Singapore Tour [from Changi Airport]

[flyboysp]

Later this week I will be flying with SQ, doing SYD-SIN-MNL and back again 5 days later. On my 2 previous visits through Changi I had a 2.5 hour connection and have not had the opportunity to do anything exciting. I haven’t even left the airport

On the outbound sectors I will have my choice of flights to get me through toMNL. With this in mind I am considering taking SQ 242 arriving into Changi at12.15am. I would then sleep/ eat/entertain myself or whatever until the morning. I would go on the free Singapore Tour organized by the airport http://www.changiairport.com/at-changi/leisure-indulgences/free-singapore-tour.After this tour, I would continue onto MNL leaving on SQ916 at 2.20pm.

With this in mind, is it worth the extra time to just go on this tour, or am I better off just flying straight through to MNL on the quickest itinerary?
With the tour my flights would be SQ242 7.10PM-12.15AM arriving Thursday morning, then flying SQ916 2.20pm-5.55pm
Without the tour it would be SQ212 9.05AM-2.10PM on a Thursday morning departure, connecting to SQ 918 5PM-8.35PM.

 

[Simo]

Re: Singapore Tour

Depends on if you want to look around SIN.

It depends on how much you want to get to MNL as well.

I am going to MNL in May and will be out of SIN as soon as I can leave.

 

[flyboysp]

Re: Singapore Tour

Depends on if you want to look around SIN.

It depends on how much you want to get to MNL as well.

I am going to MNL in May and will be out of SIN as soon as I can leave.

I'm not fussed either way if I get a proper look or not. I'm just taking advantage of the opprtunity, seeing as I dont know when or if I'll ever be back SIN. Plus another stamp on the passport wont hurt either.
I'm only going to MNL because my father got hit by a truck, and needs someone to fly back with him. MNL is okay because we have family there.

Have you done this tour before?

 

[casanovawa]

Re: Singapore Tour

I did it many years ago, so may have changed, still somewhat interesting, but Singapore isn't Paris or New York or anything...

Still if you haven't seen it might be interesting... Not sure I would spend heaps of money if you need to book a room or anything because you arrive so early the night before, or would you just stay in lounges or something??

 

[flyboysp]

Re: Singapore Tour

I did it many years ago, so may have changed, still somewhat interesting, but Singapore isn't Paris or New York or anything...

Still if you haven't seen it might be interesting... Not sure I would spend heaps of money if you need to book a room or anything because you arrive so early the night before, or would you just stay in lounges or something??

That’s perfectly fine. I know I'm not going to get New York or Tokyo.

Chances are when I arrive, I'll do a bit of exploring around airport and grabbing a bite to eat. If I get really tired, I'll cough up some cash for the transit lounge, but most likely I’ll find try find a comfortable quiet spot in the terminal

 

[elan]

Re: Singapore Tour

Last year, our Family of 5 had to endure a 9 hour layover in Changi, for this reason we took the tour, from memory they have different options during the course of the day. If you want a guided tour of Singapore, I'd say go for it. On our tour we had an approx. 1 -1.5 hour stop, therefore we had time to have a good look around. We also found the tour interesting. We were certainally glad we did the tour rather than watch a movie.

 

[Simo]

Re: Singapore Tour

Why don't you book a flight on either CX or if you want some adventure on Cebu as they have flights that leave after midnight.

 

[k_sheep]

Re: Singapore Tour

I'd go for it ... why not? It may not be Paris or London, but I hate Paris and London so I'm biased there

One problem is that the tours often book out pretty quickly, so you may be disappointed. Also, they take your passport so you don't get the stamp anyway.

In terms of grabbing a kip at the airport, they have dedicated rest areas which have lounges for snoozing. I've spent a few nights there very comfortably.

 

[flyboysp]

Re: Singapore Tour

I guess I'll have enough time to do both.

 

[flyboysp]

Re: Singapore Tour

Why don't you book a flight on either CX or if you want some adventure on Cebu as they have flights that leave after midnight.

My dad is booked with SQ, so i'm keeping it with them to keep it simple.

 

[flyboysp]

Re: Singapore Tour

I'd go for it ... why not? It may not be Paris or London, but I hate Paris and London so I'm biased there

One problem is that the tours often book out pretty quickly, so you may be disappointed. Also, they take your passport so you don't get the stamp anyway.

