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Possible routings to MLE and costs:

JFK-AUH-MLE (EY) -- 45/67.5/90 AA
JFK-DOH-MLE (QR) -- 45/67.5/90 AA
JFK-FRA-SIN-MLE (SQ) -- East Coast: (Including 15% off booking online) 46,750/91,375/116,875; West Coast: 89,250/144,500/229,500
JFK-DXB-MLE (EK) -- 42.5/82.5/150 AS
JFK-IST-MLE (TK) -- 42.5/70/90 UA (United routing allows a stopover in TLV)
JFK-VIE-MLE (OS) -- 42.5/80 UA
JFK-LGW-MLE (BA) -- 45/90/135 BA
JFK-ICN-CMB-MLE (KE) -- 60/107.5/137.5 KE
JFK-HKG-MLE (CX) -- 57.5/85/112.5 AA
JFK-HKG-MLE (CX) -- 50/70 AS
TLV-IST-MLE (TK)-- 20/35 UA
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It's pretty simple, y'all. No pork, no porn, and no alcohol. Those are the rules. -AJK
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Blah blah blah. -AJK
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Park Hyatt MLE + Diamond Suite Upgrade gets you nothing as all are considered suites. -AJK



Conrad Upgrades:

Upgrade from King Beach Villa to King Water Villa US$ 200 + 10% service charge + 12% T GST per night.
Upgrade from King Beach Villa to King Deluxe Beach Villa US$ 210+ 10% service charge + 12% T GST per night.
Upgrade from King Beach Villa to King Superior Water  Villa US$ 250 + 10% service charge + 12% T GST per night.
Upgrade from King Beach Villa to King Retreat Water Villa US$ 400 + 10% service charge + 12% T GST per night.
Upgrade from King Beach Villa to King Deluxe Water Villa US$ 480 + 10% service charge + 12% T GST per night.
Upgrade from King Beach Villa to Family Water Villa US$ 720 + 10% service charge + 12% T GST per night. ( 2 bedrooms)

Airport transfer fee: $560 including tax

PH Upgrades:

Upgrade from Park Villa to Park Pool Villa $USD 252.56++ per villa per night
Upgrade from Park Villa to Park Water Villa $USD 405++ per villa per night ( Villa Number 38-44)
Upgrade from Park Villa to Park Water Sunset Villa $USD 610++ per villa per night ( Villa number 45-51)

Airport transfer fee: $520 RT per person

SR:
Airport transfer fee: $745 RT per person

Author Topic: Maldives Master Thread  (Read 1332553 times)

Offline brytch

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #120 on: July 11, 2012, 12:40:25 PM »
I was joking about CLE...

These people are very well trained.. they will hold your baby all the time if you want.. lots of them are Philippino or asian and are amazing with kids. They have kids themselves..

Offline mek

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #121 on: July 11, 2012, 06:30:04 PM »
I'm with Dan on this one. Even frum strangers make me feel uncomfortable leaving my kid with them

Offline chuchem

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #122 on: July 11, 2012, 06:37:11 PM »
In a hotel in town were they can c'v run of with your kid, then I would also be worried. So I dont think I will let a stranger that a hotel calls for me watch my kid in BKK, but in the maldives, there is no were for them to go, you are on a island and they are not outsiders, but hotel workers, that need the job there and just do this for a extra few dollars in the evenings or when asked....
Is it 100% safe, no. But as safe, as you can get

Offline moish

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #123 on: July 11, 2012, 06:52:03 PM »
and what about if your babys crying and they want to pacify him wih some treif candies?

for that reason, i insist on a frum babysitter or at least to be watched at the chabad house

Offline AJK

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #124 on: July 11, 2012, 07:01:13 PM »
...which island has frum babysitters and/or a chabad house? :P
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper

Offline moish

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #125 on: July 11, 2012, 07:04:17 PM »
...which island has frum babysitters and/or a chabad house? :P
manhattan

Offline AJK

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #126 on: July 11, 2012, 07:04:50 PM »
There's an island in the Maldives called Manhattan?
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper

Offline Dan

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #127 on: July 11, 2012, 07:06:25 PM »
...which island has frum babysitters and/or a chabad house? :P
The one to which you bring a frum babysitter with.
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline AJK

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #128 on: July 11, 2012, 07:08:15 PM »
The one to which you bring a frum babysitter with.

...and you could probably stick her in Y :P
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper

Offline aussiebochur

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #129 on: July 11, 2012, 07:35:07 PM »
...and you could probably stick me in Y :P
FTFY!

