Maldives - 2019. Review on Flynote

Maldives – 2019

Our journey with Flynote started in Mid june when we were connecting with online portals for getting us to our Honeymoon in December. We had ample amount of time to decide on the destination so we took almost a month for deciding and evaluating places.

Maldives became our destination as it was budget friendly and super pretty. That is when I had a word with Digvijay on a phone call and I was already convinced for opting Flynote. Flynote gave us options like paying in the full amount in EMI with no interest and gave great deals.

Digvijay gave us the perfect itenary and around 15 options of the islands and the services. We made a Whatsapp group so the communication between Digvijay, me and my fiancé was easy. He was helpful in giving out every detail making us understand the cool things of each island and giving all the options which fitted our budget and lifestyle. We both are working so the only time we could connect with Digvijay was the odd after office hours but not for any instance we felt that we have burdened him.

After a lot of packages and deals offered by Digvijay we went ahead with Adaaran Hudranfushi. The package did not include flight tickets. We booked our Indigo flight in Mid July for Rs. 39000. Our All inclusive package was Rs. 2 lakhs including flight.

All inclusive package means - food, stay and booze.

Food includes- Veg and non veg – Break fast lunch Dinner and Midtime snacks.

Stay included – Ocean villa 2 nights and Beach Villa 2 nights.

Alcohol Included – Cocktails, Hard drinks and Mocktails.

The Trip –

Our Flight was on 7th of December 2019 at 10 am and we reached at our destination Male Airport at around 12 pm. The 2 hours journey was bit extended due to delay in our flight. As we both are foodies we were already cribbing about our Hunger.

We got our luggage and moved to the counter where Jeff was sitting. Flynote has a counter on the airport to receive us. Though he was not standing with a placard waiting for us we strolled to the counter. He was busy with his phone and pointed out to a counter where we will get our snorkeling kit with a deposit of 40 dollars. The 40 dollar was refundable but we weren’t alerted about this beforehand, also we were not happy with Jeff person that much. He did not match with the happy picture shared to us by digvijay.

As we were happy to be on our Honeymoon we ignored. Later he pointed out at the Adaaran counter where we found the resort attendants helpful and kind. The package included the to and fro to the island via a speed boat for which a minimum waiting time is 30 mins. The speed boat has around 20 seats to accommodate people. We sat at the rear end. It takes around 30 mins to reach the resort. As we reached a cheerful lady greeted us, handed us hand towels and we jotted down to the reception area from the jetty.

The view was mesmerizing and the water was clear blue. At the reception we were told about the island. There are in total 5 restaurants in the property. We were late for lunch but the Beach Grill restaurant is open 10 am to 10 pm so we locked down our 1st destination in the property.

Beach Villa -

Our beach Villa had a mini bar which is complimentary. It had 4 beer cans of Carlsberg, Juices of Tropicana and 2 Kitkats. It had a bathroom with a shower cubical and open bath area with sand around it.

Our luggage had reached the Beach villa we happily strolled down from Reception to our Room 167 which was bang opposite to Beach grill Restaurant.

We were sad that we are on our honeymoon and require some privacy and our room will be opposite to a crowded restaurant but then to not spoil our mood overcame with a feeling of booze all day at a short distance.

The bathroom flush button was broken and the sand surrounded bath area was stinking of bat pee. We called in the reception and they cleared it for us.

The privacy and bathroom thing was sad but nothing was of sort which can’t be sorted.

We went to the beach grill and had so much of satisfaction eating the burgers. It’s the best restaurant in the property.

For dinner we went to Banyan restaurant. We had a personal attendant for getting the drinks there and reserved table. The place does not have any view so we were okay sitting anywhere. The food was okay and bit bland, it had an Indian counter too but we were interested more in the cuisine they offer as a specialty.

What Flynote didn’t cover but we couldn’t help but notice is that the other tables were specially decorated for honeymooners and ours was not. Again in high spirits we ignored that fact but would have loved something special.

