Where in the world is Kat Kong?: September 2014

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Day 1 and 2 at the Conrad Maldives: beach villa, overwater spa, Atoll Market, snorkeling - March 28-29, 2014

Trip Index

Taupo, Waikite Thermal Pools, to Christchurch

Mt. Cook National Park

AJ Hackett Kawarau Bungy Jump, K-Jet boating, hanging out in Queenstown

Tranz Alpine train Greymouth to Christchurch, then to Singapore

***

Kaleb and I got off the seaplane and met Naoko, our resort host. She led us to a lightly air-conditioned lounge adjacent to the pier where we received a cold towel to wipe down our sweaty skin. The lounge and pier were located off the center of a long bridge connecting the resort's main island to a smaller second island. Naoko then led us towards the main island to the reception desk.

lounge

Naoko insisted on carrying my backpack!

While we sat down and waited for our room keys, freshly opened coconuts were served.

fresh coconut juice

Naoko led us to beach villa #206, our home for the next two nights. Based on comments posted on the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island thread on Flyertalk, I emailed the hotel directly to request a beach villa closer to the house reef for snorkeling. This villa wasn't the closest, but it was still a nice location across from the diving center and was pretty quiet.

What a beautiful accommodation with lots of space! (perhaps a bit too much wasted space...) Naoko showed us around inside before departing. Our luggage arrived shortly afterwards. Remember I booked a massage for this afternoon earlier in the seaplane lounge? It had taken longer than expected to arrive to the island so I called the spa and asked to move it an hour later so we could unpack, which was not a problem.

king size platform bed

fruit and champagne...part of Gold member benefits

sink toiletries; shampoo/conditioner was outside

sink soap

Nespresso machine

complimentary coffee and tea

zen-like courtyard

shower at right; steps to outside tub

Grand tour of the beach villa as narrated by Kaleb (2:39): (click here if you cannot see the preview below)

It was time for my massage at the Over-Water Spa, located on the small island. Instead of walking across the long bridge, we took the dhoni transfer which sailed back and forth between the islands during the day. Another option to hop between the islands was catching a ride with staff on a golf cart.

here comes the dhoni

people and carts on the bridge

Kaleb walked with me to the spa, then left to explore the little island. I checked in with the receptionist and was given a robe to change into. (no slippers...everyone at the spa was barefoot, including the employees!) The spa had two individual bathrooms to change in, no locker room. There were two spas in the resort, this one and a larger one on the main island. I selected the Over-Water Spa so that during my massage, I could look down through the floor to watch fish swimming!

welcome drink and cold towel

sitting in the "waiting room"

heading out to the treatment room

looking down the head rest through the floor

After my treatment, I sat in the relaxation room enjoying hot tea and treats while gazing out onto the tranquil azure ocean as the sun was setting. This was a great start to enjoying paradise!

very relaxed

ahhhhhh

tea and cookies

large jacuzzi off the deck (I didn't have my swimsuit though)

standing on the deck; water villas nearby

sunset in paradise

For dinner tonight, we rehydrated a freeze-dried backpacker meal, ate from the fruit basket, and enjoyed the bottle of bubbly. It was really fun to use the outdoor shower. I didn't consider using the outdoor bathtub because it would take 40 minutes to fill up and to me, seemed like a huge waste.

Saturday morning, we went to Atoll Market restaurant for a buffet breakfast. Daily breakfast is complimentary for Hilton HHonors Gold and Diamond members. I got Gold status from having the Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve card...the annual fee is $95 but it more than paid for itself during this stay.

The restaurant was open-air with a sandy floor. Food selection was decent, with Western favorites such as bacon, sausage and eggs, Eastern and island specialties like congee, sushi, and curry, and a nice selection of delectable baked goods and fresh fruit. There was a chef station where you could order omelettes and fried eggs.

dig your toes in the sand

some hot foods

fresh honeycomb

sushi and cold cuts

pastries

flaky goodness

fresh fruit

one of my many plates

After breakfast, we stopped by the diving center to pick up some fins for snorkeling (we brought our own mask and snorkel) as well as signing up for a diving trip the next day. We had to do a mandatory orientation dive in the resort lagoon so we scheduled it for this afternoon.

It was a very short stroll from our villa to the part of the beach where the resort cleared a pathway through the coral in the shallow waters to reach the house reef. There were lots of fish to see.

