Dec 7, 2018, 8:29 am
Last edit by: razflyer
Post #515 is an EXTENSIVE review w/ pics. Link
Food menus: Kitchen, In-Room Dining, Fire, Fish
Prices may change (sometimes substantially) so not necessarily up to date.
Excursions and activities pricing
Food menus: Kitchen, In-Room Dining, Fire, Fish
Prices may change (sometimes substantially) so not necessarily up to date.
Excursions and activities pricing
W Maldives [Master Thread]
Jan 10, 2019, 9:05 am
#466
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: RDU
Posts: 735
Thank you @Gunner14 for this awesome update!
I ran the numbers again after looking at the menus for the restaurants, and once you factor in that breakfast is free, half board only makes sense if you really, really are committed to eating three courses for each meal each day.
On the other hand, as far as I can tell, the beverage package is still an absolutely fantastic deal.
I ran the numbers again after looking at the menus for the restaurants, and once you factor in that breakfast is free, half board only makes sense if you really, really are committed to eating three courses for each meal each day.
On the other hand, as far as I can tell, the beverage package is still an absolutely fantastic deal.
Jan 12, 2019, 11:01 pm
#467
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
I'm at the hotel now. I'll write up a fuller review with some pictures sometime later after I'm done enjoying my vacation, but a few thoughts for now. This is my first time in the Maldives so really don't have anything to compare to directly, but I've of course read many of the detailed FT and blogger reviews of the St. Regis Maldives, so I can't help but let that color my impressions somewhat.
Pleasant surprises / Positives
Unpleasant surprises / Negatives
It's early days so we'll see how the rest of the stay goes, but so far breakfast is the only major disappointment. I did get a great deal on this stay (340K points for 5 nights in a confirmed overwater villa), so I do need to keep reminding myself that buying up to a St. Regis overwater villa would have been a lot more expensive, plus pricier seaplane transfers, and probably pricier F&B with the lack of 20% discount there. But, it's not clear that the deal I got at the W exists any more, and how much various room categories are supposed to cost using points at both hotels is rather unclear, so I would say that I think the St. Regis is probably worth something of a price premium.
Pleasant surprises / Positives
- Soft drinks in the minibar are free, which I have not seen mentioned anywhere before, though I might have missed it, or it might be a recent change? Includes some soda and juice. Branded bottles of water in minibar are chargeable, but lots of resuable glass W water bottles are provided in the room. Hotel also markets tap water as safe to drink, which I hadn't expected, but I guess makes sense considering the hotel controls 100% of the water supply chain so why wouldn't it have been built to that standard? That said, tap water wasn't forthcoming as an option at dinner last night and I didn't see anyone with it, and I caved and paid $12 for a 750mL Evian, but I might eventually get up the nerve to ask for tap water at a meal.
- Nespresso machine available in room.
- 20% F&B discount (including alcohol) for Plats appears to be alive and well, and seems to come off your bill at the time of signing the check, so you can keep track of it as you go rather than having to reconcile at check-out. 10% service charge and 12% tax are applied to the post-discount amount, so net amount spent for Plats actually comes out a little bit below listed menu prices. 20% off is not offered on room service and excursions but valid at all restaurants and bars.
- Prices are the same as the most recent menus posted on here, which isn't good exactly but at least they haven't gone up again. I had made my peace with the expense but it still jarring to confront it for real when you sit down and the menu is put in front of you. That said, I actually think the booze prices are pretty reasonable for the most part, perhaps because I live in NYC where $18 seems entirely reasonable for a "designed" cocktail at a high-end hotel these days. Minibar prices are also not terrible, with some items probably cheaper than the minibars at many city Ws, especially since free soft drinks means free mixers. (By contrast beer is the one booze that is quite unreasonably priced IMO, but maybe that's just because beer isn't really on brand for the W?)
- I am not going to do the drinks package, both because I don't know that I'll drink *that* much (and/or the times/places where I want to drink more, like at the pool during the day, aren't covered by the plan), and because the variety available on the plan isn't that great and the a la carte drink options are IMO not that outrageously priced. In particular there are a number of wines by the glass for around $11 each and I'd prefer to have the wider variety of wines to choose from. (The red that is offered in the drink package is also on the by-the-glass menu and my husband ordered it last night; it was about what you would expect for a cheaper South African red.)
