Downsides to living in Sentosa

[Calmday]

They will just want verify that the baby or child is buckled whenever the seatbelt light comes on. My issue with going through Moscow is Loud (but friendly) drunk Russians, crappy airport, weird people and rude security. You will also have to get off of the plane and go through security which isn’t that bad but you won’t get your stroller/s so you will have to carry everything that you have including the children. We didn’t know this the first time we went through and it was pretty tough.

[aster]

longhorn0915, Yes - on Singapore Airlines they will make you physically remove the child from the bassinet (and probably wake the baby up in the process) as soon as the seatbelt sign lights up.

For this very reason I have ditched Singapore Air altogether when it comes to flying with an infant.

Calmday, watch out for Copenhagen too. With the Russians it's simply because they like to drink, regardless of the freebies. With the Danes it's "drink as much as you can as quickly as you can" simply because... it's free.

[aargon]

longhorn0915, Yes - on Singapore Airlines they will make you physically remove the child from the bassinet (and probably wake the baby up in the process) as soon as the seatbelt sign lights up.

For this very reason I have ditched Singapore Air altogether when it comes to flying with an infant.

Strangely enough I didnt have that problem when flying with them recently.

[x9200]

Calmday, watch out for Copenhagen too. With the Russians it's simply because they like to drink, regardless of the freebies. With the Danes it's "drink as much as you can as quickly as you can" simply because... it's free.

Copenhagen is on our standard route to Europe and we never had any problems of this sort. One of most friendly Asia-transit airport in Europe I know.

[taxico]

My family is relocating to Sing, and we are thinking of moving to Sentosa. Most likely we will get a car, but not until we can figure out driving/licenses. Do the grocers there deliver to Sentosa? I know I will probably be buying wine or beer by the case when I can find a reasonable price. Will that be an issue trying to get someone to lug around several bottles of wine?

If anyone lives in Sentosa I would love to hear some pros and cons to being on the island. We are a family of 4 with two children (4yrs and 7 months), so any added advice for getting around with my boys would be appriciated!

i've lived in a house in front of a beach (in punggol, the beach was separated from the house by a 10 meter wide field) for 18 months about 15 years ago and i've lived on sentosa for a few weeks this year.

if you have kids, i don't recommend living on sentosa. your kids won't have many other children to play with and transport to schools will be a pain to arrange.

if you don't have a car, you're gonna find it very troublesome living on sentosa. it's far away from most places you'll want to visit.

if you have money, there are better places on the singapore itself ("mainland") that you can live out from.

the apartments on sentosa aren't big, and the houses tend to have more space. they will be priced accordingly, of course.

the views are nice, but it's not what i would describe as genuine seafront living... i don't think we can find any in singapore anymore.

but the sea smells much better on sentosa than it does on the "mainland" - sea front property (rare if not non-existent these days) on the "mainland" comes with regular foul smells once or twice a day depending on location.

no, i have no idea what causes the smell.

[poodlek]

The only view from sentosa island I've ever seen is a) cruise ships at the Harbourfront terminal, b) shipping yard at Keppel terminal; c) hundreds of freight tanker ships waiting to enter port and d) an oil refinery or some other such ugly smokestack arrangement.
I wouldn't move there for the view. The only reason I personally would consider moving there would be for convenience if I worked long hours for RWS. I hear the condos are pretty nice but there are nice condos in every part of Sg. Every other aspect of living at Sentosa seems pretty inconvenient.

[snowqueen]

I can't comment on living on Sentosa although it's great going for day trips. We live on the East Coast at a condo called Costa Del Sol (lol) and have an amazing sea view and whenever we want to go onto the coast we just use the underpass out back.

We have been here almost 3 years and my son was born here 2 years ago. With 2 young kids I would highly recommend getting a car. Comparing the price of buying and running a car back home, it took us 18 months to reconcile with what we would have to pay but personally I think it's worth it if you can afford it, and if you are looking at living on Sentosa, something tells me this isn't going to be a problem.

With regards to safety, this to me is the best and safest place to bring up kids. I was scared to walk across my local park in daylight in the UK but here I feel no threat walking about at night here.

I have flown a few times on long haul flights (Quantas, Emirates & BA) and yes the seatbelt sign has come on but most of the time I have left my child in the bassinet (or car seat thingy if you fly BA). The attendants have come to ask me to take my child out but I've often been able to say that it's taken ages to get my child to sleep so could I leave him for now, and if the turbulance got worse I would take him out - so far they've been fine with this.

Don't get me wrong, there are some annoyances but nothing so far that would make me want to go back to the UK.

[aster]

With regards to safety, this to me is the best and safest place to bring up kids. I was scared to walk across my local park in daylight in the UK but here I feel no threat walking about at night here.

Whoa, where in the UK did you live?

I agree that Singapore is a super-safe place to bring up kids - you just have to watch out for them on the streets - nothing to do with crime... just traffic.

[kaseyma]

But Sentosa has those panoramic views of those commercial and tanker ships! And beaches [un]surprisingly devoid of wind!

