Musken

FS Singapore

Arrival:
The arrival was disappointing. We had decided to book the FS limousine transportation from the airport in spite of the low taxi costs in Singapore. Such a service from FS is normally both convenient and gives the holiday a luxurious first touch. Not this time, however. Given that we were three persons with quite a lot of luggage, we had agreed to be picked up by a Mercedes minivan instead of a limousine. We were met by the driver (no FS employee, not very fluent in English) and had to wait quite some time for him to pick up the car from the parking before we could start the journey into Singapore. Inside the car, there was no water, no towels and it was also a bit dirty. The trip to FS went smoothly, but we did not feel that the FS pick up was worth the extra costs. We discussed this with the FS management, and was given a complimentary return transfer (same car, but this time clean and with drinks and towels) to compensate for our bad experience which we found a good solution.

Accommodation:
We had booked a one bedroom suite (room only - stay three nights, pay two nights offer which was a bargain for this kind of room in a big city). Before arrival, we got an offer to upgrade to a Governor one BR suite for a promotional rate, but decided to stay in our 1 BR suite as the offer was still far more expensive than what we had paid and – in addition – we would be a lot out for sightseeing etc. The 1 BR suite was large and spacious and in accordance with pictures I had seen online. The view was good and it was not at all a dark suite that I had read somewhere before. Only negative: There was FAR too little wardrobe space, and no separate walk in closet as on the floor plan at the FS site. We had to keep most of our things in the suitcases.
Upon arrival, we felt that our room had been “forgotten”, i.e. there was no kind of welcome amenity for us or our son, no flowers and no fruit in the room. We mentioned this as well when talking to the management about the disappointing transportation service, and found a fruit display, delicious pralines and a welcome amenity and drink for our son in the suite next time we came there.

Pool:
We used the family pool on the 20th floor a couple of times. It was small and not very charming. A number of sun loungers and lots of concrete rather than a lush tropical setting that I had expected.

Concierge:
Always very helpful, quick and with good recommendations for restaurants, shops and sightseeing.

Food:
We had a booking at the Fullerton Jade restaurant for their special Peking Duck Extravaganza the first evening. This is a 7 course menu where the Peking duck is prepared in a number of creative ways: http://www.fullertonhotel.com/swf/pr...ravaganza.html
A delicious meal in a formal but still relaxed restaurant, great service and food. Recommended!
We had booked the weekend oriental brunch in the Jiang-Nan Chun restaurant for the first morning. Instead of a buffet that I for some reason had expected, we had to order (unlimited) ala carte from the menu. We enjoyed really lots of different delicious dim sum with freshly pressed juices and jasmine tea but still ended up paying for the individual items instead of the fixed brunch price.
In addition we had one dinner and the Thai restaurant Jim Thompson: http://www.jimthompson.com/restauran.../singapore.asp
A good meal in a nice looking restaurant quite close to the FS, but not one one the best Thai meals that I have had.
More memorable were the two great lunches at hawkers stalls in Chinatown that we had in between sightseeing and shopping.
We had one room service breakfast and one room service dinner which were both fully satisfactory but nothing that I will remember.

Musken

AMANDARI

Arrival:
We had booked Amandari’s escorting service upon arrival at airport which meant that were met before passport control and guided through in a very quick way while a representative was taking care of our visa-upon-arrival and all other practical things. Soon we were in the car where cold towels, cold drinks, little snacks and a very friendly driver (who was with us during the whole stay for all excursions) took us to Amandari. There we were met by a number of staff, including little local girls who threw flower petals to welcome us. The actual check in was in our villa, which turned out to be a very nice upgrade from a village suite booked to a pool suite. Fruit, welcome drinks and some very nice local gifts was waiting for us in the villa. Great to be here!
After unpacking and the most delicious Indonesian lunch by our private pool, I enjoyed a Balinese massage in the spa. Wonderful, magic hands made me feel completely pampered and relaxed.

