St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort [Master Thread]
Aug 11, 2019, 8:55 am
#3046
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 17
Just completed a 4 night stay on Saturday - we had a very good stay and really enjoyed our time on the island. There is a lot of great info on this thread so thanks to those that have contributed in the past. Here is my detailed (long) review:
Arrival:
Excellent arrival experience with personalized video greeting from butler. The arrivals lounge is intimate with a great selection of drinks (non alcoholic) and snacks. We landed in Male at 9:00am and did not depart for the resort until 1:00. Trans-Maldivian seems to be having some operational issues. Staff in the Lounge did a great job keeping us updated and hydrated. Really could not improve the arrivals experience in my opinion aside from TMA keeping to a schedule.
Upon arriving on the island, we met our butler, Eddie. He was outstanding (he is relatively new to the resort having previously worked at the One and Only) Over the course of our stay, nothing was too much trouble.
Room:
Redeemed points for this stay as a Titanium and received an upgrade from Garden to Beach villa upon arrival. Resort was running ~70% so we were very appreciative for the upgrade. We really wanted overwater (and offered to pay for it once it opened up) but Eddie was able to arrange our last two nights in a Sunset OWV complimentary.
Beach villa was #301 which is the first one next to reception. Actually really liked the location as it is relatively private with lots of vegetation between reception and the Villa and there is a direct beach view from the room and the pool. Room is beautifully designed and maintained. We were provided complimentary champagne (decent), a fruit bowl (enormous), welcome sweets, and plenty of water.
For the second half of our stay, we were moved to a SOWV #532 . This villa was beautifully designed as well and was enormous. As others have mentioned, the pool was very cold. I will probably be in the minority here but I actually liked the BV over the SOWV just due to the pool temperature and the direct beach access. The resort was so good about accommodating our request for not just 1 but 2 upgrades and clearly wants to make guests happy. This isn’t a resort that is going to play games and deny elite benefits (or at least under current management it will not). They treated us exceptionally well.
Service:
Generally service was good to very good. The butler is really the key to your experience at the resort. Our butler was exceptional and proactive. Communicating with the butler via WhatsApp is very convenient and service was very prompt. From the personalized video greeting in Male to the seaplane departure, it was clear that our butler was 100% focused on making sure we had an amazing stay (it was a special occasion). Even when it was time to switch villas, our butler took care of packing, unpacking, and moving everything in the room with such care and attention to detail that we were blown away. Nothing was too much trouble either. For example, on the last night we decided to dine in the room but wanted a broader menu - our butler set up dinner on our deck with choices from the restaurant menu (and even delivered the ice cream in a cooler so it would not melt before we were ready for dessert).
Service in the restaurants was generally very good. Breakfast service was good though not quite proactive or anticipatory, though things were delivered promptly and with a smile upon request.
Literally every single person from the gardeners to the chefs were smiling and greeting guests as they made their way around the island. It feels like the resort staff are genuinely happy to be there. We did have an issue with something not working in our second villa which took 4 requests to fix - that was the only service mishap on our trip.
We did not have the opportunity to meet Dominick (GM) during our stay but he did leave a very nice note in the room and seems to run a tight ship. The assistant GM met us upon arrival to the island and apologized profusely for the seaplane delay (and proactively negotiated a discount on the transfer on our behalf). We had booked the night prior to arrival to guarantee early check in (5th night free) so that may have been part of it.
Spa:
Exceptional. We were offered a “Loyalty” massage for $125pp / 50 minutes. The treatment was excellent and a great value at that price. Highly recommend taking advantage of.
Food + Bev
Almost universally excellent. No matter what you do, it is going to be expensive but there are ways to create value and as someone who is accustomed to NYC prices, it was not a sticker shock situation.
Breakfast food quality was very good. Extensive a la carte menu and a reasonable buffet. Lots of choices - we didn’t even eat lunch most days. Buffet was repetitive but there is enough on the menu to not get bored of the options. Mimosas are no longer complimentary though they did have Bloody Marys on the buffet. The duck + waffles and Maldivian Benedict were both outstanding,
Cargo was good and a decent value at $250 per couple for a set menu of a lot of food. Great setting, lighting, music, etc. Good but not amazing food (we love middle eastern food and found some of the Mezze to be oily and some of the meats over cooked, though still very flavorful).
Orientale was great. A lot of the chefs are from India and Sri Lanka and as a result the cooking from that part of the world is especially good. They are not afraid of spice. I thought a biryani or a chicken dish in the mid $30 range was pretty reasonable for the Maldives. We ate here twice and really enjoyed the Indian choices.
Alba - ate here for the Tuesday Mediterranean buffet priced at $140pp. Again not cheap but the buffet was great with lots of choices and made to order/table side items.
Whale Bar - very good drinks with great live music and an unparalleled setting. Specialty cocktails are expensive at $25-30 each but a (well made) G+T was $18 which I consider reasonable especially considering a decent snack selection with the drinks, as well as the nightly champagne sabering.
Manager’s reception was on Tuesday with a nice selection of passed apps and drinks.
Did not do the decanter dinner as it ends up being nearly $1k per couple and the wines on the menu didn’t really appeal to us (we are a little bit snobby with wine). Others on the island really raved about it though so I am sure it is a great experience. We met the Somm who was awesome and very knowledgeable. Resort has a very good wine cellar with prices to match.
Snorkeling / water sports:
There is a wide variance of opinions on this topic in this thread, This is the only reason I might not return. There is definitely plenty to see in the water (tropical fish, rays, sharks, etc) but the reef is really not alive and thriving. We snorkeled out from our villa at the very end of the pier (3rd from the Astor) and found snorkeling most interesting out towards the “Cliff” with not too much to be seen near the villas. Currents and waves were very strong during one of our days with whitecaps breaking just outside of our villa. The coral is mostly dead and there is some (not a ton) of construction debris. Visibility was OK. It seems like things are getting better from reading past reviews but I though the snorkeling during my previous visit to the Conrad was far superior (I think snorkeling was the only superior aspect of the Conrad). The island is picture perfect above water but below water was disappointing.
Summary:
This is a great resort with very good service. It is priced to reflect that. We had a fantastic stay and a lot of that is because our butler was exceptional. It is going to be expensive but there are ways to keep things in check. I would probably return with the only hesitation being the quality of the snorkeling. For context we thought food, service, rooms, and just overall resort feel were superior at STR vs our previous visit to the Conrad Rangali Island in 2014 (which we enjoyed as well).
I would also add (since many people make the comparison) that we stayed at the STR Bora Bora in 2017 in an OWV and found every single aspect of this resort to be far superior. Perhaps we just prefer the Maldives to French Polynesia but we found the service, upkeep, and overall feel of the Maldives resort to be in a separate class vs. Bora Bora. (One quick example - at the STR Maldives, we noticed a letter had fallen off of a sign overnight - it was repaired within 24hrs. The STR Bora Bora seemed to be on the verge of disrepair with broken landscape lighting, splintered boards, etc).
Fire away with any questions and hope the above is helpful!
Arrival:
Excellent arrival experience with personalized video greeting from butler. The arrivals lounge is intimate with a great selection of drinks (non alcoholic) and snacks. We landed in Male at 9:00am and did not depart for the resort until 1:00. Trans-Maldivian seems to be having some operational issues. Staff in the Lounge did a great job keeping us updated and hydrated. Really could not improve the arrivals experience in my opinion aside from TMA keeping to a schedule.
Upon arriving on the island, we met our butler, Eddie. He was outstanding (he is relatively new to the resort having previously worked at the One and Only) Over the course of our stay, nothing was too much trouble.
Room:
Redeemed points for this stay as a Titanium and received an upgrade from Garden to Beach villa upon arrival. Resort was running ~70% so we were very appreciative for the upgrade. We really wanted overwater (and offered to pay for it once it opened up) but Eddie was able to arrange our last two nights in a Sunset OWV complimentary.
Beach villa was #301 which is the first one next to reception. Actually really liked the location as it is relatively private with lots of vegetation between reception and the Villa and there is a direct beach view from the room and the pool. Room is beautifully designed and maintained. We were provided complimentary champagne (decent), a fruit bowl (enormous), welcome sweets, and plenty of water.
For the second half of our stay, we were moved to a SOWV #532 . This villa was beautifully designed as well and was enormous. As others have mentioned, the pool was very cold. I will probably be in the minority here but I actually liked the BV over the SOWV just due to the pool temperature and the direct beach access. The resort was so good about accommodating our request for not just 1 but 2 upgrades and clearly wants to make guests happy. This isn’t a resort that is going to play games and deny elite benefits (or at least under current management it will not). They treated us exceptionally well.
