Raffles Meradhoo Maldives
May 22, 2019, 1:34 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Belgium
Posts: 270
Raffles Meradhoo Maldives
We recently had the pleasure of spending 4 nights at the brand new Raffles Meradhoo Maldives. We actually stayed during the resort's pre-opening and on the day we left the owner finally gave green light and the resort officially opened.
The new Raffles is quite far away from Malé, which means you can't get there by seaplane or speedboat and thus have to take another domestic flight first with Maldivian. It's about a 50 minute flight and after that you still have a 15 minute speedboat ride to the resort.
The resort itself is absolutely beautiful and consists of 2 different islands:
- 1 beachy island with 20 beach villas and residences, where you'll also find the most restaurants, the Long Bar and the overwater spa (completely open)
- 1 completely overwater 'island' which consists of 20 or so overwater villas and residences and also has 1 restaurant (not open to public yet)
Both islands are a couple 100 meters apart, as you can see from the picture here-under, and once the overwater part is open (September 2019?!) they will have a boat transfer bringing guests from one island to the other.
The overwater island with the beachy island in the background
In short:
- The island is beautiful and we loved the design of (almost) everything
- The housereef has the most fish of all the housereefs we've seen in the Maldives (and we've been to 7 different resorts in 2019)
- The villas are very big and have great privacy, we didn't get the chance to see the residences though
- Your butler is not your regular butler, as you can also ask him/her to come snorkeling with you. They are all trained by the marine biologist and will show you the best spots, give you tips & tricks for optimal snorkeling and even be your personal lifeguard when a storm comes up and the current and waves increase significantly and you can't make it back to the shore on your own (my girlfriend was very thankful for this!)
- The food was good, but nothing spectacular
- Service was very good and we were always greeted by name by everyone (even housekeeping staff). Never had to sign for anything or give or room number to anyone, which was also nice.
- We had one of the best treatments ever at the beautiful overwater spa
- We think it's great value for money. Beach villas start at around $1.500/night during peak season, and overwater villas will be $500 extra approximately. There are very good opening rates available at the moment and the thing that we really liked were the prices of the food. Maldives is very expensive normally, but here we had dinners where we paid $12 for an appetizer and $20 for a main course, and everything was fresh and tasty.
- We also very much appreciated that the guest preference form we filled-in was carried out to the last detail: room temperature, pillows, scent of toiletries, snorkeling gear size, mini-bar items, ...
For a more elaborate review with pictures we took on-site: https://passportinonehand.com/review...dhoo-maldives/
The new Raffles is quite far away from Malé, which means you can't get there by seaplane or speedboat and thus have to take another domestic flight first with Maldivian. It's about a 50 minute flight and after that you still have a 15 minute speedboat ride to the resort.
The resort itself is absolutely beautiful and consists of 2 different islands:
- 1 beachy island with 20 beach villas and residences, where you'll also find the most restaurants, the Long Bar and the overwater spa (completely open)
- 1 completely overwater 'island' which consists of 20 or so overwater villas and residences and also has 1 restaurant (not open to public yet)
Both islands are a couple 100 meters apart, as you can see from the picture here-under, and once the overwater part is open (September 2019?!) they will have a boat transfer bringing guests from one island to the other.
The overwater island with the beachy island in the background
In short:
- The island is beautiful and we loved the design of (almost) everything
- The housereef has the most fish of all the housereefs we've seen in the Maldives (and we've been to 7 different resorts in 2019)
- The villas are very big and have great privacy, we didn't get the chance to see the residences though
- Your butler is not your regular butler, as you can also ask him/her to come snorkeling with you. They are all trained by the marine biologist and will show you the best spots, give you tips & tricks for optimal snorkeling and even be your personal lifeguard when a storm comes up and the current and waves increase significantly and you can't make it back to the shore on your own (my girlfriend was very thankful for this!)
- The food was good, but nothing spectacular
- Service was very good and we were always greeted by name by everyone (even housekeeping staff). Never had to sign for anything or give or room number to anyone, which was also nice.
- We had one of the best treatments ever at the beautiful overwater spa
- We think it's great value for money. Beach villas start at around $1.500/night during peak season, and overwater villas will be $500 extra approximately. There are very good opening rates available at the moment and the thing that we really liked were the prices of the food. Maldives is very expensive normally, but here we had dinners where we paid $12 for an appetizer and $20 for a main course, and everything was fresh and tasty.
- We also very much appreciated that the guest preference form we filled-in was carried out to the last detail: room temperature, pillows, scent of toiletries, snorkeling gear size, mini-bar items, ...
For a more elaborate review with pictures we took on-site: https://passportinonehand.com/review...dhoo-maldives/
May 23, 2019, 1:18 am
#4
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Italy
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i’ve been some times at Maldives (even if not on island/resort like this one ...) and it is always a great experience
i’m starting to try to manage to go in French Polinesia (Bora Bora and Moorea) on August 2020...for the 20th anniversary with my wife (I did my mistake very young 😃
... and I hope to be able to compare with Maldives.
