Maldives

[ryo]

Yo Bookworm,

I did a quick check. for Oct rates, likely similar to Apr rates, 4K can bring you to a couple of water villa. But it's not 5 star resort lah.

4nites stay:-
1)Hakura Club(All inclusive, seaplane, water villa) ~ $3900 for 2 person.
2)Club Rannalhi(Full board, speedboat, water villa) ~ $4100 for 2 person.
3)Angaga resort(Full board, seaplane, water villa) ~ $4500 for 2 person.
4)Veligandu resort(Full board, seaplane, water villa) ~ $4300 for 2 person.
5)Velidu resort(Full board, seaplane, water villa) ~ $4300 for 2 person.

Personally I like Veligandu more, becos of the villa design. For those seaplane transfer resort, u need to book 1 nite stay in Male, would probably cost u another S$130 more only. the above rate I uses Mal-dives.com online quote, for this Oct 06. The exchange rates I uses a conservative 1.6, and SQ flight for 2 at S$1700.

hope it helps out on ur decision!

Cheers!

 

[zhuzhu]

yoz Wu
We did the "cooking" quite fast...so dun think anyone saw it...

Now ah..still not a big fan of sashimi leh..

Hana Maki is wat? I go there always eat standard stuff..the fried salmon..the gozya..got this green beans oso..

 

[lph]

im going krabi in oct, i found another website which is charging $100+ cheaper. tats y im thinking if its worth it to cancel with asiarooms. emailed them to ask for the cost of cancellation n they alwasys gave the standard answer.

Hana Maki is the one where the salmon sashimi is use to wrap the rice, n on top theres some mayo.
it looks like a flower tats y call hana.

 

[haru]

hahah zhuzhu,
u very cute leh!! i think sashimi is better than cooked fish!! in fact, hubby and i just had some earlier when i met him for a quite lunch at a small jap restaurant at raffles city. hubby has to work today..=P

u very xing fu leh, zhuzhu..so fast going for another holiday already! i stayed at central karon before. quite nice, spacious rooms and very secluded. only thing is must take tuktuk to patong beach.

 

[starmed]

haru

we'll must prob renting a jeep while we stay at central karon...

u stayed at the sea facing villa? me looking forward to the trip...

LPH
krabi!!

nice! think there's some cancellation fee right? think the terms n conditions are written in their web site..try checking thru...

bookworm
I totally agree wif Wu...go maldives...

for me, I'll go for the lower class resorts n go for the clear blue waters there..

u won't regret..

 

[haru]

hi starstar,
nt sure if this place called 'Let's Relax' at patong beach is still open. Its a white 3-storey shophse with some realy comprehensive and reasonably priced massage and spa packages. do try to book a day in advance if poss. its not at the front row nearest the beach, its more behind..

 

[zhuzhu]

Haru
U got the wrong person lar..me not going for any holidays lar..its LPH

 

[zhuzhu]

animal planet is showing "A tribute to Steve Irwin"

 

[zhuzhu]

Hey ppl

Saw in another thread that Chin Leng is being nominated as a receipient for the Spirit of Enterprise award..we could all go and vote for him..

http://www1.soe.org.sg/soevote/public/registerlogin.php

closing date is 15 Sept.

 

[starmed]

haru
ok..noted...I'll look for it in patong..

thanks..

 

[kazataza]

Wu & Mish,
Take care

drink lotsa water


Talking abt Pan Pac, I understand that if you spend $300 at Pan Pac restaurants (accumulated receipts within XX monhts) u can apply to get a Pan Pac Card. This card will entitle u 50% discount for your future visits to the restaurants there. You guys can consider getting the card, esp those who'd just dined there.

Swissotel has something similar too. It's call Feed @ Raffles Card. Has very good discount too. For 2 pax @ Prego, there's 50% discount. The same for the Szcheun Chinese restaurant upstairs. The card oso can be used @ Merchant Court Hotel. Got the card thru Amex Platinium application. You guys can try this too

 

[smaghy]

Hey Wu, wic company is ur Wife's BIL in. Any idea if they'll work wid me..but i hope the charges aint sky rocketing. The reason is tat the video will need some sort of animation as well as background music. I dunno how it's done....anyone doing this freelance????

Ok another help needed. I need someone for decoration. Not exactly flowers but to use more fabric as well as rental of table & seat covers. Any suggestions. My caterer provides very minimal decor. Need to enhance my venue.

 

[haru]

hi fanfan,
thanks for sharing with us!

 

[ryo]

Yo Zhuzhu,

Actually you like it if you eat Sashimi in Japan, it's really diff from those in Singapore. Super fresh, don't have those frozen kind of taste. The came in huge pcs some more!