Service:
Generally service was good to very good. The butler is really the key to your experience at the resort. Our butler was exceptional and proactive. Communicating with the butler via WhatsApp is very convenient and service was very prompt. From the personalized video greeting in Male to the seaplane departure, it was clear that our butler was 100% focused on making sure we had an amazing stay (it was a special occasion). Even when it was time to switch villas, our butler took care of packing, unpacking, and moving everything in the room with such care and attention to detail that we were blown away. Nothing was too much trouble either. For example, on the last night we decided to dine in the room but wanted a broader menu - our butler set up dinner on our deck with choices from the restaurant menu (and even delivered the ice cream in a cooler so it would not melt before we were ready for dessert).
Service in the restaurants was generally very good. Breakfast service was good though not quite proactive or anticipatory, though things were delivered promptly and with a smile upon request.
Literally every single person from the gardeners to the chefs were smiling and greeting guests as they made their way around the island. It feels like the resort staff are genuinely happy to be there. We did have an issue with something not working in our second villa which took 4 requests to fix - that was the only service mishap on our trip.
We did not have the opportunity to meet Dominick (GM) during our stay but he did leave a very nice note in the room and seems to run a tight ship. The assistant GM met us upon arrival to the island and apologized profusely for the seaplane delay (and proactively negotiated a discount on the transfer on our behalf). We had booked the night prior to arrival to guarantee early check in (5th night free) so that may have been part of it.
Spa:
Exceptional. We were offered a “Loyalty” massage for $125pp / 50 minutes. The treatment was excellent and a great value at that price. Highly recommend taking advantage of.
Food + Bev
Almost universally excellent. No matter what you do, it is going to be expensive but there are ways to create value and as someone who is accustomed to NYC prices, it was not a sticker shock situation.
Breakfast food quality was very good. Extensive a la carte menu and a reasonable buffet. Lots of choices - we didn’t even eat lunch most days. Buffet was repetitive but there is enough on the menu to not get bored of the options. Mimosas are no longer complimentary though they did have Bloody Marys on the buffet. The duck + waffles and Maldivian Benedict were both outstanding,
Cargo was good and a decent value at $250 per couple for a set menu of a lot of food. Great setting, lighting, music, etc. Good but not amazing food (we love middle eastern food and found some of the Mezze to be oily and some of the meats over cooked, though still very flavorful).
Orientale was great. A lot of the chefs are from India and Sri Lanka and as a result the cooking from that part of the world is especially good. They are not afraid of spice. I thought a biryani or a chicken dish in the mid $30 range was pretty reasonable for the Maldives. We ate here twice and really enjoyed the Indian choices.
Alba - ate here for the Tuesday Mediterranean buffet priced at $140pp. Again not cheap but the buffet was great with lots of choices and made to order/table side items.
Whale Bar - very good drinks with great live music and an unparalleled setting. Specialty cocktails are expensive at $25-30 each but a (well made) G+T was $18 which I consider reasonable especially considering a decent snack selection with the drinks, as well as the nightly champagne sabering.
Manager’s reception was on Tuesday with a nice selection of passed apps and drinks.
Did not do the decanter dinner as it ends up being nearly $1k per couple and the wines on the menu didn’t really appeal to us (we are a little bit snobby with wine). Others on the island really raved about it though so I am sure it is a great experience. We met the Somm who was awesome and very knowledgeable. Resort has a very good wine cellar with prices to match.
Snorkeling / water sports:
There is a wide variance of opinions on this topic in this thread, This is the only reason I might not return. There is definitely plenty to see in the water (tropical fish, rays, sharks, etc) but the reef is really not alive and thriving. We snorkeled out from our villa at the very end of the pier (3rd from the Astor) and found snorkeling most interesting out towards the “Cliff” with not too much to be seen near the villas. Currents and waves were very strong during one of our days with whitecaps breaking just outside of our villa. The coral is mostly dead and there is some (not a ton) of construction debris. Visibility was OK. It seems like things are getting better from reading past reviews but I though the snorkeling during my previous visit to the Conrad was far superior (I think snorkeling was the only superior aspect of the Conrad). The island is picture perfect above water but below water was disappointing.
Summary:
This is a great resort with very good service. It is priced to reflect that. We had a fantastic stay and a lot of that is because our butler was exceptional. It is going to be expensive but there are ways to keep things in check. I would probably return with the only hesitation being the quality of the snorkeling. For context we thought food, service, rooms, and just overall resort feel were superior at STR vs our previous visit to the Conrad Rangali Island in 2014 (which we enjoyed as well).
I would also add (since many people make the comparison) that we stayed at the STR Bora Bora in 2017 in an OWV and found every single aspect of this resort to be far superior. Perhaps we just prefer the Maldives to French Polynesia but we found the service, upkeep, and overall feel of the Maldives resort to be in a separate class vs. Bora Bora. (One quick example - at the STR Maldives, we noticed a letter had fallen off of a sign overnight - it was repaired within 24hrs. The STR Bora Bora seemed to be on the verge of disrepair with broken landscape lighting, splintered boards, etc).
Fire away with any questions and hope the above is helpful!
Aug 11, 2019, 11:18 pm
#3047
Join Date: Nov 2007
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Hilton Honors Diamond, Delta Gold
Posts: 4,349
Great review @pando20! Thank you so much!
If going for the first time to the Maldives and the underwater activities are important to us would you recommend that we try another resort with better snorkeling and other water activities?
If going for the first time to the Maldives and the underwater activities are important to us would you recommend that we try another resort with better snorkeling and other water activities?
Aug 12, 2019, 9:52 am
#3048
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Penang, Malaysia
Programs: OZ *G, HHonors Gold, Aclub Plat
Posts: 1,025
Great review @pando20! Thank you so much!
If going for the first time to the Maldives and the underwater activities are important to us would you recommend that we try another resort with better snorkeling and other water activities?
If going for the first time to the Maldives and the underwater activities are important to us would you recommend that we try another resort with better snorkeling and other water activities?
Aug 12, 2019, 11:31 am
#3049
Join Date: Nov 2007
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Hilton Honors Diamond, Delta Gold
Posts: 4,349
. Will definitely take your response into consideration when weighing all the pros and cons of this property against others. Thanks!
Aug 12, 2019, 1:45 pm
#3050
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 17
I hope I didn’t scare you away with my commentary on the snorkeling. It was fine and there was plenty of marine life, there just wasn’t a thriving reef. I think you will very much enjoy the property particularly given it is your first visit to the Maldives. And it seems the best snorkeling is to be found at properties that were constructed years ago in which case you may be compromising on the resort itself. So don’t sweat it, I think you will be fine.
Aug 12, 2019, 3:08 pm
#3051
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Penang, Malaysia
Programs: OZ *G, HHonors Gold, Aclub Plat
Posts: 1,025
Since we are on the topic of snorkeling... my advice on "easiest" place (if you're not in a watervilla) to snorkel out at St Regis would be to head out to the beach by the watersports center, swim out along the channel and make a right pnce you reach the drop off (with the beach towards your back). It's a much shorter and easier swim out to the drop off (where all the good stuff is) versus swimming out from the main beach in front of Alba. If you are a good swimmer, you can even swim all the way to the Whale bar (although the visibility is horrible there) and past that to the Alba, water villas, etc.
I saw many relatively "noobies" trying to get out from the beach in front of Alba and never make it to the drop off where there's tons to see..
I saw many relatively "noobies" trying to get out from the beach in front of Alba and never make it to the drop off where there's tons to see..
Aug 12, 2019, 11:08 pm
#3052
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: SF/OC
Programs: UA GS, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 474
Since we are on the topic of snorkeling... my advice on "easiest" place (if you're not in a watervilla) to snorkel out at St Regis would be to head out to the beach by the watersports center, swim out along the channel and make a right pnce you reach the drop off (with the beach towards your back). It's a much shorter and easier swim out to the drop off (where all the good stuff is) versus swimming out from the main beach in front of Alba. If you are a good swimmer, you can even swim all the way to the Whale bar (although the visibility is horrible there) and past that to the Alba, water villas, etc.
I saw many relatively "noobies" trying to get out from the beach in front of Alba and never make it to the drop off where there's tons to see..
I saw many relatively "noobies" trying to get out from the beach in front of Alba and never make it to the drop off where there's tons to see..
On the topic of diving, I did the discover scuba dive on the house reef, and it was a great experience. That being said, I saw the good majority of the same sea life while snorkeling. Just not quite as densely.
Aug 13, 2019, 5:04 pm
#3053
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: SF/OC
Programs: UA GS, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 474
I received a lot of information from this thread which was very helpful to me, so thought I'd provide some detailed feedback as well.
Just finished up a 5 night stay on points, booked into a GV standard room. I am titanium, and was hoping for an upgrade like many others. I requested a beach villa since I was traveling with my toddler, and didn't want the additional worry an overwater villa would bring (plus we enjoy the view from the beach so much better anyways). This is the third trip to the Maldives. Other properties we've stayed at are Mirihi and Park Hyatt. A few days prior to arrival I was getting antsy and was about to book the beach villa upgrade to confirm it, decided to roll the dice and was rewarded with a one bedroom beach villa confirmed a day prior.
