JW Marriott Maldives Resort & Spa — Hotel in North Miladhunmadulu

Just returned from the most magical honeymoon experience here. ||We stayed in an overwater villa on the sunset side. This was perfect for privacy and being able to enjoy the views of the sea and skyline. We enjoyed the infinity pool and even did some snorkeling off the deck and saw some fish and sharks.||Our thakaru was Naawish and he was very helpful and kind. It was our first time staying at any resort like this and first time in the Maldives so we did not know what to expect and he was very welcoming and helpful for any questions we had. He even gave us a gift upon leaving and some reccomendations for Male as we were staying there as well before venturing home. It was really a treat to have him there!||For our stay we booked with points and decided to do a la carte pricing. For us, this made more sense as we wanted to do some of the unique dining experiences and are not big drinkers. If you book with points and want all-inclusive you can wait until you get there and can choose a package on the first day if you are not sure what you will need.||This review will be long but I want to cover everything we tried for anyone looking to book. Breaking it all up into sections so you can skim. But also - just do it!!! It's the best place.||Dining experiences we tried:|Riya (shared table) - This was the best meal I have ever had. Chef Rohit is so talented and takes you on an incredible culinary journey. I cannot reccomend this experience enough. One tip - skip lunch or eat light, it's a TON of food. ||Malaafaiy (beach dinner with traditional foods and songs) - This was a really special experience. We scheduled the dinner for sunset so were able to sit on the beach in a gorgeous decorated and lighted setup prior to a meal. Next you will enjoy a few special traiditional songs and then a TON of traditional foods. We loved this as we got to learn and enjoy some things about the culture through food. Another tip for this - do not eat lunch, it was so much food. Also you will get some hermit crabs after the sun sets but they won't bother you.||Floating breakfast: On our last morning we booked the flaoting breakfast. Again this is a TON of food. You have a few choices to make about eggs and coffee/tea but the rest is essentially a small sampling of the buffet delivered to your villa pool. This was really fun and a cute send off for our last morning. The food was really good as well. I've seen some reviews not understanding how to eat in the pool - we just sat on the steps in the pool and it was no problem, didn't feel weird at all. Just an indulgent and cute way to end the trip.||Ohter then that we visited all the restuarants and had great food with large portions at each. The breakfast buffet is phenomenal and I really enjoyed the Thai treetop restaurant. The duck red curry was my favorite! Also there's a pastry chef in house so dont skip desserts either. All the food is so good truly.||Excursions we tried:||Beginner diving - This was my first time ever trying scuba diving so we took the course around the house reef. The instructor was SO good an patient (I can't remember her name sadly). She was very good at explaining everything multiple ways to make you feel comfortable and then takes you around the house reef. She even shot some footage of us with our goPro. If you have never been diving before this is a great place to try it out as the reef around the resort is SO nice so it will feel like more than just a training.||Snorkeling excursion - although the house reef is amazing, I still highly reccomend taking a snorkeling excursion out with the team. You will go to a few places and have a really enjoyable boat ride too. We saw nurse sharks, eagle rays and tons of fish. The guys were all alot of fun and very knowledgable||Paddleboarding (free) - this was nice and relaxing. You can't go out too far or you'll be in the seaplane path but everything is clearly marked and the water was so calm it was an easy paddle. Tip - go in the morning as it gets very hot to be paddling around by mid-day||Spa things:||Yoga/meditation: We had the chance to take 2 yoga/meditation classes with Usha. One sunrise, one sunset. These were SO nice and relaxing. Usha is great at working with people of all levels and injuries so even if you have never tried it - you should go. It's also the most beautiful place you will do yoga overlooking the water. We even saw more eagle rays there during class one morning!||Couples session - We booked a couples massage, coconut body scrub, hair oil scalp massage, and champagne bath. This is a definite do not miss. For us, this was a better deal than our luxury spas at home and the most gorgeous spa room. For the package we chose you will be in a large private suite with a couples massage room, relaxation area with plunge pool, and a room with a sauna/ice bath/sound shower. You have plenty of time after your treatments to enjoy the space and unwind with tea . My therapist was also Usha! She gave one of the best massages I have ever had. ||Some other notes - we booked the week leading up to Easter not realizing this is a popular place for families to come on holiday. Honestly we barely noticed that the property was busy and even though we were on honeymoon, it did not feel at all like it was less romantic even with family activites. It was so private everywhere that we barely noticed at all. And service was always perfect no matter how booked the resort is. There is also a great 18+ pool near Kashi if you really want to be sure there are adults only and that was our favorite pool anyway. We joked it was our "second private pool" as there was hardly ever anyone there.||I really have nothing bad to say about this property and experience. We are already planning on coming back for our 5...

