Staycation: Resort World Sentosa Festive Hotel (Deluxe Room) Review

After our first staycation at Resort World Singapore Hard Rock Hotel last year, the children kept asking us, "When are we going to stay over at Sentosa again?" So we decided to bring them to their second staycation on Father's Day, this time, we booked Resort World Singapore Festive Hotel. I thought it was a good deal to book the Deluxe room at S$180++ (the price was doubled one week after we made the booking!).

It was a surprise to the children, as we did not tell them in advance. We even packed our bags only the night before the staycation, while they were sleeping. After attending an event in the morning, they thought we were going home. They were thrilled when we drove to Sentosa instead!

You may wonder how come we did not book the Deluxe Family King Room? Yes, I did consider. But DaDi was afraid that our two monkeys would jump down from the loft bed in the middle of the night! 

We checked in at 2+pm on Father's Day. Many people were here to celebrate Father's Day too, and the queue was super long. I was glad that there was free balloon sculpturing to entertain my children while I was queuing. The check-in counter, unlike the classy one at Hard Rock Hotel, it is bright and cheery.

Other than the room key, upon checking in, we were given complimentary Sentosa Express tickets. And yes, there are goodies bags for the children upon request.

We requested for two single beds instead of a King bed. Because I thought that like our stay at Hard Rock Hotel, Hao Hao and I would share one bed, while Pei Pei and DaDi would share the other one. It would be tough for four of us to squeeze on one King bed.

But I regretted when I saw that there is a sofa bed in the room!

Opening the balcony door, we had a nice pool view (though I was not really interested in looking at the swimmers). Being a paranoid mum, I kept checking that the balcony door was tightly locked.

After settling down, we visited Hard Rock Hotel swimming pool. This time, Pei Pei and Hao Hao were not afraid of the slide anymore!

After dinner, we walked slowly back to the hotel. It was such a lovely sight.

The children enjoyed their stay. I just hope that Festive Hotel could send us the extra towels in a shorter time. It took more than 5 hours from requesting to receiving the towels.

Well, after two staycations, I think we have enough "rehearsals" in preparation of bringing them overseas (not just over the sea to Sentosa).

Read about our first family staycation adventure at Sentosa!
RWS Hard Rock Hotel Review
Resorts World Sentosa Hard Rock Hotel and Festive Hotel swimming pools
Hard Rock Cafe and Malaysian Food Street

Read about other places you can visit in Sentosa:
Adventure Cove
S.E.A. Aquarium and Maritime Experiential Museum
Trick Eye Museum
Universal Studio Singapore

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Staycation: Hard Rock Hotel and Festive Hotel Swimming Pools Review

My plan was to visit the Port of Lost Wonder, but since the children discovered the swimming pool at Hard Rock Hotel, they were very eager to go there, so we dropped the initial plan.

It was drizzling at first, so not many people were there. But after the rain stopped, the big crowd started to appear!

I like the artificial sand beach at Hard Rock Hotel, so that we didn't need to travel to the beaches! Another plus point, the sands are not sticky, even when the children buried my legs with tons of sands, I could rinse off the sands easily.

Other than the beach, there is also a "river", and small pools next to the cabanas. Unfortunately, there were chains closing off the cabanas, so we couldn't use them.

For young children, there is a water playground and a slide.

We didn't have a sip at the pool side bar. I was afraid that Pei Pei and Hao Hao would be drunk.

The depth of the pools varies up to 1.2 m, so watch out for the signs at the pool's edge or you "test" the water first before letting the children to walk / swim.

There are changing rooms next to the pool, the hotel guests - including those from other RWS hotels - can loan the towels and locker key from the towel station.

On the next day, we visited the swimming pool at Festive Hotel.

Though there is towel station, unlike Hard Rock Hotel, there are only one male and one female changing cubicles.

It is less crowded, I guess it is because everyone is at Hard Rock Hotel swimming pool!

The children pool which is 0.5 m deep is great for young children. There is another pool which is 1.2 m deep.

There is also a water playground.

