Review: Singapore Airlines Private Room Singapore SIN

Did you notice what champagne you are drinking in the private room?

Good read!

@ flyinfish -- They serve Veuve La Grande Dame. Very nice!

Most important questions I have:

1. What brand of champagne did they serve?
2. Why the hell would you fry a carrot cake and serve it with prawns???

(Oops - cross posted and answered!)

So no way to access Silver Kris Lounge if arriving to Singapore via First or Suites? Our flight gets in at 3am from Tokyo and if not allowed into lounge for a bit have to contact hotel and negotiate early morning check-in.

I visited it for the first time in October and I have to agree with the conclusion. It does feel exclusive and the service is good but it really is just a waiting room. Iirc we became so bored in this lounge that we ended up walking around all of the terminals to pass the time. 2 hours is the absolute maximum that I'd ever plan on spending there.

@ Dale -- Correct, you must be departing as well.

@nick carrot cake is not what you think, it is basically a Chinese thing, radish or in Chinese radish and carrots are called the same thing, you get them in some dim sum restaurants in square pieces, in Singapore these are chopped up and pan fried with egg and other condiments and flavourings

@ Nick - The "fried carrot cake", also known as chai tow kway, is a common dish in Singapore. It's actually a stir fry dish and has nothing to do with the western dessert. Interestingly enough, it's not even made with carrots - the main ingredient is daikon radish.

what a shame. I have been through that lounge a dozen times and now it is just like a regular business class. Believe it or not it was better than your AF CDG F lounge experience with amazing 3 star Michelline star food, super attentive personal service, etc. Now its pretty much equal to the Concorde room if not worse

I loved the private room. Buffets in the tropics are not advised for health reasons (although Singapore is the one Asian tropical country where I feel safe with them), and the warm food is never as good as when it's made to order. Plus, I think its not as clasy. At dinner you can get some pretty deluxe stuff. Seems right on food wise to me.

Showers at all three of the SQ lounges suck. They are nice for two minutes and then the hot water runs out.

Hi Ben, which one does your dad like better? The Private Room or Emirates FCL? 🙂

Ben - What were you going to say about the triangular shape of the dining room (or did I miss it)?

@ Francisca -- Definitely the Emirates lounge, I think.

@ Greg -- Whoops, my mistake! Rearranged the post before publishing, and forgot to remove that.

They have served Dom previously so must mix it up.

Buffet in the first class section is a little better. They also have a Ben and jerry's fridge in there. Up to the traveller to decide whether to ask the waiters to bring it to you, or to grab it yourself.

Ben, other than the exclusivity and size, are there any amenities offered in the Private Room that isn't offered in the First Class Lounge?

TPR is nice, but underwhelming. Not worth going out of your way to arrive early. When I was there on a six hour layover AKL-SIN-CDG, with about T-3 the most obnoxious family of 7 travelling to LHR arrived and proceeded to "take over" the lounge with their conversation. Much to the amusement of the TPR agent we decamped to the (comparatively quieter) FCL outside.

@lucky - My wife and I will be flying Singapore First from Tokyo to Singapore in April and connecting on their Silkair Buisness Class flight to Koh Samui. I know that we won't be able to access the Private Room but we should still be able to access the First Class Lounge and not just the Business Lounge, correct?

"The Changi terminal is gorgeous, arguably the nicest in the world."

Am I the only person who finds the carpet absolutely hideous?

It looks like a cat tore it to pieces and then a blind carpet layer tried to put it back together again.

SQ is a great airline, and it's true there is a lot to see and do at SIN, but that carpet is just plain repulsive.

The Shanghainese noodles in TPL are supremely tasty.

Oops- TPR

Unless this has changed in the last few months, you can definitely use the Private Room as an arriving passenger (from SQ First/Suites Class) as long as you're connecting to another SQ flight. It is not restricted to departing passengers. When you arrive, you don't have an invitation - just check in with the agent at the entrance, who will walk you to the First Class agent, who will walk you to the Private Room agent.

