Senin, 13 Juli 2015, 08:17 WIB
Seperti biasa, pas merumuskan tamasya keluarga di bulan September 2014 silam, Bapak minta usul ke anak-anaknya perihal rencana perjalanan. Aku mengusulkan naik bus malam dari Banda Aceh ke Medan supaya menghemat waktu perjalanan. Jadinya kan perjalanan di Sumatra Utara bisa dimulai sepagi mungkin. Dengar-dengar juga, armada PO bus Banda Aceh - Medan itu nggak ada satu pun yang jelek. Ah masak sih? Penasaran deh.
Pilihan jatuh pada PO bus Sempati Star yang melayani rute Banda Aceh – Medan PP. Kami memilih bus berjenis NON-STOP bertarif Rp250.000 per orang. Dengar-dengar, bus jenis ini hanya butuh waktu sekitar 7 jam perjalanan untuk melahap rute Banda Aceh – Medan yang jaraknya sekitar 600 km (setara Jogja – Bogor). Wew... kapan itu terakhir kali supirnya menginjak rem? 
Hari Rabu malam (24/9/2014) kami berangkat menuju Medan dari Terminal Batoh, Banda Aceh. Bus Sempati Star yang akan kami tumpangi dijadwalkan berangkat pukul 20.30 WIB. Kami sendiri datang lebih awal sekitar pukul 19.00 WIB. Waktu luang yang ada aku manfaatkan untuk salat dan mengeksplorasi Terminal Batoh. Aku melihat kondisi Terminal Batoh ini kurang terawat. 
Sekitar pukul 20.30 WIB para penumpang dipersilakan masuk bus. Ternyata benar kalau bus Sempati Star ini memang bukan bus sembarangan. Bus ini memakai mesin bikinan Scania, perusahaan otomotif asal Swedia yang terkenal akan ketangguhannya. MANTAP! Percaya nggak kalau kecepatan maksimal bus ini bisa 200 km/jam?
Di dalam bus, aku tercengang pas melihat susunan kursi merah yang besar dan empuk! Satu baris terdiri dari 3 kursi dengan susunan 2-1. Total kursinya ada 21. Di setiap kursi dilengkapi dengan bantal besar dan selimut tebal. Ini ngalah-ngalahin fasilitas di kereta eksekutif! Aku juga mau punya kursi seperti ini di rumah, hahaha . Baru sekali ini aku tidur di kursi rasanya kok ya enak banget.
Satu nilai tambah lagi, di dalam bus ini juga tersedia fasilitas internet Wi-Fi lho. Kok bisa? Ya bisa aja, kan router-nya dipasangi modem USB, hehehe 
. Tapi ya mohon maklum kalau pas melewati beberapa wilayah sinyal internetnya mendadak berkurang.
Dibalik segala kecanggihan bus Sempati Star ini, aku merasakan beberapa kekurangan. Pertama, nggak ada colokan listrik. Eh, ini sih bisa dimaklumi karena daya listrik dari accu bus kan terbatas. Kedua, goyangan di bilik kamar kecil lumayan bikin mabuk darat. Ketiga... nggak ada deh! Dua saja cukup lah (meniru iklan Keluarga Berencana ).
Alhamdulillah, di hari Kamis pagi (25/9/2014) kami sampai dengan selamat di agen Sempati Star kota Medan sekitar pukul 06.30 WIB. Saatnya memulai perjalanan di Sumatra Utara. Yey! Eh, Pembaca sudah baca kisah perjalanan kami di Sumatra Utara belum ya?
Loket Bus Sempati Star Banda Aceh
Terminal Batoh: (0651) 635 078, 0852 6072 1356
Loket Bus Sempati Star Medan
Jl. Gadjah Mada no. 50: (061) 451 6523, 0813 9702 7771
Kalau Pembaca berkesempatan, cobalah naik bus Sempati Star dan bedakan rasanya dengan bus antar propinsi yang ada di Jawa. Kalau kurang yakin senyaman apa bus Sempati Star ini, bisa baca artikel Kompasiana ini. Semoga saja kelak di Jawa hadir pula PO bus yang mengusung layanan sekelas PO Sempati Star ini.
Kapan Pembaca terakhir kali naik bus malam antar propinsi? Pas mudik lebaran naik bus kah?
Candi Ijo
Candi Lumbung
Candi Abang
Museum Tsunami Aceh dalam Bingkai 35mm
Masjid Raya Baiturrahman Aceh dalam Bingkai 35 mm
NIMBRUNG DI SINI
pekan baru Riau menuju Medan hari kamis
tgl 31 februari
http://penikmatnafas.blogspot.co.id/2017/04/review-bus-mewah-sempati-star-double-decker-scania-k410.html
kayak di Jakarta?
the spot atau udh jauh2 hari?
Eva-Maria Travelbichler â€â€
Dear person in charge of public relations.
