We checked in at zrh and were able to send our cases directly to mle, as swiss, lh and emirates have a luggage interline agreement. The first class lounge in zuerich is nice, we only had 15 minutes and had a quick drink.
They didnt drive us to the plane as the plane left from a gate. Lufthansa and swiss have a policy, that they only serve kosher meals for flights more then 65 minutes and the flight to Frankfurt is 65 minutes, so we didnt get anything to eat. It was a regular european flight, so nothing to report. We arrived in frankfurt at a gate, so again no car pick up. We walked to the First Class terminal, its about 7 minutes and not a big deal. The FCT is amazing. Its a oasis of peace and calm and you dont realize, that you are in a airport. Alot of people wrote about it already, so i will not waste to much time on it. I took a nice bath to get the lufthansa duck.
We ordered kosher lunch in advance, but for some reason only one arrived. No big deal, the kosher caviar was delicious. I had quite alot of whiskey and time passed very fast. Before i knew it, they came to pick us up for our flight to DXB. They drove us in a nice mercedes to the plane. Have to admit, it was really special. From the car straight into the plane, no line.
As its a 747, we were on the upper deck, so we didnt hear and see boarding, other people...like a private jet almost. Lufthansa is upgrading their F-Class, we still had a old layout. Thats fine, as in the old layout everyone gets 2 seats, one is the chair and the second seat is made into a bed right away. Load was 4/8. We had the front row, before take off, they make the second seat into a bed already.
Meal was very good, only downside, we had salmon in the lounge, now they served us a piece of salmon for starters and another piece as main course. B'h no salmon ice cream for desert.
Flight passed quite fast, slept, watched a movie... Before landing in dubai it was time to put my cap on. I dont think, it would have been a problem transiting with a yarmulke, but still...
We landed on time and had about 4 hours until our next flight. Dubai airport is huge, tons of shops, but we could not be bothered and went straight to the first class lounge. Its very big and really nice. Besides for the fct, the nicest one i have been to. I got a free massage and my wife got her nails done...
We then walked to our departure gate (next to the gate boarding for kabul), boarding had started already, so we walked straight into first class without waiting. First impression: It was nice, but i preffered lx,tk and lh. They had a 2-2-2 layout, thats quite crowded in first class. Only cool part was that every passenger had his own mini fridge. The flight attendant confirmed, that our kosher meals were onboard. I was looking forward to a ek amenity kit and pj, but they didnt give anything. Said the flight was to short. Very disappointing for F.
They asked us, when they should wake us and i told them as late as possible. They really did and served us breakfast 25 minutes before landing. Food came from bangkok air catering and was very good. Their video system is amazing, 250 movies, big screen. Its probably the best in the skies.
Landing itself was stunning, one can see the corals when landing and i knew right away that we have landed in paradise. Immigration and customs (they x ray every bag, so dont think about bringing in alcohol) can take quite long, but as f passengers we were the first guys out and were out of the airport in 15 minutes.
Right when we exited a hotel rep waited for us and took our luggage across the hall. The check in desk from the seaplane company is there. Every person is allowed 20kg, so i had to pay some overweight charges, as we packed more then that. It was only 3 dollars a kg, so it wasnt to bad... Once we got our seaplane boarding card we were driven to the other side of the airport. They have a seaplane terminal there.
he nice hotels operate a lounge with drinks in the terminal, ours did, so we were able to wait and relax. There are no fixed times when the plane leaves, as they try to fill it up with people flying to nearby resorts. We got lucky and after 30 minutes our plane left. Taking off on water instead of a runway is quite a experience, but it was quite smooth. The plane is very small (no a/c !)and fits max. 20 people, we had 8 people on board. The view on the flight was stunning, i just looked out of the window and was: wow. The plane dropped the other people at 2 other islands first, so we got to experience a few landings and take offs... Finally i was able to see our island and we circled it once, so we should land in front of the jetty.
