Just a report back after a great September trip to Six Senses. This is long, so settle in. Summary: Phenomenal resort experience.
Pre-Trip:
I found them to be incredibly responsive to pre-trip requests. They booked our helicopter transfer over from Mahe and sent updated menus, as well as the meal plan options. About a week before, I received the activity menu and let them know some things we'd like to do.
Arrival:
We flew in on Emirates and the flight lands very early (before 8am). There was no SS representative to meet us at arrival, and we collected our bags and wandered over to the domestic side of the airport to catch our helicopter transfer. Three of us were traveling and the helicopter lists that it is up to 4 people, so I didn't even pay attention to the weight requirement, assuming we would be fine. I should have paid attention - it was clearly written in the communication. Nonetheless, the Zil Air office let us know that our baggage was 70kg over weight. (Or the 3 adults and our luggage were). Zil Air was not particularly helpful about our conundrum, telling us four very complicated options for getting our luggage. I tried to ask if they could send the luggage on an empty helicopter later in the day that was going to pick up passengers, but they didn't seem to understand what I was asking. In the end, SS called me (they must have been alerted) and said, "please just get on the helicopter and come relax, we will get you your extra luggage today the best and least expensive way possible". That was perfect and put us at ease.
When the helicopter landed, we were greeted by a whole host of staff on the helipad as well as our GEM Anil (Guest Experience Manager - more like a personal concierge than a butler). He took us on a tour, and stopped for the "welcome ceremony" which was him banging a gong and telling us "welcome". We all laughed, recalling the movie "Couples Retreat", and attempting to explain to him since we were laughing at his welcome ritual. Then we went to a relaxed breakfast and were told after breakfast we'd receive a tour of the resort. They gave us the tour, including a bit too long of a stop in the spa (it is beautiful, but this was clearly a sales pitch). Then he took us to our villa where we were able to check in by around 1030am. In our pre-arrival communication they had clearly said "your villa is booked the night before and you will not be able to use the villa before 4pm, but we will make your stay comfortable while you wait". But the previous guests had left before sunrise and they got our villa ready by 10am. Thumbs up, SS!
Meals:
In advance, I inquired about the meal options - and settled on "half-board" which is essentially pre-paying for dinner as breakfast is already included in their rates. The menus were expansive but I'm not sure there is much of a cost savings, as many items on the menu were additional charges. Maybe the value add was free dessert. Nonetheless, we went that route. We found the meals to be excellent in freshness, simple without being overly fussy, and no one had a bad dish the whole time. We aren't foodie people. but we found the quality and variety to be quite good. One pasta dish was probably the only thing we agreed we wouldn't order again. The seafood was incredibly fresh - and one day one of the staff we had become friendly with came over in the morning and showed us a picture of him holding up the octopus we had eaten the night before. He had gone out to catch it the same day. We ate lunch only two days and also enjoyed that. Wine is exceedingly taxed in the Seychelles, so we stuck with a cocktail or two before dinner, but didn't get into much on the wine side of things. All in all, the freshness and presentation, as well as the service at meals was quite excellent. We became fast friends with a favorite waiter and waitress, and they always looked out for us, remembered our favorites, and took good care of us.
Other guests:
There seemed to be only one other American couple. They didn't exactly make us proud of our home country. Otherwise, it was a mix, primarily of Russians, Germans, and a nice South African couple we ended up flying out with. We did see one "instagram couple" who flew in for one night, seemingly only to take pictures of themselves and never to be seen again. Breakfast and dinner never seemed to be more than four or five other tables of people, and with almost all the villas having private pools, we rarely saw people at the main pool.
Villa:
We found our villa to be absolutely perfect. We were in the two-bedroom, and each of the two rooms was identical, with a nice sized pool and living area in the center. Comfortable bedding, great temperature control, views that were truly picture-book. Every picture we took was as good as the website photos. Housekeeping was every morning while at breakfast. We had the same housekeeper the whole week, and on the first day he said "I will check with you mid-day, unless you prefer not to be bothered each day". We said we would like that, so each day abound 2-3pm, he would stop by just to tidy and see if we needed anything. He would then come again to clean and do turndown during dinner. He was excellent. We had asked for plenty of water, still and sparkling, and Diet Coke in the mini bar. It was almost comical how many bottles of their house water we had by the end of the stay!
Activities:
We weren't exactly there to have a heavy schedule, and they honored this. We scheduled one afternoon for the spa, a trip to kayak, a half-day to go to La Digue, the cooking "lesson", and a beach bbq for dinner one night. I had written in advance "anything we do we will prefer to be private, so please plan accordingly." When we arrived our GEM joked with us and said "we have lots of free activities, but I hear you don't like other people so I won't tell you about them each day, unless you want me to." We had a good laugh and then one of our party said, "you are correct, skip the group outings for us." The kayak trip never happened due to rough/choppy waters (more on that below), but they were honest with us about the conditions and kept in touch about trying to find a time to schedule it if they could. Everyone at the resort kept saying "are you going to La Digue?" We were, but primarily because we wanted to go to Mass on Sunday. But since we were going for Church, we figured we would see the island. We honestly didn't get it. Everyone raved about it - and the one thing we found worth seeing was the giant tortoises in the nature reserve. That was cool. Otherwise, it just didn't appeal to us. When we got home, our favorite waiter said "I heard you went to La Digue, how did you like it?" To which I said, "it felt a bit like going to Cuba but with less culture and more freedom." He laughed, looked both ways and said "I'm not sure why everyone thinks it is so great when they could be here!" So La Digue wasn't for us. The cooking lesson should better be called a "demonstration" as we arrived and everything was pre-cut, and the chef just put the meal together with us helping just a bit, and then it was served to us. I think next time we'd just order lunch.
