What is still available if one has cash to splash?

For someone with $39,000 - the price of the small made-in-China car, the Chery QQ - there is the Four Seasons Hotel's offer. You and your loved one will be picked up in a limousine, put on a helicopter for a swoop over the city and served a six-course gourmet dinner.

And $12,000 will buy the Ritz-Carlton's jewellery gift set worth $4,000 and luxuries like limousine service and champagne.

Lovers with lofty plans and $3,990 to spare will get an entire capsule of the Singapore Flyer to themselves.

But Singapore sweethearts are not biting - at least not yet, their optimistic sellers admit.

People are splashing out, but not at such stratospheric levels.

Mr Timothy Boay, a 26-year-old teacher who is romancing his girlfriend of four years, said: 'My spending limit for Valentine's Day is about $200. I buy her a new watch every year. Those packages are priced way too high.'

A Straits Times check of restaurants, spas and hotels around the island found that the take-up rates for Valentine's Day packages costing up to $900 have been brisk.

Eight restaurants, hotels and attractions say that between 40 per cent and 100 per cent of all their deals were taken as of a week ago.

Places for dinner on board a cable car going from Mount Faber to Sentosa and back for $288 per couple are sold out.

The restaurants atop Mount Faber, namely Altivo, Glass Bar, Faber Rock and Hill Bistro, are almost 70 per cent full.

Over 100 couples will take a spin on the Singapore Flyer tomorrow, at $399 per couple - or almost seven times the cost of a pair of regular tickets. At this price though, couples will have to share the capsule with about two dozen other people.

Then there are people forking out good money for a rather more restful time.

Spa Willow Stream at hotel Fairmont Singapore is offering couples spa packages at $399 or $599 for an aromatherapy massage, an exfoliating scrub and a light meal. Already, half the slots have been booked.

The Singapore Spa Association, which has 50 accredited member spas under its wing, said bookings at participating spas have been 'brisk', with about seven in 10 slots booked up.

Association chief Peter Sng said he expected all slots to be taken up soon.

For Mr John Hatherley, 43, Valentine's Day is an opportunity to make up for time lost 'busy at work' and 'looking after the new baby'.

The Londoner will treat his Singaporean wife to an $888 eight-course candlelight dinner with champagne at a sea-facing table at The Cliff, a gourmet restaurant on Sentosa. She will also be feted with red roses and a gift hamper.

The father of a 15-month-old boy said: 'I want to do something special for my wife. Sentosa is special because we stayed at a resort there when we got married. I hope it will be romantic and nostalgic. The ambience is worth it.'

Asked if he would spend $39,000, he quipped: 'That is a bit too much!'

Industry players are still holding out hope that the love-struck will pony up for their fancy offerings at the last minute, despite there being only a day to V-Day.

Ms Adeline Toh, director of public relations at the Four Seasons Hotel, said the economy was healthy and that 'the market was ready'.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY TARA TAN