OWB in BOB and ill do it ;)

Offline BAHayman

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Re: Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #130 on: July 11, 2012, 08:10:09 PM »
Was going to upload:

#1 Our kosher meals arranged by the hotel being served at their beach restaurant
#2 Snorkeling boat
#3 the island we snorkeled near
#4 little fish

But got a message the upload folder is full... so no more pics for now...
So your the one who filled it up :P jk.

Increased the limit, so your good to upload the rest :)

Offline sky121

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #131 on: July 11, 2012, 08:41:21 PM »
#1 Arrival Jetty where seaplane and boats dock
#2 View of Safron restaurant jettey
#3 Beach
#4 Beach (girl with the missing head)

The water looks amazing.
"Not all who wander are lost"

Offline brytch

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #132 on: July 12, 2012, 03:10:37 AM »
Okay, now that limit has been increased last few for now:

#1 Our kosher meals arranged by the hotel being served at their beach restaurant
#2 Snorkeling boat
#3 the deserted island we snorkeled near
#4 little fish


Vis-a-vis babysitter, I don't think there is any risk with kashrus, you aren't dealing with americans, they are mostly asians, they are all about following directions and being super caring.. I tell them kids cannot eat ANYTHING, other than whats in this bag.. i can even specify due to allergies.. never been a problem. I said if there are problems call us on the boat...  I feel perfectly safe using them..

Offline daganster

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #133 on: July 20, 2012, 05:49:32 PM »

#1 Our kosher meals arranged by the hotel being served at their beach restaurant

I just got back from the WA and they offered me those meals, but we had already brought so much food with us that we didn't need the Aussie food.

Offline daganster

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #134 on: July 22, 2012, 12:55:51 PM »
Maldives TR:

Planning the trip:

I used 120k UA * 2 for 2 tickets in J, and 200k HH for 5 nights for the W=A. Since I planned the trip 2 days before I flew and the hotel didn't get back to me to let me know whether they could arrange kosher food  I bought a sandwich maker, a burner, a pot, disposable barbecues, a magic bullet for my protein shakes, meat, chicken, rice and lots of food. I bought a universal converter from target which was very helpful. I tried contacting the hotel for all my bizarre requests e.g. could you store my meat in your freezer, but they never got back to me.  I got my mom to watch my 2 kids and off we went.

Our journey:
Our first leg with LH JFk - FRA comfortable seats ( not lie flat) good service nasty food. The lounges in Frankfurt were very nice and the showers were amazing.
Second leg with Qatar FRA - DOH comfortable seats ( not lie flat) the service very good and the food was nasty. The lounge was real nice, but no showers.
Third leg: with Qatar DOH - MLE comfortable seats ( not lie flat) the service very good and good  food from Thailand. When we arrived in MLE with our food I was a bit nervous and sure enough they asked me to open my suitcase, but they didn't care about the food all they asked is if I have wine which I relied that it's grape juice, so they let me go without even looking at it. All in all customs was a breeze not like some other countries I've been to.
Firth leg with Maldavian air from MLE - Hanimadoo 45 min flight. They only allow 20kg per person on this flight. We happened to be 20kg over I asked nicely and they only charged me for 10kg, which was $9.
Fifth leg a 45 minute boat ride that took well over an hour due to the rough weather, and we had to girls puking throughout the entire ride.

