Anantara Maldives Resort

My Husband and I returned from our two week honeymoon at Anantara in January. I have been meaning to get around to writing a review - because I read so many of them before i went (note to self - reading the reviews a week before you leave is probably not the best idea because its pretty much too late to do anything about the booking by then!) and I think that they are really helpful. First things first - we had the most excellent relaxing time and wish, every day that we have been home, that we were still out in the Maldives (but not necessarily at Anantara). Why had such a wonderful time was for the following reasons:- 1) The Maldives is the most naturally beautiful place with fabulous picture postcard colours. 2) We are in Love! 3) We were warmer than we would have been if we had stayed at home! 4) The weather was great 5) The food was fabulous and no washing up! 6) The waiting staff are so friendly and helpful 7) The Spa is fabulous and the treatments are the best i have ever had What was wrong:- 1) As others who have written reviews have said - Anantara is a cluster of 5 islands (Anantara being the largest) so it does not feel very robinson cruiso ish when you can see othere islands including the one that the staff live on (which is very untidy to look at) also at the time we were there they were still building the new 6* (i dread to think what they'll charge for that) resort and there was a fair amount of noise and construction - especially if you were in a beach villa on that side of the island. 2)For heavens sake which imbacile decided to put the rubbish area next to reception and infront of the Fushi Cafe? 3) Way over priced - we knew we would be paying through the nose for a trip over new year but as we got married on the 23rd December - we wanted to go on honeymoon just after Christmas. The food was fabulous but all the little touches that make you feel special were missing! No fresh flowers in the rooms, no chocolate on the bed, No special Honeymoon treat like a complementary bottle of champagne or private meal. Although we had a fabulous honeymoon - i dont think that the value for money aspect was fabulous at all! 4) The New Years eve celebration was embarassing. It started with a cocktail party, which we were not officially invited to but heard about via one of the staff members, so we went along anyway and only one member of staff (the spa manager -a beautiful Thai lady with one of the most infections laughs i have ever heard) spoke to us. We then went to dinner at the Thai restaurant (Baan Hura) and had the worst meal that we had in the two weeks we were there - the food was cold and the choice limited - when it should have been an opportunity for them to show off and put on a lavish gala dinner. We then went back to the pool area where a stage had been set up for live music - what a wonderful way to start 2007 as Mr & Mrs we thought! Having sat in the bar for an hour waiting for it to start - with one free weak cocktail and still no management condesending to speak to us, the music started up although it was difficult to hear for the raucious group of staff in the bar who were getting stuck in to the booze (not very professional).......and then the General manager got up to say a few words....well when i say "got up" i mean staggered towards and when i say "to say a few words" i mean "to slur a few words" that on top of a very mediocah band and dodgy sound system meant we snuck out the back and legged it back to our room. We had a great New Years eve - but we made our own entertainment - enough said - it was our honeymoon! 6) We booked quite a few excursions at the start of our stay but 3 of them got cancelled due to not enough people signing up for them (perhaps they were busy having their sides stitched up following the general managers speach????) Although we understand that they need a minimum number of people to make the trips cost effective, one of the trips they attempted to cancel on us 5 minutes before the departure time. We had to argue that this was unacceptable and they finally agreed to run the trip with just us. This is a decision they should have made without us having to get involved. At this level of hotel every effort should have been made to ensure that the guests had the most relaxed and stress free holiday as possible - this was not always the case. 7) The room - well firstly due to a mistake by Kuoni we were not in one of the two over water villas with private plunge pool as we had booked (and had a confimation letter with that description witten on it) but that was not the resorts fault and Kuoni did compensate us - not sure i would trust them again though! Although the rooms were lovely and very private, spacious and well laid out with a fabulous bathroom which had the most amazing shower and huge double bath - there were a couple of school boy errors which you cant help but think that someone should have anticipated. The first is that if you have a bath the size of a small double bed - someone may (and i know you might struggle to believe this) want to fill it up with hot water ..........what i hear you say surely not - what kind of fool will want to do that...... well this kind of fool did! There was enough hot water to fill the bath a third of the way up which kind of did away with the point of having a massive bath in the first place when you have to squish yourself into the hard stone of the bath just to get wet. Secondly there was a really unpleasant smell when you were in the bath or near to the sinks - i am sorry to have to say but the smell was one of sewage and i have a feeling that this was due to the way that they pipe the sewage away from the over water villas. They need to address this - it is not a pleasant smell but perhaps why they light scented oils (our smelled of lemon and honey strepsils) in the evenings? 8)Check your bill before you pay it - the first one we were given was over double what it should have been - and bearing in mind that it is expensive to drink out there both in the restaurants and in the room our bill was £1000 over charged. This was recitifed - but the fact is that it should not have happened in the first place - and that is one of the last memories that people take away with them - i was hoping for a slightly more romantic image than one of being ripped off. In a nutshell my advise is as follows if you go to Anantara - book a water villa or a beach villa on the sun setting side of the island Check your bill thoroughly Stay at home for new years eve and go in January when the children go back to school and the prices fall drastically - spend some of the money you have saved on nose clips for the sewage smell problem If are more than a one bottle of wine a night person and are not Russian or Madonna then go to a cheaper resort or make arrangements to see your mortgage advisor when you get home Do the Dolphin trip Go to the Spa Dont bother with the sunset cruise Do the Cooking school class - this was excellent and one of the highlights of our trip. Despite one of the senior managers turning up at the end of the class and telling us that they dont make any money out of the class - did this really need to be said??? Go to Male - worth a visit and there are some excellent souviners which are significantly cheeper than in the hotel boutique. If you are a keen snorkler or scuba diver - dont go to Anantara - there are not enough reef fish to see. Take diving shoes - the sand looks soft but it is not - its sharp coral and it hurts! Finally if you are the owners of the Anantara Group - here are a few tips for you 1) get rid of your senior management team (everyone above Manish) and get some professionals instead 2)Dont skimp on the little touches - we do not have more money than sense and we do notice and they do matter 3) Sort the sewage smell and hot water problems out 4) Move the rubbish area 5) Stop over charging - we do notice and it is theft All that being said - we will both be going back to the Maldives as soon as our bank manager gives us our cards back but will will not go back to Anantara - we know what we are looking for out there now and there are too many resorts which offer it for us to settle for second best

