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

Trip Index

• Planning and preparing for our epic vacation to New Zealand and the Maldives
• Flying to New Zealand via Honolulu, visiting Auckland and Devonport
• Waitomo Caves and Tongariro Alpine Crossing
• Taupo, Waikite Thermal Pools, to Christchurch
• Mt. Cook National Park
• AJ Hackett Kawarau Bungy Jump, K-Jet boating, hanging out in Queenstown
• Day 1 of Routeburn Track 3-day luxury guided walk
• Day 2 of Routeburn Track 3-day luxury guided walk
• Day 3 of Routeburn Track 3-day luxury guided walk
• Arrowtown, Wanaka, Mount Roy Track
• Franz Josef Glacier
• Tranz Alpine train Greymouth to Christchurch, then to Singapore
• From Singapore to Conrad Maldives Rangali Island
• Day 1 and 2 at the Conrad Maldives: beach villa, overwater spa, Atoll Market, snorkeling
• Day 3 at the Conrad Maldives: water villa, diving with manta rays, meeting new friends
• Day 4 and 5 at the Conrad Maldives: Vilu, Sunset Grill, reef diving
• Day 6 and 7 at the Conrad Maldives: whale sharks, Ithaa, snorkeling
• Returning from the Maldives via Singapore
• 10 hour layover in Seoul and landing safely in SFO

***

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!

what cockpit door?

no need to translate

48-second video of our take-off: (click here if you cannot see the preview below)

just outside Male

a lone resort full of over-water villas on one of the many atolls in the Maldives

As the seaplane landed and taxied to the Conrad pier, cheerful resort hosts awaited, welcoming and waving at the new arrivals!  "Ze plane, Ze plane!"

We've arrived!  This was the start to a magical seven night stay...stay tuned!

***

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