Part 1: Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel - The Best Family Getaway EVER!

(WARNING! EXTREMELY LONG POST AHEAD. Part 1 of 2 - Be prepared to witness one of the Best Family Getaway Ever!!)

My blog rarely contains matters of business or of the companies that I run so this is the first time that there is a cross platform of work related matters that now involves my personal blog. Perhaps this would set a precendence for more to come but for now.. enjoy this post.

Through some workwise discussions, I was graciously offered the opportunity to review a Family Getaway Hotel Stay Package by Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel. It was an exciting lead up to the day that we were due to check in, we have not gone for a holiday in YEARS.

Yes, years... so we were highly due for some pampering and relaxation. So on the 7th of February, Eirian and I hopped into a cab and made our way to the hotel. We were so excited, we were there way before 9am and our appointment to meet the marketing manager was at 950am! Lauren had leadership camp earlier in the morning so CJ was left to arrange to pick her up and bring her over once she was done.

We brought along 3 bags filled with all our stuff and were very very excited!

As the Grand Mercure Roxy hotel is situated in the east, just opposite Parkway Parade, it took us less than 10 minutes to reach from home and hopped off the car in squealing anticipation.

The hotel mainly caters for corporate guests but as a move towards reaching out to the leisure group of travellers, locals and families. New promotions such as these are newly rolled out on a regular basis for families like ours to take up and enjoy. For convenience, there is even an hourly shuttle bus that ferries guests directly from the airport and back.

Looking directly across the road was Parkway Parade. How convenient!!

Floral arrangments abound everywhere in the hotel and I love how everything was so fresh and colourful! Eirian was bouncing off the sofas in the lobby just excited being there.

There is also a small lobby cafe which serves a lovely array of pastries and juices to go along with your morning coffee or tea at only $9 per person. *Slurps!*

Since we were early, we decided to check out the hotels' amenities on our own and headed up towards the escalators towards the 2nd floor and voila! Saw that it was Jia Wei Restaurant! I did a food review there just last december HERE! and the food was incredible!

Then we headed up to the 3rd floor and saw that it was Feast @ East. A buffet restaurant that serves all 3 meals plus brunch and hi-tea too!

We head back down again just like tourists all smiles at what was to come. As part of professional curtesy, I approached the counter to ask if it was alright for me to take pictures in the hotel and I was pleasantly surprised that the answer was yes, they were expecting me and I could take any picture I pleased.

Hurr?? Expecting me?! Whoa!! The communications within the hotel is really smooth with all relevant staff alerted of our arrival even before we checked in! Impressed already.

The hotels isn't a very tall one but it certainly makes up for its welcoming ambience and impressionable service levels. I also noted their security feature of only allowing the public up to the 4th storey and keeping the room levels locked and accessible by room key only.

We head up to level 4 to check out the pool and the spa. Over at the pool side, a sight pleased me.. piles and piles of fluffy warm towels! I love towels! Hahahh specially those that are fluffy and warm!

Eirian skipped over to the lounge chairs and let out a happy sigh.

After spending a couple of minutes revelling by the poolside, we head back down to meet the marketing manager and checked ourselves in to room 1338.

The standard Getaway package comes with a nights' stay in a superior room for 2 adults and 2 children and comes with buffet breakfast the morning after. Guests are allowed unlimited access to the pool and gym throughout the day and of course are welcome to patronise the in-house restaurants for their meals.

A delightful picnic goodie bag is also given to families taking this package which you will see later in my post.

A complimentary spa voucher which involves a 30 minute swedish back massage and a 15 minute aromatic steam bath by Body Contours which can be booked prior your check-in date for a complete relaxing experience. A further upgrade of $28 can be done on top of the complimentary voucher service to receive an additional 30 minutes massage and 30 minutes honey crystal spa polish.

We head up to our room which was upgraded to the Deluxe room, which is a little bigger than the superior room and BOY! were we pleased....

I flipped open my handphone and took a video of our room. Check that out!

Looking out of our window, we were pleased to note that we also had a sea view room which gave us a nice view of the East Coast and overlooks Parkway Parade too!

