Meeru Maldives Resort Island — Hotel in Malé Atoll

Stayed in May 2025. On arrival our first impression was marred by all the boats in the marina. Not very pretty. (We've stayed at Kuramathi before and that was a wow factor from the minute we arrived.) this wasn't. Seeing rusty workboats filled with rubbish wasn't what I wanted to see on arrival and walking down the jetty to shore. We had to wait 3 hrs for our room, after a 11.5 hr flight,but luckily we'd packed swimwear in hand luggage and we were able to change and explore island. I recommend doing this.|We went straight to the Dhoni bar, staff were friendly and we ordered a pizza and drinks. Lovely.|When we got our room, (623) a Jacuzzi beach villa.|There was a walkway up to room and this was enclosed in foliage, and although this made things private, we had been led to believe that we'd be able to see the sea from inside the villa, but this isn't the case. The rooms are spacious and bright, ample storage, clean.|Outside bathroom/toilet. There is a jacuzzi, we didn't use this because of the mosquitos, and annoyingly the jacuzzi keeps turning on all day and night, so you can hear rumbling constantly. Bed linen should be changed every 3 days, but ours was only changed once in the ll days we were there. Towels changed everyday.|Our room meant that our buffet restaurant for breakfast/ evening meal was the Malaan. There was a lot of choice, but personally I don't like buffets as it means that you can overeat, or you choose food that don't go together because "it's there" I like to be sitting at a table with my husband, talking to him, while being served; not having to eat on my own whilst hubby is waitina for steak to be cooked in a queue and finishing when he turns up with his food. That's why we went to Vila (Mediterranean). And A-Mare (Italian) and The Reef (seafood) the staff were lovely at all of them. We particularly liked Vilu and A-Mare, and the staff, particularly Sandy and Ni Luh were lovely.|It was sad to see that we would have to pay extra to attend a beach BBQ or the Teppanyaki Show, even if on Al. (They charged $165 each!!)|There were two pool areas we used the Adults only one which has an infinity pool looking straight out onto the sea, breathtaking. The first few days the water temperature was like a bath, it wasn't pleasant, but after that, it was cooler and was perfect.|I was disappointed that there wasn’t a proper ice cream parlour, as on another Island l've visited. There is a small area where you can get icecream in a cup, not cone. It's soft so you have to eat quickly. There are no crepes or waffles. The smoothies, you need to pay extra for even if you're on Al. When you get a coffee, there aren't any cakes/biscuits. It's a bit sad. They could have had a nice bakery on site . |They could do so much better.|Everyday we walked around the island which is beautiful. We snorkelled, played pitch and putt, used the driving range, did a trial windsurfing lesson. We walked to the end of the jetty of the over water villas near the adult only pool and we'd see so many fish.|There's a decking area at the bottom and you can see lots of fish and look out on to the sea. We saw Rays , sharks and even a turtle 😁 there’s no shade so wear a cover up and hat it gets incredibly hot.|One evening there was a storm and the next day whilst out walking we saw the sea had brought in lots of rubbish.|Toothbrushes, fruit, bottles, rope even a vegetable peeler!? we were walking out at 2pm in the afternoon so it was sad to see that the staff hadn't been out earlier to clear this up. There was so much rubbish. We appreciate that this was caused by the storm, but we had to go and mention to the Reception as they hadn't done anything about it and we wanted to make them aware. (it was cleared up eventually)|The Island is constructing more staff quarters, so there is a lot of work going on. They try to minimise disruption, but you can see/ hear the work, there are vehicles going back and forth.|If you want to use the buggy's you can call reception and ask them to send one to your room and they can take you anywhere on the island. Or you can hail any down if they are passing.|What we did see about this island, is how well the staff are treated. They have their own gym, swimming pool, they can use the golf areas, they use the full size volleyball and football pitches. Whilst we were there they laid on an inter department volleyball tournament, which we watched over the week. It was so lovely to see.the staff are happy and allowed to use good facilities in their spare time. They also encourage visitors to interact with them and play football matches, providing full kits!|This resort is very popular with Russians.|The island is very pretty, the staff are lovely and work hard. I think because l've been to Kuramathi, I was spoilt, and therefore there are a lot of things that I think Meeru can improve on. On saying that, we did enjoy our time on Meeru and recharged and relaxed, we met some lovely people and were treated well. It was a lovely holiday and it’s a nice...

Updated review: After our first day, we were sent an email survey. We answered it truthfully based on the first day events. Here are our final thoughts.

Verdict: We would not recommend this resort

Useful information to know: We found out they changed management a year ago and things have gone downhill as reported by people who go every year for the past 8 years. We booked because of the awesome reviews but these are due to management they is our longer there. All inclusive PLUS is not all Inclusive. They tell you that you get snacks and alcohol but it is a select menu of snacks that are all very unhealthy options. The alcohol they give you just order drinks with a * which are mostly sugar cocktails. Even some juices are not included. We were denied hummus, watermelon juice, cheesecake when we wanted to order them. It makes no sense as they serve these items on select nights at the buffet. You’ll find many things do not make sense here. Full board and All inclusive Plus are the only options. excursions get regularly cancelled.

Service: less than subpar with few expections. Rude staff. They’ll yell at you to do things when you’re supposed to be on a relaxing vacation.

The only good people there were Yovan, Moosa and Hassan - actual pleasant people who were helpful. Bless you all!

