- Introduction: Birthday Trip To The Maldives
- Booking Emirates Skywards One-Way Awards With Stopovers
- Review: Air France-KLM Lounge Washington Dulles Airport (IAD)
- Review: New Emirates Boeing 777 First Class (IAD-DXB)
- Review: Waldorf Astoria Dubai International Financial Centre
- Review: Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai Airport (DXB)
- A Lovely Emirates First Class Flight To The Maldives
- Review: Cheval Blanc Maldives Randheli
- Review: Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi
- Review: Four Seasons Maldives Landaa Giraavaru
- Oops: I Missed My Flight, Almost Got Denied Entry To Qatar
- Review: Qatar Airways Boeing 777 First Class (MLE-DOH)
- PSA: Don’t Wait At The Wrong Baggage Claim Belt
- Review: Park Hyatt Doha, Qatar
- Review: Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge Doha (DOH)
- Review: Sleep ‘N Fly Sleep Lounge Doha Airport (DOH)
- Review: Qatar Airways Qsuites Business Class 777 (DOH-DFW)
I’m making an effort to write as many trip reports as possible. In the past several weeks I’ve written reviews of trips to Oman, Hawaii, and Europe, and I want to now share my next trip, which is currently underway. Ford and I are in the Maldives, so stay tuned for some reviews of flights and hotels that I hope OMAAT readers will enjoy.
In this post:
Why we decided to travel to the Maldives
I’ve been to the Maldives several times before, though haven’t visited in the past five years. The Maldives has seen an impressive number of new hotels open in recent years, and the one that has interested me most is the Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi.
You can redeem Hilton Honors points at the Waldorf Astoria, though the catch is that award availability can be tough to come by. Nearly a year ago I locked in an award stay there, since I saw availability for a five day period right around my birthday. I wasn’t sure if we’d actually take the trip or not, though I figured it was worth locking in.
Well, the timing ended up working out, and that was the basis for planning this trip.
The airlines we’re flying
Part of the fun of starting these trip reports while we’re still on the trip is that sometimes our plans change. We redeemed Emirates Skywards miles for our outbound trip, as we flew in first class from Washington to Dubai to Male, with a stopover in Dubai.
While I realize an Emirates first class review is hardly novel, this was exciting to me since we got to fly Emirates’ new 777 first class on a long haul flight, which was a unique opportunity (the new 777 is available on few long haul routes).
I’m still working on our return itinerary. We’re flying from Male to Doha in Qatar Airways first class, as the airline is currently leasing some 777s from Cathay Pacific (so I guess you could say we’re flying Qatar Pacific first class). That’s a pretty cool opportunity that I look forward to experiencing. It’s probably about as close as I’ll get to Hong Kong anytime soon.
However, it gets a bit trickier from there. Qatar Airways isn’t releasing much award availability at the moment, and I can’t find a single option from Doha to North America in business class. So I’m going to keep monitoring.
Ideally I’d do a more interesting return routing (since I’ve reviewed Qatar’s business class before), but I’m not seeing anything, and for that matter service out of Doha is limited on airlines other than Qatar Airways. If anyone has any creative ideas, I’d love to hear them!
The hotels we’re staying at
Our first stop on this trip was Dubai, where we spent a couple of nights at the Waldorf Astoria Dubai International Financial Centre. This hotel was spectacular, and I look forward to reviewing it, as it’s my new favorite option in Dubai.
In the Maldives our primary destination is the Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi. We redeemed just 120,000 Hilton Honors points per night, and as a Hilton Honors elite member you get a fifth night free, so that’s an average of 96,000 points per night. At a valuation of 0.5 cents per point, that’s like paying just $480 per night all-in. That compares quite favorably to the cash cost of a stay here, which is nearly $3,000 per night including taxes & fees.
While not a points property, we also decided to check out Cheval Blanc Maldives Randheli, often regarded as one of the best properties in the Maldives. I think it’ll be interesting to do a side-by-side comparison of what’s typically regarded as the best points hotel in the Maldives and what’s often regarded as the best all-around hotel in the Maldives. How big is the difference?
Lastly, once we were already in the Maldives we decided to add a few nights at the Four Seasons Maldives Landaa Giraavaru. Since we came such a long way already and don’t plan to return to the Maldives anytime soon, I figured we might as well knock out one more Maldives luxury hotel review.
