My sandbox experience

[geisha]

3 hours ago, SunsetT said:

Emirates automatically includes free insurance for the duration of your stay up to a year which satisfies Thai requirements for a COE (if its a one-way flight, cover is for 31 days max).

Really ?  I’m an  Emirates member, but had thought/ seen that it was only valid for the duration of visa, which in my case is tourist visa 60 days which I’ll extend . I’ll call to ask.

[elgenon]

Please tell us what you did for fun in both places. That's the offsetting factor, hopefully.

[Stargeezr]

My cousin who lives in, Jomtien Beach area, spent all 14 days and nights in his quarantine

hotel in Pattaya.  He was not allowed to leave his room at all. The hotel did not have any place where he

could walk around or exercise.   He said that he should have done his 2 weeks in Phuket,                                                                                                                                        even though the cost would have been extra.  Hind sight is always 20, 20.

Geezer

[superal]

20 hours ago, rskdev21 said:

"The Samui Extra Plus only have a few hotels for the first seven days starting at 30.000 baht for a week, second week there are more and cheaper hotels to choose from."

 

So, basically $900.00 USD for 7 day's? What a scam. Not paying that. Will wait. I don't like to throw money away like that. And the Thais know they got you in a corner, so they are going to gouge like never before.

I stayed 15 nights in Karon Phuket at the Sugar Marina 4 star hotel for 9400 baht , repeat 9400 baht for 15 nights and the room was first class with top quality white cotton bed sheets , very comfortable bed , bathroom had a bath and choice of overhead rain shower or wall shower , free water , soft drink like coke or fruit juice plus chocolate biscuits , coffee and tea all replenished every day . Amazing helpful staff who took me around the area in the hotel car for free . My room opened out via sliding doors to a small terrace with table and chairs and then directly into the large pool . So my sandbox experience was one of value for money . I believe the hotel was heavily discounted and I booked through Agoda . I had some correspondence with the hotel i.e. they booked the Sha class taxi from the airport to the hotel and they were always quick to answer my emails , also took me to the pcr covid testing venues . I highly recommend this hotel . Downside , not much to do but I found a restaurant that also served me beers in a glass tankard and food was reasonable . Most expensive cost was the Thai Air flight from Heathrow direct to Phuket at £640 one way ( I have a non o retirement visa with a re-entry permit ) 

[PoorSucker]

15 hours ago, nofarang said:

Hi Poos Sucker and thanks for sharing. Can you say, how much you paid for the three PCR tests of for one?

 

8000 baht. 

For my COE application phuket sandbox there's no option than using this site as you need receipt for all three tests when applying for the COE. 

https://www.thailandpsas.com/

 

[PoorSucker]

12 hours ago, steevjee said:

I'm heading there soon and looking for Hotel recommendations/prices if you can kindly assist. Welcome to pm me

I lived on Koh Samui 14 years. 

I would not recommend you coming here unless necessary,go to Phuket. 

If you need a SHABA hotel, First Residence in South Chaweng is 700 baht on Agoda. 

[PoorSucker]

5 hours ago, elgenon said:

Please tell us what you did for fun in both places. That's the offsetting factor, hopefully.

In Phuket, bars-girls-fun. 

Samui, backyard of my friends. 

If you don't have friends on Samui expect foodpanda and hotel room. 

 

[PoorSucker]

PCR test #1 Phuket: result back in 3h

PCR test #2 Phuket: result back in 3h

PCR test #3 samui: result not back yet 23h later.

They say 24-48h.

 

[PoorSucker]

12 hours ago, geisha said:

Really ?  I’m an  Emirates member, but had thought/ seen that it was only valid for the duration of visa, which in my case is tourist visa 60 days which I’ll extend . I’ll call to ask.

Up to 365days 

https://www.emirates.com/th/english/before-you-fly/multi-risk-travel-insurance/

[clokwise]

Hope you don't mind if I chime in here with my experience. My wife and I just finished our Phuket quarantine. We arrived via Singapore Air, the flight from LAX was about only 1/10 full. Not only was there no one sitting next to us, but no one behind or in front, or even the entire row all the way to the other side of the plane! The entire process to get back to Thailand was a huge pain in the <deleted>, to such a degree that I won't consider doing that again until the process becomes much simpler. Despite getting the process underway two weeks before leaving, we nearly didn't make it thanks to unanticipated consular holidays in the US and in Thailand. One hiccup was my Thai wife did not bring her insurance policy because we believed she wouldn't need to show her insurance, being a Thai citizen. This is not the case, she needs to show it. We tried to get a PDF last minute but the insurance company was gonna take a few days to get it to us, so we had to buy her TUNE insurance online for 30 days, which was sufficient.

