[ARCHIVE 2014 to 2017] Conrad Maldives Rangali Island {MDV}
#4231
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Back in Hell
Posts: 4,178
I don't snorkel or dive and have no interest to do so, but I have been to Rangali 3 times (plus a further 2 stays in other Maldives resorts), each time around 10 days and I have never had any issues with being bored. It depends what you are looking for though - personally I am going there to relax and recharge after a lot of long hours at work and work travel, so I enjoy doing nothing, lounging around, spending time with my other half. We didn't even do any excursions or activities (unless you count the champagne and lobster BBQ) on the last trip and still enjoyed 10 days. I understand other people may feel different.
Can't wait to go back again end of this year again for 10 days!
Can't wait to go back again end of this year again for 10 days!
Damn, no polls on FT. WTH?!
Last edited by MaldivesFreak; Apr 23, 2017 at 10:24 am
#4232
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: LAX
Programs: United Silver, Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond
Posts: 988
I just got the following rates for my stay in July. Likely doing 4 nights upgraded to Deluxe Water Villa for the pregnant wife. Any suggestions otherwise?
Beach Villa to the Deluxe Beach Villa - USD 200.00 per night + 10% service charge + 12% TGST tax
Beach Villa to the Superior Water Villa - USD 160.00 per night + 10% service charge + 12% TGST tax
Beach Villa to the Retreat Water Villa - USD 280.00 per night + 10% service charge + 12% TGST tax
Beach Villa to the Deluxe Water Villa - USD 360.00 per night + 10% service charge + 12% TGST tax
Beach Villa to the Premier Water Villa - USD 800.00 per night + 10% service charge + 12% TGST tax
Beach Villa to the Sunset Water Villa - USD 1960.00 per night + 10% service charge + 12% TGST tax
Beach Villa to the Deluxe Beach Villa - USD 200.00 per night + 10% service charge + 12% TGST tax
Beach Villa to the Superior Water Villa - USD 160.00 per night + 10% service charge + 12% TGST tax
Beach Villa to the Retreat Water Villa - USD 280.00 per night + 10% service charge + 12% TGST tax
Beach Villa to the Deluxe Water Villa - USD 360.00 per night + 10% service charge + 12% TGST tax
Beach Villa to the Premier Water Villa - USD 800.00 per night + 10% service charge + 12% TGST tax
Beach Villa to the Sunset Water Villa - USD 1960.00 per night + 10% service charge + 12% TGST tax
#4233
Join Date: Feb 2009
Programs: HH Diamond, BAEC
Posts: 1,341
Reading this I thought I'd relay something interesting I heard from the staff. I recall a couple of years back talking to the previous Director of Rooms, Karin, and her saying that, on average, most non-Asian guests felt that the ideal time for a stay at a (large) resort like Rangali with so many F&B choices, was two weeks. Maybe I should set up a poll on this thread.....
Damn, no polls on FT. WTH?!
Damn, no polls on FT. WTH?!
#4234
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Sacramento
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, HH Diamond, Marriott Platinum, Amtrak Select
Posts: 1,337
I did 4 nights PH and 5 Conrad, could've used a day more at PH and a day or two more at Conrad. We didn't have enough time at either to get the full breadth of the house reefs. (My SO, OTOH would've probably preferred no more at Conrad and 2 or 3 more at PH).
Meanwhile, we ran into a guy from China who was at PH alone, and he left early- too bored!
What do you do for 10 nights+ though at a single resort?
3 or 4 snorkel/dive days, a sunset dinner cruise, private dinner on the beach, spa day, lunch or dinner at Ithaa still is only 8 nights if you did one activity a day. I like snorkeling enough, but more than 4 days of it? And Whale Shark snorkeling, of course!
I guess moving rooms once at each resort also consumed a good bunch of time. Also, since I like to blog, I did a lot of filming/photography.
Random rant of the day.
Meanwhile, we ran into a guy from China who was at PH alone, and he left early- too bored!
What do you do for 10 nights+ though at a single resort?
3 or 4 snorkel/dive days, a sunset dinner cruise, private dinner on the beach, spa day, lunch or dinner at Ithaa still is only 8 nights if you did one activity a day. I like snorkeling enough, but more than 4 days of it? And Whale Shark snorkeling, of course!
I guess moving rooms once at each resort also consumed a good bunch of time. Also, since I like to blog, I did a lot of filming/photography.
Random rant of the day.
#4235
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Back in Hell
Posts: 4,178
What do you do for 10 nights+ though at a single resort?