Bottom line
It’s nice to be back in the Maldives after having not visited for around five years. Expect several airline and flight reviews in the coming days. Thanks so much for reading, and stay tuned!
what would one do for 11 days there besides go to restaurants in fancy hotels, that you could do in Miami ?
I see you flew Qatar back to the US, intrigued to see how you booked it since you said they weren't releasing much availability currently
Air Mauritius MRU-CDG or CDG-MRU!
I just returned from my birthday trip in Mauritius and flew there with Air Mauritius A350 business class. Service was excellent and the seat solid (same seat you find on Iberia).
From DOH take QR on the A380 First class or MEA, or Saudia. Availability on Saudia on Flying Blue doesn't look back.
Then CDG-MRU on MK. In Mauritius stay at Heritage Telfair a SLH property bookable...
Air Mauritius MRU-CDG or CDG-MRU!
I just returned from my birthday trip in Mauritius and flew there with Air Mauritius A350 business class. Service was excellent and the seat solid (same seat you find on Iberia).
From DOH take QR on the A380 First class or MEA, or Saudia. Availability on Saudia on Flying Blue doesn't look back.
Then CDG-MRU on MK. In Mauritius stay at Heritage Telfair a SLH property bookable via Hyatt. Excellent hotel!
To return do sth fun like MRU-JNB and BA F to heathrow. Or with Air Austral, French Bee etc Premium economy to CDG.
Looking forward to following your travels! We are headed to St Regis Vommuli for my 40th birthday in 3 weeks, flying QR in QSuites from Philly (equipment just changed to 77W).
I agree with the suggestion to consider returning via SIN. Supposedly a lot of award availability for F on the A380 to JFK.
WOW - happy to follow your flights again; the Cheval Blanc Maldives Randheli and Waldorf Maldives look fun! The Shangri-La's Villingili Resort & Spa in the southern Maldives, Gan, also looks fun; have you stayed at this Shangri-La property before? happy and safe travels
@ Vancouver - Char -- Thanks! Nope, can't say I have, but will take a look at it.
That property appears to no longer operate. Bummer!
Yes, I have creative suggestion. Fly economy and write a review.
Sorry no time to read comments but I suggest - add to others perhaps- Etihad B787-9 First back to Dulles. I’m doing it on my Birthday RTW in July. Enjoy
I would be very careful with Qatar. We stayed at Rangali Mar 15-30 (great) booked on QR in Qsuites with AA reward. On arrival in MLE to depart the ground staff stated my return ticket had been cancelled by AA (but not my wife's) on same PNR. Refused to let me board and would not help in any way. Told to sort it with AA but AA phone had 3 hour wait. My ticket was...
I would be very careful with Qatar. We stayed at Rangali Mar 15-30 (great) booked on QR in Qsuites with AA reward. On arrival in MLE to depart the ground staff stated my return ticket had been cancelled by AA (but not my wife's) on same PNR. Refused to let me board and would not help in any way. Told to sort it with AA but AA phone had 3 hour wait. My ticket was "valid" from DOH-SEA but they refused to sell ticket to DOH. Refused any assistance because MLE is 'only an outpost'. Eventually was able to purchase OW economy ticket ($3000) and "enjoyed 15 hr in 42A (want a review?). It turns out that the DOH-SEA was switched from a Qsuite to old trashed SQ?. In reassigning seats it appeared that QR screwed up my ticket somehow. Not getting any response from either AA or QR and am out a OW business ticket and $3000. Please fly a different airline!
Would love to see something that includes FlyDubai 737 with flat beds!
Why not take QR back home in Y? It’ll make a great trip report and Qatar Y is as good as PE of other airlines. Do remember to check in your luggage too for the full experience. Its what majority of the readers experience and we’d love to compare notes.
Seriously? I was just bumped out of row 4H to row 42A on the DOH-MLE flight because QR screwed up my ticket when reassigning seats because of an equipment change.
2 meals and 2 glasses (3 oz) of Shiraz in 15 hours. Standard sea pitch. QR Y is NOT NOT NOT any better than Egyptair or Aeroflot IL-62.
However - the Butter Chicken in Y was better than any food I have tasted in QR J over 15 flights.
