Maldives should you go? Anantara Hotel Maldives Review

My husband and I went to Maldives 2 years ago for our honeymoon. Maldives is a place that I always want to go to. I've seen so many great reviews and beautiful resorts pictures on the internet. One particular web is the Conde Nast Traveler.

I don't know if this review might be outdated but the experience and memories are still fresh on my mind til now.Why Maldives? We love the beach. In Indonesia, our holiday trip since we'd been dating had always been to the beach. We've been to Bali, Lombok and Manado. For my husband, a holiday is not a holiday if you see another big city, oh well.. At the beach you're relaxed and it IS different from the city life. We've also been to Phuket. So you see, all beaches :).



Second of all, it's quite near to Jakarta. Only 4 hours plane ride to Maldives. We don't like long hours flight, well who does?

So as always I did my research on hotels, villas and resorts in Maldives. Always before searching the net, I will ask my 2 big sisters on their knowledge and afterwards surf the net, finding out here and there.

I saw this Anantara hotels in Maldives on the net and I remembered in Phuket i went to that hotel for lunch before and I like it. Of course there's that Conrad hotel with the underwater restaurant to consider and One and Only Reethi Rah and so many more, it's hard to choose. Also nowadays there are All Inclusive hotels which I did consider but my husband told me to just go with the usual ones.

My husband said that we should get the water villa cos that's the whole purpose of going to Maldives. To experience the villa on water. If just a beach house, it'll be just like in Bali he said.

Conrad Hotel's water villa is expensive and One and only did not really appeal to me. They do have TV by the way, in fact, all hotels do. I went to Tripadvisor to see the best rankings and then saw Anantara.

Anantara has 3 resorts during that time, now has 4. They were Kihavah, Dhigu and Veli. The good news is they were all interconnected. I thought, so the hotels must be big, we won't get bored there and we can try many different restaurants. Also at Tripadvisor, someone mentioned that the Thai restaurant and massage are the best. Both my favorites!

At first we want the villa in Kihavah, most expensive but then changed our mind and go for Dhigu. If I'm not mistaken it cost about $800 something per night. During that time they have promo discount. I can't remember with what.. Was it Singapore Airlines? Anyway it's $800 ++, cheaper than Conrad and etc. We booked for 8 days so the total bill is about US$6500. I went there in August 2012 which is the Lebaran Holiday in Indonesia but low season in Maldives. Hence the promo probably.

Bear in mind there's bed tax for Maldives per person and also the ferry boat ride per person i think about $200 to and fro. If the island is further from Male you will need to take sea plane which is more expensive $800 per person. My husband prefers ferry, doesn't really feel safe on a seaplane, one of the reasons I choose Anantara.

We took Singapore Airlines and the flight experience is kinda bumpy. Many turbulences and we were worried for our lives there for awhile. Haha. But of course we reached there safely in the afternoon and once we're out of the airport we approached the Anantara crew holding an Anantara signboard. He then told us we were waiting for another couple and then we're good to go.

All set and good to go, he led us to the dock just in front of the airport. Just about 100-200 m walk. Climbed on the ferry which i believe is a yacht actually. Sat on this comfortable reclining chair with our feet up and they gave us chilled water to drink. The ride is about 20 minutes. In that yacht only us and another Japanese couple.

Reached the hotel, checked in and wowww the view at the water villa is spectacular. Love the water villa. We had a nice butler i think his name is Muhammad. Enough talking, even I am getting bored, below are the pics I took. My camera did not do justice to the original place but you get the idea :D

The Lobby

Upon reaching the hotel's dock, we felt so excited and tried to compose ourselves and I bet the Japanese couple with us felt the same way too. They kept taking photos, talking animatedly with each other. Anyway, alighted from the yacht, welcomed on the dock with welcome drinks and fresh wet towels and were led to the lobby for check-ins. 

One done, they brought us to the over water villa with golf car. It was about 5-7 minutes ride. 

Wash your sandy feet before entering

So here's the room:

The bathroom:

The balcony:

The awesome view:

View from our villa entrance:

The beach

The pathways on the island. The water villas are separated from the islands as 

you can see above.

