Ooooooh!

I learned something today.


Challenge accepted! I found a stash of unopened BeoVision 14s, maybe i can find a remote too :)

[edit] I was too optimistic. No remote in sight, and "the IT guy" (as the butler called him) refused to help because "the TV only has one setting" (this is after consulting with a "manager" for half an hour).

The TV, along with the glass door toilet that can be seen from the working desk, the entrance, and the bathroom, are the two major failures of this suite. I can't believe they didn't just set it to some sort of defaults and not put smoked glass on the toilet door.

I was a bit afraid of this-- I'm one of those that spent 72K points/night for the St. Regis Suite.

But what the hell, bubbles sound worth it, to me! :)
Isn't the daybed on the deck larger for the suites?

We'll be doing the first night in the Garden Villa, the second night in the Beach Villa, and nights 3 through 7 in the Suite.

Fiancee hasn't seen pictures, thinks we're flying coach both ways, and isn't expecting an overwater room. Can't wait to surprise her! ^

By the way, really appreciate all of your guys notes. TylerC and Pseudo, thank you!

I doubt you'll ACTUALLY be in the beach / garden villa. I would expect that the hotel will upgrade you all nights to the St Regis, especially if you're Ambassador. Garden Villa is seriously lame, though :D

As for pictures - wait till I post breakfast pics. I'm seriously taking one for the team here and ordering a new trio of mains every day! You know, for glory of science.

So, I've heard from others "I don't know why anyone would book a beach villa here" ... I haven't actually been inside the beach villa, but having walked around the entire island now, the sand behind the beach villas is MUCH softer than the 'main beach' by the pool which is intended for the overwater villas.

The main beach is artificial, which in this case means the sand is course, and full of dead coral. There are also some really really nice seashells on the artificial beach, so that is cool, but absolutely see the appeal of the beach villas. If you are like my wife and in love with seashells, the artificial beach should be a fun playground.

If you go for a beach villa though, you should Definitely request something that is near the reception area or the Caroline Astor estate, as the beach is much deeper there. The ones closest to the overwater pier have only a couple of feet of sand between the villa and the ocean at high tide.

We went snorkeling around by our villa yesterday, and while there were some colorful fish, the reef was basically 25% dead, 60% bleached, and 15% recovering from bleaching, but still not healthy.

I've heard that the reef closer to the Caroline Astor Estate is supposed to be the best one on the island, and plan to check that out tomorrow.

Tonight, we go on the dolphin cruise.

.....

Has anyone stayed in the Garden Villa? We chose that one for the overall privacy and bc we'd prefer to sit on the beach vs the sun deck. I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts.

The problem is the garden villas face north so I'm not sure how much sun you'd get. Also, we already get tons of mosquitoes even on the water, so i shudder at the thought of how many of them are in the jungle.

No mosquitos out at my water villa on the north pier, but we've encountered the mosquitos at Alba, and yeah they are brutal. For whatever reason, they don't like my wife but they love me.

Today the staff was fogging the island for mosquitos, so perhaps it will be better in a few days.

Thanks for the heads up. Hopefully as monsoon season winds down they die off.

On the other hand we may just have to take one for the team and upgrade :)

@Some Dude: Awesome pics! Will take your advice on the Beach Villa. Are those pics from that Sony camera you recommended?

Speaking of mosquitoes, how big of a concern is Zika in the Maldives? Haven't done the research yet, but what have guys heard?

@Pseudo: maybe I'm just weird, but I'm looking forward to trying out the 3 different rooms. The mosquitoes are a bummer...

Nothing weird about it - but if you actually want to try them, I advise you to reach out to them ahead of time to NOT upgrade you, as i'd expect they would otherwise.

They don't think you love the wildlife (like your wife does) enough.....so they bite you! :p

There has been at least one reported case of Zika in the Maldives. Source: http://www.who.int/emergencies/zika-...tries-Zika.pdf

I'm still not sure about which room/suite to take. Of course, the sunset villas sound amazing, but then the water/reef there doesn't look very nice and inviting (close to the dark blue ocean that my gf is scared of ;) )...the water on the inside concave looks a lot nicer and more "maldive like"....there's a couple of st. regis suite at the very end of the pier which could be nice. any advice here from people who stayed at the sunset villas re the water over there?

@Ants1: No, I ended up bringing my SLR - Canon 5D Mark 3 along with some prime lenses - including the 100mm f/2.8L macro which I used for those seashell photos.

Totally normal to have 3 different rooms in one trip -- I did two rooms when I did Conrad Maldives a few years back, Beach Villa and Over Water Villa, and I enjoyed both.


We didn't see anything on the dolphin cruise yesterday sadly, but I did do more snorkeling today, both by the beach villas (from reception area up to the over water pier/beach area), and from the pool / beach area (near Crust) all the way around the sunset water villas, past the John Jacob Astor Estate, and up to my room (one of the last on the northwestern side).

I think the best snorkeling I've seen so far on this trip was along the sunset overwater villas -- the coral was healthier (though still not in great shape), but lots of colorful fish, and stars. I did the swim at high tide, and while there was a very reasonably deep area close to the villas for swimming, the area where the reef is (about 20 feet from the villas) is VERY shallow at parts, maybe 3 feet or less, which requires being at least a moderately good swimmer in order to stay off of the coral. I did it just fine, but I don't think my wife could. Took about 40 minutes to do the whole swim at a moderate pace.

I plan on checking out the lagoon side of the over water villas and perhaps the family beach villa area tomorrow.