Сказочный отдых! Fairytale vacation!

My husband and I flew to the Maldives, to Sun Island, from May 26 to June 8 via Gamalia. We decided to choose a major tour operator for such a long trip in order to avoid possible problems. And they were not mistaken: the staff is very attentive to all requirements, all the information provided was true, and subsequently they listened to the advice. We flew with a transfer to Dubai. I advise you to fly this way, because the second, albeit shorter, part of the journey is just a fairy tale, aircraft and Air Emirates service are beyond any competition, the flight flies by unnoticed while you are busy playing games, watching movies or Dubai attractions on a personal monitor, sitting in wide, comfortable armchairs.
Upon arrival, we were quickly taken to the seaplane airport, but there the flight was delayed, first for an hour, and then for another half an hour. Although the wait was not tiring, we managed to look around and take pictures, there is a cafe there, you can have a bite to eat. I recommend taking a transfer by seaplane, the feeling is indescribable, the view of the ocean and these small paradise islands from the air is just fantastic!!!
Upon arrival on the island, we were greeted with refreshing towels and a cold coconut drink, there were no delays, we quickly filled out the questionnaire and we were immediately settled, at about 11 o'clock we were already in the room, there was no waiting until 2.

Regarding the settlement: be sure to choose rooms on the north side (side of the Italian restaurant) - good access to the beach - a few meters through the palm trees, where you can sleep in the shade, then a wonderful wide clean beach (there are sunbeds, and you can sit and lie on the sand) , the ocean is cleaner (no big reefs and nasty living creatures at the bottom). The island was walked around the perimeter, so we can say with confidence that the north side is much better, in other places it’s either a very long way through the thickets to get to the beach, or the strip of sand is very small - there’s nowhere to even lie down, or in general the approach to the sea is steep, braided with tree roots, and the worst thing for me is that the water is streaked with reefs and walking along the sandy bottom to the required depth, respectively, will not work, the effect of the turquoise surface also does not work. If you face the Italian restaurant, on the left the rooms are almost on the beach itself, palm thickets occupy a meter or two and immediately the beach strip (numbers 101-178, the best 120-175), the rooms are probably the best view of the ocean, these rooms are for me liked it better, but my husband didn’t want to change our 7-8 meter shady palm strip for anything and for nothing, where you can crush coconuts and sleep in the shade (rooms on the right side of the restaurant 185-210), so this is not for everyone . And from the side of the water bungalows, if you stand facing them, then literally 4-5 rooms (391-395) on the right have a good approach to the beach and entry into the ocean, but still sharks and especially stingrays often hunt there, so you swim in tension. So I recommend that you thoroughly approach the choice of a bungalow, because it greatly affects the perception of the rest as a whole. As the guide and "experienced" vacationers explained to us, the north side is provided mainly to Slavic tourists (since there are practically no complaints about it) with all-inclusive or full board packages. But many, for a very nominal fee (max $ 40), decide the issue of settling through the Russian-speaking guide Hakim or directly at the reception, in extreme cases, you can move in a few days, when suitable rooms become available.
We took the Super Deluxe room, I recommend them: they are larger than ordinary deluxe rooms and taking a bath with aromatic oils and sticks can be very useful, and most importantly - an outdoor shower - listening to birds singing, overlooking the clear sky and lush greenery - just super! We were in room 192, I immediately liked it - you can see the ocean right from the bed, good access to the beach, the room is spacious and clean, the furniture is simple. bamboo, but not shabby at all, of course, it doesn’t reach Thai suites in wood and with orchids, but it’s quite normal, there is enough of everything, and most importantly, it fully corresponds to the photographs presented on the sites, so no disappointment. The bathroom is wonderful - spacious, decent tiles, good new plumbing, the only disappointment is that a palm tree does not grow in the shower under the open sky, this is worth working on : -), but in general the thing is wonderful, they only used it!
In general, the room has everything basic - a safe, a TV (there is a Russian channel), air conditioning, a ceiling fan (a useful thing, it refreshes instantly), a minibar (the choice is quite wide), a bath, a shower, a bidet, etc. and a kettle, only tea and coffee they have is bad, it's better to take your own.
Regarding the safe in the room. Before the trip, I was very frightened by the reviews that appeared about theft from safes and simply from rooms. Perhaps we were lucky, but to be honest, we were not particularly careful - the camera, camera, and even phones were sometimes left right on the table, and our desire to take jewelry, documents, money and credit cards to the safe at the reception remained a desire - everything was stored in safe in the room. And no incidents, no one encroached on our property!

