Singapore Pre Cruise

Tip:  Add a pre-cruise stay to your plans - helps to take the worry out of traveling

When planning our trip to Southeast Asia, we had decided to include a one night pre-cruise stay which would give us time to adjust to the drastic time change and also serve as a buffer should anything go wrong with our travel arrangements.   Initially we had booked a Marriott hotel in Malaysia but as we looked into the airport to hotel transportation, we changed out mind.  It would have added a level of complexity, since we'd need to go through immigration in Malaysia and Singapore, that we didn't want to do on the day of the cruise.

click to enlarge images

Our revised plans called for us to stay at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Changi Airport (Singapore).  It is located in Terminal 3.   Terminals are connected by shuttle bus and skytrain, so regardless of which terminal you arrive in, you can easily get to this hotel.

After retrieving our baggage and going through customs, we stopped at an information desk to inquire about the best way to get to the hotel.  They suggested we take the shuttle bus to Terminal 2 and then walk across to the hotel via the sky bridge.   With our luggage on a trolley, we headed to the shuttle stop.  We had just missed a bus, so we had a short wait.

A nice gentleman, who was on the shuttle bus already, helped us get our luggage on and off the shuttle bus to Terminal 2. Once we arrived at Terminal 2, we loaded our luggage on a trolley, took the elevator to the sky bridge and walked across to Terminal 3 / Crowne Plaza entrance.

After checking in, we headed upstairs to room 668.  Our baggage arrive shortly after we did. Once inside the room, we explored all of the amenities, including privacy shades and windows in the bathroom.  There's even a "Handy" device, which is phone that can be used during your stay.  It has web access, deals on sightseeing,  and free unlimited international phone calls.

We freshened up and headed back downstairs for some dinner.  The restaurant had a buffet, for $65 Singapore per person or a-la-carte selections. We'd had several meals on our flight, so we opted for soup and chicken satay instead of the buffet.

Originally we had planned to do some touring upon arrival in Singapore.  Since we'd been traveling for 24 hours, we weren't in the mood to go far, or even do any sightseeing. Shortly after dinner, we went to bed.

All refreshed after a good night's sleep, we had some breakfast cereal bars in our room.  We like to pack a light breakfast for cruise mornings, knowing that once we get on the ship, there will be plenty of food waiting for us.

Before checking out, we went up to the 3rd floor of the hotel to check out the pool area.  After seeing the pool, we decided that when we returned to the hotel after the cruise we would definitely want to unwind a bit at the pool.

We checked out and asked them to order a taxi for us.  It was only a twenty minute ride to Marina Bay pier, where Sapphire Princess awaited our arrival.  Check-in went smoothly - more on that in another post.   This hotel is a great location for pre/post cruise stay - we'd highly recommend it.  Post cruise, you could even get a day rate if your flight departs later in the evening.

Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Related Album:

Crowne Plaza

Additional photos can be found on our Southeast Asia Shutterfly page

View Our Other Shutterfly Share Pages

Follow Us On

Sign-up for Exclusive Email Offers

Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat