1st decennial wedding anniversary at Solaire Hotel

January 8, 2014. Today's our 10th wedding anniversary and we'll be celebrating it with a stay at Solaire Hotel & Casino at Aseana City (near SM MOA).

The morning paper

We woke up early before 7am, but only managed to leave home around 9am. We still needed to head to Antipolo to pick up Chea's mom and Tita Fe so they can help taking care of Thirdy.

After picking them up, we drove to Aseana City but had to stop by a McDonald's drive thru at Ortigas Center as I was already hungry.

At the parking lot

We finally arrived at Solaire Hotel around 1pm. We dropped off Thirdy, Tita Fe, Mama Tess and Cedric (Chea's brother) at the main lobby entrance, and drove the car to the parking area. There aren't signs pointing the way to the parking, so we got somewhat confused and lost. But you just have to follow the signs towards the Casino as the parking building's attached to that wing. We could have opted for valet parking, but we're cheap like that.

the main entrance. Lookit that chandelier

From the parking, we took an elevator and hit the Casino button. As soon as we got off, the entire floor's just full of card tables and slot machines. It's a straight walk towards the main lobby entrance where we found Thirdy and the family.

We walked towards the registration area and Chea checked us in. Even on a thursday, the hotel is bustling with people. Most of the game area's filled with people.

Checking in

By the elevators at the ground floor

Waiting at the elevator lobby on our floor. We had to wait as we got upgraded. Yey!

The lobby area is big with a very impressive chandelier. But another thing you'd notice are probably the two statuesque women greeting guests. They're in long dresses (aquamarine for today, Im not sure if that's always their colors) and stand very tall. I was wondering if they're 6footers because they're really tall. They're on shifts I think as they're not the same two women during the times we pass by the area.

Our room

After registering, we were assisted by their guest service personnel to our room, 1116.

The beds. I dont know why we had three beds. Ask Chea.

The room we got is the same layout as the room we had at Crowne Plaza Hotel. The bathroom is immediately to the left once you pass the door. The beds are along the left wall in the area just beyond that. And just like the Crowne Plaza Hotel room, the tv and desk are on the opposite wall, and there are floor to ceiling windows on the entire wall opposite the main door. However, the Crowne Plaza room has bigger dimensions.

The bathroom. Yep, that's me in the mirror.

The rub a dub dub tub.

And the all important toilet

We got the bay view room, so we get an awesome look at Manila Bay. But since it's afternoon already, the room gets very bright with the afternoon sun directly facing our windows. The good news is that we'll have a great view for the sunset later today.

The awesome view.

View to the left

View to the right

With the curtains closed. Just a pair of very heavy curtains.

View of the desk and the tv.  This is where I did my blogging for the day.

Originally, our plan was to have lunch at SM MOA, but it's already 1pm and everyone's hungry so we decided to hit the hotel's food court. There's a lot of restaurants on the casino level, (five i think), but the food court's the most affordable based on Swarm tips.

What's behind door number 1 (of the closet)?

Door number 2!

Sweet! We have our own wifi router.

A closer look at the insides of the closet

And what's inside the personal ref you might ask?

The carpeting.

So after waiting for our luggage, and having a third bed replaced by a cot for Thirdy (Chea requested a cot for him, but we found a third folding bed waiting for us inside the room), we then headed back down and walked around most of the casino floor area. It took us a while before we found the Food Court area, as we didn't notice any directions to the area.

Getting lost along the way to the food court. We should've looked up.

And here's the food court. In case you need to eat within the casino area.

Unattractive ceiling lights. What's with the flower shape/petals?

There are 5 food stations offering dishes based on their specialty: Namsan, PanAsian, Filipiniana, Chicken Licken, Americano and Patisserie.

Nam San

Pan Asian

I went with the noodles. Yum.

Filipiniana. Say that three times

Chicken Licken

Americano

Namsan basically serves Korean dishes. Saw the first on their menu as Bibimbop. Didn't notice if they served Japanese Food, so it looks like they're more on East Asian dishes. PanAsian served noodles and curry based dishes, so I guess it's basically SouthEast and South Asian dishes. Filipiniana serves Philippine dishes, with Adobo first on their menu. Chicken Licken serves chicken dishes, while Americano serves American food such as burgers. Patisserie serves pastries. Took some time gazing at their offerings. I wanted to get the croissants. Maybe later tonight.

I love croissants!

Another shot because they look so delish

And pastries!