I took a video of our view too so check it out!

After settling in a little, we went about checking out the other amenities the hotel had to offer and of course, being the gym fan I am. I had to check out the gym too!

Small cosy place but it had almost everything a person travelling or on holiday would need. From cardio. machines, to free weights and even an in house personal gym trainer! Heck! it even looks like a cross section of what you'd find at California Fitness but CLEANER and smells so much fresher and with less crowd!

And here we have Eirian posing with the orchids just outside of the gym.

We were then brought upstairs to the Royal Club lounge where business travellers and those staying in the business suites and Royal Club suites *top level and most expensive rooms of the hotel* can use for various purposes. Wireless online access is available throughout the hotel.

Some light pastries, cereals and refreshments are readily available for those in the lounge.

A TV area too! If you want to further entertain guests with TV and don't want to do it in your room. And for business travellers. There is a fully equipped meeting room plus a business corner which has computer and printer access for those on the go!

My appointment for my spa treatment was pre-booked by the marketing manager and we head down at 10am to get me settled in while they settle Eirian with her legs up in one of the pedicure chairs and armed with a TV remote control to watch OCTO.

I opted for the $28 Spa upgrade and head off into my treatment room while the staff watched over Eirian.

My therapist was named Yvonne and she really knew what she was doing. She made me feel very comfortable. What I found strangely amazing was that she knew exactly where I was hurting or tense and where I was injured before even without me saying anything.

She knew that my right shoulder which was recently hurt with a little too much vigorous dancing had a crick in it and really concentrated her massage to clear the "block". Whooot! Heavenly. And she asked me "were you REALLY FAT before?" I was surprised and she said "I can see! Last time you very fat arh!" And she pointed out my stretch marks and parts of my body and said.. "last time 100kg arh.. now like this very good already.. maybe another 10kg more the most and then don't lose anymore just nice.... " It was like she was reading my mind.. -.-''

I finished my treatment feeling rejuvenated and pretty and was given a lovely warm cup of ginger tea to settle up. I LOVE ginger tea! And I also love how spa rooms are always so calm and serene...

We went up to our room after to wait for Lauren and CJs' arrival and for lunch time. And up on the itinery next was a Buffet lunch at Feast @ East! As part of the review, the hotel provided everything complimentary to us but guests on the package are most welcome to patronise the restaurants for their meals at the following dining rates.

We were treated to their Chinese New Year Special theme lunch and a table was specially reserved just for us! And the supervisor at the restaurant knew us by name! We felt so important and pampered!

Lunch (Mon to Sat) - $38++ per adult, $19++ per child, $28 nett per senior citizen

Dinner (Mon to Sat) - $40++ per adult, $20++ per child, $30 nett per senior citizen

Sunday Brunch - $48++ per adult, $25++ per child, $30 nett per senior citizen.

The next theme at Feast@East is the Lavish Heritage Buffet (from 16 Feb to 13 Mar 2009) where there is a special privilege for senior citizens where for every four paying senior citizens, only three pay while one dines for free (up to a max of 8 in a group).

Senior Citizen - $28 nett per pax for lunch (Mon to Sat), $30 nett per pax for dinner (Mon to Sat), $35 nett per pax for Sunday Brunch

Adults - $36++ per pax for lunch (Mon to Sat), $38++ per pax for dinner (Mon to Thu), $40++ per pax for dinner (Fri to Sun), $42++ per pax for Sunday Brunch

Children - $18++ per pax for lunch (Mon to Sat), $19++ per pax for dinner (Mon to Thu), $20++ per pax for dinner (Fri to Sun), $22++ per pax for Sunday Brunch.

There will also be a Hi-Tea Buffet every Fri and Sat (from 16 Feb to 13 Mar 2009) from 3pm to 5.30pm at Feast@East where it is $18++ per adult or senior citizen and $12++ per child. The senior citizen special does not apply for this Hi-Tea Buffet.