    

The direction so you won't get lost, they gave us a map too.

Fushi Cafe is where we had our first lunch at Anantara. 

Food taste? Average.

After lunch, we went to explore the island.

The swimming pool

School of fish.. ikan asin (salted fish)?

Here's where the pontoon ride's located. This is how you get to Anantara Veli from Dhigu island. 

It was about 5 minutes pontoon ride. If I wasn't mistaken the pontoon comes every 10 minutes.

The awesome view from pontoon:

So this is Anantara Veli. The over water villa is smaller than the ones in Dhigu, but the boatman said for privacy and big fish spotting, you should stay at Dhigu and if you're into corals and snorkelling you stay at Veli. However, I don't think Veli is a good idea, the villa is just next to the pontoon ride. I assume it might be noisy in the early morning or at night. With the people walking on the dock, the motor boat engine and etc, but we have this noisy neighbor with a kid from China at Dhigu water villa but checked out about 2 days after we'd arrived. SUCH a relief. 

Veli bar & swimming pool, I find the one in Dhigu much nicer:

Naked hermit crab shopping for shells? Hehe. And a very big hermit crab:

Alright so here's pictures of the food there:

Caught a hornet hanging out on our bathroom window, we did not kill it, no worries, 

we let it out to the ocean.

Chilling:

View of the sunset from the bar:

Swan towels on our bathtub with rose petals:

These were done by our butler, Muhammad. Awesome. Nice guy and he even gave us souvenirs.

He also did this below on our bed:

Here below is the famous Baan Hura Thai restaurant at Maldives: 

Over water resto

Tom Yum Soup

The nice waitress gave me this handmade toy to play with. So fun, haha. 

Out of all the restaurants at Anantara, Baan Hura is my favourite. Yummy! The Thai food is authentic. How can it not be? Even the waiters and waitresses are Thais. Assume the chef must be Thai as well, right?

To get to Baan Hura you have to take the pontoon from Dhigu as the only access is from Veli.

On our way back, we spotted baby black tipped sharks on the sea shore. WOWW, awesomee.. Don't worry, they do not bite. In fact, they are afraid of humans. Just let them be and you'll be fine. We noticed a little bit deeper there's the mother or father shark. We spotted it swam by, kinda brought chills on our backs. Luckily we don't disturb the babies. Fiuhh..

Activities we did there:

• Kayaking: Free everyday for 2 hours. you can kayak to the little island Anantara has where there were many baby sharks on the shore and a little bar where you can rest, order drinks and kayak back again. For glass bottom kayak you need to pay but what for we have the free ones.
  Kayaking is so tiring especially when your husband just sat at the back and asked you to do all the job. Thanks a lot husband, such a blessing marrying you. SCORE! 
  We did kayaking in the middle of the day. We wore life boat jackets and so I get sunburned but only half of my body.. NOT a pretty sight, a funny one for my husband with the lifeboat prints on him HAHA serve you right! Also, my body aches the next day.. again, Thanks hubby!

• Snorkelling:
  They will rent you free snorkelling gears which you return at the end of the day. However we brought our own gear.
  Husband got stung by jellyfish which resulted in difficulty breathing but luckily he's ok, so be careful. I believe the jellyfish got stuck in his pants and tried to escape. HAHA. Yeah so the jellyfish won't sting you for no apparent reason, no worries
• Snorkelling to the middle of the ocean:
  Boat ride to the middle with other guests. I think it was USD 80 per person or more. More fishes to see, even sharks and Nemo :D. Overall, good. Don't step on the corals, obviously.
  
  Here's the link to their website: Snorkelling

• Dolphin Trip:
  As the name says it, a 30 minute boat ride to spot dolphins.. However we did not see any, it's more like a boat ride to see the ocean haha but afterwards went for traditional fishing and spot the dolphins. Waste my money this one!

