Just completed an amazing 3 nights stay (redeemed with 2 free night certificates and points) at Platte Island! As the resort is pretty new and Seychelles itself does not have as much tourists as other tropical islands (like The Maldives), we only saw like 8 other couples/families in the resort. At breakfast, lunch, or dinner, sometimes we were the only ones in there! We had all the attention, every staff know our names and preferences! The level of service was impeccable (we had stayed at the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos, St Regis Bora Bora, Conrad Maldives & Bora Bora & Koh Samui, more...). What it stands out is that although they might not have the freshest ingredients (Seychelles lacked the import infrastructure), they make it up with the flavors! Every single dish we ordered in our 3 nights was good to outstanding!!! On our last night, the chef at La Perle even specially prepared Asian dishes for us (we missed white rice after spending a week in Africa)! The vegetable stir-fried beef and crab&shrimp fried rice were excellent!
The restaurants we dined at:
1. La Perle for all our breakfast, lunches and 2 dinners. Breakfast was complimentary with my diamond status, it was ordered a la carte with few classic choices like English breakfast and Seychelles specialties. On our 2nd day, the chef prepared Asian chicken noodle soup for us!
For lunch/dinner, I highly recommended their seafood linguini (the flavors were surprisingly different and good), the Seychelles (seafood) pizza was great, big enought for 2 people and very good for its value at 850 SCR. There's also a bento menu that you can ask for, the wagyu slider and reef fish sashimi were very good. The bento menu has no price bur very reasonable, wagyu slider for 250 SCR and the sashimi was 160 SCR.
2. Maison des Epices - the tomahawk for 2 people was good value for 1380 SCR, the prawn and crab curry was very rich in flavor for 1100 SCR.
note that the price included the 15% tax and 10% service charge so not too bad in a remote Waldorf island!
Diamond benefits:
Like everyone posted here, I got the free upgrade to the Hawksbill Villa a week prior. The complimentary sunset cruise was canceled until further notice due to rough sea. Instead, I got the coffee class which was interesting to taste different tea and coffee. Coffee and tea were free at Peacock.
Other free goodies we received: beach hats and a beach bag (I love that it has pockets for phone, sunscreen, sunglasses, etc), customized wooden name tags for our bikes, and on departure we got personalized luggage tags, a magnet sized wood painting, and a handmade thank you card!
Best photo spots:
-As we stayed in early July, it was their
Sargassum season, most of the surrounding beach areas were covered with seaweed but the staff worked hard to clean them. The two wider beaches were on each end of the island - Sand Bank Beach near the runway but only at low tide that the beach stretches out and Shark Point Beach near Maison des Epices with turtle nests. Best to go there during low tides for more pristine white sand looking beach!
-Best sunset spot was at the pier or up at Lalin (the bar).
-There's a swing near our villa #4, best during low tide.
-Giant tortoise habitat, great photo ops with 5 in house tortoises!
-Bike at the runway
Overall, we absolutely loved our stay, I think 3 nights is just right to explore the whole island and to relax. Weather was unpredictable with passing rain and then sunshine right after that but that didn't impact our plan other than the island walk with the environmental coordinator or photos. Their service and the food were the highlights.
In terms of scenery/photo ops, here's my rankings:
Bora Bora -> Aitutaki (Cook Islands) -> The Maldives -> Seychelles
In terms of food quality:
The Maldives/Seychelles -> Aitutaki -> Bora Bora
Prices on average from the most expensive:
The Maldives -> Seychelles -> Bora Bora -> Aitutaki
A few photos taken yesterday:
Shark Point Beach at low tide
Sand Bank Beach at low tide
At the runway
Giant tortoise habitat