The opening hours of Feast@East Buffet Restaurant are:

Breakfast - 6am to 10.30am
Lunch - 12pm to 2.30pm

Dinner - 6pm to 9.30pm
Sunday Brunch - 11am to 3pm

I love hotel food. I really do. I love buffets lines! We started off with walking around the buffet line and checking out the food available. With a Chinese New Year theme, there were cookies of course! All CNY favourites too!

And of course the salad and fruit bar is a must at every buffet. As I was making my rounds taking pictures of the food, a gentleman approached me and said "Hi! You must be THE BLOGGER".

For a moment there, I was stunned and nodded furiously while smiling and wondering who this person was. Was he another blogger? Or just a hotel guest seeing that I had my face plastered to my camera which was in turn plastered closely to the food displays and thus assuming I'm a blogger?

Only after a moment where he pulled out his card to give to me did I realise. Oh. My. Gawd. It was the Hotel General Manger who was also having lunch. We spoke casually and then as gracious and surprising as his appearance, left me to my own devices to continue snapping away at his food bar.

The bread baskets were full.. the cheese platters were nicely displayed and there as a roast meat section too which were personally cut up and served to you by counter staff...

Potato salad, Shepherd's pie, fish fillets and cereal prawns. I ate a little of EVERYTHING!

I was specially pleased to see Roast Beef with brown gravy.. *slurps!*. This was SO GOOD. And there was also fried rice... *carbs.. - urgh*

We were completely fawned upon with service staff hovering over us like bees to honey. Our waters & juices always remained full and chilled. Our empty plates whisked away without request and food carried to our tables without us needing to carry them back from the buffet counter. It was SOOOO IMPRESSIVE!! that everything was done with such impeccable service quality.

We then decided to do a little test and try something off the menu and asked if they could make us milk shakes. Rossi, the supervisor didn't even twitch and smoothly went on to asking "extra thick? More milk or more ice-cream?" I was stunned again. "More ice-cream of course!"

5 minutes later, 3 glasses of milkshakes were presented to our table. Two vanilla shakes and one extra thick Strawberry Milkshake. Oh. My. God. I was in heaven again. Kill me and send me to the GM Roxy Hotel... hahahahaha!

And there was a hot counter which served hot piping Laksa and Mee Rebus. I had both and they were excellent! As I was busy walking around taking pictures, I left my bowl of laksa to cool at my table and returned to it shortly after.

In less than a minute into tucking into my noodles, one of the waiters came to my table with a new bowl of piping hot laksa and offered to change my existing bowl bc it was "getting cold".

FFWWWWWwwwwwuuuaahhhhhhh!!!!!! IMPRESSIVE LARH! I gracefully declined as I actually liked my noodles cool and not burning hot but their intentions were really appreciated and touching. They really know how to make a guest feel first class.

More of the buffet spread. Braised tofu, steamed fish, chicken masala and papaya salad!

Some kind of nugget, mock char siew nuggets in tomato sauce, shark fin omelette and stewed pork.

And of course some Japanese fare of fresh raw tuna and salmon, sushi rolls, topshell and smoked salmon slices...

One of our favourite areas was at the chocolate fondue counter & fountain! We skewered fruits and marshmallows and dunked ourselves silly. When I returned from one of my rounds, I was pleasantly surprised to see my girls laughing and happily dunking their chocolate covered sticks into a huge bowl of crushed ice which specially was provided to them by the staff to harden the chocolate! Such a good idea!

And then of course there was the dessert bar which we all eyed from the first time we entered. They had durian cakes, brownies, fruits, jellies, ice-cream and best of all. Durian puree.. pure unadulterated durian puree!! Insane!!! It was soooo good!! After lunch, we all ROLLED out of the restaurant back to our rooms for a nap.

End of Part 1. To be continued in the next post, Part 2. Stay Tuned!

Part 2: Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel - The Best Family Getaway EVER!

(Continuation from Part 1: Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel - The Best Family Getaway Ever Post)

After lunch, we head back to our room to relax and took some time to check out the goodie bag which was given to us upon check in. The dry items came in a large paper bag and contained the treats below.

