It’s been a couple of weeks since the Singapore government raised the national disease outbreak condition to Orange. We’ve been tracking Covid-19 news daily and watching too much local and international news. So, when our Sentosa staycation check-in date arrived, we decided to keep calm and carry on.
We took the Circle Line to HabourFront station, walked through VivoCity and caught the free hotel shuttle bus to Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa. Check-in was quick but since we arrived early, our room was still being thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, presumably.
The Wife signed up for the AccorPlus programme last year, which came with Accor Silver status. While Silver doesn’t get you much, it does get you free welcome drinks, which we had at LeBar. Since it was lunch time, we ordered fish tacos and a pizza to share.
As we were finishing up, the nice lady from the front desk dropped by to hand us our room keys and give us navigation instructions to the Tranquility Wing.
Our Luxury Room (36 sqm) was spacious and had a view of an internal courtyard.
The bathroom came with both a bath tub and shower, and had interesting fittings like this fish that appeared to swim through glass but was actually a towel hook. The Lanvin toiletries smelled nice, and not a brand that I’ve seen being used in hotels.
We changed into swim wear and headed over to the pool. The water in the non-kiddie pool area was too deep for me, but was just nice for The Wife. But after swimming a few laps, she came back because the water didn’t feel that clean (yikes!). The algae-green tiles didn’t help either, and I thought that ocean blue would have been a better choice, but I guess green fits better with the tropical theme?
We spent the rest of the leisurely afternoon on a day bed and stared at the sky, and inevitably, also our mobile phones. The staff came by with some complimentary fruit skewers — cold watermelon and honeydew sprinkled with mint — which were refreshing and a nice touch.
Dinner was just beside the pool at The Cliff, which unfortunately was disappointing. When we got back to the room, the room was already turned down and we found some bedside macarons plus also this weird towel sculpture. Elephants or swans I understand, but this was just strange. Or maybe it was modern art.
We spent the rest of the night switching between the news and a random Steven Seagal movie on HBO. I haven’t seen his movies for a long time, but boy has he gained weight. His Aikido still kicks-ass though.
The breakfast buffet the next morning was at Kwee Zeen, which was a very awkward attempt at creative misspelling. The food was as you’d expect from a large breakfast buffet, average but extensive. The beef noodle soup and waffles were quite decent though.
Surprisingly, there was a decent crowd, a sign that hotel occupancy wasn’t too bad. But it was Sunday, and when we went back the next morning, it was noticeably more empty. Hotels in Singapore are definitely suffering during these trying times.
There’s indoor and outdoor seating, and if you happen to be outdoors, be careful of the peacocks wandering around. For some reason, they love croissants and are prepared to jump up to your table and fight you for it. Gives a whole new meaning to Angry Birds.
After a heavy breakfast, we strolled around the hotel grounds and saw interesting decorations, such as this golden koi sculpture and a fountain with a large stone horse. There was also an open-air fish spa, where you dip your toes in and they feed on your dead skin. I tried it once before and didn’t like it, so it was a hard pass.
When we got back to the room, I took a nap while The Wife played her Candy Crush Soda. After about an hour (or maybe two), we walked out of the hotel, crossed the road and took the free Sentosa Bus B at the Sentosa Golf Club stop. It operates on a loop, and stops briefly at the Beach Station to change drivers.
After a short ride, we ended up at Quayside Isle, where some crazy rich asians and their expat friends live.
The W Singapore – Sentosa Cove hotel was located there and we wandered around. It looked really nice, and had a large pool with ocean blue tiles, as it should. Just across the road was a stretch of restaurants and a quay with various boats. The next staycation will be at the W for sure.
We took Bus B back to the Beach Station and walked down Siloso Beach, which was crowded but not that crowded. After my knee started hurting from all the walking, we hopped on the Beach Shuttle to Palawan Beach for our early dinner at FOC Sentosa. The Catalan food at FOC was amazing, and worth covering in a separate post.
Our trip back to the hotel was via, you guessed it, Bus B from the Palawan Beach stop, which had this large map of tiny Sentosa island.
It was still bright when we got back to the hotel, so we headed to the pool and took a nap on the cushioned lounge chairs. When it got dark, we went back to the room and called it a day. After breakfast the next morning, we checked out and took the hotel shuttle back to VivoCity and then the train back home.
It was nice to spend some time out in the sun during these difficult times, and we were glad that we decided to continue with the staycation. Sentosa nowadays is very different from the old days when we were growing up, but it’s still nice to visit it now and then.