3 or 4 snorkel/dive days, a sunset dinner cruise, private dinner on the beach, spa day, lunch or dinner at Ithaa still is only 8 nights if you did one activity a day. I like snorkeling enough, but more than 4 days of it? And Whale Shark snorkeling, of course!.
3 or 4 snorkel/dive days, a sunset dinner cruise, private dinner on the beach, spa day, lunch or dinner at Ithaa still is only 8 nights if you did one activity a day. I like snorkeling enough, but more than 4 days of it? And Whale Shark snorkeling, of course!.
It's a struggle to get to breakfast before 10AM! After breakfast (11:30) you want to relax and let the food digest. By the time said food has digested, half the day is gone! The only time we have to do stuff is after her afternoon nap and before dinner (we live in a 40+C/105+F summer climate which lasts almost half the year, she naps for an hour (after breakfast) but I don't). I always say that we're gonna spend time at The Quiet Zone (one of my favourite places at Rangali) but never really end up spending more than an hour there in total out of our average of 7 nights/8 days.
In the afternoon you want to go snorkelling but then there's the option of afternoon tea (and maybe Happy Hour at Vilu afterwards). If we snorkel there's no time for that so it's one or the other. Or you might want to have a spa treatment but you can't really do it in the morning or at night (hence they're booked solid from 11AM through 5PM) so there's only the afternoon. God forbid you should do some kind of excursion as that will take up a whole afternoon, LOL! Seriously, there's no time left in the day. If we go in the water then every evening she has to wash her hair (there must be a million strands and it alone takes an hour to wash and dry ) and then another to dress and makeup so the two hours before dinner are gone. After spending 40 days there it feels like we've actually spent less a week actually snorkelling and relaxing properly. That's why we're planning on a 30-day or 35-day trip either the end of this year of end of 2018. At least we won't have that horrible feeling you get, the one where you realize that you're already 3 or 4 days into your 7 night stay and that you have to leave soon. Ugh!
But hey.....that's just us! End of rant!
Last edited by MaldivesFreak; Apr 23, 2017 at 2:52 pm
#4236
Join Date: Oct 2005
Programs: VS, BA, HH Gold
Posts: 397
Clearly you don't love snorkeling enough.. :D
I did 4 nights PH and 5 Conrad, could've used a day more at PH and a day or two more at Conrad. We didn't have enough time at either to get the full breadth of the house reefs. (My SO, OTOH would've probably preferred no more at Conrad and 2 or 3 more at PH).
Meanwhile, we ran into a guy from China who was at PH alone, and he left early- too bored!
What do you do for 10 nights+ though at a single resort?
3 or 4 snorkel/dive days, a sunset dinner cruise, private dinner on the beach, spa day, lunch or dinner at Ithaa still is only 8 nights if you did one activity a day. I like snorkeling enough, but more than 4 days of it? And Whale Shark snorkeling, of course!
I guess moving rooms once at each resort also consumed a good bunch of time. Also, since I like to blog, I did a lot of filming/photography.
Random rant of the day.
Meanwhile, we ran into a guy from China who was at PH alone, and he left early- too bored!
What do you do for 10 nights+ though at a single resort?
3 or 4 snorkel/dive days, a sunset dinner cruise, private dinner on the beach, spa day, lunch or dinner at Ithaa still is only 8 nights if you did one activity a day. I like snorkeling enough, but more than 4 days of it? And Whale Shark snorkeling, of course!
I guess moving rooms once at each resort also consumed a good bunch of time. Also, since I like to blog, I did a lot of filming/photography.
Random rant of the day.
Could easily have stayed another week. In my recent review I touched on chats we had with the regular repeat guests that we bumped into, most of them were on 15+ night trips on points..
If we had more time...
Laze by the 2 pools reading a book.
We'd would have probably done a boat trip if Whalesharks had been sighted.
I'd have done more than one mornings diving as well.
Would have liked to take a catamaran for a spin too.
And the Jet Skis looked fun..
And maybe pinch an ebike to take for a spin from the SWVs to the RWVs.
SR
http://TripRep.WordPress.com
Last edited by ScubaRoo; Apr 23, 2017 at 2:06 pm
#4237
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Back in Hell
Posts: 4,178
And there's the cooking classes that I want to do in the kitchen. Prabu said no problem so looking forward to that immensely. Damn, looks like I'm gonna need two months..... Anyone got a couple million points they wanna give away?!
