Originally Posted by
aleksandar99
ARRIVAL
At the airport I was met by a O&O represantative and transfered to the luxury yacht for the 1 hour transfer to the resort. When I arrived I was greeted in the most amazing way by the whole staff.
Where as, at CBR when I arrived I wasn't greeted as near as nicely as I was at O&O. I was really disappointed.
ROOM
I stayed at the Beach Villa with Pool and the Water Villa with Pool. Both villas were absolutely amazing but I would suggest the Beach Villa much better positioned and more private and overall it is designed better than the Water Villa. All the little details in the Villas are amazing and the attention to detail is wonderful.
At CBR I stayed at the Garden Water Villa. The Villa is absolutely amazing and the pool just to much to take in but overall the O&O is just much more sophisticated and appeals much more to me than CBR. That is just my opinion.
I just think that CBR and it's design just doesn't fit in that well into what the Maldives are and on the other hand O&O fits in so naturally even though it's a man-made island.
SERVICE
The butler service at CBR is extremely weirdly concepted and the scheme how it works is very strange. Only they (the butlers who serve you) know your name all the other people don't know who don't have contact with you.
At O&O every single person who saw me regarded me by my name or Sir or Mr...
at the restaurants and bar the service was impecable and not even close to service at for example a Four Seasons and maybe even better than Aman.
DAY TO DAY
The pools at both resorts are amazing - all of them. The outdoor one, the private pools. The beach at CBR disappointed me with not being cleaned. The beaches at One&Only is something you can only find at Amanpulo and North Islad and nowhere else. There is no feel that it is not natural. The hammocks, egg-chairs, kids club, excursions, everything is just amazing. The spa at O&O is not chosen as the best one with no reason. I really haven't experienced anything more amazing including the high end and luxury gym. Just amazing. At CBR the spa is on another island and it's just not good. It's just not.
O&O is clearly the King resort of the Maldives. The jog and bike trail through the "forest" in O&O is great and the little bridge in the middle of the island is something you can only see in animation films. Truely magnificent!
DINING
Let me start by saying that O&O has food which I haven't tasted something like the food ANYWHERE in the world. You can tell that everythig is organic and fresh procuce and the prices are not that expensive. The breakfast is amazing, you can litteraly ask for anything at any time. The dining at the beach club all day. I really liked it because it's very relaxed and nothing over the top and them you go fancy for dinner to Botanica or the Japanese restaurant. The cocktails and drinks are amazing.
Once again I was dissapointed by the food at CBR and really expected much, much and not to talk about the prices and the prices are not worth the resort let alone the food.
To add a few more comments:
Arrival: Ive experienced the exact opposite. Also I would expect the service at O and O to be worse at full capacity as the hotel is 3x the size atleast of CBR.
Rooms: They actually have the same designer so your comments dont make that much sense here. But yes CBR is obviously much more modern and definately a lot more WOW. Also like double the size of the O and O Rooms.
Service: Ive had both good and bad experiences at both Resorts but would definately say that the service at CBR is WAY more personal than at O and O where ive never actually met a manager while at CBR I was invited to drinks with the GM.
Pool: The Pool at the O and O is great for postcards, the beach area and the few chairs next to it is not. Granted the CBR Beach next to the Main Pool is not that amazing either. I would call it a nice Tie. But then you do have your own 12 meter Pool at your Villa anyhow at CBR.
Agree that the larger size of O and O is quite nice for Bike rides and scenery and the beaches are very pretty.
Dining:
I just looked at both Japanese Restaurant Menus to confirm my feeling. There is basically NO difference in pricing. In terms of champagne like Dom Perignon - O and O is actually more expensive. They really are both expensive in Food and very similarily priced.
Ive had great and not so great Food at both Resorts but would say that CBR definately wins in the Food Department in terms of quality.