They all do by now, though I think St R was a bit later to that game than some of the other resorts. But it is also listed in the wiki of this thread
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We will be out there on the 14th - 25th. To say we are excited is an understatement. We were considering trying the whale shark experience, were wondering if anyone's done it before or if anyone had an idea of how likely / unlikely it is you would find a whale shark? The experience looks incredible, just wanted to see if anyone has tried it before and what your thoughts were. Thanks.

Haven't tried it but think there was a post here or another site awhile back that pretty much said they didn't see anything. Which can be typical and it's expensive if that's the case. But have also heard people talking about how they've seen the whale sharks. Personally too risky (and not quite interesting enough) for me to spend a day doing that, but if it's on your bucket list I suppose it's worth it.

good to hear

is it true that the platinum member 20% food and beverage discount is no longer available?

Yes, the Marriott Bonvoy Asia dinning discount was discontinued for the Maldives, and now for all of Asia as well.

Quick question...I received an email about paying for the hotel directly to the bank...did anyone else do this? The email looks legit but I haven't heard about this before.

For those who have done this did you earn your points on a Marriott co-branded credit card? Any help would be much appreciated

I did not. When I got here we took care of a prepay for some items and a deposit. Before that, I only had a Cc on file. Suggest you reach out to their email addresses directly and seperate from the email you just got. See the top of this thread for the email addresses if you don't have them. Good luck.

Thanks for that info. I think I'll just ignore the email and if they mention anything I'll just say I got busy with work before the trip. I doubt they'll cancel my reservation or anything.

Much appreciated

They are good about getting back to you and they are also pretty chill here.

I paid via the portal I think you're talking about (Bank of Maldives) a few weeks ago for a confirmed upgrade to SOWV. I used an AmEx Marriott card and earned the 6X.

Heh. Yes.
My ordeal took 3 months, 12+ phone calls, 12+ emails to resolve. They gave me somewhere in the realm of 60-80K points initially when I was owed 250K+.

They gave me an additional 75K for my trouble at the very end, but the whole experience, along with very mediocre service at St R, along with the general sentiment of lots of customers getting "Bonvoyed" caused me to burn all my remaining points (my stay at Al Maha was fantastic, and I'd sooner go there than St R Maldives again).

I'm not completely banning Marriott, as there are several properties I have interest in (looking forward to a stay at EDITION Reykjavik in a couple of months), but I will not remotely be chasing any kind of loyalty with them ever again. Got rid of 3 Marriott CCs to top it off.

Best of luck to you, and if your attempt to get owed points starts to eat up too much of your time/falls on deaf ears, send me a PM and I'll send you details of who was finally able to sort it out.

FYI, I did get points for the cash portion of my points + cash.

Their email to me said specifically: Kindly find the below charges not eligible for points:

• Taxes
• Watersports
• Tips
• PCR Testing
• TMA seaplane Transfer
• Retail

As other poster said, youre taking a risk. If youre okay paying the cost for a long day of snorkeling and can go into it with no expectations, then I'd say give it a shot. If you'd feel really bad about spending that much just to go snorkeling, skip it.

I was really lucky because a relative chartered Norma for 5-6 hours, and we conducted the Whale Shark snorkeling from there. We didn't end up seeing Whale Sharks, but still had an amazing day. Don't know what the policy is nowadays on shared groups, but if it's allowed, you could always see if you can find people to split the cost of Norma with (assuming you wouldn't want to spend that much on your own).

Hi all! We'll be out there the 15-23. I've been browsing the thread for a few things, but wanted to get an updated take on them from you guys.
1) Do I really need to start reserving restaurants now? Or is it more like 1-2 days out from preferred day/time?
2) Any "must-do's" while there? Specifically anything not mentioned in their water sport brochure or experiences brochure?
3) What are some fun/good asks I should have for our butler to do? Not sure how creative you all have gotten with these.
4) We have a general OWV. Should I be making a request for a specific villa now? More importantly, should I request sunset or panoramic now? (I'm Platinum, BTW).

Thanks in advance!