I arranged for us to be picked up at the airport due to exhaustion and the fact that both of us were trying to get rid of colds which developed as we were departing Tokyo almost a week earlier.

I had expected to see a Ritz-Carlton airport representative based upon what the Concierge told me when I booked the service. Instead, I saw a gentleman with a small sign with my name on it but no mention of Ritz Carlton. While the vehicle was an S-class, the driver had only prepared for one pax (one bottle of water and one cold towel), despite the hotel being aware that there would be 2 pax.

Check In

After a quick drive we were pulling in at the hotel entrance. I was amazed at how smoothly the hotel arrival went and how warm and gracious our welcome to the hotel was. One RC representative escorted us to the Club Lounge for check-in formalities while another promptly served us a beverage of our choice. Here, the RC representative, who escorted us from the hotel entrance, proceeded with check-in formalities and informed us that they had allocated to us a smoking 1 King bed Millennia suite, despite having requested explicitly for a non-smoking 2 bedded suite. I was assured that the suite did not smell of smoke and to add an extra roll-away to the suite would be 50 SGD. He took our passports and my credit card to process. Upon his return, he informed us that a 2 bedded suite was available, on a non-smoking floor, but the 50 SGD would still apply. Rather than contest that here I thought I would handle this at check-out.

The hotel was very inflexible about a complimentary late check-out with even a 1:00pm late check-out requiring a payment of 50% of the nightly rate.

While there are two complimentary computer stations with internet access, wireless access in the Club Lounge is chargeable at 30 SGD per day, the same rate for wired or wireless charge in the room. However, there is a way around this in the Club Lounge. This tip was given to us by a Club Concierge. From my conversation with the Club Manager, she is aware of this loop-hole, and they are trying to close this loop-hole. I think the RC is being stingy here by charging for internet access for Club Floor guests.

Dining

We availed ourselves to the Lounge enjoying the wonderful service and kindness of the staff. We had some of the afternoon tea offerings. This level of service is truly world class and should be recognised for that. Most went out of their way to ensure our comfort and I have given them the recognition they deserve in the Guest Comment card as well as in communications with the hotel.

Afternoon tea set up consisted of warmed raisin scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserves, unique tea sandwiches (not your usual egg, watercress, etc), salad, smoked salmon and cold cuts, cakes and pastries. Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial was available on request.

For evening cocktails there were fried noodles, spring rolls, grilled pork in a spicy sauce, salad, breads, smoked salmon with salmon roe, crabmeat terrine, vegetables, fried rice etc. Again, champagne was available on request and at 5:30pm, the martini bar, became operational. Here, there was a small list of martini's from Vodka Martini, Cosmopolitan, to Lychee martini on offer.

Being quite tired I never made it back up to the Lounge for dessert and cordials in the evening.

In the morning for breakfast, we enjoyed har gao, steamed red bean bun, eggs benedict (but with smoked salmon instead.....can't remember the name), sausage, bacon, salad, breads and pastries, cereals and yoghurts as well as some very nice freshly squeezed juices. Again, Moet was readily available and glasses were kept topped off.

For mid-day snacks, around our check-out time, there were more dim sum choices and a nice carrot coriander soup along with more cold selections similar to that which were served the night before at cocktail/canape time.

Room

We decided to go to the room to settle in before returning for martini's and evening canape's. Here, we were dismayed that no one offered to show us to the room. They gave us our keys and told us to go to the 28th floor. This suite, 2806, is not too far away from the elevator landing and is characterised by double doors.

The suite is as characterised by other posters in the RC SIN thread here However, I will also provide summary of the room. The double doors open to a nice sized foyer and with the living room beyond. A sofa, coffee table, and two side chairs comprise the main seating area, with another 2 chairs and side table right by the large window with striking views of Marina Bay, Singapore harbour, and the ocean beyond. In an armoire is a very large LCD flat screen tv (32" or 36"). To the left of the living room is a guest toilet and the dining nook. While there is overhead lighting over the dining nook, there is none in the living room, making the living room area rather dark.

The bedroom, accessed by a tacky white door (not the nice shiny wood used on the doors to the suite), featured two twin beds, a sofa, coffee table, a work desk with adjacent (non-working) fax, a small walk-in closet, and an armoire with a smaller LCD flatscreen TV but with a Bose music system. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no thought put into the placement of the Bose unit and the speakers, which were mounted on the top of the armoire. The Bose unit also doubled as the sub-woofer for the system and was not isolated properly so any CD or DVD played rattled the armoire making the system impressive to look at but impossible to listen to.

Off the bedroom was the large bathroom with the large soaking tub with a wonderful view of Marina Bay. The panelled mirror wall allowed simultaneous view of the ocean. Double vanities, separate toilet cubicle, and large separate stall shower rounded out the facilities. The scale was broken (indeed, a theme emerges) and the much touted Bulgari White tea amenities were the small sampler sized versions and not the full sized ones I received on Thai and Singapore Air First class and at Four Seasons Hotels.

The bedroom also did not have overhead lighting making the room dark overall. The phone system had a fault in our room where when using the phone, the shrill sound of a fax being transmitted, would come through blocking any ability to hear or speak to the person on the other end. In the first instance, this happened during a wake-up call at 7:30am but the hotel did not take any steps to figure out the issue or apologise for the inconvenience of essentially being unable to use the phones in the room.

Service

To savour the best time to view the Marina Bay skyline all lit up at night we decided to order room service for dinner. Since we had eaten lightly at the Club Lounge, our dinner too, was light. We ordered Hainanese chicken rice and wonton noodle soup, both of which were very good. Our fruit plate dessert had quite a few unripe fruits on it which were sour and hard.

Delivery was nearly on time (off by 8 minutes) and removal was efficient. So far this has been the only hotel in Singapore to charge a $5 SGD delivery charge for room service. The Inter-Continental and the Conrad do not charge an additional fee for room service orders.

Overall

Check-out was smooth and effortless upstairs in the Club Lounge. However, the hotel made a large mistake when it failed to transfer a call to us in the Club Lounge. We were expecting a call from Kuala Lumpur and we had asked the caller to call our room first, and if we were not available, to then ask to be transferred to the Club Lounge where the staff would locate us. Instead, the Operator took a message and promised to deliver it to us in the Club Lounge. I never received the message and it was only following up with Kuala Lumpur about this supposed missed call was I made aware that a message was not relayed to us.

In summation, I think that if the dedicated Club staff were to handle everything for Club guests this would be a much better hotel.

But with somany blunders and small detail problems I cannot see how this could beSingapore's best hotel. If it is, then we are in trouble...... I have forwardedmy comments to the Management and I eagerly await to hear from them.