SO/ Maldives — Hotel in Malé Atoll

We stayed from May 24 through June 5 in an over-the-water ocean view room on “Runway 3” and we had an incredible experience – everything you’d expect from the Maldives and if you enjoy a relaxing, low-key resort with minimal crowds and great food and service. If I could do 10/10 stars I would! Here, I’ll answer the questions we had before booking this resort: 1) staying during the “rainy season”, 2) our room, 3) food quality and variety 4) proximity to Male 5) internet access, 6) getting resort photography, 7) getting to the resort/transfer experience and 8) overall service.||||1) We went during the so-called “rainy season” that starts in May, and I would 100% do it again. The weather was fine and the there were zero crowds – we got a cabana every day simply by getting to the pool by noon. Of the 12 days we stayed, it was cloudy 4 of them (which we don't mind) and even on those days, it only rained for maybe a total of an hour or two on and off.||||2) We booked the room through a travel company with a package that guaranteed us over-the-water villa facing out to the ocean and also several other perks. Our room looked exactly like the ones in promotional videos. For the OTW villas you definitely want to get the ocean view rooms because if you get the “lagoon view” ones, you face Male in the distance – which might be cool except that Male is building out another man-made island to give themselves more housing, and from afar, that part currently looks like an industrial area. You’re far away from it, but it’s still ugly facing that way right now. Once it’s done, it might be cool to look at the city lights. We were on Runway 3 – which is the furthest from the lobby area (looking at the lobby area from the ocean, it’s to the right). I’d choose that again over the ocean-facing Runway 1 because the ocean-facing Runway 1 rooms are quite close to the over-the-water rooms at the Hard Rock Maldives, which is attached to the Crossroads retail/hotel area, and I wouldn’t want to look at those from my room. However, Runway 3 is about a 1/2 mile walk or bike ride across the island to get to the food/pool/lobby area, so if mobility is an issue, get Runway 1. You can find multiple room tours and photos of the resort by searching for the resort on social media platforms. ||||3) Food quality was excellent! Citronelle is their larger restaurant, and it has both Eastern-inspired and Western-inspired sides of the menu, so much to choose from. Hadaba is their middle-eastern restaurant and it was also fabulous and my personal favorite. Lazuli is their beach club menu and there pizza was on par with the best we’ve tasted so I ordered it almost every day. Some packages came with two meals per day + two free cocktails per day during their 5:30 to 6:30 time period. We upgraded to full all-inclusive because we like to drink and snack/eat by the pool also when we’re on vacation. We think this was definitely worth it. You could also go over to Crossroads in the hotel boat for dinner if you wanted to, but the variety on the island was just fine.||||4) We weren’t keen on a seaplane ride so we loved the idea of just taking a 20 minute boat ride to get to the resort. And the snorkeling/diving options are still available. On the island, it felt “remote” although it was near the (also reclaimed land) Crossroads (also on a separate island) complex/retail center.||||5) We were worried that we maybe should get an eSim card with the local phone/internet carrier for our stay. There was no need at all. The entire resort had fact, problem-free internet access all over it.||||6) Get a photo shoot with the resort photographer! This one was definitely worth it! We only wish we'd opted for the drone shots which were really cool.||||7) The resort made the arrival and departure process SO EASY! The MOST beneficial/thoughtful part was the trip back. They have one of their team members escort you from the boat, INTO the airport, take you to your airline checkin desk and be sure you get checked in, then take you to where you have to go on your own, giving you directions. It’s such a nice touch if you’ve never been to the Maldives airport before – no confusion regarding where to go, etc.||||8) Finally, the service overall was really great - from the actual servers to the maintenance and spa team. There are so many people I’ll forget to mention, but some who really stood out for us were our GEM Vishon, his GEM colleague Abdell, and servers/bartenders Luna, Ranjan, Mahudhee, Badr, and also the housekeeping team (they service 2x per day and also gave us a great surprise one day). Others who also contributed greatly to our stay were Hosefa, Ashraf, Nick (pizza guy!), Maya, Nahrine, Brian (bartender at the pool), Inura, Hanab (photographer) and Zimian.||||Overall, we would recommend this resort if you want to experience Maldives but don't want a seaplane, and you want a luxury experience with modern rooms and...

