OBLU XPERIENCE Ailafushi

My wife and I spent two weeks recently at the Oblu Xperience resort for our honeymoon and we had the best time. The staff were all so friendly and the rooms were modern spotless, cleaned daily by very hard working staff. We would like to mention Abu, he really made our holiday, helping us when we needed it and such a kind, lovely guy a real asset to the resort. