Novotel Clarke Quay

fly05

New Member
Hi Jacqueline,

You have mail
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crayongal

Member
hey luwen,
thanks! its okay... my AD is still some months away.. haha... so, no rush... lemme noe the quotation when you have it.

but .. ya.. i really like the way its done up .. super chio! keke
=)

have a superbly fun honeymoon... =)
 

queenly

New Member
got a reply from NCQ. if i were to request for additional drinks servers would have to pay extra labour costs....well shall see how in yr 2009. need to monitor the feedbacks here.....hee
 

wendycp

New Member
Hi bearbeargal

Hehe will look around in fairprice, see if i can get this wine and try, hopefully is smooth.. Cos most of my guests is wine lover.

Dear ladies,

Huiling and her team had proposed for new theme so hopefully we can see in 2008, their price increased and is only 2 theme, other hotel have up to 4.
 

beargal

New Member
Hi Wendycp,

Did you went down to the BOW'08?
They actually serve both the white and red then.
So actually tried that.

I think it's consider okay to me at least it's not the "spicy" "oaky" type.
My FH find it not the smooth type.

I didn't find that in fairprice, maybe you can try carefour, they carries more different wine.

The wine list in NCQ, which I just receive is quite limited.

*************
Hi Luwen,

Thank you very much for the suggestion, actually
I was thinking of having that for outdoor photo-shot.

;)
 

alcifertoh

New Member
Well just post my comments for NCQ. Though not a wedding dinner but my company had out DnD there in Nov 07.

Dish portion small and service was bad. They were obviously understaff and we had to always signal to the waiter to refill the drinks for us even when they could clearly saw that the glasses were already empty. I had to resort to ask for multiple glasses of drinks at one go and guess what? They dun even bother to clear the empty glasses after we finished. In the end I juz told them to leave a bottle of wine on the table and we just help ourselves to it.

NCQ was supposed to be the first choice where I wanted to hold my banquet but now I am rather glad that I could not get it as it was booked on my customary date after attending my company DnD there.
 

lara

New Member
13% is a lot eh!! equivalent to the employer's cpf contribution oredi.. oh no.. if only our salary will increase so much too
 

cheekychick

New Member
Cheekybee, thks so much for sharing ur pictures! I reali like their wedding 'cake' too when i first saw it when i stepped in to view the ballrooms, lol....

Hi Yesfeb29, i emailed various transport companies for quotation & usually, they need to noe the exact timing, if urs is one-way, 2-way or shuttle service. Need to book at least one week in advance if im not wrong. So far, these are the recent quotations i've gotten
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Hope it can be useful to u...

Comfortdelgro
19 seater (2 way): $130 (subject to gst)
40 seater (2 way): $150 (subject to gst)
*They do not have 11 seater
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.comfortdelgrobus.com.sg/adhoc.htm

SMRT
40 seater (2 way): $160 (subject to gst)
*Seems like they only offer 40 seater
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.smrtbuses.com.sg/transport/bus/charter1.htm

SBS Transit
40 seater (2 way): $150 (4 hr), subsequent hour $30
93 seater (2 way): $350 (4 hr), subsequent hour $80
*All prices are stated on the website itself
Website: http://www.sbstransit.com.sg/transport/trpt_bus_charter.aspx

Raffles Bus Services
11 seater (2 way): $90
19 seater (2 way): $120
40 seater (2 way): $150
*Didn't indicate if gst is included
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://rafflesbus.com.sg/

3s Transport
11 seater (2 way): $100nett - $6 per 15min block
19 seater (2 way): $120nett - $8 per 15min block
49 seater (2 way): $150nett - $10 per 15min block
*Grace waiting period of 15mins after which additional charges will be imposed on a 15min block
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.3s-transport.com

ACS Buses
13 seater (per trip): $50
19 seater (per trip): $75
23 seater (per trip): $85
45 seater (per trip): $95
*Cost per trip dependable on location & gst was not mentioned
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.acsbuses.com

Alliance Transport Service
13 seater (2 way): $80-$90
19 seater (2 way): $120-$130
23 seater (2 way): $130-$140
44 seater (2 way): $160-$180
*Cost dependable on location & gst was not mentioned
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.buscharter.com.sg


Queen, 1 server to 4 tables for drinks seems a tad too little. No wonder my neighbour told me dat when she attended a dinner at NCQ last weekend, one guest asked for a re-fill of the red wine & after the waiter left with the glass, he nv got back to the guest with the re-filled glass. Another one asked for spoon but until dinner ended, no spoon. Wonder how much is the extra labour costs....