Read about our first family staycation adventure at Sentosa!
Stay - Resorts World Sentosa Hard Rock Hotel
Eat - Hard Rock Cafe and Malaysian Food Street

Read about other places you can visit in Sentosa:
Adventure Cove
S.E.A. Aquarium and Maritime Experiential Museum
Universal Studio Singapore


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Staycation: Resorts World Sentosa Hard Rock Hotel Review

Mission accomplished! We have survived our very first family staycation! I DID remember to bring Pei Pei and Hao Hao's bolsters (See this post for my planning for the staycation). 

But... 

I forgot to bring my own facial wash for my sensitive skin! So my face suffered quite a bit for two days under the sun and without the facial wash...

Anyway...

We have our first staycation at Resorts World Sentosa Hard Rock Hotel. There was a promotion of S$230+ for one night Deluxe Twin room stay. As compared to the standard rate of S$300-500+, it was really a good deal! 

We drove to Sentosa on Sunday.

To those of you who are driving to Resorts World Sentosa, keep to the left lane on the Causeway leading to Sentosa. After turning down to Resorts World Sentosa, keep to the right lane that leads to B1 Carpark. Look out for the signs so that you can park your car at the right zone - the carpark is super big, parking at the wrong area means you need to walk a longer distance!

We reached Hard Rock Hotel at about 1 pm. Although I knew that the check-in time is 3 pm, I thought we could try our luck. However, our room was not ready yet. My plan was to have lunch first, then to visit Port of Lost Wonder. However, the children saw the swimming pool and they wanted demanded to go to the pool first. So we put our luggage in our car, and let them swim first. Read more about the swimming pool of Hard Rock Hotel in this post.

• Lesson learnt #1: No plan may be the best plan! Let the children have a say in what they want to do!

Although the staff said that they would give us a call when the room was ready, after the swim and lunch, my phone did not ring at all. So we headed back to the hotel at 3 pm. There was a super long queue at the check-in counter. As I had already registered at 1 pm, I queued at the "Key Collection" queue, which also took a while before I collected our room key.

• Lesson learnt #2: Avoid the check-in crowd at 3 pm! 

If you are driving, remember to collect the complimentary car park coupon from the Concierge. We parked the car at about 1 pm on Sunday, and exited at about 1+pm on Monday, the parking fee would worth S$26!

• Lesson learnt #3: One complimentary car park coupon is issued per room per night within the hotel stay period. Take note that the coupon can be used for only one exit. So if you are staying for one night, and you decide to drive out of the RWS car park to somewhere else, upon returning to RWS car park, the car park charge applies. Also remember to remove the cashcard from your IU upon exit, as you will be charged! Scan the complimentary the bar code on the car park coupon at the exit gantry, do not insert it into the slot above the scanner.

By the way, just to share that you need to pay deposit of S$100 upon checking-in. I chose to use my credit card since we didn't bring enough cash. Only later when I checked with the staff that it would take 14 to 21 working days for the deposit to be credited back to my credit card. Anyway, I received the credit back one week later.

• Lesson learnt #4: Don't be kancheong spider (panicky) like me when you find that your credit available went "missing" for a few days.

I "thick-skinned-ly" asked the staff whether there were goodies bags for the children, as I read reviews on Festive Hotel which would give upon request. The staff gave me an apologetic smile and replied, "No."

• Lesson learnt #5: Hard Rock Hotel, unlike Festive Hotel, does not give out goodies bags for children. 

Ok, we shall go to check out our room!

There are many memorabilia in the hotel.

Make a guess where Pei Pei was?

She was in the guest lift!

Even 5-year-old Pei Pei knew how to open the door!

Take a deep breathe, I am going to show you the room for the rock stars!

Switch on the TV, and you'll see "Welcome (your name)".

There are complimentary bottles of mineral water, as well as coffee and tea making facilities.

Check out the bathroom! I love the raindrop shower head!

Does it look like the backstage dressing room for the celebrities? On the right side is a two-way wardrobe! Look at the symbolic guitar amenity tray!