It’s convenient that you don’t have to carry money with you, everything is recorded on the room number. We were not credited with a cent extra, no duplicate spending. The bill was paid every 3-4 days, this made it possible to avoid long standing in line and reconciliation of the bill on the day of departure.
And one more recommendation about accommodation: do not take water bungalows, they are absolutely not worth it. If you set out to live on the water, then it is better to look for another hotel that is more focused on this type of room. If you take a water bungalow, it should have a highlight - a special style, a spa treatment room, a glass floor in the bedroom or at least in the bathroom, etc. There is nothing like this in this hotel, water rooms have one advantage over other rooms - more spacious by 5 sq. m. and the decoration inside is a little better, but this is clearly not enough, and here the disadvantages are already emerging - you will not have "your" piece of the beach with your own sun loungers, you will have to use the common one, and, believe me, the sensations are not at all the same, and the palm sun umbrella is unlikely will replace. And the bottom under the bungalow is really problematic, dotted with some nasty creatures, and rays with small octuals often trade.
About the weather. As we were told, we got to the junction of the seasons - a week at the end of May - the dry season, and the beginning of June - already the rainy season. Although I think it is more correct to separate the seasons from November to April - the dry season, but from May, respectively (by the way, most often they write on websites). Although we got some kind of confusion, in the week of the “rainy season” there were no such rains at all, and the weather was much hotter. In general, out of 14 days, it rained for 8 days, but at night or early in the morning, so they didn’t interfere with rest at all, and only on one day it rained all day with interruptions - an hour goes by, an hour doesn’t. But it was not a downpour at all and it was very pleasant to swim under it, the water seemed to soar, it was unusually warm, so if it rains, I recommend swimming! And the rest of the time was used for a tour of the island, walked around its perimeter, studied the rooms, beaches, looked at everything interesting, the rain did not interfere with the walk at all, and in good weather it is simply impossible to move from the beach.
The island is really very popular with “our” tourists, the Russian language is heard everywhere, Russian-language songs are played at discos, I don’t know how it is on the island, but there were 60% Slavs on our coast. This was a minus, since tourists from the post-Soviet space simply categorically refuse to understand that the sunbeds are not numbered by chance, and if it says 192, then this is a sunbed number 192, and if it stands in a certain place on a piece of beach opposite number 192, then so someone you need it!! ! Almost every day, we had to not only drive someone off the sunbeds, but drag them back to a place convenient for us, because someone wanted not only to lie on yours, but also move it right to the water! : -) Moreover, after you calmly draw the attention of a person that he is not lying there, he is very surprised, and when you point to the number that he prudently covered with a towel (probably in the hope that the rest are complete fools), no “sorry, I don’t noticed” of course it shouldn’t, the individual with a displeased look tears off the towel and stomps on his beach with a significant “well, okay” !! ! : -) It annoyed me terribly, and my husband philosophically said: “what else can we expect from“ ours . . ”. Why only in each annotation to the hotel clearly indicate “personal sunbeds, own access to the beach”, it’s impossible to knock out of our heads that “everything around is common, everything around is mine” is impossible! True, when the British did the same thing a couple of times, it became already funny and clear that strange people are everywhere. True, the obvious difference was that, having found out their oversight, they ran up with an apology and returned the sunbeds to their place, despite our assurances that today we will not lie in the sun.