Could any brides here share if u gals have or plan to top-up to have red garoupa or codfish?
happy.gif
 

queenly

New Member
cheeky chick....yah loh....i find it too little oso...not sure of the labor costs but i might get them cos i scare service not fast enuff...

anyway has any of the brides receive the contract from NCQ? Huiling say will send but i have yet to receive.
 

cheekybee

New Member
Hey cheeky_chick...you are very welcome! I like the cake too first time I saw it! I hope to post more things about wedding stuff on my blog very soon...

Saw your question about fish...we had the garoupa hong kong style and it was huge during food tasting! I liked the fish very much as it was very fresh and cooked just right...although it was a big fish...the meat was really tender...wahh...now I really miss the food...din't get to eat it on the actual nite leh...:p remember to eat more during your food-tasting!!
 

cheekychick

New Member
Queen, i received the hard copy already but i have yet to post back a copy to her....I tink u shld be receiving urs soon....

Cheekybee, meaning u didnt change ur fish rite? Cos even the cheapest menu also is normal garoupa already...Hur, thks hor, i sure gorge myself during food-tasting...lol. Dats wat everyone has been telling me...Can get to eat but only during food tasting, lol.
 

tinggy

New Member
Queen,
I think we have to stress Novotel that they should add more man power to serve drink and we should not be charge extra. 1 server to 4 tables is not acceptable if the server cant even meet the basic guest requirement. My friend also complain that the whole table only have 1 glass of softdrink. Never come back with top up through out the dinner. It caused alot of unhappiness.
Novotel as the organsier, they should provide the basic need to the guest. We should stress them to increase the number of server, FOC. We are required to pay cockage fee for the wine. Dont give us excuse and suck us more for the labor cost. Unless they can make sure that 1 server for 4 tables is enough. if i receive any complain after the dinner,i will ask for compensation.
 

thocat

New Member
hey plp,
i am a new memeber to novotel.
sad to hear abt the poor service, really think they should do something, but how to convey this to jamie?
 

cheekybee

New Member
Ya cheeky_chick...we dint change the fish...no regrets...hehe...we got the second package and changed a few items off the ala carte menu...only topped up $5...hee...very pleased with our selection during food tasting...
happy.gif
our guests liked the food as well...
 

happinessbliss

New Member
Hi Queen,

I received the softcopy 2 days after i paid the deposit. And after I agreed that everything in the softcopy is ok, Huiling send me the hardcopy a week later. Now everything is settle. Maybe you could give her a call to remind her?
 

queenly

New Member
Hmm, maybe we all should write in together regarding the servers issue. Quite bad leh...i heard fren going for DnD oso complain about service especially drinks....

hmm i think i need to call them regarding my contract. Still haven receive after so long.
 

cheekychick

New Member
Cheekybee, guess urs cheaper..if i wana change to red garoupa, $20 more already.

Ting, I have to say NCQ's prices arent as premium as others. I wonder if dats the reason for shortage of manpower. Still, its not a valid reason for poor service isnt it? 1 drinks server to 4 tables, its no wonder they cannt rem who wans wat. If i only have 18 tables, meaning i will only have 4.5 drinks servers for my 180 guests?? Sounds like they r cutting cost huh?
 

tinggy

New Member
I will write a email to Jamie or Hui ling. Tell them the comment of my friend. I think we should start writing email or calling them one by one to check out how they gng to solve this problem. If all of us start calling and writing email to them about the bad service that we encounter.
 

tinggy

New Member
Actually NCQ's price is affortable because there are no abalone, no sea cucumber, no duck, no scallop and there are only 8 dishes for most of the package. If we top up the menu, we will be paying about the same price as other hotel. I am starting to worry as there are increasing number of posting of bad service at NCQ
 

fly05

New Member
Hi Ting,

My mum went for a wedding dinner at NCQ in Dec 07.

