Travel advice - The Maldives 🇲🇻

[gigatoaster]

Hello there

I am considering a trip to the Maldives, mostly because I love to travel and I do a bit of diving (PADI Advanced Open Water), although it's been more than a 1 year since I dove. I don't mind doing a refresh.

I am thinking of going there beginning of March, looks like it is good weather.

Obviously, price is just insane. I am hesitating between the Four Seasons or CONRAD.

My wife knows some people so maybe we could get discount. Last month, we had just a dinner in a FS in Vietnam (between Hoi An & Da Nang) and I was amazed by their resort, look here! I loved Vietnam and I can't imagine how a FS in the Maldives must be.

It would be only for 4 or 5 nights.

Any recommendations or advice? Things you liked there or didn't like?

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Hello there

I am considering a trip to the Maldives, mostly because I love to travel and I do a bit of diving (PADI Advanced Open Water), although it's been more than a 1 year since I dove. I don't mind doing a refresh.

I am thinking of going there beginning of March, looks like it is good weather.

Obviously, price is just insane (like 7 or 8k euros just for accommodation). I am hesitating between the Four Seasons or CONRAD.

My wife knows some people so maybe we could get discount. Last month, we had just a dinner in a FS in Vietnam (between Hoi An & Da Nang) and I was amazed by their resort, look here! I loved Vietnam and I can't imagine how a FS in the Maldives must be.

It would be only for 4 or 5 nights.

Any recommendations or advice? Things you liked there or didn't like?

Can't help wth this one, but enjoy your travels.

Would love to learn more about your trip to Vietnam, a country that strikes me as being an absolutely fascinating destination.

 

[legiatravel]

Greetings from Vietnam! Thank you for the love you have for Vietnam!

 

[gigatoaster]

Thank you for your messages, @Scepticalscribe & @legiatravel!

I really loved it. People are so friendly and so warm. The food was amazing, I loved the most egg coffee & Bánh Mì the most! I found Hoi An very spectacular and beautiful at sunset. I would strongly recommend everybody reading these to go there, truly a magical experience.

 

[legiatravel]

Thank you for your messages, @Scepticalscribe & @legiatravel!

I really loved it. People are so friendly and so warm. The food was amazing, I loved the most egg coffee & Bánh Mì the most! I found Hoi An very spectacular and beautiful at sunset. I would strongly recommend everybody reading these to go there, truly a magical experience.

Next time when you visit our country, come to my city, I will invite you the salt coffee!

 

[gigatoaster]

Back on topic, we have received our confirmation, I can’t wait to go there!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Back on topic, we have received our confirmation, I can’t wait to go there!

View attachment 2346861

Good luck; I can well imagine how much you are looking forward to this trip.

 

[gigatoaster]

I am back from the Maldives, it was fantastic! See below a selection of pictures, too bad I can't share the diving videos. The water was so clear and pristine, I've never seen that in my life. The resort was fantastic and we got lucky to be upgraded in the sunrise water villa! We loved and enjoyed every second of it. Four Seasons is the best, by far. Never I have experienced such genuine & dedicated & friendly staff. I can't wait to come back.

Spoiler

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I am back from the Maldives, it was fantastic! See below a selection of pictures, too bad I can't share the diving videos. The water was so clear and pristine, I've never seen that in my life. The resort was fantastic and we got lucky to be upgraded in the sunrise water villa! We loved and enjoyed every second of it. Four Seasons is the best, by far. Never I have experienced such genuine & dedicated & friendly staff. I can't wait to come back.

Spoiler

View attachment 2357517 View attachment 2357518 View attachment 2357519 View attachment 2357520 View attachment 2357524 View attachment 2357523 View attachment 2357521 View attachment 2357522 View attachment 2357535 View attachment 2357538 View attachment 2357537

Delighted to learn that you enjoyed yourself and had a terrific time, and thanks for sharing some pictures with us.

What was the food and wine like?

Was it "standard international cuisine" or did it feature anything indigenous or from the local culinary culture & cuisine?

 

[gigatoaster]

Food was amazing. They have a famous Indian restaurant but the best was the seafood. I had my favorite wines, they have a great selection of Meursault. I loved also they could make any juice you wanted…and the cocktails were so good!

