mystatuesque: 3rd year @ Equarius Hotel

Time has flown since we got together during our university days, and we are fortunate to celebrate our 3rd year together. Instead of having a nice dinner at a posh restaurant, we decided to have a staycation this time round. Our first was at Hard Rock Hotel, and the second at Marina Bay Sands (for my 24th birthday). We opted for RWS again, but went for its newest hotel - Equarius Hotel.

We bought the grand opening package, which included a 3D2N hotel stay with breakfast at any of RWS' hotels (except for Crockford Hotel I think), 2 tickets each for Universal Studios, Adventure Cove, and SEA Aquarium. It cost us $728 ($628 for other RWS hotels), and I must say it's a good deal! What attracted us to RWS is it's many activities that can be found within one location!

Had lunch at The Greenhouse at Ritz Carlton before checking in. They offer quality buffet at a reasonable price. If you would like to try it out, I would recommend the lunch buffet as it is more affordable. But if you're all out to eat, you would probably get their full buffet during weekend dinners. Other than the roast chicken, I was satisfied with all the food that I tried. I was particularly impressed by their ice cream spread. Most buffets tend to focus on their mains but serve average or even substandard ice cream. The ice cream here however, was superb and definitely on par with premium-quality gelatos/sorbets sold elsewhere. I kept going back for more!

Upon checking in, we were delighted to be told that we were entitled to an additional complimentary night's stay as our stay dates fell within a certain promotional period. Although we were given a room on a smoking floor (I had requested for a non-smoking room), the view of the Adventure Cove and the mainland more than made up for it. Equarius Hotel was slightly more expensive than the other RWS hotels, but I thought it was well worth the money as our room (and the bathroom too) was bigger than the one in Hard Rock, and all rooms come with a balcony too! The only drawback is that it is the furthest hotel from the Resorts World atrium, about twice the time you would talk to walk from Hard Rock to the atrium. However, this did not inconvenient us greatly as the shuttle buses that brought us to and from Equarius were regular.

The room (couldn't capture the whole room)

The bathroom. Rooms with bathtubs get bonus points from me!

View of Adventure Cove from our balcony

Hotel lobby

The lawn outside the Forest restaurant

A huge gymnasium

Our first day was spent with a short visit to Universal Studios, followed by dinner at Chili's. Since it wasn't our first time at USS, we only went for the more exciting rides or new rides we haven't tried before. Each queue was about 5 minutes long only. I believe the most crowded hours are in the morning and early afternoon, when visitors are "chionging" the rides. As USS is small, they would be done by mid-afternoon, so when we were there in the late afternoon, the park was visibly less crowded. This was also our experience during our first time there. So if you want an "efficient" visit to the park, I would advise going there from mid-afternoon onwards.

Sunrise

Breakfast at Forest

Forest restaurant. Breakfast was pretty decent.

The highlight of the second day was Adventure Cove. We had wanted to try the Segway, but they were fully booked for a corporate event. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we headed to Adventure Cove first, earlier in the day when the sun was still out. Adventure Cove is pretty small as well, in terms of time spent there, we took about the same amount of time as USS (3 hours) to cover the water park. Similar to USS, it seemed like the queues for the water rides had subsided by the time we were there, which was in the early afternoon. We spent about 20 minutes each queuing for our first two rides, and 10 minutes each for the rest. There were about 5 water rides to try in total. I liked that Adventure Cove also added a mini aquarium for visitors to snorkel in, because it adds variety to its park. The water in aquarium is really cold though! Do laze in the Adventure River too! I liked how different decors we presented at different parts of the river. Didn't take any pictures because my stuff were kept in the locker.

For those staying at Equarius, it's about a 7-minute walk from the hotel. There is a side entrance which looks like a little wooden hut, at the end of a side road. Do look out closely for it as it is easy to miss, we did!

We checked out the pool on the 3rd day. I envy those who get to stay in the villa (I heard that booking a villa is by invitation only). How nice it is to just step out of your villa and frolic in the pool, on a sun bed! We did not visit the SEA Aquarium as we've already been there before.