The Maldives

Why Here

I mean… come on.  This one really doesn’t require an answer, it’s the Maldives!!

Getting There

Turkish Airlines economy class: ORD to IST to MLE and the same back.  See below for the info regarding the IST (Istanbul portion)

Money Exchange

Not necessary if you’re headed to a resort off the mainland island of Male. 

Visa

Not necessary. 

But of note I did travel in 2020, the year of COVID.  Thus at the time, the country required a negative COVID 19 PCR test on arrival. 

 The resort

I used points to pay for my stay.  I initially planned for just 3 nights.  This was because I’m typically bored in one place after 3 nights.  But I decided on one look through to try 4 nights.  I surprisingly found that with 4 nights, a 5th night was free!  Not sure if this was due to my membership status (gold elite) or if this is just a general offer.  So given how expensive this place was, I figured I couldn’t pass up a free night so I decided to go with the 4+1 nights.   In retrospect I so glad that I did.  For one thing, the amount of traveling it takes to get to the US from the Maldives (seaplane included), you really do want to just chill TF out and relax.  3 nights would have been just a tease. 

So back to the points.  It cost 100,000 points a night (about $1000/night).  I had north of 250000 points so over the course of 6 months I bought around 150000 discounted points for around $1500.  I’m not sure if they were discounted as much due to COVID (this was my first time buying points) or if this is a normal yearly offering with Marriot Bonvoy. 

I wasn’t expecting any other discounts but was pleasantly surprised to learn on arrival that I would be eligible for a 20% discount at all restaurants (except for the breakfast buffet) due to my gold elite status.  Now while I was thankful for the discount, I soon learned that that 20% was quickly absorbed once you factored in the many (4) separate taxes/charges applied to all bills. 

Getting to the resort

I can only comment on how the W Maldives operated. Yet I image that most if not all of the hotels operating on their own private island atolls do things in a similar manner. Please check with your specific hotel to be sure

After deplaning we had to go through a temperature check and then passport security.

Then customs… one of my bags was actually flagged for customs so I had to do the whole, “something to declare”/ open my bag for the agent process. For more details on why, see below in the ‘good to know section’. 

Once past customs your reach a wall of hotel representatives holding signage.  Find your hotel and that’ it.  The decision making is complete from here on, just follow your rep from here on. 

Our W rep helps with luggage and our first stop is to the Trans Maldivian Airways check- in.  I knew in advance that my trip required a seaplane to get to the resort.  I also knew that said seaplane would cost $500 per person roundtrip and the price would be added into my total hotel costs.  I got all of this information from my email correspondences with my W Maldives representative in advance.  Given the COVID era, the representative reached out to me about 5 months in advance.  I reached out about 2 weeks in advance to ask last minutes questions.  I honestly didn’t ask many specific questions.  Honestly with the stress of travelling during COVID I just wanted to focus on getting there and hoped the logistics upon arrival would “figure themselves out”.  I write this because I really didn’t know how I would get to the seaplane once I got to the airport but assumed it would be easy enough to figure out.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that upon arrival we got a personalized representative that walked us through the entire process. 

So back to the TMA check in.  I had an idea there would be a weight limit to the luggage since I’ve been on small planes before but I was never explicitly told in advance so I kind of maintained a wishful denial.  I hoped that since I wasn’t told that, maybe it wouldn’t exist.  Well unfortunately that wasn’t the case.  The airline has a 25kg per person limit, which includes handbags.  It’s a fairly laidback check-in process because our representative checked us in and not all of our hand luggage was weighed.  Also only small handbags are allowed to stay with you but they let me keep my backback with me.  In total, our bags weighed in 24kg overweight.  This cost a little over $100.   The good thing is this is a one time fee that covers your return flight as well.  It’s also added in to your final hotel bill.  The bad thing… we essentially had an entire small luggage just filled with snacks so would initially be lighter on our return… oh well.

After checking our luggage, we took a private van to our W lounge to wait for the plane. 

Arrival times are estimates but we waited for about 1 hour for a 3pm departure. 

Seaplanes can only fly during daytime and with favorable conditions.  Keep this in mind when you are scheduling your commercial airline tickets.  If you arrive to Male (the main island of the Maldives) after hours then you may either need to arrange for a boat transfer (even more expensive) or arrange for overnight accommodation in the city.  

The W lounge—nothing fancy but the essentials.  The classic fresh W smell.  Air conditioning.  Cold drinks (sans alcohol) and sweet snacks.  You will complete your hotel check in here as well.   Once ready, back to the van to the TMA departure waiting room.  Our hotel was called, we confirmed our names on a paper list and we walk the “boardwalk” to our plane.  It’s a tight cabin inside so if you do have large personal luggage, strongly consider checking it or just handing it to the plane guy who sits at the back of the plane.  It fits about 15 passengers. 

After the surreal and scenic 25 minute flight, you are finally in paradise.  On arrival it’s hard to believe you finally made it since you likely enduring over 24 hours of travel (if coming from the US).  But you did!!  Shake off the exhaustion and grab your glass of champagne… you did it!