Maldives Holidays

[The Big Shrimp]

Mrs Big Shrimp and I are looking at the possibility of going to the Maldives in November, with it realistically being 4 days in Dubai and 10 in the Maldives. This being our delayed honeymoon! The reason for two venues is I'm likely to get bored if the island doesn't have much to do. One island we have heard good things about is Kuredu, which is bigger and has a small golf course on it!! Unfortunately, what we have seen is this is likely to be outside our budget! ?

What I would like to know is what advice people can offer or places you could recommend. Of course, we will be going all inclusive, which is a must! We're wanting to go fishing, whale/shark watching and hopefully swimming with whale sharks.

Also, any advice on Dubai would be good, although that isn't as important, as we have a good idea what we are doing there!

Many thanks in advance!

 

[londonblue]

Mrs Big Shrimp and I are looking at the possibility of going to the Maldives in November, with it realistically being 4 days in Dubai and 10 in the Maldives. This being our delayed honeymoon! The reason for two venues is I'm likely to get bored if the island doesn't have much to do. One island we have heard good things about is Kuredu, which is bigger and has a small golf course on it!! Unfortunately, what we have seen is this is likely to be outside our budget! ?

What I would like to know is what advice people can offer or places you could recommend. Of course, we will be going all inclusive, which is a must! We're wanting to go fishing, whale/shark watching and hopefully swimming with whale sharks.

Also, any advice on Dubai would be good, although that isn't as important, as we have a good idea what we are doing there!

Many thanks in advance!

We also went to the Maldives on our honeymoon. The only piece of advice I would give is something I read on the website of the resort we stayed at. They suggested taking a jacket in winter because temperatures can get as low as 25C.

 

[ESG]

It was 15 years ago but we stayed on Bandos and couldn't fault it. Was about a 15 minute boat trip from Male airport. Had most of activities your looking for then.

Spent 3 nights in Dubai on route home and returned a few times including Abu Dhabi until prices went through the roof. Stayed most times at the Mina Al Salam.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Not the Maldives, but hot and exotic, plus half the price is Sri Lanka. Lots to do, especially tours with Kandy, elephant sanctuary, tea plantations, ancient cities, wonderful beaches, lovely people, great food.

 

[The Big Shrimp]

Not the Maldives, but hot and exotic, plus half the price is Sri Lanka. Lots to do, especially tours with Kandy, elephant sanctuary, tea plantations, ancient cities, wonderful beaches, lovely people, great food.

Agree 100% about Sri Lanka. Amazing place and people. We will go back and explore the east coast.

 

[GNH]

Sounds like a wonderful experience, but without wishing to **** on your chips, not looking likely to be anything other than a Covid restricted trip, if even allowed at all.

Would be very wary of booking anything with insurances likely to try and bail out of paying in the event of issues

 

[ESG]

Not the Maldives, but hot and exotic, plus half the price is Sri Lanka. Lots to do, especially tours with Kandy, elephant sanctuary, tea plantations, ancient cities, wonderful beaches, lovely people, great food.

Watching the cricket reminded me of a box on my bucket list without a tick.

 

[Member]

Not the Maldives, but hot and exotic, plus half the price is Sri Lanka. Lots to do, especially tours with Kandy, elephant sanctuary, tea plantations, ancient cities, wonderful beaches, lovely people, great food.

We combined Sri Lanka (10 days) with Maldives (7 days) for our honeymoon. It was amazing. Sri Lanka was tiring but incredible and then the Maldives was everything you’d imagine.

I’d recommend a resort with a seaplane transfer which is incredible. Not really sure you need to go to the Maldives for golf. Our island was small but had everything you’d want. Recommend taking your own snorkel stuff. Don’t worry too much about dressing up on the island. People were a bit smarter for dinner but it was still nice and relaxed. You probably won’t get loud evening entertainment and things, it’s more on the romantic and laid back side. I think some low stakes crab racing was about lively as it got

 

[Mad Cyril]

I’d recommend a resort with a seaplane transfer which is incredible.

