bobu

Okay good thing I changed my flight to arrive at 12:15 instead of 3:30 then lol.

But I was really wondering when the latest seaplane flight out of Le Meridien is. And how was the house reef there? Thanks!

Alpbeta

I took the last flight back because the flight back to Doha for me was 7sth. So I requested to take the last one possible, and it was 3:30. So 2pm check out at the front desk and 3pm to get on the seaplane back to MLE.

ALGU

Definitely a strong point for the resort. Did snorkeling, diving, and glass bottom canoeing and always saw abundant sea life. The atoll is known for its bait fish, so you’ll constantly see schools of small fish. At the top of my head for fish: lion, porcupine, needle, angel, unicorn, variety of trigger, variety of parrot, dorry, and several other I can’t ID. Sting rays, eagle rays, claw less lobster, clams, resident baby shark, etc. Others reported mantas and turtles. Saw sting rays and schools from the OWV deck. If you’re diving, there’s a stunning drop off that creates a vertical wall of coral.

Did sunset fishing twice, but didn’t catch many fish. Think it’s cyclical as the previous groups were more successful.

ALGU

I think it looks better in person, but maybe more of a difference in personal preference/tolerance. It’s a complaint I hear more on FT than at the resort.

bobu

This makes me happy. Thanks for the updates, you've been awesome with all our questions. I wanted to do the fishing as well. Is it calm enough? Wondering if i'm able to bring my 4 year old on it lol. And did you get it cooked as well?

ALGU

Just finished up a 9 night award stay under two separate reservations, 5 on points and 4 on FN certs. Initially had a 2 bedroom reservation at the StR but shifted here due to schedule conflicts and to attend opening. They allowed us to stay in the same room. In terms of service, I would even go out on a limb say best I’ve experienced in all of my travels. There’s several people poached from other luxury properties, even within the Maldives. IE: The #2 in charge is from the W Maldives and the head of reservations if from the StR Maldives. So service is still top notch for “just” an upscale property. I agree with Alpbeta and say service isn’t as personalized when compared to luxury properties. For example, you don’t get a dedicated butler like at WA, StR, Ritz, etc. Personally, I actually prefer the team based style here. I feel like butler service can be a YMMV, as my previous stay in the Maldives had butler service that came off as more optics than substance. At the LM, it seemed like everyone was on the same page, especially during opening week. We were here celebrating a birthday, and everyone, quite literally, from the airport escort to the owners of the resort offered birthday greetings (maybe one for each year LOL) and went out of their way to make the celebration extra special. Along with the usual birthday fanfare and cake, we even got a miniature model of the arrival pavilion boat to take home. We were also recognized and thanked multiple times for being Titanium and Gold members, maybe more than all of my travels, combined, post COVID, lol.

F&B is also strong here as mentioned previously. GM came from F&B side which is a factor. Not a wide variety of outlets, however. You have 3 main restaurants: Tabemasu (fine dining), Velaa (main lunch and dinner outlet), Turquoise (main breakfast outlet). The rest are some variations of a bar: Riviera (Beach Bar), Waves (Health Bar), and Latitude (Coffee Bar). We didn’t do a meal plan as we don’t drink alcohol and were happy with the decision, especially with the added loyalty discount and lack of restrictions. It seems you could opt in for a meal plan after check in, so maybe do a test run at the start of your stay to see if it’s really worth opting for. The portions for mains at the Velaa are fair and filling; we could usually survive with just breakfast at Turquoise and two mains at Velaa.

As expected, there are some teething and design issues. I felt this especially for transportation. There’s no bikes, the FO has at most 7 buggy’s available. When occupancy picked up, waiting time could sometimes be around 30 minutes. The roads are quite narrow and barely wide enough for two buggies, so there’s added congestion when a custodial or in room dining buggy is parked on the road. For the OWVs, the buggies either pull an Austin Powers in between the segments or drive to the end of the pontoon to circle around. Experienced a few buggy “love taps”.

