Any Maldives recommendations

[Isochronous]

Thinking of a March status run there to keep QF WP for 3 nights or so. Any hotel/resort recommendations and what's pricing like?

 

[Cynicor]

Conrad Maldives. Crazy expensive. Amazing resort. Better on points as HH Gold/Diamond.

What budget? What would you like to do/see/eat?

I have a thread on the CM Rangali Island, and flyertalk has a thread about 500 pages long on it too.

The Conrad is a real foodie resort, with expensive but decent food options and lots of good snorkelling and diving.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Thinking of a March status run there to keep QF WP for 3 nights or so. Any hotel/resort recommendations and what's pricing like?

Whats your proposed routing? Using OW metal then?

 

[amaroo]

I've not been to the Maldives.....but this looked pretty good! Thanksgiving in the Maldives via Etihad, Malaysia A380 and British A380 First Class - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[Neeraj]

We've been to Bandos island resort and it was fairly good. Not upmarket but definitely not budget. We stayed in one of the huts.

 

[NM]

Interesting choice for a status run. Its going to be expensive. While accommodation options are often available on points, its the extras that will hit you hard.

Some resorts only use sea plane transfers. This means the cost for transfers is very high (think upwards of $500 per person). Note that sea plane transfers only operate during daylight hours, so a night arrival will mean you need to stay somewhere else the first night. Even speed boat transfers to the closer resorts will cost $200+ per person. We stayed for a week at Holiday Inn Kandooma Resort last year, using points for the accommodation. This cost us about $1000 in transfers and meals for two people for a week, and we did no paid extra activities, and certainly did not splurge on food and beverages. That resort is nowhere near the Conrad in terms of luxury, but it suited our style and budget.

 

[Febs]

More easily doable on OW now that MH have joined. KUL-MLE is an easy ~4hrs and (when we went) was on nice new modern MH metal. MLE-LHR on BA is a seasonal flight though (or at least was when we took it), so make sure it's available.

We stayed at Coco Palm Bodu Hithi for 7 nights and absolutely loved it. We considered the W, but in the end it was going to be $2k more for the week, for not a whole lot more (slightly nicer design, free ice creams, and the W brand). We were very happy with our choice.

We decided to do a split 3 nights in an island villa (which was huge, had its own pool and backyard shower, private terrace, direct beach access) and 4 nights in an over the water bungalow (which also had a pool, direct access into the ocean etc..). Apparently it's a popular option - I can recommend it. The over the water bungalows are definitely something you have to experience once, but the island vila was great too, and the private pool (which was pretty sizeable) got a lot of use.

We booked ours through a UK travel agent and all up it was around $7k for 7 nights, including speedboat transfers (only ~45min from MLE airport) and breakfast/dinner each night. Lunch we just played by ear - sometimes we ate at the restaurant or bar, sometimes we just got snacks, and once we ate our own catch from the fishing trip the night before (which they prepare for ~$20pp - great fun and value).

We were surprised with the quality and variety of the food. Considering they have a captive market I was a bit concerned it would have been pretty average, but it was great. I'd say the breakfast buffet was on par with say, Crown Towers or Grand Hyatt Melb.

Plenty of activities (we did something every second day, and relaxed every other day), a nice wine bar, amazing sealife to explore....week of a lifetime. Highly recommended (both the Maldives and Bodu Hithi).

The one activity we didn't do was a Male day trip. Although everyone says Male is a dump, with all the worst parts of a poor Asian country and none of the good parts, I was still keen to visit given it's unlikely to be around forever. They said the trip didn't have enough interest, but I think they canceled it due to political unrest that was happening at the time (which didn't extend to the islands at all).

Cheers,
- Febs.

 

[Cynicor]

Just on the MH flight- it's luck of the draw on modern vs old. I had what I thought was the oldest fitout in the fleet, with the old 2 lever manual seat in J. I was wrong though the plane to SIN was actually even older still. From memory, neither had even seat back entertainment.

 

[Alanslegal]

For a quick into and out of MLE, the Sheraton Full Moon is only a 15 minute boat ride away from the airport.

 

[boomy]

For a quick into and out of MLE, the Sheraton Full Moon is only a 15 minute boat ride away from the airport.

Have you been there? I wonder how good it is compared to other 5* hotels in Maldives. There are mixed reviews about this hotel and the location.
I'm thinking of staying there for 5 nights. Using SPG award promo combined with 35% off platinum redemption it's 52,000 points.
The other option is Conrad for 380,000 points.

 

[markis10]

I am a tad surprised the Scoot team thinks its a good destination.

 

[JohnK]

LOL! Yes $50 for an airfare but accommdation is likely to be upwards of $500/night. :shock:

 

[boomy]

LOL! Yes $50 for an airfare but accommdation is likely to be upwards of $500/night. :shock:

Are you talking about BNE in November?

 

[JohnK]

Are you talking about BNE in November?

The G20? I was stressing thinking how I would get to work and to/from airport etc. Without realising I have been planning a trip to Thailand at the same time.

 

[Cynicor]

Have you been there? I wonder how good it is compared to other 5* hotels in Maldives. There are mixed reviews about this hotel and the location.
I'm thinking of staying there for 5 nights. Using SPG award promo combined with 35% off platinum redemption it's 52,000 points.
The other option is Conrad for 380,000 points.

I haven't been the the full moon, but the Conrad is very nice. Just be prepared to spend a lot of extra on good and excursions. I doubt you will regret going to either place.

 

[boomy]

I haven't been the the full moon, but the Conrad is very nice. Just be prepared to spend a lot of extra on good and excursions. I doubt you will regret going to either place.

I'm sure they are both nice. It looks more convenient to stay at Sheraton if arriving late to Male as they have 24hr speedboat connection.
Did you spend 1 night in Male before taking the seaplane to Conrad?

 

[Cynicor]

Nope, took the early SQ flight. While I love my OW points and SCs, I wasn't prepared to do a night in SIN/KUL and a night in MLE just to get to my hotel. I took MH J home- the late night flight means you can spend all day at the hotel at the end of the trip, too.

 

[Alanslegal]

Have you been there? I wonder how good it is compared to other 5* hotels in Maldives. There are mixed reviews about this hotel and the location.

I have stayed at the Full Moon and the hotel is conveniently located if you are transiting or overnighting to another resort. That's the only time I would recommend the hotel. I did write up a a pretty harsh review on Tripadvisor back then too, if you want to review my review, here it is...

Just a pass! - Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa, North Male Atoll Traveller Reviews - TripAdvisor

 

[boomy]

Nope, took the early SQ flight. While I love my OW points and SCs, I wasn't prepared to do a night in SIN/KUL and a night in MLE just to get to my hotel. I took MH J home- the late night flight means you can spend all day at the hotel at the end of the trip, too.

So you bought 2 one way tickets? Is that much cheaper then buying 2 returns?
I was looking at prices on MH & SQ. No OW award available on MH but price in J is not bad. SQ J cost a lot more but can use 90K USDM to Male.
Ideally, I would rather fly there with SQ and return with MH as you did.

 

[NM]

Note the MH flights are late evening, so do not work well for sea plane connections to the resorts that require them (eg Conrad). Arrival is around 10:30pm and departure after a short turn-around. So keep in mind that you need to consider transfers and what to do between reort check-out time and departure. In our case, speed boat transfer was available late at night (just could not see much along the way), and we spent the afternoon exploring Male and then some time in the airline business class lounge before departure. Note that Male and the airport lounge are "dry", while the resorts are not.