MaldivesFreak

OK people, some new info on the state of the upcoming effort to upgrade accommodations. There are to be no big renovations to come but smaller revamps of some villas over the next two years. That means the WVs on Rangali since the BVs and DBVs have been and are being done. Not sure about the other categories and the RWVs but I assume they will be done too as they are in similar condition to the rest of the villas on Rangali.

CHSDOC

Leaving for our stay in a week. Any recent whake shark sightings?

in4tar

some members of my family are there right now; they went on a snorkeling trip from the hotel the day before yesterday (not on whale shark excursion, but regular snorkeling) and saw two whale sharks and lots of manta rays...they haven't seen any whale sharks around house reef, but saw lots of black-tip sharks there

rslb75

lhrhappy

The thing to understand, which was unusual and discomforting for me initially, is that you, the guest, have absolutely no say in the matter.

TMA will schedule your seaplane transfer such that you will not miss your international flight. The resort has no control over their scheduling, and you have even less control than the resort.

If you have a morning flight that requires them to transfer you out the night before, you could cut your stay at CMRI short by a day and wish for the best, or you could keep the "wasted" night and be assured that you will have use of your room right up to the moment of the transfer. It's your call either way. It's also dependent on the weather. There are (horror) stories on this sub about people who had 8PM flights out of MLE and were transferred at 10AM because there were all-day storms in the forecast.

If you want to avoid the question entirely, just get a later international flight. I understand that's easier said than done, but it's the only way to know some certainty about when you will depart.

CHSDOC

What is the opinions of those that have done the private island dining? Worth missing a "conventional" restaurant for that?

MaldivesFreak

You mean the Private Beach Dining? It's still held at the resort (on Rangali Island), not on a private island as such.

CHSDOC

Yes that's what I mean. I am following your restaurants plan (above), and didn't see how that would fit in for a five night stay.. But on thinkning about it, we'd rather have meals at the places you suggest.

MaldivesFreak

Obviously if you can start your Rangali stay earlier rather than later, you're better off doing that and taking an evening seaplane back to Male on the night of the 17th, thereby maximizing your time at the resort. But if you can't change your flights to get there a day early and leave on the 17th, you should opt for the morning seaplane flight on the 18th. It's very unlikely you'll leave so early that they put you on a seaplane the previous evening.

Cynicor

Thanks for the info on the breakfast potato. Looking forward to our next trip there over Easter, and starting to look at planning some meals and activities. Few questions if I may?
Is there still AM yoga, and if so what is the cost? Otherwise, does anyone know the cost of private yoga sessions?
The local island tour is on Tuesday 2-5 according to the website. Is it safe to assume that this is up to date?
And lastly, apart from champagne, what is the difference in offerings between the fisherman's bbq buffet and the lobster and champagne. Are they mostly quite similar?

Anyone else going to be there around that time?

draxxusbg

Cynicor

draxxusbg

MaldivesFreak

The OWS has glass floors whereas the SR doesn't. Note that there are 4 rooms to the OWS and 3 have them and the other room has a normal, wooden floor so you might want to ask whether your treatment is going to be in the room with the wooden floor or not if that's important to you. The Muscle Relaxation massage I think it's called is a good one as my other half has one every time we visit. Sorry I have no info on the Art of Love massage. You might want to search for those keywords here (I think I have seen one post about it in the last 5 years) and on the TripAdvisor review page here. You might get a few hits.

tjs121

I've done about six hours of research so far and even still I don't have a great handle on the answer to my question.

To be honest, I'm having trouble even getting to the right question. I guess it would be, given the price of the Conrad Rangali, is this resort "worth it" compared to other options in the Maldives for a June stay in an OWB? That's such a nebulous question since the definition of value is different for everyone. I guess I just struggle with the cost of everything, I have Hilton Diamond so it seems like I could get away with paying for dinner but by the time we order an entree each and have a bottle of wine or a few beers, we're at $200/night. That being said, I place little value on the quality of food; I'm not a fan at all (at least at my current age) of fine dining because I just don't "see" it. So the food plus the seaplane transfer plus the cost of the room and I figured just the Maldives alone would be $4,000. That wouldn't be the only place we would go on this trip and already it would be one of the more expensive vacations we've ever taken.

I guess my real question is: is it worth trying to seek value in the Maldives by going off Tripadvisor reviews and playing resort roulette or should I just accept the price for what is is knowing I have a high likelihood of getting a fantastic experience at the Conrad? I'm not sure how much value engineering I could do in a place like the Maldives since the cost of going is already pretty high.