Velaa Private Island vs. Cheval Blanc
 

I'm traveling with my partner to the Maldives next spring and haven't been before. We liked most about the Courcheval Cheval Blanc this past year (though not 1947) and were thinking of trying the Maldives variant in the spring. The other resort that appealed was the Velaa Private Island. Recognizing the Cheval Blanc has just opened has anyone stayed there recently - or any terrible or wonderful experiences at either place. Thanks for your help.

I have yet to try Cheval Blanc Maldives, but find your choice of this and Velaa pretty eclectic, given some of the superb resorts in the Maldives!

We almost ended up booking Cheval Blanc, and felt like it would be the best place to take our son if we all went. But, alas, we decided that splitting up things between the two COMO's resorts was a better value and would be places where we'd be less likely to run into kids (and then feel sad for not taking ours). Plus, we don't earn 8-figures, nor did we inherit money--so Cheval Blanc was too expensive for us simpletons!

declinespecificinformation thats very interesting. Our agent visited both properties and felt that Velaa was more family oriented while the Carousel and Paddock set up at Cheval was much more of an afterthought.
As it turns out, we decided to go for two weeks and have set up a week at each so hopefully if we return we can settle at just one location - noone likes to fly twin otters every week.

Round-trip seaplane transfers between the airport and Cheval Blanc are $1500 per person. Granted, it's in the dedicated Cheval Blanc private plane, which looks very nice. The resort also requires that all guests arrive via their private plane.

There are already some reviews on TripAdvisor, one is mentionning meals cost. $83 for a burger, $500pp for the fine dining menu... I understand they target the high-end customers, but this is ridiculous.

If you're curious I actually have the menus for all of the restaurants - and yes there is an $85 cheeseburger. Though the appetizer I find most outlandish is the prawns with apple and caviar for $350 at 1947, but I found dinner at the franchise in Courchevel quite disappointing so I don't think I'll be expecting too much from this one. The tasting menus at Diptyque do look very good and seem reasonable running between $240 to 410 per person. Probably not quite in the realm of Geranium but cheaper and better than Noma I'm hoping - time will tell...

Yikes! These prices are rather high.

What's worse is that one is, necessarily, a captive audience at these places.

We just dined at Geranium and Noma … you did not enjoy the latter?

I think Noma is fine and a lot of fun. But it's certainly not in my top 10... Probably not top 20 even after eating there several times. For me it's never been a transcendent dining experience which I find Geranium often comes close to. But I drink too much and kiss the chefs so it could just be me. I won't even get started on El Bulli or Eleven Madison....

I'm also interested in the comparison between the two - any updates possible?

A couple of years on - are there comparative thoughts between these two ?

I thought Cheval was considered the creme de la creme of the Maldives but I came across velaa and the villas there look even better.

Having stayed at both, I would return in a heartbeat to Cheval Blanc, but you would have to drage me screaming and kicking back to Velaa.

The design at Cheval Blanc is glorious Jean-Michel Gathy, with towering roofs and very elegant furnishings - even nicer than what he did at Reethi Rah. Service and food are extraordinary for the Maldives.

Velaa is rather amateurish - a very personal take on the Maldives by its wealthy Czech owners. Lots of huge black and white turtle photos everywhere and very uncomfortable furniture. Fake orchids in the bathrooms, etc etc. Nice local staff and an interesting fine diing restaurant overwater, but otherwise, no way. Also, if you stay on the ocean side of the island, there is no lagoon and the waves are very violent, so not at all relaxing. The big villas are well appointed, but nowhere near as good as those at Cheval Blanc.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

My only concern over Cheval Blanc is the dining. From reviews I have read a meal can set you back over a thousand dollars. We are not really keen on spending that much on food and not keen on fine dining to be honest.

Maldives is meant to be for chilling. Do the other restaurants apart from the fine dining one serve reasonable good food at more reasonable prices ?

That's only for one restaurant. The rest are reasonably priced

Anyway I have menus if you like to see them.