#4238
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Back in Hell
Posts: 4,178
Oh, and did I mention the idea of watching a Bond flick; one a night for most of the month. That would be awesome but it's probably not gonna happen. It would mean instead of a leisurely dinner from say 7:30 to 10PM and a stroll/relax on the sofa beds in Rangali Bar afterwards and then a shower before bed, it's gonna put bedtime back two hours which means either sleeping less or practically missing breakfast the next morning or hurrying to finish dinner then shower then watch them before our normal bedtime of around midnight. Oh, and did I mention she's a.....
She's gonna kill me when she sees these posts.....
She's gonna kill me when she sees these posts.....
Last edited by MaldivesFreak; Apr 23, 2017 at 10:26 pm
#4239
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Sacramento
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, HH Diamond, Marriott Platinum, Amtrak Select
Posts: 1,337
Snorkelled at least once every day of our 12 night stay, most days in the water for 3 hours. Had we stayed for twice that amount we might have had a day off lol!
Could easily have stayed another week. In my recent review I touched on chats we had with the regular repeat guests that we bumped into, most of them were on 15+ night trips on points..
If we had more time...
Laze by the 2 pools reading a book.
We'd would have probably done a boat trip if Whalesharks had been sighted.
I'd have done more than one mornings diving as well.
Would have liked to take a catamaran for a spin too.
And the Jet Skis looked fun..
And maybe pinch an ebike to take for a spin from the SWVs to the RWVs.
SR
http://TripRep.WordPress.com
Could easily have stayed another week. In my recent review I touched on chats we had with the regular repeat guests that we bumped into, most of them were on 15+ night trips on points..
If we had more time...
Laze by the 2 pools reading a book.
We'd would have probably done a boat trip if Whalesharks had been sighted.
I'd have done more than one mornings diving as well.
Would have liked to take a catamaran for a spin too.
And the Jet Skis looked fun..
And maybe pinch an ebike to take for a spin from the SWVs to the RWVs.
SR
http://TripRep.WordPress.com
I am very, very white, and I sport a goatee.. and my sinuses are poor in general. Snorkeling is nice for me here and there, but Ive got a lot going against me.
Not saying re the amount of time that I couldnt go back (definately want to hit both resorts again) but 10+ nights all at once in the same small island might be too much for me.
#4240
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Sydney, Australia
Programs: points traveller
Posts: 329
even using points for the room we still spent USD$6k during our 10 night stay without any room upgrade costs, and without any beach dinners!
#4241
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Back in Hell
Posts: 4,178
Easily done.
Hint: To save money, make sure you catch a nasty virus on the inbound flight to MLE. That way on the second day you'll have a raging fever, be cooped up in the room for at least a week and have no chance to get out and let those greenbacks fly! You'll spend less than a third of what you normally would per day, guaranteed!
Hint: To save money, make sure you catch a nasty virus on the inbound flight to MLE. That way on the second day you'll have a raging fever, be cooped up in the room for at least a week and have no chance to get out and let those greenbacks fly! You'll spend less than a third of what you normally would per day, guaranteed!
#4242
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Global
Programs: United 1K, Qatar Gold, Etihad Gold, Hilton Diamond, InterCon RA, PC Plat, SPG Plat, Marriott Plat
Posts: 1,449
We just came off a 10-night stay in February. We only spent about $1,500 USD not including the airfare, which my company covered. Had an unbelievable time. Ate a lot and ate well. Spent a lot of time snorkeling and just watching the larger fish swim by our RWV. Can't wait to go back next year
#4243
Join Date: Oct 2005
Programs: VS, BA, HH Gold
Posts: 397
"Snorkelled at least once every day of our 12 night stay"... and you want an equitable detailed comparison of the Park Hyatt reef from me!?!? :-D ... I didnt see 99% of the things you saw at Conrad, I snorkeled the house reef at Conrad a single day and a single day at the Hyatt. At Conrad I saw some spotted rays and manta rays and a single turtle. Reef sharks as well (when they were chumming them). At Hyatt I saw none of that except non-chummed Reef Sharks swimming in bait balls of fish. So frankly I was more enthralled at Conrad. But my SO is a diver who's been all over. She noted as MF noted the deadness of coral at Conrad vs beauty at Hyatt (she also dove both house reefs).
I am very, very white, and I sport a goatee.. and my sinuses are poor in general. Snorkeling is nice for me here and there, but Ive got a lot going against me.
Not saying re the amount of time that I couldnt go back (definately want to hit both resorts again) but 10+ nights all at once in the same small island might be too much for me.
I am very, very white, and I sport a goatee.. and my sinuses are poor in general. Snorkeling is nice for me here and there, but Ive got a lot going against me.
Not saying re the amount of time that I couldnt go back (definately want to hit both resorts again) but 10+ nights all at once in the same small island might be too much for me.