- The pool does have a swim-up bar, one of my favorite features.
- Have just had one restaurant meal so far, at Fire last night, and the quality was acceptable. Not the best steak dinner I've ever had, and obviously not what I would expect for an $80 steak anywhere else, but it was decent, which I think is typically about what you expect in the Maldives.
- Bloody Marys and sparking wine are available as part of the breakfast buffet, meaning that part of the drink package actually has no incremental value.
- Service so far is generally very good and attentive; many of the staff know our names without us having to introduce ourselves, etc., and everyone is very friendly. Definitely feels 5-star in that respect and better than one might expect from the W brand given many of their hotels are known for sometimes off-putting service. Similarly ice bucket in the room is filled by housekeeping during both daily services, which is not normally something I expect at a W or similar level hotels. (There are also ice machines available at the snack stations around the island.)
- MLE airport transfer process was very very easy with staff guiding you along every step of the way. Lounge was a little shabby maybe, definitely not as luxe as what I've seen of pictures of the St. Regis lounge, but got the job done and had a decent selection of snacks and soft drinks available. We also got lucky and had barely any wait for our seaplane (our incoming flight landed at 12:30pm). We were also not charged for overweight bags on the seaplane, despite being well over the quoted limit (by at least 10kg each). The W rep said something about they were using a new company so they weren't charging any more, which I don't think is right since I think there's still only one seaplane operator, but regardless I'm not going to complain, although I also wasn't too worried about it because the W had quoted only $2/kg for overweight baggage which would have been quite reasonable and which I had been planning to pay anyway.
- Perhaps the only true F&B deal of the entire trip was a $2.50 DQ Blizzard in the MLE airport food court airside, near the seaplane check-in area. It was a considerably smaller size than I think DQ even offers in the US, but it was still a decent size and perfect to cool off since it was very hot in the arrivals and seaplane check-in area of the airport. And on a per ounce basis I think it still would have been cheaper than what I would have expected to pay in the US. By contrast, at Burger King in the same area, value meals cost $14-17.
- Haven't checked it out yet, but apparently there are also a few free snack services (popsicles, Magnum ice cream bars) a few scheduled times a day at the main pool.
Unpleasant surprises / Negatives
- As has been reported elsewhere, the snack stations around the resort have been downgraded significantly from what they apparently once were. Currently offer just green apples and some weird local energy drink thing. It's not ultimately that big a deal since I don't know that the hotel ever actively marketed the snack stations, and there are a few other places to get free snacks and drinks as mentioned in the pros above, but just something to be aware of if comparing to any older reviews online.
- No idea how long this has been the case, but it seems that the underground nightclub mentioned in some older reviews of the property is no more. I believe there also might have once been another restaurant, I think called Kada or something like that, which also appears to be dead. Restaurant / bar options are now Kitchen, Fire, Fish, Wet (poolside), and Sip.
- Fire and Fish are open on alternating days, so there are really only two sit-down dinner restaurants (one of those plus Kitchen) any given night. Reservations are strongly recommended; when we called at around 3:30pm to make one for dinner at Fire last night, the closest we could get to our 6:30 dinner time request was 7:30.
- The breakfast was frankly disappointing. It's not bad, and it probably doesn't help that we just stayed at the St. Regis in Bangkok and that our last W stay was in Amsterdam not long ago, where the breakfast is outstanding, and it definitely doesn't help that I've looked at lots of reviews of the St. Regis Maldives. But, it just doesn't have the super-wide variety I expect from high-end Asian hotel breakfasts (indeed the variety is not much more than I might expect from a true 5-star hotel in the US), and there are only a handful of fairly boring made-to-order options. The level of variety is also below what I have seen at other 4-star-ish resorts in places like Phuket for example, and at city Westins, Ws, and similar hotels in south/east/southeast Asia.