Really have to depends on ppl loh, if u don't like, most likely you'll never like it. Juz like some of my friends.

You can try other things like Okonomiyaki, The Nabe(hot pot) etc...
Oh yes.. LPH knows Hana Maki well

Yo Piggy,

No sure whether our BIL wants to do or not. For ours, he just do for fun of it. I'll check with him if he's willing to do it or probably recommend someone.

BTW, where are u holding ur wedding? Sounds like it's in the church or some open space isit?

 

[truffles__pearls]

wu & starstar,

made my char siew on sat! it turned out quite well...haha...but i didn't use sugar, used honey instead..made my own wantons and had my 1st homemade wantan mee...except i didn't make the mee of cos

 

[ryo]

Yo T&P,

Congrats!!! U shld take some pics and let us see....drool...
So Honey baked Char siew lah?
What type of noodles u use? I always prefer those QQ type(not egg mee type of Wanton mee).

Wah...it's a big "project" hor...made ur own Wanton some more! I always too lazy to make, rather buy the Q-bite prawns wanton, very nice though!

Have u try it b4?

Cheers!

 

[truffles__pearls]

Wu,

i bought HK mee frm supermart. looks like normal mee u use for wanton mee except it's more Q...quite good actually..u jus cook it for 45secs, remove frm heat n "soak" in ice water for a while..

Yap, tried the prawn wantons before, my mum uses that when she's lazy to make her own. quite good n yummy..

as for the pics...next time if i try anything adventurous then take ya..

 

[smaghy]

Hey Wu, my luncheon not sure yet sourcing for hall/venue rental for 400-500pax....still sourcing. My dinner at Oriental. Decor needs are for my luncheon. Not a christian so no church wedding. Wld love outdoor/open space but fiance not for the idea cos its a afternoon recpetion. Do not wan our guests to complain abt the heat since handful are from overseas w/ cooler climate.

 

[babelicious]

Hello! I'm planning for my honeymoon trip to maldives next feb and would like to seek advice from all of you. Been reading back on your earlier postings and there's so much information to digest!

I'm choosing between Banyan Tree Maldives Beachfront Villa (thru www.mal-dives.com) and Anantara Maldives Deluxe Overwater Suite (thru Holiday Tours). Prices for both are around S$9K for 5 nights during this period, inclusive of air tickets, and estimation for food and activities.

I'm really keen on Anantara cos we get to stay in overwater suites and the resort is new (pros and cons), but it seems they don't have a house reef and we'll have to take boat rides out to snorkel. Banyan Tree is attractive as it's fullboard so we don't have to 'control' our spending on food and they offer better honeymoon perks too. But no overwater suites and TV.

Which would you all choose? Or are there other comparable resorts around the price range i'm looking at, or cheaper, that you all can recommend?

Thanks alot in advance!

 

[ryo]

Hi Babelicious,

Wat an unique nick...kekeke....
It'll really depends on yourself. Anantara Deluxe Overwater Suite is consider one of the bigger overwater suite around,standing at 132sqm, and if the price is same as a beach villa, even compare to Banyan Tree, it's consider cheap adi.
If u're really keen on Snorkelling + some shore diving, then Banyan Tree or even Angsana are really great, as they've one of the most famous House reef Maldives.
Banyan Tree Beachfront villa is the 2nd cheapest villa at Banyan, and it's one of the oldest resort in Maldives. While the deluxe Overwater suite of Anantara is the 2nd most ex there, and the full facilities in the villa is really worth the money loh.
For your budget, stay in Water villa another good contender wld be Taj Exotica. Can try the newly refurb Olhuveli beach resort as well. Both are at South Male Atoll.
For Beach villa, I wld rather choose Hilton or the newly refur 4 season. (Based on Nov rates) I think u can stay in these beach villa with pools somemore, much more value than Banyan.

U can use the www.Mal-dives.com new quote system to do a quick check. If I'm not wrong, the feb rates should be roughly the same as Nov. Some resort might have increase their rates by next year though. Hike up to 45% (i.e. For Hilton)

If u want to stay more days and spent less, off course there's more choices!

I would choose Anantara if u want me to choose between the 2 resort u mention.

 

[lph]

wu...
i like to eat salmon n learned jap b4...tats y know abt hana maki.

im so amazed with ur knowledge on the resorts in maldives...even better than those travel agent.
i have problem remembering the names of the resorts n theor location.

 

[starmed]

T&P
congrats!!!

yup...honey also can..think even healthier...

