1. Orientale
2. No
3. No, you need the british type G plug. i had asked them ahead of time if they had adapters to use and was told no.

They stopped giving the small 30 SPF sunscreen that they used to give in the room pre Covid?

While rates are going sky-high, they have eliminated a lot. I personally found it rather cheap, that they kept advertising the champagne sabering but not serving any of that... So far the only St. Regis I have been that wouldn't service anything complimentary while having the highest rates..

Any recommendations on room # if the goal is to be above that beautiful turquoise blue water? I booked us a SSOWV for next week but the fiancee is more concerned that the reef below makes the water look dark and she really wants that stereotypical teal water you see in the photos.

Lagoon side seems to be better for this but obviously you sacrifice privacy and no sunset, cold pool etc. Any thoughts on what rooms I should ask for to that have sand below them on the sunset side and would have better water color? I am just trying to please the lady... Thank you

In my very humble opinion the lady should and will be super pleased with any villa in this resort :). Just being in the Maldives is such a wonderful experience...

With that said, I would personally opt for a sunset villa hands down. The privacy is just so amazing (and super important to me) and the color of the water is stunning too. I don't remember it being any nicer at all on the sunsrise side, certainly not to the extent that would prompt me to rather stay on that side.

Thank you for reassuring me! I was also confident in the sunset choice until I got it in my head about the water color. So sunset side it appears like room # wise the consensus is they are pretty much all equal besides 542, 543 & 544 which offer less privacy because of the proximity to the whale bar? Amongst the others any preference if water color is our priority?

We were on the sunset side and really enjoyed it, here is the view. Privacy was A+ waking up to the undisturbed sea view.

The water looks “dark” further out because of the drop off from the reefs to the deep blue sea.

I think sunrise side (lagoon) will have lighter water color because it’s shallow. Not sure if that’s what you are looking for?

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...34085abce.jpeg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f63d3d295.jpeg

Initial impressions
 

Arrived here yesterday. We had originally booked for last June but was postponed due to their construction. Transfer at Male airport was seamless and the new lounge was nice. Airport staff was very helpful in working with baggage office to ensure my lost baggage was sorted out.

Lunch at Crust was good and we really enjoyed our dinner last night and breakfast this morning at Alba. We spoke with Chef Ajim prior to dinner and his team prepared a wonderful Italian dinner (they made tortellini that was absolutely divine). They are eager to please so would recommend anyone with dietary requirements/restrictions speak with the chefs as they will make almost anything you want.

We are in a 2BR Sunset Overwater villa -- great space to stretch out with the two kids. Only minor issue is lack of privacy in bathroom (especially in water closet which has open glass). Otherwise no complaints. We snorkeled off our deck today and saw lots of fish -- the transition from teal to deep blue water is quite abrupt and so many amazing fish varieties to spot at the edge.

Looking forward to our speedboat snorkeling excursion tomorrow.

Wife and I are there later this year with our 2 kids and booked a 2BR Ocean Villa (which I believe has the same layout as yours). Easy to switch rooms at this point, so was curious about your input (or anyone else who's been in these villas recently). Not sure your kids ages, but we have 8 and 6 year old boys and I'm trying to figure out if it's fine to put them upstairs on their own. It seems like there's an external (and I'm not sure if also an internal) door to get to the upper level. Does it feel like 1 or 2 villas? Is there a way to leave doors open between the upstairs and downstairs, or is that essentially just leaving both front doors open to the elements?

Many thanks in advance-- have been to StR Maldives twice, but not since 2019 and we've been out overwater both times.

-ps9a

The 2 bedroom overwater villas are like two separate villas, one on top of the other. The stairway is outside your entrance door. Locks on both the downstairs and upstairs doors. Not sure if the Ocean Villas are the same.

My kids are 18 and 13. There is external access to the stairway area (there is a inside bolt on that door but seems like you could open from outside if you wanted to). We have used the deadbolt during the day to prop open the main level door from the stairway but wouldn't recommend that at night. Obviously access to the island is controlled but still didn't feel safe leaving doors open at night.

We are here now. Had a bad storm 2 nights ago that knocked out some of the boardwalk area (the round about depressed part in the middle that is kind of just for show). Several others on the sunset side also had their private docks into the water knocked off. Ours is crooked and missing a board but still hanging on.

They offered to move us to a north facing over water villa but I said I would prefer to deal with the wonky dock rather than downgrade my room. Asked if there were upgrade options yesterday and still havent heard about it. Guessing that wont happen.

Otherwise its been perfect, even with the storm which was actually fun for us. The weather otherwise has been divine and I would not 2nd guess coming during rainy season again. It really has had no impact so far.

Also the snorkeling as been the highlight for us. Just out front of our sunset villa at the edge of the reef where it drops off has some of the best marine wildlife ive ever seen. Absolutely amazing, thousands of fish within arms reach and lots of diversity.

Agree about the excellent snorkeling at edge of reef. I got a huge scare on our last morning as there was a shark swimming at the edge of the reef about thirty feet away from me -- high tailed back to the villa deck very quickly

LOL - I saw the same thing and aggressively swam after him to get a better picture.

Virtually all of the sharks I saw snorkeling were black tips which are harmless and have zero interest in people. Was lucky enough to see a leopard shark on a dive there in February!

They used to serve some lavender drink instead. Not sure if that's still the case. Before hand we got ~1/2 glass of champagne but yeah for the past year or so it's been no champagne after the sabering which is disappointing.