St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort [Master Thread]
Feb 21, 2017, 8:23 am
#361
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 93
Wife and I have a trip planned for Thanksgiving week this year, Friday to Friday. What time does the seaplane pick you up and take your back to MLE on your last day? We want to go to Singapore, but are wondering if we'll have to overnight in MLE. Flight leaves for Singapore at 12:55pm on Friday.
Feb 21, 2017, 9:25 am
#362
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Back in Hell
Posts: 4,178
It depends on when your flight is and it is wholly under the control of, and arranged by, TMA (the seaplane company). The resort only finds out what time your departure is the night before you check out. Having said that, they will usually try to get you there at least a couple of hours before your international departure time. Sometimes you have to wait 3 or more hours in Male.
Feb 21, 2017, 11:14 am
#363
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 93
It depends on when your flight is and it is wholly under the control of, and arranged by, TMA (the seaplane company). The resort only finds out what time your departure is the night before you check out. Having said that, they will usually try to get you there at least a couple of hours before your international departure time. Sometimes you have to wait 3 or more hours in Male.
Feb 24, 2017, 6:38 pm
#366
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the air
Programs: Occasional RTW club
Posts: 6,924
Wife and I have a trip planned for Thanksgiving week this year, Friday to Friday. What time does the seaplane pick you up and take your back to MLE on your last day? We want to go to Singapore, but are wondering if we'll have to overnight in MLE. Flight leaves for Singapore at 12:55pm on Friday.
Yep, it's half off.
Feb 25, 2017, 8:59 am
#367
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat
Posts: 12,210
Does anyone know how far the Conrad is and is it possible to get there via a Boat transfer from here? Doesn't look that far on google maps.
Last edited by onlysuites; Feb 25, 2017 at 9:43 am
Feb 25, 2017, 3:23 pm
#368
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the air
Programs: Occasional RTW club
Posts: 6,924
I expect it should be doable but you'd need to arrange a private transfer by yourself. Expect a minimum of $400pp I'd say, but of course, the problem is your return flight is from Vommuli... so in the end, you'll just fly via MLE.
Feb 25, 2017, 5:06 pm
#369
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat
Posts: 12,210
Feb 27, 2017, 9:37 pm
#373
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Bay Area, CA
Posts: 731
the beauty and the need to be improved
Beyond a doubt, this resort has the rooms that are envious for all others in the Maldives. A touch of the ipad to open sheers, blinds, etc. make for a truly 21st c. experience in the middle of paradise!
We had a sunset overwater villa and loved jumping in the pool directly from the bedroom (kids at heart). The pool was in fact cool for most of the day which was a bit surprising but even at the location of our villa, it was in shade most of the day so it couldn't warm up much. This was indeed surprising since it is hot, hot, hot all day and evening. I think this is one of the biggest design flaws of the resort. They should have made infinity pools at the edge of the deck so it could soak up the heat all day and keep the pools toasty. They are also very shallow so that was a surprise. The hammocks are a cool feature but for us very tough material so it wasn't really practical to use unfortunately. The rooms are so open and we loved the floor to ceiling windows/doors. Really beautiful. Another surprise was they didn't make it so you could have some outdoor lights on without others so you had an overhead beacon light and all others or none. I think a simple solution would be to make the lights independent so guests could pick and choose ambiance. Another major miss is the piping. The hot water smells badly like petrol on occasion which kind of made me nervous to use it. The staff knows about it, but how do you fix a systemic issue like this? They said it was safe to use, but it is odd to have this issue at a high-end resort.
We used the bikes a lot and thought that was a great idea and easy to use. There's something magical about riding your bike in the moonlight on the dock to dinner on a warm winter night. It does cause some concern how low the barrier is for the edge of the dock since I imagine someone less used to biking could easily flip over the side into the water!
The food at Orientale was good, not fantastic. It was a good Indian style dinner, but very very expensive for lentils. I guess I hoped for a bit more panache or uniqueness if I was spending that kind of $. We're pretty spoiled with food in CA though so I let it go. Cargo is really good. We love the seabass and lamb and we definitely think the Jordanian chef is a great addition to this hotel. The breakfasts are undefinably great. We had pretty much everything. The best things were the duck confit with french toast (we switched out the waffle since the french toast is phenomenal) and the foie gras with quail egg brioche. We will never forget the breakfasts for sure.