Day 1:
As part of the classical Bali package, we had complimentary breakfast (wonderful ala carte breakfast, among which the best French toast I have ever had in my life) and one activity per day. This first day, the driver took us to see the wood carving experts in two different places followed by a quick stop at the monkey forest so that our son could feed the monkeys. The afternoon was spent by the pool and we went on a short trip to Ubud early evening to have a look at the shops and to have dinner at Café Lotus.

Day 2:
This was the day for our traditional cooking class. It started with an early visit to a local market where we had to buy (and bargain) for ingredients for our cooking class later on. A very colourful market with lots of exciting things to see and no tourists except us. With a basket full of vegetables, herbs and spices, we were taken to a local home close to Amandari where a chef and two other staff from Amandari would teach and assist us in the cooking. All the different steps was explained for us and soon the most wonderful smells would come from the kitchen. After the meal preparation, offerings were prepared and we were taken to the family temple to take part of the ceremony. Following this, we walked back, but instead of going back to where the cooking had taken place, we were taken to a wonderful bale with a fantastic view where everything was prepared for us to be able to enjoy our own meal in the most fantastic way. A really memorable day.
Afternoon relaxing in villa and another massage for myself.

Day 3:
Rice field trekking. An easy, children friendly, trek through the rice fields where our ranger would explain about flora and fauna, make sure we had water when needed etc. At the end of the trek, the driver would wait and take us to a great bale where our breakfast was prepared. After the breakfast, we went to bali bird park which was really well done and where we had a great time – not just for children!
In the evening we had booked a special meal: The Balinese feast incl. suckling pig and a number of other specialties served in a beautifully decorated bale after entertainment by local girls. Wonderful food, view and service. A great end to this stay.

General things:
Spacious, traditional and charming villas. Lots of room for everything we had with us. Efficient and quiet aircondition. Huge hard beds, but the tip I got about pre-requesting a mattress topper made the bed very comfortable. Big and comfortable extra bed for our son. Beautiful flowers and big, delicious and beautiful fruit in the room. Very efficient in villa dining. My morning coffee was brought in no time or put outside at our dining bale to be ready for me when I wake up. Good gym according to my husband. SPA did not look as great as many SE asian newer spas, but the treatments I had were great. The food is the best indonesian food we have ever had (and we have had a lot of that). It was authentic, it was a spicy as we wanted it and we enjoyed and enjoyed and enjoyed

Overall:
I had almost forgotten how wonderful and personal the Amanresorts can be after a number of years where we have been staying mainly at FS resorts. I loved to be back and this will not be our last Amanresorts visit. The very personal and friendly service where your wishes are read and your expectations over exceeded. It was absolutely fantastic and all of us enjoyed every minute of it. They know how to please adult guests and also are wonderful with kids. Thanks to vuittons for convincing me to go there and to Liv and her team for making our stay such a memorable experience.

Musken

FS Resort Jimbaran, Bali

Arrival:
Amandari called to inform the front desk at FS Jimbaran that we would be arriving around noon, and we were happy to feel that they expected us and had everything ready for us upon arrival. Check in was quick, with good drink and cold towels and we were taken by buggy to our villa, number 232 - (again) a two category upgrade from a basic one bedroom villa to a deluxe ocean view. The only thing we had done to possibly deserve such a nice surprise, was to request a private villa with late afternoon sun, which it definitely offered – in addition to a beautiful view of Jimbaran beach. As far as I understood, the differences between the standard and deluxe one BR villas are that the deluxe version has a bigger outside area and a bigger private pool than the standard ones. Did not see any other villa than ours so I cannot comment further on this. Another possible reason for the nice upgrade was a very low occupancy, I heard 20-30 % (!!) and it was indeed very empty at the resort at times.

