vnfilm1

I received email regarding room upgrade . Not sure if it is a good offer or not. Still debate whether it is worthy to upgrade to other room .

" Upgrade from Beach Villa to Water Villa US$ 225 + 10% service charge + 12% T GST per night.

Upgrade from Beach Villa to Superior Water Villa US$ 315+ 10% service charge + 12% T GST per night.

Upgrade from Beach Villa to Deluxe Beach Villa US$ 315 + 10% service charge + 12% T GST per night.

Upgrade from Beach Villa to Retreat Water Villa US$ 500+ 10% service charge + 12% T GST per night."

I booked my reservation as BV and has requested for room in the higher # >200 on the sun rise side because we like to do snorkeling . We are diamond level and not sure if our request is granted .

MaldivesFreak

Seem pretty reasonable, especially the BV to WV. $225 is pretty low for high season.

onlysuites

Yes. They have tons of designer sunglasses in the window.

A friend of mine takes his vodka in a water bottle. He is a big drinker though so says the risk is worth it for him.

ducksaucei3

I thought no liquids were allowed through security checkpoint? How is this done?

I was thinking of bringing mini shot bottles through, but I guess not now. Are there any food & beverage items that you cannot bring that I should be aware of? Was thinking of just some snacks, fruit, etc.

SR12

I guess you would have to buy the water & vodka after the checkpoint at duty-free, get rid of the water and fill the vodka into the water bottle. Hoping they dont check your "water bottle" at Male airport

thefiverivers

Hi again. Sorry for not messaging sooner but I am in the Maldives after all

Yes, unit 348 is simply the best one out of the dwv. The privacy, the unobstructed view and the location for sunsets and overall viewing of the water is the best. Every staff member has also commented about the location. Only thing I don't like is I can't get the deck speakers to play any music from my phone via Bluetooth, but a minor complaint.

That being said, the current is stronger at this villa compared to others. As soon as you get into the water from the stairs and try to go any direction to the left you can easily notice a difference. However, it was very windy today and the water was choppy and it seemed like the current was unusually strong today. I will try again tomorrow but I went in for a few minutes and got out bc of the choppiness. Will also venture to the right and see how it is.

We had breakfast at vilu, followed by snorkeling in the house reef then tea at mandhoo and happy hour at vilu. We ended the night with a private beach dinner on the sunset tip and my god it was breathtaking. Again, thanks to @MaldivesFreak for the suggestion. Well worth the price of admission.

Planning on doing koko grill sat night and Ithaa for cocktails and lobster/champs dinner on Sunday. Going jet skiing tomorrow.

This place is fantastic. I honestly can't put into words how beautiful and unique it is.

Will check in again tomorrow!

MaldivesFreak

Do get one of the engineers to come look at that.

If you sit in the water and let the current take you, will you drift in a southerly/southeasterly direction?

Has the Lobster & Champagne dinner moved to Sundays? It used to be on Saturdays.

freeloader

I'm debating btw doing a private beach dinner vs the underwater restaurant for my stay in October... if you don't mind me asking, how does the private beach dining price at?

rjp123

QQ: Is there any place where the schedule of weekly events (special dinners, etc.) is posted? Tks.

hyperzulu

It was Saturday when I was there in May.

Cynicor

Actually, with close relatives who have a background in this, I can say 100% that is the opposite of good security, and would only be security theatre, like the TSA.

Proper security, like anything, is dependant on screening out the real threats and minimising wasted time on false positives. The person bringing in real dangerous goods is trying to fly under the radar, not get picked up for petty infringements and be unable to complete the mission. The sheer number of people who accidentally bring in booze each day would blow out the lists and be unwieldy.

Anyway, for the OP who was in transit, it's now a non issue i assume!

MaldivesFreak

I see your point. The thing is, MLE is not your average airport in your average country. You don't see news articles about people trying to take guns, knives or the like through Male airport security like you do at airports in the USA. Firearms aren't allowed and hunting knives, dangerous weapons and the like (and the means to manufacture them) would be extremely rare in the Maldives and to be perfectly honest, they'd have to succeed getting through the country of embarkation's security before even being considered a threat. And what are the chances of that thesedays? Nigh on impossible. What I'm really trying to say is that they don't have much to worry about, nor do. If anyone is going to try and bring weapons or explosives into the country they're going to do it via boat, not commercial aircraft. Based on that, they have lots of time on their hands to note travellers who try to conceal alcohol or other religious/non-Islamic/banned material, hence the possibility that if you take something in and try to conceal it, your details might well be taken down. I would say that one shouldn't expect not to be noted. Those statistics, if compiled, would take only a few seconds for each infraction (actually there'd be zero time wasted as there are 2 or 3 customs agents there at any one time) and be useful as they could see which nationalities of tourists, if any, are likely to try and flaunt the law more than others.
And you have to remember the political and religious situation there which is becoming stricter and stricter since the coup/ousting of the last president. Religion, specifically Islam where there are so many banned items, and the strict implementation of it, certainly makes for a situation in which you can't just compare it to any other country (and any other airport) where it has no influence on government policy.

squeakr

There's a bit more leeway in this thread than others but keep in mind this is about the hotel and not so much security at Male airport. Thanks.

Squeakr

Co. Mod HH

MaldivesFreak

The wiki.

Land-of-Miles

As my HH balance is rising despite my best efforts am mulling a Hilton trip in 2018 and I am somewhat torn between Rangali and Samui (both of which I have stayed at previously).

I really liked Rangali and the DWV we had last time we stayed however our trip this year to the StR at Vommuli has spoiled me a bit. I just can't get over how relatively small the Rangali room options are compared to Vommuli and think this would really start to annoy me on a subsequent visit. Whilst I am fine with a circa $7k bill for a week to cover transport F&B dropping an extra $4k like we did last time to upgrade to overwater accommodation that is a long way behind the StR really puts me off.