Dhawa Ihuru bintang 5

The island and the facilities on it were just what we wanted, no loud entertainment or disco music but still sociable and friendly. A peaceful and tranquil atmosphere. Our villa was lovely and was cleaned twice a day by Hadjaar who was friendly and took pride in his job. The food throughout our stay was amazing with a good choice everyday and well cooked. We had Adam as our waiter and he was the most friendly, kind and helpful waiter we have come across on our travels. He would tell us which ingredients were in dishes we had never tasted before and always had a ready smile for us throughout our stay. Many thanks, Adam for your excellent service. All the staff around the island said hello and always had a smile for you as you walked around the island. We swam with a turtle saw many fish throughout our stay although the brisk wind made snorkelling some days quite tricky. I would suggest, for safety ,some life buoys around the snorkelling areas as it was a long swim far out from shore on some stretches and resting areas would have been a plus. Don't like the noisy jet skis, they didn't fit in with the islands ambience or environmental ethics, found them intrusive.

Firstly I want to say how much we loved Dhawa Ihuru. We have been to many Maldivian islands over the past 20 + years and Ihuru is definitely our favourite. The staff are simply wonderful and the whole ambiance of the island is exactly what we hoped for. However, one of our great pleasures when visiting the Indian Sub Continent is the enjoyment of the local curries. Sadly this was a real disappointment in Dhawa Ihuru. While the quality of the food offered was excellent the curries were mild and lacking in spice. We completely understand that you have to cater for all tastes but we feel that those of us who like spice were completely left out. Our wonderful waiter, Husham, was aware of our disappointment but was very loyal to the chef explaining that because lots of people, mainly the Chinese and Russians, don't like spice they keep things mild. However, most days he brought us curry from the staff quarters all of which were wonderful. We were so grateful to him as it saved our holiday. If you head to the Maldives for the curries then I'm sorry to say you will be disappointed, unless you like bland sweet curry. I don't understand why a curry can't be labelled as hot, or spicy allowing those who do not like spice to chose something else. Everything else on the island was fabulous. The staff in every area are very attentive and friendly. Nothing was too much trouble. We would love to go back but I would need some reassurance that our tastes would be catered for as well as well as others.

We have just returned from an excellent 10 days at Dhawa Ihuru. The house reef is excellent, is easily accessible and has two different sides, one further out from shore with a stronger current and deeper drop off and the other side more gentle. We saw rays on a couple of occasions with a lovely sighting of a porcupine ray, eels on several days, turtles most days, sharks every day and an abundance of fish. A special thanks to Viyaam in the Dive Centre who advised us about the strength of current each day, was very happy to chat and identify fish for us from my photos. Our villa no 2 on the sunrise side was spacious, very clean with a beautiful private garden feet from the sea. Thank you Aiham who took great care of it, sorted out any small issues we had and was again very pleasant, cheerful and happy to talk. The restaurant was great, with a good choice every day and the set menu with choices was a nice change from the buffet every other day or so. The freshly cooked local fish was always great. We were looked after so well by both Moosa, who was assigned to looking after us, and also Adam. The girl who often seated us was lovely but I didn't get her name. They were all so cheerful, professional, friendly and happy to chat. Thanks all! The bar staff were also great too, special thanks to Akash who quickly learnt how we like our coffee and Pradeep, Don and Subishsis also were really friendly. The island is small, SO friendly, low key with laid back luxury and a wonderful reef. We hope to be back.

We spent an absolutely fabulous 10 days on DI. From the moment we were collected at the brilliant new airport, until the moment we were returned to the checkin area at the airport, we experienced the most amazing service from every member of staff we had contact with. I am not going to name staff as we found everyone excellent, the whole ethos is to ensure every guest is treated with the utmost respect, but managing this in a very friendly and engaging manner. We took our shoes off on arrival and didn’t put them back on until we were on the boat back to airport. DI is a small island, 45 rooms, with one restaurant and one bar. There is a mixture of buffet and set menus(good choices) each week for dinner, buffet for breakfast and lunch. If you are lucky enough to be on the premium All Inclusive, you can choose one meal a day from the room service menu, which is very extensive and amazing too! The cocktails from the bar are excellent, never quite made it through the whole list, plan to return and continue this quest! All the rooms have direct beach access, however, due to shifting sands the beach outside your room may be large or small, we were told this changes during the different monsoon seasons. The rooms have everything you need, beach bag, toothbrush, shower gel, shampoo and conditioner and body lotion. The hairdryer is fine for short hair but if you’ve got long hair may be better to take your own. Bed and pillows very comfy. The mini bar is great too with included snacks. The garden is really well equipped with furniture for relaxing on, swing, day bed, table and chairs and sun loungers. Our room housekeeper kept our room spotless and visited twice a day, thank you Moosa! We enjoyed night fishing, dolphin cruise, sunset cruise and massage, could not fault anything. Snorkelling was generally good although some days visibility was variable, however still saw some of the biggest parrot fish and Titan trigger fish we’ve ever seen! Turtles and biggish sharks also in the mix and very fishy reef in some areas, access to reef well marked. Having the option to visit Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru next door and swim their reef was great too. If on premium AI you had access to the buffet restaurant there and drinks included at bar. The Marine Lab was also very informative and it is great to see the conservation efforts being made. There is a shop on DI with a workshop attached. Some of souvenirs in the shop are made by Abdulla from recycled materials and he is truly an artist, we have a lovely souvenir at home now as a constant reminder of our holiday, thank you for all your kindness and skill making it perfect for us! In summary, this is the closest to perfect we have had in The Maldives since we discovered this beautiful nation in 2008! We cannot wait to return. Thank you again to everyone who made our holiday so memorable!!

Unbeaten service from every member of staff. Lovely food, great reef, great guided snorkelling, beautiful room and great all inclusive.