Arrival Experience: We arrived into Male late, and decided to do our usual one night stopover in Male. We always stay at the Hotel Ocean Grand in Hulhumale and we always receive excellent service, a clean room, and a seamless transfer experience. The StR coordinated with the Ocean Grand and once we arrived back at the airport the next morning, the StR butler takes over and escorted us through seaplane check in and on to the lounge. I had requested an early departure, and sure enough we received seats on the very first seaplane out at 6:15 AM. This left us with about 5 minutes to throw back some iced tea and be on our way. I requested the Bentley for fun and was politely told it was only for the 4 major suites at the property (The Astor Estates and the few other larger suites). The huge van we were in was probably more comfortable any ways. Had a direct flight which got us to the resort around 7, and we were lucky to have our room ready immediately (breakfast was not offered as complimentary that day).
Beach Villa: Wonderful hard product. Everything worked as it should, AC blew cold, and the ceiling fan really helped to keep the AC disbursed efficiently during the afternoon heat. The staff had even proactively setup the daybed by the window as my kid's bed, and he loved having his own setup. Welcomed with a bottle of bubbles, and a large fruit bowl. I will say that the GM left a nice handwritten note, addressed to the wrong titanium member. Assuming a mix up somewhere along the chain, but honestly not a big deal. Just thought it was funny. We had villa 311, and it had some brush directly in front of the pool, but it turned out to be nice for the extra privacy. We could still see the water from our room, but the pool was nice and private. Worked out very well for what we wanted. I appreciate that they provided a toddler bike with training wheels on it. My kid absolutely loved riding his bike on the island. We also requested a microwave and extra water stocked prior to arrival. I was actually surprised they had microwaves, but worked out well for the few kraft easy macs we brought. They also essentially left an entire case of water in the villa cabinet. Housekeeping replenished it daily, but I was told about the box, in case I wanted to get more myself at any time. We had the alcohol and mini bar cleared for space.
Garden Villa thoughts: In hindsight, if I was to go back, I would definitely opt to pay for the upgrade to an OWV or Beach Villa prior to arrival to guarantee room type. I would have been disappointed had I stayed in the garden villa. The garden villa has tons of space and the layout of the villa itself is identical to the 1 bedroom beach villas. The garden villas also have a much larger pool, maybe 2x the size of the beach villa. There is also a nice covered bench swing with a ceiling fan for lounging. It is a very very nice villa. That being said, coming to the Maldives you want to spend time gazing at the turquoise waters, not staring at jungle greenery. Especially if you are US based. We loved being able to take strolls on the beach every sunrise, steps from our villa. Same with playing in the sand. The garden villas are relatively close to the main beach, so you could spend a lot of time there, but a good majority of the folks who stay at the StR stay in their villas most of the time given the amazing hard product. The garden villas are an amazing hard product as well, but if you have a view of trees the entire stay you could be anywhere else in the world (Bali comes to mind, for a lot less money). Just an FYI I found the garden villas a bit distracting given their location. There was less serenity. Given their proximity to Alba there was a lot of buggy "traffic" whizzing back and forth which is clearly audible from your pool/garden. The staff quarters also seem to be right behind the villas which had activity/noise during calls to prayer etc. All of these things are small in overall nature, but added together they contribute to a less than serene stay. We were only in the garden villa for 4 hours and I noticed all these things. Given all of the trees and brush it was noticeably darker in the room as well. The beach villa we were in had none of that. Just serenity and the sound of gentle ocean waves the entire stay. I think the odds of upgrade are high as a titanium, but that being said, even on points you are spending a good amount of coin to come to the Maldives. The additional cost to guarantee the room type you want is probably not a huge deal at the end of the day. I was prepared to shell out money at check in for whatever room might have been available if I wasn't provided an upgraded room (OWV, SOWV, Suite etc). If I return, I'd definitely opt for the upcharge.
Butler Service: I was actually quite worried about getting a "not so proactive" butler given the varying levels of service reported here and on other sites. Our butler, Shamiu was fantastic. We also conversed primarily on Whatsapp and every request we had was promptly responded to. It was very convenient to operate this way. Everything from dinner reservations to coordinating afternoon tea (at different times each day, given our kids nap schedule was erratic) was done via Whatsapp. On our last day we had a late seaplane out at 4:45 PM, so he even arranged a move to a garden villa after 12 PM for the remainder of our stay since they needed to ready our beach villa for another guest. He handled all kinds of random requests for us and always delivered. He'd come find us at Breakfast or at lunch and check in to make sure things were going smoothly, but was never intrusive.
Food: Overall we thought the general food quality was excellent. Prices are expensive, but think about the cost to import everything and have staff cook it for you and deliver it to you etc. Once you get over that fact, you can enjoy yourself. We indulged without being excessive and we did ok on food costs. Just over $2K over 5 nights for family of three. Ordered whatever we wanted, didn't go nuts on booze but had cocktails/wine/beer at lunch and dinner, always plenty full.
Room Service - Somewhat limited menu, but during standard hours they have much more flexibility on what they can provide. For example they can deliver crust pizza for you (at a higher cost), but on my last day, I wanted to maximize the time spent with my family in the pool vs. going and spending 30 minutes walking to/waiting for a pizza. Cost difference? $29++ vs $47++. Also not sure if they would say anything if you didn't have a kid with you, but the kids menu cheeseburger at $21 was about 90% of the meal the adult cheeseburger was at $45. A few more fries and slightly larger pattie (like very slightly). We ordered ice cream with a meal, and they delivered it inside a small cooler. Probably mandatory given the heat, but a nice touch that kept our ice cream cold. You order via ipad and then they call you minutes later to confirm your order.
Crust - Fantastic lunch spot. We absolutely loved their seafood pizza. We probably ordered it 3 or 4 times. The crust was fantastic. You do have to eat it straight out of the oven or it does get chewy and soft from the heat and humidity. The Ahi soft tacos were also quite good. Whoever tipped to bring water from the room helped save $14 per trip as well. I still ordered a beer or two with lunch and thought it was worth the price of entry. Your lunch will look exactly like those Corona commercials.
Alba Breakfast - Very good selection given the size of the resort. For those individuals that want to be wowed by the buffet selection, you do have to think there are only 80 or so villas at this resort, so there would be so much food wasted if everything was cooked and replenished on a regular basis and left out. The a la carte menu was fantastic and had plenty of choices to mix things up daily. I even had them make me a maldivian fish curry once, and they obliged. The duck and waffles were so good I ordered it twice. The maldivian benedict was great as well. I wasn't a huge fan of the lobster/caviar omelette, but it was cooked fine. The drink service here had a tendency to get mixed up a lot, but it wasn't a huge deal. Order ice coffee they bring out iced tea. Pineapple juice? out comes passionfruit. Etc. It eventually got sorted, but was a tad annoying. We always requested a plate of fresh cut papayas and lime and they always obliged. As a titanium benefit, this was a wonderful breakfast.
Orientale - A good mix of asian dishes. The chinese food was solid and tasty, we skipped the japanese, but the curries were also fantastic. Service was unbearably slow the first night. Took almost 45 minutes for the first dish to come out. We told our butler the next day, and the service the next time around was on point. Also the inside tier is nice and breezy with the ceiling fans on full blast and dim lighting overhead. The outdoor seating can be a bit warm if there is no breeze. It is also quite dark outside. Almost too dark. The menus come out with lights because you can’t read them otherwise.
Cargo - A good relative value at $250, but a wonderful dining experience overall. The night we enjoyed Cargo it was relatively sparse with only about 3-4 other groups dining, so that made it more of an intimate experience. It was much quieter than Oriental (which was packed both nights we were there). The jungle theme with lighting and mist was cool. The wine pairings we ordered were also quite good. Although we ordered by the glass, they essentially were opening up new bottles almost every time. My almost four year wasn't into middle eastern food so they cooked him up a great bowl of spaghetti bolognese. As the jungle cinema was right next door, if we had another night, I might have opted for that experience. We ordered the primarily seafood menu and it was very good (seabass and tiger prawns).
Whale Bar - Beautiful. Get your free champagne, order another cocktail or so and then head to dinner. We always had a buggy pick us up at Whale bar after to take us to dinner. Ends up being a great "happy hour" while enjoying the sunset.
Decanter - We skipped. At $1000 per couple, and being from the Bay area, I'd just rather drop that at Benu. We did highly consider it, this is just one thing we decided not to indulge.
Spa - Fantastic. Massages we received were world class. Facilities (steam room/sauna) are very nice. We did the blue hole twice we enjoyed it so much. Those jets are no joke. They are like fire hoses. The views are amazing from the blue hole. We had the blue hole to ourselves both times we used it. With others it might not have been the same experience. The complimentary sessions may be booked with others, just FYI. I was given 10% off as a titanium member, but their 20% off special was better (9:30-12 and I think 7-9 PM)
Sunset Fishing - Tons of fun and good value, I caught zero fish. My toddler caught 3. He fed our family lunch the next day. Who knew grouper sashimi tasted good? A nice way to enjoy the sunset. You don't even have to add the bait to your line, just toss overboard and wait.
