The Maldives: Our Resort Review & Truth of How We Spent Thousands Less Than Everyone Else
The number one question we get about The Maldives is, “Was it expensive?” My answer is, “It’s not cheap, but it’s possible for most world travelers.” It really becomes possible when you have the right connections. By the end of this blog I’ll tell you how we stayed at a luxurious resort in the Maldives for almost half of the lowest price we found online. But first, let me tell you about the resort that we stayed at.
Grand Park Kodhipparu
We arrived to Male International Airport on December 24th, 2018 by way of Emirates airlines. Upon exiting the aircraft, we could smell and even feel that the ocean was near. In fact, we were surrounded by it. Once we moved through immigration and security we collected our luggage and walked outside where we were promptly greeted by someone from our resort. They took our bags and escorted us to a speedboat that was waiting to whisk us away to our resort.
We boarded the speedboat and were given a cold lemongrass scented towel and a bottle of water. After all of our things were loaded onto the boat we were on our way to GPK. We spent about 20-30 minutes on the water before we finally began to slow down. From the distance we could see the resort was near. Finally, after more than 20 hours of flights, we had made it to a destination we had dreamed of being at for years. We had made it to a 5-star resort in the Maldives.
Reception
Exiting the speedboat, we were greeted by many members of the staff and our personal concierge. The reception area is beautiful and provides instant magical moments as there are many baby sharks who swim in the water under the reception area. There is no swimming allowed in this area so these harmless sharks find comfort in these waters. The glass floors allow guests to take video and pictures of the underwater life while admiring the sheer beauty of everything that is the Maldives. Our concierge showed us to a golf cart and drove us around the property, explaining all of the details to the game room, water sports facility, and dining options. Then she took us to our first villa. It was a beach front with a private pool.
Private Pool, Beach Front Villa
The villa was beautiful and looked just like it did in the photos on the website. I’ll point out some of the things that I thought were important about the room. First and foremost, the bed is comfortable, and the A/C and ceiling fan do a great job at cooling the room. The mini-fridge is stocked with snacks, sodas, alcohol, wine, and beer. This gets restocked every two days at no charge if you opt for the all-inclusive option. There are two extra-large bottles of water that are provided daily. These two bottles were enough for us as you can also get water at the bar and restaurants, and we spent much of our time relaxing at both. Outside is a private plunge pool that’s about 3.5 feet deep which overlooks the white sand and the electric blue ocean. There were no complaints from us about the location of the villa. Heading back inside we were treated to our first glimpse of the bathroom. It was decorated beautifully. It’s an indoor/outdoor space. You can see the details from the video that we post. One thing I will point out is that this space can get HOT. Very Hot. Since there is no ceiling fan there is a lack of air circulation, and the heat from the sun in the Maldives can really be intense. This was our only knock on the beach front villa.
Lagoon Water Villa
From reading questions on all of the top review sites there is one lingering question that fails to get answered. I hope that we are able to answer this question for you. The question many people had was, “What’s the difference between ocean view rooms and lagoon view rooms and why is the lagoon view more expensive?” Here’s the breakdown on that. The ocean view rooms give you mostly unobstructed views of the Indian Ocean. If you walk down the steps from your villa into the water you’re a very short swim from the amazing coral reef that surrounds GPK. This also means that you have a limited amount of calm and shallow water because there is a very deep drop off where the ocean and live coral reef intersect. This can be a good or a bad thing depending on what you came to the resort for. If you want to do a ton of snorkeling the ocean villas are where you want to be. If not, you may want to opt for the lagoon villas. The Lagoon villas are where we opted to stay. The lagoon villas offer an endless view of the surreal, crystal clear water that the Maldives has become known for. The water at the lagoon villas is shallow (about 4-6 feet) in most areas, and it’s also very calm since it is protected by the coral reef. You can still snorkel and see plenty of fish and turtles and stingrays in this area, but they are not as plentiful as the area near the ocean villas. Our villa was beautifully appointed with all of the luxuries that you’d expect. The photos and videos give you a better description of the villas than I could ever do.