28-second clip of snorkeling: (click here if you cannot see the preview below)

Afterwards, we relaxed for a bit on lounge chairs under a palapa before heading to the diving center for our orientation dive. We were fitted with a short wet suit, buoyancy control device (BCD), weights and regulator; we already had our mask, snorkel and fins. The instructor asked if we were okay to walk a short distance to the lagoon with our equipment and tank on...no problem! It was a bit heavy for me but nothing more than when I went on my open water dives during training. If it was a problem, someone would have carried the equipment over to the water's edge.

We walked into the lagoon until we could be fully underwater kneeling down, then following the instructor's lead, Kaleb and I showed that we were capable of clearing our mask as well as recover our regulator. Then we dove around the lagoon for another ten minutes. The water was warm, which Kaleb and I enjoyed very much since he had previously dived in cold quarries and I had completed open water training in a 48 degree lake.

lagoon

"George" the heron skulking around

It rained cats and dogs for the rest of the day so we stayed in the beach villa and read our Kindles on the patio. When the rain stopped, it became paradise once again.

For dinner, we had instant noodles and the rest of the fruit in our basket. The big breakfast that we had in the morning was enough to carry us through the day, plus we had snacks in the room. There was an afternoon tea complimentary for all guests served in Mandhoo restaurant on the main island from 4-5pm, but throughout our stay, we never had time to go as we were always busy. I had heard that it used to be substantial, with sandwiches and pastries, but due to past guests hoarding the food (no doubt fueled by the high prices of food in the restaurants), the offering had been paired down to a small assortment of cookies, so we didn't miss much. There also was a free happy hour from 5-6pm in Vilu restaurant for guests on the smaller island as well as Hilton HHonors Gold and Diamond members; we made it there a few times, to be discussed in a later post.

Tomorrow, we move to the water villa on the smaller island and head out diving with manta rays...stay tuned!

***

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Previous post: From Singapore to Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Thursday, September 18, 2014

From Singapore to Conrad Maldives Rangali Island - March 28, 2014

Trip Index

Taupo, Waikite Thermal Pools, to Christchurch

Mt. Cook National Park

AJ Hackett Kawarau Bungy Jump, K-Jet boating, hanging out in Queenstown

Tranz Alpine train Greymouth to Christchurch, then to Singapore

***

Friday morning, we got up early, checked out of the Sheraton Towers Singapore, and took a (quick, no traffic) taxi back to Changi airport for our 10:05am non-stop business class flight from Singapore to Male, Maldives. (SQ462) This part of the flight itinerary (as well as the return from Male to Singapore) was not included on our original United Airlines award itinerary as we had too many segments. I transferred American Express Membership Rewards points to miles in my KrisFlyer account (took a few days to post) and used Singapore Airlines' website to book the award flights and saved 15% on redeemed miles. Be sure to calculate the exact number of miles you'll need for Singapore award flights before you transfer points! I forgot about the 15% savings and had those extra miles sitting in my account after booking. Fortunately, I had only booked one-way from Singapore to Male, so the overage was taken into account when I later transferred the correct number of points to book the Male to Singapore flight. I didn't book both at the same time as I didn't have enough points to secure business class on the return flight. I ended up booking economy for the return, still not enough points for business by the time I felt nervous about the flight getting full. Economy class on Singapore is pretty much first class compared to US domestic flights!

Since we were flying in business class, we had access to the SilverKris Lounge at the airport. As expected, there was a lot of food selection! I couldn't take pictures of the buffet since there were a lot of people milling about.

congee with all the fixings

dim sum, curry, fried carrot cake and noodles

perfectly cut ripe fruit including my favorite - papaya!

Our plane was fitted with a recliner-style business class seat. Since the flight was only four hours long, there was no need for lie-flat seating.

business class cabin

personal entertainment system and drawers for storage

A cool feature of business class and higher on Singapore Airlines (which unfortunately wasn't offered on last night's Christchurch to Singapore flight) is that you can pre-select your entree using their Book the Cook (BTC) service. Instead of picking from the in-flight menu, you have a choice of specially designed entrees such as lobster thermidor or Indian lamb shank. BTC entrees must selected at least 24 hours before departure. I logged into my KrisFlyer account and went to our reservation to locate the option to BTC. Since Kaleb didn't care what he ate, I picked the ones I wanted to try - lobster thermidor and grilled Chilean sea bass. The in-flight entree selection wasn't bad, but it's not often you get to enjoy lobster and Chilean sea bass at 33,000 feet. If you end up wanting a regular entree versus your BTC choice, there is no problem to switch. So it doesn't hurt you to make a BTC selection if offered, just in case you don't like anything on the in-flight menu.

lunch menu

apple spritzer

classic satay

prawn Caesar salad

lobster thermidor

grilled Chilean sea bass (skin on!)