The only view from sentosa island I've ever seen is a) cruise ships at the Harbourfront terminal, b) shipping yard at Keppel terminal; c) hundreds of freight tanker ships waiting to enter port and d) an oil refinery or some other such ugly smokestack arrangement.
I wouldn't move there for the view. The only reason I personally would consider moving there would be for convenience if I worked long hours for RWS. I hear the condos are pretty nice but there are nice condos in every part of Sg. Every other aspect of living at Sentosa seems pretty inconvenient.

For an empty nester, this view is worth the extra 15 min drive in:

[snowqueen]

With regards to safety, this to me is the best and safest place to bring up kids. I was scared to walk across my local park in daylight in the UK but here I feel no threat walking about at night here.

Whoa, where in the UK did you live?

I agree that Singapore is a super-safe place to bring up kids - you just have to watch out for them on the streets - nothing to do with crime... just traffic.

I lived in Nottingham, about 7 miles out from the city. Did you know it was once voted UK's 4th worst city to live. It has a huge crime problem, and you can barely walk down a street without seeing a group of hoodies hanging around the street corner - it just doesn't feel safe. I've also had a couple of near misses where I've been chased down a street and asked to get in a car.

[daviedue]

My family is relocating to Sing, and we are thinking of moving to Sentosa. Most likely we will get a car, but not until we can figure out driving/licenses. Do the grocers there deliver to Sentosa? I know I will probably be buying wine or beer by the case when I can find a reasonable price. Will that be an issue trying to get someone to lug around several bottles of wine?

If anyone lives in Sentosa I would love to hear some pros and cons to being on the island. We are a family of 4 with two children (4yrs and 7 months), so any added advice for getting around with my boys would be appriciated!

Did you move to Sentosa? My family is moving to Singapore in May and thinking of moving there two - would love to hear some feedback?

[zzm9980]

My family is relocating to Sing, and we are thinking of moving to Sentosa. Most likely we will get a car, but not until we can figure out driving/licenses. Do the grocers there deliver to Sentosa? I know I will probably be buying wine or beer by the case when I can find a reasonable price. Will that be an issue trying to get someone to lug around several bottles of wine?

If anyone lives in Sentosa I would love to hear some pros and cons to being on the island. We are a family of 4 with two children (4yrs and 7 months), so any added advice for getting around with my boys would be appriciated!

Did you move to Sentosa? My family is moving to Singapore in May and thinking of moving there two - would love to hear some feedback?

Most of the other feedback above in this thread is valid. It's expensive, very remote, and not a lot going on that you would want to do on an ongoing basis. While the shot above from Sentosa is nice, I have just as many nice or nicer shots taken from my window on East Coast. So you don't have to go THERE for the view. (And plenty of days where the same view looked terrible due to haze, or boats, or something else)

[daviedue]

My family is relocating to Sing, and we are thinking of moving to Sentosa. Most likely we will get a car, but not until we can figure out driving/licenses. Do the grocers there deliver to Sentosa? I know I will probably be buying wine or beer by the case when I can find a reasonable price. Will that be an issue trying to get someone to lug around several bottles of wine?

If anyone lives in Sentosa I would love to hear some pros and cons to being on the island. We are a family of 4 with two children (4yrs and 7 months), so any added advice for getting around with my boys would be appriciated!

Did you move to Sentosa? My family is moving to Singapore in May and thinking of moving there two - would love to hear some feedback?

Most of the other feedback above in this thread is valid. It's expensive, very remote, and not a lot going on that you would want to do on an ongoing basis. While the shot above from Sentosa is nice, I have just as many nice or nicer shots taken from my window on East Coast. So you don't have to go THERE for the view. (And plenty of days where the same view looked terrible due to haze, or boats, or something else)

Great thank you for the reply. We are also very interested in the ECP - are there any area's that you would recommend? My kids will be attending Dover Court so need to be able to travel between the two - and my husband will be working close to the airport. Ideally like pool access ?

[JR8]

My kids will be attending Dover Court so need to be able to travel between the two - and my husband will be working close to the airport.

Sounds a bit like working at Newark Airport and sending the children to school in Brooklyn. How to compromise of a place to live?

[zzm9980]

Did you move to Sentosa? My family is moving to Singapore in May and thinking of moving there two - would love to hear some feedback?

Most of the other feedback above in this thread is valid. It's expensive, very remote, and not a lot going on that you would want to do on an ongoing basis. While the shot above from Sentosa is nice, I have just as many nice or nicer shots taken from my window on East Coast. So you don't have to go THERE for the view. (And plenty of days where the same view looked terrible due to haze, or boats, or something else)

Great thank you for the reply. We are also very interested in the ECP - are there any area's that you would recommend? My kids will be attending Dover Court so need to be able to travel between the two - and my husband will be working close to the airport. Ideally like pool access ?

Working by Changi and you wanted to live on Sentosa?

I replied to you in another thread about where to live if you wanted low rise condos on the East Coast - Telok Kurau. The advise would still stand if you want East Coast and a low-rise, just live closer to the northern half of Telok Kurau so you're closer to MRT. (Kembangan MRT station).

Dover Court is very far though. If your heart is settled on that school, you're between a rock and a hard place with East Coast. But like JR mentioned, significantly closer and it is hell for your husband.