We have just returned from a week break at Anantara and had an excellent time. With the exception of some of the rather disappointing service we received, our holiday was generally excellent. Anantara is in the middle of a sand lagoon which contains 4 islands in total. 2 are established resorts, Anantara and Bada Hurra (exclusively Italian) and a 6* resort under construction. The 4th island is the staff accomodation and service utility island. TRANSFER Extremely efficient transfer from the airport. We arrived at the island less than 90 minutes after landing! Transfer is by speed boat. CHECK-IN I notice that other reviewers have talked about this point, but our arrival at the island really was the low-point of the holiday. We arrived at 9am after a long flight and no sleep. There was no welcome, coconut cocktail, flowers etc (as we have had at all other islands we have visited). It was just like checking in to an airport hotel. We were told that our room would not be ready until 12 and we were told to have a seat. We thought that somebody was going to come and show us to the facilities that we could use until our room was ready. There was nothing. No tour of the island, explanation of the facilites or refreshment. We were not even shown to the nearest bathroom where we could change or have a shower. At 12, we were told the room would be ready at 2pm! At 2pm the room still wasn't ready. I was really annoyed and complained loudly! We were given a compimentary upgrade to a water villa as a result. However, at 5* and $650 per night, this sort of thing shouldn't happen. At this price you pay to be pampered and to feel special. Throughout our stay, service at reception was very poor. None of the staff seemed able to handle any of our queries and they didn't get back to you. This is in contrast to the other resort staff who were generally very helpful and knowledgeable. ACCOMODATION We were lucky to sample all of the accomodation at the island!! The water villa was simply stunning. We had villa 104 on the sunset side. It was beautiful and very very private. The bathroom had a large 2 person bath overlooking the sea. The decor was beautiful with a definate Thai influence. Our beach villa was also very nice. We had villa 57 on the sunset side. The decor was similar to the water villa, but the room was a little smaller. The bathroom again was stunning, with a big bath in an outdoor garden bathroom. Please do be careful with all of the trip hazards in the bathroom though (I fell into the garden from the outdoor shower and also triped several times over the invisible step down to the toilet!!)!! All of the bathrooms were well equipped with the most beautiful shampoo, conditioner and body lotions. Ladies - all of the rooms have UK 3 pin plugs, so you do not need to take an adapter for your hairdryer if you are from the UK, but will need an adapter from other countries. The rooms all have hairdryers if you don't want to take your own. The privacy wasn't too bad at our beach villa, but there are patches where the folliage still needs to grow a bit more. The beach was generally lovely and mainly fine powdery sand. Like all maldivian islands, the tide washes up a seam of dead coral, but we found it easy to walk around the island with no shoes. As all of the walkways are sandy around the island, you don't really need much in the way of shoes and definately no high heels are required! Just take flat shoes. SUNRISE V SUNSET This really is an island of 2 halves. I agree with other reviewers that the sunset side is best as it has uninterupted views (this applies to water and beach villas). I would not have liked to stay on the sunrise side as the views are of the other islands, one of which is the staff island and is not pretty! The sunrise side does not have a 'getaway island' feel at all. The sunrise side is much breezier though, so more comfortable on the beach. DINING We found all of the restaurants to be excellent and the service was very very good. Most of the waiters are Maldavian and so are a good source of information about everything from culture to snorkelling. The food was really good in all of the resturants. We stayed full board. If you are trying to calculate your deal, buffet lunch is $40 per head. We would go half board next time. Drinks were fairly expensive ($6 for a beer, $5 for a soft drink, approx $40-45 for a bottle of house wine). 10% service charge is added to absolutely everything that you buy. SPA The SPA was really excellent. The treatment rooms were lovely with infinity views over the sunset side. We had 2 massages and I had a manicure. It was quite good value and our therapists were wonderful. The Spa had a definite Thai influence. SNORKELLING As a result of previous reviews and on the (wrong) advice of the staff in the water sports centre we thought there wasn't much snorkelling. However, some of the other guests showed us where the house reef was. You need to get a kayak (free of charge at the water centre) and row to the sand spit that you can see off the sunset side of the island. If you walk 50 metres further out, you hit the reef. It was fabulous snorkelling and we saw lots of things that we hadn't seen elsewhere (titan triggerfish that tried to attack us and some big eels!!). We did do the snorkelling trip once and saw lots of turtles. We generally felt that the staff at the watersports centre were not very knowledgeable or motivated. The waiters were much better at helping us identify the right places to go and helping us to identify what we had seen. OVERALL IMPRESSIONS Anantara is a sort of 'Thai meets the Maldives' experience. The rooms are very high quality. There is a very broad mix of guests, mainly from Europe and Asia, attracting couples and a few families (staff in the restuarants were excellent with small children and would often be seen entertaining little ones while their parents ate). It is much more of a dining and spa experience than a 'Robinson Crusoe' getaway. As it stands right now they have some way to go on their customer service to get themselves up to 5* standard and even further if they want to compete with the established best resorts in the Maldives. However, if you have booked to go here, you will have a great time and I am sure you will leave feeling relaxed and refreshed!