We wanted to write you an email but this is the only contact we found.
We are two European travellers, partners of several European travel agencies, members of different travel forums and blogs, travelling through all south east Asia to find the best places, the best accommodation and the best transportation for our customers.
Right now we are travelling through beautiful Sumatra, because beginning next year a lot of our customers will visit this big island.
We found already a lot of good partners as well we have some friends here.
On Thursday 15 October 2015 we took a bus from Sempati Stars (Bus nr.: BL 7707AA) from Medan to Banda Aceh.
We choose SEMPATI STARS, because of the recommendation of our Indonesian friends.
They were speaking about excellent service, always on time, reliable, good price for the quality, etc.
So we took this bus hoping to find a good transportation for our guests.
But we must say we have been truly disappointed.
First of all the lady were we bought the ticket asked us to be at the bus terminal one hour before departure, that means 6pm.
This of course is no problem at all, but then we started the journey at 7:40pm which is a delay of 40 minutes.
The next problem was that the bus suddenly stopped in the middle of the street.
First we were thinking it is another break, which would have been really strange, because just 30min before we had a break.
But after 30min all the passengers in the bus got really inpatient because nobody knew what was going on.
After one hour we finally found a bus driver (they must have been somewhere else, because we could not find them) and he explained us that there is a technical problem.
After 2 hours waiting nowhere we finally continued our journey.
The next problem which occurred was that on one of our seats ( seat number 1112) there was a little hole in the air-condition, and water started dropping on the seat and on the head. My seat was totally wet, as well my clothes and my hair.
Of course we asked for help to one of the drivers but there came no answer.
As well we could not change the seats because the bus was full.
Surely you can imagine how uncomfortable this was, but this was not all.
Our arms and legs suddenly started to itch a lot. We were checking why, and we have found several little bites all over our body.
We checked the seats and the blankets and we found a lot of little animals all over the place.
This animals must have been something like bed bugs, because they bit us everywhere.
This journey became a nightmare for us.
Furthermore the bus drivers were all smoking (!!) during driving, and playing their own music in the bus so loud that we could not even listen to our own music from the earphones.
At the end we arrived at Banda Aceh with 2,5 hours delay.
Of course we missed our ferry to Sabang and we had to wait from 10am until 4pm (6 hours !!) at the port for our next ferry.
Which means we lost already one day on the island.
When we arrived at Banda Aceh we went to the SEMPATI STARS office at the terminal and explained the staff our bad experience.
They were just laughing and telling us its not their problem!
We have not been so disappointed on our whole trip like this time.
Please do not come with the excuse that Indonesia is a developing or 3rd world country, because your price for this journey was more like in an industrial country.
As well we travelled in a lot of 3rd world countries and the journey was never as bad as this time and the price maybe 10 of what you charge.
For sure was not the best bus but good service.
But we think that everywhere are happening mistakes and nobody is perfect.
That is why we give you a second chance.
We want to try the Sempati Stars bus company again, to see if it was only bad luck the last time.
Of course we expect an apology from your side, also to refund the price of our bus ticket or to give us a voucher for another bus trip.
We hope we will receive an answer from you soon.
Please remember with what name you are promoting your bus company and think again about the meaning: SEMPATI STARS
If we do not receive any proper apology we are forced to choose another bus company for our customers and partners as well leave bad feedbacks in all travel forums and blogs.
Please be aware that at the beginning of the next year, are coming a lot of European travellers due to the fact that there is no payment for Visa anymore.
So think about it twice.
Sincerely
Eva &
Nicolò
Bisa jadi telat di awal 40 menit itu karena bus yang semestinya beroperasi lagi masalah, dan mau nggak mau diturunkan bus cadangan yang kualitasnya... ya itu....
Yang patut disayangkan itu sikap staff Sempati Star di Banda Aceh yang katanya si Bule tertawa-tawa dan bersikap cuek.
Aku sih sangat menunggu si Bule ini naik Sempati Star lagi plus bagaimana tanggapan pihak Sempati Star.
Iya, Simpati Star bisa dibilang paling OK untuk saat ini. Tapi memang bus-bus Banda Aceh - Medan sekarang sudah bagus-bagus banget. Baru-baru. :)
Sudah pernah juga mencoba naik bus baru dari Aceh ke Medan Bang?
Panturaan juga ga kalah ciamik nya broo! Kalo main ke sini cobain deh naek Nusantara ns01 (sama pake scania juga) atau cobain juga naek Beujeu.
kabarnya juga ada yg pakai scania mesinnya, Bejeu.
jadi stiker2 yang dipasang di jendela bisa makin banyak aja .... full ac, full music, full
toilets :), full wifi ...
btw ... kaca depan bis-nya kayak bis anti huru hara ya ...
jawatimuran aja maknyus ngebutnya, apalagi ini.. toh harganya masih masuk akal.. :D