We're off to
Desaru for a short road trip with the hubby's secondary school friends. We've been to Desaru countless of times as we love the cheap fresh-out-of-the-tank lobster and honey. We drink honey on a daily basis and restock quarterly from Desaru Fruit Farm. We visit them so often that the owner told us that she will deliver to our house so that we don't have to drive all the way to them! 😅
DAY 1
We had a quick stopover at Aeon Bukit Indah to have lunch and load up on groceries before heading to Desaru.
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Matchy-matchy Ferrari t-shirts for the baby and I
(the baby Ferrari t-shirt used to belong to the boy) |
Desaru is only 2 hours away from Singapore and is an easy drive all the way (mainly straight roads with few cars). However, if you don't intend to drive, do note that there are NO private hire cars in Desaru and taxis are quite limited hence not very cheap. It might be more worth it to hire a car for the whole day or rent a car.
We
stayed at Lotus Desaru the last time that we stayed in Desaru. It had great amenities and was very kid-friendly but was rather outdated.
This time, we were really excited to stay at the new
Hard Rock Hotel Desaru Coast!
Ever since the hubby
booked a room at Hard Rock Hotel Singapore to celebrate our anniversary 7 years ago, I've been in love with Hard Rock Hotels for their unique decor, luxurious feel and kid-friendly facilities.
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| Checking in at the hotel lobby |
It is so much more affordable to stay at Hard Rock Hotel in Desaru than Singapore! Our
Superior 2 Double Beds room, which we booked via Agoda, cost S$225 per room per night (accommodates 2 adults and 2 kids). A room at Hard Rock Hotel Singapore would have cost us three times that amount!
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The beds are smaller than queen size, hence 1 bed can only comfortably accommodate 1 adult and 1 child.
It was a really tight squeeze for the 2 girls and I! |
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Left: Special Hard Rock Hotel pillows with guitar details;
Right: Minibar area. |
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| Hard Rock Hotels have their own special channels on the TV, which play MTVs or music non-stop. The acoustics in the room is also really good for listening to music 🎶 or learning the guitar. |
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| The wardrobe can be opened on both sides, which is really convenient but meant you had less privacy! |
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Left: Checking out the mirrors;
Right: Shower and toilet are separated. |
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| Rain shower and toiletries |
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| Nice size balcony that's great for drying wet swim wear 😄 |
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Clockwise from left: Couldn't get a cot on the first day of our stay as they were all taken. I managed to get one on the second day though, thank God!;
This super cute pouch came with the cot!;
Love the super cute kids toiletries. |
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Clockwise from left: Recycling compartment in the bin for separating your trash;
Electrical points at the side of the table;
Bedroom slippers are provided. |
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| In a bid to be environmentally-friendly, the hotel does not provide plastic bottles for guests. Instead, you need to bring these aluminium bottles to the water dispensers located next to all lifts and fill them with water. It may be slightly inconvenient but a small price to pay to help reduce plastic waste! |
My kids love swimming so of course it was off to the pool for a nice afternoon swim!
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| Relatively big pool |
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| Daddy got a flamingo float for the littlest baby! She wasn't very keen in the beginning haha |
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| Our family of 5 |
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| One with the gang |
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| Life jackets are provided for kids |
The cool thing about this pool is that it is a musical pool! You can listen to Hard Rock's music channel when you're submerged in the water! That's why it's called a Music Pool 🎶😄
We're always hungry after a swim and headed to our favourite
Super Lobster restaurant for dinner.
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| Yummy fresh lobsters! 😋 |
You can't come to Desaru and not eat lobsters! It's totally a must-eat for all seafood lovers!
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| We returned back to Hard Rock Hotel, which has been lighted up with hues of purple and blue. So beautiful! |
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| Some commemorative family photos with the super beautiful Hard Rock Hotel decoration at the lobby! |
DAY 2
Breakfast for 2 adults and 2 children was included in our room. The buffet spread was quite good!
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| Morning breakfast |
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| Playground at the restaurant for kids! |
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Left: We got randomly allocated such a lovely booth table;
Right: kids enjoyed the pancakes and noodles. |
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| For me, I love the teh tarik, bread and pancake 😋 |
We had planned to go to
Desaru Coast Adventure Waterpark today since it was directly located behind the hotel (it is one of the reasons why we booked Hard Rock Hotel).