Having spent our honeymoon in the Maldives some 15 years ago and having since spent many holidays in the Indian Ocean such as The Seychelles and Mauritius we decided to return to the Maldives. After speaking to my travel agent (she who must be obeyed) she recommended that we visit "Anantara". After landing at the main island Male you are whisked away onto a speedboat given cool towels and cold drinks and after some 15/20 minutes you arrive to be greeted by one of the very friendly staff who take you to your villa and give you a short tour of the islands amenities. We stayed in a beachfront villa which has air conditioning, a spacios lounge/bedroom equipped with a giant bed, TV&DVD, fridge packed with wine,beer and soft drinks, plenty of wardrobe space and an outside walled bathroom to die for, equipped with a giant double bath, two showers, two handbasins and the WC and all intermingled with your own array of plants. Leading out from your bedroom is your own deck area with table and chairs, sunnloungers with umbrella and a garden leading straight onto the beach, more sunloungers and that ocean, so warm, so clear, so blue. If you feel energetic there are all the usual watersports, sailboats, kayak,windsurf , snorkelling and diving, and if you really want to keep trim there is an excellent and well equipped gym which is looked after by Yohan who offers advice and encouragement to those who need it. There is a choice of four restaurants for your evening meal plus the Aqua bar which as the name suggests is next to the islands pool and serves snacks and drinks throughout the day. The four main restaurants are all excellent and you really are spoilt for choice with an Italian, a Thai, a Grill and a buffet restaurant all offering a great selection of meat,fish and vegatarian plus speciallity meals on the beach or in your villa for that special occasion, you really are spoilt, I have stayed at much more expensive resorts than this and not had anywhere near the choice. The downside, we can all find things that are not quite perfect cant we? Well if I had to I would say the Island will improve when the vegetation has grown more and the staff tell me that they are planning to improve the coral area but apart from this its great. The staff are all first class and just seem happy to please you what more could you want ?? Bye the way my travel agent (she who must be obeyed) is Stylish Resorts this small company is run by two girls and a guy who come from the Seychelles and who check out everything personally before they recommend anything, I constantly just ask her where I am going, "she has never let me down" So give Caroline , Lydia or John a call to book Anantara [--] and just enjoy a little touch of paradise.

My partner and I are just back from a 10-day vacation at Anantara. It was our 5h visit to the Maldives, previous ones including Hilton Rangali, Club Med Kani, Taj Exotica (all those prior to refurbishment), and One&Only Reethi Rah. We have been quite disappointed overall, hence are not grading this resort very high. Anantara is part of a cluster of 4 highlands, very close to each other. Anantara is the main one, then there is an all Italian resort, then Naladu is due to start shortly as an alledged 6-star resort (a joke), then the last highland accommodates all the staff, plus the dive center, plus the garbage storage area. All those can be seen from the sunrise side of Anatara. Only the sunset side offers uninterrupted and unspoilt lagoon and ocean views. CHECK-IN After a short 45 minute ride by speedboat from Malé, we were swiftly checked-in. A guy waved towards the main reception, the 2 restaurants, just to show us from a distance. Not a word about the gym, the pool, the spa, the dive center, the other restaurant, which we were all free to look for, or to miss. VILLA We were booked in a Beach Villa, standard one: #83. We had requested a sunset side, and glad we got it. Views are the best, plus no noise from the works on the next island (including at 10pm). They are brand new. Very close to each other, about 4-5 meters apart. Do not expect any privacy, especially since there is basically very little or no vegetation isolation. It will take some time to grow up. Very nice outdoor walled bathroom, in my opinion the highlight of the villa. Though sound privacy is little, as the path to all villas is against the wall. It includes a huge soaking tub for 2, 2 showers, 2 sinks and a toilet. The execution is really nice. The bedroom itself includes a huge, very comfy king bed. A daybed, whose drapery was removed after 4 days and never replaced, lies in a niche, opposite a desk along the side window. The floor is wooden, unvarnished, and looks dusty. A storage area, between the bathroom and the bedroom, has a few cupboards, plus the minibar. The cupboards were already in a state of disrepair, with non working inside lamps, which I gave up fixing, and broken knobs which were grossly glued, and did came loose, and hurting. At check-in it was far from clean, a state which only went worse during the stay, including a growing layer of dust on the glass shelves, which they never cleaned. The whole thing opens onto your private veranda, partly covered, including a raw concrete daybed (+ mattress and cushions), one table and 2 armchairs, then on a wooden open terrace with an umbrella and 2 deck chairs. Nice view from there. Standard equipment includes A/C (not working great, completely out one night but hopefully fixed rapidly), flat Sony TV and home cinema DVD, although personally, I don’t really see the point. The overall construction quality seems flimsy to me, especially in regards of my other Maldives experiences. FOOD The big plus of this