service department and forced me to write a complaint letter on Facebook addressed to PT KAI where I questioned the service and security system of the Argo Bromo Anggrek Luxury train. The story is in blog saya selanjutnya.
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It looks like I'm not the only one who gave a bad review of the Argo Bromo Anggrek Luxury train. Hopefully in the future PT KAI can respond better to complaints and criticism from its passengers. Especially in providing services to passengers both in Economy, Executive and especially Luxury classes. What do you think?