 

We booked a week in Phuket, then four days in Phi-phi, and three more days in Phuket. The hotels were generally proactive about getting us the needed documents. Another hiccup is all the hotels wanted payment upfront, whereas the default scheme in Agoda is "book now, pay later", and that caused us a major delay as we hadn't anticipated that. Once we were all booked and paid, we got our SHABA QR codes right away.

 

We stayed in fancy hotels which we probably couldn't afford pre-COVID, which was nice. First hotel in Rawai was the most expensive, but Rawai area was pretty dead, despite advice I'd gotten earlier saying Rawai was one of the better areas to book. Very few options for restaurants or shopping, or pretty much anything. Our Rawai hotel had 100 rooms, but only about 10~20 guests total.

 

After the second day, we realized that booking a Grab taxi to somewhere and back was already costing us more than renting a car for the day, so we rented a car for the remainder of our time there. We drove to Phuket old town, which was very quiet but maybe 30~50% of the shops were open. Patong is a ghost town. Very sad to see that, but very happy we didn't choose to stay there. Jungceylon mall was either closed or dead, we couldn't tell from driving by, as was nearby Central Festival. We visited Central Phuket Floresta, which seemed to be doing quite well.

 

Next we visited Phi-Phi. When traveling in or out of the Phuket+ area, such as to Phi-Phi, you need to obtain a "release form" from the hotel you're currently staying at. Phi-Phi was dead dead. Nothing going on at all, and nobody around, and almost everything closed. Our resort was 20 something acres and, apart from the first day, we were the only guests there. Sadly, the beach was HEAVILY polluted with rubbish, it appeared no one had bothered to clean it for quite a long time. So we couldn't even get to the water as we'd have to navigate all the rubbish, which was also everywhere floating in the water, so swimming in the ocean was just not gonna happen. Apart from being able to wander Phi-phi without anyone around, which was nice, the weather was miserable, and we both felt it had been a mistake to travel there.

 

So finally our last three days back in Phuket, this time at Laguna area. We stayed at the very nice Dusit Thani hotel, which was absolutely packed with Phuket+ guests! We rented a car again, and the Laguna neighborhood was hopping, plenty of restaurants and shops open. The rental agent dropped the car off at the hotel and picked it up at the airport on the day we left. Very convenient.

 

Overall, we didn't have any complaints or problems, everything went fairly smoothly once we had completed all the required paperwork prior to leaving. But if I had just been a tourist, I would have been totally put off with all the forms and COVID tests and other requirements, and would have just gone to ANY OTHER country instead.

 

Edited September 27, 2021 by clokwise

[skatewash]

On 9/26/2021 at 3:50 PM, geisha said:

PoorSucker Hi,  so the initial rule where you had to fly direct , home country to Phuket is not actual ?

i have two options, Emirates France Phuket via Dubai,  or , Singapore Airlines Paris via Singapore. 
Is this good, thanks !

A very simple restriction that unfortunately is often very badly expressed:  if you participate in the Phuket Sandbox you cannot visit Bangkok prior to landing in Phuket.  That is, no transiting in Bangkok.

[elgenon]

18 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

In Phuket, bars-girls-fun. 

Samui, backyard of my friends. 

If you don't have friends on Samui expect foodpanda and hotel room. 

 

Where in Phuket are there bars, girls, fun and I assume alcohol served.? I want to go .

[PoorSucker]

6 hours ago, elgenon said:

Where in Phuket are there bars, girls, fun and I assume alcohol served.? I want to go .

Patong, soi Nanai.

[PoorSucker]

20 hours ago, clokwise said:

the beach was HEAVILY polluted with rubbish

Didn't think about it but went down to my regular spot on chaweng beach, Samui.

I spotted one person some 3km away but the beach was clean.

[PoorSucker]

On 9/26/2021 at 2:20 PM, arithai12 said:

Great info PoorSucker, thanks and welcome back.

Can you comment on your Qatar flights? How was the seat occupancy, can one hope to have some extra space also in Economy or is it elbow-to-elbow?

And transfer procedure in Doha, did you feel at risk of infection there?

Wish I knew this before travelling. 

https://www.emirates.com/th/english/before-you-fly/multi-risk-travel-insurance/

[elgenon]

19 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

Patong, soi Nanai.

Oh! I thought I read that you said Patong was a ghost town.

[PoorSucker]

41 minutes ago, elgenon said:

Oh! I thought I read that you said Patong was a ghost town.

Believe that was clokwise that wrote that. 

[elgenon]

On 9/28/2021 at 5:04 PM, PoorSucker said:

Believe that was clokwise that wrote that. 

sorry