- The bathroom in the room is mostly nice enough but I do have one big complaint: there is way too little toilet privacy. The toilet stall has a glass door with a partial design on it, but it doesn't really provide any effective privacy, and what's worse, there is no door or curtain or anything closing off the bathroom from the bedroom. The toilet stall also looks right out onto the windows overlooking the plunge pool. I've seen reviews of the St. Regis complain that there the toilet stall has a completely clear glass door, though at least there I believe there is a proper door between the bedroom and bathroom.
It's early days so we'll see how the rest of the stay goes, but so far breakfast is the only major disappointment. I did get a great deal on this stay (340K points for 5 nights in a confirmed overwater villa), so I do need to keep reminding myself that buying up to a St. Regis overwater villa would have been a lot more expensive, plus pricier seaplane transfers, and probably pricier F&B with the lack of 20% discount there. But, it's not clear that the deal I got at the W exists any more, and how much various room categories are supposed to cost using points at both hotels is rather unclear, so I would say that I think the St. Regis is probably worth something of a price premium.
Jan 13, 2019, 4:12 am
#468
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: Delta-DM, United-Platinum, American-Platinum, Marriott-Platinum, SPG-Platinum
Posts: 196
Welcome to the hotel. I'm here now too! I generally agree with the below. The whole privacy thing is definitely part of the W brand. I remember in the W Atlanta you can see clear across to the other building while showering and therefore they can see you too.
Overall people here are quite fit so don't think most mind lol.
I'd also add that the half-board / full/board don't seem to make sense as the meal portions are quite large. Furthermore, some of the events don't count and the incremental difference that HB/FB have to pay over those without the meal plan doesn't make sense. For example the beach BBQ was $185 pp without while with a HB/FB it was $110 (on top of the already $140/xx that you already paid for the meal plan.
Overall people here are quite fit so don't think most mind lol.
I'd also add that the half-board / full/board don't seem to make sense as the meal portions are quite large. Furthermore, some of the events don't count and the incremental difference that HB/FB have to pay over those without the meal plan doesn't make sense. For example the beach BBQ was $185 pp without while with a HB/FB it was $110 (on top of the already $140/xx that you already paid for the meal plan.
I'm at the hotel now. I'll write up a fuller review with some pictures sometime later after I'm done enjoying my vacation, but a few thoughts for now. This is my first time in the Maldives so really don't have anything to compare to directly, but I've of course read many of the detailed FT and blogger reviews of the St. Regis Maldives, so I can't help but let that color my impressions somewhat.
Pleasant surprises / Positives
Unpleasant surprises / Negatives
It's early days so we'll see how the rest of the stay goes, but so far breakfast is the only major disappointment. I did get a great deal on this stay (340K points for 5 nights in a confirmed overwater villa), so I do need to keep reminding myself that buying up to a St. Regis overwater villa would have been a lot more expensive, plus pricier seaplane transfers, and probably pricier F&B with the lack of 20% discount there. But, it's not clear that the deal I got at the W exists any more, and how much various room categories are supposed to cost using points at both hotels is rather unclear, so I would say that I think the St. Regis is probably worth something of a price premium.
Pleasant surprises / Positives
- Soft drinks in the minibar are free, which I have not seen mentioned anywhere before, though I might have missed it, or it might be a recent change? Includes some soda and juice. Branded bottles of water in minibar are chargeable, but lots of resuable glass W water bottles are provided in the room. Hotel also markets tap water as safe to drink, which I hadn't expected, but I guess makes sense considering the hotel controls 100% of the water supply chain so why wouldn't it have been built to that standard? That said, tap water wasn't forthcoming as an option at dinner last night and I didn't see anyone with it, and I caved and paid $12 for a 750mL Evian, but I might eventually get up the nerve to ask for tap water at a meal.
- Nespresso machine available in room.
- 20% F&B discount (including alcohol) for Plats appears to be alive and well, and seems to come off your bill at the time of signing the check, so you can keep track of it as you go rather than having to reconcile at check-out. 10% service charge and 12% tax are applied to the post-discount amount, so net amount spent for Plats actually comes out a little bit below listed menu prices. 20% off is not offered on room service and excursions but valid at all restaurants and bars.
