Sun Siyam Olhuveli

First time in the Maldives and had a wonderful experience, would recommend for families.

We had the best beach villa upstairs. Room 151. I think the only better villa was next door with a little pool. We got the breeze & it was a heaven, like the aircon. It was very hot, so we were thankful. Amazing, huge outdoor bathroom with privacy wall. Outdoor shower, & bath. Bed was very comfy. By far the best was our houseboy, Noor. He was brilliant, a master at towel art & decoration. He would come twice a day to clean & make or turndown the bed. The buggy service to reception or other islands was great. Runs every 10 minutes. Farnoza & CJ at reception were wonderful. Misa at the jewellery store was lovely and gave us exceptional prices. The girls and guys at the spa were excellent. The Thai & Indian restaurants were to die for. The resort is so well run, when you get bored, explore two more islands, unless you have kids, one island is adults only. They have different restaurants and pools. The water-sports are second to none. The main restaurant on our island was a fabulous all you can eat buffet. Did the 1/2 board cause we only eat twice a day and it was enough for us. Yogesh, Francis, Ravi and the chefs and waiters are great. The resort even have guys that clean the seaweed off the beach multiple times a day so its always pristine white. Nothing is too much trouble. The only improvement is if they had an ATM for USD. Reception can only give $100/day. Beware the giftshop. Hair care and sunscreen are expensive. I paid $68 a bottle for shampoo & conditioner.

My husband and I traveled here for our honeymoon and we had the most amazing time of our lives. The island is absolutely breathtaking and the staff goes above and beyond to cater to all your needs. Our host, CJ was absolutely phenomenal. He organized so many incredible things for us and was always such a pleasure to speak with. I would recommend this property to anyone wanting to visit the Maldives. I spend WEEKS researching the best property and I can assure you NOTHING beats this property. It has props and everything needed for perfect photo shoots and is incredibly romantic. They also have things for kids to do as well! Overall it’s just amazing.

After paying in full, we received a confirmation email with the following note: "TRANSFER POLICY: We offer speedboat transfer between Male International Airport and the resort. Our transfer are combined transfer along with other guests from scheduled flights on the day and please note that our transfers will not be available every hour, all depends on the guests flights movements. Regarding the transfer timing we will final arrival and departure movements one day prior to guest arrival/departure day. The below charges will be applicable as per your reservation. Return Speedboat Transfer Rate: USD 229 NET per adult, USD 115 NET per child." Given we will be meeting friends at Male town and will be staying at a different resort after Olhuveli, we proceeded to make our own transfer arrangements. Upon arrival on Day 1 we were rudely confronted by their Sales Director – Frances, who told us we are not allowed to make our own transfer arrangements. We explained 1. We are not going to Male so why pay to be transferred there. 2. Your policy states “offer” instead of “mandatory” to which she said “It is not my problem where you chose to go after Olhuveli but we will transfer you to Male and you will be charged for it”. I was later told by a staff that if we didn’t pay for the transfer, our room keys will not be issued. Overall a nice resort with the exception of Frances who was rude and barbarous. Our other encounters with Afeef, Olga and Ruswan was very pleasant.

We stayed at grand beach villa. The insdie of the room is good and has a big space for us. We enjoyed the beach in front of our room and even could see a samll shark swimming very close to us. Our room number was 838 which is very far away from reception and it took a very long walk to have meals everyday. Overall, I think the C/P value is quite good for people traveling with young children compared to other expensive resorts in Maldives.