She has no complaints about the service and she mention the food is good.....
 

cheekychick

New Member
To b frank, i tink service & food is rather subjective, unless we r talking abt obvious stuff like, forgetting guests' request. I experienced good service at Meritus while same ppl at same wedding at other tables, experienced otherwise. I tink its heng suay for some cases....

Ting, all of us booked NCQ, i believe its mostly becos of the nice ballroom & our own budget. There is only so much we can do sometimes...We can emphasise on the importance of service to them but other than dat, the ball is in their court. Lets remain positive & dun wori so much ok? There is increasing number of negative comments also becos there is increasing number of couples holding dinner at NCQ. Its the same theory as why cab drivers are always getting into road accidents. Replace the cabbies with say, vios, & we'll be getting the same complaints too. Cheer up hor? I noe ur AD is approaching & the pressure is sure there....but rem, we cant pls everyone...try not to wori too much over stuff u have no control over...must try hapi & relaxed hor...
 

cheekybee

New Member
Hi gals...I think food should not be a worry...the standard is quite consistent...of course don't expect the same on your banquet and your food-tasting day...it will definitely differ a bit cos' now they are serving hundreds of guests...sometimes march-in/ toasting timing also delays the food being served...and it seems not as piping hot as what you get during food-tasting..

service wise...i think you will get a mixture of temp servers and experienced ones...my cousin had drinks spilled on her twice at my banquet...but the rest of the tables had no problems that I knew...it was very suay for her...cos' the server for her table that day was very careless or either very new to the job...heehee...anyway she was very nice not to complain until after the wedding her mum told my mum about it...
 

yfeb29

New Member
Thanks Cheeky for your detailed break-down
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Friends been telling me not to go thru this hassle in booking shuttle bus. It is still an accessible place after all.

Just to let all of you know Jamie is already out of duty to serve her maternity leave. I have been corresponding with her and now barely a month away I have to switch to Hui Ling. No choice but got to accept it...
 

icey

New Member
Hi,

I just attended a wedding dinner @NCQ Phoenix Ballroom last night. Just want to share my comments with u all.

We came at 8pm and thought that we were quite late. But when we entered the ballroom, there's still quite a number of empty tables. The dinner started quite late as 'most' of the guests are late. Heard that most of them cant find the place, esp those older folks. (some claimed that they only know New Otani Hotel but not Novotel.)

The first dish presentation is quite 'interesting' where they dancing in with the food. My relatives are joking that, they may have interview their server with a dancing criteria.

The morning express video and montage shown on the projector 'hanged' more than 8 times throughout the showing. I don't know if its due to the hotel equipment / the couple's lap top.

Overall comments on the food is nice, esp the crispy chicken which is served hot. Only comments are the sharkfins maybe too saltish and the prawns are tasteless. I, personally like the mango & sago dessert, although those older folk are pretty neutral on it.
The serving portion may be quite worrying as we 'cleaned' all the plates (including the prawns) although my table only sit 8 pax. And all are not big eaters, hence some of them commented that the food may not be filling if the table is fully seated.

The serving time is also not really consistent. I wonder if its due to lack of server or the kitchen problem. Cause I see the table before us having shark fins already while we are still waiting for like 10mins already. And when we finally get our sharkfins soup, and started eating, the table beside us is still waiting for the sharkfins soup.

The service of the servers are not really fantastic. Although I didnt get spill, but I found that they are not very 'automatic'. We were brought to our table, sit for more than 15mins, before a server came to pour chinese tea. Usually they will ask what drink u wan at the same time, but this server left after pouring the tea. Duhz.. Then I noticed a group of servers standing at the corner chit chatting, instead of going around to check which guest need drinks or topping up the glasses etc. I had to signal for a server before I can get a drink.