- Prices are the same as the most recent menus posted on here, which isn't good exactly but at least they haven't gone up again. I had made my peace with the expense but it still jarring to confront it for real when you sit down and the menu is put in front of you. That said, I actually think the booze prices are pretty reasonable for the most part, perhaps because I live in NYC where $18 seems entirely reasonable for a "designed" cocktail at a high-end hotel these days. Minibar prices are also not terrible, with some items probably cheaper than the minibars at many city Ws, especially since free soft drinks means free mixers. (By contrast beer is the one booze that is quite unreasonably priced IMO, but maybe that's just because beer isn't really on brand for the W?)
- I am not going to do the drinks package, both because I don't know that I'll drink *that* much (and/or the times/places where I want to drink more, like at the pool during the day, aren't covered by the plan), and because the variety available on the plan isn't that great and the a la carte drink options are IMO not that outrageously priced. In particular there are a number of wines by the glass for around $11 each and I'd prefer to have the wider variety of wines to choose from. (The red that is offered in the drink package is also on the by-the-glass menu and my husband ordered it last night; it was about what you would expect for a cheaper South African red.)
- The pool does have a swim-up bar, one of my favorite features.
- Have just had one restaurant meal so far, at Fire last night, and the quality was acceptable. Not the best steak dinner I've ever had, and obviously not what I would expect for an $80 steak anywhere else, but it was decent, which I think is typically about what you expect in the Maldives.
- Bloody Marys and sparking wine are available as part of the breakfast buffet, meaning that part of the drink package actually has no incremental value.
- Service so far is generally very good and attentive; many of the staff know our names without us having to introduce ourselves, etc., and everyone is very friendly. Definitely feels 5-star in that respect and better than one might expect from the W brand given many of their hotels are known for sometimes off-putting service. Similarly ice bucket in the room is filled by housekeeping during both daily services, which is not normally something I expect at a W or similar level hotels. (There are also ice machines available at the snack stations around the island.)
- MLE airport transfer process was very very easy with staff guiding you along every step of the way. Lounge was a little shabby maybe, definitely not as luxe as what I've seen of pictures of the St. Regis lounge, but got the job done and had a decent selection of snacks and soft drinks available. We also got lucky and had barely any wait for our seaplane (our incoming flight landed at 12:30pm). We were also not charged for overweight bags on the seaplane, despite being well over the quoted limit (by at least 10kg each). The W rep said something about they were using a new company so they weren't charging any more, which I don't think is right since I think there's still only one seaplane operator, but regardless I'm not going to complain, although I also wasn't too worried about it because the W had quoted only $2/kg for overweight baggage which would have been quite reasonable and which I had been planning to pay anyway.
- Perhaps the only true F&B deal of the entire trip was a $2.50 DQ Blizzard in the MLE airport food court airside, near the seaplane check-in area. It was a considerably smaller size than I think DQ even offers in the US, but it was still a decent size and perfect to cool off since it was very hot in the arrivals and seaplane check-in area of the airport. And on a per ounce basis I think it still would have been cheaper than what I would have expected to pay in the US. By contrast, at Burger King in the same area, value meals cost $14-17.
- Haven't checked it out yet, but apparently there are also a few free snack services (popsicles, Magnum ice cream bars) a few scheduled times a day at the main pool.
Unpleasant surprises / Negatives
- As has been reported elsewhere, the snack stations around the resort have been downgraded significantly from what they apparently once were. Currently offer just green apples and some weird local energy drink thing. It's not ultimately that big a deal since I don't know that the hotel ever actively marketed the snack stations, and there are a few other places to get free snacks and drinks as mentioned in the pros above, but just something to be aware of if comparing to any older reviews online.
- No idea how long this has been the case, but it seems that the underground nightclub mentioned in some older reviews of the property is no more. I believe there also might have once been another restaurant, I think called Kada or something like that, which also appears to be dead. Restaurant / bar options are now Kitchen, Fire, Fish, Wet (poolside), and Sip.
