Splendid Shangri-La Sentosa

Singapore’s Rasa Sentosa Resort has been re-branded as Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort after a complete SGD $80-million makeover. It reopened January this year after a 10-month facelift.

The resort’s director of sales and marketing Ogie Manuel, who used to work in Shangri-La Makati, met Tessa Prieto-Valdes, one of my favorite travelling buddies, and me. We immediately felt at home with quite a number of Filipinos who work there! The resort’s general manager Ben Bousnina may also sound familiar to some as he was the GM of Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa.

The resort, the only one in Singapore with a beachfront location, offers services and facilities catering to leisure and business travelers, especially those who wish to travel as a family with children.

Rooms feature views of the hill, garden, pool or sea. Each of the 454 rooms has a balcony. The size of the room ranges from 31 sq. m. for a deluxe room to 150 sq. m. for the Sentosa Suite. Guests with children can book a bigger Family Room instead of having two connecting rooms. Honeymooners can choose to stay in the Panorama Room with an open concept bathroom that looks out to views of the South China Sea or a Deluxe Seaview Suite, each with its own private outdoor Jacuzzi on the balcony.

Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort pool and private beach.

The resort features seven dining and entertainment options. Dine On 3 is a new destination-dining concept that features three restaurants (Casserole, Silver Shell Café and 8 Noodles) and a bar (The Bubble Bar) under one roof. Casserole seats 247 and offers group dining with a selection of family style portions of Western, Indian, Moroccan and South East Asian casserole dishes. Each of the casseroles ordered is good enough for four to six people so this is the place to eat for big groups. Silver Shell Café features chefs in action at live cooking stations as well as international à la carte selections and themed buffet dinners. I think I went back to their seafood buffet table four times to enjoy oysters, prawns and mussels. 8 Noodles serves eight different noodle selections and traditional Chinese roast meats. The Bubble Bar offers indoor and outdoor seating options and serves a fantastic ginger mojito, which I had practically on a daily basis. My favorite was Barnacles Restaurant, which serves seafood by the waterfront with indoor and outdoor dining areas that is packed on weekends. Siloso Beach Bar, located by the resort’s swimming pool, offers a chill-out spot with a soda fountain and an ice cream bar. Trapizza features an open-air layout at Siloso Beach. The best-selling item on its menu is the crispy, thin crust pizza baked in a traditional wood-fired oven. Trapizza got its name from the fantastic pizza and the resort’s flying trapeze, which guests can actually try out.

Cool Zone, which spans 100 sq. m., is the largest children’s club provided by a hotel in Singapore. It can be used for free by the children of hotel guests. It offers children’s meals and three activity centers (Toots Club, Craft Zone and Game Zone) that are fully supervised by an experienced recreational team. Cool Zone features a large slide that winds from level three of the resort down into a pool of colorful balls on level one. The main swimming pool features a children’s pool with water slides under a canopy and a fun splash pad for water play. There is also the Sea Sports Center, the swimming pools and outdoor Jacuzzis. 

Corporate guests can hold meetings in newly refurbished function rooms, which feature an intelligent lighting system, soundproof double walls and the latest audio-visual equipment. The resort’s beachfront location provides guests with more options, such as holding a meeting during the day followed by a theme dinner on the beach or weaving team-building activities into meeting programs.

The Spa at Rasa Sentosa has 11 treatment rooms including couple’s suites. They have had instances wherein their meeting or incentive groups would book the entire spa for half a day for their delegates’ spa break.

Sentosa is located 15 minutes from the main shopping and business district of Orchard Road and 25 minutes from Changi International Airport. Attractions include a two-km. long sheltered beach, Fort Siloso, golf courses, spa retreats, the nearby huge shopping mall Vivo City and the Universal Studios theme park. Sweets can’t be avoided in this island as Hershey’s Chocolate World offers every single product manufactured by Hershey’s and is just a few steps away from another huge candy/sweet/dessert store Candylicious!

A waterfall by the Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort’s entrance.

There are two championship golf courses on Sentosa Island under Sentosa Golf Club: Tanjong and Serapong Courses. These are about five minutes away and have been the venue of the Barclay’s Singapore Golf Open the past years. Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa has a special tie-up with them and a game of golf for guests who want to play while they are in the resort can be arranged.

Attractions outside the resort premises are Underwater World, Fort Siloso and Dolphin Lagoon. There is also Imbiah Point where Butterfly Park is located. Kids and adults alike can marvel at insects and animals and interact with them. Close by is the Sentosa Sky Tower where wonderful views of Sentosa and Singapore can be seen. Then there is the 4D movie called Pirates; there is also the very exciting Extreme Log Ride, a 3D simulated roller coaster ride, which Tessa and I thoroughly enjoyed; and Desperados, a game where one can test one’s gun shooting skills. These are all under Sentosa 4D Magix & Cineblast.

(Check out www.sentosa4dmagix.com.sg and www.sentosa.com.sg)

From there, one can take a luge or the Sky Ride down to Siloso Beach and try surfing (or at least learn to surf) at the Wave House where waves can be controlled for those who are just learning and for others who just want to show off!

Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa GM Ben Bousnina.

I never thought there was so much to do in Sentosa and Tessa and I both agree it isn’t that far from the main shopping areas in Singapore! A taxi ride from Orchard to Sentosa will only cost up to SGD $10! 

Here’s an offer that may interest some readers. Philippine Airlines (PAL) Mabuhay Miles members who book a minimum of two consecutive nights at Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort can avail themselves of the best available rate in the resort and they will receive two tickets to Universal Studio per stay, and receive double miles as well. This is valid until May 31, 2011. All they have to do is present their PAL boarding pass and PAL Mabuhay Miles Card upon check-in at the resort.

 (Check www.philippineairlines.com or www.mabuhaymiles.com for details.)

Universal Studios Singapore.

(Shangri-la’s Rasa Sentosa Resort is located on 101 Siloso Road, Sentosa, Singapore. For bookings please call (65) 6235-1666. For inquiries, please call (65) 6275-0100, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.shangri-la.com)

Hershey’s Chocolate World at Sentosa.