JBauer

...looking to book a trip for next Fall/Winter. From reading this thread seems most people stay the first night on Male? Is that something I should plan for? Are most flights timed this way? Are their early flights that get you there on time to meet the sea plane transfer to the hotel?

thanks!

rdchen

The seaplane only operates during daytime, so if your flight arrives late, then you have to overnight either at the airport hotel or hotels on Male.

erik1868

BA flies LGW-MLE on a 777 three days a week. It arrives at 9:20am and departs at 12 noon, so no need to stay a night in Male on either side of the trip.

It's a great use of just 30K AA miles for Club World (one way).

SteveF

In May this year we flew Emirates, arriving on the morning flight and departing on the (late) night flight, avoiding overnighting on Male which we consider to be a waste of time and money. That said, the long wait at Male airport for the return flight (about 6 hours ) was a nightmare so next year we are on BA .

bharv

fairly new here

i would like to book an award stay (have over 500k in points and counting).

question1
to get an upgrade to the over the water bungalow how much per night?

question 2

any suggestions on an airline from the San Francisco area.

i have read threads on the hotel etc. but have noticed on thing, any golf on the island?

thanks and everyone have a great holiday

rdchen

IIRC the UG fee quoted in the email from the hotel is around $300T (beach villa to regular OWB). OTOH, you can always take your chance & negotiate for UG onsite.

Staralliance might be your best option if you're redeeming miles for the flight.

I don't recall the hotel has any golf activity, keep in mind it's a fairly small island.

beachfan

30K for club world from LGW-MLE? Wow that's cheap. My read of the AA chart is that it's 30k each way.

SteveF

Golf? No way I'm afraid unless you take one of those auto-return putter thingys

We are paying $376 + 10% for an uprade from a reward beach villa to superior water villa so a standard WV will probably be around $300. Yes, you could take a chance on a free upgrade or a deal on arrival, and it does happen, but of course it's not guaranteed so it depends how much you have your heart set on a WV.

neuro0

What bugs me with the advanced paid upgrade is they still don't give you free breakfasts unless you are gold or diamond? It won't cost them that much anyway since we are talking breakfast buffet there!

mymiles2go

(Just left the hotel this afternoon - the Conrad)

Here's the current rate information as of today for upgrading from a points award to a different class of villa:

Upgrade cost from Beach Villa to Deluxe Beach Villa or Water Villa: US$ 296.00 + 10% service charge per night
Upgrade cost from Beach Villa to Superior Water Villa: US$ 376.00 + 10% service charge per night.
Upgrade cost from Beach Villa to Deluxe Water Villa: US$ 720.00 + 10% service charge per night
Upgrade cost from Beach Villa to Premier Water Villa: US$ 920.00 + 10% service charge per night
Upgrade cost from Beach Villa to Sunset Water Villa: US$ 3720.00 + 10% service charge per night

I'll post the rest of the rate/supplement information that they sent me in the last week or two, here in the next few days. Along with some updated thoughts (I stayed here previously when it was a Hilton). In the meantime...here's a few pics for those back home in the cold:

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/01/d...-maldives.html

wbl-mn-flyer

for the extra $4092 a night do they throw in free breakfast?

ps9a

Hi mymiles2go,
I'm headed there in a couple of months... I'm assuming no free upgrade was offered. Do you have gold/diamond status, and did they have rooms available in all categories when you checked in? Just debating whether it's worth paying to upgrade... thanks,
ps9a

hyprspeed

Thanks for the information mymiles2go!

I'd be very interested to hear about free upgrades as well since it seems so hit or miss. I'm not sure I'm ready to drop the cash to pay for an upgrade given the other costs involved already and the duration of our stay

My wife and I are heading to Rangali in Dec '10 for 13 nights and I'm a Diamond with Hilton so we've got the free breakfast option already, but I'm hoping they will bump us if available given we are going for our 5 yr anniversary and with the status.

Crossing fingers for 2010!

rdchen

FYI Sunset water villa is the most expensive room category, there are only 2 of them on the entire island. The lowest BAR for Jan. 2009 is $8k, IMHO it doesn't seem unreasonable for the $4k UG surchange.

wbl-mn-flyer

so breakfast is extra then, got it.