Food: We were impressed at the buffet food and variety of options. This was probably the best part of the place. However, all Inclusive does not mean all inclusive at all. We’ll get to that later. The Hot rock set menu food had good duck and an ok grilled lobster. We did the a la Carte at Asian Wok and it was NOT good at all. They sold our main as a “sizzling seafood combination” when it was really a stir fry dish with sauce you can get at a take out Chinese restaurant anywhere and they charged $48 for it.

Rooms: We stayed in the over water villa with jacuzzi. The jacuzzi did not get hot despite the sign saying it will warm up to 37.5 C after 1 hour. We left it on and waited 2 hours. Water was still cold as it began. We called to ask how to fix it. A cleaning staff came in , yelled at us and said to put the cover on and wait longer for it to heat up. It heated up about 1 degree difference after another hour = no difference. We didn’t appreciate being yelled at on our honeymoon. He kept saying it’s fixed when it wasn’t. Seemed like he didn’t want to deal with us or really fix the problem. Other than the jacuzzi not working, the room was clean and views were nice. FYI the current is strong and swimming in front of the water villa is not advised. Better wear a life jacket as the current will knock you against the pillars.

The management did try to make things “right” after multiple bad experiences during our stay not fully mentioned here. They gave us hummus at dinner one night with a half bottle champagne and cheesecake in our room after. It was a nice gesture but the bad service continued to ensue. After that random waiters would come up to us and mention hummus and cheesecake randomly making us very uncomfortable. ”did you hAve cheesecake today?” They gave us an extra 50% off dinner at Asian wok On our last night but honestly the quality of food there, we would not go paid more than the discounted price. They are also disorganized as they contacted me multiple times before we arrived to get us to book excursions. We ended up booking a few things. When we arrived, they told us that nothing was in the system for us. There is a lot of miscommunication in their administrative part of the business. We work up early ready for our first excursion only to find a LETTER at our front door saying it was cancelled an hour before leaving. When we spoke to the guest services Hava she said they they should of told us our excursion was cancelled when we checked in. But obviously they didn’t because we woke up early and they told us they didn’t have any of...

We had a 5 Nights and 6 day stay at Meeru Island Resort & SPA and our experience was simply out of the world. Our Properties [ We did a split stay ] Beach Villa - Beach property 10-30 meters away from the beach Jacuzzi Beach Villa - Beach property with an inhouse jacuzzi 10- 30 meters away from the beach Jacuzzi water Villa – Overwater villa with jacuzzi and direct access to the water below ( Stairs ) – this is their flagship property and is very neatly done Note : All rooms come with beach towels in-case you want to take a dip in the beach water. Water villas come with 2 life jackets in-case you are not good at swimming but want to take a dip in the ocean below. ( This we believe was very thoughtful)

Onboarding Process

We had to visit the counter number 59 at the Male Airport where all the resort properties are there and the procedure was super smooth . The courteous staff guided us to the boat ( airconditioned) and it took about 50 mins to reach the property. The staff gave a warm musical welcome at the property upon arrival and completed our onboarding ( took about 15 mins ) and we were also given some cold hand towel and a welcome drink ( Ice Tea ) .

Food at Meeru Island

If you are on a full board plan , all the three major meals are covered in it. Breakfast ( 7 A.M to 9 A.M ) , Lunch ( 12 Noon to 2 P.M ) , Dinner ( 7 P.M to 9.PM ) . The main restaurant is called Malaan and its pretty spacious to accommodate a large number of guests. The spread across all three meals are very diverse and it lets you experience global cuisine. The quality of fruits , veggies and meat was very fresh and considering it’s a remote island they have done a very good job at it. There are some really scenic seating spots by the beach ( Day and Night ) . Night dining by the beach is very romantic.

Overall Property Experience

The property is top notch and the furniture used at the property is very premium ( less plastic and more premium wood ). The evening ambiance at the property was simply amazing and very warm. The staff at Meeru is very helpful and they just get you anything that you might be needing at your trip. Since it’s a 1.5 KM long island they have EV Buggies which are on demand and Free which transport you to one section of the island to the other.

The property has a diving centre ( to rent your diving / snorkelling equipment ) a water sport centre to do your jet ski ride a medical centre to conduct your RTPCR ( Covid Test ) if your country mandates it. There 2 Swimming Pools for relaxation( Facing the ocean ) and the water quality of the pool is very good. ( There are fresh towels at the pool as well just in case you might need them ) The resort accepts USD as the main currency and all the major credit cards and Cash work here ( Forex/Currency Cards are not accepted in The Maldives ) You don’t have to pay a single dollar while you are in the resort and all the monetary transactions are handled while you check out which we felt was very convenient. All you need to do is remember your room number and use all the additional services against your room number and it will be registered for payment ( when you checkout ) .

Events at meeru

There is a mobile app which provides you information regarding all the excursions at meeru and also provides you information on evening events at meeru . These events are free and its open to all , we had great fun there.

Things that could have been better

Though we had a very good holiday experience and not much to complain we felt 2 things which could be improved are More options for vegetarians/vegans More on demand white lights inside the room ( I prefer warm but if you have to search for something the rooms are very dark )

All in all you will have a wonderful experience at Meeru Islands , you are in safe hands!

I would like to thank meeru islands for making our trip a...