And the hotel scheduled the "hot" treats which was part of the goodie bag, ie cooked food to be delivered to us at 4pm that day so we lounged till our doorbell rang and we were presented with chicken wings and fruit tarts! More food! Oh my Gawd!

They provided a picnic mat so families could walk over to East Coast and have an outdoor picnic if they preferred. Or they could just do it in the comfort of their hotel room which we did!

And the crispy chicken wings were good! And we downed the fruit tarts too!

The girls were uber excited and really quickly got into their swimwear while I lay on the bed too full from lunch.

"Can we go swimming ma! can we? NOW? now? Now?!?" was all they said again and again and again and again...

Shortly after, single side beds arrived for them! Which is available upon request. One single bed is available for a separate child to sleep on in the getaway package but for us, both girls got one each and they were delighted! Their own beds!

CJ and I donned ourselves in bathrobes and just lazed till we managed to gather enough energy which wasn't being drained digesting all that food and head down to the pool!!

It was a lovely day for a swim and there were very little other guests at the pool too!

One average sized graduated depth swimming pool and a small foot pool which kids used to play in too. And oh goodness.. the water was FREEZING!

We frolicked a little in the water while I pretended to be the lochness mommy monster to drag the unsuspecting Eirian into the water...

And when I did catch her, she turned into a Koala and grabbed everywhere including my.... *cough* .... boobs.... just to hang on for dear life...

CJ took over and swished her around the pool on his shoulders.

Another picture together in the water before my teeth nearly chattered out of my head in the cold water and I pulled myself out to bask in the sun instead.

The girls came out shortly after and we wrapped them like poh-piahs on the deck chairs.

And I was one happy bikini clad chicka...

After the swim, it was yet another lazing power nap moment till we awaited dinnertime at 8pm. We surfed all 30 channels available. Snacked on the goodybag treats which we didn't finish earlier and just bonded with the fluffy pillows and soft down comforter blanket. Did I say it was heavenly? Yes it was.... *snores contentedly*

It was just before 7pm and the girls started to get restless and started to bug me to get some food. They were hungry again!! What?!? Didn't we just come back from a HUGE LUNCH BUFFET GIRLS?!?!

And again! Like as if they read our minds.. the doorbell rang and I opened it stunned. What the.... "mam, some pre-dinner treats for you..." I nodded and let them in and they set up a very lovely fresh fruit platter with spoonfuls of dried fruits and nuts and chocolates on a CHILLED display. We were stunned again.

We all sat around the side table which they set up the fruits on and just stared at it for a minute in disbelief and then WACK! ate every SINGLE thing.

The first 2 rows of chocolates are regular chocolates but the gold foiled ones below which to our surprise and relief, was filled with brandy. It burst in full alcohol flavour in CJs' mouth as he popped the whole thing and crunched. His eyes bulged and he spasmed like a fish out of water for a minute while the girls and I stared at him in shock.

When he recovered, he said. "That one. *points to mouth* has alcohol in it." I immediately swiped it from the girls and ate it. Whuauahahaha!

At 8pm, we went down to the poolside to the Roxy bar which a special table space was reserved for us yet again. Praveen who was the Assistant Manager at the bar for the evening introduced himself and took wonderful care of us as he and the staff flitted about us tending to our orders with sheer professional execution.

The Roxy bar by the poolside has a happy hour from 5pm to 8pm where each glass of housepour wines and Tiger Beer goes for $6.50++.

Our drink orders were taken once we sat down. We had carrot juice, tomato juce and two mango juices.

Apetisers were ordered and we had two servings of Cream of Mushroom Soup ($8). It was by far the BEST mushroom soup I've ever had and the girls finished the bowls dry.

And we ordered Fried Battered Cheese stick bites which came more like cubes ($8). Of everything, this was the only thing that disappointed me. I expected to bite into lumps of gooey hot dripping cheddar/mozarella cheese covered in crispy batter but what we got was a tofu like inside that didn't smell cheesy at all with crispy batter. CJ, however happily finished up the rest of this dish while we waited for our main dishes.

