Jcnyc

Ah the elusive #51 ! Most coveted suite they have. I was in #48 and I was totally mindblown. I went to a week long liveaboard right after my stay at the park hyatt in the central atolls. Will definitely come back and dive the southern atolls, and perhaps stay in the PHH again. Eyeing the new Chase Hyatt card with 60k sign on bonus after $6k. That's pretty much 3 nights right there!

shuuy

platbrownguy

I was also pretty upset at first when I saw the comment about drone footage -- but then I clicked through to OP's blog and it sounds like OP learned the lesson (at the end of the trip) that drones are banned. I cannot fathom why people think it is okay to fly cameras over others' private villas, etc. I would have been mortified if I had seen a drone flying over my villa. There is a reasonable expectation of privacy from such low-flying aircraft and I fear it will be the next thing to go.

Jcnyc

Yes hotel has no drone policy which I learned after the fact. But I only flew the drone into the open ocean to get an expansive shot of the resort. Definitely would be sketchy to fly the drone over the island with the outdoor showers.

As for the rest of the maldives, never saw anythign about registering drones and flew domestic a bunch of times with zero people asking about my drone. To be honest, I reckon the Maldivian Government is totally okay with drones as it is just free marketing for them to promote the largest segment of their economy. Drones are the absolute best way to capture the natural beauty of the place

opiuman

Booked a 5 nighter for Jan 2020. Hopefully it'll be exciting, probably going with the AI since we can drink. Any recent experiences with the spa or any activities recommendations? We are not divers and I feel like AI supersedes any of the extra dining options. I've heard decent results from the dolphin cruise a few times in this thread.

platbrownguy

stayed in September for 6 nights -- if you are snorkelers, the "Journey to Island Formation" excursion was incredible. see description on the e-concierge portal.

if you're not snorkelers, it's hard to think what will be very "exciting" -- it's a beautiful, relaxing, tranquil sort of place that i imagine some people would even get bored at. January will be more "happening" i suppose, but in september it was usually the case that my wife and i were the only ones even at the bar having a drink.

highly recommend the spa, the package that included a couples massage, drawn bath & champagne/fruit was good value as well.

flyhen

We just checked in hours ago. Requested villa 51, but ended up getting 49 instead. It's been 5 years, and still got all the excitement when we were on approach.

Data point: Kayak is now $25/hour, not free. I don't know how to update the wiki.

themadsupra

Can anyone confirm or deny the prices for the room upgrades? It looks like it was last updated in the main section in 2017. This still accurate? Thanks!

For 2017 (Price for November)
+$210+23.2% tax = $258.72/night for pool
+$310+23.2% tax = $381.92/night for deluxe pool
+$410+23.2% tax = $505.12/night for water villa
+$610+23.2% tax = $751.52/night for sunset water villa
+$1400+23.2% tax = $1724.80/night for 2 br pool villa

opiuman

This is what they quoted me last week for a stay in Jan 2020.

Park Pool Villas: Upgrade Supplement- USD210 plus taxes of 23.2%, total USD258.72 per night.
Deluxe Park Pool Villas: Upgrade Supplement- USD410 plus taxes of 23.2%, total USD505.12 per night.
Park Water Villa: Upgrade Supplement- USD410 plus taxes of 23.2%, total USD505.12 per night.
Park Sunset Ocean Pool Villa: Upgrade Supplement- USD750 plus taxes of 23.2%, total USD924 per night.

fruss508

Staying in the villa now with my wife. It is an amazing place to stay as I think the other villas would be as well.

Plunge pool in Villa 48

Neither one of us had snorkeled previously, but it's easy to pick up and mesmerizing. Our day starts with snorkeling, followed by aimless wandering around the beach and then snorkeling again.