I went for the PanAsian special of the day, which was noodles with other additional stuff in there like hard boiled eggs, mushrooms, etc. Chea ordered pancit canton and chicken adobo at the Filipiniana counter. The ramen costs 250 pesos, the pancit 240, and the chicken adobo, 245 pesos. The softdrink cost 60 pesos, while the rice was 60 pesos as well.

Actually, most of the items started at around 240 pesos for all of the counters, except for the patisserie, where the cake slices were around 150 pesos, and the croissants were at 80 pesos.

Pansit

Chicken Adobo. Doesn't look visually appealing does it?

Does that look mild to you?

The broth

When chea ordered the ramen for me, she wasn't asked what kind of spiciness we'd want. So when we got buzzed (after ordering, you're given those buzzer disks), we saw that the ramen soup was red. Chea had to return it and ask for something milder. Instead of giving us a new serving, Chea was given another bowl with broth and no spices. We were then asked to just fish out the contents of the previous serving and move it to the new bowl. I guess the 5-star service doesn't extend to the food court area.

The noodles was ok. However the serving was small if you compare it to the other Ramen shops, with the same price range. Beggars can't be choosers though as this was the cheapest you could order.

Per chea, the pancit was ok. However, the chicken adobo wasn't. It was rather bland. Thirdy, who likes eating chicken 365 days out of the year, wasn't impressed and kept spitting out the chicken.

The escalator was so inviting, we had to go up

Looks grand. How Grand?

It's so grand, it has another entrance at the other end.

After having lunch, we went back to the room to prepare Thirdy for swimming. On the way to our room, we passed by an escalator with a sign stating a grand ballroom. We decided to go up, and found ourselves in a very large carpeted area. At the opposite side of the escalator were two sets of large doors, with a "Grand Ballroom" above it. There was an event ongoing at that time hosted by Nestle, so no chance of taking a peek inside the ballroom itself.

Back to the elevators.

Back in our room, after getting Thirdy ready, Tita Fe, Mama Tess, Cedric went ahead with Thirdy while Chea and I stayed behind to rest a bit.

We followed after a few minutes, but instead of getting off at the 5th floor where there was a connecting walkway to the pool area, we got mixed up a bit and ended up at the casino floor. We then had to walk the long way around to the pool area, where we passed by most of the upscale restaurants of the hotel. There were some retail stores as well that sold pretty expensive items, like a watch shop that seemed to offer mostly Rolex and Tudor brand watches.

The pool

What did I say? It's huuuuge.

Thirdy getting a wipe down.

The pool area is huge. You can probably host a pool party with around 500 guests packing the area surrounding the pool. But at that time, it was just Thirdy and Cedrice in the pool, with Tita Fe and Mama Tess lounging in the chairs. There was another guy relaxing at a lounge chair at the other end of the pool.

The Bay Tower.

Thirdy looking for something.

The pool area is directly beside the bay, with a manicured lawn separating the two. And with the waters very calm at that time, it was really relaxing. We only stayed for a few more minutes as Thirdy already had enough swimming in the pool, as the water was very cold, with the sun hiding behind some clouds. The female  security guard around the pool was quite friendly and was playfully talking to Thirdy.

View of the pool from the elevator

At the walkway heading to the Sky Tower

Manicured garden on top of the main floors of the casino, in between the two towers

We then went back to our room via the elevator beside the pool, that went up to the 5th floor, and to he connecting walkway to the SkyTower (where we had our room. The other building, which was newer  was called the BayTower).

Yes it is

Chea got a cake!

And it's free!

At around 5pm, we decided to hit SM Mall of Asia for dinner. I was thinking of having dinner at one of the hotel's many restaurants, but we didn't think Thirdy would be impressed with fancy food, so we decided to have dinner at a kid friendly place. We heard about this restaurant at SM MOA which had movies as a theme. We were hoping there'd be some displays Thirdy could get excited about.

So down to the casino floor we went, went past the main lobby area coming from the registration desk, and just kept walking straight. You'll hit the same doors we used entering the casino floors from the parking area. But instead of going to the right where the parking spaces are, you go left. There, you'll find shuttles to different places within the metro. I saw a sign with a route heading off to the Binondo area, I think there was one towards the Glorietta area, and a few others as well. We went to the waiting bay for the SM MOA shuttle service.

Waiting for our ride.

It took about 20 minutes for us to get a ride (or the 2nd shuttle service that came along) as there was a bit of a line. Employees were able to take the shuttle as well, so if you're in a hurry, you might be better off asking for a cab.

After arriving at SM MOA, Tita Fe and Cedric went separately as they weren't staying overnight. So it was just Chea, Mama Tess, Thirdy and myself who went to the By The Bay area. After getting down from the elevator of the elevated walkway to the Bay area, we asked an SM personnel where the Movie Cafe was located. Facing the mall (backs to the bay area), we were told to go right. So we did, not knowing it was the other way around.