"Its what majority of the readers experience and we’d love to compare notes."
I'm curious as to the accuracy of this. 9 years in the travel rewards game, and I'll be taking my first overseas Y flight ever next week--- SFO-DXB RT. (flown plenty of shorthaul Y between different countries... DXB-MLE, ATH-DOH, MIA-SKB, but never over the pond).
Ben, not even a quick stop at the barely-opened Alila Maldives? For Hyatt fans, it sure would be nice to know if it’s a strong option versus the increasingly dated Park Hyatt Hadahaa. Surely you could fit in a 2-night stay—it’s really inexpensive for the soft opening.
Male-Doha on qatar/Cathay pacific
Doha-London on British airways
London-USA on virgin/delta/United/American/JetBlue
I would prefer the diversity of airlines as we have a a variety of reviews especially for future reference :)
Why it seems everyone's in/going to the Maldives? Will be making a trip to Ritz-Carlton Fari Islands & St. Regis Vommuli (all on points, of course) in a month, which was booked before the Bonvoy devaluation. Hope the weather would still be pleasant as May is the start of monsoon season from what I heard? Flying in EK business and out in Qatar First (leased Cathay's 773 to Doha and A380 onwards to Bangkok). Keep the reviews coming in, Lucky!
Maldives has become quite the hotspot since 2020. I went once back in 2016, and probably wouldn't have gone back until at least 2025, except for that with Covid in play, the Maldives made a lot of sense. Found plenty of award availability and great deals. (I went in 2020 and 2021)
Before 2020, my wife and I were the only ones we knew who had been, but my Aunt and Sister came with...
Maldives has become quite the hotspot since 2020. I went once back in 2016, and probably wouldn't have gone back until at least 2025, except for that with Covid in play, the Maldives made a lot of sense. Found plenty of award availability and great deals. (I went in 2020 and 2021)
Before 2020, my wife and I were the only ones we knew who had been, but my Aunt and Sister came with us last year, a family friend and his wife went a couple months ago, one co-worker will be headed there in a couple weeks (sadly, not on points), and another co-worker will be going in August, utilizing a Travelzoo voucher. Not really the novelty it was a few years back.
Have fun at St Regis and Ritz! We had a nice time at St Regis last year. Meanwhile, we're off to Al Maha next week!
We’re in the Maldives too. We’re at StReg. Also did a stopover in Dubai on our way here. Flying Qatar back home to US on Tuesday. When do you leave?
@ Haiku -- Hope you're enjoying your time! To be honest, exact return date is up in the air, as we may check out another resort after this.
Lucky - One thing to note with QR awards, is that they lean very heavily into O&D routing logic for releasing award availability, so looking for availability at a segment level is not often very successful there.
The reason is that they want to make it difficult for Doha-based people to redeem awards, so they restrict award availability originating or departing from Doha. Very hard to come by. But connecting between two other cities via...
Lucky - One thing to note with QR awards, is that they lean very heavily into O&D routing logic for releasing award availability, so looking for availability at a segment level is not often very successful there.
The reason is that they want to make it difficult for Doha-based people to redeem awards, so they restrict award availability originating or departing from Doha. Very hard to come by. But connecting between two other cities via Doha? Likely to have better luck.
For instance, you may see MLE-DOH-JFK show up as available, whereas searching the exact same flights MLE-DOH and DOH-JFK will show nothing. So if you really want to test whether a specific onward segment (e.g. DOH-JFK) has availability, best to try pairing it with several various origins (i.e. instead of searching DOH-JFK, search KHI-JFK, BAH-JFK, DEL-JFK, etc).
@ Sam -- Great point, thanks! Tricky since I already have MLE-DOH booked, and I don't want to lose that award segment, but I'll investigate.
Watch out for the single MLE-DOH. When QR bumped me off the airplane in MLE (see above) they would not allow a OW MLE_DOH as it "had to connect". That was Mar 30 so perhaps rules have changed. OR just being???
My husband and I are here in Waldorf Astoria Maldives right now. Please feel free to say hi to us (an interracial gay couple) if we run into each other!
@ Justin -- I'll be on the lookout, and feel free to say hi as well!