Sunset Yacht Cruise - I expressed my interest my entire stay but there were no other takers. At $1000 per couple, sunsetting on a yacht would have been a cool experience but it either got booked as a private charter ($3k for the two hours) or didn't go out. They told me with another room we could have split it two ways at $1500 each(which I would have done), but sadly there were no other groups interested during my stay. It's a nice looking yacht.
Scuba/Snorkel - I had an awesome instructor and really enjoyed my dive of the house reef. We spotted a turtle (I think it might have been the same turtle I spotted snorkeling given the size and shape). Overall I saw much more sea life diving than snorkeling, but given the condition of the house reef at the snorkel level, I was quite surprised to see as much sea life as I did snorkeling. I think the variety was much better than the Park Hyatt. Which was quite bleached when we went about two years ago. Given the age of the resort the coral needs time to repair itself after all of the construction, but thought it was in decent shape. The snorkel they provide does not have a dry top mechanism and their fins are crap FYI. We never got around to trying the Seabob, but it did look fun. We just chose to do more snorkeling.
Kids Club - Fantastic. You can clearly tell this resort caters to families (kids club, playground, kids bikes, kids meals, the sheer number of family size villas, etc). Be forewarned, I'd almost say that 40-50% of the occupants during our stay were families with one kid or more. I saw many families with multiple kids and extended family. If you want adults only, there are plenty of other resorts that cater only to adults. This is a place that does embrace people who travel with kids. The attendants at the kids club were awesome. My kid loved spending time there. He baked a cake, painted a coconut ship, did all sorts of other arts and crafts, and vegged out and watched movies in ice cold AC. Great for mid-day heat.
Service - Excellent. Sure were there minor issues here and there, but every time they were given a chance to recover they did. No stay is every picture perfect. Everyone we encountered was hospitable and always greeted everyone with a smile. The only time I met the GM was when we were leaving. I did miss the manager's reception though. That being said, the entire staff was incredible and we had a fantastic time. Our villa service attendant was probably the most thorough we have ever seen in all of our travels. Every nook and cranny was cleaned, the iphone charging cables were neatly wrapped and organized every day, the toiletries were evenly spaced apart and facing the exact same direction, my kids stuffed animals were always "tucked" into bed, next to his towel animal he created. I mean this guys attention to detail was amazing. He took great care of us, and we in turn made sure to take great care of him at the end.
Overall – A fantastic stay with very good to excellent service, a family friendly and welcoming resort with an amazing hard product. I will say the resort does “filter” out a lot of the Maldivian charm with such fancy resort grounds, but overall we had nothing to really complain about. We had a fantastic stay and would definitely return. A lot of the grounds are actually quite similar to the Park Hyatt, but the Park Hyatt just looks a bit dated compared to the StR. We really enjoyed the service at the Park Hyatt as well. If we were coming back with our kid, I would definitely come back to the StR.
Just finished up a 5 night stay on points, booked into a GV standard room. I am titanium, and was hoping for an upgrade like many others. I requested a beach villa since I was traveling with my toddler, and didn't want the additional worry an overwater villa would bring (plus we enjoy the view from the beach so much better anyways). This is the third trip to the Maldives. Other properties we've stayed at are Mirihi and Park Hyatt. A few days prior to arrival I was getting antsy and was about to book the beach villa upgrade to confirm it, decided to roll the dice and was rewarded with a one bedroom beach villa confirmed a day prior.
Arrival Experience: We arrived into Male late, and decided to do our usual one night stopover in Male. We always stay at the Hotel Ocean Grand in Hulhumale and we always receive excellent service, a clean room, and a seamless transfer experience. The StR coordinated with the Ocean Grand and once we arrived back at the airport the next morning, the StR butler takes over and escorted us through seaplane check in and on to the lounge. I had requested an early departure, and sure enough we received seats on the very first seaplane out at 6:15 AM. This left us with about 5 minutes to throw back some iced tea and be on our way. I requested the Bentley for fun and was politely told it was only for the 4 major suites at the property (The Astor Estates and the few other larger suites). The huge van we were in was probably more comfortable any ways. Had a direct flight which got us to the resort around 7, and we were lucky to have our room ready immediately (breakfast was not offered as complimentary that day).
Beach Villa: Wonderful hard product. Everything worked as it should, AC blew cold, and the ceiling fan really helped to keep the AC disbursed efficiently during the afternoon heat. The staff had even proactively setup the daybed by the window as my kid's bed, and he loved having his own setup. Welcomed with a bottle of bubbles, and a large fruit bowl. I will say that the GM left a nice handwritten note, addressed to the wrong titanium member. Assuming a mix up somewhere along the chain, but honestly not a big deal. Just thought it was funny. We had villa 311, and it had some brush directly in front of the pool, but it turned out to be nice for the extra privacy. We could still see the water from our room, but the pool was nice and private. Worked out very well for what we wanted. I appreciate that they provided a toddler bike with training wheels on it. My kid absolutely loved riding his bike on the island. We also requested a microwave and extra water stocked prior to arrival. I was actually surprised they had microwaves, but worked out well for the few kraft easy macs we brought. They also essentially left an entire case of water in the villa cabinet. Housekeeping replenished it daily, but I was told about the box, in case I wanted to get more myself at any time. We had the alcohol and mini bar cleared for space.
Garden Villa thoughts: In hindsight, if I was to go back, I would definitely opt to pay for the upgrade to an OWV or Beach Villa prior to arrival to guarantee room type. I would have been disappointed had I stayed in the garden villa. The garden villa has tons of space and the layout of the villa itself is identical to the 1 bedroom beach villas. The garden villas also have a much larger pool, maybe 2x the size of the beach villa. There is also a nice covered bench swing with a ceiling fan for lounging. It is a very very nice villa. That being said, coming to the Maldives you want to spend time gazing at the turquoise waters, not staring at jungle greenery. Especially if you are US based. We loved being able to take strolls on the beach every sunrise, steps from our villa. Same with playing in the sand. The garden villas are relatively close to the main beach, so you could spend a lot of time there, but a good majority of the folks who stay at the StR stay in their villas most of the time given the amazing hard product. The garden villas are an amazing hard product as well, but if you have a view of trees the entire stay you could be anywhere else in the world (Bali comes to mind, for a lot less money). Just an FYI I found the garden villas a bit distracting given their location. There was less serenity. Given their proximity to Alba there was a lot of buggy "traffic" whizzing back and forth which is clearly audible from your pool/garden. The staff quarters also seem to be right behind the villas which had activity/noise during calls to prayer etc. All of these things are small in overall nature, but added together they contribute to a less than serene stay. We were only in the garden villa for 4 hours and I noticed all these things. Given all of the trees and brush it was noticeably darker in the room as well. The beach villa we were in had none of that. Just serenity and the sound of gentle ocean waves the entire stay. I think the odds of upgrade are high as a titanium, but that being said, even on points you are spending a good amount of coin to come to the Maldives. The additional cost to guarantee the room type you want is probably not a huge deal at the end of the day. I was prepared to shell out money at check in for whatever room might have been available if I wasn't provided an upgraded room (OWV, SOWV, Suite etc). If I return, I'd definitely opt for the upcharge.
Butler Service: I was actually quite worried about getting a "not so proactive" butler given the varying levels of service reported here and on other sites. Our butler, Shamiu was fantastic. We also conversed primarily on Whatsapp and every request we had was promptly responded to. It was very convenient to operate this way. Everything from dinner reservations to coordinating afternoon tea (at different times each day, given our kids nap schedule was erratic) was done via Whatsapp. On our last day we had a late seaplane out at 4:45 PM, so he even arranged a move to a garden villa after 12 PM for the remainder of our stay since they needed to ready our beach villa for another guest. He handled all kinds of random requests for us and always delivered. He'd come find us at Breakfast or at lunch and check in to make sure things were going smoothly, but was never intrusive.
Food: Overall we thought the general food quality was excellent. Prices are expensive, but think about the cost to import everything and have staff cook it for you and deliver it to you etc. Once you get over that fact, you can enjoy yourself. We indulged without being excessive and we did ok on food costs. Just over $2K over 5 nights for family of three. Ordered whatever we wanted, didn't go nuts on booze but had cocktails/wine/beer at lunch and dinner, always plenty full.