My wife and I stayed at the JW Marriott for 6 nights from the end of February and into the beginning of March for our Honeymoon. We originally had the W hotel booked, but due to delays in the resort remodeling, we ended up rebooking at the JW Marriott. My wife and I both agree that this was probably for the best since the JW Marriott was a truly unforgettable experience!||Getting there:|We flew in from Singapore and arrived in Male around 11:30 AM. Once we arrived, we were shuttled to an airport lounge to wait for our seaplane. Unfortunately, we had to stay in the airport lounge for 3 hours due to delays, but plenty of food and drinks were served, so we were comfortable. When we finally boarded the seaplane, we had a 1-hour flight to the resort. The flight is truly spectacular since you fly over dozens of islands. When we landed at the resort, we were greeted by dozens of resort staff. After arriving, we were introduced to our resort host, named Saddaam. ||The room:|We stayed in an overwater villa on the sunrise side. It was a huge villa with ceilings that were so high you almost felt exposed while sleeping. We spent a lot of time hanging out by the private pool and deck. One of the nice things about being on the sunrise side is that it doesn't face the resort island, so you feel like you have a lot more privacy than on the sunset side. However, if we stayed again, we would probably want to be on the sunset side just because it is a little better for snorkeling since the water is deeper there. A few mornings on the way to breakfast, we could even see Manta Rays surfacing just outside of the villas on the sunrise side. We were so jealous!|Overall, the room was great, but you could tell it was starting to show signs of age. When you closed the front door, the wall would move a little bit with the door. It would be wonderful to stay again after a remodel sometime in the future.||The staff:|The resort was beautiful and probably one of the best places you could be in the world, but what really made it feel special was the staff. Every staff member made you feel welcome and like they were truly glad you were there. One staff member in particular, who I really enjoyed speaking to at breakfast, was named Adam. Adam always had such a positive attitude, which he would pass on to you if you talked to him.|Everyone who stays at the resort is assigned a host who will take you anywhere on the island, you just have to send them a text. Saddaam was also responsible for managing activity bookings, dinner reservations, and room service. We really enjoyed having Saddaam as our host and if you are staying at the resort soon, I would see if the resort would let you be assigned to him. He did a great job of making sure our needs were constantly met and took photos of us throughout our stay. He even gave us Polaroid versions of the photos he took of us. Saddaam went above and beyond as our host!||The food:|The food was amazing! We were able to take advantage of our Platinum Marriott Bonvoy status to get free breakfast every morning. The variety of food at the breakfast buffet was probably the largest we've ever experienced. There was everything. The pastries were some of the best we've ever had too.|The chefs were so kind and always did their best to make sure we were satisfied! They also made sure we had a chance to try all of the local Maldivian cuisine.|There were 3 dinner options you could choose from. A main restaurant where you could show up without a reservation (this was also where the breakfast was served) and 2 other restaurants that required a reservation. We really enjoyed the restaurants that required which served steak and sushi, respectively. However, these restaurants were more expensive than the main restaurant because of the food they served. |There was also a really great Thai restaurant that was inside of a tree house, but this was only open for lunch.||The activities:|We snorkeled a lot during our stay. The snorkeling around the overwater villa was honestly not the best since there wasn't much coral, but the house reef on the other side of the island was truly spectacular. The only bummer was that you could only snorkel on the house reef when the water was calm, which was only 2 out of 6 days there. We did 3 scuba dives during our stay. The first dive was at the local house reef and the other 2 were boat dives. I have never seen so many sharks while snorkeling or diving. You were almost guaranteed to see at least one shark each time you entered the water. They weren't large or dangerous sharks, just black tip reef sharks, but it was still exciting to see if you weren't used to swimming with sharks. |Along with snorkeling and scuba diving, I tried wind surfing and we went to the spa. Both were a lot of fun. The spa was very relaxing!||The verdict:|We really enjoyed our time at the JW Maldives and hope we get to come back soon. It was a very family-friendly atmosphere so we hope to bring our kids here when we have them! We would recommend JW Maldives to anyone who wants the entire Maldives...