Haven't actually eaten as much food or drank as much booze as I would have expected: only ate dinner in the restaurant these past 2 days. To some extent this might be because we stuffed ourselves for 5 days in Sri Lanka just prior to coming here.

synd

We recently spent a week at the resort. We really enjoyed our time there, we had 44,36,37 which were very nice and suited us very nicely. I liked the privacy of the in land villas better than the water villas, but my parents enjoyed their water villa very much. The sea life was wonderful, one of the nicest place I have been to, with Los Roques in Venezuela. The staff was extremely friendly. The one major downside to the resort we felt were the food, while not bad, it's not amazing. You don't go whoa I want to come back to eat here, like for the Barai Breakfast in Hua Hin, the breakfast truffle oil crab eggs at the BKK Kempinski, or the CDG PH, or the DXB PH. I also realize its an island and its hard to have products delivered, but we have gotten much better food on other island resorts before. We are considering going back next year and that is the one thing stopping us from booking the PH again right now. Nonetheless it's an incredible place, especially for snorkeling / diving.

canyonleo

Just curious, have you been to Los Roques recently? I've always wanted to go there, but not if one must fly through the mainland now.

synd

Not recently unfortunately, but really would like to go back, although yeah flying through Caracas is a major downside... Was there in 2010. All we saw in Venezuela apart from caracas was fantastic.

GoIrish1987

Sitting at Koodoo airport waiting for our plane to head back to Male after a great week at the PH Maldives Hadahaa.

We got in late on the CX flight from Hong Kong. Had a midly annoying layover in Male and then were on our way to Koodoo. From there, we took the half hour speed boat ride to the Hyatt. It was dark but the staff made it very comfortable.

Upon arrival at airport, they were waiting for us on the main jetty with a golf cart (buggy) to take us to our bolla for in room check in. It was 2am Male time which we quickly found our was 3am resort time. We washed up and went to bed eager to explore the next day .

The next 6 days were very nice. Looking back, while the time definitely passed quickly (I cannot believe we are leaving already) days were long and we definitwly were forced to slow down.
​​​​​​
The island is very small. We walked all the way around the beach a few times each day. It only takes about 25 minutes, if that.

We did not do the all inclusive meal option but we did do the unlimited beverages two days. We are moderate to heavy drinkers but it seemed challenging for us to feel like we were getting our money's worth even with the drinks option.
​​​​​​We stayed in villas 34, 2, and 40. 34 is a park Villa and the backyard and Beach area was not very exciting .The best park villas seemed to be around number 16 .
​​​​​​
Villa 2 was fabulous and if we went back, I would request it . The backyard had a plunge pool, huge lounge area, and great beach in front of it .
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villa 40 was a basic water villa . While very cool to try, I would not pay more for 40 than 2 .

Ok now some lessons learned and tips:

You can get by comfortably with breakfast or lunch and then dinner every day. That's what we did and we still always felt full. If you want something light in the morning, go to the bar and ask for a detox smoothie -- they are good .

Definitely recommend dining at the drift. We did the italian meal and we were by ourselves, so it was basically private dining, with our own server and chef. Th chef, Luca, was from Italy and made the night very special .

We did the barbecue on Saturday night and really enjoyed it. Not sure why folks have complained about it here .

Take advantage of your concierge but don't rely on them for everything .

Ask for a complimentary upgrade. I planted the seed our first day and patiently followed up until mid trip when our concierge was able to make it happen. We had two nights in the deluxe pool villa and one night in the water villa, so three nights upgraded in total, for no additional charge .

If you do the unlimited Bev option, do it on days when you are not eating dinner at dining room or island grill so that you can drink during dinner and have it covered by the package. Example - dinner at drift or Saturday barbecue ("free" bottles of wine or cocktails or whatever you want).

SPend a day at the pool by the spa. You will probably be the only ones there and it's very relaxing .

We did a couples.massage and it was very nice. Unfortunately we got fumigated by the bug spray during our post session tea. They spray every morning and evening .

We did the evening fishing trip and weren't really impressed. The boat they use, the Dhoni, has some pretty strong exhaust odors and overall it was just underwhelming . It is a good value though at 100 per person, because they will cook the fish you catch at dinner for free . We had a big white snapper.

That's it for now, as I think of more I will post .

imm2b

Glass bottom kayak is $25/hour, but the regular kayak is still free.