SO/ Maldives

The whole experience was amazing. The accomodation was very luxurious. We loved the over water villa giving direct access to the crystal clear water. The staff were exceptionally helpful and very friendly. We enjoyed all the dining options and the food was delicious. The island had a very relaxed vibe. We hope to come back again.

The resort is beautiful and well maintained and the food was wonderful. Sue was always responsive to our every need and made sure we had an exceptional stay. My daughter is allergic to gluten and they made sure to provide her wonderful food and keep her safe.

I’m trying to give my honest review as a second time traveler to the Maldives (first resort was Dusit Thani). We booked through VIP traveler one year in advance when the resort first opened. Overall we had a very pleasant stay but I think there are some things to be aware of before you travel in case these are important to you. I will start with the pros: - Very beautiful resort and design. It is new and it shows. The decor and design of the overwater villas are stunning, the nicest we’ve ever stayed at. - View from the ocean water villas was perfect. - It was not very crowded when we were there (May). -Staff were very friendly. We had Sue as our GEM and she was very quick to respond to all our needs. I celebrated my birthday here and she had some special decorations done at dinner and in our room with a cake. - It was easy to get cabanas and seats by the pool. - We enjoyed the food at Citronelle (one of two restaurant options for dinner). We also loved the breakfast buffet and the lattes! - The floating breakfast was nice for the ‘gram but the breakfast buffet was way better food. - The resort is close to airport so you don’t need to spend further time transferring to another seaplane etc to get to your island. - The dolphin excursion we went on was nice and we saw a lot of dolphins! - We had a great experience with the on site photographer (Mubaah) and got some beautiful photos! Cons: - It is a man-made island (I did not know this prior to coming here). Do not book the lagoon view, you will see Male in the distance and something that looks like a power plant. - The beach is painful to walk on, a combo of rocks and dead coral. Bring water shoes. Do not expect fine soft sand. - There is no coral reef around the island, so you would really have to go one of the paid snorkeling excursions to get a good experience. There is very little marine life here near the island (a lot of dead coral). We did get lucky and see a few sting rays and some small fish around our villa. - The cocktails at pavilion bar were very sad. I tried almost every one off of the menu and realized it’s better to just stick to wine instead. - I felt like the number of included activities per day was lacking. This is a personal opinion but at most it was a yoga class and one other thing like a craft. Some days it was no activities unless you paid for a water excursion or activity. This was surprising to me because 1-2 days had a lot of rain, one day was full thunderstorms the entire day and I felt like additional activities could have been added like a movie night or something else for the bored guests to do. In their defense they did put out some board games like chess (suggest to update to better games :)) - The seafood buffet on Tuesday was cancelled last minute. My husband was particularly looking forward to that. - Another last con was that when we booked through VIP traveler (1 year ago when resort was just opening), there were a lot of things included with our package as perks. It seemed like SO/ didn’t know about them so it was annoying to keep fighting to get things taken off the tab or keep showing them our reservation confirmation. In summary, the price point is competitive (given we booked when they first opened) and we had a great stay but there are shortcomings inherent to a new resort near Male. The resort and rooms are very instagrammable, the food is delicious and the staff is excellent, but the lack of a true beach and house reef holds this back from greatness.

It was love at first site! /SO from the welcome greeting, to the farwell send off /SO was 1st class! Ana was exceptional. She set a schedule and discussed our interest and needs daily. Ana is a sweet-hearted person, proactive and professional. She is quick witted and responsive and caters to your every need. For every question we asked, Ana had an answer or even a better idea. Waheed, the Citronelle restaurant manager provided truly exceptional service! He was attentive and thoughtfull and he provided a very high level of care and personalized attention. His staff was very knowledgeable of the dishes offered and was able to answer every question asked. They were very kind, prompt and professional. Rachel in the retail shop was very nice and a joy to talk with. The /SO staff created a great experience for me every single day. It was the perfect vacay needed for relaxation, great food and sun!

I do not know where to begin! So….(lol) let me start at the 😍beginning. The staff comes to the dock to welcome you with smiles and waves! We had the best concierges! Ana she was attentive and she anticipated what we needed before we would say it! I had an unfortunate event and sprain my ankle! I was going to go and take care of my ankle myself but before I knew it Ana was there and called the doctor then made sure I was picked up each day for my excursions and meals. I have never felt so taken care of on a vacation! The facility is beautiful very clean and all of the staff was so pleasant. They all were always smiling and very pleasant. The food was so great! The menu for both restaurants always had items that were prepared with such precision and taste. This resort was great with the villas and accommodations being the icing on the cake. My pleasure 🥰