In January 2023, I am doing a "reboot" of my annual Asian Escapade(TM), which will include a 5-night award stay at WA Maldives Ithaafushi, my second at the property since I stayed there from December 29, 2019 to January 3, 2020, right after the property first opened and just before the pandemic hit. I will get to MLE by redeeming miles on SQ to fly SIN-MLE and back in biz. In fact, last night I...
In January 2023, I am doing a "reboot" of my annual Asian Escapade(TM), which will include a 5-night award stay at WA Maldives Ithaafushi, my second at the property since I stayed there from December 29, 2019 to January 3, 2020, right after the property first opened and just before the pandemic hit. I will get to MLE by redeeming miles on SQ to fly SIN-MLE and back in biz. In fact, last night I booked award stays at Hilton and Hyatt properties in all 5 destinations that I intended to visit during the 4-week Escapade, and in the coming days I will begin redeeming miles, mostly on SQ as a newly minted SQ Gold, to go from one destination to the next.
Hopefully, another, more deadly and transmissible variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus won't derail the "reboot" of my EScapade!
OMG
You’re staying at a Hyatt?
Of course, I am; why shouldn't I? Those who've been here long enough know that I am an "equal opportunity opportunist", who will stay wherever I get a comparatively better deal than staying with my primary program. Moreover, there are some destinations overseas where my primary program has no presence, which happens to be the case in this instance.
Every year, when Hyatt sells their points with a 40% bonus (the most that they offer),...
Of course, I am; why shouldn't I? Those who've been here long enough know that I am an "equal opportunity opportunist", who will stay wherever I get a comparatively better deal than staying with my primary program. Moreover, there are some destinations overseas where my primary program has no presence, which happens to be the case in this instance.
Every year, when Hyatt sells their points with a 40% bonus (the most that they offer), I purchase the max allowed precisely so that I can use the program as a fallback option.
Valid point
What about Marriott Bonvoy properties?
Since you are Lifetime Diamond what about lifetime status with Hyatt or Marriott?
I gave up on BonVoy after they downgraded their Gold status, which I got through their joint venture with UA and which in the past gave me the incentive to stay at Marriott properties in Asia because, in addition to getting free breakfast, I frequently parlayed the status to suite upgrades or I occasionally got upgraded without even asking. Right now, I have 4 BonVoy free night certificates from two co-branded CCs that I will...
I gave up on BonVoy after they downgraded their Gold status, which I got through their joint venture with UA and which in the past gave me the incentive to stay at Marriott properties in Asia because, in addition to getting free breakfast, I frequently parlayed the status to suite upgrades or I occasionally got upgraded without even asking. Right now, I have 4 BonVoy free night certificates from two co-branded CCs that I will just let expire because they are useless to me.
Speaking of free night certs, another reason for staying at Hyatt properties is that I get a free night cert from my Chase WoH visa that enables me to create for myself a perk that the program does not offer its members - an extra free night on an extended award stay. For my upcoming stay at a SE Asia Park Hyatt (to be disclosed later), I booked a 4-night award stay that I paid for as follows:
-- used 23K WoH points per night for 3 nights in a Park Suite Kingroom
-- used my WoH Chase visa free night cert for 1 night in a King Bed room
My bet is that the property will simply let me stay in the Park Suite King for all 4 nights rather than to move me from the suite to the King Bed room for my last night. I used the same "trick" before and it worked.
Lastly, I am not yet a Lifetime HH Diamond. I will get there next month after I complete a 9-night stay in London. It will be the only hotel loyalty Lifetime status I need -- a monumental feat that I will achieve after having been a HH Diamond for 12 years straight and accumulating 2,000,000 base points.
I do not stay enough with either WoH or BonVoy to even entertain the thought of chasing a LF status with either program.
Do you have a blog where you are posting your reviews?
Your comments on how to get the most out of loyalty programmes can be very useful for many
@BobNL -- Thanks for what I will take as a compliment! While I do have a website where I've posted from time to time, usually when I wanted to express myself in the freest possible manner, I have never done trip planning or reviews there. The site has been dormant for quite a while now due to the lack the time it requires to prepare and post well-thought material, considering that my "day job" does...
