Recommend February 2012 - (Page 43)

CRUISING Located where the Indian Ocean meets the China Sea, Singapore is quite naturally a major port of call for cruise lines such as Costa Cruises (costacruise.com) and Royal Caribbean (royalcaribbean.com), which cruise in and out of Singapore regularly. Shore excursion favorites include a Night Safari, which spotlights the world’s ﬁrst wildlife park designed to be explored at night by tram and on foot along illuminated trails; over 1,200 roam this vast “open zoo.” Cruise passengers, who contributed to Singapore’s 12 percent increase in visitors from the Americas in 2010, have an even wider choice of shore-exs that concentrate on culture. Costa Classica, for instance, offers an all-day Heritage Tour of Singapore, with a visit to the Thian Hock Keng Temple, built in 1821—of wood with no nails—by Chinese seamen grateful for safe passage. The morning is spent in Chinatown, where ﬁrst-time visitors are surprised to ﬁnd a Hindu temple standing next to a Mosque—a signature example of the melange of cultures in the melting pot that is Singapore. After dropping into the new shophouses of the Chinatown Heritage Center and sampling Chinese culinary delicacies, it’s off to the colorful bustling street life of Little India, whose main artery is Serangoon Road, the place where everyone buys spices, ﬂower garlands, Bollywood DVDs and saris. The ﬁnal cultural stop is Arab Street, a short street indeed, lined with shops selling Malaysian and Indonesian batik cloth, home decor items, baskets, carved wood, and just off Arab Street is the towering, onion-domed Sultan Mosque. cuit, the Asian Civilisations Museum housing marvelous collections that bring to life the civilizations of China, Southeast, South and West Asia, regions whose heritages fuse in multi-cultural Singapore; this riverfront museum is located in the colonial-era Empress Palace Building. And the most popular tourist attraction on the colonial circuit is the Rafﬂes Hotel, built in 1887 and transformed from a rundown curio into a gleaming landmark in 1991. Memorabilia furnishing the suites reassures hotel guests they are in good company: Rudyard Kipling, Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward and Somerset Maugham slept here. Here, guests will ﬁnd 103 suites, 15 restaurants and bars, a spa, a pool, gym, library, WiFi and 24-hour butler service. WHERE TO HANG Non-cruise visitors, of course, stay longer in Singapore—four days is the average for American travelers. Some may now be looking into a stay at one of the new batch of boutique hotels that have converted old Chinatown shophouses to 21st century modernism such as the New Majestic Hotel (newmajestichotel.com), whose 30 rooms were decorated by emerging and established artists. Another hotel with a history is the Goodwood Park (goodwoodparkhotel.com), a Victorian-era castle. Built as a social club for German expatriates and used as the war crimes court after the Japanese surrender, this grande dame landmark still looks good. The original wing retains all the Old World ambiance while the new wing is handsome but spartan. Every visitor should make time to tarry in the jewel of the cultural cir- february 2012 A15 RAFFLES HOTEL http://www.costacruise.com http://www.royalcaribbean.com http://www.newmajestichotel.com http://www.goodwoodparkhotel.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recommend February 2012

Editor's Notes/Agent Speak
Hotel Desk: The Lodge at Woodloch
Tour Talk: Swain Tours
Celebrity Silhouette
Savoring the Zulu Kingdom
The Falkland Islands-Nature's Last Stand
Asia
One Bal Harbour, Florida
Las Vegas Spa Retreats
Beaver Creek Lodge, Colorado
Bliss Springs Eternal at Esperanza
The Ritz-Carlton, Cancun
Time to "Czech" Out Moravia
Caribbean Uber-Luxe

Recommend February 2012