In terms of grabbing a kip at the airport, they have dedicated rest areas which have lounges for snoozing. I've spent a few nights there very comfortably.

I'd say I have a good chance of getting into one of the tours. Why would they take the passports? I'd assume that because we would be in country, they would need to be stamped and therefore we would need to keep it on us. It's no big deal though, if I dont get the stamp.

 

[amaroo]

Re: Singapore Tour

All new places are worth seeing!

Singapore is fantastic.....I'd do the tour.

 

[flyboysp]

Re: Singapore Tour

All new places are worth seeing!

Singapore is fantastic.....I'd do the tour.

I'm going to do the tour. As you said all new places are worth seeing.

One final question, though on a different but related matter, is it safe to assume that my checked bags will be tagged all the way through to MNL and that I wont have to go collect them, considering it's a 14 hour layover?

Thanks for replies amd input guys

 

[jetlagger]

Re: Singapore Tour

I'm going to do the tour. As you said all new places are worth seeing.

One final question, though on a different but related matter, is it safe to assume that my checked bags will be tagged all the way through to MNL and that I wont have to go collect them, considering it's a 14 hour layover?

Thanks for replies amd input guys

I would assume the bags would be tagged & checked thru to MNL if your BP SIN/MNL is issued at MEL.
Best to confirm with SQ though.

 

[casanovawa]

Re: Singapore Tour

If not just leave them on the luggage carousel and they'll get collected by SQ's baggage office and then go and pick them up later in the day, rather than screwing around with them the whole time, but yes they should be checked through you would think...

And yes the tour would definitely be worth doing if you had nothing to do, i'm just not sure i would jump through heaps of hoops just to wangle it, rather than just stay in Singa's one time for a day or two... But sounds like you have got it all planned...

 

[amaroo]

Re: Singapore Tour

I would assume the bags would be tagged & checked thru to MNL if your BP SIN/MNL is issued at MEL.
Best to confirm with SQ though.

+1........

 

[flyboysp]

Re: Singapore Tour

I did the Singapore tour and am glad I did. I would recommend it to anyone. I explored SIN airport so much, I think I know it better than SYD

On a side note, we did get entry and exit stamps for this tour. However an interesting situation occurred. After proceeding through immigration, the group and leader waited to see if everyone had come through. In the belief that everyone was present, we continued with the tour. While we were heading south on Airport Boulevard, the host realised that 3 Turkish nationals were not present, and that we would all have to report back to immigration after the tour.

 

[jetlagger]

Re: Singapore Tour

I did the Singapore tour and am glad I did. I would recommend it to anyone. I explored SIN airport so much, I think I know it better than SYD

On a side note, we did get entry and exit stamps for this tour. However an interesting situation occurred. After proceeding through immigration, the group and leader waited to see if everyone had come through. In the belief that everyone was present, we continued with the tour. While we were heading south on Airport Boulevard, the host realised that 3 Turkish nationals were not present, and that we would all have to report back to immigration after the tour.

Nice to hear of your update, hope your luggage was check through to MNL on your forward sectors & that you had a mostly positive time, with the unfortunate event earlier that you mentioned.
I have also done the SIN tour on several occasions with minimal time constraint issues & always learned something new..
Cheers,
jl

 

[flyboysp]

Re: Singapore Tour

Nice to hear of your update, hope your luggage was check through to MNL on your forward sectors & that you had a mostly positive time, with the unfortunate event earlier that you mentioned.
I have also done the SIN tour on several occasions with minimal time constraint issues & always learned something new..
Cheers,
jl

Thankfully it was. Most likely because I was asked if I wanted the bags checked through upon check in in SYD What I did notice that in MNL on top of the baggage carousels were tv's showing the baggage handlers doing there while blasting dance music.
I didn't even consider that event unfortunate. It made the whole experience more interesting. As it turns out what happened was that, there was a debate between the host and immigration about which side to use T2 South or T2 North immigration. We tried to go through south instead of north. We eventually went through south immigration, but the 3 Turkish nationals went through north immigration, and were just waiting there.

SIN airport is a destination of it's own.