@Kris - When I was there with my wife we had no problems each taking extended hot showers. So either good luck for us or bad luck for you 😉

Lucky and all who fortunate enough to ever been to Private Room, I have a question: all the food and beverages that we can order in private room, e.g. : roti prato, dimsum, champagne.... Are all free of charge and we don't have to pay anything, right?

@ David -- Yep, it's included.

Hi Ben, My wife and I have a redemption booking flying Suites from MEL - SIN - NRT - LAX later in year. Yes we lucked out and the A380 is flying out of Melbourne again for a few weeks so we are suites class the whole way. Would we have access to the Private Room when we transit @ Changi?

Cheers

@ Patrick Mc -- Yes, correct.

@ Josh -- Better food, drinks, and service, but that's it.

@ Steve -- Awesome booking, and you sure would have access!

Hi Ben:

I have a first suite redemption CDG-SIN-SYD coming up in May. I purposely picked A380 SIN-SYD to be on the suite. The problem is the layover would be 15hrs long (CDG flight arrives at 6am, SYD bound flight departs at 9pm) Are you allowed to enter TPR multiple times during the layover? I'm planning to have breakfast there, then go into Singapore for a quick sightseeing/shopping during the day, and come back for dinner and wait in TPR before my 9pm flight. Am I allowed to do that?

@ Michael Kao -- Sure, as long as it's same day that's fine.

I had a six-hour layover in TPR. Although the food was delicious, I found it so desperately lonely in there (just me and one older couple who showed up for a few hours) that I spent a lot of time slumming it in the F and (gasp) business lounges just so I could feel like I wasn't the only person in the world.

Nice review, Ben. I had a Suites redemption LHR-SIN-AKL recently so got to use it a few times. Agree with your general take on it. Was glad to have been and it's nice, but not amazing. Was pretty empty on my first visit (which was therefore dominated for most of it by a very loud American businessman on his mobile - right next to the lovely private phone rooms! Why he could go into one of them who knows!). Second visit was at breakfast time when it was mobbed - no space left in the dining room!

I also found it funny they made such a big thing of taking your boarding pass and noting all the details but then didn't do calls for flights, either individually or announced.

I have read a few reviews on TPR lately, and some have mentioned that there isn't much to the lounge, and that it can be better spent walking around Changi. I am heading there this year, and am interested to know, why exactly is it boring there? What makes TPR so much less 'exciting' than other lounges at Changi?

For me, having an exclusive, private lounge is the ultimate in lounge experiences. As long as the food/drinks are good and I can find a nice quiet place to rest what more can a lounge offer that would make it better than walking the halls of an airport? I ask because I don't want to show up to the airport 4 hours in advance to take advantage of it, if really I only need an hour there.

@ Richard -- I don't think it's boring compared to other lounges at Changi, but rather just boring compared to some of the other top lounges in the world.

My companion (my mother) and I could only snag one 1st class ticket from Singapore to LA, stopping in Narita. Is it possible for a 1st class passenger to bring a guest flying on the same flight?

@Gina In my experience; no. They may make an exception for younger children; but for the most part, sorry, no. F down to J or even Y is fine. You can try booking the second ticket at the standard level or book the SIN-NRT and NRT-LAX leg separately.

nothing odd about finger sandwiches and cold cuts selection for breakfast.

Very unimpressed this evening.... No desks on which to work (I'm using one of the dining area tables) and, as mentioned above, pretty much no facilities (as mentioned above) / tepid tea and wasn't offered milk and sugar until I asked for it. And perhaps most importantly for a DYKWIA like me when they cleared away my starter plate (fruit) they put the cutlery to one side for me to use for my main course - eeek!

Lounge is a quiet place to grab a nice glass of champagne before your flight. That said, the food leaves a lot to be desired. On the last couple visits, the waiters have asked me why I wasn't hungry. I usually reply that I've already had my filling at the airport food court... And they usually agree with my choice 🙂

So first class transfer to a no first class aircraft on Singapore airlines only gets you access to the first class lounge from what I’m gathering?