Dav77

thanks. Of course it would be really out of mind to spend >400k points / 5 days at the Sheraton for a bungalow. StRegis is cheaper, as well as all the other luxury Marriott properties at the Maldives.

for this reason I was asking.

littlevoices

Was curious on people's opinions... I have an eight night stay at the JW Marriott. Qatar just changed around my flights so that rather than leaving at 20:45 on Monday I now leave at 10:20 on Tuesday (In June). We are 4 adults travelling with a baby and staying in a beach duplex at the JW.

The choice is between:
1. Extend the current JW Marriott stay by a night, this will cost about USD4500 (or 240k points + cash) and includes all inclusive food and drink. I'd then get the first seaplane out on Tuesday after breakfast
2. Still depart the JW Marriott after 8 nights and spend a night at the Sheraton, but more as an overnight stay (presuming I push for the last seaplane of the day, say 3pm, and so check into the hotel about 5-6pm and leave 12 hours later to go to the airport. I have some two free night certificates that I should (presuming they allow the upgrades) be able to use for the Sheraton as well (41k/night per room for 2 basic rooms). I'd apply two SNAs as well and see what happened.

Option #2 seems to financially make more sense, but then I have to balance it against the pain of checking in/out with a baby and taking the boat to the Sheraton twice in 12 hours. I presume we'd just pay for the al-la-carte restaurant for dinner at the Sheraton, and I guess it would be nice to have some variety and somewhere different to walk around after eight nights.

Would welcome people's thoughts - it does seem like the Sheraton makes more sense, but maybe I missed something? (For context, I still have 700k Marriott points and whilst 4500USD seems like a lot of money it would only increase our stay cost by ~12%)

friedablass

In my opinion it depends on if you're looking to save $$ vs convenience. For me, when I get into the frugal mode I will inconvenience myself which means I'd opt for the Sheraton - I know it's not easy traveling with a baby as I've done it plus you're going to have to transfer all your luggage from resort 1 to resort 2 and then to the airport. But if I'm in the mood of having everything super convenient I'll spare no expense to make that happen.

Being that you have a baby with you and have 700k points I would personally opt for convenience and just stay on at the JW. I would do the 240k points option because Bonvoy points are losing value so 240k points for a $4500 room is an excellent value.

LovetoTravel83

I would do the Sheraton. It's more convenient. A 10:20 am flight means that you need to depart the JW extremely early, I'd rather spend the night at the Sheraton and have a short boat trip to the airport.

1 night in the Sheraton is more than enough l, I have done it last year and it's just a good place to explore for one night.

Wozza2404

Came here via a search as I have exactly the same issue (QR retimed flight from 8pm to 10am and will not budge on changing us to the later one). Looking at doing one night at the Sheraton rather than shelling out $3k for another night at the WA.

Just don't know if changing resorts is going to feel like a real hassle when we're actually there.

Decisions decisions.

littlevoices

I did this stay at the Sheraton the end and was happy with the outcome - after over a week in the JW Marriott it was a nice change, and I felt it was a different experience. My observations are short as a result, but we had two meals costing about USD250 for four adults.... lunch at Kakuni Hut and then dinner at Sea Salt. Dinner was good value, excellent service and we really enjoyed it. Kakuni was pretty bad food and comes into the "USD50 for a beer and a burger/taco", so was less happy with that. Transferring between the airport/hotel was smooth, less than 20 minutes each way, and so it was a less stressful early morning flight. Maldivian time does seem to come without the same sense of urgency so I think it would have been a stressful morning trying to make that early morning flight (i.e. our plane leaving the JW was scheduled at 11am, but actually left nearer 11.30, and included a fairly long stopover so we didn't get to the airport until 11.50am.... an hour later than I'd have imagined if getting a flight)

We used two free night certs, and 2xSNA, that was confirmed the week before into an overwater bungalow. This was perfectly fine for one night, but would not have been good for a week as the sun-loungers had no protection from the sun, so you'd basically be stuck inside your room or elsewhere for much of the day. I saw a few other families here spending a longer period of time - but really think it's good for a day or two at most on the way to/from elsewhere, but isn't a real Maldives resort experience - but was 20% of the price.

krazykanuck

Does anybody have any experience or recs for diving charters from the property?

maisondubonheur

I stay there few years ago...while it was still a special deal for Plat and above.

