Emerald Maldives Resort & Spa — Hotel in North Maalhosmadulu

Family trip. We were warmly received at the airport by Naube,Zuba,Baka who had been waiting for us to arrive. After arrival Naube handled the seaplane check-in which made the whole process incredibly smooth and seamless. We were then ushered by Naube and his team to the bus,which took us to the old seaplane terminal lounge. We arrived at the terminal lounge on a short while and were seated by Naube and his team in a nice spot, snacks were readily available and free wifi was provided.I liked the fact that I didn’t have to worry about the luggage since Naube&team had taken care of it,&that he managed our expectations well by updating us throughout especially since the departure of the seaplanes-TransMaldivian Airlines-was affected due to the power outage. We departed earlier than initially expected and were fortunate enough to get a direct flight the Emerald Resort and Spa which would be our home for the next 9 days. On arrival at the resort we were greeted by the arrival team(including Igga, Nappe and Sookie) who welcomed us with chilled refreshing drinks-very much needed-and made us feel like VIPs-I got the feeling that if we were any more special we would have been carried off the seaplane as Maharajas- we were fortunate to have received such a lovely welcome from the staff at Emerald. Igga,our villa host (aka butler), then introduced himself&drove us to the reception(on the buggy) where we completed a few admin issues with Sushmita, and then for the island tour which included an overview of the facilities&their locations on the island.He also took the initiative to create our itinerary ensuring we would maximmize experiences on resort. We definitely appreciated his recommendations, he showed foresight and prepared our itinerary to give us the best experience during our time including making sure we did not miss the “teppanyaki show”, and that we enjoyed dining at all the restaurants at the resort. Igga kept us abreast of the island’s special shows, and responded promptly when we wanted to reschedule/change our booked activities. At our request(and subject to availability of villas) Igga and his team scheduled a late checkout for us.As usual,taking care of the luggage was not my concern the Emerald staff made sure they collected,transported and loaded the luggage on the seaplane. While on the island (Emerald Spa and resort) we had a memorable and enjoyable time. The has beautiful white sandy beaches and clear blue/turquoise waters - the photos,while accurate, do not do justice to the resort-it was just spectacular. The rooms were beautiful,spacious and well thought out. We were welcomed in to our cool rooms with floral arrangements on the bed. While at the resort we enjoyed the hospitality, friendliness and high quality service from the following staff: Nappe/Afham Areej-shuttling services-always careful of the surroundings,cyclists and pedestrians. Shakti-always ensuring my Mum had Her special Masala chai. Didi/July/Poonam/Daria-always cheerful and welcoming-thank you. Azuhar/Tooki /Nooru-thank you for your services. Sahatan-chef teppanyaki-whose expertise with his kitchen tools are incredible. It takes a great deal of confidence and charisma to put on such a spectacular show at the Asiatique Thasneem/Madey/Nitin-wonderful service and good conversationalists. Omkar-made our gala night memorable Adam and Azmee -for the spotless cleanliness of our room, ensuring it was homely and welcoming,relaxing and smelling fresh. Sohag -ensured our bicycles,which had issues,were sorted out ASAP-that is called being prompt!! Naube/Baka/Zuba-airport team Balram/Shashi/Sagar/Shiju/Harish/Jimmy/Alok-breakfast was always amazing. Shaimon-for making photo session enjoyable&capturing wonderful memories in the Maldives. Abdullah-wonderful to have met you-Shukran. Ramakh- settled us in the airport lounge and helped us till the check in counter. The whole process felt smooth and seamless. Thank you again to all the Emerald staff-it was a pleasure to have met you. Good...

I’ve traveled to 30ish countries in the last few years, seen some stuff…done some stuff, but nothing has ever come close to what I experienced at Emerald. We came on our honeymoon and were always looked after. They booked transport in advance, we had a villa host who was just there for whatever we needed throughout the week, cleaning staff always keeping things spotless, restaurant staff always keep the dining experience top notch and so much more.

The property is simply stunning in its own right. Perfectly manicured little sand paths to get you everywhere with room assigned bikes to help you move around. Lighting, design, maybe just the fact that I was on a tiny little island in the middle of the ocean…idk, but it was an otherworldly experience.

SHOUTOUTS

Igga, our amazing villa host, had the whole week planned out for us before we even got there. He showed us around and made sure we were always looked after. I respected the mix of courteous hospitality and professionalism for things like alerting us in advance when certain activities came at an extra charge. Being able to plan things out like that without running into unnecessary surprises afterward really helped settle this into the most relaxing vacation possible.

Srikanth is the director of the resort and greeted us personally when we got off the seaplane transfer. He, his management team and his staff really put together a magical experience that made us feel like we were the only ones there when in reality there are 120 villas total!

Moddy cleaned and stocked our room. Always very precise and courteous. I am very much not used to that kind of treatment so felt almost bad for agreeing to let him look after the room but he was gracious nonetheless.