 

[londonblue]

We combined Sri Lanka (10 days) with Maldives (7 days) for our honeymoon. It was amazing. Sri Lanka was tiring but incredible and then the Maldives was everything you’d imagine.

I’d recommend a resort with a seaplane transfer which is incredible. Not really sure you need to go to the Maldives for golf. Our island was small but had everything you’d want. Recommend taking your own snorkel stuff. Don’t worry too much about dressing up on the island. People were a bit smarter for dinner but it was still nice and relaxed. You probably won’t get loud evening entertainment and things, it’s more on the romantic and laid back side. I think some low stakes crab racing was about lively as it got

Twin Otters: Great little planes. This might sound sad, but the seaplane transfer was one of my highlights!

 

[Member]

Twin Otters: Great little planes. This might sound sad, but the seaplane transfer was one of my highlights!

It was a highlight for us as well, truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. The departure gate, the flight itself, the pilots flying barefooted and helping load up and unload the suitcases, it was pretty incredible. I was sat directly behind the pilots so got an incredible view of them at work and through the front windscreen (is that what it's called?!). I bet being a pilot there is amazing.

That's the thing about the Maldives, is that you will get a 'once in a lifetime' experience and it's worth spending a bit to really get that.

It was our 10 year anniversary last year and so had to cancel our Florida kids holiday plans. We're thinking about going back to the Maldives for our 15 year anniversary when the kids are old enough to leave with inlaws for a couple of weeks. Going to start saving up now so can do business class etc and make it really special.

Also in general, be aware that there is huge inequality in the Maldives and the workers live in awful conditions and poverty, and climate change is a massive crisis for them, so think about how you can travel there and raise awareness and support for the local people.

 

[londonblue]

It was a highlight for us as well, truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. The departure gate, the flight itself, the pilots flying barefooted and helping load up and unload the suitcases, it was pretty incredible. I was sat directly behind the pilots so got an incredible view of them at work and through the front windscreen (is that what it's called?!). I bet being a pilot there is amazing.

That's the thing about the Maldives, is that you will get a 'once in a lifetime' experience and it's worth spending a bit to really get that.

It was our 10 year anniversary last year and so had to cancel our Florida kids holiday plans. We're thinking about going back to the Maldives for our 15 year anniversary when the kids are old enough to leave with inlaws for a couple of weeks. Going to start saving up now so can do business class etc and make it really special.

Also in general, be aware that there is huge inequality in the Maldives and the workers live in awful conditions and poverty, and climate change is a massive crisis for them, so think about how you can travel there and raise awareness and support for the local people.

Indeed. The pilots have one amazing perk: they're allowed to stay on whichever resort they finish an evening shift on, so they always schedule the order of their drop offs to finish on the best resort possible!

We also plan to go back to the same resort for an anniversary, but haven't done so yet. One little quirk of our resort is that they give everyone bikes to ride around on. Each bike has the number of your villa, but when you return, they replace the number with your initials!

As for the inequality, I think it runs a bit deeper than that. It's a Muslim country, and they have some very draconian laws that don't sit well with me. It is, for example, illegal to be gay in the Maldives. Here's a blog on the subject.

That said, the Island we stayed on seemed to treat its staff very well. For example, we went there in Feb 2005, a couple of months after the Tsunami hit. Whilst there the staff were all telling us how the owners of the resort had paid to replace all the things their staff and families had lost, including new sofas, fridges etc.

One thing that people need to bear in mind when going is that the country as a whole is dry and no alcohol can be taken in. (Some resorts do serve alcohol - ours had its own sommelier who conducted wine courses - but you can't take your own.) That meant that I had to surrender a nice bottle of Aberlour that I bought duty free at Heathrow. They gave me a receipt so that I could collect it on the way home. I was convinced I wouldn't see it again, but I did. I don't think I've finished the bottle yet!

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Twin Otters: Great little planes. This might sound sad, but the seaplane transfer was one of my highlights!

Nope, a highlight of a Kenyan holiday for us was the small, very small, plane transfer from beach area to Masai Mara for safari.

 

[Member]

Indeed. The pilots have one amazing perk: they're allowed to stay on whichever resort they finish an evening shift on, so they always schedule the order of their drop offs to finish on the best resort possible!