resort. Breakfast is buffet. Good quality. It is really the hub, and the time when you will see a lot of guests, although not really crowded. Plenty of food options. Thai restaurant is built on stilts, right on the reef. You need a boat to go and come back. Alledgedly on the way, it is very long to come. The building and the decoration are spectacular, although it is extremely noisy from the crashing waves. They flew cooks and staff in from Thailand, and they do a tremendous job. Food is really stunning. Delicious, beautifully displaid and served. A hit. Fuddan (grill) and Terrazzo (Italian fusion) are on different floors of the same building. Service is nice, efficient and friendly, and even sometimes very stylish. The manager and his deputy were working before at Taj Exotica and Reethi Rah. It is great to have seafood and meat charcoal grilled. Loved it. Nice starters. Great quality. Beautiful execution. Loved every meal there. We were on half board. I am not sure if it is a bargain really. Everything is available, including scallops, tuna, prawns, tenderloin, veal cutlets. Only lobster is extra, at $115 per kilo. You have to pay for it all, with no refund for unused HB. We did not try it, but never felt frustrated because so many great other options were available. A 3-course meal will set you back $120-160 for 2, outside drinks. Alcohol is not cheap, but why would it be ? It is not the rip-off I have experienced in Egypt. Still, I find $16 for a 1.5 liter of Evian very steep. SPA Decent spa. Not the best experience ever, but nice and affordable. Good value for money. POOL Nicely set out. Great view. Reasonably quiet. No need to wake up early to put a paperback on deck chairs. There are enough of them. SNORKELLING We did not do any. The lagoon is large, and although there were always people out, it did not seem to me that the life was abundant, partly because it is new. DIVING The dive centre is on another highland. Whenever you want to go, you have to ask for a boat, which always announced on the way, despite it is nowhere to be seen on the way. Waiting is always 5-15 minutes. Not convenient. Good instructors. Diving itself is quite expensive. It will set you $70 per dive, inclusive. 2-tank dives are not available. It is nice, but not spectacular. And after 5 days, they keep taking you at dive spots where you have already been earlier in the week. They make a point not to travel further than 15 minute radius. CROWD Mixed people, mostly 25-40. Nice decent people, quiet, and keeping to themselves. Lots of asian couples. Large european crowd (France, UK, Spain, Germany). Very few Russian, hopefully, although the place was packed with them in january, I have been told. A MISS, OVERALL We have been disappointed. It is a 4-star resort, but nowhere close to 5 stars. It just about delivers. Villas are on the cheap side, still charged $660 per day, which by the way is the rate for a basic room at the Four Seasons New York, supposed to be an expensive place in an expensive city ! Service is wrong, at a managerial level (all the little guys are great). The place is run in a cheap way : we never felt welcome spending top dollars. Not to mention looked after, let alone pampered. Senior management was nowhere to be seen, never, ever (except F&B). Yes, the GM turned up at 10.30 for his breakfast (congratulations for an early start), sat in a corner, stuffed himself, and went ; not a sight, not a word. This guy does not like his job, and does not make his deputies like it. He should realize that hospitality business means more than just a cash till, these days. No one ever enquired how good we were feeling, if something was wrong, how they could help. It seems that nobody cares. We had welcome fruits on day 1 (1 mango and 2 kiwi fruits), which were never replaced. We never had as much as a single flower anywhere in the room. We did the whole 10 days on 2 bars of soap, never refreshed, and 3 match boxes (they actually fished one box out of the ashtray, as there were still 2 unused matches in it : stylish). Despite a windy weather, cooking smells were experienced everywhere in the center part of the island. That’s wrong. Vegetation is scarce; at Reethi Rah, they planted 13.000 coconut trees prior to opening ! Housekeeping was not thorough. Failing bulbs were replaced only after a few requests. Water pressure is unsteady at best, making one of the showers barely usable. There was a GM cocktail party to which we were not invited; nothing personal, I am sure; just this shows the attention these guys give to details. The boat thing is unreliable and uncomfortable : it should be on hold, waiting for you, not the other way round. The environment, with all these other islands fails to deliver the uninhabited feeling I like to experience. Not to mention the loading dock in front of the breakfast restaurant ! Not to mention the sunrise view of garbage island, works, … My bill was overcharged with all meals and bed tax, despite being halfboard. They finally coreected, but since they could not locate my vouchers, I had to produce the invoice from the tour operator. They all go ballistic about the alledged 6-star island bound to open soon. Now, that is a JOKE. When I was waiting for the boat to come back from the Thai restaurant, I had time to tour one of the villas. They are ok per se, but walled, and there again just a few meters from each other. Add a bad location on the tip of the reef (noisy) on one side, and a poor lagoon view on the sunset side. Add the boat thing to go to basically any restaurant. They expect to charge them $1800. Let me just tell you that there must be at least 10 resorts in the Maldives where your money will be spent better.

