Adam Schenkel

I am heading to STR next week in a panoramic OWV for our honeymoon and I am looking at the weather report which says mostly cloudy and thunderstorms pretty much every day. Anyone there at the moment who can speak to the current conditions or anyone who has been there and observed the forecast vs. the reality? I assume the rain is like Hawaii and just pops up and then goes away 20 min later? Thanks in advance!!

Dn10

Male weather is a bit different than STR weather. I’ve been to the resort a few times and a couple of times it rained a bit at night but don’t ever remember rain during the day.

CPH-Flyer

Time of year matters greatly. While April should usually be part of the dry period, the stability of the weather seasons is reducing.

Taco1014

Heading to STR first week of May for a 5 day stint. This is my partner and I's first visit to Maldives. Any tips from fellow experienced FTers??

We booked dinner reservations already in advance and are staying at a OWV. We're Marriot ambassador - not sure if that will mean anything here but would it be worthwhile to ask for an upgrade to sunset OWV in advance (not sure if anyone has been successful)?

Also reading some comments about some must do activities? Seems like sunset fishing is more worthwhile than the whale shark tour? also interested in doing a local island tour -not sure if anyone has done this one?
Would love any suggestions on must do activities/food etc! And anything to book in advance/to look out for?

dcmike

We did the dolphin watching and the sea turtle snorkeling excursions. We really enjoyed both of them. In both cases, the guides really busted their tails to find the wildlife in question. And in both cases we got what we paid for - we saw dolphins (a ton of them - it was a huge pod) and two turtles, as well as a ton of other sea life.

NEfan22

just checked my reservation at the ritz and it says 767,000 pts. My account says I don’t have enough pts for it and they haven’t redeposited my 580,000 pts for st Regis reservation. I’ll update this once I speak to CS. Also the person I spoke with to confirm the reservation booked a beach villa despite confirming on the phone to a lagoon overwater so I had to call back again to get that fixed.

spoke to a CS supervisor and a case had to be created to try to fix this.

godbreath

My reservation is in the same status. The Ritz called me yesterday to get my bonvoy number and my credit card number. Right afterwards I could see I have a new booking at the Ritz, but it shows that I need 412,000 points to complete the booking. I currently also have my St Regis booking at $125 + 340,000 points. Over email and the phone, they have confirmed that I should only be paying the base rate (340,000) at the Ritz. I'll see what happens in a couple days and hopefully it will sort itself out.

NEfan22

That was my experience on my first trip to Maalifushi by Como. Forecast was a chance of rain/thunderstorms every day. If it happened, it was generally an hour or less of a heavy downpour or light drizzle.

grindcoffee

Have an upcoming stay on May, just wondering if the 20% off F&B for platinum and above is still being offered? Thanks.

CPH-Flyer

It was removed during the peak season. However as May gets back in to shoulder/off peak season it may see a return. Though still not back yet.

Abtravel12

FYI I reached out to the regis 2 weeks ago about the food and beverage credit and they said they're no longer offering anything

Kevin Weldon

My wife and I just returned last week from our ten-day stay at the St. Regis and it was amazing. The staff, food, and resort were simply beyond words. They take great care of you and it really is a dream trip/location. Having said that, I wanted to try an answer a few questions that I have seen posed here during our trip or in the days since our return on Friday.

1. Weather was/is great and during our ten days, there was only one day with moderate rain off and on during our stay. There were pretty big waves and currents that came with the wind and storm that one day. Thus, for this one day, it was a spa or lay around and enjoy the scenery kind of a day. Every other day was perfect but the rainy season is fast approaching in the Maldives and even the staff were mentioning that the change in seasons was coming soon. For fairly accurate weather in the area, your iPhone weather app shows the hotel's location as Laamu, Maldives if you enter it in manually.

2. The 20% F&B is no longer offered but we were given 10% off as Lifetime Platinum guests for numerous things like the Spa, gift shop, etc.

3. I asked our butler and the people working in the gift shop where the observation deck is located and there doesn't seem to be any type of telescope or binoculars available on the island currently. Although, if you go out on the yacht, Norma, the crew has an amazing pair of binoculars that you can use for dolphin sightings and star-gazing on the ride back at night.