Hotel staff was waiting for us with fresh drinks, cold towels right when we got of the plane. The manager himself came to say hi, as well as the food and beverage manager, that i arranged all our food with. They gave us a quick tour of the island with a golf buggy and dropped us at our villa. I requested the last one on the uneven side, as thats were the reef is and the boat traffic to and from the island was in front of the villas at the other side. The villa itself is very large, huge bathroom, walk in closet, apple tv... really had everything we could have asked for. On the porch we had our infinity pool, tables, sunloungers, it was just heaven.
The food and beverage manager asked me for a short meeting with him and the cook, so we can discuss the kosher food. They took me to the freezer, were they showed me all food, that arrived. They were really very nice about it, they told me, i could have the food delivered whenever i want, to whatever restaurant i want. I just have to call them 30 minutes before... The cook also gave me 2 picnic sets of dishes so that i can eat from real plates,fork... I toiveled them in the ocean and took them to our villa after every meal, to wash them... By now it was late afternoon and we took a stroll around the entire island. It took almost 10 minutes to reach the island from our villa, walking down the long bridge, that connects the watervillas, we could have ordered a buggy, but we wanted to see everything.
Every employee we saw, greeted and smiled at us. On the main island, there is a pool, bar and the beachvillas. The pool is very nice and has a stunning view, but why go there, if you have the same on your porch... The beach villas are spread out and have 2 floors. The top floor is the bedroom and the bottom has the sitting area and pool. They were all hidden behind some lush trees... On halaveli the villas on the beach are more expensive, as they are bigger, but i dont know why someone would want to stay there. We completed the walk around within 15 minutes and didnt see a soul. We really had the feeling we had the island to ourself. At the end they have a presidential villa (roger federer was there a few weeks before us) its huge and has a big pool.
We sat down on one of the huge beanbags that are spread around the island and a waiter came running right away offering us a drink. He recommended as fresh coconut and we agreed. In front of our eyes he climbed on a palm tree and got us 2 coconuts, that he prepared. Thats what i call service! They also briefed the entire staff about kosher, as the waiter asked, if we are allowed to drink this. We asked how he knew, we keep kosher and he told us that the entire staff got a briefing about us, before we arrived and was explained, what kosher is. Wow! Dinner time was approaching and i asked the f'b manager to serve us dinner at the overwater restaurant and set what menu i wanted. The restaurant was very nice and they had lights shining at the water, that attracted alot of fish. Quite a nice place to eat. The food was delicious, we had a beef soup, honey mustard chicken, rolls and ices for desert. Being 1000 of miles from the next kosher place, ^the arranged kosher food was really a treat.
The next day they delivered us breakfast to our room, at the exact time, as we ordered the night before. They even added a fruit plate and some fresh orange juice. We had danishes, rolls, croissants, milk, cereal, lox... we ate our australian breakfast on the porch to a stunning view....
I will write the next few days in brief, as there is not so much to write about, as the maldives is more about chilling out and not doing things....
- We had every supper at the beach restaurant, food was delicious and we sat right next to the waters edge. torches, sand and the sound of the waves
- We did one snorkeling trip, they took us by boat to a reef and we swam for about 45 minutes. We saw turtles, sharks and 100s of fish I cant even describe...worth every penny... I dont think diving would have been necessary, as the water is so clear and we could see all from the top. We were allowed to keep our snorkeling gear for our entire stay and used it quite often in the water in front of our villa
- Shabbes was the most relaxing ever, we ate our meals on the porch. friday night the hotel warmed it up for us, we took along Chale,kigel,gefilte fish and Thomy from home and with the catered food were not lacking anything. Shabbes lunch I could not ask the hotel to warm up any food, so we just had chale, gefilte fish and coldcuts with some ice cream for desert... I always wear a white shirt and dress pants on shabbes, no matter were I am, so the people gave us quite a look when we went for a walk after the meal
- We had a massage in the spa. It was not cheap, but quite the experience. It was in a overwater spa villa and you look down through a hole in the floor and see the fish swimming underneath and hear the waves. I slept most of it, it was so calm and relaxing :-)
- We had alot of drinks while there and the staff was great. They made us a new drink every time, made up cocktails, that were not even on the menu and really put so much effort into all. We spoke to them alot, they all had a story to tell, are away from their family for a long time to make a couple of 100 Dollars a month, but the honest smile and effort, wow. We have never seen such good service.