- Fire and Fish are open on alternating days, so there are really only two sit-down dinner restaurants (one of those plus Kitchen) any given night. Reservations are strongly recommended; when we called at around 3:30pm to make one for dinner at Fire last night, the closest we could get to our 6:30 dinner time request was 7:30.
- The breakfast was frankly disappointing. It's not bad, and it probably doesn't help that we just stayed at the St. Regis in Bangkok and that our last W stay was in Amsterdam not long ago, where the breakfast is outstanding, and it definitely doesn't help that I've looked at lots of reviews of the St. Regis Maldives. But, it just doesn't have the super-wide variety I expect from high-end Asian hotel breakfasts (indeed the variety is not much more than I might expect from a true 5-star hotel in the US), and there are only a handful of fairly boring made-to-order options. The level of variety is also below what I have seen at other 4-star-ish resorts in places like Phuket for example, and at city Westins, Ws, and similar hotels in south/east/southeast Asia.
- The bathroom in the room is mostly nice enough but I do have one big complaint: there is way too little toilet privacy. The toilet stall has a glass door with a partial design on it, but it doesn't really provide any effective privacy, and what's worse, there is no door or curtain or anything closing off the bathroom from the bedroom. The toilet stall also looks right out onto the windows overlooking the plunge pool. I've seen reviews of the St. Regis complain that there the toilet stall has a completely clear glass door, though at least there I believe there is a proper door between the bedroom and bathroom.
It's early days so we'll see how the rest of the stay goes, but so far breakfast is the only major disappointment. I did get a great deal on this stay (340K points for 5 nights in a confirmed overwater villa), so I do need to keep reminding myself that buying up to a St. Regis overwater villa would have been a lot more expensive, plus pricier seaplane transfers, and probably pricier F&B with the lack of 20% discount there. But, it's not clear that the deal I got at the W exists any more, and how much various room categories are supposed to cost using points at both hotels is rather unclear, so I would say that I think the St. Regis is probably worth something of a price premium.
Jan 13, 2019, 10:48 am
#469
Join Date: Dec 2016
Programs: Marriott Titanium, IHG Spire Elite, Hilton Gold, United Silver, BA Bronze
Posts: 322
bgriff, thanks for sharing. Tremendously useful.
Does the hotel offer complimentary bottled water as well? I think you allude to this with the W branded bottles? I suspect it's from the same source as the tap water anyway, but better half always prefers bottled.
Does the hotel offer complimentary bottled water as well? I think you allude to this with the W branded bottles? I suspect it's from the same source as the tap water anyway, but better half always prefers bottled.
Jan 13, 2019, 12:32 pm
#470
Join Date: Dec 2013
Programs: Hyatt Globalist | Marriott Titanium | Hilton Diamond
Posts: 155
Thanks for the review. Recently completed a stay and agree with most of your comments, but we really enjoyed the breakfast. Any time we requested an item that wasn't out on the main buffet that day they had no issue cooking it for us and delivering to our table. For example, they typically rotate between turkey and pork bacon each day. On a day that they only had turkey bacon we asked if we could have some pork bacon and they had no issue cooking some up for us. On another occasion one of the staff suggested we order garlic rice to go with our breakfast and again the kitchen had no issue making this special request.
We had just traveled from the Park Hyatt Dubai whose breakfast was truly disappointing, so that may have skewed our view.
We had just traveled from the Park Hyatt Dubai whose breakfast was truly disappointing, so that may have skewed our view.
Jan 13, 2019, 8:33 pm
#471
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
Water in bottles is mentioned in the hotel guide book as being subjected to some crystal filtration system; no idea if that’s a further step than what the tap water gets, but yeah, I’d assume the bottle water ultimately comes from that same tap water process. If you want sealed bottles, Evian is offered at all bars / restaurants at 750mL for $12, or a smaller bottle size in the minibar for $7.
Btw, two other salient points I forgot to mention (in response to complaints I’ve seen about other Maldives resorts): one, the AC in the room is very good and can keep the room nice and cool even midday as long as you keep the doors closed. And two, the WiFi is respectably fast considering the location, and can even sometimes handle streaming video, though not always reliably. The speed seems to come and go so not sure if that’s due to how many other people are using it, or what.
