tungyuwu

It just opened (Dec), and I have booked a five-night stay from Dec 27 to Jan 1, but I am not sure whether this is a good idea... Has anyone been in Samui Island during this time before? Will that be overly crowded, and would you rather stay at a different time?

wels0n

just booked the exact same stay...! never been there so i'm excited. spent new years a couple weeks ago at conrad rangali and it was fantastic

Sandeep1

It seems like most people booking this resort are wanting to stay at their villas most of the time so not if crowds would be a deterrent.

Dcislander

Just my take here. When we visited we spend 95% of our time on site: Villa, breakfast, main pool, spa/gym... wash and repeat. We ventured out once to relive my backpacker days at Big Buddha beach (I should have left it to my memories) and didn't venture to Chewang. From our experience, if you stay at the resort the only crowds you're likely to see are at the airport.

tungyuwu

Thank you, Dcislander and Sandeep1, for your reply, which is a great relief for my decision. I'm looking forward to the stay at Conrad Koh Samui. All the villas have been fully booked for New Year's Eve except for the Royal Oceanview Pool Villa...

Runner123

I used Mr. Samui extensively during my stay in the 3 Islands this summer for taxi, boat and hotel transfers, and he was great. So I recommended him to my cruise roll call and booked him for a private 13 person snorkel boat charter to the Ang Thong Marine Park from 7:30 to 1:30 with no lunch. He agreed to $71 a person payable on the day with no deposit in USD, baht or credit card with a 5% surcharge, and he would take us to an ATM. He was fine with no deposit as I had used him so many times before. This was arranged 10 months before. Numerous people from my ship booked with him based on my recommendation. The day before the tour, someone contacted me and demanded a $775 deposit by credit card, or the tour would be canceled. They also talked about lunches (which were never contracted for!) I refused, and said to cancel. I kept saying this was, not agreed to. As I was typing the message to the group to cancel, the booking manager got back to me and said an employee had made a mistake and someone would be there.
The next day, we were at the pier at 7:30. No one was there. I got in touch, and Mr. Samui said someone was there. They were not. Our boat broke, but no one told us. No one ever got in touch. An hour later someone showed up. The tour left and it was fine. But he would not take credit cards as agreed, and did not take us to ATMs. This caused a problem. I wrote to Mr. Samui, and no one ever replied. I can't recommend anyone use them based on their very poor communication and administration of my cruise tour!

Runner123

When I stayed here this summer, I stayed 5 nights on points and 1 paid night as a Diamond. I was upgraded to one of the three villas with the best views-a 5 island view! View and stay was amazing. The resort looked deserted. Most days I was the only one at the pool. I was shocked to find out it was at 50 % occupancy! You will have a wonderful time!!

Runner123

Be aware the free boat trip to the island is now gone. The beach is also not swimmable depending on time time of year. It certainly isn't in late May/early June, and it is not safe for snorkeling either. The snorkeling trip the hotel offers is done in a long tail boat. It is extremely difficult to get back in the boat after snorkeling as the ladder is too short. The two gentlemen running the tour don't speak English, and won't help you get back in the boat. The tour is much shorter than stated. I don't recommend booking it through the hotel. Tamarind Springs Spa is great, but it's very far from the hotel. Before booking, make sure ALL OF IT IS WORKING! I went and most of the spa pools were out of order. The only pool working was the really cold one. I also found the food they gave you inedible. There were lots of bugs in the food in the jars, so I wouldn't eat that, and I didn't like the other food.

Abidjan

Runner123, appreciate the updates. Are they still offering the shuttle to the shopping mall?

Sandeep1

Getting a bit nervous for upcoming 5 night stay. Looking like constant rain and thunderstorms in the forecast.

m0hamed

We just returned from USM. We had perfect weather except on the last day where the airport basically closed for the day and flights didn't restart until 5PM. We were delayed 5 hours. We were at Cape Fahn who gave us an 8:30PM checkout but I would avoid any direct connections after your PG flight, just in case.

Sandeep1

Anyone ever make the journey out to the Ritz to eat at "The View Dining at the Peak?" Just booked, seems like a damn good place for a final dinner.

brokenwindow

Currently here, if anyone else is, let me know, would love to say hi! Happy to be back after 5 years and must say rooms have kept up well, villas remain gorgeous and the view is truly unparalleled. The F&B however has in my opinion declined quite hard; prices are substantially higher than 5 years ago (even adjusted for inflation), and the food itself isn't great. My memory may be failing me but I remembered the breakfast being much better during our last visit. Right now, I'd say it's pretty unremarkable and honestly a little disappointing for a Conrad at this price point in Thailand.

54austin

My spouse and I visited this past Nov and also thought the food and drinks were a low point, especially for the price. Our previous visit was several years ago, so we can't compare it to a previous experience, but we found many of the dishes at Zest (at dinner) to be far too sweet. We understand it is an element in many Thai dishes, but this was way beyond subtle. We enjoyed Azure a bit more (maybe a matter of expectations). The cocktails at the outdoor bar were all very heavy on the mixer and light on the booze. Again, all were off balance. We would have been happy with smaller drinks made right. Overall, our feeling was that the f&b prices don't match the quality...but they are what we expected for an international 'luxury' resort in a high-demand area. Speaking of prices, we were charged different prices for drinks at the bar than what was listed. When we asked, they said that the menu hadn't yet reflected the new prices, which was already loaded into their system. This seems like an amateurish mistake. I actually provided all this feedback to the GM after our stay and his response was defensive. Regardless, our general service experience was excellent and the setting is unmatched, so we've already booked a return trip for next year.

Sandeep1

Made the hike out to Ritz Carlton to eat at View from the Peak. It was well worth the journey! Food was exquisite and views were spectacular!