Other “stuff in-progress”. The Olhuvelifushi pontoon and Thilamafuushi Villa are still not open for guests. I tried to get a haircut at the spa but they still have a beautician vacancy. Meal plans are still a work in progress; still haven’t got an itemized list of drinks or meal plans sets. Some of the frontline staff, like our housekeeper, haven’t even had a day off since opening so everyone is in high gear,

Water sports and dive center is great, maybe a bit pricey ala carte, so packages are the way to go. Did snorkeling, diving, glass bottom canoeing, catamaran sailing, and sunset fishing. All fantastic experiences. Our boat only caught one fish during sunset fishing so they offered us a second chance on the house. I don’t know if this is a goodwill gesture or standard policy, but we were the only two guests out of the 6 that returned on the next trip. If you catch fish, you can have it cooked for $30 each. Marine life and house reef is amazing, definitely a selling point for the resort as mentioned previously.

The luxury vs. upscale discrepancy is most noticeable in the hardware and amenities. It’s not really a fair comparison to the LM (kinda like comparing full service airlines vs. LCC), but might still be worth answering. No motorized curtains or shades, no electronic bidet, no in-room electronic tablet, smaller floorplan footprint, Malin Goetz toiletries, no private transport to seaplane terminal, shared seaplane lounge, no on-property photography service, etc. Could be a deal breaker for some, so wouldn’t recommend this property for first timers to the Maldives. That being said, I would personally return here, since I don’t find luxury amenities worth the price premium.

I think the resort has done a fantastic job, and seems to be selling itself. There’s several here on award stays, loads from North America. I guess many points and miles enthusiasts are seeing the outsized value of the LM being a Cat. 5 property. It was nice meeting some of you, especially the nice couple who gave us a fish to eat when we caught 0 fishes on our second sunset fishing!

ALGU

Calm? Can be a bit rough, bring Dramamine or equivalent if you’re prone to sea sickness.
Cooked? Yes. $30 per fish at Velaa or Tabemasu. Not sure about Turquoise. Can even be done by 8pm same day.

WasKnown

Thank you so much for all of your posts here. Would you happen to have more candid shots of the interior of your room? No worries if you don’t.

love2travel38

I've been reading through this thread because my husband and I are going in October for the first time to the Maldives! Everything I'm hearing is still making me keep the reso - it's so cheap in terms of points (280k for 10 night stay + 1 free night cert in OVW bungalow). We could go to St. Regis later. I'd prefer to go to a "lower" ranked Maldives hotel first, and there's nowhere to go but up.

We are trying to decide whether we should get the meal plan + beverage (we are drinkers...) so as people attend and the meal plans get updated please let us know on this site!

Everyone has been super helpful so far.

imverge

Welcome to FT

I think the deal-breaker for most in getting a meal plan or not is if you are a drinker.

That being said,,, some things to consider - do you enjoy spirits, wine or both? The full-board and all-inclusive include different types of alcohol.

Regardless, I think in your case you should definitely consider a meal plan.

Please gives us a trip report, it's always nice get a different perspective especially from a first-timer. Enjoy your vacation!

ALGU

Credits to the housekeeping team for letting me take pictures of a vacant OWV in the middle of the night.

svellmann

Are you saying you need to do a Covid (PCR?) test if moving to another resort within the Maldives? We're doing five nights at the Conrad first and then five nights at the LM, so would we need to do another test (in addition to the one done before flying to the Maldives) at the Conrad before heading to the LM?

love2travel38

I'm actually thinking now maybe we do 6 nights at le meridien and 5 nights at St. Regis because we have the points for this...thoughts? The problem though is of course the extra cost that we will need to figure out for transfers, covid tests + the planes

Worth?

Alpbeta

yes, PH checked with LM before I left. They need another test result for inter island travel…

imverge

1) Another PCR test $120.

2) One way speed boat transfer $1100 (per person) or....

3) Return to MLE and pay for another return seaplane transfer $745 (per person to St.R)

4) Don't forget to add the 23% taxes to all amounts above.