Room Service - Somewhat limited menu, but during standard hours they have much more flexibility on what they can provide. For example they can deliver crust pizza for you (at a higher cost), but on my last day, I wanted to maximize the time spent with my family in the pool vs. going and spending 30 minutes walking to/waiting for a pizza. Cost difference? $29++ vs $47++. Also not sure if they would say anything if you didn't have a kid with you, but the kids menu cheeseburger at $21 was about 90% of the meal the adult cheeseburger was at $45. A few more fries and slightly larger pattie (like very slightly). We ordered ice cream with a meal, and they delivered it inside a small cooler. Probably mandatory given the heat, but a nice touch that kept our ice cream cold. You order via ipad and then they call you minutes later to confirm your order.
Crust - Fantastic lunch spot. We absolutely loved their seafood pizza. We probably ordered it 3 or 4 times. The crust was fantastic. You do have to eat it straight out of the oven or it does get chewy and soft from the heat and humidity. The Ahi soft tacos were also quite good. Whoever tipped to bring water from the room helped save $14 per trip as well. I still ordered a beer or two with lunch and thought it was worth the price of entry. Your lunch will look exactly like those Corona commercials.
Alba Breakfast - Very good selection given the size of the resort. For those individuals that want to be wowed by the buffet selection, you do have to think there are only 80 or so villas at this resort, so there would be so much food wasted if everything was cooked and replenished on a regular basis and left out. The a la carte menu was fantastic and had plenty of choices to mix things up daily. I even had them make me a maldivian fish curry once, and they obliged. The duck and waffles were so good I ordered it twice. The maldivian benedict was great as well. I wasn't a huge fan of the lobster/caviar omelette, but it was cooked fine. The drink service here had a tendency to get mixed up a lot, but it wasn't a huge deal. Order ice coffee they bring out iced tea. Pineapple juice? out comes passionfruit. Etc. It eventually got sorted, but was a tad annoying. We always requested a plate of fresh cut papayas and lime and they always obliged. As a titanium benefit, this was a wonderful breakfast.
Orientale - A good mix of asian dishes. The chinese food was solid and tasty, we skipped the japanese, but the curries were also fantastic. Service was unbearably slow the first night. Took almost 45 minutes for the first dish to come out. We told our butler the next day, and the service the next time around was on point. Also the inside tier is nice and breezy with the ceiling fans on full blast and dim lighting overhead. The outdoor seating can be a bit warm if there is no breeze. It is also quite dark outside. Almost too dark. The menus come out with lights because you can’t read them otherwise.
Cargo - A good relative value at $250, but a wonderful dining experience overall. The night we enjoyed Cargo it was relatively sparse with only about 3-4 other groups dining, so that made it more of an intimate experience. It was much quieter than Oriental (which was packed both nights we were there). The jungle theme with lighting and mist was cool. The wine pairings we ordered were also quite good. Although we ordered by the glass, they essentially were opening up new bottles almost every time. My almost four year wasn't into middle eastern food so they cooked him up a great bowl of spaghetti bolognese. As the jungle cinema was right next door, if we had another night, I might have opted for that experience. We ordered the primarily seafood menu and it was very good (seabass and tiger prawns).
Whale Bar - Beautiful. Get your free champagne, order another cocktail or so and then head to dinner. We always had a buggy pick us up at Whale bar after to take us to dinner. Ends up being a great "happy hour" while enjoying the sunset.
Decanter - We skipped. At $1000 per couple, and being from the Bay area, I'd just rather drop that at Benu. We did highly consider it, this is just one thing we decided not to indulge.
Spa - Fantastic. Massages we received were world class. Facilities (steam room/sauna) are very nice. We did the blue hole twice we enjoyed it so much. Those jets are no joke. They are like fire hoses. The views are amazing from the blue hole. We had the blue hole to ourselves both times we used it. With others it might not have been the same experience. The complimentary sessions may be booked with others, just FYI. I was given 10% off as a titanium member, but their 20% off special was better (9:30-12 and I think 7-9 PM)
Sunset Fishing - Tons of fun and good value, I caught zero fish. My toddler caught 3. He fed our family lunch the next day. Who knew grouper sashimi tasted good? A nice way to enjoy the sunset. You don't even have to add the bait to your line, just toss overboard and wait.
Sunset Yacht Cruise - I expressed my interest my entire stay but there were no other takers. At $1000 per couple, sunsetting on a yacht would have been a cool experience but it either got booked as a private charter ($3k for the two hours) or didn't go out. They told me with another room we could have split it two ways at $1500 each(which I would have done), but sadly there were no other groups interested during my stay. It's a nice looking yacht.
Scuba/Snorkel - I had an awesome instructor and really enjoyed my dive of the house reef. We spotted a turtle (I think it might have been the same turtle I spotted snorkeling given the size and shape). Overall I saw much more sea life diving than snorkeling, but given the condition of the house reef at the snorkel level, I was quite surprised to see as much sea life as I did snorkeling. I think the variety was much better than the Park Hyatt. Which was quite bleached when we went about two years ago. Given the age of the resort the coral needs time to repair itself after all of the construction, but thought it was in decent shape. The snorkel they provide does not have a dry top mechanism and their fins are crap FYI. We never got around to trying the Seabob, but it did look fun. We just chose to do more snorkeling.
Kids Club - Fantastic. You can clearly tell this resort caters to families (kids club, playground, kids bikes, kids meals, the sheer number of family size villas, etc). Be forewarned, I'd almost say that 40-50% of the occupants during our stay were families with one kid or more. I saw many families with multiple kids and extended family. If you want adults only, there are plenty of other resorts that cater only to adults. This is a place that does embrace people who travel with kids. The attendants at the kids club were awesome. My kid loved spending time there. He baked a cake, painted a coconut ship, did all sorts of other arts and crafts, and vegged out and watched movies in ice cold AC. Great for mid-day heat.
Service - Excellent. Sure were there minor issues here and there, but every time they were given a chance to recover they did. No stay is every picture perfect. Everyone we encountered was hospitable and always greeted everyone with a smile. The only time I met the GM was when we were leaving. I did miss the manager's reception though. That being said, the entire staff was incredible and we had a fantastic time. Our villa service attendant was probably the most thorough we have ever seen in all of our travels. Every nook and cranny was cleaned, the iphone charging cables were neatly wrapped and organized every day, the toiletries were evenly spaced apart and facing the exact same direction, my kids stuffed animals were always "tucked" into bed, next to his towel animal he created. I mean this guys attention to detail was amazing. He took great care of us, and we in turn made sure to take great care of him at the end.
Overall – A fantastic stay with very good to excellent service, a family friendly and welcoming resort with an amazing hard product. I will say the resort does “filter” out a lot of the Maldivian charm with such fancy resort grounds, but overall we had nothing to really complain about. We had a fantastic stay and would definitely return. A lot of the grounds are actually quite similar to the Park Hyatt, but the Park Hyatt just looks a bit dated compared to the StR. We really enjoyed the service at the Park Hyatt as well. If we were coming back with our kid, I would definitely come back to the StR.
Aug 13, 2019, 5:28 pm
#3054
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Thanks for the very detailed and wonderful summary, @lagunas2k! Very impressive. So glad you enjoyed your stay so much.
What were your pros and cons for the StR versus the PH if you don't mind?
What were your pros and cons for the StR versus the PH if you don't mind?
Aug 13, 2019, 7:43 pm
#3055
Join Date: Mar 2012
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Thanks for the very detailed and wonderful summary, @lagunas2k! Very impressive. So glad you enjoyed your stay so much.
What were your pros and cons for the StR versus the PH if you don't mind?
What were your pros and cons for the StR versus the PH if you don't mind?
There are fewer restaurant choices at the Park Hyatt, and thus fewer overall food options. The food choices are quite good however, and they too have a themed bbq or buffet each night you can partake in. But generally less selections from night to night. The seafood buffet at the Park Hyatt was spectacular though. What they lacked in nightly choices, they certainly made up for in terms of extravagance. The seafood buffet had a gigantic tuna sashimi station, unlimited lobsters, oysters, scallops, etc. It was beyond extravagant. Food prices were not nearly as high as the StR but still Maldives high.
For families the difference is stark. The Park Hyatt tries to play family friendly, but they just don't have the same infrastructure and strategy as the StR. Yes they have a kids menu, some kids toys, and offer babysitting, but when we were there with our then two year old, the babysitter was one of the GM's admin (or whoever was free and wanted some extra money) I think? vs. trained caretakers at the StR.
The plunge pools are smaller at the Park Hyatt, and the water villas don't have pools at all (this might have changed recently, as one of their suites seemed to have added one). The rooms are smaller and definitely not as nice. The land villas are very similar in size and layout to the St. Regis beach/garden villas, just not as well furnished. Again, not all villas at PH have plunge pools. These are all upcharges. I used points to book a standard room and think I paid about $500/night for the deluxe park pool villa. A standard pool villa was about $300 more at the time.
The sand at the PH was amazing though. Very very fine and soft everywhere on the island. Also given the somewhat set back location of the land villas, you could essentially walk around the entire island on the beach. Something that can't really be done at the StR. You also get amazing views of the famous Maldives beach views around many parts of the island (the deserted white beach, with blue water, and the angled palm trees). You don't get this at many spots at the StR because they filled every square inch with a massive villa. The two story villas are particularly huge at the StR.