• Traditional fishing:
  That means fishing with no fishing rods just the line, hook and baits. Took a boat to the middle of the ocean with other guests in the evening and I was lucky and got this giant Travelli. Went for traditional fishing twice but 2nd time not so lucky, still got a few lil ones but you hope for the big ones you see, you get greedy. :D USD 60/80 per person if I'm not mistaken.

First this lil one. This makes me happy already,

And then this awesome fish.. giddy with joy. Can't believe it myself.

Husband just got lil red snapper, HAHA

Our combined catch of the night

Then you have the option of tasting the fish! But of course you have to pay..

I think it was USD 50 per person.

Had our lunch the next day eating our catch in our room. The middle pic is the Travelli and the right pic is the snapper. Of course they did not serve us all the meat, that'll be just crazy. Even this we can't finish, too much. Taste? It's so-so. The snapper tasted better.

• Big game fishing:The giant Travelli led us to big game fishing. Did big game fishing thrice! Haha. The big game fishing is the highlight of the trip actually. Almost got a sailfish twice and snapped. The crews are really an expert. They know the spot to get fish and when the bait is taken. A private yacht with 6 fishing lures and 3-4 crews to help just the two of us. :D It was 3 hours duration for USD 900++ per boat. Oh and the water is so calm, no seasick pills required, which is what we love from fishing there. Best time to fish would be in the morning. The crews said it's when the fishes were hungry and hunt for food.

Sailfish

Tuna

• Spa, Thai Massage:
  We got the Couple Thai Massage. I had to say it was the BEST massage ever. Maybe cos of the awesome view, the real Thais who massaged us or the breezy wind or the honeymoon mode. Whatever it is, it's the best!! But the bill is also AWESOME. $1000 ++ for two not including the tips we gave. It was the MOST expensive massage ever especially if you stay in Jakarta. In Jakarta, massage for an hour is like Rp100.000 or USD 8.5, well this was 3 hours but still! Anyway, no matter, it was our honeymoon :D

• Drinking coconuts

 So this must be the most expensive coconut we ever had. USD 5++ and it's so small not like the ones in Jakarta or Bali. But again, it's a holiday and we're on an island where everything has to be imported from the mainland or somewhere else. Also, we're on island, which is a compulsary to drink coconuts, LOL. Forget the price, we had coconuts thrice, haha.

Overall it was a wonderful, wonderful trip. As I had mentioned, the memories are still fresh on my mind. Will I come back? MOST DEFINITELY! I LOVE Maldives, even got this key chain to prove my love: 

USD 10!!

Gifts from our butler

Overall, our expenditure in Maldives for 8 days is about USD 15,000.
The cheapest food in Anantara would be the in room dining pizza USD 15 ++ and it's delicious!
Most expensive would be the seafood platter for two or was it the lobster buffet, dining under the stars. about USD 150 ++. Dining under the stars is at Veli, in my opinion it's not worth it. In the water villa we could also dine under the stars. You can even eat chocolate on the beach and call it dine under the stars hahaha. The stars can be seen anywhere on the island.

Best Restaurant in Anantara: Baan Hura
Best Villa: Over water villa
Best time to go: I was told it was December - January, but that was for Big game fishing.
Must try activity: Big Game Fishing & kayaking
What to bring: sunglasses and sunblocks

Do not go during: rainy season, we went there on August and if it rains all day, no way you can get out of your villa and being in the water villa when it rains heavily at night is quite scary. Like there's gonna be a Tsunami but we survived :D.

Who is it NOT for:
- people who can't swim
- if you're afraid of sharks
- if you don't like the sun
- if you get bored being in an island
There's TV and WiFi but we're too busy with our activities to watch and surf the net.
- if you're seasick

Who is it for:
- Honeymooners
- Family with kids
- Couples
- Beach lover
- Proposing people. I noticed many of my Singaporean friends nowadays proposed in Maldives.

Airlines I took: Singapore Airlines
Hotel: Anantara Dhigu Maldives


Ratings: ★★★★★★★★★★ 10 out of 10 for me


Hope this review helps and make you want to go there. I think you should before the islands disappeared from the global warming LOL.


So to answer my own question, should you go? YES YES YES.

Tweet