Resorts World Sentosa (RWS)
I had visited Resorts World Sentosa several times since its opening, but this was the first time my family and I will be spending a staycation there. Resorts World Sentosa is the latest major re-development on Sentosa Island, along with smaller new developments in other parts of the island, as part of the Government's plan to rejuvenate the tourism offering on Sentosa. Resorts World Sentosa is one of the two integrated resorts in Singapore (the other is the
Marina Bay Sands at the Marina Bay area), which comprises of the major attractions such as the Casino,
Universal Studios Singapore,
S.E.A Aquarium,
Dolphin Island and
Adventure Cove Waterpark.
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| The Forum |
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| Casino Main Entrance |
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| Walkway to Casino at The Galleria, Luxury Fashion |
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| Elephant-like Sculpture at The Galleria, Luxury Fashion |
Festive Hotel
We had our lunch first before arriving at Resorts World Sentosa. We went straight to check-in at
Festive Hotel, which we will spend the next 2 nights here. Festive Hotel, along with the
Hard Rock Hotel,
Crockfords Tower and
Hotel Michael, are located along the central area. They are linked together via The Galleria, Luxury Fashion. There are other hotels tucked within the tropical rainforest setting at the west zone, such as the
Equarius Hotel,
Equarius Villas (where the awesome Ocean Suite is located too) and TreeTop Loft. Of course there are much more offerings in other parts of the island, such as the famous
Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa and
W Singapore Sentosa Cove etc.
Festive Hotel is a family oriented and child friendly hotel. At the reception area, there's a Lego store by the side which appealed to many of the children. Our deluxe room is located at the highest level with pool view. The room is quite spacious and furnished with modern facilities, like the king size bed, bathroom, LED TV with international channels, electric kettle, safe deposit box and bar fridge. Complimentary bottled drinking water, instant coffee and Milo are provided as well. Stepping out to the balcony, we got to see the pool, Crockfords Tower and Hotel Michael.
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| Deluxe Room |
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| Bathroom |
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| Balcony |
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| View of the Festive Hotel Swimming Pool |
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| View of Crockfords Tower and Hotel Michael |
The Maritime Experiential Museum and S.E.A Aquarium
We did not spend too much time at the hotel room and headed straight to the first attraction which everyone loves, the
S.E.A Aquarium. The S.E.A Aquarium is adjoining with The Maritime Experiential Museum, thus the entrance ticket allows you to visit these 2 attractions together. The main entrance leads to The Maritime Experiential Museum, which visitors must pass through before reaching the S.E.A Aquarium.
The Maritime Experiential Museum exhibits Asia's rich maritime history and Singapore's past as a trading port along the Maritime Silk Route. Upon entering the museum at Level 1, the full size replica of the Admiral Zheng He's 15th century treasure ship (Bao Chuan) caught our attention.
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| The Maritime Experiential Museum (Source: Photo from yoursingapore) |
The first area we passed by was The Souk, which refers to the Arabic marketplace. Over here, there are many interactive exhibits of various maritime countries' bazaars, which recreates the prosperous trading scenes. Along the way, visitors also get to see the Jewel of Muscat exhibit, based on the design of the Belitung shipwreck.
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| Jewel of Musat (Source: Photo from patrickpang) |
There's a Typhoon Theatre which allows visitors to experience on board of a ship encountering a storm. This requires a separate admission ticket, and we did not visit it. There's also an outdoor attraction where several full sized replica historic ships are on display. At the end of Level 1, there's an escalator that leads to the basement, where the entrance to the S.E.A Aquarium is located.
S.E.A Aquarium is one of the world's largest aquarium, home to more than 100,000 marine animals. The aquarium is separated into various zones that showcase different marine species in different habitats. The whole area is a bit dim, and the dark blue colour environment gives visitor a feeling as if they are in the deep ocean. At the entrance, we were greeted by the Strait of Karimata & Java Sea, where there's replica of a shipwreck that now serves as a habitat for the tropical fishes.
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| Shipwreck Habitat |
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| Seadragon |
Walking along, we were brought to various zones such as the Discovery Touch Pool with sea star, sea urchins and sea cucumber, the Ocean Journey where we got see the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, giant spider crab and jellyfishes.
Video: Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins
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| Giant Water Column Reef Habitat |
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| Giant Spider Crab |
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| Squid |
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| Jellyfish |
At the end of the walk is the Open Ocean, which is the wow factor for the S.E.A Aquarium. In front of us was one of the world's largest viewing panel (36 m wide and 8.3 m tall), which the tank houses more than 50,000 marine animals, including the manta ray, leopard shark, goliath grouper etc. One would imagine yourself in the deep ocean looking at this magnificent view, with schools of fishes swimming in synchronised fashion.
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| Open Ocean (Source: Photo from suitcasestories) |
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| Sting Ray |
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| Goliath Grouper |
Video: Open Ocean_1
Video: Open Ocean_2
Just beside the Open Ocean is the Ocean Dome, which we were treated to a 360 degree panoramic view of the ocean habitat. The route turned around to the other side where there are more coral reef habitats on display, African Lake zone with freshwater fishes like the tigerfish and the moray eel habitat.
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| Coral Reef Habitat |
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| Lion Fish |
Another popular zone is the Shark Seas, which we would pass through the underwater tunnel and immersed in the water surrounded with 100 over sharks, which includes the hammerhead and nurse sharks.
Video: Shark Seas
After the S.E.A Aquarium experience, we exited the area back to the basement level of The Maritime Experiential Museum. There's an interesting Maritime Archaeology Gallery, which showcase the artifacts recovered from various South East Asian shipwrecks. Just opposite the gallery is the Bao Chuan Cutaway, which shows part of the ship's interior layout. Over here, we could see several compartments to store the precious goods and even exotic animals like giraffes and rhinoceros acquired during Zheng He's maritime voyages.
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| Bao Chuan Cutaway (Source: Photo from ramblerwithoutborders) |
We went back to Level 1, where we watched the Bao Chuan show that introduced Zheng He's maritime voyages before leaving the place.
Swimming at Hard Rock Hotel
We went back to the hotel to change up to our swim suits for a swim. We went to the Hard Rock Hotel swimming pool instead of the Festive Hotel's, because I found that the swimming pool layout is nicer and bigger. The side nearer to the hotel is basically a beach! I believe this is the only artificial beach pool you can find in Singapore. The water is shallow and is a safe place for kids to play with the sand without any fear of strong current or danger at the real beaches. At the centre of the area is the children water playground that comes with a slide. At the far side is the regular pool and there's also a jacuzzi pool and pool bar.
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| Hard Rock Hotel Swimming Pool (Source: Photo from skyscrapercity) |
Crane Dance
We returned to the hotel room to wash up after the swim. We had dinner at Ramen Play located at The Forum. After which, we headed to the water front to watch the Crane Dance, the world's largest animatronics performance. There is a pair of mechanical cranes, one female and the other male, which dance under the backdrop of special lighting and water effects to illustrate their courtship ritual. The show lasted 10 minutes only, but it was really worth it. We returned to our hotel after the show to end the eventful day.
Follow the links below to the other days of my Sentosa staycation:
Day 1: Resorts World Sentosa (Festive Hotel, The Maritime Experiential Museum, S.E.A Aquarium, Hard Rock Hotel Swimming Pool, Crane Dance)
Day 2: Sentosa (Palawan Beach, Fort Siloso, Starz Restaurant, Lake of Dreams)
Day 3: Sentosa (Merlion Plaza, Madame Tussuads Singapore, Images of Singapore LIVE, Sentosa Nature Discovery)
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