Service wise, PH was fantastic, and what they lacked in hard product, they do an excellent job with the soft product. Many of the staff got to know us personally and made our stay very warm and welcome. Once they knew what my son liked, they prepared his meal every lunch and dinner to his liking, and always brought toys or coloring pencils etc without ever having to ask. It was the service expected at St. Regis, but not having to ever have to ask for it.
Hard product wise, they can't be compared. Different leagues. Soft product wise, I think the PH has had time to fine tune and offer an excellent experience. With more feedback and training, I don't doubt the StR will get there. Given the PH size, it also felt less "crowded" overall. Very few families were there during our stay. It is also a significant journey to get there with the domestic plane ride, the buggy ride to the dock, and then the speedboat ride. Our return was over rather rough seas and I could honestly state I was a bit fearful. Especially with my two year old in tow. I had never seen such large rolling waves before, but our captain was professional and was great at keeping the ride minimally choppy given the circumstances. It felt like an incredibly long 45 minutes.
Aug 14, 2019, 6:11 am
#3057
Join Date: Feb 2006
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I received a lot of information from this thread which was very helpful to me, so thought I'd provide some detailed feedback as well.
Just finished up a 5 night stay on points, booked into a GV standard room. I am titanium, and was hoping for an upgrade like many others. I requested a beach villa since I was traveling with my toddler, and didn't want the additional worry an overwater villa would bring (plus we enjoy the view from the beach so much better anyways). This is the third trip to the Maldives. Other properties we've stayed at are Mirihi and Park Hyatt. A few days prior to arrival I was getting antsy and was about to book the beach villa upgrade to confirm it, decided to roll the dice and was rewarded with a one bedroom beach villa confirmed a day prior.
Arrival Experience: We arrived into Male late, and decided to do our usual one night stopover in Male. We always stay at the Hotel Ocean Grand in Hulhumale and we always receive excellent service, a clean room, and a seamless transfer experience. The StR coordinated with the Ocean Grand and once we arrived back at the airport the next morning, the StR butler takes over and escorted us through seaplane check in and on to the lounge. I had requested an early departure, and sure enough we received seats on the very first seaplane out at 6:15 AM. This left us with about 5 minutes to throw back some iced tea and be on our way. I requested the Bentley for fun and was politely told it was only for the 4 major suites at the property (The Astor Estates and the few other larger suites). The huge van we were in was probably more comfortable any ways. Had a direct flight which got us to the resort around 7, and we were lucky to have our room ready immediately (breakfast was not offered as complimentary that day).
Beach Villa: Wonderful hard product. Everything worked as it should, AC blew cold, and the ceiling fan really helped to keep the AC disbursed efficiently during the afternoon heat. The staff had even proactively setup the daybed by the window as my kid's bed, and he loved having his own setup. Welcomed with a bottle of bubbles, and a large fruit bowl. I will say that the GM left a nice handwritten note, addressed to the wrong titanium member. Assuming a mix up somewhere along the chain, but honestly not a big deal. Just thought it was funny. We had villa 311, and it had some brush directly in front of the pool, but it turned out to be nice for the extra privacy. We could still see the water from our room, but the pool was nice and private. Worked out very well for what we wanted. I appreciate that they provided a toddler bike with training wheels on it. My kid absolutely loved riding his bike on the island. We also requested a microwave and extra water stocked prior to arrival. I was actually surprised they had microwaves, but worked out well for the few kraft easy macs we brought. They also essentially left an entire case of water in the villa cabinet. Housekeeping replenished it daily, but I was told about the box, in case I wanted to get more myself at any time. We had the alcohol and mini bar cleared for space.
Garden Villa thoughts: In hindsight, if I was to go back, I would definitely opt to pay for the upgrade to an OWV or Beach Villa prior to arrival to guarantee room type. I would have been disappointed had I stayed in the garden villa. The garden villa has tons of space and the layout of the villa itself is identical to the 1 bedroom beach villas. The garden villas also have a much larger pool, maybe 2x the size of the beach villa. There is also a nice covered bench swing with a ceiling fan for lounging. It is a very very nice villa. That being said, coming to the Maldives you want to spend time gazing at the turquoise waters, not staring at jungle greenery. Especially if you are US based. We loved being able to take strolls on the beach every sunrise, steps from our villa. Same with playing in the sand. The garden villas are relatively close to the main beach, so you could spend a lot of time there, but a good majority of the folks who stay at the StR stay in their villas most of the time given the amazing hard product. The garden villas are an amazing hard product as well, but if you have a view of trees the entire stay you could be anywhere else in the world (Bali comes to mind, for a lot less money). Just an FYI I found the garden villas a bit distracting given their location. There was less serenity. Given their proximity to Alba there was a lot of buggy "traffic" whizzing back and forth which is clearly audible from your pool/garden. The staff quarters also seem to be right behind the villas which had activity/noise during calls to prayer etc. All of these things are small in overall nature, but added together they contribute to a less than serene stay. We were only in the garden villa for 4 hours and I noticed all these things. Given all of the trees and brush it was noticeably darker in the room as well. The beach villa we were in had none of that. Just serenity and the sound of gentle ocean waves the entire stay. I think the odds of upgrade are high as a titanium, but that being said, even on points you are spending a good amount of coin to come to the Maldives. The additional cost to guarantee the room type you want is probably not a huge deal at the end of the day. I was prepared to shell out money at check in for whatever room might have been available if I wasn't provided an upgraded room (OWV, SOWV, Suite etc). If I return, I'd definitely opt for the upcharge.
Butler Service: I was actually quite worried about getting a "not so proactive" butler given the varying levels of service reported here and on other sites. Our butler, Shamiu was fantastic. We also conversed primarily on Whatsapp and every request we had was promptly responded to. It was very convenient to operate this way. Everything from dinner reservations to coordinating afternoon tea (at different times each day, given our kids nap schedule was erratic) was done via Whatsapp. On our last day we had a late seaplane out at 4:45 PM, so he even arranged a move to a garden villa after 12 PM for the remainder of our stay since they needed to ready our beach villa for another guest. He handled all kinds of random requests for us and always delivered. He'd come find us at Breakfast or at lunch and check in to make sure things were going smoothly, but was never intrusive.
Food: Overall we thought the general food quality was excellent. Prices are expensive, but think about the cost to import everything and have staff cook it for you and deliver it to you etc. Once you get over that fact, you can enjoy yourself. We indulged without being excessive and we did ok on food costs. Just over $2K over 5 nights for family of three. Ordered whatever we wanted, didn't go nuts on booze but had cocktails/wine/beer at lunch and dinner, always plenty full.
Room Service - Somewhat limited menu, but during standard hours they have much more flexibility on what they can provide. For example they can deliver crust pizza for you (at a higher cost), but on my last day, I wanted to maximize the time spent with my family in the pool vs. going and spending 30 minutes walking to/waiting for a pizza. Cost difference? $29++ vs $47++. Also not sure if they would say anything if you didn't have a kid with you, but the kids menu cheeseburger at $21 was about 90% of the meal the adult cheeseburger was at $45. A few more fries and slightly larger pattie (like very slightly). We ordered ice cream with a meal, and they delivered it inside a small cooler. Probably mandatory given the heat, but a nice touch that kept our ice cream cold. You order via ipad and then they call you minutes later to confirm your order.
Crust - Fantastic lunch spot. We absolutely loved their seafood pizza. We probably ordered it 3 or 4 times. The crust was fantastic. You do have to eat it straight out of the oven or it does get chewy and soft from the heat and humidity. The Ahi soft tacos were also quite good. Whoever tipped to bring water from the room helped save $14 per trip as well. I still ordered a beer or two with lunch and thought it was worth the price of entry. Your lunch will look exactly like those Corona commercials.
Alba Breakfast - Very good selection given the size of the resort. For those individuals that want to be wowed by the buffet selection, you do have to think there are only 80 or so villas at this resort, so there would be so much food wasted if everything was cooked and replenished on a regular basis and left out. The a la carte menu was fantastic and had plenty of choices to mix things up daily. I even had them make me a maldivian fish curry once, and they obliged. The duck and waffles were so good I ordered it twice. The maldivian benedict was great as well. I wasn't a huge fan of the lobster/caviar omelette, but it was cooked fine. The drink service here had a tendency to get mixed up a lot, but it wasn't a huge deal. Order ice coffee they bring out iced tea. Pineapple juice? out comes passionfruit. Etc. It eventually got sorted, but was a tad annoying. We always requested a plate of fresh cut papayas and lime and they always obliged. As a titanium benefit, this was a wonderful breakfast.