So we walked past some restaurants, with Thirdy in the stroller. We passed by some rides, the MOA Eye, which was a big ferris wheel, all the way to the far end which was Buffet 101. We stopped by at Banzai and Buffet 101, asking for their birthday promos. Banzai required one paying customer to have the celebrant eat free, while Buffet 101 required three paying companions. Banzai was also cheaper at around 700 pesos for the eat all you can pass, while Buffet 101 was around 1,000 pesos.

Thirdy getting ready for his ride

Still, we weren't heavy eaters so we went back towards the main amusement area. Thirdy was getting fidgety in his stroller looking at all the rides, so Chea decided to take him for a quick ride at the Barn Stormers. After about a 2minute ride, we went back towards walking to the other end of the bay area looking for  movie cafe.

That was a long walk

If you see something like this, you know you should go in.

Let's get ready to order!

The catwalk and the stage

We eventually found it after walking almost to the far end. It was a great experience with the staff being in costumes. Thirdy really loved it. I'll blog it it another time.

A storm trooper!

After eating, we went back to MOA and looked for a Nike shop as I was still trying to look for a Nike Roshe Run in person.

After an hour or so, we went back to the waiting area for the ride back to the hotel. It was about a 10 minute wait. Then we got in the van, signed a paper, and was promptly whisked back to the hotel. We walked back directly to our room.

I stayed up a few minutes more watching cable until I fell asleep.

Had time to take a picture of some of the promotional materials

Yes, they have a spa. And no, I can't afford it. 

That's what you call a universal wall socket. All it's missing is a USB port.

We woke up around 7am and went down to have breakfast. The dining area is pretty big. There were a few people in there already. I think some of the other groups actually stayed up late playing in the casino and are just having breakfast before going to sleep.

Breakfast!

The seats

And more seats

Thirdy rolling in.

As for the food? Well there's pretty good variation. There were Filipino food, intercontinental breakfast items, noodles, fruits, cereals, and what not. I really liked their mango juice so I kept coming back for it.

Drinks

Fruits and cold cuts

Pretty big selection

Your pinoy breakfast

A closer shot

Korean salad

Is that milk?

Yoghurt

More fruits

Dimsum

Noodles!

the meat 

Dried seafood!

Congee

The bacon comes in soft and crispy!

Pan cakes!

And more bread breakfast dishes

But if you want bread, chew on these!

Moar bread!

Moar pastries!

Because they look delish up close!

Eh, these, not so much.

As usual, I'm not a heavy breakfast eater, so I only managed to taste a few, which was too bad, as everything really tasted great.

Coz you know, Me <3 croissants

bacon, eggs benedict, sausage, salted egg, and i forgot what meat that other one is.

Chea enjoyed herself while Thirdy was his usual raucous self.

Thirdy just wants bacon

Afterwards, we went back to our room where Thirdy played in the bath tub and I enjoyed the morning quiet.

Later, we went around the hotel again to see some of the areas we haven't seen. There's a lot of upscale stores and restaurants on the ground floor. There was even an art display.

Oasis restaurant

These dont help me. I get lost anyway

Mona Lisa display

That's a replica of course

The rest of the display. All the frames houses different artists' own take of the Mona Lisa.

A wall of flowers. Mostly sunflowers I think.

Waterside restaurant

Finestra

I cant even pronounce that but Google says it means "For everyday".

This i can read

Steak!

One of the comfort rooms around the resort hotel. 

I can live in this room

You can obviously see that the clientele are adults with money to burn. There isn't really much to do for kids except for the pool area. I didn't notice if there were a play area for kids, but there's probably none, as it's really a casino.

Free toiletries

What's the water doing at the sink?

Best looking soap/shampoo containers I've seen so far

After an hour or two we got ready and checked out of the hotel. We still had some stuff planned for today.

Takeaway box for the cake

We got a bag too

So how's our stay? Well, the place really feels classy and premium. And if you're really into gambling, this is really a nice place to go to.

There are free van trips to several places in the metro including megamall, makati and binondo, I think. So you don't need to take a cab to go to these areas first. Then you'll have the option to commute to other places near those areas.

Being in the immediate vicinity of MOA easily multiplies the dining, entertainment and shopping experience.

The staff are very accommodating and nice and so are the amenities. It's very private too and very secure. The security personnel are everywhere.

So if you have the money, go for a stay. Otherwise, you can go there and just hit the casino or the restaurants.