Our butler was ok- he did bring coffee and tea but he spaced our reservations at Cargo so we could only go one night.
Another major miss for us is the lack of activities currently offered- no sunset sailing, tandem parasailing (sail only allows for max 250 lbs so 2 normal adults are precluded from weight limit), no kite surfing, etc. The snorkel trip is at 10am and breakfast ends at 10:30am so it wasn't a plan for us to eat and snorkel afterwards but some others may be ok with it.
I think it has possibilities, but there are still kinks to work out and we'll probably choose another resort next time but it was fun to try. If you're on points, it's definitely worth going and by the time you go, more and more will be worked out.
We had a sunset overwater villa and loved jumping in the pool directly from the bedroom (kids at heart). The pool was in fact cool for most of the day which was a bit surprising but even at the location of our villa, it was in shade most of the day so it couldn't warm up much. This was indeed surprising since it is hot, hot, hot all day and evening. I think this is one of the biggest design flaws of the resort. They should have made infinity pools at the edge of the deck so it could soak up the heat all day and keep the pools toasty. They are also very shallow so that was a surprise. The hammocks are a cool feature but for us very tough material so it wasn't really practical to use unfortunately. The rooms are so open and we loved the floor to ceiling windows/doors. Really beautiful. Another surprise was they didn't make it so you could have some outdoor lights on without others so you had an overhead beacon light and all others or none. I think a simple solution would be to make the lights independent so guests could pick and choose ambiance. Another major miss is the piping. The hot water smells badly like petrol on occasion which kind of made me nervous to use it. The staff knows about it, but how do you fix a systemic issue like this? They said it was safe to use, but it is odd to have this issue at a high-end resort.
We used the bikes a lot and thought that was a great idea and easy to use. There's something magical about riding your bike in the moonlight on the dock to dinner on a warm winter night. It does cause some concern how low the barrier is for the edge of the dock since I imagine someone less used to biking could easily flip over the side into the water!
The food at Orientale was good, not fantastic. It was a good Indian style dinner, but very very expensive for lentils. I guess I hoped for a bit more panache or uniqueness if I was spending that kind of $. We're pretty spoiled with food in CA though so I let it go. Cargo is really good. We love the seabass and lamb and we definitely think the Jordanian chef is a great addition to this hotel. The breakfasts are undefinably great. We had pretty much everything. The best things were the duck confit with french toast (we switched out the waffle since the french toast is phenomenal) and the foie gras with quail egg brioche. We will never forget the breakfasts for sure.
Our butler was ok- he did bring coffee and tea but he spaced our reservations at Cargo so we could only go one night.
Another major miss for us is the lack of activities currently offered- no sunset sailing, tandem parasailing (sail only allows for max 250 lbs so 2 normal adults are precluded from weight limit), no kite surfing, etc. The snorkel trip is at 10am and breakfast ends at 10:30am so it wasn't a plan for us to eat and snorkel afterwards but some others may be ok with it.
I think it has possibilities, but there are still kinks to work out and we'll probably choose another resort next time but it was fun to try. If you're on points, it's definitely worth going and by the time you go, more and more will be worked out.
Feb 27, 2017, 11:28 pm
#374
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: South Korea
Posts: 1,168
Beyond a doubt, this resort has the rooms that are envious for all others in the Maldives. A touch of the ipad to open sheers, blinds, etc. make for a truly 21st c. experience in the middle of paradise!
We had a sunset overwater villa and loved jumping in the pool directly from the bedroom (kids at heart). The pool was in fact cool for most of the day which was a bit surprising but even at the location of our villa, it was in shade most of the day so it couldn't warm up much. This was indeed surprising since it is hot, hot, hot all day and evening. I think this is one of the biggest design flaws of the resort. They should have made infinity pools at the edge of the deck so it could soak up the heat all day and keep the pools toasty. They are also very shallow so that was a surprise. The hammocks are a cool feature but for us very tough material so it wasn't really practical to use unfortunately. The rooms are so open and we loved the floor to ceiling windows/doors. Really beautiful. Another surprise was they didn't make it so you could have some outdoor lights on without others so you had an overhead beacon light and all others or none. I think a simple solution would be to make the lights independent so guests could pick and choose ambiance. Another major miss is the piping. The hot water smells badly like petrol on occasion which kind of made me nervous to use it. The staff knows about it, but how do you fix a systemic issue like this? They said it was safe to use, but it is odd to have this issue at a high-end resort.