The staff is teaching Russian to the fullest, although some moments are very annoying, phrases like “come on, come on”, “come here”, “listen here” terribly cut the ear, you try to explain that this is disrespectful treatment and not everyone likes it, but they stop in bewilderment, saying that our tourists taught them the same thing and they liked it. Well, he is angry with them, we ourselves are to blame. Well, that was the only negative in the whole holiday, everything else was super and only pleased!
The hotel has a huge selection of entertainment, you will not get bored. In addition to diving, snorkeling, there are scooters, skis, boards, circles, catamarans, canoes and excursions, and stingrays are fed every evening. Tourists feed them right from their hands, the sight is breathtaking and very fun, be sure to try it! And an hour later, in another place on the island - feeding sharks. Every day in the hotel bar there are discos, show programs, karaoke, crab races and a bunch of everything. This hotel is perfect for those who do not have enough peace, beauty and peace and who constantly need entertainment. But at the same time, if you come for silence, romance and complete relaxation, this is also no problem. I recommend ordering a romantic dinner on the beach in any part of the island - just fabulous!
The territory is very large, very green and well-groomed, it's nice to walk along the intricate paths in beautiful thickets with hills of coconuts along the sides, there is a beautiful orchid garden! True, there was one minus here - I didn’t like that there was garbage that they weren’t in a hurry to clean up, in some places the hotel was being built, in the center of the island there were working buildings and, in my opinion, naturalism was unnecessarily preserved there, this area clearly needs to be ennobled. The fauna is very rich, there is someone to watch and take pictures, very interesting. A few words about the "rats" that so terrify some tourists : -) Well, firstly, not rats, but, as we were told, island mice, and in behavior they generally resemble gophers, they really live in thickets. But they are unlikely to cause you any inconvenience - the animals become active only at midnight, and then they are very shy and you have little chance of running into them on the track. My husband and I hunted them for several nights to take a picture and finally see who they are, but our efforts were not crowned with particular success, so the maximum inconvenience that they will give you is to hear how they peacefully gnaw nuts in the jungle and run across like a bullet at night the paths are somewhere far away.
I especially recommend the SPA center, it is very popular here, so you need to sign up in advance. Girls from Bali and Thailand work, there are Ayurvedic procedures - they are carried out by specialists from India. There are romantic packages for two, I recommend! ! Very beautiful place with excellent service and wonderful polite staff! I highly recommend, the effect is excellent! . Cost from $50, in the morning there is a 10% discount.

About food. We took FB (full board: breakfast, lunch, dinner) was just right. Breakfasts almost always overslept (I think for a resort they are very early from 7.30 to 9.00), so dinners were very welcome. The level of nutrition is quite normal, the cuisine is delicious (the only problems are with potatoes: except for fried potatoes, everything is terrible) and quite varied, and every day they come up with some special dish. Desserts are especially worth noting - well, very tender and tasty, be sure to leave a place for them in your diet! We have gained 2 kg in two weeks. To be honest, I don't know what they're picking on. Everything was ok with the service, the waiter was helpful and polite even without a tip (we already gave tips for the work done at the end of each week), and when we left, he shook hands with us for a long time and even almost shed a tear. : -) I think it's very touching. Although I will not hide a couple of times we witnessed a boorish attitude, but it was a well-deserved response to an even more boorish treatment from, of course, “our” tourist, who believes that since he came to the Maldives, he is unrealistically cool, and everything around is just rubbish. It is unlikely that anyone will like an appeal like “hey you, damn it, come here quickly! Where are you climbing, we’ve already arrived! ” And what answer should we expect? So you need to behave like a human being and everything will be super.
I also recommend visiting Thai and Italian restaurants for a change, we liked it, and the prices are quite reasonable. In addition, if you go to a restaurant instead of your paid lunch or dinner, a 20% discount on food is provided (flyers are issued at the main counter of the main restaurant). Of course, everyone needs their own amount of food, but my husband eats quite a lot, to put it mildly, and the most expensive we got was a romantic dinner - $ 370 for two, but $ 120 of them was champagne, and the menu is quite rich - for each there was a salad, soup, a seafood platter (lobsters and king prawns) with potatoes and vegetables, the main course - fish with a side dish and finally - fruits, and the portions were far from childish! To each his own, of course, but I would not be able to eat so much every night. A regular dinner is $100-130 for two, and lunch is $60-80. So it's hard to imagine how you can dine for $ 3000 in 12 days (when I read the reviews this amount impressed me and we expected completely different prices in the hotel restaurants), maybe it's for a family of 4-5 people or Italians who have 2 bottles of wine they drink at dinner... but I repeat, to each his own, but obviously you should not be afraid to splurge on food if you took a package without lunch or dinner.
As for the bars, all drinks are imported and therefore quite expensive: water 1.5l - $3, beer (0.33) - $4.5-5.5, sprite, cola, fanta - $4, a bottle of wine on average - $20-180, cocktails $12-30.
The hotel also has a pretty jewelry store with a decent selection of interesting little things. They make good discounts, for products in the price range of $ 1500-2000 we were first offered 20%, and in honor of my birthday they made a 25% discount. We didn’t ask much yet, the price suited us, and perhaps a little more could be negotiated.

There is also a good souvenir shop, a fairly wide selection and prices, or the same as in Duty free and even lower, large souvenirs are packed in boxes that can be checked in as luggage - very convenient for those who buy a lot.
For us, the conclusion was this: the nature and the ocean are fabulous, the service is good, all the hotel staff are friendly and polite, and the problems were solved within a minute even without money (thanks at will). The holiday was unforgettable. This is a heavenly place! Have a good rest!! !