Jan 13, 2019, 9:23 pm
#472
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Palm Springs, CA
Programs: AA EXP / Marriott AMB & LT Titanium
Posts: 377
What suddenly happened to all room availability for November and December? IT glitch or something else?
UPDATE: Nevermind, it is back again. Temporary IT glitch.
UPDATE: Nevermind, it is back again. Temporary IT glitch.
Last edited by FrontOfTheCurtain; Jan 13, 2019 at 9:45 pm
Jan 14, 2019, 3:20 pm
#473
Join Date: May 2010
Location: LAX
Programs: AA LT PLT
Posts: 204
To those posting while you're on vacation--thank you!
There are no complimentary sealed bottles of water (other than that we did get a couple of small Evian bottles in our welcome snack spread). The complimentary bottles are reusable glass bottles with W branding which the staff replaces at twice daily housekeeping. Same glass bottles are on offer at the gym. I’ve seen similar setups at a few other remote resorts as a way to reduce plastic bottle waste, which seems reasonable enough to me.
Thanks for this info! I assume that if I want to bring my own water in W bottles, I can, if they aren't willing to provide tap water. I cannot imagine them forcing you to buy bottled water....(?)
Thanks for the info regarding the price of the beach bbq. I'd be curious as to the prices of the other themed nights, if you happen to remember them as they occur throughout your stay.
Separately, I had read about them ditching the ice cream and snacks (other than apples) at the snack stations, which is annoying. If you are able to glean any more info about what they pass out at the pool when, that'd be awesome!
Any idea whether they will replenish mini bar with drinks whenever/as needed?
Has either of you tried to get a canoe from the activities desk? I have seen conflicting information as to whether there is a charge for these.
Thanks again!
There are no complimentary sealed bottles of water (other than that we did get a couple of small Evian bottles in our welcome snack spread). The complimentary bottles are reusable glass bottles with W branding which the staff replaces at twice daily housekeeping. Same glass bottles are on offer at the gym. I’ve seen similar setups at a few other remote resorts as a way to reduce plastic bottle waste, which seems reasonable enough to me.
Welcome to the hotel. I'm here now too! I generally agree with the below. The whole privacy thing is definitely part of the W brand. I remember in the W Atlanta you can see clear across to the other building while showering and therefore they can see you too.
Overall people here are quite fit so don't think most mind lol.
I'd also add that the half-board / full/board don't seem to make sense as the meal portions are quite large. Furthermore, some of the events don't count and the incremental difference that HB/FB have to pay over those without the meal plan doesn't make sense. For example the beach BBQ was $185 pp without while with a HB/FB it was $110 (on top of the already $140/xx that you already paid for the meal plan.
Overall people here are quite fit so don't think most mind lol.
I'd also add that the half-board / full/board don't seem to make sense as the meal portions are quite large. Furthermore, some of the events don't count and the incremental difference that HB/FB have to pay over those without the meal plan doesn't make sense. For example the beach BBQ was $185 pp without while with a HB/FB it was $110 (on top of the already $140/xx that you already paid for the meal plan.
Thanks for the info regarding the price of the beach bbq. I'd be curious as to the prices of the other themed nights, if you happen to remember them as they occur throughout your stay.
Separately, I had read about them ditching the ice cream and snacks (other than apples) at the snack stations, which is annoying. If you are able to glean any more info about what they pass out at the pool when, that'd be awesome!
Any idea whether they will replenish mini bar with drinks whenever/as needed?
Has either of you tried to get a canoe from the activities desk? I have seen conflicting information as to whether there is a charge for these.
Thanks again!
Jan 14, 2019, 10:42 pm
#475
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: Delta-DM, United-Platinum, American-Platinum, Marriott-Platinum, SPG-Platinum
Posts: 196
I still see 60k/night. Check dates a few days from now. Perhaps your dates out ahead are sold out.
Jan 14, 2019, 10:52 pm
#476
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 138
Jan 14, 2019, 11:18 pm
#477
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: Delta-DM, United-Platinum, American-Platinum, Marriott-Platinum, SPG-Platinum
Posts: 196
Just checked out.
