Holiday Island

Holiday Island - Smoker's Paradise... but otherwise truly wonderful.
We were amazed most by the cleanliness, the quality of the food and the friendliness of the staff.
It really was refreshing not to be pestered by anybody at all about anything. The activities were obviously water-based and the evening entertainment minimal and largely unintrusive, but if you did want more, then the free shuttle to Sun Island is real handy. Sun Island is ridculously big with loads of stuff and people are given bikes to get about, surely alot of fun riding back along a pier with no railings to a sea bungalow after a drink or two :-)
You will get bitten by bugs, it is after all a tropical nigh-equatorial island, therefore it will also rain occasionally and the sun at midday is literally blistering. Employ some common sense and respect the wildlife and you will have a great time. The Maldivians are very laidback and therefore the Seaplanes might be delayed and so might your luggage, but is that really any different to any Scheduled or Chartered flight you might take otherwise?
Each to their own, as I say it was only the fact that everybody and their dog smoked everywhere... all the time... that stopped me awarding 10/10, but of course if you're a smoker, you'll be in heaven.
Oh and I'd seriously consider AI, I'm not sure how much we ate and drank and if we really made up for the price difference, but it was worth it just for the peace of mind. The package was pretty good and we only forked out for the occasional baileys plus excursions and stuff from the toot shop.
The wooden loungers on the beach had room numbers on them, but this just seemed to cause more confusion with people abiding by that when it suited them and not otherwise, so do what the Italians were all doing and go and nab yours early doors ;-)
I would probably go back and 10 days would be the ideal duration, if it were possible.

What a beautiful island. We went to paradise Island in Feb. and it was so good we decided to try another island, which was Holiday Island in Oct.
The weather was perfect, we were very brown. The food was excellent and the lagoon was like a warm bath. The fish were amazing. The First Choice air crew were a bit patronising and not very professional, but the hoilday made up for it... Hey something has to give somewhere, otherwise we would not have anything to complain about!!!!
The staff, rooms, facilities, for a far away tropical island were superb and the seaplane to and from the resort was great. Well done Villa Holiday resorts.
We have already booked for Villamendhoo for next Nov. apparently the snorkelling is fantastic. ENJOY>

Second day into holiday we meet a couple who flew from Manchester and said their flight was half empty. I was told there were no flights from Manchester. Not impressed with Tour Operator.
After the 11hrs flight which was cramped whether you are slim or not. Then you have a 3 hours ride by speed boat. We took the seaplane on the return journey home best $260.00 each spent.
Staff at resort very helpful. Food was good and varied, something to suit everyone.
Service with a smile at all times. If you ordered a coffee cups were swilled with boiling water first, beer glasses were iced, or taken from the chiller.
We went full board. Cost to upgrade to all-inclusive was £125.00 per person per week, you were not allowed cocktails or named spirits, and you could only drink beer from the beach bar.
We decided to pay for our drinks at the end of the week not much in it but I mainly drank cocktails.
The mini bar in the room was a good idea but was not included in the a-I package. 1 whisky was $9.00 dollars.
Our villa was clean and basis nice, the bathroom was really big, we never used the shower indoors once, there was a shower outside used it all the time this was wonderful, my only drawback was the lizards.
A bartender we meet offered world class service, Upal was great and wish him well for the future.
Highlight of the day for me was after breakfast walking to the end of the pier and feeding the fishes, if see the baby sharks, just wonderful.
If you like water sports then there is plenty of it, there is table tennis and a pool table.

It was my partner’s birthday, whilst there. They laid the table beautifully with fresh flowers directly on to the white cloth and a ref bottle of wine. He was well pleased with his birthday cake with his name on it, to end the night I asked for the bedroom to be decorated, they did a wonderful job with this. Spelling his name in flowers.
We nearly slept on the floor because I didn't want to touch it.
Whilst there the mosquitoes had a field day with me, there was a doctor on call 24 within 5 minutes, 2 sets of tablets and cream total cost £16.00 dollars.
I would go back tomorrow, just wonderful.