08 September 2013

Phuket Sep 2013 - Part II, Grand Ocean View Room at Pullman Phuket Arcadia

Continue from Part I - Pullman Phuket Arcadia

Next, we move onto the room that we stayed, the Grand Ocean Room.

There are several room categories in Pullman Arcadia, namely Deluxe, Grand Deluxe, Family Deluxe, Ocean, Grand Ocean, One Bedroom Pool Villa and Two Bedroom Pool Villa.

We wanted a breath-taking ocean view for our room, so it's between Ocean room and Grand Ocean room, the latter being slightly bigger. We were deciding which category of room would give us a better and eventually chose the Grand Ocean room, one for the spaciousness and two we thought that the Grand Ocean would be the one with better view since it's more expensive?



Alas, we were wrong :( Or rather, the Grand Ocean rooms that have better view were already occupied by the time we checked-in and we were allocated Blk 33. When we checked out we heard from one of the staff that next time we could request for Blk 16 or 17 which would offer better view.


But that said, when we saw the Ocean rooms (Blk 3), these are the ones that are closest to the ocean with superb unblock view!! (Blk 16 and 17 are still a distance away) We felt really disappointed as the Ocean room is cheaper, I mean we could have a better view at a cheaper price! Duh! What kind of logic is that?

I guess the only explanation is the Ocean room is smaller in size, with less privacy as it's located next to the restaurant and there are several deck chairs below the block. But I want the view! I think I'm going to stay in the Ocean room next time!


Ok, enough of complaining about the room category. Besides that point, the Grand Ocean room is indeed very spacious and comfortable. The furnishings are in a soothing light wood colour, gives a warm and clean look to the overall décor. Notice the armchair at the right side of the above picture? It swivels around, love it!



The king size bed with the fluffy pillows is needless to say, absolutely comfy.


6 bottles of water and 5 cans of soda in the fridge (coke, sprite, soda water) are provided free-of-charge, along with tea and coffee making facility.


I love this huge alarm clock. Thought the design and colour complement the furnishings of the room very well.


The bathroom is very spacious and that's part of the reason why I like the room. I'm rather particular about bathrooms, I thought bathrooms should be spacious, airy and bright. Hate those dinky and dimly light ones.



Good size bathtub which I believe dear son would LOVE.


The rainforest shower head is so-so but the normal shower head gives very strong water pressure which we like.

Wardrobe space is reasonable. Iron and ironing board is provided, along with two umbrellas, beach bag and beach towels.


One of the nights we decided we boil some water for tea, and I was so impressed with the flask which emits a cool blue light when boiling water. So cool looking. I want one!


Ample balcony space with comfy lounge sofa, exactly what I wanted, to chill out at the balcony enjoying cool breeze and nice view while reading a book (or playing with iPad :p)

 
View from the room, can only see a little bit of Naithon beach, not what I was looking for unfortunately. Although I can say this room offers very good privacy.
 
Oh, there's also one technical (or construction) problem that surfaced during our stay. On day two, we left the room at around 11+am when the housekeeping staff came in to clean up the room. When we returned in the afternoon at 4+pm, the entire floor was soaking wet! It couldn't be due to housekeeping since it was more than 4 hours already and any mopped flour would be dry already (and they wouldn't pour buckets of water like that to clean the floor right?) We thought maybe plumbing problem but no signs of leakage anywhere. Bathtub was dry as well (no overflowing water whatsoever).
 
The air-con to the room was off (since we went out) and we thought maybe we would open the balcony to air-dry the room but after half an hour, the floor was still soaking wet. So we had to call the front desk. It turned out to be a condensation problem (apparently a known problem, as the front desk staff and housekeeping staff had already encountered the problem many times). The room below ours was very cold (full blast air-con maybe) whereas the air-con in our room was turned off. Therefore condensation occurred; which means that there's very poor insulation when constructing the property. Anyway, we were told not to turn off the air-con even if we leave the room (have to leave one key card behind to power the electricity). True enough, after we turned on the air-con for half an hour, the floor dried and we didn't have the problem again.
 
Hmmm, does this mean guests cannot enjoy natural air in the room at all (unless no guest staying in the unit below)? Wonder if only certain rooms have this problem? The wet floor could be hazardous since it's very slippery but it would be a waste of electricity too if the air-con had to be on even if guests were to leave the room. Well, something for the management to ponder in the long run I guess.
 
That said, I still hope to return as I do like the entire design and concept of the property. The next time round, the Ocean room with superb view!
 
Ok, that's all for the room. Next up, breakfast at the restaurant. Stay tuned!

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