Maldives

The last time I was in the Maldives, social media wasn't as accessible as today. Don't get me wrong, I was able to get internet and what not but these were the early days of blogs and Facebook. Hopped onto Singapore Airlines with stopovers in Seoul and Singapore before landing in Male for the airport taxi to the St. Regis. Booked the premium economy class on Singapore due to the duration. Unfortunately, the flights from Singapore to Male are not able to accommodate premium economy class and it is a four hour flight. It is double the price of economy but it also allowed me to continue to earn points with MileagePlus and give me some extra leg room with the ability to choose/customize my meals. With all the changes in frequent flier programs, it is harder to fly within the Star Alliance network without doing some background checking on what is eligible to earn miles (premier qualifying miles). Overall, I enjoyed my flights despite the time. In Seoul, I had only an hour layover and did not spend much time at the airport. I had a longer layover in Singapore and stayed in the Krisflyer Gold Lounge. Although nice, it wasn't worth sitting in there if I had known that Crystal Jade was next to my gate out of Singapore. I also discovered that the Thai Airways Lounge was also near Crystal Jade but it isn't open in the mornings.

After arriving in Male, waited for another group to land before getting into the water plane. The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli has its own lounge where the water planes are docked. Although still part of the airport, it is still considered part of the secure area and you cannot come back in once you leave the airport facility. The lounge was nice, staff was pleasant and the food/drink was adequate.

Hopped onto the water plane and landed 45 minutes later at the hotel. In the Maldives, there are areas for "economic development" and each atoll contains only one resort. In essence, you and two hundred people are staying in one spot the entire time of the stay. As part of their welcome, staff await at the landing dock to welcome each guest and whisk them to their rooms to unpack and unwind. Since this stay was booked on points at a ridiculously low rate, I was in a garden villa. A request to change to the overwater villa was granted for the last two nights of our stay. (More on that later.)

Sunsetting over the reception villa

There goes the water taxi

View of the landing dock from beach

Beach area in front of reception villa (apparently this is where the workers go to swim)

Main beach area

The garden villa is very private and the area is fenced/walled in. The villa is actually a small house with its own pool and deck. Next to the pool is a swing bench to enjoy the lush garden area. There are four garden villas and all four are next to each other. You can sort of see your neighbor but there is enough foliage to maintain a sense of privacy. Not that the resort is that big but the hotel does have bikes on hand for those who want to bike instead of walk from one area to another. For me, I found the 10 minute walk fairly manageable and the bikes were unnecessary.

St. Regis Vommuli - Entrance to garden villa

View of villa from entrance

View of front of villa

Side view of pool deck for sitting gazebo

View of pool deck from villa

The villa is very spacious, the king bed has a nice view of the pool deck. At night, it is very lovely. The hotel did a good job of strategically placing spotlights throughout the area. If you don't like complete darkness, you can have outdoor lighting on. Everything in the room is controlled by an iPad application ranging from lights to curtains to TV. The room's TV is from Bang and Olufsen and tilts out from the wall when turned on allowing better viewing from the bed. The hotel had reached out prior to arrival to see if I had any specific requests or plans and mentioned we were celebrating. The hotel was nice enough to have a welcome fruit basket and cake. There is also welcome chocolates and cookies in the room as well. I did find it interesting that they took the uneaten fruit out of the room by the second day. I had assumed I could leisurely eat my fruit.

St. Regis Vommuli - welcome gift

View of bedroom to pool deck

View of closet in bathroom

Her vanity and toilet

His vanity and shower

Tub in middle of bathroom

Outdoor shower

iPad controls

Since the resort is the only thing you can access, the resort is very self contained. There are a few restaurants, a bar, an ice cream parlor, and spa. Of all the restaurants, I enjoyed Alba the most and Cargo second. Alba is also the restaurant that serves the breakfast buffet. If I had to rank buffets, this one comes nearly to the top. They let you order from their menu, as much as you want with a continental buffet to one side and a cook to order station on the other side. It wasn't cheap at $70 per person but well worth it. My favorite dish was the island benedict which comes with a half fried soft shell crab. I found Cargo my second favorite only because I enjoy lamb and it was done well. The other food options, room service, Whale Bar, and Orientale, were OK.

