Riu atoll Maldives - Dhaalu Atoll Maldives

 


So we had landed in Male eager to get to our  final destination not really knowing what that entailed.

The Riu rep tags our bags with 1805 - which we later find out is our room at the resort, takes our bags and us for a short walk out of the terminal, as it's fairly chaotic as you exit the terminal. After a short while he tells us to keep walking to the end of the airport, this takes you past the new departures and out to the old domestic departures/ arrivals building.

We are met by another Riu rep, who walks us still further and upstairs to a lounge of sorts where we are offered a free drink ( and food if we want it - we don't) whilst the riu rep explains the flight should be ready in about 45 mins to an hour. The room is very basic but away from the hustle and bustle, it looks out over the sea and boats taking people to islands close by. 



Apparently your onward passage isn't guaranteed immediately, as we converse with a couple who came in two hours earlier and they couldn't get them on the internal flight as it was full 

After about an hour the same rep comes back and tells us that our flight is ready, there is about 10 of us, and we cross the road to an area where there are about 6 or 7 check desks with  people queuing to get on the Manta Air flight



We wait at the front of the queue whilst the check in person seems very confused and constantly on his phone for around 20 minutes, before he even starts the process of checking us in. Tickets issued and we head through a small security point and wait another 29 mins in a small basic lounge to board our domestic flight to Kudahuvadhoo.


Another short bus ride across the tarmac and were boarding the ATR72 - 600 propeller driven domestic flight



 As we fly for the 45 minute flight the sun starts starts to go down, we are offered a drink , a kit kat and rather strangely an apple !

We ( the original 10 of us ) land in darkness into the small airport , and wait for our luggage, 10 minutes later we are  met by another Riu rep, the luggage is put into a van and we are loaded into a small mini bus and taken on a short ride to a Jetty where we get on a speedboat - the luggage arrives a few minutes behind us and is loaded onto the boat.



There's not much to see apart from the  occasional light from other boats, 20 minutes later we are docking into a landing jetty and reception of the Riu Atoll, there are two sides to the island resort one being the Riu atoll where we are staying, and the other being the Riu palace, connected by a walkway over the sea.




The check in is quick and smooth and our bags are whisked away to the room, we are given a quick run down of where everything is, then we are left to walk the short distance  ( 6 minutes 30 according to the signs) to our room , villa complex 18 ( 10 rooms ) room 1805 ground floor beach front .


We dump our bags and head back to the restaurant for some food and a cold beer , loads of choice and good quality. We're both feeling it now as it's been along day travelling, so the quick walk back to the room sees us bed down for the night - sleep comes quickly !! 





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LHR to MLE ( Maldives ) Jan26

Image
 Our Journey starts mid afternoon on a cold January Sunday, leaving home and arriving after around 45minute journey on the M25 , we had booked Pod Parking as it so much easier and had a good deal , we would have arrived in the 5 minute journey, if it wasn't for me leaving my phone in the car, so back to pod parking and return after retrieving my phone !! Today we're flying business class LHR (19.20hrs) to Male and onto our destination island in the Maldives, with a short stop in Doha. We checked in at the first class check in area, as I hate doing the self serve bag drop, the check in lady was as ever really friendly and efficient as you would expect, then through fast track security which is undergoing a bit of a change at LHR but still really fast and efficient. The gate is not shown yet, so we go to the north club lounge - it's busy, but the food and drink is still on lunch/ tea menu so we fill up, as the meal on board would be another 4 hrs proba...
Read more

Maldives stay - 9 nights in January

Image
 So you'll have maybe read my other Blogs on getting to our Maldives holiday which was from 12th January, so here's an honest opinion of the hotel, staff food and amenities. We were staying at Riu Atoll, which we booked through BA holidays.  Riu Atoll The hotel (s) as there's two sides to the Atoll , guests at the smaller Palace side can go to either side, but guests at the Atoll side can only stay in their side - the Palace side is a lot more expensive but in my view doesn't give you that much extra, apart from private pools and a couple more restaurants, but as the food was a good quality anyway, not sure it 's worth the extra (opinion). The clientele was mostly older and couples, with the occasional young family, but there appeared to be a lot of angst with the families of young children as the activities were very limited for them ( there is a kids club area but it was very stark from what I saw) and basically the pool is the main feature for kids and you are st...
Read more

Edinburgh - Jan 26

Image
So after returning from +30 degrees in the Maldives, what better than to go to other extreme- a quick hop for a couple of days to Edinburgh. Sunday mid morning flight from LHR sees the Usual M25 slow traffic pleasingly missing and 45 mins we arrived to park in Pod parking T5 , a little bit more to park but so much more convenient - 5 minutes and you are in the terminal. Through fast track, and straight into the BA Lounge as the flight is going from gate A1.  I can't remember the last time we used the lounge at this end, It's packed and in my opinion not as nice as the other lounges, seating is quite stark, although the views over the runway are nice.   After the obligatory breakfast  ( not a particular fan of the BA sausages lately - they've obviously changed brand - they are bigger but not as tasty)  After awhile we make our way to gate A1 and are swiftly boarded, although the auto gates don't seem to want to recognise the wife's face - it's usually me with the...
Read more