Just came back from a wonderful 7 night 8 day stay in late March / early April!
Wanted to share some tips/comments to give back to this community which has provided so much great info for our trip.
Snorkeling tips/comments:
- Snorkeling and an ideal entry/exit spot - We are beginner snorkelers and really enjoyed snorkeling along the house reef and highly recommend that area. The house reef is located along the dropoff line just south of the beach villas in the 600s. I drew a red line on the resort map to show where this is. I also drew a small pink rectangle on the ideal spot to go in and out of the water. It's just south of the dive center. If you walk into the ocean here and follow the breakwater, it is a very nice sandy path and there are some flat top rocks at the end of the breakwater where you can sit (water is around knee high here) and put on your fins. From there you can just push off to go into the deeper water and avoid having to walk over any rocks or corals. Before we knew about this entry/exit spot, we made the mistake of trying to go into the water in some other areas and found it quite unpleasant to walk along the rocky bottom as well as having to avoid rocks/corals in the really shallow water before we got into the deeper water. So, don't be like us and just take a buggy to the dive center (if you are farther away) or just walk/ride there and use this spot to go in and out of the water to snorkel.
- Tides - I didn't realize at first but there is a daily high and low tide. And it's quite a difference between them on the water level. The website https://www.tidetime.org/asia/maldives/male.htm was handy to reference. The best time to snorkel while we were there was in the morning or early afternoon. In terms of the tide, medium tide would probably be ideal.
- Dive Center lockers and showers - The dive center has some nice shower rooms as well as some nice lockers if you want to store your things before you go into the water. For the lockers, you choose your own number/pin to set the lock. There is also a spot to rinse off that is located by the path to the beach. There are also some beach towels set outside on a small bench. And if you need some anti-fog for your mask, just ask the staff for some of their baby shampoo.
- Nurse Shark snorkeling - If we had more time, we would have booked this excursion. Just letting people know about this activity and to plan for it as it seems to be highly recommended. It goes every few days. Some activities don't fill up and so are not available. The activities schedule for when we were there is attached below, but this changes from time to time so be sure to ask for the latest:
Weather:
- It is HOT and the best time to be out and about seemed to be in the early morning and late afternoon or early evening. Sometimes it's actually better if it's a little cloudy since then the breeze is very pleasant and the sun isn't turning you into a raisin!
- The weather overall during our time there was very nice. Just a minor sprinkle for a few minutes one afternoon but other than that it was just mostly clear skies and sun. Water was very calm and clear. Incredibly beautiful place!
Restaurant/Food tips:
- Tasting Table - Breakfast is served from 7am to 10:30am. We went to breakfast early each day and the place was a ghost town from 7am to 8am. While it's nice to sit out on the beach, for most days we ended up sitting inside on the north end of the restaurant where it was out of the sun and had some comfortable cushion benches as well. The made to order crepes were good (strawberries and nutella!) as were the made to order omelets. The Maldivian options may be too spicy for some. The donuts were a standout and the flavors change each day. The Beillevaire yogurt (kept in a small refrigerated section) was also good but be aware that the flavor options also change each day.
- Tasting Table fly fans - Unfortunately, there are some annoying flies at the Tasting Table to the point where we were constantly waving them away. The Tasting Table does have fly fans, though, so be sure to request one! A fly fan is a pepper mill shaped thing that has an attached floppy "strand" which spins around constantly to ward off the flies. Here's a picture example:
- Peacock Alley food recommendations - For some tasty bites, definitely recommend the Malaysian Satay as well as the Tandoori Chicken wraps. The Truffle Fries are great as well! We enjoyed these multiple times over a few days since we liked them so much. Happy hour is from 4pm to 5pm and they sometimes have live music as well!
- Nava Pizza Bar - Like others mentioned, the pizza is great. We tried the Frutti di Mare (seafood) as well as the Parma E Rucola (ham/cheese) pizzas. You can also get a pizza "to go" in a box as well, but it tastes a little better right when it's fresh, of course.
Random tips:
- WhatsApp - The resort used WhatsApp for you to communicate with your host. I never used this app before so you may want to familiarize yourself with it in case it's new for you too.
- Tipping - I didn't see anyone tipping at the resort with cash, but we tipped our host at the end our trip and he seemed genuinely appreciative.