4. We found that several restaurants brought us free still water from a pitcher and served us in glasses from the tables when we refused to order still or sparkling water upon arrival. This was hit and miss though as some restaurants took away our glasses and never offered water once we told them we didn't wish to purchase water and other restaurants then promptly brought us free water from a pitcher anyway. So just a note since $14 bottles of water are a big topic here. We saw several people bringing the free bottles from their hotel rooms and no one ever said anything to them about it. We simply enjoyed wine with our meals and the free water when offered.

5. As for excursions, I really, really enjoyed the sea bobs and being able to scoot around under the water on these amazing little devices. They really fly, dive fast, and allow you to get a much better experience on the house reef, etc. with all the marine life. Next would be Norma, the yacht. Words do not do justice to how special of an excursion or outing this will be for you and your family. If you wanted to be treated like a member of the royal family and have a great time on a luxury yacht, it is WORTH EVERY PENNY. My wife and I did a half-day and sunset cruise combo trip where we could go snorkeling, picnic on a private island, and cruise at sunset and it was the best thing ever. We are already planning our next trip to the St. Regis and plan to book Norma for the night so we can spend the whole night on the yacht with the crew and chef.

6. Ongoing maintenance. The staff was busily working on the dock that all overwater villas are located on but it was never an issue or a distraction at all to guests. Other than bicycling or walking by them and saying hello, you would have never known they were there working. They mainly seemed to be working between 10-3 pm as well to limit intruding on the guests' experience.

7. Booking the CIP services for the airport. We did not use this service for our arrival into Male based on arriving in FIrst class on Qatar and having access to the express lines for immigration. We DID book this service, however, for our departure from Male flight and I cannot recommend this service enough! It was worth EVERY PENNY! Once you are whisked away from the St. Regis lounge to the airport for your departure, CIP services handle EVERYTHING!!!!! We literally got out of the St. Regis limo and walked in the CIP lounge without ever touching our luggage, going through immigration, or anything. Everything was handled for us as we waited in their very nice lounge having snacks and drinks. We were getting nervous as the lounge board showed our flight had begun boarding some 20 mins ago and no one was asking us to board. Finally, an agent brought us our passports that had already been stamped by immigration, showed us a picture of our suitcases to make sure they had checked in the right bags with our airline and then we walked through a private door onto the runway apron. There a luxury car waited for us and took us directly to the plane where we opened our car door and walked onto the plane as the LAST people on the plane. We sat down, were given a welcome drink by Qatar airways, and they shut the door and we took off for Doha. Simply an unbelievable experience.

Well, I think that is all I can offer unless anyone has any further or more specific questions. Great, great hotel with amazing staff and in one of the world's most beautiful locations.

joecool1885

Glad to hear you enjoyed. Humbler man than I not mentioning your room type. ;-) Curious what your hourly was on Norma. We negotiated to 1800/HR.
Surprised you're headed back so soon. I think I assumed you were on a Points + Cash Upgrade booking like I found for your room type, but if you paid outright for it, hot damn!

I'd encourage you to consider W.A and P.H. P.H didn't have nearly the luxuries of St. Regis, but its location is something truly special. We also felt the service... as compared to the St. Regis... was far superior.
W.A is extremely convenient considering the yacht trip from Male, and while the Stella Maris is relatively small, there's something special about being completely surrounded by water. The private dinner there--- where they boat a cook, assistant, and server to your room and cook on the outdoor grill for you... I felt that was superior to the St Regis, where they just set up your table and bring the food to your room. (Albeit, being served dessert while enjoying a movie in the villa was pretty sweet, too). Overall food quality at W.A I felt was better too.

BillEaston61

We stayed in January and thought the food from the Indian menu at Alba was exceptional. Couple of the dishes have to be ordered 24-hours in advance so you need to be a bit organised, but the whole baked reef-fish was well worth doing. Buffet breakfasts at Alba are every bit as good as the reviews suggest - fantastic range of great dishes and great service throughout.

betonic

Did anyone have experience with private dinners other than Decanter? If so, was it worth it? Which one?