Alba

This is a jam bar! in Alba

Continental breakfast section in Alba

The Maldivian Eggs Benedict with half fried soft shell crab is a must. I ended  up ordering almost every morning.

Whale Bar

I assume that the intent was to make the bar look like a whale

It sort of does from a distance

Enjoyed the sunset

The libations were tasty but just a bit too pricey for me to return

For daily activities, I generally went out to snorkel. You can charter a boat tour to a local reef as well. The boat tour was pretty good, it was nice to see the reefs. In general, I haven't come across "lush" coral reefs but I feel that is mainly due to people damage. I'm just glad I am able to see them before they get completely destroyed by tourism.

I didn't realize how much the ocean can drop down from the edge of the atoll

Plenty of these guys swimming in the area

It almost looks like gold veins

Also tried my hand at fishing. The resort does have a reel fishing boat tour and will also charge you for the pleasure of cooking any fish you catch. Overall, it was a fun activity and the meal was good.

Getting on a boat before the sun sets to get some fish!

I have not been on a boat in the evening,

The group going fishing tonight and crew

Bye sun!

At the end of the evening, everyone on the ship caught at least one fish per person

My catch of  the night

My partner's catch was the biggest fish caught that night

The next night, dinner at Alba with grilled and fried fish from the trip. Sides are extra.

After a few days on the atoll, switched over to the overwater villa for a different experience. I was told that the hotel was nearing occupancy as we approached the weekend. To be honest, despite there being a few hundred people (between staff and guests) I rarely saw too many people. You really don't feel that there is a lot of people on the atoll. With the overwater villa, the layout was slightly different from the garden villa. The deck does lead out to the ocean and easy access to snorkeling. My particular villa faced the sunrise which meant I could say the main island rather than just pure ocean. Some folks preferred the sunset view rather than sunrise but I was waking up early and it was nice to see the sunrise.

St. Regis Vommuli - overwater sunrise villa bedroom and living room

Tub with mirror TV

Pool deck and landing leads to ocean

On the last day of the trip, took a visit to the spa. After touring the facilities, opted for a message and foot wrap. In comparing to my spa experience at the Conrad Maldives, I thought the experience was a little tame. They also had this jet pool in the spa but it requires a $60 entrance fee and for two hours. I'm not sure if I wanted to spend $60 to sit in a small pool, even if jetted.

St. Regis Vommuli - Walkway/bridge to spa

Spa waiting area

View from waiting area in spa

The trip was ending on a fairly good note. The only complaint I have is right at the end. Even though my flight from Male to Singapore was near midnight, the water taxis must start flying to Male around 3 pm. They can only fly during daylight hours. Unfortunately, the hotel arranged for me to fly out on the second to last flight towards Male. It was unfortunate since I'd rather stay on the island than leave early and sit in the lounge for six hours. I only found while waiting in the lounge that there was a later flight which meant that I could have stayed longer. Given that I was one of the last people in the lounge that night, the other groups travelling home that day could have taken the earlier flight.

The afternoon tea set provided by the lounge was nice. The people (mostly Asian) did not care to leave any food behind for others to eat. After waiting for everyone to eat their fill, I was able to snag some macaroons and fruit to snack on. Eventually, I ordered a burger (think plain simple burger) for dinner. Since the lounge is not inside the actual airport building, it does require you to be driven for about 10 minutes. The staff gave me a small scare when the driver was not back from his pickups to take us to the airport. Luckily, it is a small airport and I managed to get on board quickly and without issue.

The two stops back to the US was in Singapore and Tokyo. In Singapore, the layover was cut short due to late departure/late arrival from Male. My hopes of grabbing some dumplings from Crystal Jade was dashed. In Tokyo, I was able to visit the ANA Lounge and discovered that karaage was no longer being served in most of the lounges. The domestic terminal was the only location serving karaage. I consoled myself with some ramen and curry and vow to get to this domestic ANA Lounge the next time I fly through Tokyo.