Genting’s Resorts World Sentosa opened just a few months before Marina Bay Sands in February 2010. In contrast to Marina Bay, Resorts World’s layout is really spread out, with hotel towers and attractions covering 120 acres. American architect Michael Graves designed the resort, creating a different theme for each of the six hotel sections. The massive complex is divided into central, east, and west zones. The central zone is the largest, containing four hotel towers, the casino, several restaurants, and featured shows. The west zone contains two hotel towers, salons and spas, the Marine Life Park, and the Maritime Experiential Museum. The east zone features Universal Studios Singapore, which is Southeast Asia’s first Universal Studios theme park.
The main amenities at Resorts World Sentosa include their spa, convention space, and special event areas. Called ESPA, Resort World’s spa covers 10,000 square feet and offers a variety of treatments. These range from standard massages and saunas, to body cleansing and skin hydrating techniques. You’ll also find garden spas in the ESPA area that offer further relaxation. As for the meeting space, Resorts World caters to business and social events, weddings, and birthday parties. The Singapore government capped Resorts World’s casino at 15,000 square meters or 165,000 sq. ft., making it almost the same size as Marina Bay Sand’s gambling floor of 160,000 sq. ft. You’ll find more slot machines, 2,400, here, but less table games, 500. Nevertheless, both numbers should be more than enough to satisfy the average gambler. Table games include: baccarat, blackjack, Caribbean stud poker, craps, Pai gow, pontoon, Texas hold’em, and progressive 3 card poker. As mentioned earlier, Singapore has strange rules in place that require Singapore citizens and permanent residents to pay S$100 for a daily pass, or $2,000 for a yearly casino membership. Given that foreigners are allowed in for free, this law is obviously a deterrent to prevent locals from gambling.
The six hotels at Resorts World combine to offer 1,840 rooms, which is about four fifths the size of Marina Bay Sands. In the central zone, you’ll find Crockfords Tower, Hotel Michael, Festive Hotel, and Hard Rock Hotel. Crockfords is an 11 story building that overlooks Singapore Harbour. Its bottom floor houses the casino, while there’s a private gambling floor on the 10th floor. Hotel Michael is also an 11 story tower that’s named after the architect, Michael Graves. Festive Hotel is geared towards families and houses the 1,600 seat plenary hall. Hard Rock Hotel is a business oriented section that houses conference and meeting spaces along with an indoor exhibition area. Hard Rock also contains one of Asia’s largest ballrooms with seating for 7,300 people. In the west zone, you’ll find the Equarius Hotel and Beach Villas.
Equarius Hotel is close to the Adventure Cove Waterpark, while Beach Villas features 22 villas floating on top of a lagoon. As the name implies, this resort is located on Sentosa Island, a popular vacation area at Singapore’s southern most tip. More than 20 million people visit Singapore on an annual basis to enjoy the different resorts, golf courses, and other attractions. You can easily take multiple week long vacations to Sentosa and never get bored with everything that Resorts World and other island attractions offer.
The lone drawback is that Sentosa is even further away from Changi Airport than Marina Bay Sands. It should only take you 10 minutes longer to cover the extra distance from Marina Bay to Resorts World Sentosa. But this is still an inconvenience when going to and from the airport. If you like fine dining, then you’ll want to stay in one of the central zone hotels, where the top restaurants are. Notable restaurants in the central zone include: Forest by Sam Leong Chinese cuisine, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon by Joël Robuchon contemporary French cuisine, Osia by Scott Webster Australian cuisine, Restaurant de Joël Robuchon by Joël Robuchon French, and Tunglok heen by Susur Lee Chinese.
One area where Resorts World really trumps Marina Bay Sands is in the attractions department. In fact, this casino resort is largely based around its non gambling offerings. Marine Life Park is a 20 acre facility that houses S.E.A. Aquarium and the Adventure Cove Waterpark. S.E.A. is one of the world’s largest aquariums by water volume, containing 45,000,000 liters along with 49 different fish habitats. Adventure Cove offers seven waterslides, the Riptide Rocket hydro magnetic rollercoaster, Bluwater Bay wave pool, and Adventure River lazy river ride. The Maritime Experiential Museum offers over 400 artifacts along with a 360 degree Multi sensory Typhoon Theatre. This museum also features over 10 interactive experiences for visitors in addition to the chance to board real Asian harbor ships.
While these aquatic experiences are impressive, the biggest special attraction at Resorts World Sentosa is Universal Studios Singapore. In fact, this theme park is a big reason why Genting won one of the two casino resort licenses being offered in 2006. Universal Studios is divided up into seven different themes, including Ancient Egypt, Far Far Away, Hollywood, Madagascar, New York, Sci Fi City, and The Lost World. Each of these themes offers building and attractions that fit the zone’s name. Other key elements to Universal Studios Singapore include: Lake Hollywood Theatre pyrotechnics / musical show, Pantages Hollywood Theatre Broadway style theatre, Mel’s Diner based on 1973 film American Graffiti, Minion Mart Despicable Me memorabilia, Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride, Superstar Candies store, The Dark Room sells cinema accessories, Universal Studios Store, and the Waterworld Arena.