Orientale - A good mix of asian dishes. The chinese food was solid and tasty, we skipped the japanese, but the curries were also fantastic. Service was unbearably slow the first night. Took almost 45 minutes for the first dish to come out. We told our butler the next day, and the service the next time around was on point. Also the inside tier is nice and breezy with the ceiling fans on full blast and dim lighting overhead. The outdoor seating can be a bit warm if there is no breeze. It is also quite dark outside. Almost too dark. The menus come out with lights because you can’t read them otherwise.
Cargo - A good relative value at $250, but a wonderful dining experience overall. The night we enjoyed Cargo it was relatively sparse with only about 3-4 other groups dining, so that made it more of an intimate experience. It was much quieter than Oriental (which was packed both nights we were there). The jungle theme with lighting and mist was cool. The wine pairings we ordered were also quite good. Although we ordered by the glass, they essentially were opening up new bottles almost every time. My almost four year wasn't into middle eastern food so they cooked him up a great bowl of spaghetti bolognese. As the jungle cinema was right next door, if we had another night, I might have opted for that experience. We ordered the primarily seafood menu and it was very good (seabass and tiger prawns).
Whale Bar - Beautiful. Get your free champagne, order another cocktail or so and then head to dinner. We always had a buggy pick us up at Whale bar after to take us to dinner. Ends up being a great "happy hour" while enjoying the sunset.
Decanter - We skipped. At $1000 per couple, and being from the Bay area, I'd just rather drop that at Benu. We did highly consider it, this is just one thing we decided not to indulge.
Spa - Fantastic. Massages we received were world class. Facilities (steam room/sauna) are very nice. We did the blue hole twice we enjoyed it so much. Those jets are no joke. They are like fire hoses. The views are amazing from the blue hole. We had the blue hole to ourselves both times we used it. With others it might not have been the same experience. The complimentary sessions may be booked with others, just FYI. I was given 10% off as a titanium member, but their 20% off special was better (9:30-12 and I think 7-9 PM)
Sunset Fishing - Tons of fun and good value, I caught zero fish. My toddler caught 3. He fed our family lunch the next day. Who knew grouper sashimi tasted good? A nice way to enjoy the sunset. You don't even have to add the bait to your line, just toss overboard and wait.
Sunset Yacht Cruise - I expressed my interest my entire stay but there were no other takers. At $1000 per couple, sunsetting on a yacht would have been a cool experience but it either got booked as a private charter ($3k for the two hours) or didn't go out. They told me with another room we could have split it two ways at $1500 each(which I would have done), but sadly there were no other groups interested during my stay. It's a nice looking yacht.
Scuba/Snorkel - I had an awesome instructor and really enjoyed my dive of the house reef. We spotted a turtle (I think it might have been the same turtle I spotted snorkeling given the size and shape). Overall I saw much more sea life diving than snorkeling, but given the condition of the house reef at the snorkel level, I was quite surprised to see as much sea life as I did snorkeling. I think the variety was much better than the Park Hyatt. Which was quite bleached when we went about two years ago. Given the age of the resort the coral needs time to repair itself after all of the construction, but thought it was in decent shape. The snorkel they provide does not have a dry top mechanism and their fins are crap FYI. We never got around to trying the Seabob, but it did look fun. We just chose to do more snorkeling.
Kids Club - Fantastic. You can clearly tell this resort caters to families (kids club, playground, kids bikes, kids meals, the sheer number of family size villas, etc). Be forewarned, I'd almost say that 40-50% of the occupants during our stay were families with one kid or more. I saw many families with multiple kids and extended family. If you want adults only, there are plenty of other resorts that cater only to adults. This is a place that does embrace people who travel with kids. The attendants at the kids club were awesome. My kid loved spending time there. He baked a cake, painted a coconut ship, did all sorts of other arts and crafts, and vegged out and watched movies in ice cold AC. Great for mid-day heat.
Service - Excellent. Sure were there minor issues here and there, but every time they were given a chance to recover they did. No stay is every picture perfect. Everyone we encountered was hospitable and always greeted everyone with a smile. The only time I met the GM was when we were leaving. I did miss the manager's reception though. That being said, the entire staff was incredible and we had a fantastic time. Our villa service attendant was probably the most thorough we have ever seen in all of our travels. Every nook and cranny was cleaned, the iphone charging cables were neatly wrapped and organized every day, the toiletries were evenly spaced apart and facing the exact same direction, my kids stuffed animals were always "tucked" into bed, next to his towel animal he created. I mean this guys attention to detail was amazing. He took great care of us, and we in turn made sure to take great care of him at the end.
Overall – A fantastic stay with very good to excellent service, a family friendly and welcoming resort with an amazing hard product. I will say the resort does “filter” out a lot of the Maldivian charm with such fancy resort grounds, but overall we had nothing to really complain about. We had a fantastic stay and would definitely return. A lot of the grounds are actually quite similar to the Park Hyatt, but the Park Hyatt just looks a bit dated compared to the StR. We really enjoyed the service at the Park Hyatt as well. If we were coming back with our kid, I would definitely come back to the StR.
Just finished up a 5 night stay on points, booked into a GV standard room. I am titanium, and was hoping for an upgrade like many others. I requested a beach villa since I was traveling with my toddler, and didn't want the additional worry an overwater villa would bring (plus we enjoy the view from the beach so much better anyways). This is the third trip to the Maldives. Other properties we've stayed at are Mirihi and Park Hyatt. A few days prior to arrival I was getting antsy and was about to book the beach villa upgrade to confirm it, decided to roll the dice and was rewarded with a one bedroom beach villa confirmed a day prior.
Arrival Experience: We arrived into Male late, and decided to do our usual one night stopover in Male. We always stay at the Hotel Ocean Grand in Hulhumale and we always receive excellent service, a clean room, and a seamless transfer experience. The StR coordinated with the Ocean Grand and once we arrived back at the airport the next morning, the StR butler takes over and escorted us through seaplane check in and on to the lounge. I had requested an early departure, and sure enough we received seats on the very first seaplane out at 6:15 AM. This left us with about 5 minutes to throw back some iced tea and be on our way. I requested the Bentley for fun and was politely told it was only for the 4 major suites at the property (The Astor Estates and the few other larger suites). The huge van we were in was probably more comfortable any ways. Had a direct flight which got us to the resort around 7, and we were lucky to have our room ready immediately (breakfast was not offered as complimentary that day).
Beach Villa: Wonderful hard product. Everything worked as it should, AC blew cold, and the ceiling fan really helped to keep the AC disbursed efficiently during the afternoon heat. The staff had even proactively setup the daybed by the window as my kid's bed, and he loved having his own setup. Welcomed with a bottle of bubbles, and a large fruit bowl. I will say that the GM left a nice handwritten note, addressed to the wrong titanium member. Assuming a mix up somewhere along the chain, but honestly not a big deal. Just thought it was funny. We had villa 311, and it had some brush directly in front of the pool, but it turned out to be nice for the extra privacy. We could still see the water from our room, but the pool was nice and private. Worked out very well for what we wanted. I appreciate that they provided a toddler bike with training wheels on it. My kid absolutely loved riding his bike on the island. We also requested a microwave and extra water stocked prior to arrival. I was actually surprised they had microwaves, but worked out well for the few kraft easy macs we brought. They also essentially left an entire case of water in the villa cabinet. Housekeeping replenished it daily, but I was told about the box, in case I wanted to get more myself at any time. We had the alcohol and mini bar cleared for space.
Garden Villa thoughts: In hindsight, if I was to go back, I would definitely opt to pay for the upgrade to an OWV or Beach Villa prior to arrival to guarantee room type. I would have been disappointed had I stayed in the garden villa. The garden villa has tons of space and the layout of the villa itself is identical to the 1 bedroom beach villas. The garden villas also have a much larger pool, maybe 2x the size of the beach villa. There is also a nice covered bench swing with a ceiling fan for lounging. It is a very very nice villa. That being said, coming to the Maldives you want to spend time gazing at the turquoise waters, not staring at jungle greenery. Especially if you are US based. We loved being able to take strolls on the beach every sunrise, steps from our villa. Same with playing in the sand. The garden villas are relatively close to the main beach, so you could spend a lot of time there, but a good majority of the folks who stay at the StR stay in their villas most of the time given the amazing hard product. The garden villas are an amazing hard product as well, but if you have a view of trees the entire stay you could be anywhere else in the world (Bali comes to mind, for a lot less money). Just an FYI I found the garden villas a bit distracting given their location. There was less serenity. Given their proximity to Alba there was a lot of buggy "traffic" whizzing back and forth which is clearly audible from your pool/garden. The staff quarters also seem to be right behind the villas which had activity/noise during calls to prayer etc. All of these things are small in overall nature, but added together they contribute to a less than serene stay. We were only in the garden villa for 4 hours and I noticed all these things. Given all of the trees and brush it was noticeably darker in the room as well. The beach villa we were in had none of that. Just serenity and the sound of gentle ocean waves the entire stay. I think the odds of upgrade are high as a titanium, but that being said, even on points you are spending a good amount of coin to come to the Maldives. The additional cost to guarantee the room type you want is probably not a huge deal at the end of the day. I was prepared to shell out money at check in for whatever room might have been available if I wasn't provided an upgraded room (OWV, SOWV, Suite etc). If I return, I'd definitely opt for the upcharge.
