Traveler Dave

Let me look....will post what I have stortly

We did not eat at The Rock.

Tried Yasmeen once. Was a very nice dinner. Good concept and food. As we were leaving my wife said she wanted to eat there again. Then I told her the dinner cost $420 for the two of us (they let our daughter eat for "free"). And that was the cost with no alcohol. We did not eat there a second time.

The Ledge we tried several times (lunch and dinner). The Ledge was our favorite place. The menu changes from day/day and week/week.

Did not care for the Pizza, though we tried it a few times...go figure.

Did Tangled twice as well for lunch. Good, but nothing to rave about. I loved the dim sum. But as with all things WA, very spendy. Tip...eat the dim sum at breakfast. Same items for free!

TD

Traveler Dave

+2 on the Peri Peri chicken. Wife ordered it twice.

TD

Traveler Dave

Half step forward (lowering the rate), two steps back (possible 90 minute wait)!

Some of the original selling feature for the yacht was the immediate transfer from the airport to the yacht with little to no wait. Not that I liked the old transfer rate, but would take that over a $50 buck discount and a possible 90 minute wait...that you know could creep to 120 minutes...FYI, the website still shows the old rate.

TD

Traveler Dave

Yasmeen Menu:

Traveler Dave

Ledge Menus (lunch*/dinner/kids):
*The lunch menu is offered at The Ledge or you can eat at the Nava Bar as well. Nava bar also serves from the wood-fired pizza for lunch.

NightFury1

Thanks!

Traveler Dave

SCUBA Pics

Quick BIO: I am 52 years old. Have been diving since I was 15. Most of my vacations since I was 25+ have had diving/snorkeling in the mix. Done several dive boat charters.

I can tell you this is hands down the best dive boat I have ever been on. I get that everything is brand new, but they know how to do this right.

NightFury1

How was the dive in the lagoon/outside. I've never been scuba diving before and am planning to take the discovery scuba diving in the lagoon. Do you recommend it?

Traveler Dave

Spa Review and Pics

My wife daughter and I all had 1.5 hour massages. As a Diamond they offered 30 minutes for free if you booked an hour. Which is a very nice bonus. Make sure you remind them or tell your concierge when you book about the free 30. They may be aware now, but were not when we were there in July.

In short, we are all agreed they were nice massages and were glad we did them. I almost did a second one later in the trip but just never got back there. None of us raved about them. We usually get a massage when staying at nicer resorts and get frequent massages at home. So we may be a little pickier than most. As with all things at the WA Maldives I would not try and compare the cost vs experience as balanced against cost vs. similar experience elsewhere. You will be disappointed. But if you can forgive the cost you will enjoy yourself.

That said, I feel the WA Maldives biggest fail was the overall Spa Experience. They have very nice treatment rooms (pictures below). But that is it. No sauna or steam room. They do have an outdoor area with seating for pre-post massages. But other than a quite place to sit (outside) no real "spa stuff" you would typically find at a 5-Star resort. They say it will come in time (nothing being built now), but I feel they needed more on opening day.

They did offer some tea (pictures below) pre-post massage. But instead of feeling like we were getting in "spa-mode" I felt like I was at a Chinese restaurant lobby waiting for our table to open up. The day we went to book the massages, while having some tea and looking through the treatment book another couple came in to purchase some things. In tow was their young child being extremely loud. Being the owner of a young child myself I know how they can be. Fine for the Kids Club, not great if you are trying to get your Zen on. Their concierge did shuttle the kid outside after about 5 minutes when the spa employees gave them a dirty look.

When we return I will get another massage. But will hope they improve on the experience before we return.

TD

jphripjah

This is interesting. Was there previously any guidance from the resort about the expect wait for the yacht transfer? Has there now been a change in practice regarding how long they are having guests wait? Are they reducing the number of transfers per day and combining larger numbers of guests onto fewer transfers?

Our wait for the yacht on arrival was like 15 minutes. The concierge said something like "We don't combine guests from different flights, but then he simultaneously said 'We're just waiting on two people from another flight but it has already landed.'" So I took it to mean "We don't combine guests from different flights unless they land at about the same time."

So we waited 15 minutes and shared the yacht with one other party of two people. That made it feel spacious and "luxurious." And on the return transfer we left the resort 2 hours before our flight and didn't share the yacht with anyone and got to the airport a little more than an hour before our flights.

Have they reduced the price from $350 to $300 but now it's "We're going to have you wait up to 90 minutes so we can try to do fewer, less private yacht transfers each day with more guests on the yacht? Kind of like how minibuses in Africa "leave when full"?

And where are people expected to wait for these 90 minutes, since WA has no lounge at the airport?

When it's time to return to the airport, are they going to try to herd as many guests on as few transfers as possible, such that you may be asked to board the yacht 3.5-4 hours before your flight along with other guests whose flights leave in 2-2.5 hours, and thus you may end up waiting at the airport for 2.5-3 hours before your flight home?

Or maybe nothing has changed at all and they just lowered the price. I don't know.

WorldTravl

I know I've been saying this since the beginning but... the website sucks. I can't stand it, it has wrong information pictures attached to the wrong villas (ie. website says "water villa", while the picture is of grand). The website looks like it was designed 10 years ago. If you have a hotel in the Maldives where people pay 1000$/night at least invest into a clean looking website.. the Conrad did.

Jermyn

Was that the entire portion for 2 people at $65++ or do you get two of these?
The verbiage on the menu is pretty confusing.

If you get that x2 it almost seems like... good value.

jphripjah

That's what you get for $65. You're meant to share it.

Wozza2404

Nandos should open up on the island.

Jermyn

Bloody hell.
$80 for an imitation of what Nandos sells (for one person) at $9.25
I thought the markup on the wine was bad...