Wu
how's your throat? better? yup...agree wif LPH..u are turly a maldivian....

fanfan
thanks for the info...

 

[babelicious]

Hi Wu

Hee... couldn't think of any nickname, so anyhow put one together...

Thanks for the comprehensive and prompt reply. I'm most impressed! I'm certainly leaning towards Anantara after your analysis. Hee. I think Taj Exotica is more expensive than Anantara leh.

Staying more days and spending less sounds good. We prefer overwater villas, and some place quite luxurious since it's our honeymoon. Any other suggestions? I did enquire with Mirihi, but they told me they are already fully booked during that period! So fast!

 

[ryo]

Yo LPH,

Hahahah..... we got Japanese, Maldivian in this Thread!

I almost memorized the Map of Maldives liao.... I did my own research since 2003 leh, off course know abit more mah!! Kekekek...

Yo Starstar,

Haizz....still having Sore throat. Almost finish the "Ji Du nian Ci An" liao. Feeling better today lah, but still a bit feverish loh. Old liao is like that one.

Yo Babelicious,

I think u are right... Taj is slightly more ex than Anantara. If I'm not wrong, the Taj lagoon villa is much smaller than Anantara's one, almost 1/2 the size. I'm not sure about Anantara, but Taj Lagoon villa seems to be rather close to one another. However, their service is top notch, after hearing from T&P, especially on the details when dining! Probably Hilton can't even match.

Oh yes..wanted to recommend u Mirihi..kekeke.. Har.. fully booked? Hmm...most likely lah, anw they got only 30 water villas and 6 beach villas mah. My second choice for value resort is Veligandu, for 9K budget, you're able to 8 nights in Veligandu top end deluxe water villa itself(it got pludge pool somemore as listed in the mal-dives.com web...need to verify that though) and 1 nite Male, plus another 1K for spending, furthermore can take seaplane, kekeke...my favourite ride! I like the private sundeck of the deluxe water villa though, somewhat similar to those of the One&Only water villas!

(Feb 07 8 nites ~ USD3865 quote from Mal-dives.com)
http://www.veliganduisland.com/index.php?option=displaypage&Itemid=215&op=page

However, to be safe, better go to a more established resort chain lah, i.e. Anantara, more luxurious definitely! For me, I've stay in Hilton first followed by Mirihi, although really cannot compare, but I really don't care lah! Mirihi still a very nice place(similar class as Veligandu), at least it got healthly house reef juz at my door step.

For me now, I would choose a value resort, decent enough to stay for more days, and as for you, for ur most impt day of ur life, Anantara wld be a fabulous resort. 132sqm is a huge living quarters for u and ur hubby!

 

[haru]

hey t&P,
wah, salute you man. i think ur noodles must have been really yummy!! i have cooked for ages, and i think i'll prob just make a terrible mess in my kitchen if i tried.=P

hey everyone,
how has ur monday been? mine has been a long and tiring one..i'm supposed to attend a friend's ROM this friday, but looking at my work..i think i mite hv to give it a miss. sigh..my work just seems to keep piling up. kinda feelig a lil frustrated.. and hubby has to work long hours during this period..really looking forward to taking a couple of days to just chill in early october. will most likely book a room at conrad for a nite to unwind with hubby.

hey piggy,
oriental looks fab now!and the svc is fantastic. i loved the new look...really chic! good choice there!

 

[zhuzhu]

Hey Wu
Me also like to eat Nabe...actually when we were in jap..we never tried their sashimi oso..funny hor..

Hey babelicious
Do you eat alot for each meal? Otherwise, i think full board may be too much oso leh..Go for Anantara lar..stay at water villa is better than beachfront villa leh..

 

[haru]

hey everyone,
am in the office early today..=> went to tiong bahru for dinner late last nite, only managed to eat the chwee kueh and ice corn/red bean w peanuts! quite nice...

 

[starmed]

hey haru
wah..so early today!!!

yup..I like the chwee kueh there also..btw u know which chicken rice stall in the market is good? Cos there's quuite a few there...

hmmm..conrad..must let us know how's it k after your stay...

piggy
hey.. u also having your dinner at Oriental? Nice ambience! I had mine there too.. but now the price per table is really ex...

That time I booked mine was $828nett for weekend..think now it's like $1k plus right?

Wu
geez... think buy one more bottle of the pi ba gao... should be well liao... drink lots of water...

Mish
are u feeling better?

babelicious
yo... go Anantara lah... water villa for honeymoon is a must gal...

u won't regret...

 

[ryo]

Yo Zhuzhu,

Hmmm.....wierd...go jap never eat sashimi...kekeke..
But must try their BBQ beef, even their fast food are nice, Yonishinoya etc...

