MaldivesFreak

We've only been there over NYE once however be prepared to be kept awake until 2 or 3AM (unless you have a RWV, or possibly a PWV or SunWV which might be out of range of the bass coming from the Rangali Bar / Ufaa beach area). @tom-schmitt would be the man to ask. What year is the Festive Planner you have? I might have a more recent one.

Oh, and BTW. You are most certainly 2nd in line.

Splotly

tom-schmitt

Splotly

jamienbaker

Has anyone taken the 1630 departure from MLE to CMB on Emirates? (or something similarly timed?)

Just looking for a guestimate as to when our seaplane will leave the property. Would be nice to enjoy a leisurely, final breakfast.

Travel in June, booked two WVs and requested to be adjacent, on the sunset side, given feedback a few posts back (regarding shallow water on the sunrise side). Each villa booked in the name of a Diamond (Mr and Mrs), pre-paid rate and points for the other. Will pay for one room's incidentals with Mr's Amex Aspire, the other with the Mrs'. Seems like the best strategy to capture the $250 credit enjoyed by each card. Will be interesting to see if 2018 $250 credit is applied to the pre-pay rate which should hit this month's bill...suggesting the 2019 $250 credit can be used at the resort. Don't really care one way or another, but curious how it works.

Looking forward to. This is our get-over-jetlag-stop on the way to Sri Lanka.

Thanks all, and happy upcoming new year - Jamie

MaldivesFreak

There are quite a few flights every day due to the resort's capacity so you'll probably leave at around noon to two o'clock Rangali time. A leisurely early breakfast won't be a problem.

brodielayne

If you have a particular flight time request let the resort know. I had similar concerns as you before my last trip, which led me to communicate what my desires were. Not only did the resort respect my request, they aligned my late checkout in my room to match. I made my request known to my host on check-in, let her know that all I needed her help with was this particular concern, and it was handled. YMMV

Majuki

We had requested a later afternoon departure to Rangali so we could sleep in the first day in Malé after our late evening arrival. The resort said they couldn't guarantee any requests for the seaplane transfer time, but we were accommodated in the late afternoon. We actually were the only two people in the lounge for the 30 or 40 minutes we were there. Two other couples arrived and we were on the seaplane within 10 minutes after that. (There were some other couples who got off at an intermediate stop who we didn't see prior to boarding the plane.)

trust0me

WOW the New Year Eve Gala Dinner costs $480++ per person on that festive planner. Does Conrad still push this as a mandatory?
Is anyone staying or has stayed here over NYE and successfully avoided to go and pay for this gala dinner thing?
Is it really worth to pay $600 per person for the experience? I'd like to stay over NYE here but this gala dinner makes me think again.

MaldivesFreak

Erm, there's been quite a bit of talk about it about 2 or 3 months ago in the thread.

This I will answer and answer with a resounding 'No!', especially if you've been there when it hasn't been added to the bill and you only pay for what you eat and not what others eat, drink and enjoy.

We may calculate it as follows;
With 150 rooms at full occupancy you'd have a conservative estimate of 350 adults which would generate around $160,000 and for say 100 kids it would amount to $35,000. That's roughly $200K. If you take the 'credit' of $240 per adult and $175 per child it works out as $195 & $142 actual credit* respectively. Take the respective $68,000 and $14,000 off and you have $120K profit. Maybe $15-20K to get the band and festivities organized, extra champagne and fireworks and whatnot and you have a cool 100K profit for the night. Not bad, eh.

I, for one, am going to make sure our 30-night stay ends on the morning of the 31st. We don't like being gouged and paying for what others eat and have, neither do we like being kept awake until 2 or 3AM due to the music. Rangali, you charge less for non-alcoholic beach dinners. How about at least not gouging your non-drinking guests on the evening of December 31st, eh?


* before taxes

manneca

I'll keep that in mind, but I want to get 2¢ per point in redemptions! (My best is no longer available, I think--Hilton Salalah (Oman) 5000 points for an over $200 room.) My dilemma is that I love the Rangali, but the diving isn't great. So go somewhere with great diving or spend my points.

trust0me

Great point and thank you.
What is it like staying over Christmas there?
Are they making festive dinners on 24th and 25th also mandatory?

tom-schmitt

captainamerica

I contacted the conrad maldives and they said the only refurb DBV are on the 100 side. Is the general consensus to request the highest number DBV on the 100 side? So roughly DBV 140 or whichever is closest?

Edit:
Actually looking at this map it looks like 140 may just face the spas?
https://www.google.com/maps/@3.61932.../data=!3m1!1e3

So maybe DBV ~135 is ideal? Anyone have a map of exact villa number locations?

brodielayne

When you going? When I was there last month the high 200's were in progress, and should be done soon. IMO this is the best part of the island, with a nice deep beach and soft sand.