Here now, will write some random thoughts.

Based on the last few posts I had very low expectations for food but it’s been decent to good so far! I’m comparing it to resort food but some dishes I would eat in a restaurant and I’ve lived in major cities in the US. I like Asian food so have only had that tbh. Did try the Ribeye at the grill-ordered 2 medium rare and one was fine but mine was more on the rare/raw side but they had no issues remaking it. Pastries have been good as well! I tried to ask about Soeedy sauce but they just ran out. On the full board rate which is a lot of food but with diving on this trip it is great to have and I like not using mental energy thinking about food prices.


I think I came a few days after moolman -the resort is close to full but did get an upgrade to pool villa. Service has been a lot better on our second trip-they remembered we were repeat guests and even assigned us a butler that we had for a couple days the last time we visited! One of the waiters also recognized us. It might be because it’s busy season but maybe with more staff they are more attentive? The soft product seems a bit better this time around.

On Wednesday (today) we got an invite to the managers cocktail hour at the Kiaali Residence-I’m excited to check out the rooms.

I recommend the back of the house tour which wasn’t offered during the off season. Learned so much and was super interesting so see what goes on behind the scenes! I’ve also utilized the spa twice on the trip with 2 massages.

It’s all based on luck but I would say weather when we came in Aug was slightly better-much warmer waters, very calm water, not much wind. It’s been red flag with more waves but if you’re a confident swimmer you can still snorkel and visibility is still good. I did a few dives here as well and they were quite good (even compared with the scuba liveaboard I was just on before the park Hyatt) so for divers I do recommend getting a few dives in. If you’re advanced, they take you to do channel dives and today we saw maybe 30-50 sharks just swimming in front of us. Apparently it’s not as many sharks as usual! They don’t have the dive dhoni right now as the engine is broken so using speedboats and spots are more limited.

I left an item from the boat I was on before the PH and they were able to coordinate the item being picked up in Male and sent back to me via the plane-incredible I got it back in 2 days! Thank you to my butler for coordinating all of it. I was expecting to get it on my way back to Male airport.

Wish I had a longer stay this time. The part I dread is a very long layover in Male on our return and leaving the resort much earlier than I planned to due to timing with the domestic plane and our international flights. That’s the main downside of a trip here, ending a relaxing stay with a not so relaxing last few hours.


Edit: late review of the rest of the trip - ended amazing!

We met the executive chef named Deden - he just came from the Park Hyatt Jakarta and he's Indonesian - just started a few months ago at the end of 2025. He's trying to bring more Asian dishes to the menu which we did notice compared to 2 years ago. I prefer Asian food and tried almost all of them on the menu since I was on the full board - I can say that they were very delicious and some I would order at a regular restaurant. My husband loved the Mango Reef Fish at lunch - we had it multiple times. One night at the Dining Room (Thurs I think) it became a buffet which is part of the full board rate! Lots of good variety of food and glad there was a change in dishes. Chef Deden remembered meeting us and the next morning (our last morning) he made a few off menu special Indonesian dishes to share with us.

Happy to answer any questions!