Maldives honeymoon anyone? - Best way to book?

To be honest I went to the Maldives with Kuoni, it wasn't cheap but it was awesome, you could step out of our room straight onto the beach and it was quiet and peaceful, I think the prices vary by islands, I know some other people stayed on a cheaper island, and we met them diving so regardless of where you stay you can fly to whether you want to go for activities etc. The bottom line is the cheaper islands are more congested and less private-feeling, so there's the trade off.

Thank you for the advice.

My friend who always researches for her holidays was quoted £8000 for a holiday by Kuoni - she booked elsewhere and got exactly the same flights, accommodation and board basis for £5500. I am a little reluctant because of a few reports like this and I have found the same islands over a £1300 cheaper.

Do you think £5k is a realistic budget for a nice island for 10days/two weeks?

xx

I really reccommend Reethi Beach Resort. If you go on B&B basis (more options for evening food this way, and costs all end up being about the same most experience) it would come in within your budget. Bookable through Hayes & Jarvis.

Not sure where else you could get for less than 5K - but Reethi is very highly reviewed / suggested on Trip Advisor forums by many Maldives holiday makers.

Travel Designers are worth talking to - they are a rep for Kuoni. Our honeymoon to Maldives would have been 1K more through Kuoni than it has been with Travel Designers.

Generally booking independently works out cheaper although I believe the Maldives is the exception to that rule (as I found while doing research and my lonely planet guide for the Maldives also agrees with this.

Hayes and Jarvis offer pretty much the same as Kuoni but usually cheaper,

We went to Sri Lanka & Kuramathi with Kuoni, but booked it with Blue Bay Travel and it was £500 cheaper than booking with Kuoni directly. We paid £4.5k in 2011 for 7 nights on tour in Sri Lanka and 7 nights in a beach villa in Kuramathi.

We've been twice, once last year for honeymoon, and once this year with airmiles accumulated from wedding.

Last year we stayed in Arthuruga. This year we went Kuramathi

I would recommend Kuramthi for the food - amazing. We upgraded to select all inclusive which meant we could eat at any of the island restaurants. The bbq one and international one was fantastic. The Indian one was also really good. Look at the reviews on trip adviser - all really good for food (although the Thai and Italian ones were quite mediocre - I'm a food snob)

Arthuruga we booked through Kuoni, this year we booked Kuramathi through Travel Designers. We booked just the holiday as booked the flight separately with airmiles.

Mrs C - I came back from Kuramathi a couple of weeks ago. I loved it - wondering around the island at night, under the stars, with a torch through all the palm trees was amazing. Did you like it? And they've opened this gorgeous new international restaurant there as well.

We're also planning to have a Maldives honeymoon! Should be coz we've saved up for 2 years for this, lol! And who would say no to these? "Blue Bayou's Get Ready for a Sultry Maldives Honeymoon".

We are leaning towards the Paradise Island Resort and Spa as it's cheaper compared to the other luxury resorts, but still carries that elegant style while being located in an amazing atoll.

We've booked our honeymoon to Sri lanka and the maldives with kuoni. I did lots of research beforehand and didn't find the other companies to be particularly cheaper than kuoni. Some were maybe £300-£500 cheaper but, I dont mean this in a dismissive way, in the grand scheme of how much the holiday costs, that's not a big saving.

kuoni had lots of extras thrown in which made up for this, such as half board in the hotels in Sri Lanka & lots of little touches like wine or fruit in the rooms. In the maldives we've got an all inclusive Island and we get a free mini bar in the room, dinner on the beach and a boat trip all thrown in. Plus with kuoni, if you're asking for contributions to your honeymoon you can set up a gift list with them.

Other companies we spoke to were trailfinders (went ion another holiday with them last year but they lacked the finess when it came to honeymoon options & wasn't impressed with what they offered). Hayes and Jarvis had a good selection of maldives destinations but not many were all inclusive, so you might end up spending more on food and drinks.

I'm not aware of any other big holiday companies, maybe try some independent ones in your area?

I'm not sure I would dare book it myself due to it being so special and the location. You're reliant on the hotel transporting you to the Island so if the boat/sea plane doesn't turn up, it wouldn't be easy to get there yourself, or if something else goes wrong you wouldn't have a travel company to offer assistance. I'm not sure if take the risk of not going through a travel company on this occasion. However, maybe try looking on the Internet if anyone else has done it independently x

Just realised how old this post is, duh! Would be interested to hear who they booked with in the end x

Hi Summer87,

We are doing the Kuoni Sri Lanka/Maldives trip in a months time.

Wondered if you had any advice? We are travelling for 7 days in Sri Lanka and then off for a relax at Kuramathi.

Thanks