Our 12th Anniversary Staycation at Mandarin Oriental

It has been somewhat of a tradition for us to celebrate our anniversary with a staycation or a trip to somewhere in the world. Since we had missed out on staying at the W Hotel due to Circuit Breaker last year, this year we decided to staycay at Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

The check-in process was relatively painless; we only waited in the queue for about 10 minutes.

I dressed the Littlest Girl in one of the many Disney Princess dresses that her cousin passed down to her! If not now, then when? 🤭 She looks so cute in her Tinkle Bell dress, complete with wings!

The hubby signed up as a Fan of MO and we got a box of pineapple tarts as a welcome gift. They were so delicious!

After we got our room key cards, we couldn't wait to check out our rooms. Similar to neighbouring Park Royal Collection Marina Bay where we stayed in March, the hotel building was designed to be in the shape of a fan, with glass lifts in the middle that allow you to have a bird's eye view of the hotel as you ascend. However, the decor feels very dated as compared to the newly refreshed Park Royal.

We had booked the Family Staycation Package (City Suite for 4 adults) via Klook in order to utilise the hubby's Singapore Rediscovers vouchers. We thought the package was very worth it: it included breakfast and lunch for 4 adults as well as late check-out at 6pm!

The City Suite was located near the end of the corridor and when we opened the front door, we were greeted with a bed in the middle of the living room with a large sectional sofa.

You don't always see a bed in the living room but in this case it was necessary as our room had to accommodate 4 adults (in our case 3 adults, 2 kids, 1 baby).

We were given twin beds instead of double because those rooms were not available. They did provide us with a baby cot that we had requested for the Littlest Girl.

They also managed to somehow squeeze the fourth single bed into the room next to a second TV.

We have stayed in many hotels with extra beds before (case in point: Festive Hotel, Shangri-La Hotel, JW Marriott) but none were as comfortable as these beds! The mattresses of all 4 beds were of similar firmness and quality! 👍🏻

We had the view of Suntec City from our room (that's why it's called the City Suite) but we were really good with that. Booking the Ocean Suite (with the ocean view) meant that we would have had to pay about $200 more! 😜

While the Littlest Girl tested out the cot (which she is now big enough to climb in and out of!), I went to explore the rest of the room.

The corridor past the main bedroom led to the second door (which can only be opened from inside; the key card does not work from the outside) and the main bathroom. You would also find a place for luggage, the wardrobe, safe, bathrobe, slippers and other amenities here.

There are 2 toilets in the City Suite. The main one is relatively big, with a full size bathtub and separate shower area.

The second toilet, located next to the study table, is really just a powder room without shower facilities. Nevertheless, it's still good that we have more than one toilet to serve the needs of our relatively big family!

Take a tour of the City Suite via my Instagram video:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Madeline Heng (@madpsychmum)

The hotel also tried to go green by providing water in glass bottles instead of plastic bottles. I think this is a great idea to help rid our Earth of single-use plastic.

MO also provided us with a complementary care pack filled with masks and a bottle of hand sanitiser.

When it was about 2.30pm, I started to get the kids ready for swimming. I was fortunate enough to have managed to secure a pool booking for all 6 of us from 3-5pm! The kids were ecstatic!

Thank God for the prefect weather! It was not raining but yet not too hot! Perfect for swimming and taking photos of the panoramic views of Marina Bay!

The staff ensured that each group of guests had their own spot with freshly laid towels as well as two cups of water to quench your thirst. So very thoughtful!

If swimming is not your thing, you can also laze in the beautiful cabanas available, while enjoying the sunset.

There was also a separate wading pool at the back that was probably meant for little kids!

Needless to say, the Littlest Girl loved it the most!

When we got back to the suite after swimming, we noticed that the hotel had prepared a special card and cake to celebrate our anniversary! Thank you for being thoughtful 😊

The cake was a much needed tea break after a swim! 😜

We ventured out to the nearby Suntec City for dinner and grocery shopping before heading back to our suite.

Unfortunately, the Eldest Girl had an English test the day after so she had to complete some pages of her assessment book. Her brother joined her at the table as he had to learn his spelling. Alas, he couldn't quite concentrate due to a very distracting 'ghost' in the curtains... 😅

While the kids were occupied, I filled the bathtub with hot water and enjoyed a nice warm bath with salt 🛀

Later that night as we all got ready for bed, I realised the sofa was big enough to be converted into a bed by laying a blanket on it. You'd only need to request for 2 blankets and pillows from housekeeping (who came by in the afternoon and gave us what we needed) 😁

With the sofa converted into an unofficial bed, this meant that for the first time all 6 of us will have our own bed/cot to sleep in without needing to share! 😁

The next morning, we got up early for our breakfast slot at 8am. My girls, like me, are not morning people but we hustled everyone to Melt Cafe so as to beat the crowd.

After being seated, you will be given a menu to decide on your breakfast. You will then need to order your food from one of the very friendly and responsive restaurant staff in the area.

We ordered various food to share, just so that we can try almost everything we liked in menu.

We really enjoyed the breakfast! The food at MO hardly disappoints. Love it! 😋

After breakfast, the kids watched TV in our suite while the Mum-in-law and I did some early morning shopping at Marina Square.

We gathered back again at Melt Cafe for our lunch, which was included in our staycation package. Initially we thought it would be a set course lunch but it turned out to be a lunch buffet! Our first buffet since Circuit Breaker!

You can imagine our excitement when we got to queue at the buffet counters to order our food. It felt a bit like pre-COVID days, which we're very thankful for.

There were dishes that we had to order from the staff at our table though. Such as the cold seafood platter, oysters, sashimi, sushi and other seafood.

The food was amazing! I think we loved it even more precisely because it has been a long time since we dined like this 🤩

My favourite part of any buffet is of course the dessert counter! We couldn't wait to try the different flavours of ice-cream and tasty treats! 🍨

The foodie Eldest Girl wiped out her plate and kept going for seconds! Definitely highly recommended! Once again, MO food did not disappoint 😁

If you prefer high tea, the high tea at MO Bar was pretty great too! 😋

After lunch, we went swimming again because we had managed to book a 1-hour pool slot at the weird timing of 2pm. We didn't really mind as long as we got to swim again! 😊

If anything, this pandemic has taught us how to be grateful for every little luxury that we can enjoy! 😉

We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling in our room and enjoying our family time together. When we finally checked out at 6pm, we all agreed that it was a really great staycation! Thankful for the awesome experience 😄

Happy 12th Wedding Anniversary to us!

~~~~~~~~

Our Anniversary Memories