- AMEX Aspire $250 Resort Credit - For those with an AMEX Aspire card, the $250 resort credit was received for this resort. If you have multiple AMEX Aspire cards, you can easily charge separate amounts on each card. You can either do the checkout in the villa or at the front desk. They had no problem processing partial payments on different cards. It's also worth taking a last minute look for any new AMEX offers on your cards in case a Hilton offer shows up.
- Shutterfish Photos - The resort offers a 1 hour complimentary photo shoot and you can get a free 5x7 printed photo. Recommend scheduling this when it isn't quite so hot outside as you will be walking around to different locations and it can be uncomfortably hot during the day. In terms of pricing, you can just get the free 5x7 print or you can purchase: a USB with digital images, print outs 5x7 or larger, and a Waldorf Astoria Maldives wooden box. There were various packages and a few I remember was 5 digital photos on a USB for $200, 10 digital photos on a USB for $300 and so on. Keep in mind that these prices are before service fee and taxes, so a $300 package would end up being more like $370. The packages were not totally inflexible and you can work with the person there on customizing a package to suit your particular need.
- Resort Clientele - It's seasonal, but our host said the majority of guests at the resort tended to come from Russia, the Middle East and Europe. Busiest time is New Year's.
- Sunrise/Sunset - Really beautiful and probably some of the best times to take photos. Sunrise was around 6:00am and Sunset was around 7:15pm when we were there.
Villa comments:
- Villa Recommendations - We tried a few different villas during our stay: Beach Villa in the 200s facing south, Beach Villa in the 600s facing south, Reef Villa in the 500s facing south, and a Reef Villa in the 300s facing north. Of all of these, we really liked the Reef Villa in the 300s facing north the most. Maybe it was the weather, but we had a nice refreshing breeze out on the overwater deck and the ocean view was mostly uninterrupted except for a few islands you can see in the distance. The Reef Villa in the 500s was also nice and it was a very short walk to the Tasting Table and Peacock Alley. The Beach Villas were also great, but they seemed to have more mosquitoes/gnats than the Reef Villas, maybe due to the fact that there was more vegetation at the Beach Villas? And if getting a Beach Villa, definitely recommend one of the south facing ones in the 600s as you are in walking distance of the Dive Center (walking along the beach) and are facing the house reef.
- Transferring villas - It isn't necessary to re-pack everything when switching villas as the resort will move all your things for you. We packed most of the smaller items anyways just to make it easier for them, but we left our clothes hanging in the wardrobes and left our water shoes and swimwear out (since they were wet). We left our floats and snorkel fins out as well and they moved everything for us. Overall, the transfer of villas was quite smooth and efficient! Your host will coordinate everything with you.
- Chromecast - The TV comes with Chromecast but for some reason it doesn't allow for the casting of YouTube. We didn't watch TV at all during our time there, but the one time I wanted to stream some music to the TV/Sonos I wasn't able to. Just letting people know that you cannot cast YouTube which is pretty much the only thing I usually cast, so it was just odd that this was not possible. You may want to bring your own device or speaker. There is also a Sonos speaker beneath the TV, but I couldn't figure out how to stream music to that either, but I don't usually use Sonos products so it was all new to me.
- Villa USB ports - The room has some built-in USB ports in the wall, but every time we connected our phones to them it didn't charge the phones. Not sure what the deal was there but in the end we just used our Bestek stepdown voltage converter and just charged our phones through that.
COVID-19:
- No PCR testing needed to enter Maldives - The Maldives doesn't require a negative PCR test to enter the country anymore as of March 13, 2022. We just filled out the IMUGA traveller declaration form (https://imuga.immigration.gov.mv/ethd/create). No one seemed to check it, though, as we went through airport security. You have to fill out the IMUGA forms for both arrival and departure. Recommend doing this about 1 day before arrival and 1 day before departure as the forms only last for 48 hours or so.
- PCR testing still needed to enter United States - The US still required a negative PCR test within 1 day of the departure flight. We scheduled the test with the resort through our host and since we had a nighttime flight, we did the PCR test in the morning and got the result later that evening. The charge was $70 per person. The test itself was not bad. We were a little afraid of the nose swab, but it was not painful at all. The nurse will come to your villa at the scheduled time to take the swabs and it all took just a few minutes for 2 people. Once the results are in, the resort will print them out as well as provide some electronic PDF copies. We were asked to show the negative PCR test results (paper copies) at the Male airport upon departure and also once at the Dubai airport as well. They didn't keep the papers and just asked to see them.