I'm doubtful you saw a mantas whilst snorkelling on the house reef, especially as you only went in once. Do you have a pic?
I wasn't wanting a detailed review of snorkelling at the Hyatt from you personally. What my post on TPG article said was that rather than you claiming "its pointless to snorkel from your water villa at the Conrad" To make a proper qualified & equal comparison of snorkelling at both resorts I'd expect to be able to see a review of the Hyatt as detailed as my ones of the Conrad.
Clearly as many have read my review, they understand I loved snorkeing from our water viila and drifting for over an hour travelling a mile along the dropoff. It was certainly not pointless. Given I did it at every opportunity also backs this up.
The current health of the house reef at the Hyatt sounds encouraging, maybe I'll visit the Hyatt one day as part of a 2 resort stay, they might like me reviewing the resort and my attention to detail.
Last edited by ScubaRoo; Apr 24, 2017 at 12:45 am
#4244
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Sacramento
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, HH Diamond, Marriott Platinum, Amtrak Select
Posts: 1,337
I hate wearing sunscreen, especially mixing it with water, so I don't. I use a thin 1mm full wetsuit which works best, also removed the need for a lifevest in calm conditions.
I'm doubtful you saw a mantas whilst snorkelling on the house reef, especially as you only went in once. Do you have a pic?
I wasn't wanting a detailed review of snorkelling at the Hyatt from you personally. What my post on TPG article said was that rather than you claiming "its pointless to snorkel from your water villa at the Conrad" To make a proper qualified & equal comparison of snorkelling at both resorts I'd expect to be able to see a review of the Hyatt as detailed as my ones of the Conrad.
Clearly as many have read my review, they understand I loved snorkeing from our water viila and drifting for over an hour travelling a mile along the dropoff. It was certainly not pointless. Given I did it at every opportunity also backs this up.
The current health of the house reef at the Hyatt sounds encouraging, maybe I'll visit the Hyatt one day as part of a 2 resort stay, they might like me reviewing the resort and my attention to detail.
I'm doubtful you saw a mantas whilst snorkelling on the house reef, especially as you only went in once. Do you have a pic?
I wasn't wanting a detailed review of snorkelling at the Hyatt from you personally. What my post on TPG article said was that rather than you claiming "its pointless to snorkel from your water villa at the Conrad" To make a proper qualified & equal comparison of snorkelling at both resorts I'd expect to be able to see a review of the Hyatt as detailed as my ones of the Conrad.
Clearly as many have read my review, they understand I loved snorkeing from our water viila and drifting for over an hour travelling a mile along the dropoff. It was certainly not pointless. Given I did it at every opportunity also backs this up.
The current health of the house reef at the Hyatt sounds encouraging, maybe I'll visit the Hyatt one day as part of a 2 resort stay, they might like me reviewing the resort and my attention to detail.
And to clarify, I definitely don't feel that snorkeling at the Conrad is pointless. My point (again, probably worded poorly or not well clarified enough), was that I didn't see a point to snorkeling directly off the room vs launching from other spots on the island. For someone who wants to swim over to the house reef FROM the room, I can certainly see why you might feel that was worthwhile. But it seems the distance from most of the retreat villas to the reef is greater than if you were to just swim from the beach. It doesn't seem like having any type of Water Villa gives you an advantage in this regard, and for me I'd just as soon swim from the beach if it's gonna be mostly sand to the edge of the reef anyways. Your report shows a lot of great things in the house reef itself, but doesn't seem to drive the idea that snorkeling directly off the room itself is any better than snorkeling from the beach. VS at the Hyatt, the Water villas are practically at the edge of the reef already, and vs their Park and Pool villas, they are at an advantage for snorkeling.
#4245
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: 14.66m NbW of PHL
Programs: HH Diamond
Posts: 848
Another quick question...as we are travelling for around 3 weeks (getting married in Dominican Republic, then onto Dubai, then CMRI, then Thailand) we are likely to have a fair bit of luggage.
Trying to keep it down to 32kg each in two cases. I see the extra charge is $5++/kg - is this likely to cause much hassle if cases are overweight?
Will only be $100 for both of us if our cases are around 30kg so that's not a huge problem. I think I read somewhere that overweight baggage might come on a different plane though.
Trying to keep it down to 32kg each in two cases. I see the extra charge is $5++/kg - is this likely to cause much hassle if cases are overweight?
Will only be $100 for both of us if our cases are around 30kg so that's not a huge problem. I think I read somewhere that overweight baggage might come on a different plane though.