People dress very casually. Decanter might be another dress code, but for Alba and Orientale, ultimately, you're at a tropical resort. Chill. :)

Suite Cert on 32.5 OVW deal?
 

I almost feel silly asking, given my horrible track record with plat suite upgrade certs. Anyone have luck using these on award stays here?

I jumped on the deal bandwagon to get OVW for 26/night, so I'm just being greedy. First five nights booked on a friend's account under my name. Last night is my account. I'm thinking I'll apply a suite upgrade cert to night #6 and see if I can be persuasive (or have an awesome last night)...

Should have done it the other way around (first night mine, next five his) but plans changed...

I think it would probably clear, and if it's the same now as it was when I checked 6 months ago, the certificate would put you in the Beach Villa.

You'd have to ask yourself if that's really an upgrade for you or not. In my opinion, it's a "side-grade", not an upgrade, and ultimately I am very happy I stayed in an OWV.


The Over Water Villas are *really* nice, and "Classic Maldives". The Beach Villas are a bit smaller, and the architecture is perhaps a bit less impressive.

Pros for Beach Villa:
Softest sand on the island [The main beach is artificial and has a lot of dead coral, the beach villas have a natural beach]
Easiest to lay out on the beach if that's your preference [Doing this from an OWV is a bit of a hassle]
Safer for young children
Calmest waves/current on the island
Closer to restaurants/etc [But a reasonably healthy adult wouldn't find it a difficult walk, and the staff is very consistent about offering buggy rides]

Pros for OWV:
Bigger
Better architecture
Direct ocean access
Some units are very private
Some units have direct sunset views
Some units have direct sunrise views


If you do get a beach villa, ask to be in one of the units closest to the reception area or the Caroline Astor estate as the beach is deepest there.

If you get an OWV, the units closest to the island have the calmest waters of all OWV, with the east side having sunrise views and less privacy [for all units], and the west side having sunset views, and more privacy starting from the 5th unit all the way to the John Jacob Astor estate .

The northern units have complete privacy but the pool stays shaded the whole day, and during days with rougher seas, the ocean can get so rough that it is outright impossible to swim, but on calm days it will still actually get "glass smooth", and easy enough for a child to swim.

My personal suggestion, unless you will have children with you or it will be your first time in the Maldives, I'd suggest sticking with the Over Water Villa.

We are there 1/4 to 1/9 as well. Coming from W Goa. Booked garden villa with SNU, crossing fingers!

Different ppl have different tastes. I'd go for the beach Villa all the way.

My visit to the St. Regis will be my 4th and it will also be my 4th stay in a Beach Villa over there. However, I do see how small the beach villas are at the St. Regis compared to the ones I've been in at like the Four Seasons, Shangri La, and the W.

But then again I like the private beach compared to the OWV's.

Pretty concerned about this now... had a babymoon planned to the StR in March, and not interested in rolling the dice. For some reason the Maldives hadn't been on my Zika radar, but I guess it's actually there. Zika-free world seems to be shrinking. Think the Seychelles are still clear... anyone else in the same boat or know a little more than I do re: Zika situation? I still have a couple of other dates booked down the road in case things clear up.

Edit: not interested in transferring/selling/bartering any reservations, thanks

Early November stay didn't work out, so I finally locked down my late Feb stay.

EY Apt NYC-AUH, overnight in PH AUH, EY F AUH-MLE
5 nights in OWB at SR MLE
CX J MLE-HKG, the Pier HKG, CX F HKG-NYC

Mrs. thexfactor and I are both certified divers, so still waiting on some reports out of their dive shop.

How full has the resort been lately? I know in November it was at 20-25% occupancy.

Has the resort been accommodating with room selection? in other words, can we request (and reasonably expect) to be placed in a sunset view room?

This will be our second trip to MLE, but given the reviews of this place, we're excited.

Okay. I figured since I write most notes of my travels anyway, I should clean up the grammar, pick the better pictures, add some acid wit and share it with the community. I'd normally do this via the blog, but I'm still somewhere in early 2015 catching up with my travels, so I don't want to break the timeline, so I'll post direct links to my Evernote travel notes instead.

Here are some notes from our trip in mid-December 2016. I'll add a few more as I sort through the pictures.

• Crystal Beach Inn Maldives (for the overnight): http://tinyurl.com/h7svm5p
• Flying to the St-Regis Vommuli: http://tinyurl.com/jxrb428
• Arriving to the St-Regis Vommuli (I did say clean up grammar, not decidedly uninventive titles): http://tinyurl.com/hdplb88
• St-Regis Vommuli breakfasts (I really took one for the team here, trying all dishes on the menu. You must feel sorry for me.): http://tinyurl.com/hw7s3c4
• The Iridium Spa and the Blue Hole experience: http://tinyurl.com/h6y3sxg

I'll be there tomorrow-Jan 10. Has anyone done a fishing trip yet?

@Pseudo Nim - big thanks for sharing! Loved the details and writing style. Good stuff! ^

+1. I'm curious as well.

There is no private beach. The beach is shared among all guests.

IMO, in the Maldives that is considered private as almost all guests have their own beach.

I see that Pseudo Nim also noted that the northern unit’s pools are shaded the whole day. Sun is important to me (privacy is also, but not as important as sun), so am wondering if anyone has suggestions on what the best standard OWV would be for me. I booked the 26k point deal for next Christmas - not expecting any type of upgrade as I assume the resort will be sold out...

Christmas proper?

Ooh ... be prepared for the mandatory gala dinner for however many hundreds of dollars it is. :)

Booked it for the 26th-31st to avoid any Christmas and/or NYE mandatory gala dinners :)