MaldivesFreak

There's no place like it home.

jphripjah

I was recently quoted the following upgrade rates for my upcoming stay in late August.

Water Villa to Superior Water Villa - USD127.50+ taxes per night

Water Villa to Retreat Water Villa - USD202.50+ taxes per night

Water Villa to Deluxe Water Villa - USD315+ taxes per night

Water Villa to Premier Water Villa - USD915+ taxes per night



*Taxes are 10% Service Charge and 12% Tourism GST.

MaldivesFreak

Thanks. Added the WV to SWV rate to the wiki.

lincoln boy

Based on the thread, it looks like that the paid or complementary room upgrade can be applied partially to a stay. Does that mean that I can "sample" different rooms (of course the rooms need to be available) by staying 2 nights in BV, 2 nights in WV, and 2 nights in SWV for a total of 6 nights? Not that I like to keep switching rooms, but I just wanted to make sure my understanding was correct.

MaldivesFreak

Correct.

lincoln boy

Thank you MF!

parioneti

Thank you. I'll take that in consideration and see if I should make a run (or sleep) for Diamond or just get an Aspire card.
Thanks again.

vprp

Exactly what I did. Spent first two nights in a BV and last four nights in a SWV. Paid for the upgrade to the SWV from a WV. BV got upgraded to DBV as a Diamond.

CDO

How rare is to be upgraded as a diamond to SWV on a paid WV stay? Is there any difference that the stay is paid instead of points?

Majuki

I was quoted these prices in April for an August stay as a Diamond:

• Upgrade from Water Villa to Deluxe Beach Villa US$ 142 + 10% service charge + 12% T GST per night.
• Upgrade from Water Villa to Superior Water Villa US$ 142 + 10% service charge + 12% T GST per night.
• Upgrade from Water Villa to Retreat Water Villa US$ 225 + 10% service charge + 12% T GST per night.
• Upgrade from Water Villa to Deluxe Water Villa US$ 350 + 10% service charge + 12% T GST per night

Majuki

As far as restaurants, are there any must do ones? We wanted to do the underwater restaurant. Are the breakfast and happy hour enough food to get one through the day?

lincoln boy

Thank you. People on this thread are so helpful!

lhrhappy

All of them. If you're working on a Sauron-in-a-Bowtie-style "I took an $85,000 vacation for only $2,000!" blog post, best of luck to you. And it's true that breakfast, afternoon tea, and happy hour would be more than enough to sustain a person. But it's worth having some real dinners.

We didn't eat at Ithaa during our first trip, and I regret it. We'll correct that oversight next year. We did enjoy a few of their special event dinners, and we ate at Rangali Bar a few times. I would do all of them again. I also really want to try Ufaa next time around.

Majuki

I'm not planning on any blog posts about how I did the Maldives for $100 (and sign up for this credit card through my referral link to get the "free" seaplane transfer...). Mrs. Majuki and I are simply planning to enjoy our first trip to the Maldives and trying to make the most of our resort time. I realized at booking that the only deal (subjectively) that we would get out of this trip was the airfare and use of my Hilton points. However, I have read a few of the recent posts from the last year that people have been underwhelmed by the service at some of the restaurants and even the villas are in need of repair. I'm not opposed to paying the ridiculously inflated prices for the restaurants or activities, but if the food quality and service are poor, I would be disappointed (and never hear the end of it from Mrs. Majuki). I'd gladly pay for Ithaa for the experience, but the last thing I need is to have poor food quality/service leave a bad taste where we could have mostly sustained ourselves with the included bites from our elite benefits.

Also, there's been quite a back and forth on this thread - and no real consensus - on tipping. My inclination is whenever I see a service charge, especially in Asia, is not to provide an additional tip.

IvanCU

I thought Ufaa was the best meal by far. We ordered quite a few things and everything was great (especially the stir-fried beef tenderloin). Next time we're definitely trying Ufaa for the dim sum at lunch.

Mandhoo was nice. I normally like something a little heartier than a "spa" menu, but the food was quite good. We were on our honeymoon and were given a complimentary dinner for two at Mandhoo with a fixed menu. But it was quite good and we would definitely go back and try more off their menu.

Sunset Grill was good, not great. I'd definitely recommend the grilled seafood platter for two. A huge amount of food, which is odd because their normal entree meal portions can be somewhat small. The platter for two is big enough for four people if you added some salads and maybe an appetizer or two.

Vilu was good, not great as well. It's an odd menu and I think they're just trying a bit too hard with the different ingredients. Worth trying, and still our favorite breakfast spot.

I think Koko Grill was closed while we were there, and we didn't bother with Ithaa (the food reviews haven't been great, much less for the price). Rangali Bar food was fine, but you might as well spend a bit more money and get a real meal at one of the other restaurants.

We heard from a few people that Maldavian night at the Atoll Market is worth doing, but unfortunately we we never had a chance to check it out. Next time!

Breakfast was great, and we preferred Vilu for the location and made to order menu items. The buffet at Atoll Market was quite good, especially if you like a variety of foods. I love interesting foods for breakfast so I stayed away from the traditional "Western" items and had mostly the Asian offerings. Lots of variety and the quality was good.

We had ever intention to try the tea and happy hour events, yet never made it to one. It was quite hot when we were there, so typically we were on the beach or taking a nap during those times, or would just have a snack from the minibar. More than once we only had breakfast that entire day, and we're usually big eaters. Also, a lot of the excursions have lunch provided so between breakfast and the excursion lunch we were fine. One or two nights we had drinks and a few appetizers at Rangali Bar which made for a light meal. We were planning on more dinners at the restaurants but it wasn't necessary.