MaldivesFreak

Ignore them. Stick to your guns! Quote breach of contract if they try to deny you entry as there is no mention of it in your booking nor was it on the website when you booked.

Good find. Might as well mention some key points for everyone here. There were 4 adults. Chinese on the top and English below each line:

3晚双卧室沙屋，2晚双卧室水屋，往返机票加酒店含早晚餐与上岛游艇接送人均报价不到3.5万
3 nights in a double bedroom beach villa and 2 nights in a double bedroom water villa, return flights {from Beijing, economy class}, half board {breakfast and dinner}, transfers, less than RMB35,000 {US$5000}

4. 整体花费
Total expenditure
1）首航直飞经济舱往返+5晚岛上住宿+早晚餐套餐+快艇接送 每人3.5万人民币左右
Return flights economy class + 5 nights accommodation + breakfast and dinner package {HB} + speedboat {actually the yacht} transfer: about RMB35,000 {US$5000} per person
2）岛上晚餐点餐，参与海钓，海豚，酒水等4人结算3000美金，平均每人5000人民币
Dinner orders on the island , did fishing {excursion}, dolphin {excursion}, alcoholic beverages etc, 4 people spent $3000, average of RMB5000 {US$715} per person
3）小费其他：没多少，估计200美金左右总共，看个人
Other costs: not much, about $200 in total, depending on the person
小记，平均每人4万人民币
Note: Average RMB40,000 per person {US$5715}

Some of the Google translation is crap. If anyone wants a proper translation I can do it as I can read most of it but will need some time (have to check a few words that I don't know in the dictionary etc). Let me know.

scwam

What's up with the plastic pollution here in the Maldives? We just took a short boat ride to the uninhabited island Maanenfushi today and the amount of plastic items littering the beach-line and way into the jungle was just astounding. An environmental disaster even though it's this far north from Male. I mean, the Carribean was so much more pristine than this. It's enough to make me consider never returning to Maldives. Light bulbs on the beach (including those large sodium vapor lamps to light highways!!???)

Carl Christensen

We have been to Bora Bora 3 times and Conrad Maldives once.

The only thing (ok snorkeling was good and breakfast was good but ...) somewhat luring me back to Conrad Maldives is 1st class flights on Emirates A380 (with Dubai 1st class lounge layover). That experience is fantastic. 1st class to PPT is on Air Tahiti Nui, which is ok but not at all like Emirates 1st on a A380.

We canceled our 2020 reservations for the Waldorf Maldives to go back to Bora Bora for the 4th time instead.

For 2021, still undecided.

Duben

I canceled my stay at WA (sept 16-21). Maybe Conrad would be better.

gnomey

sounds gross.. any pics?

i guess they must be dumping all the trash from resorts onto islands where human soul will rarely venture to.

Traveler Dave

9volt

Great pics. Thank you.

jphripjah

I think if you're going to disagree with a poster who has visited the property and refers to the "near physical perfection of the resort," you should preface your comment by pointing out that you have never been there. You've been bashing this resort since pre-opening, maybe because you're offended by the yacht transfer costs and high prices, and now you're continuing that by arguing with posters who have actually been there about their personal impressions of the resort.

I posted that the snorkeling seemed pretty good to me, a first time snorkeler, seeing hundreds of fish, and you then posted a few days later on the Conrad Maldives thread "As you probably know from reading the WA thread, there are a couple of fish swimming round and maybe a turtle but that's about it."

Again, you have no idea what the GM and DoO are doing, because you haven't been there. I was there for six days, I never saw anyone driving too fast, and I don't think any of the other FT members who have visited the resort have reported this, except one. A reasonable person would read a single negative comment from a single poster like "staff was driving fast" and consider that to be a one off incident. Only someone obsessed with bashing the resort would read a single complaint like this and crow "Unbelievable! They have no rules! The GM is negligent! They're going to injure a child!"

I don't know the reason for your agenda against a resort you've never been to, but it's becoming tedious to read your uninformed comments bashing the resort every day. And now attacking the integrity of FTers suggesting without any factual basis that the resort "bribed" one to make a fake positive TripAdvisor review. It's rather bizarre.

I enjoy reading the first hand impressions of FTers who visit resorts like this, and I like forward to reading yours too if you do visit this resort.

scwam

Unfortunately, I didn't. Was using my DSLR on a gimbal mostly for large video files of family. The only pic I have shows the the least littered area here.

Cynicor

Not sure about anything else you've posted, that's for you and MF, but reviews on the snorkelling from a first timer aren't a good gauge for those looking to evaluate it vs other resorts. I appreciate you posting it, however, as it all helps.
Having hundreds, if not thousands of fish everywhere should be the bare minimum for a maldives/coral resort. The macro and variety or life and coral is the key to a good vs great resort.

gnomey

wow pretty bad + sad.
i m surprised they will bring tourist to such "deserted" island for excursion.

scwam

Well, to give them benefit of the doubt, I specifically asked to go to that island although I think they were trying to persuade me to visit another island where there are people.

MaldivesFreak

I'll say a couple of things
1. You're biased and so is your post. I have been defending the resort on a number of occasions. Shows you who, in fact, is biased.
2. If you believe that a new resort which has destroyed most of any semblance of intact coral has as many or more fish than somewhere like Rangali then be my guest and dream on. It seems that there is one, maybe two areas where there is still dead coral and that's where everyone is seeing lots of fish. Common sense tells you Rangali must have multiple times the area where you are able to see a wide variety of marine life
3. So far there have been 3 reports of driving too fast. Your rant about me complaining about kids being injured only shows you have limited ammunition in your argument. So I can't make a point that there is a safety issue? You use that to attack me? What a joke. And again, we see you are biased in presuming that I have based my comments on one review. Do some research before you post, n00b
4. Saying "Again, you have no idea what the GM and DoO are doing, because you haven't been there" is another joke and frankly a waste of space. Who is going to take that comment seriously? Do you think they sit in an office all day just like most of the staff who aren't allowed to go out for fear of making a resort feel less private. Again, make a useful comment, otherwise don't post.
5. The 'bribe' comment was meant to be partly funny, partly insinuating. Read carefully and try to understand the context in which something is written
6. It doesn't take a genius to realize that a 95+% man-made resort isn't going to compare in natural beauty and feel to a place like Rangali where there is thick vegetation that has been growing there for millennia. Compare the comments from people who have been to other, mostly man-made resorts, to get an idea. Oh, but you haven't. Thought so

Oh, and nobody is forcing you to read my posts. If you don't like what I write then just don't read it. Save yourself a lot of trouble.

MaldivesFreak

Regarding the trash, there are some instances where the government will declare that an island must be uninhabited and everything man-made removed (and moved to another island). This was the case where the island that Vilu / Mandhoo faces was, for want of a better expression, evacuated. The mess left behind was left on the beach and blown into the water by storm winds which made for a large amount of rubbish drifting past Mandhoo and the RWVs and onto the beach right outside Vilu for a few days straight.

In other cases it can be from dumping by local fisherman or locals who want to get rid of it without attracting too much attention. It can be washed up quite far ashore and blown into the millennial foilage and can stay there for years. It's a big headache for the government.

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