Here are the menus

www.filedropper.com/foodandbeveragemenu1

up to date ;)

IN all honesty, the most expensive restaurant was that 1497 or 1947. I never went there, it required a ....ing tuxedo., No way jose, not in maldives, The rest of the places are very affordable compared to all other maldives resorts. The cost builds when factoring in diving/snorkeling/etc. No house reef!!!

But then dining in general in Maldives is overrated and overpriced :)

I had a look at the wine list. A Tignanello for 950? Wines seem to be between 10-20x retail. Is that standard for Maldives?

Yes, they have a very good all-day-dining and other restaurant options, apart from fine French dining and Japanese, and no, the tuxedo rule was dropped ages ago. Nobody is dressing up too much there these days. Wine is expensive everywhere in the Maldives, but Cheval Blanc does have a particularly elevated list!

Aside from the dress code and the prix fixe the prices at 1947 are in line (for the maldives) assuming quality is there. Other pricing is similar to Amilla Fushi, so absurd but competitive. I can't speak to the wine but other drinks seem 10-20% higher than Amilla, at most.

It´s not a cheap destination.... Dress code in Maledives shows a high degree of unrealistic. No wonder they skipped it......

Yea, the prices are similar to Maldives. The only thing that gets crazy is the 1947 place, which I haven't been.

The bar is pretty casual spot, a long with the Japenese place.

1947 doesnt require a tux, but is still dressier!

10x retail is standard, 20x is not. The prices are slightly elevated at CB, though the house wine by the glass wasnt too bad. Not a big wine drinker, prefer craft beer, so didnt really have time to get into the list that much.

Anyone knows how much transfer costs are?

You csn get the deluxe seaplane or regular seaplane. I believe the deluxe cbr plane is 2400 for 2. The regular seaplane is half that.

Thanks. Sounds really good. Do you think 4n is enough or is it possible to combine with another Resort neraby?

Nevermind, I looked over my folio.

It cost $3,942.50 (tax inclusive) for the CBR Seaplane,.
It cost $2,340 (tax inclusive) for the shared seaplane.

This is for 2 people. The shared seaplane is roughly $800 more then any other resort in the Maldives, same seaplane too.

Sorry I made a mistake.

4n is fine, unfortunately, only Velaa and Soneva Jani are nearby. Theres also under construction a crazy 500 room hotel!

If you want to combine it you can do something close to Male.

Also, depending on your interests, I dont recommend CBR!

I thought the same 4-5n something close to Male by speedboat, then maybe CB. Why you didn´t like it? I think diving is not the best but the hard product and rest looks amazing. Which Resort do you recommend?

The rooms are amazing.
The alchemists are great.

The issue for me was diving. The boat trips typically go to the same reef and it gets repetitive.

Plus the cost of those trips is much higher then any other resort.

can transfer between maldives properties by boat

ordering properties by location >
velaa
soneva jani
cheval blanc
kanuhura
(less than 1 hour)
FS exclusive-use voavah
anantara kihavah
FS LG
amilla
soneva fushi
(same distance, presumably 1 hour)
reethi rah
coco palm bodu hithi
exclusive-use coco prive
huvafen fushi
banyan tree
FS KH
gili
male airport
taj exotica
jumeirah vittaveli
waldorf
naladhu & anantara
cocoa
(more than 1 hour)
angsana velavaru
(1 hour)
como
(less than 1 hour)
six senses
gan airport
(more than 1 hour)
jumeirah dhevanafushi
PH
(more than 1 hour)
SL
http://www.bing.com/mapspreview?&ty=...=1&form=S00027
i can easily add additional properties to the above list
anyone can add to bing map, click "share" at top for link

Kihavah and cbr would be a nice trip. Get the snorkeling and diving done at kihavah then go to Cbr.

The issue with kihavah is the reef is completely destroyed and bleached out. Baa atoll got hit bad by bleaching.

Not a big diver or snorkeler by any means, but the W really does have a fantastic house reef and nearby dive spots. Unfortunately, it's a W (and I heard they made it even MORE of a W after I was last there).