We are currently staying at the Anantara Maldives, in fact have just come to the end of our first week. My wife and I are out here on our honeymoon, and we could not recommend it highly enough. We both thought it would be useful to write something while we were here as it is a new resort and there will be some people who probably have loads of questions about it all. We should be abel to help, especially as we have 1 more week out here. The first week we were staying in the delux beachfront pool bungalow, which was fantastic. It was the best room that we have ever stayed in, with private small pool to the back, 2 showers i the garden, double bath tub and massive bed. You also have direct access to the water which is the most beatiful colour of anywhere we have ever been. Fine, drinks are expensive compared to uk prices, (roughly $40 for a bottle of wine,) but food is fantastic, and you will never feel like you runout of things to do. The watersports area pretty muc covers everything, the snorkelling is pretty good and you can take some trips off the island to do things like dolphin watching, sun set fishing, of course all sorts of diving and sailing. Hire of snorkel equipment, kayaks and wind surf boards is al free which is a huge bonus. The spa is amazing, built like the over water bungalows, the people there are lovely, and I am told by my wife it was the best ever massage she has had,( It was my first!) We had an evening called dine by design where we asked the staff to make up a private candle lit supper on the beach, and had the anantara signature fish supper, which comes with your own waiter for the evening and chef. Really memorable. It included ever type of fish that is possible to imagine. The weather is perfect, hot but with a cooling breeze, and as I said before the water is the most wonderful colour all around the island. In fact I think the only thing we would say as a negative is that the sunrise side of the island is nothing like as good as the sunset, because of the wind and it looks out onto the island where the staff stay whioch is under construction. Not noisy just lots of boats etc, which suddenly makes you feel like you are not on a true desert island. I would say anyone looking to come out soon should try and get themselves put on the sunset side if possible, though don't worry if you are o the other side, as the whole experience is still just so unbelivably perfect. Anyone going on honeymoon should seriously consider this island. Please write back this week with any other questions.

We stayed at the Anantara Maldives in the last week of Nov and first week of Dec. Overall it was an excellent experience. Island and hotel are lovely and staff were great. Beach front villa (66) was perfectly placed and the bathroom was as fantastic as the other reviews suggest. The flora around the villas is growing really well, and we didn't find the privacy a problem, although in a couple of months time it will be better. The spa was fantastic. We had the five day treatment plus the sunburn treatment. You feel very pampered and it's not really any more expensive than you would pay in UK (Bristol). The situation is lovely, and they were very accommodating when we turned up on the wrong day for one treatment - we were encouraged to have a complimentary use of the jacuzzi and sauna. Despite the weather being a bit iffy at some point every day, this did not spoil our holiday at all. There was plenty of shelter in and around the villa which meant you could sit outside in the warmth and not get rained on. You can't guarantee the weather on any holiday, but this resort is set up fine for bad weather, as long as you enjoy a good read/time in the bar. Restaurants were good - the Thai restaurant was definitely the highlight. Was a bit disappointed in the Italian restaurant that 2 out of the 3 times we went there they didn't have our first choice of dessert.. Other five star hotels we've been to in Malaysia and Jamaica have given us daily complimentay fruit bowls and flowers/cards on the bed in the evening. The Anantara didn't do this. It's not a major fault, but it just makes you feel a little bit more pampered and the cards were a great way to get a little snippet of information about the culture/wildlife/flora. Maybe this is something the Antantara should start doing? Another minor grumble. In past holidays, we've also always had a complimentary daily snorkelling trip that we could go on. At the Anantara you have to pay every time you want to snorkel away from the island (the snorkelling equipment is free to use). As the coral immediately around the island is limited, if you want to see the really impressive stuff you have to go on the trip. For the price you are paying for this resort, I think a daily trip should be included. These negative points are quite minor, but it just means that certain other 5* resorts just have the edge. Whilst I wouldn't hesitate to go back to the Anantara, I would probably be more inclined to go elsewhere next time purely because there are so many islands and resorts to choose from - some of which have house reefs or complimentary snorkelling trips. I would suggest that you go half board at the very minimum. We went half board. The breakfast bar is a very comprehensive help-yourself one, and we found that by the time we got up and stuffed our faces with waffles and fruit (the other options are far too many to mention), we didn't need anything during the day. Wine was quite expensive compared to England, but that's to be expected in a remote island in a Muslim country. There was very reasonable wine for $40-60 a bottle in the restaurants, cheapest was about $35. The mini-bar was VERY expensive. Stupidly we did buy some alcohol at Heathrow which was confiscated at Male airport (we were given it back at the end of the holiday) - so don't buy any in duty free or on the plane thinking that you will save yourself money. All in all though it was a very enjoyable holiday - nothing beats stepping out of the airport onto a speedboat, and seeing dolphins on your way to the hotel. I certainly wouldn't put anyone off visiting it if you're after a relaxing holiday.