Butler Service: I was actually quite worried about getting a "not so proactive" butler given the varying levels of service reported here and on other sites. Our butler, Shamiu was fantastic. We also conversed primarily on Whatsapp and every request we had was promptly responded to. It was very convenient to operate this way. Everything from dinner reservations to coordinating afternoon tea (at different times each day, given our kids nap schedule was erratic) was done via Whatsapp. On our last day we had a late seaplane out at 4:45 PM, so he even arranged a move to a garden villa after 12 PM for the remainder of our stay since they needed to ready our beach villa for another guest. He handled all kinds of random requests for us and always delivered. He'd come find us at Breakfast or at lunch and check in to make sure things were going smoothly, but was never intrusive.
Food: Overall we thought the general food quality was excellent. Prices are expensive, but think about the cost to import everything and have staff cook it for you and deliver it to you etc. Once you get over that fact, you can enjoy yourself. We indulged without being excessive and we did ok on food costs. Just over $2K over 5 nights for family of three. Ordered whatever we wanted, didn't go nuts on booze but had cocktails/wine/beer at lunch and dinner, always plenty full.
Room Service - Somewhat limited menu, but during standard hours they have much more flexibility on what they can provide. For example they can deliver crust pizza for you (at a higher cost), but on my last day, I wanted to maximize the time spent with my family in the pool vs. going and spending 30 minutes walking to/waiting for a pizza. Cost difference? $29++ vs $47++. Also not sure if they would say anything if you didn't have a kid with you, but the kids menu cheeseburger at $21 was about 90% of the meal the adult cheeseburger was at $45. A few more fries and slightly larger pattie (like very slightly). We ordered ice cream with a meal, and they delivered it inside a small cooler. Probably mandatory given the heat, but a nice touch that kept our ice cream cold. You order via ipad and then they call you minutes later to confirm your order.
Crust - Fantastic lunch spot. We absolutely loved their seafood pizza. We probably ordered it 3 or 4 times. The crust was fantastic. You do have to eat it straight out of the oven or it does get chewy and soft from the heat and humidity. The Ahi soft tacos were also quite good. Whoever tipped to bring water from the room helped save $14 per trip as well. I still ordered a beer or two with lunch and thought it was worth the price of entry. Your lunch will look exactly like those Corona commercials.
Alba Breakfast - Very good selection given the size of the resort. For those individuals that want to be wowed by the buffet selection, you do have to think there are only 80 or so villas at this resort, so there would be so much food wasted if everything was cooked and replenished on a regular basis and left out. The a la carte menu was fantastic and had plenty of choices to mix things up daily. I even had them make me a maldivian fish curry once, and they obliged. The duck and waffles were so good I ordered it twice. The maldivian benedict was great as well. I wasn't a huge fan of the lobster/caviar omelette, but it was cooked fine. The drink service here had a tendency to get mixed up a lot, but it wasn't a huge deal. Order ice coffee they bring out iced tea. Pineapple juice? out comes passionfruit. Etc. It eventually got sorted, but was a tad annoying. We always requested a plate of fresh cut papayas and lime and they always obliged. As a titanium benefit, this was a wonderful breakfast.
Orientale - A good mix of asian dishes. The chinese food was solid and tasty, we skipped the japanese, but the curries were also fantastic. Service was unbearably slow the first night. Took almost 45 minutes for the first dish to come out. We told our butler the next day, and the service the next time around was on point. Also the inside tier is nice and breezy with the ceiling fans on full blast and dim lighting overhead. The outdoor seating can be a bit warm if there is no breeze. It is also quite dark outside. Almost too dark. The menus come out with lights because you can’t read them otherwise.
Cargo - A good relative value at $250, but a wonderful dining experience overall. The night we enjoyed Cargo it was relatively sparse with only about 3-4 other groups dining, so that made it more of an intimate experience. It was much quieter than Oriental (which was packed both nights we were there). The jungle theme with lighting and mist was cool. The wine pairings we ordered were also quite good. Although we ordered by the glass, they essentially were opening up new bottles almost every time. My almost four year wasn't into middle eastern food so they cooked him up a great bowl of spaghetti bolognese. As the jungle cinema was right next door, if we had another night, I might have opted for that experience. We ordered the primarily seafood menu and it was very good (seabass and tiger prawns).
Whale Bar - Beautiful. Get your free champagne, order another cocktail or so and then head to dinner. We always had a buggy pick us up at Whale bar after to take us to dinner. Ends up being a great "happy hour" while enjoying the sunset.
Decanter - We skipped. At $1000 per couple, and being from the Bay area, I'd just rather drop that at Benu. We did highly consider it, this is just one thing we decided not to indulge.
Spa - Fantastic. Massages we received were world class. Facilities (steam room/sauna) are very nice. We did the blue hole twice we enjoyed it so much. Those jets are no joke. They are like fire hoses. The views are amazing from the blue hole. We had the blue hole to ourselves both times we used it. With others it might not have been the same experience. The complimentary sessions may be booked with others, just FYI. I was given 10% off as a titanium member, but their 20% off special was better (9:30-12 and I think 7-9 PM)
Sunset Fishing - Tons of fun and good value, I caught zero fish. My toddler caught 3. He fed our family lunch the next day. Who knew grouper sashimi tasted good? A nice way to enjoy the sunset. You don't even have to add the bait to your line, just toss overboard and wait.
Sunset Yacht Cruise - I expressed my interest my entire stay but there were no other takers. At $1000 per couple, sunsetting on a yacht would have been a cool experience but it either got booked as a private charter ($3k for the two hours) or didn't go out. They told me with another room we could have split it two ways at $1500 each(which I would have done), but sadly there were no other groups interested during my stay. It's a nice looking yacht.
Scuba/Snorkel - I had an awesome instructor and really enjoyed my dive of the house reef. We spotted a turtle (I think it might have been the same turtle I spotted snorkeling given the size and shape). Overall I saw much more sea life diving than snorkeling, but given the condition of the house reef at the snorkel level, I was quite surprised to see as much sea life as I did snorkeling. I think the variety was much better than the Park Hyatt. Which was quite bleached when we went about two years ago. Given the age of the resort the coral needs time to repair itself after all of the construction, but thought it was in decent shape. The snorkel they provide does not have a dry top mechanism and their fins are crap FYI. We never got around to trying the Seabob, but it did look fun. We just chose to do more snorkeling.
Kids Club - Fantastic. You can clearly tell this resort caters to families (kids club, playground, kids bikes, kids meals, the sheer number of family size villas, etc). Be forewarned, I'd almost say that 40-50% of the occupants during our stay were families with one kid or more. I saw many families with multiple kids and extended family. If you want adults only, there are plenty of other resorts that cater only to adults. This is a place that does embrace people who travel with kids. The attendants at the kids club were awesome. My kid loved spending time there. He baked a cake, painted a coconut ship, did all sorts of other arts and crafts, and vegged out and watched movies in ice cold AC. Great for mid-day heat.
Service - Excellent. Sure were there minor issues here and there, but every time they were given a chance to recover they did. No stay is every picture perfect. Everyone we encountered was hospitable and always greeted everyone with a smile. The only time I met the GM was when we were leaving. I did miss the manager's reception though. That being said, the entire staff was incredible and we had a fantastic time. Our villa service attendant was probably the most thorough we have ever seen in all of our travels. Every nook and cranny was cleaned, the iphone charging cables were neatly wrapped and organized every day, the toiletries were evenly spaced apart and facing the exact same direction, my kids stuffed animals were always "tucked" into bed, next to his towel animal he created. I mean this guys attention to detail was amazing. He took great care of us, and we in turn made sure to take great care of him at the end.
Overall – A fantastic stay with very good to excellent service, a family friendly and welcoming resort with an amazing hard product. I will say the resort does “filter” out a lot of the Maldivian charm with such fancy resort grounds, but overall we had nothing to really complain about. We had a fantastic stay and would definitely return. A lot of the grounds are actually quite similar to the Park Hyatt, but the Park Hyatt just looks a bit dated compared to the StR. We really enjoyed the service at the Park Hyatt as well. If we were coming back with our kid, I would definitely come back to the StR.
We got here Friday and leave Saturday...also have Shamiu. He's great. I agree with nearly everything you posted! The water is rougher than I expected though.
Aug 14, 2019, 9:20 am
#3059
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 32
Thank you so much for that detailed review and information. I am currently booked on a GV and am planning on rolling the dice. When you say you were confirmed a day prior, did you request an upgrade via email or did they just do it automatically? I am preparing to ask at check-in and even pay but wondering if I should ask before?