I sometimes brought a bottle from the gym when dining out. No one cared. Usually ordered wine anyway (which is one of the few items fairly priced).
As I recall, a lot of the special nights are $185 USD. They had this lobster set menu at fish for $185. In room BBQ (where they bring you items to bbq) was also $180ish for land or sea items.
Ice cream and popsicles are provided free at set times by the pool (1pm for popsicles and 4pm for magnum chocolate ice cream bars - both fantastic btw).
The stations closer to the room have apples, yummy granola bars and some replenishing ion drink (also quite good). Also free 30 SPF sunscreen by the pool and beach.
Never used the minibar even for the free soft drinks but imagine they would restock daily.
Kayak and paddleboards are free. Only special items like the clear bottom canoe are chargeable. Make sure you get your free snorkeling gear right away. We went out as soon as we landed and checked in.
My small tip. Make sure you ask for and take a picture of their weekly schedule. The lady showed it to us at the airplane lounge but said we'd have a more up to date one in our room. When I didn't see it I whatsapped for it but never got it until the final check out night. They seem to make up the schedule last minute so it was tough figuring out what was going on in the next few days without it.
The fact they use whatsapp so well is great though. My mobile spg key also worked by the 2nd/3rd night
Also tip, if you get an OWV, try to get a lagoon one not too far down the dock. The dock to all the OWV is super long. The multiple bedroom suites are all at the very end. Couldn't imagine having to walk that just to grab something from the room. They do offer to drive you but still. If you want complete privacy the beach villas seem great. We personally had an OWV closer to the island which we loved as we were able to interact with other guests quite easily.
I sometimes brought a bottle from the gym when dining out. No one cared. Usually ordered wine anyway (which is one of the few items fairly priced).
As I recall, a lot of the special nights are $185 USD. They had this lobster set menu at fish for $185. In room BBQ (where they bring you items to bbq) was also $180ish for land or sea items.
Ice cream and popsicles are provided free at set times by the pool (1pm for popsicles and 4pm for magnum chocolate ice cream bars - both fantastic btw).
The stations closer to the room have apples, yummy granola bars and some replenishing ion drink (also quite good). Also free 30 SPF sunscreen by the pool and beach.
Never used the minibar even for the free soft drinks but imagine they would restock daily.
Kayak and paddleboards are free. Only special items like the clear bottom canoe are chargeable. Make sure you get your free snorkeling gear right away. We went out as soon as we landed and checked in.
My small tip. Make sure you ask for and take a picture of their weekly schedule. The lady showed it to us at the airplane lounge but said we'd have a more up to date one in our room. When I didn't see it I whatsapped for it but never got it until the final check out night. They seem to make up the schedule last minute so it was tough figuring out what was going on in the next few days without it.
The fact they use whatsapp so well is great though. My mobile spg key also worked by the 2nd/3rd night
Also tip, if you get an OWV, try to get a lagoon one not too far down the dock. The dock to all the OWV is super long. The multiple bedroom suites are all at the very end. Couldn't imagine having to walk that just to grab something from the room. They do offer to drive you but still. If you want complete privacy the beach villas seem great. We personally had an OWV closer to the island which we loved as we were able to interact with other guests quite easily.
To those posting while you're on vacation--thank you!
Thanks for this info! I assume that if I want to bring my own water in W bottles, I can, if they aren't willing to provide tap water. I cannot imagine them forcing you to buy bottled water....(?)
Thanks for the info regarding the price of the beach bbq. I'd be curious as to the prices of the other themed nights, if you happen to remember them as they occur throughout your stay.
Separately, I had read about them ditching the ice cream and snacks (other than apples) at the snack stations, which is annoying. If you are able to glean any more info about what they pass out at the pool when, that'd be awesome!
Any idea whether they will replenish mini bar with drinks whenever/as needed?
Has either of you tried to get a canoe from the activities desk? I have seen conflicting information as to whether there is a charge for these.
Thanks again!