We also plan to go back to the same resort for an anniversary, but haven't done so yet. One little quirk of our resort is that they give everyone bikes to ride around on. Each bike has the number of your villa, but when you return, they replace the number with your initials!

As for the inequality, I think it runs a bit deeper than that. It's a Muslim country, and they have some very draconian laws that don't sit well with me. It is, for example, illegal to be gay in the Maldives. Here's a blog on the subject.

That said, the Island we stayed on seemed to treat its staff very well. For example, we went there in Feb 2005, a couple of months after the Tsunami hit. Whilst there the staff were all telling us how the owners of the resort had paid to replace all the things their staff and families had lost, including new sofas, fridges etc.

One thing that people need to bear in mind when going is that the country as a whole is dry and no alcohol can be taken in. (Some resorts do serve alcohol - ours had its own sommelier who conducted wine courses - but you can't take your own.) That meant that I had to surrender a nice bottle of Aberlour that I bought duty free at Heathrow. They gave me a receipt so that I could collect it on the way home. I was convinced I wouldn't see it again, but I did. I don't think I've finished the bottle yet!

We did the same where we bought a bottle of a cheap Sri Lankan spirit called Arrack, and then had it confiscated at Mali airport. Returned to Mali airport to claim it for the flight home and a dripping plastic bag with a smashed bottle of Arrack and shards of glass mixed in the pungent booze was presented to us! Oh well, think it cost £1 or something and wasn't even particularly nice. It just had sentimental value because we did a Virgin Holidays tour in Sri Lanka with 4 other couples and to make the 3 hour trips on the bus a bit more bearable would stock up on Arrack and pass it around!

 

[londonblue]

We did the same where we bought a bottle of a cheap Sri Lankan spirit called Arrack, and then had it confiscated at Mali airport. Returned to Mali airport to claim it for the flight home and a dripping plastic bag with a smashed bottle of Arrack and shards of glass mixed in the pungent booze was presented to us! Oh well, think it cost £1 or something and wasn't even particularly nice. It just had sentimental value because we did a Virgin Holidays tour in Sri Lanka with 4 other couples and to make the 3 hour trips on the bus a bit more bearable would stock up on Arrack and pass it around!

Sorry to be a pedant, but it's Malé.

Mali is a country in West Africa.

 

[jackj13]

Sounds like a wonderful experience, but without wishing to **** on your chips, not looking likely to be anything other than a Covid restricted trip, if even allowed at all.

Would be very wary of booking anything with insurances likely to try and bail out of paying in the event of issues

Also further to this I have an annual travel insurance. Had my renew through recently and they won't cover you for flights booked and the airline goes out of business.

 

[londonblue]

Also further to this I have an annual travel insurance. Had my renew through recently and they won't cover you for flights booked and the airline goes out of business.

I renewed mine a few months ago. There was a clause all about covid 19. They added SARS for good measure!

 

[The Big Shrimp]

Twin Otters: Great little planes. This might sound sad, but the seaplane transfer was one of my highlights!

It’s not sad, it’s a must do us and is dictating where we will stay!!

 

[The Big Shrimp]

Watching the cricket reminded me of a box on my bucket list without a tick.

I would thoroughly recommend it. When I was there, Sri Lanka were play the Windies in an ODI. I booked the tickets before flying out. As I was treating my wife to a game, I pushed the boat out and booked an air conditioned box behind the bowlers arm. Cost £11.00!! The downside was we couldn’t get any food or drink in there. Fortunately, we met two blokes who knew the place and helped us bunk into the cheap seats (£2.30) and find KFC and beer! The locals were fun and loved it that I was wearing Sri Lanka cricket shirt!
A must do!!

 

[The Big Shrimp]

Thank to those who have made suggestions on here or privately. Our holiday is booked for November! Hopefully the world will be a better place by then!

We have booked a place called Sunset Beach & Spa. All inclusive and includes a few nice freebies like a night fishing trip and a dolphin spotting trip!

I'd rather do that than watch us at a NL backwater!!