@BobNL -- Thanks for what I will take as a compliment! While I do have a website where I've posted from time to time, usually when I wanted to express myself in the freest possible manner, I have never done trip planning or reviews there. The site has been dormant for quite a while now due to the lack the time it requires to prepare and post well-thought material, considering that my "day job" does keep me busy.
However, I am gearing up to 'reboot' the site to present a few items of interest, like writing about my initial experience with Hilton Honors' new automated global upgrades, or how the program might have changed after 5 years of dynamic award pricing , as well as how my bold predictions 5 years ago of its effect might have held up. I would also like to write my definitive treatise -- magnum opus -- that will 'demystify' hotel loyalty points currencies once and for all by providing a mathematical answer to the seminal question of how much a point is "worth".
Based on your suggestion, I will do a trip report on the 'reboot' of my annual 4-week Asian Escapade after I complete it next Spring...
So, thanks for the suggestion/request, and stay tuned for some activity over at TravelRealiyCheck!
I'm interested in your choice of the Maldives. I'd heard they were not very gay-friendly, has that been your experience? Same question regarding overnighting in Doha. Simply curious if you have run into any "issues" traveling with Ford.
@ Kelley -- While the laws are no doubt problematic, I've never had issues or felt uncomfortable or judged (well, at least not more than in the US) in Qatar or the Maldives.
Weird idea but fly Doha-Dhaka-London on the Biman 787 and then JetBlue or something else to the US?
If you can find space might be worth trying to see if you can do doha-helsinki-london-miami to get you home?
Should give you a chance to try the new Finnair seat and I can't imagine doha to Helsinki is a big demand flight this time of year.
This is a novel idea what about you fly coach home why don't you take one for the team and actually fly coach for one time in your life you won't be any worse for the wear and why don't you try it I mean would it be the end of the world if you had to fly coach one time in your life I've been overseas to Asia Europe South America 50 or 100...
This is a novel idea what about you fly coach home why don't you take one for the team and actually fly coach for one time in your life you won't be any worse for the wear and why don't you try it I mean would it be the end of the world if you had to fly coach one time in your life I've been overseas to Asia Europe South America 50 or 100 times combined and flew coach 95% of those times so I don't think it would harm
you to fly at one time
And I believe some readers like myself would enjoy that trip report
Put me down for a DOH to MIA coach review as well!
The nicer options would be:
DOH-DTW on Royal Jordanian
DOH-BOS on Turkish Airlines
DOH-EWR on Turkish Airlines
DOH-ORD on Turkish Airlines
How about MLE to SGN then try VN to SFO?
You could try flying Sri Lanka Airways to Colombo. From Colombo you could fly to Frankfurt or London and then there are heaps of ways home from there.
Awesome! I hope you try 1947 at Cheval Blanc. I’ve heard it’s 3 Michelin star quality.
Nothing available on Air Canada from Doha via Toronto?
It will absolutely not be efficient but I do want to hear a review of vistara 787 business class. DOH->DEL->LHR maybe?
Yeah maybe Finn air or otherwise go Singapore as you haven’t reviewed their 787-10 business class yet and a review of that would be really useful and I think it’s your last seat from SQ you need to review , could go male to Singapore then through Asia back to US or Male to Aus or NZ on SQ (destinations have the 787 like Perth Adelaide Brisbane etc) then Air Nz maybe or a pacific airline or QF on the A380 updated with the lounge
Ben,
Sounds like you are going to stay in Doha for a day or two. I am very curious about the covid entry requirement into Doha for fully vaccinated Americans. I can't seem to get to the bottom of the requirement.
I would love a report on the new Finnair business seat. Scheduled to fly it in December. You do by far the best reviews, so your take on it would be awesome.
I've been booking a lot of my ME trips via Europe. There always seems to be plenty of space from AUH, DXB, and DOH to varying cities in Europe (with the exception of London). From there can usually find last minute stuff fairly easy to the U.S. Also, Etihad has been releasing seats in F to IAD a few days out on Aeroplan. I was able to get that around 10 days ago - three days before I flew home it opened.
I think my three best itineraries I can think of are:
Fly Dubai from Male to Dubai to Jeddah, then SAUDIA to JFK. Saudi Arabia is now wide open, so you could stop over as well.
Fly Dubai from Male to Dubai, then get to Abu Dhabi by bus, car, etc, spend a day or two there, and then fly Etihad back to the US.