Nearing the end of the dinner, my aunty asked for hot tea so she told the server who was serving soft drinks specifically that she wanted HOT tea. The server went off to take the tea flask and poured into her cup. My cousin (her son) touched the cup and told the server 'this is not HOT tea.' Gosh.. then the server 'wake up' and went to get HOT tea to serve my aunty.

After the dinner, we are the first few to leave as I need to wake up very early today. But we didn't managed to get any taxi as the queue is very long. I guess the hotspots at Clarke Quay does contributes to the long queue. We had to walk all the way to the MRT and alight at other stations to get a taxi.
 

icey

New Member
One more thing, I had soft drinks for the night. But only the 1st glass is served cold, the top up are all without ice and infact, its not cold at all.

Maybe its good to highlight this to the hotel.

Hope my sharing helps.
 

queenly

New Member
wah i sww so many bad reviews i oso stress man...anyway i checked with Huiling on the labour cost for the additional servers...and this is her reply.

"Base on 30 tables. Estimated cost will be $600++ (1person to 2 tables for drink server)."

Not cheap loh.....
 

yfeb29

New Member
Thanks Icey for your valuable feedback. The food portion you highlighted is my concern now since I only cater 8 dishes.

Raycia just had her wedding on last Saturday, not sure if she has anything else to share or experience similar incidents like you do.
 

tinggy

New Member
Hee. I send my feedback to Novotel. Jamie replied. Haha, maybe because of my job nature. I am more demanding toward vendors. But i think we can still send our experience to them for more improvement. The below is reply from Jamie.

Dear

I am sorry for delay in reply as I just came back from compassionate leave today.

Thank you so much for taking the time to send us your kind feedback and comments. We value comments from our guests and it is through such feedback that we can continuously improve the standard of our service to the highest possible level. Will relay your feedback to the respective people for further improvement to be made.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact us should you need further clarification or assistance.
 

pannie

Member
Hello Everyone.

How have all of you been? Long time never come in to this thread liao. Hope everyone is good.

To those who have passed your AD, CONGRATULATION. Sorry for my late wishes.
 

eemoo

New Member
hi brides-to-be at NCQ..

me quite some time didn't come in here le...anyway, i was reading the threads on the service...

actually, you all don't have to worry so much. i was worried too but for me, all went well and okay. i have some friends who commented that some dishes are not nice but i have some others who complemented on the same dish. so, it's very subjective. as for the service, what i received on that day was much much greater than what i would expect. they went all out to make sure my hubby, me and all guests had a great night. my co-ordinator for that night was Zul, so if you can ,pls ask for him.

on your night, you'll be very busy and you will find that the night will pass very fast.

as for icey's comments on the montage part...i used NCQ's player and it went smoothly.my guests even clapped after both the montage were shown. the thing to note is that the one helping you with the player has to be there early to try out the system and get familiar with it first. trust me, you and your hubby won't have the time to do all this. your hubby needs to get at least 3 - 4 brothers to help him that night. 1 with the playing of the montage and 2 others to help co-ordinate the photo taking.

one more thing, it will be good to give an ang-bow to the co-ordinator before the night starts. your hubby can give the ang bow during the briefing. we gave to Zul & the 2 waiters serving the VIP tables. It's just a small gesture (it doesn't have to contain huge amt) and you can tell them it's your day today and you're giving this ang bow just for luck purposes or goodwill. trust me, they will be "obliged" in a way to make sure you have a great night ahead.

hope this helps ease some of you gals worries...
happy.gif


oh btw, my AD was last yr in late Nov.
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eemoo

New Member
one more thing to add...you can gently ask your guests to come early. you can say you want them to come early so that you all can take photos.

as for the relatives part, get your parents to do the asking. i'm sure they will obliged.

mine was on a sunday too and my dinner starts at exactly 8.20pm and by 10.10pm it ended. i still have the time to go round to my friends to chat and take photos. no one left early (mayber becos we ended quite early too) and the ppl only start leaving when the staff open the doors.
 

