Singapore Airlines SilverKris First Class Lounge
We spent the 2.5 hour layover at the Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge, electing to just relax a bit instead of exploring the airport.
Singapore Airlines offers access to the SilverKris lounge for both First and Business Class passengers. The lounge is located on the upper level of Terminal 3 above the shopping areas and is partitioned into three sections: Business Class, First Class, and the exclusive Private Room. Locating the lounge is fairly easy considering that there are signs throughout the terminal and is right up an escalator from the shopping area.
The lounge is unique in that you first present your boarding pass at the business class desk and then escorted to the first class lounge desk and finally to the private room desk. At each desk, your boarding pass is scanned and a lounge attendant will escort you further on into an even more exclusive section of the lounge.
Because my sister and I were flying with our parents who were in Suites Class, we were given access all the way up to the First Class Lounge. The Private Room however, is strictly for Suites Class passengers and so were politely declined entry.
My dad provided a few photos of the Private Room, but he mentioned that the Private Room actually had more people and that it was much tougher to take good pictures. In fact, my parents joined us in the First Class section after a short while.
I wasn’t really the one to complain though because we pretty much had the entire First Class Lounge to ourselves. And for the first 1 hour or so, there was nobody in sight except for the lounge attendants. I guess 6pm isn’t a peak departure time for Singapore?
Anyway I quickly walked around the lounge snapping a few pictures expecting the lounge to fill up. One thing I immediately noticed was that the lounge had no views of the tarmac, which was extremely disappointing considering the number of heavies that frequent the Singapore airport.
The lounge largely consisted of tons of reading lamps and lounge chairs dispersed in rows; this was nothing out of the ordinary. The decor is really cozy and the ambiance is a bit understated, which I greatly prefer over the Emirates Lounges in Dubai.
There was a small work area, which consisted of an iMac and a couple of other all in one PCs. I found it funny that they just didn’t go for iMacs throughout the area. I wonder why…
There was a nice bar area decorated for the holidays (this was the day after Christmas). I’m sorry I failed you guys in this regard: I have no idea what sort of alcoholic beverages are served here. I’m sure others have probably written about the Krug or Chardonnay if it is available
The Restrooms and Showers
I decided to take a shower at this point while I waited so that I could head straight to bed upon getting on the next flight. It should be noted that the Private Room doesn’t have its own restrooms or showers.
As I walked into the shower area, I was handed a shrink wrapped parcel with towels and a basket of toiletries, which was placed on the counter.
While the razors and brushes were Singapore Airlines branded, the toiletries were by Salvador Fergamo, which seems to be quite the expensive designer company. I should note here also that Singapore Airlines doesn’t offer amenity kits in Business Class and instead stocks the lavatories with toiletries. This was definitely nice from my mom’s perspective because I’ve been filling up the desk with airline amenity kits lately 😉
I must say the shower was extremely disappointing in the end though because the water ended up being lukewarm after just 5 minutes. And this was with the lounge completely empty! Maybe I should blame my sister for using up all the hot water because she took a shower before me?
Dining Area
After the shower, I started getting a little hungry and went to go check out the dining area behind the bar.
The lounge featured both a buffet and an a la carte menu with made to order items. There was most certainly an abundance of vegetarian items to eat with all of it marked with green labels.
There was also some fresh fruit and chocolates on offer alongside some vegetarian noodles and mint chutney.
The Indian items on offer were: Aloo Bonda, Onion Pakora, Carrot + Pea Poriyal, Jeera Rice, and a Paneer curry. According to the attendant, the menu would change in an hour for the dinner service.
There were also some East Asian dishes available for order along with made to order omelets and sausages. I suppose breakfast can be had at any time if you are on the go.
There was also a huge transparent refrigerator with soft drinks and fresh juices.
There was a variety of artisan (hard as rock) breads on offer alongside a display of sandwiches that can be ordered.
For dessert there were a few mini cake pieces and a traditional Christmas Fruit Cake (so tempting)
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There was also a very nice assortment of cereals available all day which included: Banana Nut Crunch, Cranberry Almond Crunch, Ko Ko Krunch, Cherios, and Cornflakes. I say nice because it featured two of my favorites: Cranberry Almond Crunch and Banana Nut Crunch.
I ended up eating a little cereal in the end, figuring that I would leave some room for dinner service on the flight over to Auckland. At this point there was only 10 minutes remaining before boarding began and so we headed out of the lounge to check out the rest of the terminal. We ended up not having much time in the end though because I foolishly began walking in the opposite direction and had to backtrack to the gate. Finally, it was time to head to New Zealand!
Bottom Line:
The Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge is a very solid all around with great staff, plenty of seating, showers, and a decent amount of vegetarian food for nibbling. I must say though that it wasn’t the best lounge I had been to by any stretch of the imagination. There was no natural lighting or views of airport operations, which made it seem a bit dark and uninteresting. I don’t know if having lukewarm water in the showers is a continuous problem, but that just killed part of the lounge experience for me. It certainly is one of the great lounges in the world, but not the best. The best are probably still the Lufthansa First Class Lounges in Frankfurt, and Cathay Pacific Lounges in Hong Kong. Then again, I never heard Singapore being noted for its lounges, but rather for the airport as a whole. I will have to come back and explore the rest of the airport next time.
