griffingrowl's report just make me realize how inconsistent your experience at St Regis could be.

We didn't hear anything about the Manager’s Cocktail Party & champagne sabering ritual. We booked sunrise OWV and got sunrise OWV. Another couple who came and left the same time as us booked the sunrise OWV and got sunset OWV. They said they used points as well for the stay.

The butler concept is as questionable as ever. They sent me an email prior to arrival asking about food allergy and wishes. I mentioned I can only take soy milk. During check in, the butler asked again, and I said I would like soy milk in the room for coffee. The soy milk never came. He also mentioned he would drop by after we settle in a bit, and take us to the dive center to check out the snorkeling kit. Well, that also never happened. We just biked to the center the next afternoon and picked it up ourselves. The butler also prebooked all the dinners, but there were some shuffling around on the day of that we feel they are making space for other guests. 2 out of 5 days, at breakfast, we saw the butler and said there are some items to be pressed. He forgot those 2 days. As mentioned in the thread before, the butler could arrange for the Blue Hole experience. I asked him, and he said he would arrange it. Well, it never happened. I guess I didn't feel like I should be hounding him again and again for little things so I didn't do any follow up. But this highlight the inconsistency in butler service. They just don't remember what the guests ask them.

The breakfast is easily the best breakfast in the SPG chain. I love the maldivian curry. They changed the protein everyday.
Orientale was super popular during my stay. It was full day after day. As mentioned before, during room check in, our butler mentioned that he booked us at Orientale for 2-3 nights. For some reason, on the day of, he switched it out to something else.
We did the souk dinner buffet at Alba one night, and it was not good. All grilled meat was dry out, and not high quality. The Bay Area has many middle eastern restaurants that will blow this out of the water.
We also had dinner at Alba another night. The a la carte options were actually good and is very reasonably priced. I was expecting it to be 50% more than they are charging.
Orientale's Indian options are very good. Easily rival the best Indian restaurants in the Bay Area. Orientale's Chinese and Japanese are terrible, especially Chinese.
We tried to get into Decanter twice in the 5 nights we were there, but it was completely full.
We were going to Cargo, but after the buffet at Alba, we were not going to do any more buffet dinner, and Cargo doesn't do a la carte.
We did afternoon drinks in Whale Bar and always see dolphins jumping up and down. It's cool.
For snorkeling fans, you should snorkel in the area between OWV 518 and the mainland. I have never seen so many fish in my life.

StR Maldives is easily one of the best hotels in term of hardware. Soft products are still not there, especially for the kind of price they are charging.