Traveling for 6 months isn’t the cheapest thing to do, and unless you are earning your money online or while you travel, you’d better have a budget for your trip. We didn’t plan to live in Four Seasons and Shangri-La, but rather stay in hostels, travel cheap but splurge on some special experiences. However, without planning it, we ended up flying our first leg of the journey from Singapore to Auckland first class with Singapore Airlines. Or should I say suites? Anyway, we can thank KrisFlyer miles – this ticket cost us less than a standard flight from Copenhagen to Tallinn. Once in Auckland, we transferred to the flight towards Queenstown, but read how to get from Auckland airport to city if you intend to stay.
First class with Singapore Airlines: the arrival
Most people have heard of Changi airport before – beautiful terminals, various gardens, pool, gym, art and so on. Lately they have built a new terminal (one more is on the way), so it just keeps getting better. However, your first class experience starts already when you arrive at the airport: at terminal 3 (where we flew from) there is a special entrance for Singapore Airlines First Class. In front of the door valets help you with your luggage, and you are approached by staff to help you to the counter. Your check in as at the personal desk, from where you are guided to the first class immigration point.
This is what check-in area looks like
After immigration you proceed through the common airport area (where you can shop if you feel like it) to the SilverKris Lounge, which is bigger than we first expected.
First class with Singapore Airlines: Lounge
Decor in private room is modest
We were guided through the business class seating, then first class seating.. and to the “private room”. Now, don’t let the name mistake you – it’s not actually a private room where you sit alone with your companion, it’s still a lounge. But, in comparison to other lounges in Changi, you get much more space, better food and amazing service.
Freshly squeezed juices
Speaking of food: everything we tried was delicious. We spent few hours in the lounge and tried some freshly squeezed fruit juices, whisky (for Anders) and red wine (for me), as well as dim sum, prawn noodle (highly recommended!), lamb shank (tasted quite okay, but not top quality) and a burger (super tasty but tiny). A selection of TWG teas (sorry, no Gold Yin Zhen or Imperial Gyokuro), choice of chocolates, drinks and snacks was available in addition to a restaurant menu. I’m starting to drool just by writing it!
Prawn Noodles
The only thing that seemed a little strange (besides me being obviously under-dressed in my hiking shoes and with a huge backpack) was lounge’s emptiness. When we came there was not more than 5 people. It was weird to talk with everyone around you being so silent. Later, however, more people came in, and the atmosphere became a little more relaxed. And even with more people in the lounge, there was still plenty of space and no need for the human contact if you feel like hibernating.
First class with Singapore Airlines: experience on board
The experience on board was very relaxing. Honestly, I don’t even know what to start with, but let’s go with the general set-up. The rooms/cabins/seats are quite spacious. You get a declining chair with a foot rest (I, honestly, could’ve slept on that); a table and a seat on the other side of the table (unfortunately, we never got a good picture of the cabin). There’s lots of space for your gadgets and small items.
This one is for ladies!
When the chair is down, the bed is pulled from the back of the cabin. The bed is not very soft, but it’s comfy enough to sleep in. Of course, you get pajamas, slippers, blankets and pillows. We also got a kit from Salvatore Ferragamo (mine included perfume, hand cream and lip balm, Anders had men’s perfume, aftershave and lip balm). Our cabins were arranged next to each other, so we could talk. For dinner we got to sit at my table opposite each other. Table cloth and all that – a romantic restaurant type dinner date. I really enjoyed it!
Food
Nom nom nom.. Crab salad stuffed capsicum
In general, all the food we got was really nice. Most of all I was impressed by capsicum stuffed with the crab salad. For the main dish I ordered sushi (loved it) and Anders had Waiyu steak, which was also quite good. Breakfast waffles were lovely, but a little too sweet; on the other hand the fruit platter and the berry yoghurt/muesli/croissant were delicious. Of course, champagne, wine list, whiskey, whatever other drinks you want – all is offered. If you are a coffee lover, Anders recommends to try Ethiopian brew.
Okay, I will tease you with some more food pictures, since we didn’t make any promising cabin photos 🙂
Breakfast waffles
Fruit platter
This was before I spilled soy sauce all over the white cloth.. I’m really not a messy person otherwise 😛
Sushi selection
To sum up
Of course, flying first class has its own perks – a great service, better food, better sleep and much more privacy. But maybe one day I’ll get to try business class with Singapore airlines to see the difference. Last few times we flew with Singapore airlines in economy class, we’ve been a little disappointed with the service. It wasn’t particularly bad, but it lacked that “something special”, “a cherry on top” that it used to have before. But now, in first class, we found that and more. Hopefully, next time we’re flying economy, we’ll be reminded of it.
Enjoy your flight!
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Wow! This looks like pure luxury. It would be wonderful to try the First Class sometime and with an airlines like Singapore, I am sure it is a seamless experience. I bet you were not tired at all after this experience. Probably more rejuvenated.
Hah, true! I mean, we were glad we reached our destination, but silly enough – we wish we had more time on the plane! 🙂 Experience might be different for those who always fly first class.