We returned from Anantara on 1.12.06. We had a fantastic time, the food was great, the staff were very friendly, nothing was too much trouble. We were also disappointed with the lack of marine life but went out on the trips which were very good. The weather was also disappointing but didnot spoil our enjoyement. I would certainly return if I ever visited the Maldives again. Diane

We just arrived home after an 8-day stay at Anantara - what a rude awakening when we came back to dark and cold London! A cloudy day in London is a world away (literally) from a cloudy day in the Maldives. The weather during our stay was forecasted to be rainy with thunderstorms every day so I was a bit apprehensive before leaving. This proved to be true the day after we arrived when it started to pour with high winds. It was not a good start to our tropical vacation. Getting to meals was a bit of a chore because even with the huge umbrellas provided in each villa, the wind and rain just soaked us. Water also pooled on the grounds so it was unavoidable to get your feet wet unless you're wearing boots or something. [Moral of lesson: if rain is forecasted, bring flip flops that can handle it and dry out fairly quickly!!] There is no accurate weather website to use in predicting the weather. All the websites were accurate in the cloudiness, but the predicted rain happened only 2-3 times during the day (more during the nights, thank goodness). The wind predictions were fairly accurate - we had strong winds consistently during our visit. The websites that I used were: accuweather, the Maldives' local weather website, and the one that Love_travel 1 shared in a forum posting (thanks!). BOOKING After a lot of research and contacting several travel agencies in the UK and the Maldives, I decided to book with a travel agent in the Maldives because they offered the best prices for when we wanted to travel. I used Intourist because it was recommended by the Hilton (who were fully booked) and also, cross-checked them with Siyad at Anantara. Overall, it was a bit frustrating because the person we worked with (Ainth) was slow to answer emails and sometimes, never answered them unless I badgered her with 2-3 more follow-up emails. Imagine the opposite of Siyad who is a star! My payment via wire was received short $7 which was an irritation, plus I had to incur a $40-50 wire fee which was supposed to be borne by the 'operator' which I thought was Intourist but turned out to be me. Ugh. The good part of booking through the travel agent is that I did not incur the 10% service charge on my stay or the FB meals. So, all in all, the extra wire fee wasn't a big deal. FLIGHTS TO/FROM LHR We flew using Sri Lankan airlines. If you sign up for Skywards, you get allocated better seats. We sat in the small cabin behind business class, isolated from the rest of economy and crying babies. That was a bonus. Overall, decent flights - no on-demand entertainment systems or amenities so bring your own ear plugs and eye shades. CHECK-IN Check-in was great because a member of the front-office staff took us to our villa and explained how things worked. There was no waiting behind the front desk as most hotels do. BEACH VILLA As others have noted, the beach villa was absolutely gorgeous and comfortable. We've stayed at 5* resorts in Bora Bora, Moorea, Anguilla and various islands in Hawaii - this was probably the nicest even though our overwater bungalow at Hotel Bora Bora was pretty nice, too. The room was spacious and very well-kept - cleanliness was not a problem at all, especially with the late morning and evening cleanings. The bed was a proper king-sized bed, not like the European versions which are two twins pushed together. Pillows could be selected to order, which I forgot to do, but what a nice touch. The only thing that I would have liked is speakers made for iPods - I think that the overwater villas have them, but not the beach ones which is a shame. Although we requested a sunset side villa, we were not given one - probably the first of the reviewers who didn't get the option to change to one. When we arrived, I immediately asked for a change but no one ever got back to us that day or next. After the rain and non-sunsets, we decided on the 2nd day that we wouldn't bother to follow up. Besides, we were getting used to our villa so we didn't really want to pack up and change locations. As others have mentioned, the vegetation was fully grown in on the sunrise side. It's still very sparse on the sunset site. Also, there's a lot more privacy on the sunrise side so if you're out sunbathing on the beach, it's quieter. We actually preferred this. Your view is the Baan Huraa restaurant and the new 6* hotel (Naledu - sp?) where construction is happening. Occasionally, you will hear distant work going on but it's not very noticeable because the surf and rustling of the leaves from the vegetation are predominantly what you hear. OUTDOOR BATHROOMS Loved it!!! At first, it was a little weird to think that the whole bathroom is outdoors (showers, vanities and toilet). Even though 3/4 of it was covered, it was still weird at first. But we got quickly used to it and loved the experience. I want to build an outdoor shower now!!! The toiletries were great - loved it so much that I bought the shower gel which they had to fill in water bottles (not cheap at $25 for 500ml). Before we left, I was a bit apprehensive about the creepy critters that others had reported finding. There wasn't many, but we saw a couple of mondo-sized ants, a caterpillar, a red worm and a gecko. No mosquitoes but we may have helped this by buying one of those liquid mosquito things that plug into the electric outlets - we plugged ours outside by one of the sinks. We left ours behind for the next guests. SNORKELING Both my husband and I love to snorkel so we were quite keen to do this, at any cost. I have to say that the most disappointing thing about the resort is the fact that there is very limited marine life around the immediate vicinity. When we stayed at Hotel Bora Bora, there were loads of fish immediately off the bungalow and the beach so it was like in an aquarium. At Anantara, we tried to snorkel on both the sunset and the sunrise sides of the beaches but saw very little. Each time, we saw about half a dozen varieties of fishes at most. The coolest was when we saw this large grouper near what we thought was a 'cleaning station' off a rock formation - you can find it swimming straight out from the end of the Aqua Bar/Pool area to where the villas start. On the sunrise side, we saw 3-4 black tipped reef sharks that swam there every day in the shallow waters, a small stingray that I mistaken for a rock, and a small anemone with tiny black clown fishes swimming in and out of it (couldn't find it in the water the next day). The snorkeling is very sparse off the beaches in the hotel. We thought about kayaking to the pontoon that others have suggested, to snorkel. But it looked pretty far out and we were advised by Howard in the Water Sports Center that it wasn't safe without a guide. I'm not a strong swimmer so the thought of how close it was to the bigger currents scared me a bit. We did a couple of snorkeling trips organised through the water sports center (the $25pp ones) and the full-day