We stayed from May 24 through June 5 in an over-the-water ocean view room on “Runway 3” and we had an incredible experience if you enjoy a relaxing, low-key resort with minimal crowds and great food and service. We have resort and room tour videos and photos on our socials. Here, I’ll answer the questions we had before booking: 1) staying during the “rainy season”, 2) our room, 3) food quality/variety 4) proximity to Male 5) internet access, 6) resort photography 7) getting to the resort/transfer experience and 8) overall service. 1) We went during the so-called “rainy season” that starts in May, and I would 100% do it again. The weather was fine and the there were zero crowds – we got a cabana every day simply by getting to the pool by noon. 2) We booked the room with a great deal from VIP Traveler (shout-out to them) which guaranteed us over-the-water villa facing out to the ocean and also several other perks. Our room looked exactly like the ones in promotional videos. For the OTW villas you definitely want to get the ocean view rooms because if you get the “lagoon view” ones, you face Male in the distance – which might be cool except that Male is building out another man-made island to give themselves more housing, and from afar, that part currently looks like an industrial area. You’re far away from it, but it’s still ugly facing that way right now. Once it’s done, it might be cool to look at the city lights. We were on Runway 3 – which is the furthest from the lobby area (looking at the lobby area from the ocean, it’s to the right). I’d choose that again over the ocean-facing Runway 1 because the ocean-facing Runway 1 rooms are quite close to the rooms at the Hard Rock Maldives, which is attached to the Crossroads retail/hotel area, and I wouldn’t want to look at those from my room. 3) Food quality was excellent! Citronelle is their larger restaurant, and it has both Eastern-inspired and Western-inspired sides of the menu, so much to choose from. Hadaba is their middle-eastern restaurant and it was also fabulous and my personal favorite. Lazuli is their beach club menu and there pizza was on par with the best we’ve tasted so I ordered it almost every day. (I posted menus o our socials). The normal VIP package came with two meals per day + two free cocktails per day during their 5:30 to 6:30 time period. We upgraded to full all-inclusive because we like to drink and snack/eat by the pool also when we’re on vacation. We think this was definitely worth it. 4) We weren’t keen on a seaplane ride so we loved the idea of just taking a 20 minute boat ride to get to the resort. And the snorkeling/diving options are still available. On the island, it felt “remote” although it was near the (also reclaimed land) Crossroads Reclamation project.5) We were worried that we maybe should get an eSim card with the local phone/internet carrier for our stay. There was no need at all. The entire resort had fact, problem-free internet access all over it.6) Get a photo shoot with the resort photographer! This one was definitely worth it! 7) The resort made the arrival and departure process SO EASY! The MOST beneficial/thoughtful part was the trip back. They have one of their team members escort you from the boat, INTO the airport, take you to your airline checkin desk and be sure you get checked in, then take you to where you have to go on your own, giving you directions. It’s such a nice touch if you’ve never been to the Maldives airport before – no confusion regarding where to go, etc. 8) Finally, the service overall was really great - from the actual servers to the maintenance and spa team. There are so many people I’ll forget to mention, but some who really stood out for us were our GEM Vishon, his GEM colleague Abdell, and servers/bartenders Luna, Ranjan, Mahudhee, Badr, and also the housekeeping team (they service 2x per day and also gave us a great surprise one day). Others who also contributed greatly to our stay were Hosefa, Ashraf, Nick (pizza guy!), Maya, Nahrine, Brian (bartender at the pool), Inura,...

Arrival: we were greeted with a cool (non-alcoholic) drink and then promptly told our room would not be ready for 5 hours. We sent our flight info ONE YEAR in advance. We would have gladly paid for an extra night to ensure we could go straight to our room. We had not seen any reviews of this happening before. We were escorted to the pool area and told there were 5 star facilities to freshen up and shower. The showers at the pool are to rinse off salt water and exposed to the public, so we were not able to shower after all. Then the pool bar does not open until 11:00, so there was nothing to eat or drink for the first couple of hours.

Room: the bed is very comfortable and the water is beautiful. The shades in the room keep the morning light out. It is wonderful to open them when you wake up to the gorgeous view of the Indian Ocean.

Grounds/Buildings: impeccably clean and beautiful. They have done a great job with landscaping and lighting. The pool at our overwater room had mold in the grout lines. It’s a small pool, and could easily be cleaned during the time the room is turned over for the next guest.

Full Board vs All-inclusive: we purchased our package through a third party and the highest option was full board. We incorrectly assumed this included alcohol. We were informed that it does not and that we would need to purchase the all inclusive add on for an additional $150 per person per day. Since our arrival had not met expectations, this was another shock. We went ahead and purchased the package as we did not want to have to bother paying as we went. NOTE: the package does not include the bottles of liquor on the wet bar or 4 or so other cold options in the bar. You will get 4 bottles of beer, a bottle or red wine, a bottle of white wine, prosecco. These are restocked only upon request in our experience. Additionally, and not communicated to us beforehand, the all-inclusive package LIMITS you to a completely different menu for drinks. At least twice we ordered a drink from the bar only to be told we could not have that cocktail as it is not on the all-inclusive drink menu!!

Full Board: You must eat at your assigned times for meals or they charge you!! Every meal has certain hours. We had a late breakfast one day and decided to skip lunch and grab a couple apps from Lazuli Beach club (the pool bar). It was after 3:00 (the end of lunch) so they told us we would have to pay for the apps. That is CRAZY. Room service is not included either. The website says there are three restaurants, but Lazuli Beach club is bar food with a few added items. Hadaba is closed on Tuesdays. Citronelle club has pretty much the same menu for lunch and dinner, so you start to run out of different options pretty quickly for meals. Also, there are surcharges on a lot of dishes.

Staff: with few exceptions, they were not very friendly or service oriented. The staff at Citronelle were by far the friendliest. We are used to actual 5 star service, and did not experience it here. There is no service at the pool. They will bring you a bottle of water and glasses to your seat, but if you want a drink from the bar, you have to go up and order it every time. One time they asked if I wanted another beer when they walked by. The most common answer was “no” or “I’m sorry” when you asked for anything. I asked for cream for my coffee one morning and was told, “no”. Huh?? I went to the cereal bar and poured milk into my coffee.

Bikes: what a weird situation. It turns out, you just take bikes wherever you see them at the restaurants. The bikes you rode to lunch are not going to be the ones you ride back, so you are constantly adjusting the seats. Several times we walked out to no bikes at all, including one morning from our own room!! Someone took them from our patio area. A true 5 start resort would have a bike for every guest PLUS extras. Overall: this is not a 5 star resort. We would not recommend it, or at the very least, know what you’re going into and set...