Diving wise...the big issue is their crazy "trial dive"...whatever your level. I'm DM with solid diving, so managed to avoid it, but had to be firmed.

Diving wise...they have a fish "factory" not far away....easy and actually pretty cool dive. They have few decent walls diving. Also, not that far away from a manta cleaning station. So if you know what you want and come prepared, you will find no issue to do 3-4 super nice dives. If you are less experienced, just go with the flow and let them take care of you. It's a pretty small dive center, so a lot of one to one...

Dav77

Do any of the hotel’s guest remember if in this property a regular foggy fumigation is made ?

littlevoices

If you're trying to ask if there are no mosquitos, no matter what the property did in terms of spraying there was plenty of greenery, and you're not that far from Male and other towns. So yes, there were plenty of mosquitos, even during the day, so you need to pack bug spray. We got a few bites despite this (probably no different than any other Maldivian resort though)

krazykanuck

Just finished up a 3 night stay, that felt like a long 4 night stay. On the plus side, the rates on points were reasonable and my SNAs cleared into an overwater villa. Arrived around 8am on day one and my room was already ready so was able to catch a couple hours of sleep to make up for the overnight economy flight from AUH. Pretty much the only reason I went was I'd never been to the Maldives, wanted a property with a low cost to free transfer, and not something overly nice since I was by myself. Ticked the box, though I could have done with less time since I got bored. The weather is iffy this time of year, but lucked out with it mostly raining at night and the days were pretty clear, aside from a sporadic shower. My last day was a total downpour from 11am until my flight left that night. I had originally planned to do some diving on the trip, but I didn't get my certification done in time. Did some snorkeling around the property, but it was a bit tough with how strong the wind was.

Prices for food and drink were obviously expensive, but the more I thought about it, if you're used to higher COL cities, it's really not terrible. A draft beer is $11, but that's inclusive of tax and mandatory service charge. As I was on the Bonvy Plat meal plan, as in I chose breakfast as my benefit, skipped lunch (not that I was hungry anyway) and had dinner, I spent about $145 over 3 days. The food was pretty good as well. The seafood pasta at Anchorage was delicious, and if you ordered that in the US it was so full of ocean critters (mussels, squid, probably others too) it would have probably cost the same.

They host a managers reception at Sea Salt on Friday from 5:30-6:30 which has an open bar and canapes. One of the staff said it is held weekly. Not sure what it takes to get invited, presumably Bonjoy elites.

newbie0121

Just received the following email from the hotel after making a reservation.We arrange return shared speed boat transfer at US$85.00 per adult based on international flight arrival timing. There might be a wait time of 45-60 minutes for the flights to be cleared and other guests to successfully pass through the immigration and customs. We can arrange private speed boat transfer from/to Airport at USD 247 per way and require advance booking to have it arranged upon your arrival.

littlevoices

Thanks for the heads up - this would be a shame and move away an incentive to stay here. I notice that 1) The hotel website doesn't disclose the fee yet, in the same way that the other Marriott resorts in the Maldives do, 2) There are quite a few rates available as packages that include a free speedboat transfer. It would seem until its more bedded in that you may be best rebooking to a rate that includes the transfer, as a USD300 room has got to be better than spending half that (USD85x2 people) on transportation with no benefits. You may want to challenge them about disclosure of the fee and see what they say... It is the same service that was previously offered for free, so it is quite a hike in costs considering the resort is a fairly cheap one.

flybyFIRE

Anyone know if they are now charging for the boat transfer? Or is it still complimentary? The website is a bit ambigious.

Keyser

Made a payment here earlier this month using my Chase Bonvoy Visa. My statement closed earlier this week & the points for spend posted today. However, the posting shows in the general spend category & not the Marriott category so I didn't get any bonus points.

Has anyone else here used a Marriott branded card at this property & not received the bonus points?