Opps, I have not updated my US Trip and here i am, off and back from Maldives!
Here's a blog post review on How to choose a Maldives Resort.
With a whole bunch of list of resorts and small atolls islands on Maldives, Which should you choose?
My top 5 Criteria:
1. Water/Ocean Villa -- Looking towards the ocean, able to look down at schools of fishes, access to the ocean would be a plus point. And a Jacuzzi or a pool is a must at the deck!
2. FOC Mineral water -- Drinks are very expensive in Maldives. In my resort, they charge USD5 for a Evian and USD4 for Soft Drinks!
3. Near to Airport -- if you are only going less than a week. Shorter transfer waiting time!
4. FOC Snorkelling gear -- I heard that some resorts charges per day!
5. House Reef -- To Snorkel as and when you wish in your resort! That's the main thing i did in Maldives!
So which Resort did i go to?
I went to Adaaran Prestige Vadoo. And yes, of course it has all the pluses listed above! It has only 50 villas, so your privacy and personal space is guaranteed. Service is excellent as well. A lot of people asked why i did not choose Club Med Kani? Well, i almost! But it has very limited Water villas (very much more expensive!) and too much people! Although there are alot of activities and yes, they are all FREE! But well, we rather laze in a nice Water/Ocean Villa and snorkel as and when for the 5 Days.
----My Trip Advisor review on Adaaran Prestige Vadoo---
We spent 5D4N at Adaaran Prestige Vadoo staying in their wonderful water villa.
Although our request made at the time of booking (adaaran's web) to have a Sunset facing room was not made available, the check in staffs were very swift in arranging that for me when i voiced it out. But i have to wait for another hour for the room to be ready. But no regrets!
Our Butler gave us a tour of the island, which is pretty small . You can finish rounding the island in less than 10 mins and yet.. you do not see much people! We were able to take many great pictures around the resort since it was not crowded!
Food is very very very good! I would recommend that Half Board ( Breakfast + dinner) is more than enough! Breakfast is ala carte ordering from the menu. .You can order as much as you can. Room service for breakfast is also possible if you arrange with your butler at no charge. Dinner is a 4 course - Appetiser, soup, Main & Dessert. The portion might look small but eventually they will fill you up! Food presentation is in fine dining style.
Accommodation wise, you get your plunge pool ( able to fit 3 pax side by side) in front, + jacuzzi (we only used it once, since it was located at the back with the bathroom) The plunge pool is great for soaking to dissipate the heat, but be careful not to get burnt! Bathroom is almost as big as your bedroom, and it even have a sofa looking down to the ocean floor below through a glass panel. Bed is comfy with lots of pillows. Internet is also available with a LAN cable. Good enough for surfing, but not for uploading of your high resolution pictures. Too bad there isn't WIFI available anywhere on the island. Free Coffee capsules (i forgot the brand) with the coffee maker + free bottles of Mineral water in room. Ask your butler to bring more if you finished them.
Cashless system around the resort. Just order anything you want and give them your room number. You will be handed a Chit to sign. Do double check as they gave me the wrong chit to sign once. These will be summed up and presented to you when you check out.
We only joined their Sunset Fishing trip on our 3rd day there. We almost did not get to go as we only have 5 pax going. Luckily the trip still went ahead and we caught 6 fishes! Only 3 are edible, so we ate them for lunch for $20 cooking fee the next day. Our 4th day Snorkelling trip wasn't too successful as there are not enough pax to get going. We are leaving on the 5th, so i suggest that you book your activities on the earlier part of your stay to avoid disappointment.
Snorkelling gears are free, and there's a house reef with many fishes at the beach. We did try snorkelling around the villas, but the fishes are more scattered. Corals are not as vibrant and alive as we hope to be, but they are good enough. Do take care not to swim too far out as the currents are quite strong! The waters are shallow above the house reefs, so i did have some concerns snorkelling over them. The corals are so clustered that i have to go a distance before i can rest my feet on bare sand.
We were lucky to catch the dolphins several times. Do keep your eyes peeled wide open on your speedboat transfers. We saw them to and fro the airport! When we were at the beach, we saw them too, heard that they would appear at around 4-5pm. Another occasion was in our Villa admiring the sunset, we saw 2 groups of dolphins!
Overall it is a good and memorable trip!
