Singapore Trip Recap

[OnMyWay]

We took a trip to Singapore last weekend and had a really good time.  I will pass on some information about the trip with a crude recap.

 

Airfare

 

Booked a promo on Cebu Pacific some time ago.  Cost was p14,466 for Abby, me, 11 year old and baby.  Then I booked 1 bag checkin both ways for p650 X 2.  Our trip was Thursday to Sunday.  If I had known we were going to NZ at the end of this month, I probably would not have booked this trip.

 

Clark Airport

 

Clark was pleasant as always, although CP was delayed about 1 hour leaving.  Paid travel tax for Abby (p1620), 11 year old (p810+p200=p1010) and baby (p200).  Paid p500 terminal fee + p100 security fee, X3 = p1800.  Baby was free.

 

Singapore Changi Airport

 

Beautiful as always.  I had not been there in at least 10 years and it gets better with age.  I had a delicious Subway sandwich after we arrived.  When we left on Sunday we ate at a semi-Indian resto Nando that I thought was good, but of course pricey.

 

Weather in Singapore

 

We got lucky and most of the haze cleared up before we arrived.  Weather was good with a bit of rain, but not much.

 

Hotel

 

After much searching for a reasonably priced hotel, I settled on a Resorts World Genting hotel in East Jurong.  I wanted to be on Sentosa but the deals there were either too expensive or did not have the beds we need or did not have rooms.  Beds are hard to find for us and some hotels wanted p3000-5000 for an extra bed!

 

This hotel is part of Resorts World but not on Sentosa.  They have a free shuttle bus that runs 24 hours, every 45 minutes,

 

Pros:

Brand new, only a few months old

Price is far less that Sentosa and they have promo, buy two nights get 3rd night free, for 550 sgd, and that includes 2 adult tickets to Universal Studios that are worth 75 sgd each.  That prices includes all taxes and service charges, so the net without tickets was only about 400 sgd for 3 nights.

Shuttle bus to Sentosa is brand new, clean and on time.

Nice pool

Close to shopping that is cheaper than downtown.

Restos in the JCube mall across the big road.

Fairly close to MRT, walkable.

 

Cons:

Bills itself as luxury without the frills!  What the heck is that?  They do not have bellhops and the staff seems a bit slim.

Fire alarm went off at 11 pm the first night.  It was declared a false alarm fairly quickly but still, no fun.  I really don't want to meet my neighbors in the pajamas in the hallway.  We were on the top floor, the 13th floor!

Breakfast is not included and was 24 sgd, I think.  We did not eat at the hotel.

The deluxe room included in the 550 promo would not work for us.  I had to upgrade to a superior with 2 queen beds for about 150 sgd.

 

Would I stay again?  Yes, if the price is right.

 

Taxis

 

Taxi from the airport to the hotel was 35 sgd on Thursday evening during surcharge time.  There was not much traffic.  Going back on Sunday it was 25 sgd.  Not bad at all.

 

Universal Studios on Friday

 

Had a good time with the family.  Clean, not very crowded on Friday.  They are only open 10-6, which surprised me.  We were there about 11-5 and that was plenty, with the kids.  Expensive food of course.  We had to buy a ticket for our 11 year old and that was 54 sgd.

 

City on Saturday

 

Spent most the time in the Orchard shopping area with Abby's niece, her husband and their 2 year old girl.  The 2 little girl cousins had a great time playing together.  We also went to the Marina Bay area. 

 

Overall

 

Getting tired so I will end this .  Our total cost for the trip was around p54,000, but that was after Abby's niece and her husband treated us to a few nice meals.

 

Singapore is a very nice place to visit and we will probably return on another promo in the next few years.  One thing both Abby and I noticed is that quite a few people don't seem that friendly, as opposed to the Philippines.  For example, at Universal and in malls, people are not always wearing a smile that you would expect.  It is much more of a rush, rush, work, work, world there.  Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of friendly people but noticeably less than Phils.  I also noticed a lot of really old people working.  A woman working in Subway must have been in her 80's or even 90's!

 

I got in trouble checking out the cultural differences of the women.  I have been in the Philippines for 3 years and forgotten how conservatively the women dress in PH.  There were some really long legged Singaporean girls in micro-minis that inspired me to think about these cultural differences.  I tried to explain to Abby I was just studying the culture, but she didn't buy it.