We were allowed to order items A-la-Carte aka from the menu but we were also arranged to try out their new promotion which was the Laksa Hotpot! ($20++ & comes with a bottle of Mug Rootbeer).

Two firey boiling mini hotpots came and were displayed on our tables with separate raw ingredients for our own cooking.

The gravy was good and we love these kind of novel self cooking kind of meals!

Eirian ordered the Fish & Chips ($22) which came in a HUGE portion which we all helped to finish. Lauren ordered the Spaghetti with Italian Sausage ($20) which was absolutely excellent too!

During check-in, we were given a drink coupon which we gave to the bar staff to exchange for a free drink. We chose orange juice as we didn't want any alcoholic beverages and it was delivered to our room via room service much later that evening!

During dinner, we also ordered the 3 meat pizza ($18) which we had delivered up to our room as we couldn't stomach more food at the bar. That was a superbly good pizza! Crust was thin and crispy and fresh and the meat chunky and the cheese.. goooey.. *drools just thinking about it again*

The hotel also specially ordered for us to enjoy two complimentary freshly made Singapore Slings *which was made by the original barista from Raffles hotel!* which were delivered to our room with our juice/pizza order. CJ doesn't usually drink but he drank this one with gusto. And I happily finished mine of course. *hic!*

The day was immensely sinful and we all fell into deep sleep before midnight. The next day saw us up fresh and ready to go again... it was time for food again!! Whoooot!!

The girls had one final swim for the day... and we took a little more pictures...

They loved the pool even though I thought it was waaay too cold for human relaxation.. whaahah!

And they even got to have a little warm bubble bath in the bathtub too! CJ took one too while we were down at the pool!

There were the standard issuance of towels but there were more for us. I called room service to send us more towels and toiletries and I was pleasantly surprised again when they rang our bell 5 minutes later *damn these people are fast!!!*. A handful of WARM fluffy towels and a HUGE BAG of toiletries... Who could resiste hotel toiletries!?! I always take them home.. don't you?

And when I said "bring us more" ... I was expecting maybe 2 sets more..not a whole bag!! Wahahaha! my my my.. aren't they the generous lot... *I'm not complaining*

Lazing with the robes on the bed in a cold cold room is the way to go...

And CJ took one of me too... loving it so much so far... ahhhhhhh, the luxury... but... why is it this picture looks so porn starish? Ie any moment, I'd jump up and rip off the robe to display bare nakedness...NOT! *growls*

And then it was off to Feast @ East again for breakfast!! Oh. Heaven.

From the pastry counter...

To the cereal dispensers which also came with a choice of chilled whole or skimmed milk.

To various juice dispensers.. we had freshly squeezed orange juice delivered to our tables.

White/Wholewheat and homemade bread and an industrial toaster where u throw in your slices on the rotating rack and it pops out freshly toasted a minute later... Whoooot!

and whats breakfast without Eggs! Scrambled no less, some fruits & yogurt maybe?, waffles and baked beans!

And this is Uncle Kwek Sin. The best egg chef in Singapore! Whahha! His omelette is to die for and I had one of everything.. sunny side up, half boiled and omelette! All good!

For those who still want a little more traditional fare, there was hokkien noodles and steamed fish too!

A porridge counter and a miso soup counter complete with seaweed and various condiments. And of course, for the health conscious.. a salad bar.

Ham, baked potatoes, sausages and crispy bacon strips!

And my favourite staff at Feast @ East, supervisor Rossi who provided commendable excellent service during our stay.

A couple more pictures from the stay... ripples on the water of the swimming pool...

CJ took the camera and took some shots of his own and they came out lovely! The view of the hotel upwards from the pool....

And another one from the pool side...

And a little strange phenomena.. a white rose that was in the middle of a bush by the pool.

And just before we checked out, I couldn't resist... one last parting shot for the getaway in the lift. We had a great time... and so would you... book your Getaway package today.. its an incredible experience.

I challenge any other hotel to take up a challenge to beat this experience or come up with a new one that would rival this stay but for now, I'm a fan. Of the Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel. :)

Thank you for everything K. We loved everything and will be back. SOON...