My mother is in a position where she wants to make her first ever rewards booking in business class on EK, but she doesn't really know what's she's doing so i've offered to help. However, i'm unfamilar with Skywards so help somene may be able to help us:

She and my dad each have 113,000 Skywards miles.
They want to travel to either Sri lanka/Maldives or Dar es salem in business class - which requires 130,000 airmiles each or 37,500 (Columbo) or 40,000 (Dar es Salem) each to upgrade. I don't know whether a stop-over is allowed FOC in Male or whether they would have to book another rewards ticket for that leg?

So.....what is their best option? They can buy upto 25,000 skywards miles each i belive - the 17,000 each that they would need for this trip to be done entirely by airmiles would cost them $425 each. Otherwise, they have more than enough miles already to upgrade - but i am assuming that an economy fare that is permissable for upgrade would cost a whole lot more than $425?

Finally, this trip will be a huge treat for my parents - they have never travelled business class before despite pretty extensive travel - and so in your opinion, would they have a more enjoyable experience do you think doing the Colombo/Male trip or the Tanzania trip?
Thank you very much in advance for any help!