Villa:
The inside of the villa is relatively small, but spacious enough for our needs. The bed for our son was placed in the wardrobe area which was very good. It even came with its own mosquito net which is something the extra beds does not have other places even when the master bed has it. Unfortunately it was also needed… (see later) The master bed was smaller and softer than FS beds in newer resorts, but comfortable. Aircondition was efficient but quite noisy. Wardrobe and other space for storage of our things more than sufficient.
It is, however, the outside of the villa that makes it a wonderful accommodation: A large, covered outside living area with very comfortable daybed, and extra chair with foot rest, table, minibar (including horrible coffee making equipment; an old fashioned single mug sized Bodum press-thing which made me spend a long time and make a lot of mess in the morning when I wanted to have my coffee. Hopefully this will soon be changed after we strongly hinted about it to the director of rooms!) and a dining table for four. In addition there was the private pool (bigger than a plunge pool, but much smaller than the wonderful Amandari pool villa one) and a sun deck with umbrella and two comfortable loungers.

Food:
We did not leave the resort at all during our stay since we had done a lot of sightseeing etc. in Ubud and Singapore, i.e. we had all our meals at the FS and found the food to be very good:
- Wonderful bed on the beach dinner first night with special menu and very nicely decorated “beds” at the beach in front of PJs restaurant. Quite expensive but definitely worth it.
- Very tasty seafood BBQ with lobster and great pizzas at PJs
- Great Indonesian food at Warung Mie where we more or less tried everything and fully enjoyed.
- OK food at the Italian restaurant, but Italian food outside Italy is not really the same.. A very varied buffet was offered one night.
- Breakfast was ala carte which at first was a surprise to us. We normally really enjoy the good FS breakfast buffets, but clearly noticed the better quality of all dishes when they were made to order like this. They had some fixed and 4 or 5 new, different items on the menu for breakfast every day. The preparation was quick and while waiting we would get a little display of some complimentary items to try. A very good solution.

Pool and beach:
Comfortable loungers and quite good service. Water and different kinds of fruit or ice creams offered complimentary. Beach nothing like Seychelles or Maldives, but good enough.

SPA:
Great treatments, old fashioned look of spa. No big spa pavilions that newer FS resorts have, rather a bigger wardrobe with lockers where I could change, shower and use steam/shower/sauna etc. and then smaller “spa suites” for the treatments. I had a Balinese massage (wonderful), a Sodashi radiance facial (OK but not as good for my skin as other facials that I have had even though this was specifically recommended by them for my specific skin problems) and a Ocean Opulence package including a sea salt scrub, a hair massage with oil and a sea shell massage in an ocean front bale (treatment divine, bale disappointing compared to other spas).

Gym and tennis:
Husband and son happy with these facilities.

Kids club:
Our son went there three times and he had fun playing computer games while we were disappointed because none of the scheduled activities which I would have liked him to take part in, was happening. Very few kids, mainly really young ones, could be the reason, but still. I do not like him to sit there and play computer games while being on holidays!

Other issues:
- Service a bit sloppy the first two days (small things, but many). We complained about this and could really see a big improvement after this. Made us happy for the rest of the stay, but this should not have been necessary.
- Insects: Unfortunately quite a number of big insects in room. I am horrified about insects but have normally survived well in FS resorts in SE Asia. I can cope with them outside, and have never had a (big) problem with insects inside which was the case at this resort. When I found something big crawling over me in bed (!!) the 2nd last night, I did not really sleep well there anymore and had to search my bed and close the mosquito net very carefully before even thinking about laying down. Not a good experience
- Buggy service is the best and quickest I have ever had in a FS resort!

In spite of the negative issues, we had a great stay. If the insects would go away, I would return.

Kagehitokiri

ouch.

how common is this...? (3rd party, not meet & greet)

Ericka

Looking forward to more of this report...
Did your cooking class include any sort of selecting or killing a live chicken?!?! I've always been of afraid of these being a little too authentic.

sobore

Great report so far. Waiting for the rest!

vuittonsofstyle

Sooooo pleased you went to Amandari and that Liv and her people made your stay special. When Aman are good, they are very, very good and FS generally pales by comparison.