We had one surprise activity. A couple times per week they arrange a "movie on the beach" where they set up a projector and screen for people to come and watch movies overlooking the beach. But one night our GEM said "can I arrange a surprise for you after dinner?" We agreed. After dinner he took us up one of the cliffs overlooking the beach and had arranged for a private screening of "Couples Retreat" since we had told him about the movie when we laughed at his weird gong ritual. He said "we were going to show it as the movie for the resort this week, but I told them you wouldn't come if other people were invited!" Our GEM, Anil, had a great sense of humor and really got us. So there, under the stars, were three giant bean bag chairs, popcorn, and a private screening of the movie. It was great. No charge appeared on my bill for it.
Service/Service Recovery:
The staff was our favorite thing about the resort, even more than the incredible views and location. Each person was great, they were incredibly high service without a bit of pretentiousness. Some might want a bit more formality, but we like their familiarity they showed and how real they were with us. They told us about their families, shared their love of the islands, and were very aware of everything we were doing. Every time we showed up somewhere, they knew what we had been up to and asked us how we enjoyed it. It was truly remarkable. Our GEM was constantly aware of our needs, and what was going on.
The luggage debacle coming in (entirely my fault) was resolved somehow (I still don't know how) and the charge on the bill was an additional $250 - far cheaper than the cost of an additional helicopter which is what the helicopter company was proposing. After we got to know him, I joked with Anil and said "Anil, tell me the truth, did you strap our luggage on your back and swim across the ocean to bring it to us?" Without missing a beat, "Yes, sorry if I got your underwear a little wet, there was a current." For the exit, our GEM had us put the excess baggage out the night before our departure and told us he woke up at 6am to make sure that it would make it on a helicopter over to Mahe, at no cost to us. He told us "I spent all night thinking about your luggage - but it will be there for you!"
Service recovery was there for things that were not the resort's fault. We had arranged a private BBQ on the beach one night. It rained, so they instead arranged for us to have dinner in a private room and provided a meal far nicer than anything on the menu, and an exhaustive amount of food, and arranged for a musician to come in and play for us during dinner. Our kayaking trip that was canceled twice, due to sea conditions, was replaced, at no charge, with a private boat tour of the nearby islands with some snorkling and beers packed for the journey.
One afternoon after our boat trip, we headed back to shower for dinner. While I was in the shower, I somehow managed to knock the shampoo container off the shelf. It was ceramic, it fell and shattered, and put a substantial gash in my foot. The cut was not that terrible, but it was gushing. Luckily one of our party is a nurse, so she came in with her travel first aid kit to stop the bleeding and called asking for butterfly bandages. They immediately sent a team. The resort nurse sent the best bandages they had, our GEM, and our housekeeper all showed up. The shower had been left with a lot of blood, and I quickly offered to rinse it before they went in, and they pushed right past us and cleaned up everything in a matter of seconds, including the towels. They followed up the next morning and offered to bring an actual doctor to the island to give stitches, if needed. Bandages and pressure and we were fine. But still, they sent more water, and appetizers to the room, without even a request.
The morning we were going to La Digue, we ordered breakfast to our room - it didn't arrive after an hour. I called and they apologized profusely, admitting it was their mistake that they didn't see the order, and offered to box breakfast for our boatride to La Digue. We declined, knowing it would not be practical to eat on the choppy boatride. Even then, they came running down to the dock as we were departing to try to catch us with breakfast. When we arrived back, they informed us that we should eat lunch - complimentary, due to their mistake.
Again, I found the service to be above and beyond what I would have expected, far exceeding the Aman experiences that I've had.
There was a new GM, a German, who was fairly present through our stay. He was just getting used to the resort, but seemed to be very available to both staff and guests. He has a dog he brings around with him.
Departure:
Our villa was not booked for the following day, and our flight was not until late in the evening. They allowed us to stay in the villa until we needed to leave for the helicopter back at no charge. The last helicopter flies out before sunset, so we had a gap at the airport before our departing flight at nearly midnight. Our GEM arranged for a friend who is a taxi driver to give us a tour of Mahe (which was kind of bizarre, but still something to do) and then took us to a nice resort on Mahe for dinner, and then back to the airport. I didn't ask, he simply said "may I arrange something for you to do once you land on Mahe?" and took care of everything. The cost was reasonable, and we were well cared for with it.
Even after our departure, our GEM kept in touch with us by text to make sure the evening had gone well, and one final text the day after our trip to make sure we had arrived all the way back to the states. Amazing.
It was an incredible resort, and we left with no complaints at all about our stay. As we boarded our flight back to the states, we chatted to the South African couple who was also departing, and we talked about if we would go back. They also had Anil as their GEM, and so maybe he was really the glue that held it all together, but it seemed everyone there had the same mindset. We concluded that we would go back for the amazing villa and the people, and if we went back to the Seychelles, it would be just because of the SS resort. Otherwise, onward to a new place to explore.
Highly recommend!