Activities -

Also Digvijay had told that there is a free dive for the adventurous people for scuba diving and we are one of them. We went to the diving centre and got to know that the free diving is only for a minute. We got super sad after hearing that part as we were really looking forward to it.

To lift our moods we decided to pay the amount and do the diving. Its is 159 dollars per person and 123 dollars for photography. Total of around 440 dollars are required to do that. We tried the 1 minute which they do it just as a trial and decided to go for it.

Other excursions included by the property were Sunset and Dolphin. We also tried the non motorized activities – Canoe. It was super experience and we loved it.

For sunset we were late and thought it was better to watch from the beach grill with a beer than go in the boat and come back. The boat is also not pretty looking so dontt get the hopes high.

Dolphin excursion is actually called lucky dolphin because you are not always lucky to see them but we were lucky to see them jump out a bit of the water. We saw 3 of them swimming together. Loved that experience too.

Scuba diving was worth what we paid for. They take us for half hour training and then we go deep up to 12 mtrs to see the sea life. It’s a beautiful experience. My fiancé has a moustache so for nose mask to fit was lil bit tough and he had some trouble after coming out. But nothing that can make that experience scary for anyone. The instructor was super cool and clicked great pictures of us. Her name was Caren and she took care of both of us and we could depend on her completely so no doubts there.

After 2 days we were shifted to Ocean Villa. We got a bit delayed from moving out of the beach villa so we got a warning call from reception. They spare us for an hour and then they start charging 75 dollars per hour. Thankful we moved out in time.

We moved out at 1 pm and had our check in at ocean villa at 3pm so we went to Sunset Restaurant for food.

About Sunset Restaurant –

Staff not so friendly. Buffet is compact but bit better from the Banyan one. If you only go for beach villa stay and you want to have food at Sunset you have to pre book it a day before as it is only for Ocean Villa residents. The restaurant has a view as it’s surrounded by water so it’s most hyped one. The service here is slow. No one comes to ask you about the alcohol and if you tell them they come an hour later. There is no one assigned to your table to get the alcohol. So we practically hated it but just for the view we kept going.

In the evening for dinner the sharks come around and you can enjoy food by feeding them a bit too.

About Ocean Villa -

Ocean Villa is a super place to stay. The bathroom area takes you down to the water. This property does not have swimming pool to the villa but has steps leading to the water. You will mesmerized by the view and you can actually see the fishes. There are lots of weeds as you get down into the water so no one was actually in the water. We tried to go but couldn’t get too far.

The Ocean villa had nothing special for us as honeymooners. No décor no cake. They gave a bottle of wine and the same mini bar items a coffee machine and fruit plate which included only bananas.

The walk from the reception to the Ocean Villa is long but very pretty. It has a buggy car service 3 times for breakfast lunch and dinner and for other times you can call it from the reception.

From our villa we could see the another property too so the view was not that clear but yes its pretty. We were staying on Sunrise side of the ocean villas.

Other than this we did not spend much on tipping anyone as we were not taking so much of help from anyone. Also all inclusive trip helped us.

The property is not so big we could cover it in half a day.

The crowd keeps it to themselves and we did not feel over crowded at anypoint.

We got the privacy required.

Everyday there is a DJ playing at the jetty side restaurant and at the reception live band sings.

There is spa located too which we did not like personally. They gave a free massage which felt like nothing at all so do not spend on it. But we love Balinese dance performance they did.

We had to leave early due to flight timings getting proponed so our Butler Chalaya and the receptionist Saba made sure we leave on time. We reached the airport and did not find Jeff waiting for us to take the snorkeling kit back. We tried to reach Digvijay and Jeff but were unable so we left. We got the money back but would have liked if the Flynote people would have been present at such hours.

We were impressed by both of them as their nature was kind.

In all we loved the trip. Whatever lacked was covered up by the mesmerizing views. I am okay with flynote and not completely unsatisfied. I am surely planning to do another one with them just because Digvijay has helped us in all the ways.

Thank you.