Since we are not able to spend our babymoon in a nice resort somewhere else (we went to Taiwan for our first baby, you can read it all here), we decided to go for another... staycation! Talking about being staycation-connoisseur, Mandarin Orchard is our seventh since the pandemic, so we had a certain expectation from the service, room to the food, etc.
Let's talk location, Mandarin Orchard is located at one of Singapore's busiest street, Orchard Road, so you could have plenty of shopping and dining options all around. These include malls like ION Orchard, Paragon, Cineleisure, Ngee Ann City, Wisma Atria, and so many others. Point is, if you like to shop, this is the best place you could ever stay in Singapore.
Our Room: Premier Room
Checking in was fuss-free and pretty fast, since we checked in around 4pm. The staff was really nice to upgrade our Superior to Premier room, which is located at level 36. Yup, and that meant a panoramic view of Orchard street. Here we can even see City Hall, Marina Bay Sands, Bugis, Singapore Stadium and our previous home (near Concourse). That's a whopping 8-10 MRT stops worth of view through our window!
The Premier room wasn't special, just a standard-looking room with a working desk, which reminded me of those hotels where you go on work trips. For a moment, I was gonna whip out my laptop and start a zoom meeting. During the reservation, I mentioned it's for a babymoon, so I was low-key expecting at least a slice of cake, but for the first time during my bookings, there isn't anything. Sad.
ANYWAY. The bathroom on the other hand, was pretty impressive, it was spacious enough, for a bath area and a full length bathtub. With all those marble flooring and furnishing, I would say it's pretty elegant. Just that the floor is freaking slippery, which they could probably need to do something about it (especially for preggies as such as Lady M).
Prior to the booking, we were made aware that the hotel is going through some major renovations, which meant that the lobby and restaurants (including the famous revolving restaurant, Top of the M, and Chatterbox) are all closed, and there's only dine-in options. NOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo (to be fair they gave a hefty 30% discount off dine-in purchases).
Dinner at Matsukiya
We had a good afternoon nap, before heading to Matsukiya, an exquisite Japanese kushiyaki-restaurant. I highly recommend for a nice, fancy dinner here. Read all about Matsukiya here.
We finished the dinner around 9pm, and as you know, shops during the pandemic close really early around 8 plus, so we were left with not many shopping options. We pretty much strolled the street, and ending up purchasing some snacks and desserts from the nearby 7-11 before heading back up for a movie night.
Good morning world
As one could expect, sleeping without a newborn or toddler, makes sleeping a joy. It was one of the rare occasions, whereby WE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT. Thank you Jesus.
We had submitted our breakfast choices the day before, which was (very) limited to the standard Western, Asian, or local cuisine. We both opted for the western with the only difference in egg and bacon/sausage choices. It comes with a bread and fruit basket as well.
*The swimming pool was full, so we didn't had a chance to visit the pool. It is highly recommended that you reserve the day before.
Endnote
Surely the renovation would boost the overall ambience and outlook of Mandarin Orchard. If the restaurants were opened, we could dine with a nice view, and our experiences could have been much better. Just saying. Perhaps after the renovation is completed, we may revisit it again.
For our top staycation choices, click here to find out more.