ROBINSON MALDIVES - Adults only

The service, food, location, stay, etc was extremely good. There are minor nitpicks I could make here and there (e.g. it took 30 seconds longer than I'd have liked for a coffee at one point, haha) but Robinson's is amazing. I'm writing this review right now from the Dominican Republic, where I'm staying this week for a conference, and the entire time I've been wishing I was back in Maldives at Robinson's. If it weren't so far from me in the USA, this would be my go-to destination, and Maldives in particular. Staying in the beach/ocean villas is absolutely the right choice--the ones on the water are hot as hades during the day, they're far from everything too, and the garden ones you don't get the private beach walkout and the savings isn't enough to justify the sacrifice of feeling like you own your own slice of paradise.

Likely my fault, but I wasn't aware at the time of booking that the plane/speedboat ride to the island would be an extra $540 a person. Combined with airline incompetence and cancellation fees, this hit me with a $1300 expense right out of the gate. The turtle safari was OK when we went, not really worth the cash, and not substantially better than snorkeling around the island--which is INCREDIBLE. If/when I go back, I will likely avoid all extra activities, including the massage which was OK, but prices were per person and not per couple, and $300 for a massage was...not worth it for us. I felt like a lot of the add-ons were cool, but wound up being $1,100 for us, and combined with the flight/speedboat that doubled the total cost of the stay. Would have been fine if I could have planned ahead and expected the expenses, just felt a little nickled and dimed throughout which annoyed me. It's a resort and you know they're going to tourist trap you, so this is not exactly a complain, just something I wish I had known.