joecool1885

If they're charging 2K, that may be for the yacht. Would be surprised if they charged that for the speedboat.

We saw dolphins basically every time we went out on a boat (even on the return from PH). I wouldnt spend your money on a dolphin cruise.

As far as equator vs island picnic... well the equator excursion includes an island picnic, so that obviously wins out.

Jeffmiyagi

For the dolphins, did you get to swim/free dive with them?

Nurse Traveler

Was there last month for 5 nights and it was phenomenal.

We did the guided snorkeling on the first day and I found it to be helpful. Our guide was excellent and gave us ideas of when and where to go. I wouldn't do any guided tours after that (although nighttime sounds fun). We snorkeled the reef a few times then moved to an OWB and then just hung around our room when snorkeling (which was more convenient).

I did the Maldivian fishing and it was a lot of fun. There were 3 guests and 5 crew who really took care of us. It is a lot of work (you drop the line almost 200 meters) to haul the line back up but worth it. When the fish hit, you have to be very fast. I lost a ton of bait to those smart fish. Ultimately, I caught 3 fish (you get to keep one that they will cook for you when you return). My red snapper was the best I've ever had (get it grilled). If you even kind of like fishing, I highly recommend it (we also saw some sharks attacking a ray which was kind of cool).

We did the dolphin cruise and saw at least 500 dolphins. It was crazy and every staff person said they don't usually see that. We sat in one area for quite a while while the bottle nose and spinners played off the bow. Highly recommended.

My wife had the HOONU Evvaru Ritual and said it was amazing and she would do it again (and again and again). Just don't go with a sun burn The exfoliants can make it a bit painful.

canyonleo

I have found (in many years of boating, diving, free diving, etc.) that wild dolphins not in sleep state aren't going to let you "swim with them". While at PH Maldives doing AM boat dives, we twice (during our surface time interval while transiting) boated up to a pod and as we had only 2-3 customer divers on board immediately jumped into the middle of the pod with snorkel gear. Each time, I managed to initially be in fine viewing distance (say 30m) of a few dolphins (dozens in the pods), but those dolphins quickly swam away.

I have the same experience boating in Florida, and on the rare instances that I've seen dolphins mid-dive (scuba), they just swim by.

I've read of others having dolphins stay close when encountered, but I think that's rare. Now, a pod that has some in sleep state, where the pod does repeated gentle circles/laps (which others do watch) is a different story - I've swam with such pod in Maui a few different times for up to an hour at a time.

Nurse Traveler

We did not have the ability/opportunity to get out. However, I was encouraged to stick my GoPro over the side and under water. They came pretty close but I wouldn't have wanted to touch one (they were swimming way too fast) even if I could have.

alexj7

Stayed here last week. Some thoughts:

1) I wasn't expecting such a long transfer time. Left Abu Dhabi hotel around 7 AM and got to Park Hyatt around 9 PM or so. Barely made dinner. The 4 hour layover in Male really sucks. I feel like they need a boat plane transfer or something, although maybe it is too far for that.

2) The boat transfer was horrible - couldn't wait for it to end. Mostly due to getting in at night and rough seas. So can't see anything other than blackness, and the whole time we are bouncing off waves fairly hard. The return during the day was far more enjoyable.

3) We were relieved to finally arrive, and I had an OWV the first two nights to try it out. They upgrade me to a sunset villa, so we were almost at the end of the pier. This ended up being very bad. All night we couldn't sleep due to the storm. It was incredibly loud inside with crashing waves below us, some pouring rain during the night, and constant howling winds. The villa is very exposed and considering the wind speed, it sounded way worse inside than it should.

4) The entire first day it rained. Heavy surf. Really heavy rain at times. Stayed inside and tried to catch up on sleep. Second night was similar with heavy waves, wind, rain. Combined with jet lag we were pretty tired and yet still unable to sleep well.

5) Next day started to clear, still cloudy and heavy surf. I was forced to check out at noon (really 11 AM due to their weird time thing) and no room was available until 2 PM. So OWV was a major failure. Only had it for 40 hours, cost a lot of money, never got to enjoy it. On the plus side I never had to deal with the AC since it was always raining while I had the room. Never got to snorkel off the room since the surf was too rough.

6) Park villa was nice, no pool upgrades available for a diamond though. Didn't seem necessary to get a pool.

