Our review of five glorious days spent in the Maldives at Centara Ras Fushi all-inclusive, adults only resort.
We spent the first 10 days of our honeymoon touring Sri Lanka, and since we were on the go, exploring the beautifully diverse island every day, we ended our holiday with a few days of rest and relaxation the Maldives.
Staying at an all inclusive island resort is quite an intricate experience, so I've broken down my review into a quick summary of recommendations along with the pros and con of our experience at Centara Ras Fushi.
Recommendations:
1. Go with the Gold All Inclusive - there are separate and confusing menus at each restaurant, and with all items being overly expensive, I imagine that guests would end up paying more in the end if you're not on the Gold package.
2. Book a Deluxe Overwater Villa - but skip the higher priced spa villa. We paid top dollar for the spa villa and only used the spa once - it wasn't worth it. So long as you're based in rooms 200 and up you will have an unobstructed view of the water and if you want to be sunset side, request an even room number.
3. Visit and enjoy the Spa: if you are on the Gold package then you get $50 credit for each day that you stay at the Spa - we got $250 spa credit for staying for 5 nights. While the spa is over priced, the credit was just about enough to pay for 2 treatments and we only had to pay an additional $55 in the end. However the service and treatments are brilliant and the Spa is gorgeous, an overall relaxing and lovely experience.
Pros:
1. The staff are amazing and really attributed to our lovely holiday here. Raj in the front bar and Viu Bar is attentive, engaging and makes amazing drinks. He really looked after us. Lovely in the pool bar is great fun - greeting us with a smile and anticipating our drink order from the bar while we swam in the pool. Zoey in the La Brezza Italian restaurant was charming and adorable, we enjoyed chatting away with her and she provided us amazing service throughout our many meals here. Trinity and Lay in the spa were a delight and Lay is a miracle worker at the massages.
2. The food is good - it's not 5 star fine dining or anything, but selection is varied, food is yummy and service is great.
3. Drink service is generous - if you want to sit around at the beach and get drunk for the day that's no bother here. Your glass won't go empty, in fact you won't ever even need to ask for a drink, you'll be topped up with wine or offered another drink by the friendly staff before you have the chance to take your last sip.
4. The location is alright - it's heaven, of course, based on a tiny island in the Indian Ocean, however if you are looking for a remote island, this isn't it. The perk is that it's only a 15-20 minute boat trip from the airport, however there is an island within view from the lobby side of the island of an island that is used to burn refuse.
5. There is loads of to do - you can sit on the beach, use the gym - avail of yoga classes and non-motorised water activities like paddle boats, snorkelling and kayaking for free. We used all of these and it was great fun - snorkelling from our villa was amazing, so many stunning fish, we even spotted a sting ray and reef sharks too. It was unreal. Additionally there are loads of excursions - while expensive, they were worth it, we went snorkelling for sea turtles, which we saw, and parasailing.
Cons:
1. The Gold All Inclusive package boasts a free mini bar - stocked once a day. Well, don't get your hopes up about this one - the mini bar consists of 2 small cans of Carlsberg, a few soft drinks, 2 small spirit bottles, 2 chocolate bars and a small can of Pringles. No wine, no proper spirits and no selection of beer. The list used for restocking the mini bar listed several other items, including wine - and when I rang reception to enquire as to why these items were not in the room I was advised that they weren't included.
2. While one would assume that Gold All Inclusive includes everything food and drink wise - it doesn't, which really annoyed us. This includes room service and bottles of wine, which, like many things, costs extra. This is also the reason I advised that the spa villas were not worth it - we would have enjoyed some snacks and a bottle of wine while using the spa on our balcony, however this would have been exorbitantly priced. In the past, at other all inclusive resorts, mini bars were extensive, food and drink were delivered to the room - including bottles of wine, so this was a huge let down and disappointment.
3. There are day trippers who are allowed to use the pool/beach areas and they are incredibly loud, disruptive and rude. They spent one afternoon getting wasted, shouting, and destroying the toilets at the pool. It was actually an insult to face them while trying to relax at the resort where we were paying around 1K a day to stay here.
4. There was a terrible smell coming from the sink in our bathroom and the room wasn't exactly up to spec. It could have been bigger, more modern and decorated better, it was also a bit cluttered and I was expecting more. In fairness, the staff did fix the sink issue, but it was off-putting that it occurred in the first place.
Overall - this is a great resort with great service, however it does have its downfalls. Definitely not a 5-star resort, but a solid 4-star.
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