Overwater Villa
The Edge Restaurant
This is where we ate breakfast daily. It’s an international buffet with an extremely courteous and gracious staff. The view is amazing and overlooks the ocean. You can see fish swimming, crabs crawling, and we were lucky enough to see a large school of dozens and dozens of dolphins slowly swimming right in front of the restaurant seating. There are multiple food options that are available and they will also make smoothies and different tea and coffee options if requested.
The Breeze Poolside Dining and Bar
This was our absolute favorite place on the property. There is pretty good food options and the staff was very helpful. There is seating in the covered area that ranges from couches and modernly designed chairs to casual bean bag chairs to day beds. In the uncovered area there is seating in front of the pool and day beds scattered around the deck for those who want to get some sun. A word of advice, get here early if you want some of the better seating. Families and couples come in early and set their things down to lay claim to prime seating. The bar staff is the highlight of Breeze Bar. They are extremely skilled in mixology and the art of crafting the perfect cocktail. I ordered an uncountable number of mojitos and there was the same amount of detail put into every single cocktail from the day of arrival to the moment of checkout. During the day there is also music being softly played and, in the evenings, there is a DJ who spins. This was the surprising highlight to our stay. The current DJ was Millie and she was AMAZING. The perfect blend of classic hip hop and R&B mixed with house music. Hands down she provided the best soundtrack that we have ever heard at any resort. THE BEST.
Firedoor
Set away from all of the activity on the resort, Firedoor is a modern European dining experience. This is the only dining option on the island that is not included with the All-Inclusive package. Steaks and seafood dominate the menu. Expect to pay at least $100usd per person for food and a drink. The food here was good, but not extra spectacular. The view of the ocean life while seated was the perfect complement to the modern take on European cuisine.
Water Sports Center
Here is one area where I think the resort was lacking. This is considered a 5-star resort and non-motorized watersports are not free for its guests. That’s right. You have to pay for things if you’re not on the All-Inclusive list. If you are on the All-Inclusive list you only get 1 hour of free non-motorized waters sports per day. I found this to be very disappointing, and very different from any other 5-star resort we have every visited. Also, they wouldn’t let me rent a GoPro camera. The day I arrived at GPK my GoPro stopped working. I contacted the company and after an hour of troubleshooting they told me that the camera would not work without me having to send it in and get it refurbished. This really sucked because I really wanted to do some snorkeling with it while in the Maldives. I knew the Water Sports Center would have cameras so I thought that I could bite the bullet and pay to rent one for a day. When I inquired about this I was told that I could only rent one if I paid for a dive/snorkel partner. This meant that I could not physically hold the GoPro myself, and that a member of the staff would have to come snorkeling with me and they would do all of the camera work. They were concerned about guest breaking or losing the camera and not wanting to pay for it. This was really a low point for me during this vacation as I was not able to capture any underwater videos like I originally set out to do.
Overall
Although we did experience the one low point. Overall the resort did not disappoint. GPK is a great option for anyone truly looking to experience a Maldivian resort without having the added expense of an added flight to get to and from the resort. The resort has one of the best coral reefs that you’ll find in the Maldives, and the rates aren’t obscenely expensive.
Bonus Info
Speaking of expense, let’s talk about cost. Most legit, overwater villas in the Maldives are over $1000.00 per night for a couple. We were online searching for the best rates for weeks and weeks. Keep in mind, at this point we weren’t travel advisors. With that being said, we didn’t know that there was this thing that existed called Unlisted Rates. These rates are given to the most trusted travel suppliers in the industry. If you happen to use one of those trusted travel suppliers to book your travel, you too can take advantage of the discounted pricing.
Luckily for us, I decided to reach out to one of our travel supplier friends about the Maldives. He tells me that his company has access to Unlisted Rates in The Maldives. He asked me which resort we were looking to stay at and to send him a screenshot of the lowest prices we could find. Later that day he called me and told me that he had it all worked out. This company was able to get us rates that were over 40% less than what was offered online. We seriously saved thousands of dollars on our stay in the Maldives all because we decided to contact a travel industry veteran.
Since becoming travel advisors, we have leveraged our relationships to offer our clients the same special treatment and pricing that we receive. This is no different. If you’re interested in the Maldives, there is a chance that we can get you discounted pricing. We can’t guarantee it, but we can definitely check into it for you. It never hurts to try. It could actually save you thousands of dollars like it did for us. Simply click the button below and fill out the form if you have Maldivian dreams.