We completed our stay early January. Here's some thoughts.

## Arrival

Couldn't be easier. After clearing immigration at MLE we were escorted by Milaidhoo staff and checked in with Manta Air. Then we were driven in a separate van to the seaplane terminal, and put in the Saphire lounge on the 3rd floor. I found the lounge of excellent quality. We waited about 2h before boarding our seaplane.

On arrival to Milaidhoo, our butler was there and received us. He walked us to our villa (104) and gave us a quick tour of the island. He gave us his contact information so that we could reach out to him at any time.

## Stay

Our primary goal for this stay was to explore the underwater world. Both Ms. lxfc and I are certified divers, and we planned on doing at least 6 dives over the span of 5 days.

The staff at the diving center and the dive sites were so incredible that we ended up doing close to a dozen dives, and completed some additional certifications.

Aside the dives, we enjoyed the vila and the Compass Pool bar, relaxing there. Staff was incredibly nice, the rooms were kept clean at all times (and we never saw anyone cleaning, it was just spotless any time we came back to the villa).

## Weather

The weather was not the best that week, and we had a little bit of rain. However it didn't compromise our dives so we didn't care so much for it. We actually kinda liked it, as it added something special to this tiny island where you feel disconnected from everything and alone in your bubble.

## Food

We dined most nights at Ocean Restaurant, given that we booked back when half-board was included. Without this, expect to spend at least $250 per night on food, excluding alcohol, if you go for a classic starter/main/dinner (for 2 people).

We dined one night at Ba'theli and tried the Maldivian multi-course menu. We enjoyed it. We also had one dinner at the Shoregrill's chef's table, but we did not enjoy that evening so much and felt the additional money that was needed to pay for a (quite light) dinner was not a good investment compared to just sticking with Ocean's Restaurant.

Breakfast buffet was amazing, with a wide variety of food and fresh fruits. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We never ate lunch at Milaidhoo, as we felt breakfast + full dinner was plenty enough for us.

## Price of extras

With all the dives, excursion & other restaurants, we spent around $4000 for the week. We barely had any alcohol, which contributed significantly to reducing the bill. 3/4 of the bill was towards diving activities.

## Noteworthy

We were invited to "management hour" one day during our stay, where you get free champagne and cocktails and some snacks. The entire staff is there and goes around to talk with the guests. This was great.

## Checkout

The seaplane was perfectly timed such that we would arrive about 2h before our flight time at MLE.

Overall, a 10/10 stay in my book and an excellent use of our 780k points, which we mostly bought with cash. I would estimate we spent about $4000 on getting the points. Given the 7 nights that week were going for about $29000 on a cash rate, and that it came with seaplane transfer and half-board, this was a steal to us.