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| Direct access to Adventure Waterpark via a private entrance from the hotel |
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| View of the waterpark from the hotel |
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| Look at this enormous water ride! Looks scary to me! |
Sadly, the boy was still recovering from flu and was feeling less than well. Hence, we decided to spend the day exploring the hotel and the awesome
Hard Rock Roxity Kids Club instead!
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| The boy really wanted sweets from Hard Rock Roxtars, a shop full of sweets! Too bad that he couldn't =( |
The kids and I love the
Hard Rock Roxity Kids Club!
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| Play room at the Hard Rock Roxity Kids Club |
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| Various things to play in the play room |
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| Lots of play structures for younger kids |
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| Watch a performance or just hang out. Great for parents! |
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| They play various MTVs on the screen |
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| Craft room for the older kids to make various crafts taught by the staff |
The girl informed me that there was also a room with game consoles for older kids to play games!
The Kids Club allowed you to drop off your older kids so that the parents can enjoy some time without the kids. We decided to hang out at the café next door for some kid-free time =)
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| Adults enjoying our afternoon tea at the café |
There is also a
Splash Zone located outside the Kids Club that is accessible only via the Kids Club entrance. It is only opened during specific times during the day so do check the opening hours via the TV in your room before heading to the Kids Club.
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| Splash Zone at the Kids Club |
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| Water splashing everywhere! |
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| Baby girl had fun crawling everywhere and playing with the water |
When the time was up and we were leaving the Kids Club, the staff handed my kids a goodie bag each. Inside the goodie bag was loads of fun activities to entertain the kids in their room! What a nice surprise!
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Left: One cute bag for each child;
Right: Super cute badges of the Roxity Kids Club mascots |
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| The bag was packed with origami, visor, fan, sunglasses, puzzle, stickers and colouring pictures! So cute! |
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Left: Very cute Hard Rock sunglasses;
Right: Kids started doing their puzzles immediately. My older girl had no issues while the boy needed some assistance to finish the puzzle. |
We were hungry after all the fun so the hubby decided to order some room service (it was surprisingly affordable).
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| We ordered tiramisu and fried rice with chicken |
We met up with our friends to head to the nearest (and only) mall in the area,
SKS City Mall, to do some shopping before dinner.
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| SKS City Mall |
There is a Mr DIY and a small supermarket here but don't expect too much. It is definitely not like Melaka or KL where there are shops everywhere.
We proceeded to
Nelayan, just 5 minutes from our hotel, for dinner.
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| Nelayan, Seafood by the Coast |
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| There's a small playground nearby |
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| Having a little fun before dinner |
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| Love this photo of my girls at the beach! |
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| Our seafood spread! |
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Clockwise from left: Freshly BBQ satay;
Yummy fish;
Cheese-baked oysters. |
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| Salted egg crab |
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| Chilli crab |
The crab was fresh but probably cooked in a style that we are not that used to. Overall a good meal!
DAY 3
We checked out the
Rock Shop just before we checked out on the final day of our short getaway. You can always find special Hard Rock merchandise at all Rock Shops around the world for the Hard Rock fans! Hotel guests also get 10% off.
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| Got me a pin to match the pin I got from Hard Rock Hotel Singapore! Fits nicely into my pin collection. |
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With the Hard Rock Hotel sign in the shape of a guitar
(with me wearing my new Hard Rock Hotel t-shirt!) |
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| A final group photo before we leave |
Goodbye Hard Rock Hotel Desaru Coast! We will definitely be back!
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| The kids slept all the way from Desaru to JB |
We met up at the famous
Shoon Huat Bak Kut Teh in JB for a late lunch with the rest of the gang before heading back to Singapore.
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| Shoon Huat Bah Kut Teh |
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| The herbal soup was so yummy! |
As usual, we loaded up on groceries and pumped petrol before we came back. Might as well save when we can
*laughs*
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| Shopped at our usual Tesco near to the Second Link |
If you've got time, do visit Desaru Fruit Farm for their farm tours and the Ostrid Farm for a great experience for the kids (see
my previous post for our experience).
Thank God for another great trip!
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