Hahhaa....if I see u cook ur sashimi, I sure laugh until mad...kekekek... kidding lah..

Hey Piggy/Haru,

Have to disagree on the Oriental service though..remember last time I did post something on their wedding dinner staff? All are young and inexperience students. Even after the reno, yes, it's nice but service still the same leh. One of them spill the whole glass of coke into the back of a lady guest, wearing a dress...u can imagine how loh, where the lady just go "oooooooooo". Anther waitress spill red wines onto our table and wife dress ganna also... then the same waitress almost drop the whole plate of duck onto the table....The whole evening we kept "Siaming" the waitress. This happened only like juz a few months back. Haiz...a friends wedding loh, that's why we never make any noise lah.
Anyway, Piggy, just raise concern to the manager lah, however don't worry too much, cos guest and friends will be very understanding on that day, even if there's any mistake on the hotel part.
Just a heads-up for u. Okie...Cheers!

 

[bvbride]

hihi all

Haru: i know how frustrating work can get. mine is diff kind of stress - dunno how to explain la thatz why must always pop by here to destress abit haha
u mentioned that the japanese rest in Pan Pac is really good? hv u tried it personally?
i just got Nadaman at Shangri La to fax me their menu - sounds really yummy and really exp! hahaha
....
so how? Namadaman or PanPac Jap rest (btw whatz the name of that place arr)???

StarStar: am leaning towards Nadaman at Shang but not sure if there are even better places for nice romantic jap dinning

Wu_ go buy or make your own boiled pear and almond drink - think it works!!!!

 

[starmed]

bvbride
haha..agree wif ya on their pricing..but it's like for your anni right? think it's worth goign for the the ambience n service...

my sis n her FH went recently for their anni...n they got the whole teppan table to themselves wif the cook... haha... cos all the other guests 'siam' their table n even one of them came over to congras them.... telling them to enjoy the night...haha...

The cook also very friendly...

 

[kazataza]

hihi everyone,
wah! the topic is now on Japanese food ah...me seldom eat ex ex food..so nothing much to share...
but i saw that Sentosa got some new restaurants look quite nice oso =) and expensive too...hahaha..

starstar & piggy,
oriental very ex ah...for this year, its $888+++ for weekend..initially wanted there...but quite out of budget for me..

anw, for those aiming to go Phuket, my colleague had came back from Busari of Patong Beach..she say it's LOUSY...don't go...alot of renovations still going around and there are croakcroches in the room...

 

[starmed]

fanfan
ya...I agree wif ya on oriental...very ex..lucky last time it wasn't so ex... so still can afford...

thanks for the info...anyway me going to stay in central karon village...

 

[babelicious]

Wu, thanks again for sharing your information and knowledge! Hope you are feeling better already.

Yah, Zhuzhu and Starstar, i'm really very tempted to stay in the Anantara overwater suites. Thanks for the 'encouragement'! Shall wait for the NATAS travel fair to see if there's any good promotions for it.

Thanks for being so helpful!

 

[kazataza]

hi everyone,

finally, my whole honeymoon had been booked!!! yeah yeah!

 

[haru]

Hi Wu,
oh ya i remember!! hahahah..oh, i was actually refering to their front desk and PR. i remember i went there last time to check out the hotel and i requested to see the room and the staff was excellent and made special arrangements for me to view the best room avail at that time.

bvbride,
no leh, havent try..but heard about it. think shld go and try!!

fanfan,
ewwww!!!!! thats gross!!! think i def wont be staying there if i go to phuket again...i think partly coz its on ground flr. thats why so much roaches..=Z

hey starstar,
gota say the hotel is not cheap but looks good and they have a cute lil restaurant at e poolside. italian food i think..but so far the fullerton experience has been really good for me. dun mind to stay again if i have the chance. for now, i'd like to try out conrad and eventually ritz first..kekkekeke..

hey everyone,
me working late again today..so much work to clear...

 

[haru]

so tell us the details of ur HM leh!!!! i'm so confused on who's getting married, HM destinatn, etc...=P

 

[zhuzhu]

Hey ppl
Just saw that Tiger Airway is having some 88 cents promo...i think for travel in Jan 07 lar..if anyone planning then..can consider...but must book fast hor..

 

[kazataza]

haru,
quick summary for myself:

Getting married on 21 Oct.
Honeymoon starts on 8 Nov
8-14 Nov @ Maldives - Anantara
16-19 Nov @ Phuket - Aleenta
20-23 Nov @ Hong KOng - Langham Place

 

[haru]

hi fanfan,
soooo good, 3 destinations for HM!!drool....

