Anantara Veli Maldives Resort - Adults Only

First let me say I'm from California and I travel a lot. My review might be more abt the Maldives than the hotel. I went to the Maldives to celebrate my friends marriage. It was beautiful there! Clear waters. If money isn't an issue and u just like to stay at nice resorts then this is for u. However I think I flew a long way just exactly for that- nice resort. There was no culture. I didn't go back to the main city to explore because the boat ride would have cost us roundtrip another $450. So we stayed on the resort grounds. It did get boring after a week. Breakfast buffet was delicious at first but the items are the same everyday. Average meal price is $30ish per plate (like a sandwich or burger) plus 22% mandatory tax/service fee. So per couple for a cheap lunch meal with no alcohol is about $100. Dinner is of course much more. The Thai restaurant is very good though! We ate there about 5 times during our stay. They didn't have much authentic Maldivian dishes for us to try. Resort seems tailored to Americans. Anyhow service was very good. Resort was amazing the first few days but it did get boring since u can't go anywhere. For my stay per couple for 1 week including airfare, hotel, food, activities totaled to about $10k. I would have rather used that and traveled around Asia or Europe. But still worth it nonetheless to be able to say I was in the Maldives. The water and snorkeling was the best I've ever seen. I haven't been to another resort at the Maldives so I have nothing to compare it to

On arrival, the first thing they ask you to do is sign a waiver of liability for *anything*. I can understand their wanting no liability for risky activities one decides to do, such as diving or snorkeling, as clearly they have little control in such cases. However, when was the last time you went to a hotel that asked you on arrival to sign away your rights if the building collapses, or you are given food poisoning, just to pick two obvious examples? Worse, it even required you to affirm that you'd informed your heirs and that they would also waive any rights to hold the company liable. Again, for anything at all! How ridiculous. I was left wondering what they knew about the resort that I didn't. Being asked to sign that piece of paper, when I'd already paid and had nowhere else to go, left a very bad taste in the mouth and a poor initial impression. Everything else was good: excellent breakfast, reasonable but expensive dinners. The Thai dinner and setting was excellent. Staff were all genuinely friendly, polite and wanting to help. The water villa was clean, spacious and comfortable.

great resort, great location, comfy room, but wifi is really weak and the air con not so work

great, an experience a person must fell rather then talk about

The place was amazing. The staff were very accomodating. I will definitely go back and stay again.

The water villas are excellent. the balcony is great for sunbathing.

i stayed in over water bungalow, very comfy with a day bed for suntanning, the only bad is that is rather close to pontoon veli, so there will always be the pontoon going back and forth. dining options were aplenty. i would strongly suggest not to go for half or full board, but rather a la carte would be more worth it. baan hurra and terrazzo and fuddan are amazing. but grill buffet at fushi were not what i was expecting, especially with the price. however, breakfast spread is amazing, so many different dishes to choose from. hotel staffs were very friendly and helpful. with special mention of Vivi from veli reception, she was a delight! went for dolphin cruise and got to see a lot of dolphins, worth every single penny spent. would definitely go back again.

Anantara veli was the perfect honeymoon destination. My wife and I are from the US and I can honestly say that the number one thing that impressed us about the resort was the customer service/ friendliness of the entire staff. I would definitely recommend splurging on the deluxe villa vs the standard just becuase your views are a little more private plus your not as close to the water vegetation as you are with the standard villa. Overall I would say that from a value perspective, since any resort you stay at in the Maldives is relatively pricey, this resort had the most bang for our buck. I couldn't have asked for a better honeymoon experience.

Overall we thought it was brilliant. Service and food were great all round and we felt the prices were very reasonable. We stayed in the most basic room/hut - it was clean, large and we loved the fact we could go straight into the sea via the balcony. Another great thing about the Anantara is that the Veli island/resort is connected via a very short free shuttle boat ride to their Dhigu island/resort which seemed a bit bigger, livelier but more family oriented whereas the Veli is more couples and quieter - giving us twice as many options for restaurants and activities. We took part in the free meditation class, the morning yoga class and went on a snorkelling trip - all which were great. Things that weren't as good as they could be was that the resort in general looked a bit old and worn, the wifi connection kept dropping, and the resort didn't seem to adopt many eco-friendly policies such as energy saving.

I'll back to this hotel .. dont forget villa no. 181 overwater WoW !!