Berthing in Singapore. Experiences and Opinions.

[neonLight]

Which marina in Singapore affords a good, happy, atmosphere? Anyone to stay away from (reason being? Rude staff? High rates?) and which marina has food and also which restaurants overcharge and bad experience.

Opinions will be most appreciated!

[jolly jack tar]

Originally Posted by neonLight

Which marina in Singapore affords a good, happy, atmosphere? Anyone to stay away from (reason being? Rude staff? High rates?) and which marina has food and also which restaurants overcharge and bad experience.

Opinions will be most appreciated!

Berth in Nongsa Point Marina in Batam, its 12 miles over the water from Singapore and much cheaper, Go on a ferry day trip to Singapore for 50 bucks, trust me, you don't really wanna spend more than a day in that prison state. I was there 33 years ago and i was there yesterday, the charm has long disappeared. Fair winds and calm seas...
JJT

[Daniel_Mar]

When I was back in Singapore in December last year a couple of my friends invited me to their yacht berthed at the island of sentosa.

Food was good, the beach and chicks were really good and appreciative.

A funny incident happened back at the marina around late afternoon. We were having a couple of beers at the one15 club (great ambience and friendly waitress) and we went back to Johnny's boat to relax and have even more beers when this bald guy (who people later other boaters tell me is their marina manager) started yelling his head off at boaters. He was walking up and down a pontoon yelling his neck off at some boaters and it seems no one could talk sense to that guy.

When people tried to restrain or calm him he was telling everyone that he owns the marina and he would do whatever the damn he liked.

More than one boater saw and some foreigners were like gaping. They caught my eyes and they shook their heads.

That's No way to treat boaters (Customers)....he absolutely ruined my opinion of that place.

[msponer]

I sailed through there ten years ago, so this is way dated...

We stayed at Nongsa Point Marina for a while, and took the ferry over to Singapore. But we stayed out late a few times and missed the ferry back, and enjoyed Singapore enough to want to be there (there's a fun expat scene, and a lot of good food). So we moved to Raffles Marina. It was very fancy, with a bowling alley, marble fountains, and palatial showers with electronic doors. It is a long subway ride into town.

The folks at Raffles were super nice, the marina manager and everyone at the boat yard (we hauled out there). They let us eat in the employee cafeteria to save money. The yard was expensive, but amazing -- we could ask the girl in the front office for anything, like "a 5 inch long 1/4x20 stainless bolt", and she'd have it in a few hours. It speeded up our work so much to be able to get parts so quickly without having to go on the usual scavenger hunt for boat parts in a foreign city.

[chris in SG]

Originally Posted by jolly jack tar

trust me, you don't really wanna spend more than a day in that prison state. I was there 33 years ago and i was there yesterday, the charm has long disappeared. JJT

Why should we trust your opinion that Singapore is a prison state, based apparently on a one day visit?

[MarkJ]

We stayed in Dangar Bay Marina in Johor Baru, Malaysia because we were on the cheap, and it was free. Bus to Singapore was about 30 minutes once you are at the station.

I would have liked to be at Raffles Marina on Singapore Island but its still a long way from town and no public transport, sp u need to rent a car.

May have changed as its been 5 years almost.

[Neptune's Gear]

Pretty much as above. To enter Singapore waters now you MUST have an AIS transponder. You can be fined if you don't. Also, once there you cannot take your boat out of the marina, unless leaving the country, without a local POWER BOAT licence! Yes, even if you have an internationally accepted masters ticket! Ridiculous, but true.
Go to Danga Bay in Malaysia, (was free, now about $50/week), take the bus!

[jolly jack tar]

If you need to fill big tanks with Fuel and Water, Go to either Malaysia or Nongsa point, Indonesia (both close by) and fill up there. its much cheaper.

[Emmalina]

In a word "Expensive" I have been to Raffles and there is public transport to the centre but its a bus then a train about an hour!. We will be passing next month and "passing" is the word... Too rich for my liking I am in SE Asia to get away from materialism and the big S is the centre of that sort of thing...IMHO

[Olivergm]

I'm berthed at Keppel Marina pretty much in the center of town and love it. It does not have any haulout or repair facilities but the location is great for a short visit. Very friendly staff too. If u looking to stay just outside of SG I would recommend Puteri Harbour (Malaysia) which is just under the bridge connecting SG with Malaysia a few miles up river from Raffles Marina. You can taxi into Singapore from here in about 30mins. SG is expensive but a great place, I would not knock it.

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[Parmenter]

Originally Posted by Emmalina

In a word "Expensive" I have been to Raffles and there is public transport to the centre but its a bus then a train about an hour!. We will be passing next month and "passing" is the word... Too rich for my liking I am in SE Asia to get away from materialism and the big S is the centre of that sort of thing...IMHO

It's Disneyland with the death penalty
If I wanted big shiny expensive city I would probably stay in Sydney or Melbourne.

[Warren75]

My team was in Singapore recently for the boat show 20_4. We were introduced to the marina manager who was a bald guy. My first impression of him was that this guys really weird.

First he wore a ship captains uniform with 4 epaulettes that were gold strips indicating ship captains high rank.

Now which marina manager wears such a uniform...but that wasn't the big issue. He was pacing up and down and behaving like he owned the club. When our team had issues and asked him simply he actually had the gall to speak arrogantly like he was The power behind the even and if you don't like it just leave.

No we hosted for our company products for three years running. The last one we did was in Phuket. But no one left us fuming so much as the feller.

To our consolation there were many sincere boaters and members of the club who when I spoke too told us that the marina manager was not the first time behaving in such manners. They had seen him yelling and being a total monkey. Some of the marina staff who helped in arranging our boat told us he would yell and scream at them and many amongst them have already left.

[Olivergm]

That's One15 Marina alright. You will not find that behaviour at Kepple Marina or any of the others.

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[chris in SG]

Originally Posted by Warren75

My team was in Singapore recently for the boat show 20_4. We were introduced to the marina manager who was a bald guy. My first impression of him was that this guys really weird.

First he wore a ship captains uniform with 4 epaulettes that were gold strips indicating ship captains high rank.

Now which marina manager wears such a uniform...but that wasn't the big issue. He was pacing up and down and behaving like he owned the club. When our team had issues and asked him simply he actually had the gall to speak arrogantly like he was The power behind the even and if you don't like it just leave.

No we hosted for our company products for three years running. The last one we did was in Phuket. But no one left us fuming so much as the feller.

To our consolation there were many sincere boaters and members of the club who when I spoke too told us that the marina manager was not the first time behaving in such manners. They had seen him yelling and being a total monkey. Some of the marina staff who helped in arranging our boat told us he would yell and scream at them and many amongst them have already left.

This is getting a bit weird. I stay at One15 Marina so I know it well. The marina manager is not bald. I was there during the 2014 yacht show and he was not dressed as described. Perhaps there's some confusion about individuals so I would ask you not to speculate (although I appreciate that it's just as well that no names have been mentioned). The real marina manager struggles to satisfy the demands of both billionaire gin palace owners and the average cruiser / sailor, not an easy task. Seems to me he does a competent job..

[40Knots]

Yes Chris is right, he is not bald. He is Ang Moh guy with short hair
But he was walking around SYS 2014 in described uniform
I can also confirm his behaviour towards boaters, he might have a tricky job to handle billionaires and normal people, but you can never loose control; it's just not right.