Or, fly SQ to Singapore, potentially spend a few days there, and then fly back to the US.
I would multiple suggestions for returns from Doha:
- Etihad: I haven't seen a EY review from you in a long time
- Vistara: Doha-India-Frankfurt/Paris/London-USA
-RwandAir to London and then USA
I just did 2 weeks ago male to doha in first class on qatar. Could not find doha to u.s. instead, went doha to barcelona on qatar business (spent 3 days in Barcelona) And united business to ewr. Can also do AA business to Miami, JFk, or Philly.
Glad you're having a nice trip! I'd recommend taking the 'long route' via SEA and then transpacific, perhaps spore and after 01st of May Bangkok as Thailand eased entry restrictions significantly. Vietnam is open too. I think we'd all greatly appreciate your thoughts on the Asian Carrier's covid-measures (if they still exist, that is). Plus, SEA's awesome.
Come back on Finnair and review their new business seat. I believe they said Helsinki to JFK has it and maybe a few others.
Even the point hotel requires a fee thousand for water plan transportation and food for a week?
Hi Ben. I recently returned from a Seychelles + Maldives trip. We flew SEZ-MLE on an empty Air Seychelles flight. Only 6 passengers. You could take Air Seychelles 3.5 hours from MLE to SEZ, then review Mango House LXR. Then fly back through Africa on whatever interesting African airline you can find. I liked Mango House. It is definitely your kind of resort, but you should still do the island hopping that makes Seychelles fun.
If this was me, I would start looking for a 1-2 hour flights from Doha to other airports in the region and shopping long-haul flights from those places.
Take a look at flying Air Canada back to YYZ. You talk about the Aeroplan Credit card all the time; but you hardly ever take AC. And I’ve never read a review of yours for AC that’s truly long haul, and not short transatlantic.
We demand to know what happened on the Emirates flight! Give us the full review.
As a gay man I wont personally support the islamic caliphate that still does imprison gay men for sodomy (Currently about 55 Maldives citizens serving sentences for engaging in gay sex). There are so many other places to visit that don't criminalize being Gay. I think its important for people to know the background of the Maldives when they decide if they want their tourism dollars to go there. It's each person's choice if they...
As a gay man I wont personally support the islamic caliphate that still does imprison gay men for sodomy (Currently about 55 Maldives citizens serving sentences for engaging in gay sex). There are so many other places to visit that don't criminalize being Gay. I think its important for people to know the background of the Maldives when they decide if they want their tourism dollars to go there. It's each person's choice if they are willing to overlook the state sanctioned laws and punishments against the LGBT community.
Yawn... I understand if you are such an upright man youll also Will not travel to countries where child work is allowed, women rights are not achieved, workers rights are undeestimated, environment is not protected, races are not discriminated, animals are used for work labor and industries and so on .... Or you just happen to be gay? Btw im gay, 50 and hear on 2022 of gay community is so vintage ha ha
Unsure of your dates so hard to shop for specific award availability. Can you somehow get to MAN and do MAN-IAH in SQ business? One of my favorite ways to cross the Atlantic
I know Etihad flies from Doha so perhaps you could work in a review of their newest A350 cabin using Aeroplan points? I know it's just a Super Diamond seat but I thought throw my hat into the ring :)
This isn’t the worlds most exciting product but would be interesting to see an Air Canada long-haul J review. Maybe throw some Ethiad in on an Aeroplan redemption
If their prices aren't ridiculous I would also appreciate this, I have FRA-YUL coming up this summer on a 787 and would be keen to see how things have held up with them post covid.
We fly AC in November VIE-YYZ and had a great seat and service. Nothing but good things to say.
Maybe try RJ through Amman to Chicago or NY...
Is there availability from Doha to Helsinki, then Finnair's new business class to Chicago from Helsinki?
fly to Delhi then fly vistara's 787 business class to London then delta or something
I like the AY idea. Would love to see an Omaat review of the new Finnair J before I book.
Scrap that, Chicago was a one off...will you be in the Maldives for long enough to fly the New York route?
Well if he can get to HEL, he can take AY to SIN, then something on SQ to get back to the US. Ford may not like this one though lol
Happy birthday! Looking forward to the reports – enjoy your trip!