We used the bikes a lot and thought that was a great idea and easy to use. There's something magical about riding your bike in the moonlight on the dock to dinner on a warm winter night. It does cause some concern how low the barrier is for the edge of the dock since I imagine someone less used to biking could easily flip over the side into the water!
The food at Orientale was good, not fantastic. It was a good Indian style dinner, but very very expensive for lentils. I guess I hoped for a bit more panache or uniqueness if I was spending that kind of $. We're pretty spoiled with food in CA though so I let it go. Cargo is really good. We love the seabass and lamb and we definitely think the Jordanian chef is a great addition to this hotel. The breakfasts are undefinably great. We had pretty much everything. The best things were the duck confit with french toast (we switched out the waffle since the french toast is phenomenal) and the foie gras with quail egg brioche. We will never forget the breakfasts for sure.
Our butler was ok- he did bring coffee and tea but he spaced our reservations at Cargo so we could only go one night.
Another major miss for us is the lack of activities currently offered- no sunset sailing, tandem parasailing (sail only allows for max 250 lbs so 2 normal adults are precluded from weight limit), no kite surfing, etc. The snorkel trip is at 10am and breakfast ends at 10:30am so it wasn't a plan for us to eat and snorkel afterwards but some others may be ok with it.
I think it has possibilities, but there are still kinks to work out and we'll probably choose another resort next time but it was fun to try. If you're on points, it's definitely worth going and by the time you go, more and more will be worked out.
We had a sunset overwater villa and loved jumping in the pool directly from the bedroom (kids at heart). The pool was in fact cool for most of the day which was a bit surprising but even at the location of our villa, it was in shade most of the day so it couldn't warm up much. This was indeed surprising since it is hot, hot, hot all day and evening. I think this is one of the biggest design flaws of the resort. They should have made infinity pools at the edge of the deck so it could soak up the heat all day and keep the pools toasty. They are also very shallow so that was a surprise. The hammocks are a cool feature but for us very tough material so it wasn't really practical to use unfortunately. The rooms are so open and we loved the floor to ceiling windows/doors. Really beautiful. Another surprise was they didn't make it so you could have some outdoor lights on without others so you had an overhead beacon light and all others or none. I think a simple solution would be to make the lights independent so guests could pick and choose ambiance. Another major miss is the piping. The hot water smells badly like petrol on occasion which kind of made me nervous to use it. The staff knows about it, but how do you fix a systemic issue like this? They said it was safe to use, but it is odd to have this issue at a high-end resort.
We used the bikes a lot and thought that was a great idea and easy to use. There's something magical about riding your bike in the moonlight on the dock to dinner on a warm winter night. It does cause some concern how low the barrier is for the edge of the dock since I imagine someone less used to biking could easily flip over the side into the water!
The food at Orientale was good, not fantastic. It was a good Indian style dinner, but very very expensive for lentils. I guess I hoped for a bit more panache or uniqueness if I was spending that kind of $. We're pretty spoiled with food in CA though so I let it go. Cargo is really good. We love the seabass and lamb and we definitely think the Jordanian chef is a great addition to this hotel. The breakfasts are undefinably great. We had pretty much everything. The best things were the duck confit with french toast (we switched out the waffle since the french toast is phenomenal) and the foie gras with quail egg brioche. We will never forget the breakfasts for sure.
Our butler was ok- he did bring coffee and tea but he spaced our reservations at Cargo so we could only go one night.
Another major miss for us is the lack of activities currently offered- no sunset sailing, tandem parasailing (sail only allows for max 250 lbs so 2 normal adults are precluded from weight limit), no kite surfing, etc. The snorkel trip is at 10am and breakfast ends at 10:30am so it wasn't a plan for us to eat and snorkel afterwards but some others may be ok with it.
I think it has possibilities, but there are still kinks to work out and we'll probably choose another resort next time but it was fun to try. If you're on points, it's definitely worth going and by the time you go, more and more will be worked out.
Feb 28, 2017, 12:02 am
#375
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: CA
Programs: AA PLT / MR LTPP 1/1/19 / Hilton Diamond
Posts: 540
Regarding the water temp, I'm a bit surprised to read all the reviews stating that the pool water is cold. I'm on the sunrise side and the pool water probably ranges from 78-81F. What's interesting is that the ocean water is cooler than the pool water by 1-2 degrees and I haven't seen anyone comment that the ocean water is cold.