island excursion. The first snorkeling trip was after the rainy day so it was not a good experience. The furthest that we could go in the dhoni was to the house reef where the current/waves pushed you around a bit. We toured the reef as groups of 8, but it was not fun because (1) visibility was poor and (2) we were constantly forced to swim along so you couldn't really stop to observe the fish. I'm sure that the snorkeling guide had to do this because the current would move us along anyway, but it was no fun. The second trip my husband took alone - they went further out and saw some amazing things (large schools of fish, a manta ray, giant sea turtles, etc.). We also did the full-day excursion to the islands, which I totally recommend. It is a bit pricey at $105pp, especially for us because we were on full-board so we couldn't apply our lunch meal to the excursion, which included a BBQ. But the snorkeling spot they took us to was tremendous. We saw lots of fish and were able to explore the same area for a while. The crew that went out with us, made it a point to show us a great time and were so accommodating. They offered to take us to the spot where we might see dolphins, which we did! We liked the deserted island, which wasn't so deserted after another boat with 12+ people came. Lots of great photo opps with the deserted island feel since most people weren't too keen on exploring it and instead were snorkeling or sunbathing. The fishing village was interesting - we got a tour which gave us a sense for local life. One good thing to note is that the tour guide showed us what UNICEF and the Red Cross had donated after the tsunami - good to see in person how your donations are used. If you buy stuff at the gift shop on the island, make sure you bargain! The great thing about the excursion is that it's limited to 6-8 people so it's not masses of people with you. WATER SPORTS CENTER AND ACTIVITIES From the center, you could rent kayaks and snorkeling gear - I think that the windsurfing stuff, too. They also have better life jackets than provided in the rooms, but they don't really like you using those for the hotel excursions or for use off the beach unless you’re doing an activity with them. The equipment was all brand new and of great condition. I almost got the sense that they were a separate outfit from the hotel so it wasn't that well integrated. Some of the people working there weren't the friendliest either. They were not very helpful in pointing out snorkeling sites that you could do on your own. Perhaps, there isn't any so we'll never know. In general, not helpful unless you were signed up for an activity with them. BTW, the beach is not a place that you can walk barefoot - lots of dead coral and shells. Unless you've got feet of steel, you will need water booties to get inside the water because stuff is strewn everywhere. There are some places with fine sand that is walk able in bare feet but it's few and far between. FULL BOARD (FB) VS HALF BOARD (HB) The great debate!!! We were on FB because I have to eat every 3-4 hours so figured that the FB was the most economical one to do it. Having done it, I would probably do it differently next time and opt for half-board. The reason is that being on FB kind of obligated me to eat at the restaurants (which didn't include the Aqua Bar, which actually had food that I preferred at lunch - e.g., club sandwiches, burgers, finger food, etc.), which was heavy at times. It was also annoying that we couldn't apply our meal allotment to things like the full-day excursion which included a BBQ. Or use room service, like on the rainy day. Being on FB and HB essentially allowed you to order most things off the menu. We usually had 3 courses at lunch and/or dinner. Also, the mandatory 10% service charge was also included in FB and HB so no need to worry about those. Drinks were excluded so you had to pay the 10% service charge for the drinks, plus the cost of the drinks themselves of course. BAAN HURAA and FUDDAN GRILL (and FUSHI CAFE) These were probably the two better restaurants at the resort. I would skip Terrazzo - what a disappointment in food and service - we actually ate there twice, just to be sure. Fuddan Grill serves a buffet at lunch which was pretty good; not a huge selection (pasta station, hotel food, limited salad selections and desserts) but it's more than enough at lunch. At dinner time, the appetizers were a bit weak (sushi platter was dreadful with thick cold packed-in rice and HUGE pieces of this, not the fish and imitation crab meat!!), but the entrees were great when you picked the right things. You basically order a meat or seafood and then, a style of cooking. We found that they did the tandooris best. On the first couple of nights, we splurged on the Sri Lankan crab and the lobster which were not included - what total disappointments with the crab being downright bad (mushy meat which indicates that it was either overcooked or it wasn't fresh). We found that the Indian jumbo prawns (included in the FB/HB) were delicious, especially prepared in the tandoori oven or even stir-fried. My husband really enjoyed the lamb too. Our favorite was the garlic butter green beans that we ordered with dinner every night. Baan Huraa was good as well. No bad dishes there, but our favorite were some of the salads, the mussaman curry with beef and the prawns (which were HUGE!). Getting out to Baan Huraa was done via a boat since it's on the edge of the reef. In rainy or windy conditions, not fun especially at night. But in broad daylight, it's kind of fun. The staff was so friendly and very attentive - ditto for Fuddan Grill. Lunch and dinner used the same menu. Fushi Cafe was where the breakfast was served, as well as a buffet dinner (which we opted not to do). The breakfast was not as big a spread as other resorts that I've been to. But it catered to an international clientele because it had an omelets and waffle station, as well as dishes like congee, fried rice/yakisoba, curry, etc. My favorite each morning was an omelet with fried rice and tropical fruit!! ANANTARA SPA I love spas so before we left, I booked myself 2 hour treatments for most days that we were there. It lived up to and surpassed all my expectations!!! This is a MUST on the holiday. When the weather was bad, we decided that worst case, we could turn our holiday into a spa vacation. I booked my husband on a couple of treatments with me on the rainy day and got him completely hooked!!! We ended up booking the 3-day treatments for him. If you are looking to book several days of treatments, book the packages offered in the spa menu - they are more cost-effective than to do it a la carte. The rooms were absolutely beautiful and the girls were very skilled. Our favorites were Pim and Aoy. The new spa manager (Jintana) was tremendous as well. Some of my reservations were not booked although they were confirmed to me via email. She rectified this immediately. During one day of treatments, I got an incomplete treatment by one of the other girls - when I mentioned this to Jintana, she re-booked me for a complimentary treatment immediately. What great service!! I really got to know and love the spa staff - made me sad when we had to leave. As far as prices, they were such a great deal for people