So the decision to do a staycation at Ritz Carlton Singapore wasn’t a straightforward one. We had just returned from Tokyo with the kids for 11 days and our helper would have just returned from her home leave the day before. All in all, no reason for a holiday so soon after and just a logistical inconvenience for me. However we figured there was no better time for a staycation too, given that we will get to enjoy a good view of the NDP fireworks and all the aerial display. I’m so glad we went ahead with it and that we chose the Ritz.

When I first entered the lobby for check-in, I was abit thrown off by the long queue at the front desk. Are you sure this is the Ritz? It all looked abit disorganized and chaotic. However I was quickly ushered by one of their staff to another ‘desk’ so that I didn’t have to wait in line. I later found out, it was because I had Jah with me and they have a policy to prioritize and attend to guests with kids first. 🙂 Nice!

The kids were also given Ice Cream Passes (a free scoop of ice-cream daily, to be claimed at the Pool Bar) and an activity pack. Really nice touches to make the kids feel part of the entire experience and it helped to ease some stress off the parents as well.

The Deluxe Room with Marina Bay view that we booked was quite something. Even without the promise of fireworks and aerial display, it was a sight to behold and we wondered why we didn’t do this sooner.

We were also given a bottle of champagne, 2 limited edition SG50 lions and a S$50 credit which we used for room service, as part of the Celebrate You Celebrate Me package. The package is available till the end of the year so it is really quite a value for money deal if you should decide to do a staycation at Ritz Carlton Singapore this year.

While we were not expecting to head out at all since we wanted to park ourselves in front of our windows from 5pm onwards, the location of the hotel was really convenient for us to grab early dinner and snacks for the evening. I would imagine though, if we didn’t have any NDP entertainment to keep us in, the location would be perfect for us to explore the Marina bay and heritage areas in the vicinity. I am really glad we chose the Ritz for this purpose though because we honestly had a spectacular view of the flying and fireworks action. We even had the mobile column and the marching contingent past right in front of us. And because it was the NDP Preview, it really helped to have large giant screens on the floating platform to showcase the action happening at the Padang. Here are some of the ‘money shots’ from that evening. 🙂

I have to say the only disappointing thing about the entire experience was the lackluster breakfast buffet spread. We were expecting a lot more from Ritz Carlton and perhaps we were a little spoilt from our previous experience at Capella but the breakfast was really quite ordinary. In fact, the room service dessert, the night before was rather disappointing as well.

That being said, we loved the service, the room and how they treat families and children. They even had a special table set up by the pool side for kids to take part in some SG50 drawing/ doodling. You will be surprised at how interesting kids find these activities. Jah was captivated for a good 20 minutes and he even drew a picture of what he saw from our room window, the night before.

Definitely a hotel we will be coming back to (even without the NDP draw).

For now, goodbye room..goodbye view (according to Jah)

Enjoy your Jubilee Weekend!

JahBella’s Mummy