Sling us another Sing Gin, then,
Written: Oct 21 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: On the beach, nice rooms, great cocktails
Cons: Dirty beach, ship views, chaotic restaurant
The Bottom Line: Forget the beach, but if you like pools and squaddies you're fine.
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| vodkaboy's Full Review: Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa Resort |
So half way into our week in Singapore and the time had come to leave the city central Meridien, Orchard Road and move out to Sentosa Island and The Beach!
When I was looking for hotels in Singapore, I noticed the Shangri La claiming to be "The only beach front hotel in Singapore". That sounded promising and that's why we were booked there for four nights. Of course, I failed to ask myself why there are no other beach front hotels. I also failed to check the truth of this claim, or I might have found the other beach hotel on Sentosa!
Getting There - and Sentosa Island
Singapore of course is not a large place - it is a "city state" meaning the country borders don't extend much beyond the city. So, it doesn't take very long to get to the hotel, either from the airport or downtown - about half an hour.
The island of Sentosa lies just off the mainland and is connected by bridge and cable car. Originally home to a fishing village, then a British Fort, the Singapore government decided to turn it into a resort in the late 60s. It is now a holiday centre for locals and visitors, receiving hundreds of day trippers every day, drawn by the beaches and attrations, as well as people coming for weekends, a week, or longer.
Attractions include the "Underwater World" aquarium, a Dolphin show, Butterfly Park, Nature Trail, Silosa Fort, an observation tower, miniature golf course and the Merlion statue. There are also of course the beaches and several restaurants. The whole island is a bit artificial and sterile but it is well organised, easy to get around and there is a enough to keep the kids entertained for a few days.
Arrival and Reception
The taxi ride from the city was about 15 minutes and we wound our way around Sentosa for about ten minutes before arriving at Underwater World and the entrance to the Shangri La.
The lobby is open, literally; there is no door and barely any walls. Getting out the taxi we looked straight into the building across a lounge area and out to the sea the other side. The reception desk was on one side, with colour coded queues (Singaporean organisation) and beyond that was the lobby bar on one side and a walkway to the lifts on the other.
The desk was a bit busy, with only a couple of staff at hand and several people lined up to check out. Checking in took a little while but eventually it was done and I was told we were being upgraded to a superior room. It all sounded very promising!
The Room - and the Other
I had high hopes as we breezed into the room, but they fell to the ground with a bit of a clunk. Our upgraded room was... well, ordinary! And a bit small.
There was an ordinary sized double bed, one ordinary arm chair, an ordinary desk and the only object of interest was a cabinet holding the minibar which dominated the corner. Fine for a couple, but with two kids - small. As we looked around the room, we could clearly hear every piece of conversation, laugh, chuckle and grin from the next room. "You wait," we thought, "till our little one starts at 4am!"
We started to unpack, trying to figure out where we would put the cot and deciding that we would have to lose either the minibar cupboard or the armchair, and eventually I gave up and went back to Reception.
"You very kindly said you had upgraded us to a better room?" I asked.
"Yes, that's right," the lady smiled.
"Can you tell me what is better about it," I asked, "as frankly it's a bit small and I don't know how we will get the cot into there."
The receptionist was superb and showed me several photos of a regular room and the room we were in. I still could not really tell the difference between them, but I asked her what the next one up was like. She told me they had a corner room available for an extra S$60, about US$40.
I went and had a look at the room. It was on one of the upper floors at the end of the corridor, through some doors at the end to an open balcony corridor looking down onto the woods at the side and rear of the hotel, so it was a bit of a trek from the lifts. However, one look at the room and I instantly agreed.
The entry way was, as ever, with a bathroom on one side and a cupboard with sliding doors on the other. Coming into the room proper, it was about double the size of the regular (or upgraded!) room. There was a minibar to one side with the kettle for making tea/coffee, and plenty of shelves above so we could keep things out of reach. There was a writing desk with internet connection (not that I used it), a couple of easy chairs and coffee table by the balcony doors, a good sized TV, but most importantly there was plenty of space around the bed. Even after we had the cot brought in, there was still enough space to move around comfortably. With the kids asleep, we could sit in the chairs by the balcony door and watch TV, or sit outside. We could also shift the table and chairs in front of the balcony doors to keep the kids in!
Restaurants and bars
We arrived at lunch time so by the time we had changed room and settled, it was time for a nosebag. So we checked in the hotel information folder what the options were.
There was a choice of six places for food and drink - or so it seemed. We discovered over the next few days that, despite appearances, there was really not so much choice after all.
Silver Shell Cafe is the main restaurant offering buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner with a la carte at other times. The food was generally quite good but they were led down by poor service - either disorganised and slow or chaotic. At every breakfast, the restaurant was packed, with a queue at the door. They had several people giving vouchers, directing the guest to someone else who directed to the table at took the voucher back again, but it just seemed a mess. Yes the hotel was busy, but it seemed as if they had not designed the restaurant to cope, which is unusually poor planning for Singapore. Even using the adjacent, outdoor Terrace restaurant, it was still chaos at breakfast.
