Kuredu
Meeru
Komandoo
Digghiri
Anantara Dhigu Maldives
In general we want romantic but not boring.....ideally we would like a resort with a combination of the following:
A lot of restaurants
We are both very social so we to be able to socialize with other english speaking tourists.
A house reef
A reputable dive center
A Night fishing tour
Surfing or windsurfing
Parasailing
Cooking classes would be nice but are not a deal breaker.
Thanks so much in advance!
If you had a choice between 5 resorts which one?
Hi SDM,
I think the decision may be easier made if you know what your budget is as the choices given vary quite a bit. The only ones I can advise on are Kuredu and Komandoo. Kuredu is a larger island relatively speaking to some of the others. They have a wider choice of accommodation and various different boarding tiers, i.e. All Inclusive, Full Board, Half Board, B%26amp;B, and room only. They have three buffet style restaurants and 3 al a carte restaurants plus pool and snack bars. Komandoo is Kuredu鈥檚 sister island and it is tiny in comparison and only has 2 restaurants however it is easy enough to spend a week at one then move onto the other. Komandoo is more expensive than Kuredu. Kuredu has one of the largest dives/water sport centres so from what you鈥檝e mentioned Kuredu might suit you as it ticks all your boxes (not sure about the cookery classes though), although it鈥檚 bigger they have accommodation that will be quieter with the option of something a bit more lively if it takes your fancy.
If you had a choice between 5 resorts which one?
Thanks for the info!
We are going to be there from 6/12-6/19.
Basically I%26#39;d like to spend no more than $300-$400 a night.
I already booked the flight using miles. It only cost us $228 for both us and the rest of the budget for the hotel, food, and activities is around $4000-$4200
Hi SDM,
IMO I would avoid Kuredu %26amp; Meeru, they do not have great house reefs the later island needs a boat trip to access it and the coral is of poor standard.
Komandoo %26amp; Kuredu have had bad reviews of late, not becaue of the island but more the management issues (have a read of the reviews).
Digghiri does look a great little island but is 70% Italian occupancy so this might not suit you?
A better option for the larger type island would be Kuramathi (3 resorts in one) with lots of choice.
Alternatively one of the Universal resorts may be a good idea??
http://www.universalresorts.com/
Baros in particular
Regards
Emu
dhiggiri is beautiful , but very basic and almost all italian . there is only one restaurant and the food is not the greatest i ever had . i would go back to dhiggiri for a budget in-between vacation but you can%26#39;t compare it with komandoo , for example. diving is also lackluster around dhiggiri , but when you are spoiled from ari atoll , you%26#39;ll find all other atolls lacking.
aside from dhiggiri , the only other resort i would personally even consider visiting is komandoo.
Anantara is a beautiful resort for non-snorkelers and non-divers. there is no accessible housereef, a pretty dead huge lagoon and the dive center is on another island , so everytime you want to go there , you have to ask to have the boat brought . too inconvenient for me .
parasailing is thankfully not offered on many islands . never heard of cooking classes anywhere... maybe the conrad , which is wildly outside your budget .
not sure why you picked these particular islands , but neither of them is great for diving/snorkeling . would look for something in the ari atoll for sure .. of course your budget excludes a lot of options . maybe vilamendhoo
actually spammie the ';W'; offers cooking classes (also way outsides sonic deaths budget). Unfortunately I think that the Anantara Dhigu is also outside the 4K range. It looks like its about $5200 for 8 days in June under that B%26amp;B plan for their cheapest room.
You might want to take a look at www.mal-dives.com just for reference. At the top of the page it has a pulldown of resorts A-Z that is useful for bringing up info about different resorts. If you click on a resort it brings up a window that will give you more information about that resort including an estimated price if you want for when you want to go (I have never booked with these people and am in no way endorsing their agency for booking) but it useful for going through a lot of maldives resorts fairly quick and getting some info on resorts that people might suggest on this thread. If you really do live in LA I dont envy the trip that you will have to take to get to the Maldives. Last time I checked for somebody we were talking 35-40 hours of air time plus waiting time in airports to get from the west coast of the US. Seems like a nightmare for only 8 days.
upon re-reading what i wrote and before i get yelled at for being too negative about some of these resorts :)
.. what i meant to say is that as a pretty fanatical diver , a good housereef and good diving is a priority to me and not a single island on this list is an outstanding diver%26#39;s island. i would visit komandoo and revisit diggiri in a budget crunch, but none of this list is my first, second or tenth choice for good diving and snorkeling .
i am having trouble combining the OP%26#39;s wishlist into one island. most of the large islands are not great in the housereef department .. most of the smaller don%26#39;t offer parasailing and the like and of course the tight budget isn%26#39;t helping in the selection.
about the only suggestions i can come up with is filitheyo and vilamendhoo .. but nothing ticks all boxes . i think Rangali would fill the requirements but its way out of pricerange.
and skibum .. the W never fails to amaze me . lmao - but its lightyears outside the budget in discussion here , so not a topic we need to bother with . *grins
Thanks folks.
The only reason I chose the 5 resorts was because they looked nice and I thought some of them might have some combination of what we%26#39;re looking for; read a good amount of reviews etc.
Emu, I checked out the Universal Resorts and I think Vellasaru might be exactly what I%26#39;m looking for. I can%26#39;t find any prices on excursions and diving though. Also the fact that there are no reviews for the place really freaks me out.....but it looks amazing.
Skibum
Yeah we are coming from LA. It%26#39;s not so bad though we%26#39;re flying Singapore airlines and we get to get off the plane in Singapore for a day so it is not like we%26#39;re on a plane for 40 hours straight. In fact we have very little wait between flights and LA to Singapore is only 20 hours while Singapore to the Maldives in only around 7ish hours, so again not so bad. Also the Anantara Dhigu is only $2571 on expedia.
Does anyone know how Vellasaru scores with the criteria I originally discussed. (Of course take the stupid cooking course out of consideration) (This was my girlfriend%26#39;s idea. Really, who wants to learn to cook on vacation when you are only there a week?)
Hi SDM,
There is data on Velassaru under %26#39;Laguna Beach Resort%26#39; since laguna it has been upgraded and refurbished and is due for a %26#39;soft opening%26#39; as mentioned in other threads for the 8th March - watch this space??!!
Angsana Ihuru gives you everything you want inc cooking, but only has a FB option with one restaurant, it is however my favourite island.
Regards
Emu
Thanks again Emu
I haven%26#39;t had a lot of time to peruse the forums but I see what you mean about Vellasaru. (For some reason the name reminds me of Velociraptor) I will keep my eyes glued to this forum regarding that place.
Do you know if the old Vellasaru had a very good house reef or not?
Additionally, and this may seem like a dumb question, but is Angsana Velavaru the same as Angsana Ihuru?
Hi SDM,
No it does not have a great reef! and Ihuru is different to velavaru.
http://www.angsana.com/EN/outlets/Ihuru
Regards
Emu
