When we were planning for little Emmanuel's 100th day celebration, we had a few options. Book an event space and cater food. Probably too costly and too much prep work. Celebrate at home and have a nice balloon deco. The deco cost over $500?? No thanks. So we chose, a staycation and invite our family over for an intimate party. We wanted a suite room so there's moving space and not everyone hovering beside the bed and JW Marriott was perfect.
JW Marriott is located beside two MRT stations, 2-min walk from Esplanade and 5-min from City Hall, which means that it is a stone throw away from some major shopping centres, such as Marina Square, Suntec, Funan, and other attractions.
You might know JW Marriott as the fancy wedding venue with thousands of crystals hanged from their ceilings. To be honest, we may have considered there for our wedding if not for the hefty price tag. Nevertheless, this day we are here for a staycay. And never did I thought.. with two children!
Our room: Premier Suite
As expected, this suite is really spacious at over 100sqm (that's almost the size of a 5-room HDB!). It features a great living room area to host our guests, a guest toilet, a bedroom, and a ginormous ensuite bathroom. If we were to pay $500 for balloon deco, I rather spend $700 for this room. Just saying.
The whole design is contemporary, filled with monochrome rugs and paintings, completed with leather-toned furniture.
The city view at 16th floor was incredible, as we can see the Bugis area, national stadium, and even our previous place. My daughter, Olivia and I were reminiscing the places we went to when we were living in the city. Those were the times when we can walk to these places, now that we moved to Punggol (we like to call it suburbs).
Amenities
Most of the things you would expect from a 5-star hotel would be here. All the toiletries, necessities, coffee maker, luxury tea, and what not. I would like to shoutout to the service staff for giving me SO MANY, and I meant 20+ packets of TWG teas and coffee capsules when I requested for a top-up.
I absolutely love their bathroom. The centerpiece is a beautiful white bathtub, which could perhaps fit 3 to 4 persons in. Within the same space is a standing bath room, with a fancy pancy shower head (imagine those car-wash spray), a toilet area, and two separate wash basin area. As you could image, it's so huge we could have the party here if we wanted to.
For Lydia, she was so fascinated with the TOTO automated toilet bowl lid, which sanitises and opens when you walk close to it. We should be getting one soon, if not for the $1k price tag. Perhaps next time.
JW Mariott offers complimentary high-tea, starters, cocktails at different timings, so be sure to drop by. I mean it's free, so why not? Unless, you're like us, who were too busy with children that we missed all these.
Party-time!
Different from Olivia's 100th day party (those were the pre-COVID days), for Emmanuel's, we decided to do a really small one, so we could focus more on Emmanuel instead of the guests. And of course.. since it's a party to celebrate a child's event, we need balloons. Shoutout to V-FORCE (Compass One) for the affordable balloons and masks. We got a wide variety at just $40 and had the kind help of family to blow and stick the balloons.
The cake was from Wild Olive Branch, which we absolutely love. 90% because it's a Christian brand, and 10% because it looks (and taste) absolutely amazing. It's just the right amount of sweetness (for an aging person like me and our family), and the staff was kind enough to slot my order in last minute. They do birthday cakes, bake boxes, for most events, so do check them out here.
Despite without having a party plan, everybody had fun, chatting and eating cake. We had dinner with some who stayed, then said our good-byes for the night is closing. At 10pm. If you have kids, you will understand. The two kids were fast asleep, and the lady was too tired to wake up, so I had a good, long soak in the huge bathtub myself. How luxurious.
Breakfast at Beach Road Kitchen
The name rings nostalgia, as we reside at this very street just a year back. Anyway, now that self-service buffet is back, we had fun exploring and grabbing food onto our plates. The little pleasures of life.
Their international buffet is one of the better ones, with several stations such as, dimsum - shrimp dumplings, various baos and whatnot, noodles and porridge, Western - my favourite egg station, sausages, hashbrowns, etc., cereal, Indian cuisine - prata, spiced rice, bakery - ham, cheese, waffles, pancakes, and drinks. Considering the vast variety, if you get a teaspoon of every single dish, I bet you'll last till dinner.
Swimming at the Infinity Pool
Swimming and waterplay is Olivia's favourite part of every staycay, so we couldn't possibly missed this out. Their infinity pool is located at level 18 (together with the hotel gym), and that's where we were heading. Apparently there is another one at level 6, but considering the time, we didn't go. The water was freezing and the wind didn't help. But at least, the Marina Bay view was awesome and we had great fun.
End note
Given a choice again, choosing JW Marriott over the balloon deco is definitely a no-brainer. Service is impeccable (just that they missed out my late check-out request twice). Breakfast is great with a wholesome variety. And the room is perfect. Seriously, if you have a party to plan and sufficient budget, go here!
