Family Staycation at Grand Mercure Roxy Katong Singapore

Singapore is the most expensive city in the world to live in according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Worldwide Cost of Living 2018 survey. In fact, they took the top spot for the fifth year running. However, it doesn’t mean you can’t travel there in budget. If you are planning for a family staycation in Singapore, we have the best advice for you. Don’t stay in the city center except you are willing to pay for it. For us, we stay at Grand Mercure Roxy in the area of Katong, a heritage area of the East Coast of the city.

Grand Mercure Roxy is a huge hotel and it offers 576 rooms and suites, it comes with an outdoor swimming pool, 24 hours gym, business centre services, foreign currency exchange, coin operated laundry, baby-sitting services, FREE Internet, Carpark and HALAL Certified Kitchen.

Do check out the video we did for our stay in Grand Mercure Roxy.

For the location, the hotel is located in Katong, a popular place for laksa. Like we mentioned earlier, it is not in the city centre but it is around the corner. The Parkway Parade Shopping Centre is located opposite of hotel. It takes less than 5 minutes to walk to the shopping centre and there are lots of food there and we did some shopping too.

To give you a clearer idea how convenient is Grand Mercure Roxy, here are some of the places near the hotel by car/taxi:

• 15 minutes from Changi Airport
• 15 minutes to Marina Bay, Gardens by the Bay, Singapore Flyer and the shopping hubs of Suntec City, Orchard Road and VivoCity at HarbourFront
• 15 minutes to Suntec Convention Centre (exhibition and convention centre)
• 10 minutes to Singapore Expo, Max Atria and Changi Business Park
• 10 minutes to the Singapore Sports Hub
• 20 minutes to Central Business District (CBD)
• 20 minutes to National Museum and Singapore Art Museum

The best part in staying in Grand Mercure Hotel is there are hourly FREE shuttle bus service from the airport to the hotel. There will be a MRT Station of the upcoming Thomson-East Coast MRT Line(TEL), which is slated to be completed by 2023.

We took Grab to Sentosa Island and it was around $20 and that’s the price for three adults and two children. That was around 20 minutes ride from the hotel to Sentosa Island and we went there to bring the kids to Universal Studios Singapore for TrollsTopia.

We booked the Business Suite. It comes with a King Size bed and a sofa bed and good for the family. The beauty of booking the Business Suite is the FREE access to Executive Lounge. This means we have unlimited ‘food and beverages’ throughout our stay in the hotel. The Executive Lounge is comfortable and spacious. There are snacks from time to time and beverages too.

There is a workstation complimentary for guests and also coffee and teas available in the lounge. The lounge offers the view of Parkway Parade Shopping Centre and the sea. You will feel very ‘Zen’ sitting here and enjoying the view.

The room is spacious and that is the beauty of staying in this part of Singapore. The price we paid for the suite is probably similar with the price of a room in Singapore city center.

Like we mentioned earlier, the suite comes with a King size bed, a sofa bed, TV, working desk, bathroom, bathtub and an additional TV in the bathroom. There is welcome food for us and complimentary mineral water. If you ran out of water, just head to Executive Lounge to take some. There are also soft drinks and juices in Executive Lounge.

The tap water is drinkable but we still prefer the mineral water. For family travel, we need a lot of water especially for our boys. You need water to prepare the milk for the boys and we encourage them to drink lots of H20. We also carry hot water in flask and mineral water when we travel around.

There is also a ‘Handy’ in the room. Handy is a FREE mobile phone for you to use and this is an extra perk staying in Grand Mercure Roxy. You can travel around with Handy and remember to return it back at the end of the day. Handy is originated from Hong Kong and we worked with them when they started many years ago. Now, Handy offers their services in countries like Macau, Singapore and Thailand.

For dining, they have four restaurants in the hotel and they are Wave Café, Jia Wei Chinese Restaurant, FEAST @ East Buffet Restaurant and BREEZ Bistro and Bar.

We had buffet dinner at FEAST @ East Buffet Restaurant on Level 3. You can watch the video to see some of the food available.

FEAST @ East Buffet Restaurant is HALAL Kitchen certified so the food offered is HALAL. There are plenty of choices in local and International cuisines. The most important thing is the taste of the food here is good.

What we like about FEAST @ East Buffet Restaurant?

The Katong Laksa station. Katong is famous for its laksa and you can find one here in FEAST @ East Buffet Restaurant. The taste of Katong Laksa is different than the ones we have in Malaysia. The spiciness is lesser and it is sweet so their version is quite unique.

The Grill Station. We love their version of grilled chicken and grilled fish. The chicken well marinated, grilled to perfection and tasty.

The Dessert Section. We always love dessert and the surprise is they offer Durian Cake and Durian Paste. The durian paste is basically the durian flesh. It is not Musang King but good quality durians. We love this so much, we ate almost half bowl of this. We are durian lovers, we had to eat this.

There is no durian paste served in any buffet restaurants in Malaysia so this is something new for us. Even our boys loved this.

For the month of Ramadan, FEAST @ East Buffet Restaurant offer ‘buka puasa’ buffet and for more information, please visit http://grandmercureroxy.com.sg/dining

For breakfast, it will be at Ramadan, FEAST @ East Buffet Restaurant and you get as many food selections like the dinner buffet. They offer local and International breakfast and it is HALAL.

You can find the usual suspects such as fried noodles, porridge, pastries, sausages, beef bacon and more. There are also yogurt, fruits, cereals, milk and cheese platter for breakfast.

They offer the pancake machine that will cook a pancake with just a push of button. Our boys love the pancakes.

We also went to the other restaurant in the hotel, BREEZ Bistro and Bar. They offer value for money dinner sets. The set dinner starts from $24. You can dine indoor or by the pool. The environment here is intimate and cozy for dinner.

We had order Fusion and Western dinner sets. Overall, the food here is good and our boys love it. When it comes to family travels, the focus will be the kids so we need to make sure they are properly fed.

In terms of stay, the boys really enjoyed themselves in the hotel. We didn’t manage to visit the swimming pool as the boys were exhausted by the trip to Universal Studios Singapore. They loved this trip so much they kept on bragging about it from time to time. Sometimes my boy will ask us to bring them back to Singapore.

Many people might say why the hassle bringing the boys to travel since they are still young. Honestly, we believe the importance of family traveling is to live the experience and moments especially for the parents. You won’t have the second chance bringing your young kids for another holiday in the future except your grandchildren.

If you are planning for a family travel like us in Singapore, you should consider staying in Grand Mercure Roxy in Katong. For the best rates and more information, visit their official website at http://grandmercureroxy.com.sg/

Wilson Ng