Tour #22 here we come. This year’s lineup is…
- JEN Maldives
- Sun Siyam Olhuveli
- Siyam World
- Joy Island
First ever transfer through Doha on Qatar Airways as it had the best timings and the cheapest far by a considerable margin.
- Departure – Qatar Airways seems to continue to be a laggard in computer systems. In 2020, I had tried to book Qatar for our annual Maldives tour, but the online booking experience (and subsequent human support) was about the worst I had ever experienced (and BA sets a pretty low bar in this regard). Online check-in didn’t work, the airport kiosks didn’t work. The result was an over 1-hour queue to check in making it a rush to even make the flight (see photo below).
- Doha Transfer – We had a significant 4-hour layover, but I remember Hamad Airport from a previous business trip to Doho. It is massive and modern packed with 24-hour amenities. I looked online and there were lots of lounges, spas and sleeping facilities so I figured it would work nicely to break up the long flight, stretch our legs and even get a bit of reclined kip. As it turns out, such relaxation is much harder to sort out than meets the eye:
- Sleep & Fly – The first option was to try to this sleeping pods facility, but they want $125 per person for a single bed (or $220 for a double, but they weren’t available). A bit of a pricey nap. The website quotes a $45 entry, but that is not for the beds and isn’t even available until after 8:00 am.
- Oryx Lounges – The airport has a number of premium lounges for those with premium credit cards or travelling business/first class, but the pay-per-use lounge, Oryx, charges a more affordable $75. Unfortunately, you don’t get much for that. Refreshments, yes, but we were looking for a place to relax and the few lounger chairs were taken in their “Quiet Space” and frankly most of the lounge was packed as well
- Be Relax – This spa service offers reclining massage chairs ($35 for 30 minutes) and table massages ($60 for 30 minutes). We did both and found it the sweet spot for us in terms of price and a the bout of relaxation that we were looking for.
- Public Lounge Chairs – Despite the main information desk telling us that there were no lounge chairs in the public areas, we found several places where they were readily available:
- Main concourse by the Sony shop
- Quiet Spaces set up in the various concourses (though they are segregated into men and women).
- · Flights – The food was okay, but the “Comfort+” seats, which we available for a modest charge of $75 (comparable to a extra legroom seats in most airlines) were essentially “Premium Economy” with both the extra legroom and a very commodious and comfy seat.
We arrived at Male airport in the same building we arrived at on our first trip 27 years ago (though it had a number of modest enhancements), but it is likely to be our last time through it as the sparkling new modern termial is due to open in a few days. Another “end of an era” milestone in the evolution of the Maldives tourism industry we hve had the privilege of a front-row seat to witness over 3 decades (a drill down on this history to come later this month).
A joy to be back “home” in paradise tinged only by the frustrating news that O2 doesn’t roam in the Maldives any more (so you need to purchase a local sim). Fortunately, there is a big desk right new the arrivals area for “Tourist SIMs” by the largest telecom provider in the Maldives so it is pretty convenient to get one if you want (see photo at bottom). All the resorts have very good wifi so we just passed on the bother and extra expense as the only time we would use it is if we were off the resort on an excursion or transfer (in which case, we are happy to be digitally disconnected).