Reyes was a waiter we had at one of the Beach cafés and he was great. As we’re they all, but admittedly I couldn’t juggle that man names in my head Reyes really helped us have great dining experiences.

Simba was a great sommelier. I once very loosely and poorly tried to describe a bottle of wine we had a few days earlier by saying things like “uh idk it’s a clear bottle and it’s a white wine?” and he figured it out! Very knowledgeable about the selection and always a great help.

Alok was very personable during our Teppanyaki experience. Quick little chats about culture, Italian soccer all while totally keeping things top notch at the restaurant.

Ahmed made the best cocktails. He kind of put it over the top explaining how cocktail ingredients interacted with one another to balance out and make a great mix. We learned a bit, drank a bit more and had an even better time because of it!

Ajith was another great sommelier. I enjoy wine but don’t know anything at all about pairing and very very little about what distinguishes types from one another so being able to give extremely vague requests and get something great from Ajith was huge.

KD was a restaurant and/or hospitality manager who we saw everywhere basically. It had been a bit stormy throughout the week and we scheduled our dinner on the beach for the last and only night it didn’t rain. KD was checking in on us the night before and when we told him we had it scheduled for the following night he basically said “I’ll put something nice together for you on the beach.” Absolutely breathtaking experience in the end!

Loki we didn’t meet until the last night when he saw us to our beach dinner spot. He designed the incredible setup, taught us about the constellations in the night’s sky, waited the table and made sure the champagne was full all night. I could not have asked for a better grand finale end the trip.

During one of the rainy days we caught a wine tasting class and the sommelier was incredible.

The chef who gave the cooking class was super friendly and taught us bits about various Indian dishes whenever we saw him at the buffets.

The diving staff also put on a great experience. As first time snorkelers, we got out for a couple of stunning snorkeling trips. Swimming with the turtles was a highlight...

We travelled as a group of five friends. Our only real problem was leaving!

This experience set such a high bar for our other holidays, that it basically narrowed down our future choices to... coming back here! Our overwater villa looked straight into the sunset, making each night start with memorable colours. Moad, our butler, was extremely attentive: after setting up a group Whatsapp, we have been delighted with experiences, choice and careful service. Never did we have to worry about the excellent resort phone app, as Moad was taking care of our every booking and planning need. The app would have been a great choice anyway, as the Internet speed was faster than back at home. I chose to upload and back up my holiday pictures to the cloud directly from the island as the connection was so fast!

The luxury all-inclusive concept embraced our every food and drink need, including a free mini-bar stocked daily in the room (even with beer and wine!), 4 restaurants, rich breakfast and on-the-sand dinners. We booked an extra room service breakfast "floating in the pool" which we paid for, well worth it. The room had direct access to the green and blue ocean waters. The island lap is about 1km long, all surrounded by powdery sand, snorkel-y waters rich with rays, turtles, lovely reef sharks and all sorts of fish, lobster and colourful marine life you can expect. I snorkelled all the way around the island in about 1 hour at a leisurely pace. Just had to watch out for sea-planes :-) Lovely to walk around, watch seaplanes "land" and always with maximum privacy as all the beach villas are quietly tucked away into the luscious greenery. You can easily walk anywhere, and each villa gets its set of bikes which are exhilarating to drive around day or night. I loved the night biking under the stars. A cool, silent golf cart is never more than 5 minutes away, to whisk you anywhere you fancy when walking or biking should feel like too much hard work.

Snorkelling is superb from nearly anywhere on the island, using the free snorkels and fins provided to every guest for the entire duration of the holiday. The marine life is slightly richer when swimming from the beach than from the water villas, which however get their fair share of fish. It's a life-changing experience to literally sleep above the marine life, with the occasional reef shark swimming under your bed! The outdoor loungers and nets offer total privacy while watching the marine life go by, so much so that we spent a good part of our room-time naked without any worry (as it's so warm, pristine and comfortable)!

Two full-service restaurants open every day, in two different locations always facing spotless beaches where one can experience some social life after the complete privacy of the rooms. Everything is arranged with such broad spacing that, anyways, you can barely notice anyone else being around, even in the "common areas". Two additional "themed" restaurants, open for dinner, offer South American and Asian cuisine. The executive chef Aldo, looking after the entire food offering of the resort, is attentive to each and every guest at levels which we rarely experience even at Michelin-starred restaurants in London (where we live).

The spa treatments and photography service, after an initial free allowance, offer the main ability to spend some extra besides the thoroughly all-inclusive service, and we found the quality of delivery to be so high as to justify the investment. The excellent photos, as well as the professional massages, are well worth the extra.

We enjoyed also the sea sports (kayaking, SUP, water ski etc), the dolphin and fishing excursions (included for everyone!) and deeply regret not having signed up for the scuba diving, as it was likely excellent... just like everything at Emerald.

One good reason to...