Apple (the non-edible ones) lovers, you can enjoy your music from your iPhone, iPad and iPod on the iHome system. Note that the dock is for iPhone 4, not suitable for iPhone 5. This also functions as an alarm clock.

Talking about this, how I wish the Wi-fi is free of charge, so that I can stream some music - my iPhone is currently music-less.

Just wonder whether the door to the balcony was designed to be locked? We couldn't open the door at all. Anyway, this gave me peace of mind, as I knew that the Fearless Four Hao Hao would love to climb out of the balcony!

We had sort-of-sea-view from our room! Adventure Cove was right in front of us.

At night, the cable cars turned into twinkle twinkle little stars!

Though there was no toy in the room, they managed to have fun by building a tunnel and jumping from one bed to another!

Pei Pei and Hao Hao said that the room was nicer than our home, and they wanted to move to this place!

Read about our first family staycation adventure at Sentosa!
Play - Resorts World Sentosa Hard Rock Hotel and Festive Hotel swimming pools
Eat - Hard Rock Cafe and Malaysian Food Street

Read about other places you can visit in Sentosa:
Adventure Cove
S.E.A. Aquarium and Maritime Experiential Museum
Universal Studio Singapore

Thank you for visiting PeiPei.HaoHao. If you enjoy reading this post, do stay connected with us on Facebook!

Planning Staycation with Young Children

Did I tell you that Pei Pei and Hao Hao have not stepped out of Singapore yet? Ok, I admit we are paranoid - have too many worries about bringing the "Fearless Five" Pei Pei and "Super Fearless Four" Hao Hao out of Singapore. 

Well, let's start with baby step. We will have a staycation in Singapore first.

Hey, it is just a staycation, what is the big deal? Some parents whose children are seasoned travelers may think this way. But it is a big deal to me! While Pei Pei has stayed overnight at her grandparents' place before, it is going to be Hao Hao's first time sleeping out of our home. The biggest deal is, it is MY first time bringing my children to sleep on a foreign bed!

Though it is just an overnight stay, I still put in effort to think through the plan carefully.

Cost

My wallet is "private limited" (read: poor). And the price of hotel and resort stay in Singapore is not very cheap. So I looked out for promotions. While some online hotel booking websites have good offers sometimes, do check the hotel's websites too, you may find surprise!

Location 

Yes, I know Singapore is small. But I hope to minimise time on traveling, so that we can maximise time to have fun! I am not too keen to lug the children to do shopping, perhaps the sun, the sand, the sea would be more exciting, so obviously I would choose a hotel / resort one that is near the beach. If your highlight of the staycation is retail therapy with your children (I don't think I can enjoy that with the four itchy hands), then choosing a hotel in shopping district like Orchard Road would be suitable.

Itinerary 

Huh? You may ask. It is just a staycation, just relax. But with the children around, do consider activities for the family. I don't think my children would love to sit with me at the balcony of the hotel room and read for 1 to 2 hours. Some homework has to be done, such as where the family- friendly restaurants / attractions around the hotel / resort, any special events nearby, etc.

Packing list

 Mandatory to pack these for my children:

• Extra sets of clothes - don't bring just enough, bring extra! I think I am going to bring 4 sets of clothes for each child - 1 set for day 1, 1 set for day 2, 1 set for night, 1 set just in case for any accidents 
• Swim suits - paid for the swimming facility of the hotel already, must make sure we fully utilise it!
• Snacks - they go cranky when they are hungry (me too!), so must stand-by some "fuel" to re-charge them (and myself).
• Pillow / bolster  - I don't wish to go home at 10 pm just because the children cannot sleep without their smelly pillow / bolster.

Yay, we have booked the hotel stay on this coming Sunday! Wish me luck to have a smooth staycation!

Do you have other tips on planning staycation with young children?

Updates:
We survived our first family staycation! Read about our adventure!
Stay - Resorts World Sentosa Hard Rock Hotel
Play - Resorts World Sentosa Hard Rock Hotel and Festive Hotel swimming pools
Eat - Hard Rock Cafe and Malaysian Food Street

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