Our Stay:
The W=A is located in the center of the most northern atoll it's therefore very nice and secluded very few boat and plane traffic,  but the downside is that it's very far from Male.
Talking about going in the rainy season it rained twice for about 5 minutes each time. The nice part about it is that for the first few days it wasn't too hot and we actually had a nice breeze the downside was that the ocean was rough so we enjoyed watching the waves from our infinity pool; there were a few excursions that were cancelled, but none of them were the ones we booked. By the end of the trip it got a lot warmer with a calmer ocean and that's when we went snorkeling.
As soon as we landed in MLE there was a hotel rep that greeted us and took us to the Hilton lounge where, as advised by other DDF members, I stacked up on lots of water and Perrier  each bottle costs about $5 on the Island. From there we were driven to the airport and boarded our last flight. Once we arrived in Hanimadoo we were greeted by another hotel employee who took us to the boat. Once we arrived at the W=A we were greeted by our villa host  who took us to our water villa checked us in and told us that he would take care of all of our needs. I asked him to store my meet in a freezer and he gladly replied "yes yes". He told me that whenever we need meet we should ask him and he'll bring it, great for me. If we needed ice, book an excursion  or simply a ride somewhere the host would take care of it, amazing service. Shortly later our host called us to tell us that we were upgraded to an ocean villa which is the same size but has some extra amenities.  Since we booked the room with a diamond status account we got to choose one of two  packages the one we chose included a basket of fruit upon arrival that's replenished every day, a free excursion and happy hour (Free drinks every day at the saltwater bar between 6-7). My wife and I got civilly married a month ago so we got $200 at the spa and  free excursion for the honey package all we had to is bring a copy of our marriage certificate.  At some point the host came to my room with a kosher meal and told me that they have 6-7 of them and that they could serve them for $35, since we had some much food it was unnecessary and quite frankly once we bought and brought everything we had very good food. As soon as we settled in I booked 3 excursion for 3 separate days a tour of a locale fishing, a dolphin cruise and the complementary snorkeling.  I also booked massages at the spa which was amazing. The excursions should be booked right away, especially the complementary snorkeling tour,  because they could fill up quickly. They have 2 pools the Amazon pool and the infinity pool I personally liked the Amazon pool, and it was very close to the ocean villas; at times the pool was empty, so my wife and I swam by ourselves. There were about 80 guests on the entire island when we were there. The salt water bar is magnificently situated on the water, and with free drinks every day at happy hour it doesn't get a whole lot better. The fishing village tour was an interesting trip local island with a population of 3k people. It was interesting to see how people live so remotely to see their school, hospital and occupations i.e. the fisherman, the boat builders and the coconut grinders.  The Dolphin cruise was cool we first saw dozen  of dolphins in the waters of our atoll and then we left our atoll to the opened waters to see spinner dolphins jump and play. The 3rd excursion was snorkeling which we were taken to a nearby uninhabited island where they  have nice coral reef  and fish. The place is really beautiful and relaxing I'm very happy that I booked this trip, and thanks to all those that helped.

Returning home:
The hotel upgraded us to the seaplane which was a great experience, more convenient and quicker. The seaplane seats about 10 people is a bit noisy not nearly as bad as the flight from Male to Hanimadoo, and has nice leather seats. On the way back we stopped over at Hilton to refuel. it's a 45 minute plane ride from the W=A to the Hilton and 35 minutes from the Hilton to Male. The difference between the W=A and the Hilton is immensely great. The Hilton has many more rooms than the W=A when you come there you see a lot of people and it's not nearly as secluded as the W=A, personally I would prefer the extra journey for the extra seclusion and tranquility. When we arrived in Male they wanted $80 to stay at the Hilton lounge. We headed over to the airport there was a hotel rep who our bags and stored them. The best part was that there was a tour guide from the hotel, that we didn't even request, waiting  for us in order to give us a tour of Male. We took an eight minute boat ride from the airport to the capital where he gave us a tour of the presidents' palace, mosques, the business district and the market place where we bought fruit. He told us this about Maldives history, Maldives economy and about current politics etc,. It was very interesting seeing  this densely populated city with a 100k residents  in 2 sq mi which was pretty clean.

We flew SQ in J from Male to Sin and from SIN to EWR in the A340-500 all business class plane which had huge seats  30"  wide that turn in to a real bed. this flight was simply amazing with the best service one could imagine, although the food was horrible they didn't apologizing and they brought over an entire platter of fruit i.e. lychees, apples, bananas, grapes and strawberries. It was a great experience.
I hope that this is helpful for those planning future trips if you have any questions feel free  to ask.


Offline sky121

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #135 on: July 22, 2012, 12:59:02 PM »
Maldives TR:

I hope that this is helpful for those planning future trips if you have any questions feel free  to ask.

Thanks for sharing! Any pics?
« Last Edit: July 22, 2012, 01:38:03 PM by sky121 »
"Not all who wander are lost"

Offline ChAiM'l

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #136 on: July 22, 2012, 01:34:11 PM »
Thanks for sharing! Any pics?

+1. And did you have to quote the entire TR?

Offline daganster

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #137 on: July 22, 2012, 01:35:58 PM »
Thanks for sharing! Any pics?
How do I upload pics?
« Last Edit: July 22, 2012, 02:14:15 PM by daganster »

Offline sky121

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #138 on: July 22, 2012, 01:38:19 PM »
+1. And did you have to quote the entire TR?

Better?
"Not all who wander are lost"

Offline ChAiM'l

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Re: Maldives Master Thread
« Reply #139 on: July 22, 2012, 02:33:41 PM »
Better?

Much.

I dont know how to upload pics.

There are 2 ways-

1. While creating a message, click on "Attachments and other options" in the lower left of the screen, and use the "Choose file" button to attach (upload) one or more images. Restrictions: 4 per post, maximum total size 512KB, maximum individual size 256KB

2. Upload them to either ImageShack or PhotoBucket and link them here with [img] tags.