May 23, 2019, 2:29 am
#5
Join Date: Oct 2012
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Living in China and Australia it is same both ways. I get the feeling Bora Bora was the hype In the 1980s and 1990s. Now the Maldives seem to have taken that over as the next best thing.
It will be great to see the comparison. Anyway even the new Mercure in the Maldives Seems reasonably priced at 200-400 Euros per night.
It will be great to see the comparison. Anyway even the new Mercure in the Maldives Seems reasonably priced at 200-400 Euros per night.
May 23, 2019, 6:53 am
#6
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Homeless
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No. Have not been to Raffles Maldives, but visited both Maldives and BB last year and I would say BB is nicer to visit because you have the hotel grounds, plus access to the main island with lots to explore there. In the Maldives it's just the hotel island and that's it. However hotel luxury experience is worlds apart, Maldives far superior from BB, after having compared St.Regis Maldives and St.Regis Bora Bora. The point is that in the Maldives they know you cannot leave the resort so they take great care of guests non-stop.
May 23, 2019, 6:57 am
#7
Join Date: Dec 2013
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It would be great if you could list which Maldivian resorts you have visited and in what ways Raffles is strong or weak.
No pictures of the room?
Last edited by escape4; May 23, 2019 at 7:15 am
May 23, 2019, 7:48 am
#8
Join Date: Jan 2011
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Posts: 2,728
Do I read this right, you have been to 7 different resorts in the Maldives in 2019? Or 7 different resorts in the world in 2019? If the former, then FT cannot cease to amaze me, someone comes out of the woodwork with only 6 posts on FT and has seen 7 different Maldivian resorts which will take me a decade to get to that point.
It would be great if you could list which Maldivian resorts you have visited and in what ways Raffles is strong or weak.
No pictures of the room?
It would be great if you could list which Maldivian resorts you have visited and in what ways Raffles is strong or weak.
No pictures of the room?
May 23, 2019, 10:59 am
#9
Join Date: Oct 2012
Programs: Dynasty Frequent Flyer (Elite Plus),Accor Platinum
Posts: 1,866
Haha I suppose Maldives is not good for a trip with the wife. She can't swim which might be an issue on an island with not much else you can do. I wonder how all these resorts get powered considering the remoteness.
May 23, 2019, 11:07 am
#10
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Italy
Programs: Accor Gold, Marriott Titanium, IHG Diamond , Amex Platinum
Posts: 1,484
Do I read this right, you have been to 7 different resorts in the Maldives in 2019? Or 7 different resorts in the world in 2019? If the former, then FT cannot cease to amaze me, someone comes out of the woodwork with only 6 posts on FT and has seen 7 different Maldivian resorts which will take me a decade to get to that point.
It would be great if you could list which Maldivian resorts you have visited and in what ways Raffles is strong or weak.
No pictures of the room?
It would be great if you could list which Maldivian resorts you have visited and in what ways Raffles is strong or weak.
No pictures of the room?
Sometime it’s a job, sometimes just because they can enjoy. What’s the matter?
Last edited by Dav77; May 23, 2019 at 11:13 am
May 23, 2019, 11:11 am
#11
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Italy
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...unless you burn of passion ....😃 definitely not ...or just for 6-7 days ...and the risk to divorce is always behind the corner...or, in that case, behind the island
May 23, 2019, 12:27 pm
#12
Join Date: Jul 2018
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As nice as the place looks, I think I'd go bored out-of-my-mind after just a couple of days at one of these places. I can't imagine going to 7 such island resorts in a lifetime, let alone a year. But, to each their own I suppose. I don't mind going to a beach place (although, I'm not much of a warm weather and beach type of person), but I'd rather it be attached to a larger land mass that I can go off exploring.
May 23, 2019, 6:06 pm
#13
Join Date: Dec 2013
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i think he’s a (quite famous on IG) blogger ... it’s not unusual for some kind of people (blogger or simply “rich” or with “the possibility to do” people) to visit several resorts at Maldives or everywhere in the world in one year. Lucky them or good for them, happy for them 😃
Sometime it’s a job, sometimes just because they can enjoy. What’s the matter?
Sometime it’s a job, sometimes just because they can enjoy. What’s the matter?
I have not looked at his IG but on his website I could only find a comparison between St.Regis Maldives and Raffles Maldives so I was not completely sure I understood correctly that it was 7 resorts in the Maldives in 2019 so far. It would be great to know what the other 5 are and how they stack up.
Waldorf Astoria opens in July and I will try it later this year to compare with St.Regis but my comparison will be limited to 2, although I would love to visit 7.
May 23, 2019, 6:11 pm
#14
Join Date: Dec 2013
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Did 10 nights last year and indeed lots of passion, could have done another 10 easily. No divorce vibes at all to be found anywhere on the resort!
May 24, 2019, 12:18 am
#15
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Italy
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