2nd time back in Maldives because we had such a magical trip the 1st time in Sept 24. My partner decided to choose another resort within Marriot Bonvoy Group so that we could capture new experiences.||From the moment we arrived at the resort, about a 50-min sea plane ride from Male, it was clear that we were going to have a great time. We were greeted warmly with Maldivian drums and staff by the jetty.||Our Butler - Hassan was assigned to take care of us for the week at the resort. The service provided by him was not only seamless but attentive without being intrusive. He was always just a message away, arranging our floating breakfast, photoshoot, spa, beach dinners, even personally delivering sweet treats to us on some days after his work shift. Honestly, we were so blown away by his dedication after our disastrous encounter with our previous butler from our 1st trip.||We bumped into 1 of the staff member - Sovia (Aailaa restaurant) who was working at the previous resort we were at. That was a nice surprise seeing a familiar face! After which,we also found out another staff member - Uzam had transferred over. We had such a wonderful time catching up (truly happy and proud that their career progression is going well), exchanging contacts to keep in touch this time around since fate works in mysterious ways of allowing us to cross paths again.||Every staff member, to name a few (Bhgyashree, Rameez) that we have encountered, from our villa attendent (Nabeeh), restaurants hosts (Sovia, Tia, Zahuvan, Reni, Zahir, Aalif and many more - I tried my very best to remember their names) and chefs (Dinesh, Upali, Kenika) were genuinely invested in making our stay perfect.||We met Chef Dinesh and Chef Upali, Sovia, Tia every day when we were at Aalia Restaurant to have our breakfast. |Seeing them was our way of knowing that we were going to have a great day, every day. I was utterly spoilt by them like royalty, my expanding waistline and weight gain can attest to it.||We also met Chef Kenika who handles the Thai restaurant - Kaashi on the island. We had our 1st dinner - Treetop Thai Night (only on Mon). The menu was curated well that we went back for more thai food over the next few days. It was like having a piece of thailand in Maldives - what a perfect combination. Chef Kenika cooks from her heart and you can tell that from the flavours of the food. Zahuvan , who was stationed at Kaashi (lunch), Hashi & Shiro (dinner) was so attentive in his service and we always look forward to seeing him.||We also had a great pleasure to meet and connect with GM Mohit Dembla during our stay. We were very surprised when we were invited to have drinks with him which followed up by dinner. It was such a warm and personal setting of conversations and personal outlooks in life. The dinner at Hashi & Shiro was perfect. Unfortunately, I was too engrossed in the dinner conversations that I forgot to take pictures of the food.||In a destination as beautiful as the Maldives, it is relatively easy to be impressed - clear turquoise water, postcard perfect sunsets etc. But it was clear to us that it was the people of the resort that matters the most to us - genuine human connection, thoughtful gestures that made us feel seen and deeply valued - not just as guests but as cherished individuals. We had a great time strolling around the whole resort, clocked our 10k steps easily - probably known as the crazy couple who rejects buggy services (except on the day it rained).||As what Richard Branson says 'If you look after your staff, they will look after your customers', and it is evident that the staff are flourishing under GM Mohit Dembla.||If I had to choose 1 thing that could be improved - it would be hoping that there would be a slight variance in the menu offering for lunch and dinner at Aalia.||At the end of the trip, we once again left with unforgettable memories, full hearts, a nice tan & a longing to return. Saying farewell is always tough but as the saying goes, it's not a goodbye but a See You Soon. Thank you my JW Marriot...