Spoiler

 

[HDFan]

Food was amazing.

Thanks for the pictures. Wish I had the $2K - $12K a night to be able to go ....

 

[gigatoaster]

Indeed, it’s expensive but we had a special rate. It’s a trip of a lifetime.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Food was amazing. They have a famous Indian restaurant but the best was the seafood. I had my favorite wines, they have a great selection of Meursault. I loved also they could make any juice you wanted…and the cocktails were so good! View attachment 2357621 View attachment 2357622 View attachment 2357623 View attachment 2357624 View attachment 2357625 View attachment 2357626 View attachment 2357628

Yum.

Absolutely mouth-watering, I'm salivating just looking at (and admiring) the pictures that you have posted.

Sounds as though you had a brilliant time.

 

[Huntn]

Indeed, it’s expensive but we had a special rate. It’s a trip of a lifetime.

Did you say what the price was per night? For myself at my age it might be too far to go from the South Central US. We went to Athens and Istabul last year and hated the flying part of it. Now if we flew consistently first class I might adjust my view, but can’t justify the expense.

How was the temperature? We, the wife and I lived on Guam for several years, 4 decades ago 13deg lat and the temp changed very little right around 85F (30C). Maldives is about 2 deg lat ( looked it up). Maybe it was me but after working up the best tan of my life, flew to Diego Garcia @-7 deg lat, for several days, same temp range, but the sun seemed hotter on my tanned skin.

When I searched on Maldives, I got dozens of resort images like yours. I wonder what they do for typhoons, just plan on rebuilding? Rhetorical, there was a resort off the South Coast of Guam on a nearby island that got thashed during a typhoon. Cocos Island, there used to be a resort overnight accommodations, but last time I checked it was a “day resort”, ie go out for the day. My guess is that substantial rebuilding was considered a significant risk as it is not a very big island.

 

[gigatoaster]

- Prices are per night and you need to add service charges and GST on everything (+26%). It’s Four Seasons, it’s one of the most luxury brand. You have other resorts and 2 stars hotels if you want to budget travel. I think it still is worth saving and going to experience it, even on a budget. It’s a one if a lifetime experience. First time I experienced FS, the service, attention to details is truly something I’ve never seen before. This is what you get for this price and I totally understand that for a majority of people, it could be considered as obscene.

- By definition, Maldives is expensive. It’s very remote. Everything is imported.

- Transportation is extremely expensive. For instance the 35 minutes speedboat was 1000USD. They have another resort but only accessible by seaplane. I didn’t check the price.

- Yes, it’s tropical weather. Only 2 seasons, wet or dry. Water temperature is 28/30°C, outside temperature is 35.

- As you lived in Guam there are many cheaper & beautiful locations in South East Asia. I lived 3 years in Singapore and I found many awesome places. The difference with the Maldives is the quality of the water.

- Sadly with global warming, you really feel they are at the front stage. I believe in 50 to 100 years, it might not exist anymore. For the anecdote, they have artificial corals. This week, they had started to move them to put them deeper. It’s just sad to see all the dead corals. I started diving in 2012 and now everywhere you go, you see it accelerating.

- From your location, I think Florida or the Caribbean would be similar. It is still expensive to go there but again I strongly believe that it’s worth to just discover new things and widen your horizons. I went to Saint Lucia & Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the water was excellent, too. Might be too far for you, though.

- Yes, long distance traveling is a pain but it’s part of the journey. I’m still jet lag right now. Went to bed at 8pm, woke up at 2 and it’s 5 and couldn’t sleep since then. But again, the memories and I feel very lucky I can travel around the world like that.

 

[HDFan]

35 minutes speedboat was 1000USD.

Wow! One of the reasons that I did a lot of Asia travel years ago was because it was so inexpensive. $50 got you a car and a guide. Suspect those days are long gone. Always was able to either get a reasonable First/Business rate or had the air miles to purchase.

 

[obeygiant]

Any pics of the Sunrise Suite? or anything besides food?

 

[gigatoaster]

I put some pictures in the spoiler, earlier.

