alanslegal

OK folks I am tuning out for now, there's a few more FT'ers arriving in the next week or so it's best I do not spoil it too much for them. And plus I am going to relax, relax and relax.

Anyone want to check out my IG (not much there yet)

https://www.instagram.com/alan_l_chu/

Splotly

WorldTravl

Rip

iluvdoco

When will we be getting updates from the other FTers there?

jphripjah

I'll start with some tidbits and odds and ends. Things I have seen and heard since arriving. I'll post some proper reviews with photos later.

• If you look at the map above, you can see an island in the bottom left with Amber and Glow and the villas numbered in the 200s. The villas on this island are not yet opened, they will open August 1. The restaurants and facilities are open.
• The resort was 80% full earlier this week but yesterday a staff member told me it is currently at 35% occupancy. They expect to be busier in August. I guess a lot of people stayed for about 5 nights July 1-5 and a lot of the first visitors were Hilton corporate folks.
• I'm hearing more American voices around than I'm used to at Conrad, they may be Hilton people who are visiting/working here for the opening but also staying here and dining in the evening.
• They have cabanas along the beach near Nava Beach Club that can be rented for $100 for the day which includes an $80 credit at Nava Beach Club
• I was informed that all guests get a complimentary one hour photo shoot from the professional photographers on site at Shutterfly including ten (digital?) photos. The iPad in my room that has info about the resort says complimentary 45 minute photo shoot with one 5 x 7 photo.
• The King Beach Villas (available for standard points award) are 208, 216, 220, 213, 601, 605, 609, 612, 613, 618, 622, 623, 625, and 628.
• If you look at the map above, it says Sunrise at top of map and sunset at bottom of map. I'm not an astronomer but I think that's inaccurate. If I were drawing the map, I would draw a line above the circled three to the top right part of the map and write "Sunrise" there. And I would write Sunset more or less above the Spa and Wellness Center on the left side of the map
• The beach villas are quite impressive, particularly with the huge deck and the amount of outdoor space with a swinging bench, day bed, four person table, two person table loungers in the pool, and two other chairs. There's outdoor seating for 14 people. I think giving people a view of the beach and ocean from their decks is preferable to the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island set up where you can't see the beach or water from your beach villa or deck, though I appreciate that it's a little less private, in that it's very possible that someone out in the water or walking along the beach could see you on your deck. I think I only saw one guy briefly walk by yesterday.
• I'm seeing and hearing more sea planes and seeing and hearing more shipping/boating traffic than I expected.
• If you look at the map above, note that Terra appears very close to and may overlook the block of employee staff quarters. I won't be dining there and having seen the "nests" in person I don't feel like I'm missing out
• My dinner bill last night itemized the price of items, gave a subtotal then listed "Tip . . . . $0.00," the amount of tax, the amount of service charge, and then it gave a "grand total" before providing the lines to fill in room number, gratuity amount, and signature. I don't think I've ever seen a hotel print "Tip $0.00" on my dinner bill before. This strongly suggests that the resort does not consider the "service charge" to be a tip for staff. You may have just paid a $20 service charge on your meal, but you haven't tipped, that's the message I got. It makes me wonder where the service charge goes.
• There are supposedly 11 restaurants but only 4 or so are open for dinner each night, so you have to plan accordingly, which is a little tricky as the resort doesn't yet publish a schedule of which restaurants are open each night. You're kind of expected to ask your concierge every morning what's open for dinner tonight.
• I understand that dinner reservations are essential except at Tasting Table, Peacock Alley (which only does Tapas in the evening) and Nava Beach Club (which is a casual place serving pizzas and whatnot until 5 p.m. and then after that it's drinks only but you can also order room service to there)
• There's more interaction with your "personal concierge" than at Conrad Maldives Rangali Island. My experience there was that I would see him or her only when I arrived and when I checked out and then occasionally talk on the phone to make dinner reservations and/or perhaps spontaneously bump into them when out and about at the resort. Here, your personal concierge arrives whenever you call the buggy.

iluvdoco

Fantastic summary! Thank you.

A little surprised Terra is situated so closely to the staff buildings, and does not have a better sunset orientation.

Stivelio

In room dining on our RV deck

MaldivesFreak

He, thank you very much!

alanslegal

@jphripjah and @stvielio and anyone else here at the resort; we will be at Peacock Alley for afternoon tea later, likely wearing grey t shirt and pink florally shorts .... come pop by and say hi (and talk about this resort and what not) ... otherwise it is all good

iluvdoco

What are those lights in the distance?

WorldTravl

@stvielio I like the Maldives because of its nice clear water .I am wondering if you think that the extent of clear shallow water near the reef villas is just right or maybe too small.


Thanks!

jphripjah

I just experienced the breakfast and while I am not a "foodie" I can't see how any reasonable person would be disappointed by the breakfast offering. It's a good sized buffet with menu items cooked to order as well, 8 types cheese, 12 kinds of fruit, a large assortment of pastries, and plenty of bacon, potatoes, noodles, and salad, all served in pleasant surroundings close to the clear blue/green of the lagoon.

You can sit inside in pleasant full air conditioned environment or outside by the beach. It's better than Atoll Market at Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, in that it's more upscale and you're not in the midst of the water sports area.

Actually, the first thing I noticed was the size of the plates. They are huge. It's a well known strategy in Las Vegas buffets that if you stock the buffet with smaller plates, people eat less and waste less food. These plates were at least 12 inches in diameter.


It's a very nice set up, here are some photos, keep in mind I'm a terrible photographer.

alanslegal

Ok folks,

We managed to get a sneaky visit to one of the two freestanding Stella Maris Residence today, still under construction, but here's us arriving. The unedited residence tour will be later shortly so sorry for the teaser

https://youtu.be/T3NXJud-x1g

NightFury1

scwam

This is exactly what I would not want to expect at a resort of this level. This type of subdued pressure on patrons makes people uncomfortable. However, with these American conglomerates (btw I'm American), it doesn't surprise me. They need to change their greedy ways. With this alone, and I've never been to the Maldives, it is converse to everything I've ever read about the Maldives. Kind of disappointing actually, if they are not really subsidizing the servers with these fees.