- US CDC Attestation Form - After getting back your negative PCR test, you need to fill out the CDC attestation form stating that you got a negative PCR result and are fully vaccinated (or attest that you are exempt). Emirates sent us links to an online CDC attestation form about 1 day before our departure flight and we submitted our attestations online.
Travel tips:
- Packing cubes - This was actually the first trip where we used packing cubes and we really liked them. Highly recommend Eagle Creek Pack-It Specter cubes. The M size cube seemed the most handy. The XS cubes were great for carrying our noise-cancelling headphones and other adapter gear on the plane. Overall, the cubes made packing a lot cleaner and more organized. It was a breeze to move cubes between different luggage bags as well when juggling stuff around.
- Headphone Adapter for Emirates flights - We are from the US and the audio on the plane didn't have a single jack audio plug so we got a Bose adapter ahead of time. This adapter allows the use of the single headphone jack in the 2 prong plug on the plane. Definitely recommend getting this if you want to use your noise-cancelling headphones with the in flight entertainment audio.
- Dubai Airport, Dubai International Hotel and Meet and Greet service - It's a huge airport and Terminal 3 has 3 really long concourses (A, B, C). If you have a long layover, I'd highly recommend booking the Dubai International Hotel. They have different booking options for transit passengers. We booked the 4-6 hour stay option each time since our layovers were around 7 hours each way. There is also a meet and greet service included where they will meet you at your arrival gate and whisk you through arrival security to the hotel. A very cool experience! While there are some places to lay out a bit at the airport, it pales in comparison to just having your own bed. You can also shower and get refreshed before your next flight. Again, this is a transit hotel, so you never actually leave the airport and you don't go through any main customs/security.
- Long Haul Flights - Our Emirates flight from the US to Dubai was 15h 50m each way and we deeply regret not going Business class. So, don't be like us and try to save a few bucks by flying Economy. Some things are worth paying a few bucks for and long haul flights are now on that list for us! Emirates was also very strict about carry on luggage for Economy. It was literally one carry-on bag for each person. No more "personal bag" + a carry-on. It's now just one bag. This is obviously different if going Business class. If we were to do this trip again, we would probably go Qatar business class through Doha where the airport layout seems to be a little friendlier. Or Singapore business class transiting through Singapore (which was our original plan until COVID happened).
Some handy things to bring in case you forget:
- Sunburn lotion (which usually contains aloe) - Staying out in the sun for just an hour or two can easily lead to redness and sunburn if you don't put on enough sunscreen or weren't as thorough about coverage. Be generous with the sunscreen and cover all the exposed areas really well!
- Portable air pump for inflatables - While the host can probably inflate your floats for you, it's a lot easier to just do it yourself. We ended up getting a wireless one from Amazon (
) which was very compact and worked great! It even has both inflation and deflation sides. Just twist lock on the attachment and you are good to go when inflating or deflating your floats.
- Mosquito repellent and anti-itch cream - Despite the efforts of the property, there are still mosquitoes and gnats. We got bitten enough times for it to be annoying. While we brought some Deep Woods Off swipes as well as some Sawyer Products insect repellent lotion, we didn't end up using them because for the first few days it seemed like mosquito bites wouldn't be an issue and we basically forgot to use it. Don't be like us. Use repellent from the get-go if you care about that sort of thing. For anti-itch cream, we brought along Benadryl Extra Strength Itch Stopping Gel and it worked well.
- Water shoes and socks - While the sand looks great in the photos, for most of the beaches we encountered, it wasn't a fine powdery sand and instead had a more coarse and rougher composition. Recommend wearing water shoes if swimming in the ocean or even just walking along the beach. Water socks were great for the snorkel fins. After some research, we went with Speedo water shoes and Seavenger water socks and they were great.
This post ended up being much longer than I expected, but I wanted to share some of the things we learned on our trip so that your own trip can be that much better! The resort is really well run and absolutely stunning. I hope you and your loved ones also have an incredible trip there!