rjwedding

New Member
hmm.. my parents are going for wedding dinner this sunday.. will see whether their service will improve after Ting's feedback..

can anyone share with me the wine that you chose and the comments?

thanks.
 

eemoo

New Member
hi R&J,
for me, i took their house wine. believe it's not bad (though i don't have a chance to try it) cos i have 30tbls and 50bottles were consumed.

yvonne - you will be given a sheet with ratings and you need to rate the dishes. the chef will personally come out to introduce himself and ask you for any feedback. you can just tell him frankly if any dish is tasteless or too salty etc. for us, we ask him if the AD fish will be as huge as the one they served (cos we opted for pomfret teochew style). he told me the range of the fish will be between 900g to 1kg. and on AD, the fish is really big (as what he promised). so, it's important for you to tell him what you'll be expecting. If on food-tasting, you find that the portion is too little, you must higlight to him too.

hope this helps..
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cheekybee

New Member
Hey raycia...hehe...no lah my banquet was held last december...
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congrats now you are "mrs" too!

Hi yvonne...which menu are you selecting? actually i reviewed my food-tasting menu before in this thread...somewhere in october...hee...wonder if can still find it cos' this thread is so active...:p
 

gui99

New Member
Hi Icey

Thank you very much for attending my wedding on Sunday 27th Jan and your valuable feedbacks. My wife and I will like to deepy apologise for any bad experiences that you and our relatives has encountered during the wedding. I will certainly bring all the feedback that you have raised to the hotel so that they can improve to help other brides who are going to have their wedding at NCQ. Due to budget constraints and upcoming expeditures like honeymoon and house reno, NCQ is the best option available for us. Despite the inconveniences of reaching the hotel, my wife and I are very grateful that most relatives and friends turn up to celebrate this happy occassion with us.

I will like to clarify certain points so that it will re-assure the other NCQ brides who are having their weddings there as well.

For the technical glitch in the video presentation, my very close friend did the childhood photo presentation for me and we had it played on a laptop. It may be a wrong move for us to use the laptop instead of the DVD player provided by the hotel, hence resulting a slight jerk (3-4 times according to all my colleagues) during the presentation. I will like to assure the NCQ brides that this has nothing to do with the hotel's equipment and all their AV equipments are working nicely on my wedding day. From the feedbacks i gather from my colleagues, the morning express video went on quite smoothly using the hotel's DVD player. I am not too sure as I only took a peek at the last portion before we march in.

For the food wise, we will bring all the points that you have raised back to the hotel and other brides can take note as well when you are doing the food tasting. Like eemoo has mentioned, I guess the taste of food differs from person to person. The general comments that I have gather from my guest is that the food is fantastic and the portion is sufficient. My colleagues loves the crab roe sharkfin, garlic chicken and the prawns. So far the only negative comment I had was that the mango dessert was horrible. The guest finds it too bitter. Other than that, the ones that I have talked to generally gave very good comments on the food.

For waiters, I guess its a bit hard to control as most hotels normally hires part timers and students. Hence probably the experience differs from table to table. Think it happens to most hotels and most wedding ba. Nevertheless, I will still bring all the comments back to the hotel for improvements.
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gui99

New Member
Hi henyve

Cocktail normally starts at 7.15-7.30pm and if all your guests has arrived, the dinner can proceed around 8. The normal timing to start dinner will be from 8.15pm to 8.30pm ba.

But so far, I have not attended a wedding that it able to start earlier than 8pm.
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raycia

New Member
Hi Hui, you are the one who is having ur wedding one day after mine....

My guest said that the food is nice and the portion is sufficient...The ambience in the ballroom is also good....so overall still not bad and within our budget too...

Ya i think all of you should play all ur montage on the DVD player they provide for u....
 


gui99

New Member
Hi Raycia

Yup yup. My wedding is one day after yours.
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My brothers and I are all IT train and we have to weigh the pros and cons of using the DVD player or laptop. After much consideration, we decided to go for the laptop. Anyway its only a slight jerk and plus its a happy occasion so just let it be lor. Most importantly the bride and groom is happy can liao.
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