I do wish there was something special in Singapore, but even FS, it seems, lets us down. I was shocked about the transfer! I am sure this would never have happened when Chris Norton was GM there. Since his time, service and food have never been as good.

Do we think that FS is losing its edge these days? I wonder because I keep meeting loads of ex-Four Seasons staff in various hotels and resorts around the world. Many of them have left with heavy hearts, but say that the new VPs in charge of the regions are not what they were and that the feeling of the Four Seasons family is gone. If true, this is very sad and I wonder what FS home office is up to, hiring VPs that have few people skills.

Great report - thank you!

Musken

We chose goose, not chicken.

But to answer seriously: All we would buy at the market, was vegetables, herbs and spices and actually most of it had already been bought, washed (in bottle water) and prepared for us to start the cutting etc. for the cooking so it was more for the experience than that we actually needed the things we brought from the market. (One can also just book the cooking without market trip, but I recommend to do both.) Also I am sure that the Amandari restaurant would never buy any meat or fish at that kind of a local market, at least not when the guests are coming along. It looks kind of dirty, not the place that you would like to think that the meat or fish you eat are bought (I am sure it would be mostly OK, but still). We were told that the goose for our curry was imported (local goose too little fat to be really good in a curry).

Musken

There was no specific mentioning of a meet and greet when I booked the transfer, but I was certainly expecting it. Also no help with check in etc. for our complimentary departure transfer by the way. Not that we really needed it in an airport like the one in Singapore, but it is not the normal FS standard that I am used to.

peter11

Insects do not worry so much as the snake I found in my room at Amankila one morning!

Great report! I actually like the FS quite a lot too. I know it is getting older, but I still think it is pretty fantastic and the pricing too can be attractive. I never had a bug issue quite like yours when I was there, but perhaps it was a different season.

Musken

There are insects everywhere, especially in the tropics. I remember I saw a huge spider crawling into a common area in a hotel. Asked a waiter if this could be really what I had seen, and he just said "Hey, this is Africa" and smiled. But these insects were in my room (and in my bed!), and that was what I did not like. Maybe I have been lucky at other, similar resorts and maybe others would not have reacted at all. Do not mean to make a big issue out of this, but felt the need to mention it since it disturbed my overall wonderful experience to a significant extent.

Taking about snakes; My husband saw two at Amandari. Outside and far from (our) villa. Not dangerous ones according to the locals, but enough to make him feel uncomfortable. I have nothing against snakes, but hate insects.

Yahtzee

I loved my stay at the FS Sayan but the night I arrived, the bathroom counter (including amenity kit, etc.) was covered in ants. I sprayed like crazy and put everything outside. I understand that it's jungle-ish but did sort of need to force it out of my mind. No problems on subsequent nights after I called in the morning. Also, saw a snake there by the bellman's stand, but it was small and presumably (hopefully) not dangerous.

peter11

Initially they sent a room attendant to my room to have a look at the snake. He screamed! Then they sent the local "snake boy" to dispatch the snake. From the way he handled the situation I would say it was not a garden variety house snake.

When I later joked with the GM who's villa was just below mine that I had thrown the snake over the balcony and into her bedroom, she joked right back that the chef was busy preparing a tasting menu of snake 11 ways, all paired with the best wines!

Life in the tropics!

Musken

Just one little update regarding the insects: After having talked about this with two managers our last night and having written it in our feedback form, we have received an apology email from the GM regarding insects in villa. He informed me that "I have immediately alerted our Pest Control Consultant to carry out a thorough fumigation of all villas". Felt it was right to inform you about this as well since I mentioned them in the first place.

vuittonsofstyle

One of the stupid things that some resorts do is leave out a food amenity, so when you return to the room, it is covered in insects. This has happened to me a lot in Greece, so it's not just the tropics that has a problem - if anything, they are normally aware of the problem there.

Not much you can do about snakes. We once had one in our outdoor bath at the old Chedi in Bali.