Thanks for this info! I assume that if I want to bring my own water in W bottles, I can, if they aren't willing to provide tap water. I cannot imagine them forcing you to buy bottled water....(?)
Thanks for the info regarding the price of the beach bbq. I'd be curious as to the prices of the other themed nights, if you happen to remember them as they occur throughout your stay.
Separately, I had read about them ditching the ice cream and snacks (other than apples) at the snack stations, which is annoying. If you are able to glean any more info about what they pass out at the pool when, that'd be awesome!
Any idea whether they will replenish mini bar with drinks whenever/as needed?
Has either of you tried to get a canoe from the activities desk? I have seen conflicting information as to whether there is a charge for these.
Thanks again!
Jan 15, 2019, 12:20 am
#478
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
To those posting while you're on vacation--thank you!
Thanks for this info! I assume that if I want to bring my own water in W bottles, I can, if they aren't willing to provide tap water. I cannot imagine them forcing you to buy bottled water....(?)
Thanks for the info regarding the price of the beach bbq. I'd be curious as to the prices of the other themed nights, if you happen to remember them as they occur throughout your stay.
Separately, I had read about them ditching the ice cream and snacks (other than apples) at the snack stations, which is annoying. If you are able to glean any more info about what they pass out at the pool when, that'd be awesome!
Any idea whether they will replenish mini bar with drinks whenever/as needed?
Has either of you tried to get a canoe from the activities desk? I have seen conflicting information as to whether there is a charge for these.
Thanks again!
Thanks for this info! I assume that if I want to bring my own water in W bottles, I can, if they aren't willing to provide tap water. I cannot imagine them forcing you to buy bottled water....(?)
Thanks for the info regarding the price of the beach bbq. I'd be curious as to the prices of the other themed nights, if you happen to remember them as they occur throughout your stay.
Separately, I had read about them ditching the ice cream and snacks (other than apples) at the snack stations, which is annoying. If you are able to glean any more info about what they pass out at the pool when, that'd be awesome!
Any idea whether they will replenish mini bar with drinks whenever/as needed?
Has either of you tried to get a canoe from the activities desk? I have seen conflicting information as to whether there is a charge for these.
Thanks again!
The themed nights seem mostly expensive and possibly not worth it. The lobster one, which we did not do, was somewhere in the $160-180++pp range. I believe they said that Plats do not get the 20% discount on the themed nights, which makes it an even worse value (for a Plat anyway). Our meals have not been cheap, but have come out not quite as bad as I had been planning ... so far our range of dinner costs for 2 has been roughly $170-250ish, all-in including Plat discount, tax and service charge. Fire was the most expensive and most underwhelming -- $80 for a steak that wasn't really anything special. We've only had one glass of wine each at each dinner, though as ahbitheman said, the wine is probably the most reasonably priced thing here. We've also had no problem skipping lunch each day which has saved a lot of money.
I imagine they'd bring more minibar soft drinks if you wanted; I think they've replenished ours about once a day, as expected.
And agree on the tip about the weekly meal schedule; we didn't see it or hear about it at all until it showed up in our room on the third night. Would have been nice to see earlier to plan out when we would eat where, and to avoid the special meal nights (or I guess target them, if one wanted).
Jan 15, 2019, 5:06 am
#479
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: MAN and LON
Programs: Mucci, BAEC LT Gold, HH Dia, MR LT Plat, IHG Diamond Amb, Amex Plat
Posts: 13,765
Am I interpreting the drinks package correctly:-
One alcoholic drink with lunch
One alcoholic sundowner pre-dinner
Free drinks with dinner (presumably from starter to dessert).
One alcoholic drink with lunch
One alcoholic sundowner pre-dinner
Free drinks with dinner (presumably from starter to dessert).
Jan 15, 2019, 5:44 am
#480
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
The wines and cocktails you can get with the drinks package otherwise cost $11-12 each a la carte (or around $50 for a bottle); the bottle of water costs $12 and the beer costs $15, so I guess the drink package is perhaps most valuable for beer drinkers.
Platinum members would also get 20% off all of those items if paying a la carte but I believe would not get that discount on the package.