I have a video but the file is too big and I forgot to take the bathroom. The room is actually pretty close to what you see on their website: https://www.fourseasons.com/maldiveskh/accommodations/bungalows/sunrise_water_villa_with_pool/

It’s big, the bed is huge. You have a big dressing and a bathtub. There is a shower accessible directly on the terrace where you have 2 deck chairs for sun bathing or watching the stars at night. There are also 2 fish nets where you can see fishes from under you. The pool is quiet big and the room has all the amenities you need. There is also a Bose portable speaker.

I’ll check if my wife has pictures of the inside of the water villa.

 

[Huntn]

- Prices are per night and you need to add service charges and GST on everything (+26%). It’s Four Seasons, it’s one of the most luxury brand. You have other resorts and 2 stars hotels if you want to budget travel. I think it still is worth saving and going to experience it, even on a budget. It’s a one if a lifetime experience. First time I experienced FS, the service, attention to details is truly something I’ve never seen before. This is what you get for this price and I totally understand that for a majority of people, it could be considered as obscene.

- By definition, Maldives is expensive. It’s very remote. Everything is imported.

- Transportation is extremely expensive. For instance the 35 minutes speedboat was 1000USD. They have another resort but only accessible by seaplane. I didn’t check the price.

- Yes, it’s tropical weather. Only 2 seasons, wet or dry. Water temperature is 28/30°C, outside temperature is 35.

- As you lived in Guam there are many cheaper & beautiful locations in South East Asia. I lived 3 years in Singapore and I found many awesome places. The difference with the Maldives is the quality of the water.

- Sadly with global warming, you really feel they are at the front stage. I believe in 50 to 100 years, it might not exist anymore. For the anecdote, they have artificial corals. This week, they had started to move them to put them deeper. It’s just sad to see all the dead corals. I started diving in 2012 and now everywhere you go, you see it accelerating.

- From your location, I think Florida or the Caribbean would be similar. It is still expensive to go there but again I strongly believe that it’s worth to just discover new things and widen your horizons. I went to Saint Lucia & Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the water was excellent, too. Might be too far for you, though.

- Yes, long distance traveling is a pain but it’s part of the journey. I’m still jet lag right now. Went to bed at 8pm, woke up at 2 and it’s 5 and couldn’t sleep since then. But again, the memories and I feel very lucky I can travel around the world like that.

I realized decades ago, as a pilot, that for jet lag, you just have to accept and go with the flow. I typically would arrive in Tokyo in the afternoon 1400 local (midnight my time) with a schedule to leave the following afternoon. So I would head to the hotel, and go to bed, knowing that I would wake up at 4-5am. I’d wake up, get out my book and read until the Sun came up. Then I’d get up, go take a run down “the rice paddy road”, come back, shower, eat breakfast and then go back to sleep, until I had to get up and get ready for that days, afternoon departure flight, at which point I was feeling pretty good.

 

[gigatoaster]

I’ve had the chance to travel frequently the past few months but honestly, maybe I’m getting older but it’s more & more difficult. Still last night, went to bed at 8, woke up at 1 and fell asleep from 4 to 6. And I am back since Saturday. I hope tonight will be the last day. Usually, it takes me 3 days to recover when I’m back from Asia to Europe. For US, it’s reverse. I think the difficulty this time is I flew to Singapore so it’s 7 hours vs Europe and then Maldives was -3 from Singapore! I‘ve always been amazed by time zones,

 

[Huntn]

I’ve had the chance to travel frequently the past few months but honestly, maybe I’m getting older but it’s more & more difficult. Still last night, went to bed at 8, woke up at 1 and fell asleep from 4 to 6. And I am back since Saturday. I hope tonight will be the last day. Usually, it takes me 3 days to recover when I’m back from Asia to Europe. For US, it’s reverse. I think the difficulty this time is I flew to Singapore so it’s 7 hours vs Europe and then Maldives was -3 from Singapore! I‘ve always been amazed by time zones,

I’ll clarify that in my previous post, that routine was to get used to the local time zone, (after crossing 9 time zones) because the following days flight was North-South. The worst case for a flight crew is a schedule, continually flying back and forth East West with 24 hr off because then you never get a chance to acclimate to one time zone, and have to stay alert during the flight which could be 12 hr long. They do have relief pilots to split up the time on duty.