7) Food was solid. Everything I had was good, but not amazing or anything. Breakfast was a little disappointing I think. I like fresh fruits and they only had limited fruits out. Pancakes/french toast/waffles I had were all pretty bad. Other breakfast dishes were good. Coffee/cappuccinos were excellent.


So despite all that above, I really enjoyed it here. Yes, the first day was the worst ever. I was having very serious regrets of traveling to the Maldives at all the first 48 hours. After that the sun came out and the last few days and made up for it. We had a nice day of calm snorkeling at least. Seems like I just got really unlucky with not seeing the sun (at all) my first 48 hours, and then still getting rain most days for the remainder.

I guess the takeaway is I never saw anyone mention how horrible the OWVs are if it storms. Just something to keep in mind. Also, I wouldn't go back in December - it seems like rainy season is lasting longer...


edit: Also seems like the diamond drinks 5-7 PM are limited now compared to what I saw online. They have a special menu with only a few selections compared to their full drink menu. Only basic stuff like martini, margarita, etc.

canyonleo

I would say the takeaway is to book a longer trip than one (not you necessarily) plans, as weather can ruin part of one's trip. Many post here "is x days enough" or "how many days is optimal for travel here"... I say add 2-3 days just to make sure one doesn't have the whole trip ruined by weather. It's the same with a ski trip (if one desires powder skiing let's say).

m0hamed

Agree. It's widely documented to allow a day for travel for arrival or departure. I wouldn't visit for less than a week which would mean five full days at the resort.

alexj7

I tend to stay 4-5 nights places, I get bored quickly. I did 4 nights here and 4 nights at another resort closer to Male. So I still had plenty of good weather, just at the other resort. I would've planned 5 nights at the PH but my schedule didn't allow it and I needed 4 nights at the other place to get the Citi Prestige 4th night free.

bertuzzi

I have been here the last 5 days.
We arrived male late, so we did an airbnb overnight in male before taking the 10am domestic flight the following morning. It made the journey somewhat more enjoyable than Alexj7's, but still, we didn't arrive the island until 2pm and the water was very rough.
I would recommend preparing for seasick medicine if any of your traveling party is sensitive to seasick.

Very disappointed that they downgraded the diamond Sundowner menu. Now they only have 5 basic cocktails to choose from along with wine, shots, beer, mocktails etc.

Also, starting yesterday, the resort is running 15% discount on Reef Exploration, Journey to island formation, discover scuba diving, local island visit and Equator Experience until end of the year. So if you're visiting the next 2 weeks and have pre-booked those activities, you might want to contact the hotel to get the extra 5%.

Lastly, people discussed about the Equator Experience earlier. I can confirm the price is 2000/couple and they use the normal speedboat, no yacht.

If you have any other questions, let me know. I'm here for a few more days.

joecool1885

Yikes! Looks like I lucked out. Was originally set to pay 2500++ on the yacht, but it went out of service. When I brought up the price being outrageous for the speedboat (still quoting me $2500++), they apologized and offered it for $1200++. It definately felt like I was getting a deal. Crew of 5 for 5+ hours plus the gas and food expenditure.
Dive shop personnel said the yacht would return to service at some point. Was hoping this would happen before I eventually return. Maybe they arent planning to bring it back though. :-p

cdancer20

This is a good tip. Our flight into Male wouldn't get us there until 9:30 pm. I guess it would make sense to save our money (points) and stay somewhere for the night, then off to the PH in the morning.

asnovici

What does DSU get you in that property?

Jeffmiyagi

Are any of you able to find consistent C+P availability? I've only been able to find an odd night here and there that offers C+P but never 2 nights back to back.

Nurse Traveler

Funny because we felt we didn't have enough time (or it was tighter than we would have wanted, I suppose). We had less than an hour, which was probably fine but just felt a bit rushed. Our flight from Male to Kooddoo wasn't non-stop either so we had some extra time there

We weren't prepared for this either (we also had a night transfer on the way there). They had nausea bands for my wife but she really had trouble with the darkness and the rough waves. Fortunately for us, that was the last night of the storm on our stay.

I'm not really sure what the advantage is of the sunset water villas. They are further out on the pier but the view isn't appreciably better. I was glad I didn't upgrade to one of these. It wouldn't have been worth the cost to me.