MaldivesFreak

So we have seen the first attempts at gouging from this property. A yacht ride that is going to be uncomfortable in rough weather, slower and far less spectacular than a seaplane ride is going to be twice the price of what a seaplane ride should be. Ugh.

escape4

Are there boat companies in Malé that can provide an alternative? I am thinking about Bora Bora where you can use Air Tahiti's shuttle boat to the main island rather than Conrad's yacht. More hassle but cheaper.

Kagehitokiri

- stella maris 214m2 (?)
- ithaafushi private island 3BR beach + 2BR overwater ; 25m pool ; staff (in middle?)

seems not added yet >
- 2 standalone - built
- 9 'royal villa' island - housing construction
(pretty few of both of those in maldives)
- underwater ? one post makes it sound like PR inaccuracy, not uncommon

3BRs may be 'connecting' as 2 pools and m2 adds up
(some other top luxury maldives do 'connecting' villas)

there are public ferry routes, can get as close as possible then charter or see if free hotel pickup.

distances between many resorts in maldives are not great, so can charter boat between them if staying at multiple properties, also Four Seasons Explorer books cabins and can be used for transport. at one point banyan tree had a yacht that booked cabins, seems no longer. some properties are accessible via gan airport which can be accessed via colombo. presumably all diving boats that book cabins are round trip from Male. any paying for 2BR at waldorf can also look at soneva 2BR charter yacht.

IIRC there are only 2 companies operating seaplanes.

MaldivesFreak

Hahaha. Dream on, buddy!

There is still some doubt about this. There is one guy over on the Conrad Rangali thread that says tourists can now take public ferries and travel to wherever they go (there used to be a law that prohibited foreigners to travel to non-resort / inn / hotel islands, don't know whether that is still in effect). There is a website which can book speedboats / private charters to and from various locations in various countries around the world so if the laws have now changed it might warrant further investigation. The problem is that resorts are not going to pick you up for free, no matter how close the ferry island is to the resort. Then you have the price fixing which basically means that the resorts will charge you the same (or nearly the same) rate for pickup and drop off as they would from Male and back.

Quite a few years ago the two seaplane companies merged. There is only TMA now (and another monopoly).

Kagehitokiri

leaving chartering between resorts, FS explorer cabin, soneva 2BR charter

if waldorf launches with only shared yacht and not speedboat, they may add speedboat later, as other properties have changed their transfer offerings after launch

MaldivesFreak

Sorry, some of what you write is hard to understand. Can you rephrase that?

Kagehitokiri

taj, jumeirah, como cocoa, several anantara are nearby (6 to 8 miles)
maldivesfinest.com/location-map

MaldivesFreak

Like I said, what does "leaving chartering between resorts" mean?

Oh, and there aren't several Anantaras, there's only one.

divinebaboon

Here's what the yacht used for the transfers looks like, source is The Waldorf Astoria Maldives adds a brand new high-speed luxury boat

Traveler Dave

tom-schmitt

MaldivesFreak

Bit of a joke, that website. Who would make a website with news articles and not put dates on them. Duh! Take this one for example, titled "Oceanic Village to launch in August" Erm.....August of what year, exactly??

Traveler Dave

FlugE

Yes, there is a list of exclusions: https://hiltonhonors.com/weekendreward

ozstock