Bolifushi Island — Hotel in Malé Atoll

Our time in the Maldives was unforgettable. That said, we are unlikely to return to Jumeirah Vittaveli due to several issues that arose during our stay which created unnecessary stress.

Accommodations: We booked the Private Ocean Retreat for our honeymoon. On our flight over, we were emailed that our room would not be ready as the delayed construction upgrades left them overbooked. This left us in the Two Bedroom Beach Villa for the first day with the promise we would be later moved into a Retreat furthest from the construction for our trouble.

The next day, we were told the Retreat promised was permitted a late check-out (+6hrs) and would not be ready anymore. We decided to wait for the one we were initially promised.

Waiting 2 days for our room was stressful, but we finally got into our room late on the second night. It felt communication was inconsistent and disorganized. Our compensation for the trouble was a free buffet dinner and we were later granted late check out in a Sunset Ocean Villa.

So, how did the rooms compare?

The Beach Villa was a bit of a let down for us. Views were blocked by greenery and the beach access wasn’t truly private.

The Sunset Ocean Villa was better, but showed more wear, had views obstructed by the Private Ocean Suites, and was surrounded by broken coral.

The Private Ocean Retreat was incomparable! Every room had spectacular views of the ocean. The coral was healthier and allowed us to not only see countless reef fish, but also rays and even sharks (friendly). The water under the Retreat was well lit at night for viewing squid through the over-water hammock.

Food: We tried the buffet, each of the restaurants (a la carte and reserved set menus), and in-villa dining. The food was expensive for what it was, but expected and understandable. We highly recommend the a la carte options over the buffet at Samsara.

Activities: There were a handful of water activities from parasailing and jet skis to snorkeling, diving, and fishing. We enjoyed snorkeling with a turtle and viewing the coral reefs at sunset/night. These were expensive, but again not unexpected.

We honestly spent most of our time snorkeling off our villa (equipment provided), swimming in the pool, and relaxing in sun. It was amazing how much we saw from the villa alone (massive reef fish, rays, and blacktip reef sharks)!

Staff: Natalie and the rest of the staff here were very friendly and helpful. We were often greeted moving around the island, which made us feel like home.

Transfer: Our boat from the airport was relaxing as we enjoyed an air conditioned ride across clear waters.

Our boat back though was uncomfortable to say the least! After several groups arrived for departure, we were stuck waiting on a couple who was running late. This resulted in the driver trying to make up time. The entire boat repeatedly got air and swerved. Luggage fell over, staff were bounced off their feet, 1 person started throwing up, 2 grabbed life jackets, and another moved up to the front to see what was up. After a few minutes, a siren went off up front. Eventually the driver eased up and things smoothed out, but he continued to make attempts to cut time resulting in more discomfort. It was nice to be back on land.

Overall: We highly recommend coming to the Maldives! It is a truly relaxing place with plenty of sea life to explore in unbelievably clear water. We look forward to revisiting the Maldives, but it is unlikely we will return to Jumeirah for two reasons:

1- Unsatisfactory resolution of a room issue which was in no way our fault.

2- The lack of responsibility to depart at a reasonable time so the driver wouldn’t feel pressured to create a seriously uncomfortable return.

These two things were unexpected and very stressful. Had we gone elsewhere, we could have avoided this stress while still enjoying everything that makes the Maldives...

1. Location: it’s near to Male Airport (almost 30 mins travel by ferry)
2. Airport welcome & departure: they will wait for you when you are coming out & take you to their AC’ed office. While returning-back, they helped us through everything, checked in our bags & guide us to passport control. We didn’t had to stand in the long queues because of their help.
3. Trip from/to Male Airport: they transferred us in an AC’ed comfortable declined-able leather seats ferry. Our luggage were handled by them from leaving/returning to the airport & when returning back they waited with trollies for bags for each couple/family. (Travel wasn’t by speed boat as many of the hotels in Maldives tend to use & don’t care about price since you will be comfortable)
4. Island Welcoming/Leaving: we were greeted with Maldivian drums, smily faces of the staff (our service manager: Aziza & hotel manager: Morgan) & we were given an palm tree Maldivian necklace as a souvenir. While leaving, we were given our arrival photo as a souvenir for our stay which is really nice.
5. Island: nice & quite island. Not a big island (almost 1.5 KM to 2 KM) with an addition of ocean villas.
6. Check-in & Check-out: an early check-in wasn’t given since no available ocean villa & unfortunately we had to wait from 10:00HRS to 14:00HRS to get our villa (This is not the hotel mistake since normal check-in time is 14:00HRS & international flights arrive at Male Airport early morning). For Check-out; we had a complementary late check-out instead of 12:00HRS it was postponed to 19:30HRS from our same ocean villa which we appreciated since our return flight to Dubai was at 23:00HRS. This is something not easy to find in Maldives, Thank you Jumeriah Vittaveli.
7. Room: we booked an ocean villa, a nice wooden way from the beach to the room. The room was nice but, it was a little bit outdated (which...

Infinity Pool Ocean Villa with slide. A review based on family stay for 9 nights in the resort.

I should stress on the fact that be ware of the ocean tides which could be dengerous to slide into the ocean thats why you should always look for the flag color raised by Jumeirah Vittaveli management (green=go, Yellow=go with causion, Red: No sliding).⁣ ⁣ The resort is kids friendly big time with an amazing team & daily activities at kids club. ⁣ ⁣ For divers dont miss out the chance to dive with Best Dive Vittaveli Center at Jumeirah Vittaveli. The manager of the dive center is a great guy with extensive diving knowledge for those who want to learn about diving sites in Maldives. Shout out to my diving guide Laushan & Jorn Theelen. ⁣ There is however a down side of our stay at Jumeirah Vittaveli in regard to our food board classification as given to us through Emirates Holidays followed by changing our villa due noise coming from a hanging beam at the bottom of the villa due high ocean waves and finally some difficulties related to restaurant food availability & variety.⁣ ⁣ The bottom line, i do strongly reccommend this resort to any family or couple because with all what we have been through we felt the management and every one out there were trying their max to immediately make it up for us. The full support & immediate response from every member of Jumeirah Vittaveli made us feel we were valued as guest. Thanks to Satu our care taker guy for after hours responsds & quick fix. Thank you all for your continious...