coming from the US and Europe, and especially so for the UK. With the 3-day package, our 1.5 to 2 hour treatments broke down to $100 each session/day. What a steal! If I were to go the Dorchester Spa or the Mandarin Oriental in London (which I did), they were well over 200-300 GBP ($350) for the same 2 hour session of treatments. The therapists at Anantara were so much better than the ones in London at these luxury hotels. STAFF Overall, I highly rate the friendliness of the staff. They tried very hard to help and be as accommodating as possible. I have not experience anything to the same caliber, except at the Mandarin Oriental in Munich. Everyone was so friendly that it felt that you were part of the Anantara family. It's really hard to explain but when we left, I felt so sad at leaving the staff, too. Never really felt that way at a hotel where it has been so impersonal. I can say that you don't find this type of service in bigger hotels or in the Caribbean or French Polynesia - or at least, I didn't. One thing that I would say is that the staff need to be more trained - a lot of times, we found that they didn't know the answers to some of our basic questions (what do you do in the full-day excursion, what days does the snorkeling excursion run, what meals are included on my last FB day). They were always happy to call someone to find out, but there were not resident experts. This is probably one of the teething problems that we observed. Also, if you had any requests, they had to check with management. No questions had quick answers. A ding that I would give about the resort is that it nickels and dimes you for everything. The 10% service charge is added to everything - even buying the straw bag offered in the room. I don't mind the charge as others have noted, but I DO mind it when it's applied to something where service was not actually delivered. When asked for late check-out to 7pm, I was told that we would be charged $150 for the 6 hour privilege so I declined; instead, I asked for a 1 hour delay in the checkout. The front office staff had to check to see if they would charge me for it - fortunately, they didn't. AMENITIES PROVIDED BY HOTEL Here are the things that are provided by the hotel that I wouldn't have brought if I were to do it again: toiletries like shampoo, conditioner, soap, shower gel, body lotion - all were high quality products. Hotel provided a huge straw beach bag (which you could buy for $19 when you left), in-door slippers and bathrobes, flip flops for non-small feet, bottles of water, good snorkeling equipment, life jackets, plug-in bug repellent (you may need to ask for this), umbrellas. Things to bring: waterproof sun tan/screen, underwater cameras ($24 for each), books/magazines (library is a bit lame), DVDs, laptop to access the Internet if you don't want to wait for the two terminals ($20 a day or $160 for the entire stay). We brought mosquito repellant spray, which we didn't use at all. I didn't get bitten until the last hour (I kid you not!) when we were dining at Fuddan Grill where I got 3 bits on my legs before we left for the airport. ARGH! Final words: I would love to try another Anantara resort because our experience was so good with its staff and the amazing SPA. The location of Anantara from the marine life is disappointing - would be great if they could cultivate coral or sea life. But I found that there isn't a lot of coral in the Maldives compared to French Polynesia - visibility of snorkeling was not as good either, but this could be partially attributable to the weather. Although it's unlikely that we'll be back in the Maldives again any time soon, I would like to try another resort like the Hilton to see what it's like and have some comparison to the facilities and marine life. This trip was one of the life experiences that I had on my list of to-do's so I'm glad that I was able to do it at Anantara. It was a very memorable experience.

We got back from the Anantara yesterday - 18 Dec 2006 - so here is a quick update (I will try not to repeat previous comments made on this website). We travelled as a family of 4 - 2 adults and 2 girls aged 13 & 8 - stayed for 8 nights and had a great time. The staff were absolutely superb, very friendly and helpful and were especially good with the girls. The Beach Villa rooms were lovely - very comfortable and spacious, and the outside bathroom was huge and very practical. Our need for 2 adjacent villas was met and - following previous comments on this website - we requested the sunset side which was also met (although they told us they are near 100% occupancy and therefore this can not always be the case). I think this made the holiday for us because not only do you have an uninterrupted view (rather than the other islands on the sunrise side) but it also on the downwind side. We had 3 windy days and it would have been near impossible to sit or play outside the villas on the sunrise side during the worst of the high winds. We were allocated villas 67 & 68 which were closest to the pool, which would not have suited some but were ideal for us. The previous comments about the limited foliage between villas is correct and does detract a bit from your privacy, but we hardly ever saw our neighbours and it certainly wasn't a problem. As always, you need to be fairly self-sufficient with children but ours loved the swimming, snorkelling, catamaran sailing and windsurfing. The snorkelling trip on the catamaran was a particular favourite. I understand from the Aqua Pool staff that there are c 36 children expected for Christmas and they are putting on a programme of events for them, so there will be a lot more to do then. The food was good, our favourite was also the Baan Huraa thai restaurant but the rest were ok too. The portions were quite large and we found that 2-3 starters and 2-3 main courses were ample between us. I thought the buffet at $55 was overpriced, especially for children who are charged full price unless 8 (or 12?) and under. Our weather was bit mixed - good for the first part and then cloudy for the rest. Unfortunately it rained the whole of the last day (Sunday). For information, the resort under construction on the sunrise side is a 6* resort of about 20 individual houses. It is due to open in January but there appeared to be a lot still to do ! We did provide some additional feedback to the hotel but in the context this is a new resort only open for 5 months we thought it was pretty good and we would be hard to beat the quality of the rooms.

We have just returned from the Island, and we had a nice time, the staff were friendly, the room was great, the bed was huge. We loved the bathroom the most. We found the food a little boring, and somewhat expensive. The weather was awful, we only had I day when it was not raining. We have been to the Maldives twice before, and gone to the same island twice. We would not return to Anantara, we found it slightly boring, and without a house reef not alot to do unless you went on a trip. All in all if you have never been to the Maldives before I would not recommend this island, try a smaller one with a house reef, although maybe not 5 star the smaller islands give you a feeling of being on a desert island. And a bigger feeling of being part of that Island whilst there.