staycation

BIRTHDAY STAYCATION AT BARCELO MUSSANAH RESORT

April 29, 2022 by Little Miss Honey

It was Howell’s birthday last March 9. The night before his birthday, we got him a cake. We sang him “Happy Birthday” and he blew his birthday candle. He is already 6 years old! We told the kids to sleep early because we are off to Mussanah, a little over 45 mins away from Muscat which totals 2 hrs and 45 minutes of driving from our place. We booked a stay at Barcelo Mussanah Resort for Howell’s birthday.

It was indeed a long drive from our place until we reached the resort. We were happily accommodated by the concierge and gave us our room card. Unfortunately, we learned that the floating island that we were excited to try out and the main reason why we wanted to visit Barcelo Mussanah was temporarily not open due to pandemic reasons. The surroundings was lovely and we were excited to explore the place but we headed to our room first.

We have lovely spacious room with King size bed and large office desk. There was a balcony overlooking the whole resort. There were maps of the resort in the room and we saw there are lot of amenities. They even have water sport activities, spa and fitness centre.

After we unpacked, we took our handy tripod with us to take some photos before the kids will swim in the pools. We took some family photos and explored the area. There were lots of people in the resort, enjoying the lovely weather and relaxing atmosphere.

We changed the kids into their swimming attire and they were just too happy going from the kiddy pool to the water park to the medium size pool. They played in the water until the sun faded in the horizon. They were playing the other kids who were there too.

Nightfall came and we headed back to our room. We shower the kids and we prepared for our dinner. We bought some takeout Chinese food. The kids were so hungry from all the playing around in the pool that they ate a lot during dinner especially Zeke who kept eating lot of the crispy fried chicken.

Our stay comes with free breakfast. We went down for our breakfast and opted to sit indoors because the place was packed and there were no seats available outside. The food, unfortunately, lacks variety and choices was not a lot. I settled with my usual vegetable omelette and salad while the kids had some cereals and bread.

After breakfast, we headed to the Children Play Area which is in another building. There were lots of things for kids to do there and we stayed there for a couple of hours. It was nice that they are an area for kids.

It was already midnoon when we packed our belonging and said goodbye to Barcelo Mussanah Resort. But we said we will definitely come back again.

Barcelo Mussanah Resort

Wudam Al Sahil Mussanah, 300 Sport City, 300

Phone: 26 871555

WINDY BIRTHDAY STAYCATION AT CROWNE PLAZA MUSCAT

February 19, 2022 by Little Miss Honey

For J birthday, we planned to spend a night in Crowne Plaza Muscat. We heard so much of the hotel from J’s friend who used to work there. We drove to Muscat on his birthday weekend. We went to Oman Avenue Mall first to buy some stuff then proceeded to Crowne Plaza Hotel. It was a very very windy day.

The drive to Crowne Plaza Muscat was such a lovely sight. You see the Qurum Beach at the left side and few cute cafes & restaurants spread out at the right. In the end of that beachside view drive up on a hill is the white huge building of Crowne Plaza.

We were attended by two lovely receptionists of the hotel. After seeing we have three active cute little ones with us, they upgraded our room. They gave us three kiddie loot bags for them. The kids were so happy to get them.

We got a ground floor room. The room was very spacious! There is a big king size bed. There was a large sofa set which the staff converted into one bed and added another additional bed.

We have a sliding door which leads to a large lawn outside with patio chairs outside. We were overlooking the tennis court and the swimming pool was nearby. The day was super windy, the tall potted plants were laid down to the ground.

We, of course, took our traditional hotel family photo. Then the kids were busy checking out their loot bag which contains a booklet of activities for the kids, stickers and coloured pencils. The kids were busy in each corner colouring the booklet and doing the activities in different pages.

When we all settled a bit, we change into our bathing suits and headed outside for a swim. There was a party in the restaurant near the pool and loud dancing music was blasting. People was happily partying near the poolside but no one was swimming. It was impossible to swim on that day because of the wind and we were advised not to swim in the big pool. The kids settled into swimming in the smaller pool in the corner. J and I ended up not swimming because it was just way too cold and too windy. We just watch over the kids who really wanted to swim but after 15 minutes, they wanted to get out of the water because it was too cold.

They ran for a bit on the ground. Our room was just nearby. We, then, went back to our room, away from the angry wind that is spoiling our fun for the day.

For dinner, we bought food beforehand in the mall. We got grilled chicken, chicken skin and garlic rice at Bacolod Chicken House and sushi at Zen Asian Fusion. J ordered some can of beers from room service. We had a satisfying dinner.