Away from the main meal times, it was the opposite - there were barely any staff and, those that were there, were just slow - they were slow taking the order, slow bringing it and slow clearing away. Ten minutes to bring the menu, another five to take a drinks order then wenty minutes to bring the drinks, when there were four waiters and just us in the restaurant is inexcusable.
The trouble was that there was barely any choice during the day as everywhere else was open only in the evenings. So we just had to either plan to be out somewhere on the island for lunch, or put up with it.
Other alternatives in the evenings were, of course, The Terrace, which specialised in grills and barbecues. We ate there one evening and it was ok but nothing special.
The seafood restaurant, Sharkey's was much better. To one side of the pool, it sits behind the tatty pool toilets which doesn't sound very appealing, but it does give it a good view of the sea. The food and service were both excellent. Unfortunately it is only open in the evenings.
Trapizza is an outdoor restaurant some distance down the beach and specialised in Italian food. We didn't try it as, frankly, we couldn't be bothered!
Otherwise, there was the Poolside Cafe which was a cluster of half a dozen wooden tables and chairs around the pool bar, serving burgers, satay etc. Back up in the main hotel building there was the Lobby Bar which was empty all day and appeared closed most of the time.
There was also 24-hour Room Service which we used two or three times. Each time they were helpful on the phone and the order came quickly, correctly and the food was fine, if not exceptional.
Overall the choice in the evenings was fine and dinners were mostly good, but breakfasts and lunches were not enjoyable. It was a shame to start each day among harassed chaos and for lunches to be frustratingly slow! They really need another restaurant for daytimes.
Facilities
Being a beach resort, the most important thing of course was - The Beach.
Looking down at the beach from the room, it looked fantastic - just like the photos on the website: light sand, sparkling blue water in a small cove. However, there was nobody actually in the water, and the sight of about 25 or 30 cargo ships anchored a few miles off shore gave me a clue that this was not going to be what I had expected.
Of course, being round the corner from a very busy port, with all the ships anchored within view, the beach was not very clean. There were oil streaks on the sand and the water smelled unclean. We sat on the beach, we paddled, but it was not for swimming. There were not many water sports either - paddle boats were available for hire, but not much else.
So, it was off to The Pool for a swim. The pool is an odd shape, like a circle with bites taken out of it, one of which is for the bar terrace, holding a few tables and chairs. It's not a wet bar, sadly, so I had to keep getting out for a drink but the Gin Slings were well worth getting out for! There was also an outdoor jacuzzi by the pool, and a small, seperate children's pool with a couple of water slides coming in.
The first two days, there was a large, loud group of young American men with cropped hair. One of the staff told me they were US Navy, there for "a training course". They were mostly very polite inside, holding the door for my wife and kids and saying "Good morning ma'am", but all afternoon and evening they occupied most of the poolside, pool bar and jacuzzi and were high spirited, loud and playing up to the three or four women who hung out with them. It did make the poolside uncomfortable. But on the third day they had gone and the pool became very family-friendly again and we had a couple of great afternoons, with the kids splashing around, on the waterslides, while we supped through a couple of Singapore Gin Slings.
To distract from the pool there was also a Health Club and Spa offering a gym as well as a range of body wraps, scrubs, treatments or just a choice of leisurely massages. I did happen to find myself in there once and it was an hour well spent!
For the kids there is also a Children's Play Room which is a room with a plastic house, small slide and a couple of see-saws - for bored toddlers. There is also a video games room.
Business
To distract business people from all the fun, there are several small meeting rooms and a larger room for conferences, banquets etc. This must be where the Navy were training - when they weren't training at the pool bar. I had no intention of looking in there, so I didn't.
Service and Impressions
Most of the hotel people were pleasant, friendly, cheerful and helpful. There were a few who were specially good. However, whenever they got busy and under pressure, they seemed unable to cope - this was particularly so at the cafe, but also from time to time at the pool bar and even at reception when there was a rush on. Being there for a break, we really didn't want to be caught up in chaotic frenzies, but that was what most breakfasts were like and it also meant that a few afternoons that should have been leisurely and relaxing were not.
Otherwise, most of the time, we enjoyed the stay. One evening there was a cocktail party on a terrace, hosted by the management, and we got invited (I think it was a weekly event for guests staying several nights) and that was a nice touch.
Price
The hotel offers "Value Rates" from S$390 (US$250) for a regular room, S$420 (US$265) for an "Executive Room" and S$480 (US$305) for a "Panoramic Room", which is what I think we had. This includes breakfast and laundry.
I booked through hoteltravel.com at US$156 per night room-only for a sea facing room. Hotels.com were offering a similar price but for a land-facing room.
Summary - would I recommend it?
It's difficult to know whether to recommend the hotel or not. At first I thought not, because of the dirty beach, crowded poolside and poor restaurant. But on second thoughts, the beaches in Sinagpore don't get any better. If you want a beach holiday, don't choose Singapore. If you are in Singapore and just want to sit on a beach then this is probably as good as it gets. There is another, new hotel a bit further up the beach; we didn't see it but it is not a known brand.
If the hotel is not busy, then things seem to work with typical Sinagaporean efficiency. So overall yes, for a Singaporean hotel this is not great, but ok. We enjoyed most of our stay!
Recommended:
Yes
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vodkaboy
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Location: Somewhere over here
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