alanslegal

I know your report is much much more recent than mine (August 2017) but when we spoke with our host about the L&C dinner, we asked if there was a food only option. He said he would get back to us, which he did, and was approved. The cost was either $175++ or $185++ (I can't recall exactly now but I am 100% certain it is either of those two).

Just be mindful that you skip Mandhoo and Vilu Hours before any specialty buffet to keep the stomach nice and empty.

fedechat

You can do the cocktails just before noon, is $75 plus taxes and fees.

ukiechris

The question is directed at someone currently on the property.
How is the current occupancy? I’m arriving in three days and just curious what to expect.
Thanks.

mileageking

Read post # 2413 that was posted yesterday.

alp67

You're right with that, but my experience was not with L&C but with Fisherman BBQ instead.
Saying this, I missed out asking, whether they do a discount on a non-alcohol Fisherman BBQ or not, as they most probably will do. But then, we told our waiter my wife will not drink any alcohol, so he recommended mocktails to her. While doing so, shouldn't he proactively charged a lower price without beeing asked, IF there is a non-alcohol option to be had?

alp67

As we did Ithaa last year ending up with a close to $1k bill for the two of us (menu + 1 bottle of Ruinart), I'd also say, L+C dinner is definitely the better value-for-money option.
Food was great at Ithaa though!

alp67

I'm not there anymore but beeing there last week when it changed from busy to rather quiet and having spoken to both the GM and Exec. chef and learned, they (CR) start feeling the impact of the State of Emergency starting last week after the Chinese New Year.
I highly doubt the occupancy rate is more than 80%. I did a quick search and there are 40+ rooms available on March 6th, so it will be rather very quiet.

SingaporeJunkie

Wow, is this true? Do I need to reserve that?

Abidjan

Yes it's true and you do need to reserve. Just ask your host.

lhrhappy

At least when we were there, it was a Ruinart at the L+C beach dinner. It was nice to see one of my favorites in a place so remote and special.

timo469

Hi All,

We are here as well. Staying in a family water villa, which is great with kids. The hotel has gotten a bit quieter in the last couple of days. There are a number of gold and diamond members here at the moment with the happy hours busier than past years.

We are having a great stay, yet agree with a few others that mentioned the quality of the food has gone down a bit since our last visit and a small bit of cost cutting has been done. We had the fondue like we have every year and found that to be a great dinner. The menu at Vilu will be changing next month, apparently it was delayed by another few weeks. We found that the breakfast menu at Vilu is less extensive than in the past. In Atoll market, they now only serve the lowest cost cheese you can find at the grocery store on the breakfast buffet; which is a bit disappointing when you know they have higher quality cheeses available.

Overall, we are still loving our stay and the GM goes out of his way to say hi to repeat guests and HHonors Elite Members. I hope the new menus that will come out shortly will bring up the quality to that of previous years.

What was interesting is they have been doing some paired dinners with Champagne houses. For Valentines Day, they had a 5 course dinner with 5 different glasses of champagne from Veuve Cliquot for $250++ and in December they had a pairing at the Chinese restaurant with Krug for around the same price. Unfortunately no such special diners during my stay.

Cheers,

Timo

gnomey

i think i read somewhere before that the beach villa is not an independent unit - as in, you have to share wall with others.
so is the beach villas similar to a semi-detached (UK english) or duplex (US english) home, where you share wall with one neighbor?
or is it actually a 4plex home, where you might share wall with 1 or 2 neighbors, which means that the best units will be the one on each side?

what about the deluxe beach villa? do you have to share walls as well, or is it purely an independent unit by itself

goliath

All Beach Villas are units of 4, so you will be sharing 1 or 2 walls with your neigbours. Some Deluxe Beach Villas do share a wall, some don't. See picture attached:

gnomey

Ah I see. Thank you so much for the diagram, this is super helpful

ajx2

We’ve been here (almost) a week and noticed a sharp decline in number of guests in the last couple of day too, big at breakfast and at Mandhoo/Vilu between 4 and 6pm. We were surprised how many Chinese guests ignored their government’s advice and came here for CNY regardless, but largely now gone. (Re discussions in this thread, those we encountered were generally more socially attuned to western norms than prior experience led us to expect... although loudly FaceTiming during breakfast at Atoll Market seems to be the current trend)

I’ll post a few thoughts when we get home. Generally very pleased. Never been to a Maldivian resort this big, and there are pros and cons. A few service issues from the minor (comically slow coffee at breakfast, to the point we’ve ended up stacking orders because we thought they’d forgotten) to the more major (putting us in a SWV where wit no prior warning the neighbouring villa was having its thatched roof loudly replaced by a team of about 6 who we could hear from indoors and who could look straight down on us on our sun terrace). We asked to be moved back to our previous DBV because of that and some other preferences, and are hugely relieved to be back. Food generally good. Ithaa surprisingly good. Ufaa surprisingly uninspiring.

A few more days to enjoy before we have to face the snow in London...