strawberry ice cream

strawberry mousse cake

Compared to the flights we had been on the past month, four hours went by in a blink of an eye, especially being served a multi-course meal. We landed in Male; it was hot and humid as we made our way out of the aircraft and down the portable stairway.

as you can('t) see, air-conditioned camera and humidity do not mix

We claimed our luggage and went through immigration smoothly, including having our bags x-rayed for contraband. The Maldives is an Islamic country so items like alcohol, pornography and pork products are prohibited. In case you're wondering how Maldivian resorts can cater to tourists: they have special licenses to serve alcohol and pork so guests can get their bacon and drink on. Remember that we were carrying freeze-dried backpacker food and instant noodles to save money on meals in the Maldives? The x-ray inspectors didn't seem to care. We did make sure that none of the food contained pork.

This wasn't the end of our journey...we still had a seaplane to catch. We found the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island resort booth and checked in with the friendly agent there (Samaah). He directed us and a few other guests to be seated while he arranged details with Trans Maldivian Airways. The seaplane reservations were handled via email ahead of time through the Conrad Maldives. The 30-minute flight to the resort was not included in the room rates - it cost $540 per adult roundtrip, to be charged to our folio. Children under 12 half-price and infants under 2 free. You can't get there any other way for less...an unavoidable cost to reach paradise in the middle of nowhere. Note that if you arrive in Male close to sunset when the seaplanes stop service, you either have to stay overnight (at your own expense) and take the flight in the morning, or if you arrive in time to catch a night-time 17-minute domestic flight to Maamigili Island, you can ride a speedboat 20 minutes to the Conrad.

try to find your resort amongst all these booths

Trans Maldivian counter

We were then led to a white mini-van branded with the Conrad logo to take us to the seaplane terminal, not far from the airport. The air conditioning worked very well inside the vehicle. We had about an hour to kill before our flight; use of Conrad's lounge in the terminal was complimentary for arriving guests. The furniture was comfortable, wi-fi was included as well as snacks, non-alcoholic drinks and even a free 15-minute chair massage! Of course the free treatment was to entice guests to make reservations for the spa; a 20% discount was offered if you booked right then. Since we were already treating ourselves to this wonderful resort, I made an appointment for a Swedish massage later that afternoon. The price was actually less than what it would cost in a luxury spa in Las Vegas.

Male, a mish-mash of buildings on pancake-flat land

Male airport from a distance

inside the Conrad lounge

the best seats in the house across from the windows

view outside

sea planes lined up

snacks; drinks below

desserts

fresh fruit and salad

spa massage area

Our seven night stay at the Conrad was booked using a mixture of free night certificates from Hilton credit card sign-up and Hilton HHonors points. Since the points weren't free (I bought them at a discount), everything added up to around $262/night, which wasn't bad at all as the best available rate during the time we went was around $1200/night for a beach villa! I talk about how I obtained these points in "Planning and preparing for our epic vacation to New Zealand and the Maldives" so I won't go into those details. I didn't mention there, however, that I paid to upgrade the last 5 nights of our stay from a beach villa (the only villa type available to book using points) to an over-water villa. Following the advice given on the Conrad Maldives Flyertalk thread, I emailed the hotel manager back and forth, but there was no bargaining down the upgrade fee of $392/night (plus 10% service charge and 8% tax). Since the water villa was going for about $1500/night, the total price I would be paying was 60% less than this, so I went for it as I considered it "once-in-a-lifetime". (though not even a honeymoon or milestone anniversary!)

The check-in formalities were handled while we were waiting in the lounge. I was given a clipboard with the forms I needed to fill out, then I provided a credit card (Hilton card of course, for the bonus points) for pre-authorization of charges equaling the cost of everything the hotel expected us to consume, ie. upgrade fee, seaplane, plus some buffer for meals and activities, which ended up being very close to what we spent at the end of the trip...how did they know???

We also got our boarding passes for the seaplane.

boarding pass

the wi-fi password is affixed in strange places

Our seaplane was ready to go, and we were led out from the lounge to the dock. I thought we would be flying one of the bright blue-and-yellow painted planes, but we were assigned to a red-and-green one.

is that our plane?

maybe it's this Conrad one?

nope...it's this one

It was a tight fit in the 19-passenger plane, even though it wasn't full to capacity. There was no air conditioning, just a fan moving humid air around. We were given earplugs to block the noise from the engines...didn't help. We landed at another resort first to drop off a couple of passengers, then continued on to the Conrad. It was the first time we had ridden a seaplane, so it was a thrill to take off and land on water. The two pilots were barefoot!