The Flying Critic

Sultan Mosque, Singapore - Daily Travel Photo

The Sultan Mosque on Arab Street in Singapore.

Singapore MRT - Daily Travel Photo

The Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) has to be one of the cleanest subways in the world.

Singapore Slings and Peanuts at the Long Bar, Raffles Hotel, Singapore - Daily Travel Photo

Singapore Slings and Peanuts at the Long Bar in the Raffles Hotel, Singapore

Fire Dancer in Singapore Mall - Daily Travel Photo

Fire Dancer in Singapore Mall

Sunflower Garden at Singapore Airport (SIN) - Daily Travel Photo

Singapore Changi International Airport has a sunflower garden on one of the observation decks.

Singapore Kids Shooting Rubber Bands - Daily Travel Photo

While walking around the Arab Street area of Singapore I found these two kids who were shooting rubber bands in the air.  One of the rubber bands landed in my hair.  We all laughed.

Daily Travel Photo: Giant tiger prawns from a hawker centre in Singapore

One of the best things about Singapore is the great food for cheap prices available at the hawker centres.  Hawker centres are open-air food courts with lots of individual food stalls that typically specialize in a few items.  These two giant tiger prawns covered in garlic were delicious.

Daily Travel Photo: at the Singapore Zoo

St. Regis Singapore

I stayed one night at the new St. Regis Singapore last month.  It opened this year. 

I booked it just before the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) program raised the property from a Category 5 (12,000-16,000 points per night) to a Category 6 (20,000-25,000 points per night).  As the normal room rates are around $600 SGD ($436 USD) per night, this was a great use of 12,000 SPG points.  Now that it is a Category 6 (20,000-25,000 points), it is no longer a good use of SPG points.

I hear that they are good about upgrading SPG Platinums to suites.  As I am a nothing with SPG (read: gold), I got a standard room on a high floor.  Here are some pictures of the room:

The personal service was outstanding.  Every floor has a 24/7 butler.  Our butler restocked the towels and complimentary bottled water every time we left the room - even once when we were gone for less than ten minutes.  They have a DVD collection that your butler will retrieve DVDs from for you.

The infinity edge swimming pool is small but modern and comfortable.

I enjoyed a nice three hour dinner at the French lobby restaurant with an associate based in Singapore. It was pricey but the service was outstanding and the food was good to great. They couldn't find the bottle of wine that I ordered, so they provided complimentary glasses of another wine for us while they confirmed and fetched a replacement bottle.

The lobby buffet breakfast was excellent - with an extensive continental selection that was refreshed every few minutes and a menu of hot items that are cooked in the kitchen to order and brought to your table.

There is no club lounge, which is a big negative for some people.  However, the hotel does has several bars - including a wonderful wine cellar / wine bar.  The wine cellar provides a free wine tasting for one hour every day where all guests can try two reds and two whites for no charge.

It is located near the US Embassy and is a quick 10 minute walk to Orchard and the MRT station. 

For those of you who don't mind the cost (or are on business and it is within your expense range), the St. Regis Singapore is an outstanding choice.  The service is outstanding and the rooms are new, comfortable, and spacious.  If in Singapore on business, I would try to stay here again. 

But for a personal or vacation stay, it would be hard to justify the ~$600 SGD ($436 USD) per night that they are currently charging with the other options available in Singapore.