Originally Posted by setec

We just stayed at the Standard, and I have to say that I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed my stay at the PH eight years ago. The OWV are indeed big, and not as luxurious as the ones at PH. But what won me over is the fact that the whole resort is setup in a way that makes it easier to enjoy for people that are not in the greatest physical shape. I don't have any mobility impairments, but I am not the strongest swimmer (and there are lots of us in that category out there), don't dive (mildly claustrophobic) and I can enjoy so many more of the things the Standard offers. To take one simple example, the fact that they have the inclined stairs to get into the water from the OVW, while the PH has the straight-down ladder that I found super hard to negotiate. The water activities the PH offers (or at least offered at the time) were oriented more towards divers, the enthusiastic snorkeler being more than an afterthought. And the personnel in charge of the excursions kept telling us 'you should try diving, it is so much better than this'. The end result is that we actually spent more money on activities at the Standard in 4 days than at the PH in a week, but we enjoyed them immensely more. And it's not because the Standard charges more per experience, even compared with the what the PH was charging 8 years ago At PH we ran out of things to do comfortably, at the Standard there were still plenty left to try had we stayed longer. And in the end, I didn't travel to the Maldives for the hotel room (if all I want a luxurious room I can go to the Place Vendome or something like that), but for the activities at the resort, starting with being able to comfortably get into the water to see the house reef. Just something to think about when choosing a resort.