 

[starmed]

fanfan
wah...u took one month leave har.... so good!!

 

[bvbride]

Morning~

whoa fanfan - such a lucky gal u! can i ask how much total u paid for Anantara? thx!

 

[kazataza]

haru> don't drool lah...duno whether i'll be very tired..

starstar> i only took 2.5 weeks leave...dun need 1 month...

bvbride> Anantara, i took the promo package with Holiday Tours. 4N water villa and 1N beach villa (cos no more water villa for the dates). Excluding air tickets, it's about S$4000. We've free air tixs, so the agent allow us to deduct $1k from the package price.
The package includes all transfers and a candlelight dinner for the honeymooners =)

 

[smaghy]

FanFan good on you...no more honeymoon stress...me still stressing!!! I'm sure u gonna enjoy to the fullest.

Guys my Oriental package is 888+++ weekend (still researching)...hahaha Wu i remembered reading abt the Oriental incident and highlighted to the coordinator. Keeping fingers crossed all goes well if i go wid them...oh actually mine's a buffet so not so much to worry.

Updates on my honeymoon planning...got some replies from resorts...Anantara, Taj, Baros & Fullmoon...so EXPENSIVE....die oredi. Might have to scrap the idea...so sad. Well hoping there's a fantastic promo during the NATAS Fair this mth.

Pray for me k.

 

[ryo]

Yo Fanfan,

U're like some countries princess, whereby the whole marriage event took up a whole month!! It's a whole month of celebration for u!

Kekekekek......

Then hor, how come u got so much leave har? almost 19 days worth of leave leh.

Yo Piggy,

U can consider some of the resort I've mention to you earlier(or rather to Bookworm on the previous archive page), some are comparable with Baros or Fullmoon... either book from Holiday Tours or some Maldivian based Tour agent, likely to get u cheaper rates.

Must go!!! Sure wouldn't regret, most likely u'll get hook like me and the others here!!

 

[kazataza]

piggy> yeah! sort of like finally gao dim everything and very happy =)

Wu> me where got like a princess. Total I only need to take 13 days of leave (excluding the weekends) This year I've 15 days of leave mah. Last year I carried forward more than 10 days worth of leave. Marriage leave 3 days. So all in all, more than enuff for me =)

 

[starmed]

fanfan
wow...

that's also long...

anyway u can go HK n get new clothes for new year!!

also near xmas time..think the lightings might be up in HK...

piggy
?? buffet also so ex? always tot buffet cheaper... hmm... yup..must highlight to the coord... cos my friend experienced the same kind of incident like Wu in another hotel bef... n the food of the hotel wasn't as good as expected. Think it was in Sheraton last year. Think all hotels can happen just rem to highlight to coord can liao.. also make sure u point out u dun wish to see different standards of food during the AD and the food tasting session..VER IMPT!

try to work out your sums...I'm sure u can work it out n u won't regret going there one...

 

[smaghy]

Oh actually it's 88.80 per head but comes up to the same thing...888+++ per table. So final figure 1030 per table...very expensive but i guess 'it's my wedding and i wanna party' to the fullest wanna have memories...

But i cant digest the same explaination wid Maldives cos if i go at a later season, i have thousands of dollars. But i definitely wanna do honeymoon in April. So contemplating other possibilities. However still strong on maldives, just need to research like Wu mentioned cheaper resorts. Just dun wanna compromise on the water villa tats y and still not willing to pay!!! or my i so terrible huh.

 

[smaghy]

sORRY GUYS I MEANT THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS SAVINGS

 

[ryo]

Yo Piggy,

Hahahaha....... don't feel terrible lah! If it's your 1st time there in Maldives, most decent resort would not disappoint u! In fact most resort are decent enough, much better than most in Malaysia and Thailand(apple to apple compare har, not those Banyan in Thailand hor!). You'll be surprise that some resort in Malaysia(normal ones) are more ex than some in Maldives. (cos malaysia resort goes by per pax rates rather than per room). So I've convince myself, that I would rather go back Maldives than going back to resort in Malaysia ie. those in Redang or Tioman etc... Hmmm...I just cannot bring myself to visit Thai resort loh, after the Tsunami thingy...guess that I've very superstitious.
anw, I wld suggest u can go other places for ur HM in april, and probably visit Maldives during the low season. Just beware lah, low season almost = more rain fall. However just go for more days to spread ur risk! Another thing to consider is that the accom rates is constantly increasing, that later u go, the more u gonna spent unless the US dollars drop at the same time, cancelling the rate hikes out!