Yessss, you can go to Maldives and on a reasonable budget!
We decided to do them together.
Maldives is BEAUTIFUL! The water is so blue and clear… the Republic of Maldives has about 1200 islands. Around 200 are habitable. The airport is on the capital, Male’.. We decided to stay close to the main island because we were only staying for a short time. We stayed at the Sheraton Maldives on the Furanafushi Island, North Male Atoll. It’s about a 15-minute speedboat ride.
Just know that whatever island you choose, you pretty much stay on that island your whole time…. It gets pretty hectic going to other islands. If you do try, you will have to pay to take a speedboat or seaplane to get to another one. And that’s pretty darn expensive. So, make sure you pick which Island you want.
I personally think you only need a couple of days there (3-5) unless you are studying marine life or you’re a diver. The Sheraton Maldives has a dive center. We also met a young lady who was there studying marine biology. The beach entrance from the Sheraton is VERY rocky… please have water shoes.
If you decide to get an overwater villa (like we did) be very careful going in that water from your villa… as soon as we came in from playing and laughing in the Indian Ocean, I’ll be darn if a shark didn’t swim right by us. It was amazing and scary at the same time!!
Tip: make sure you check your phone service before going because AT&T and Verizon’s international day pass is not covered in Maldives so it is $2.99 a minute to use your phone, but each hotel should have Wi-Fi. Turn your phone’s Wi-Fi calling on before going, keep your phone on airplane mode, and carry on… you will have all the benefits of your phone for free! (Thank me later lol)
Overwater Villas and bungalows can be very expensive, $800-$2000 + per night, depending on which island and which resort! At the Sheraton, we had a group of 13, so we decided to have everyone get all types of rooms so we could see and experience them all! It was great! If you are a Marriott employee, the room rates are AWESOME, so take advantage of that!
Food wasn’t that great (to me) but I’m not a foodie… so maybe ask someone else lol. We didn’t do an all-inclusive option while there, so if that’s your thing, grab that. We did do the breakfast package and their breakfast was GREAT! I love experiencing how different countries have breakfast and what their offerings are. Their freshly squeezed juices were to die for!! I wish our juice could taste like theirs! Everything is imported to the islands!
Water sports are highly overpriced but hey, it was expected. Hell, who else can say they jet skied in or parasailed over the Indian Ocean? Jet Ski price – $200 for 25 min!
Travel tip for Maldives— we bought our ticket on Emirates Airlines. It’s only a 4 hour flight from Dubai, so add it in on your flight to Dubai and, often times, the connection to Maldives was cheaper than flying direct to Dubai. Round trip ticket -$1145 each (economy) $4,000 each Business Class (booking way in advance) and $10,000 each First Class.
Airline Itinerary –
- Washington Dulles (IAD) to Maldives (MLE) Dec 1-5
- Maldives to Dubai Dec 5-11
- Dubai back to Washington Dulles -arrived back at 8 am Dec 11th.
Another travel tip – don’t book group tickets if you want the chance to pay to upgrade when checking in. Group reservations are not allowed to upgrade at check-in! Emirates is supposed to be one of the best airlines, but to be honest, the flight attendants seemed unhappy and lazy. It could be the stress of working during Covid… but who knows? 🤷🏽♀️
Maldives was definitely worth that extra 4-hour flight and extra 3 days to experience the beauty of that island. My crew thoroughly enjoyed it and of course it was on everyone’s bucket list. So now we can officially ✅ it off!