The next day, we were looking forward to our breakfast buffet. They have a wonderful spread, lots of variety of food to choose from – from salad, to cereal, to fruits, to main dishes, to breads and desserts. For eggs, you can tick in a paper what kind of egg you want and a server will bring you the eggs you ordered to your table.

Naj was happy with his pancakes from the pancake maker while Howell was enjoying with his big bowl of cereal. Zeke was busy with his donuts, banana and glass of juice. This is my happy brunch plate. This seems to me my go-to brunch meal in hotels : some greens, a bit of fruits, a smoke salmon if they have an vegetable omelette with cappuccino.

We had a lovely stay in Crowne Plaza Muscat. We weren’t able to maximize our stay because of the wind. We werent able to swim in their pool or visit the beach there. We might go back there one day. We will see….

Crowne Plaza Muscat

Qurum Heights, P.O. Box 1455, Muscat | 112 | Oman | 968-24-660660 | Email

STARTING THE NEW YEAR AT ROYAL TULIP HOTEL MUSCAT

January 14, 2022 by Little Miss Honey

For New Year, we have earlier booked a stay in Hilton Garden Inn but last minute, we found a good deal to book in a new hotel we been meaning to book for a few occasions, but we never got to, which is at Royal Tulip Hotel. It is a fairly new hotel at Al Ghubrah Street, nearby Oman Avenues Mall. We were glad we decided to book there instead. It is located in a busy part of the city. The parking lot, however, is very small and narrow but it is forgivable with the beautiful amenities of the hotel.

The Christmas atmosphere was still very much alive in the hotel with its beautiful Christmas tree in their hotel lobby. They are also have a lovely gingerbread house in a corner. I love that their hotel lobby is so well-lit and spacious .

When we got to our room, we did our traditional family photo in our room. After we had several pictures, we checked out the room.

We were so impressed with the size of the room and the very space-saving fixtures they placed in the room – from the lights, to the drawers, TV and cabinets with such a budget-friendly price. There is a big desk, a large TV, a small refrigerator, a small sofa chair and large King-size bed. There is no balcony but it was fine. We love that the room already has complete utilities like the iron board & iron, blow dryer attached at the bathroom wall and complete toiletries unlike some hotel we recently stayed at, which required us to call them to ask for such things.

The bathroom has a small bathtub which makes the kids and I so happy. We love bathtubs and bubble baths! Though I realised now that the kids are growing, the kids and I couldn’t fit in the bathtub already. But the kids keep insisting that they want bathe and play in the tub together with their mommy. Besides the toilet, the bathroom has a bidet too. Quite impressive!

After fixing our stuff and resting for a bit, we went to Oman Avenues Mall to roam around and have snacks. We enjoyed the delicious coffee buns at Pappa Roti. We also bought some take out buns for our breakfast the next day. We headed back to the hotel to rest a bit before our New Year’s Eve dinner.

For dinner, we decided to go back again at D’Arcy’s Kitchen. It is located in the lively spot in Al Shatti Qurum near the beach. We were initially worried if we can get a parking spot because there was quite bit of traffic going there. But just like that, when we drove into the parking lot, there was car that drive off and we got a parking spot instantly. We were so lucky! Is that a good sign of our luck for 2022? I hope it is.

In the restaurant, we wanted to sit outdoors to enjoy the atmosphere. J ordered the Steak as usual. I tried their Stuffed Chicken and the kids got two orders of the kiddie pancake meal which they really enjoyed. What we also like in the restaurant was that they provided the kids some papers and coloured pencils for them to colour. The kids were busy colouring while waiting for our foods, sitting al fresco.

After a satisfying dinner, we strolled to the beach but slowly, it began to drizzle. Then eventually a downpour of rain. So we shortened our walk and headed back to our car and head back to the hotel to rest.

The next morning, I woke up a little earlier than everybody. So I got my new notebook I bought in Yoyoso and my trust Swarovski pink pen to bring with me behind the the curtains and made my gratitude for the Year 2021 and my goals for 2022. When I was done, my kids slowly woke up and had their Pappa Roti buns for breakfast with me.

I will share with you soon how I make my previous year’s gratitude list and my goals for the New Year. I hope you all have a lovely New Year celebration too.

Happy New Year everyone!

Royal Tulip Hotel

Address: Al Marafah Street, Way No. 238, Al Ghoubra North103 Muscat, Oman

Booking: (+33) 1 70 98 61 18 / +968 2 2125555

Email Address: info@royaltulipmuscat.com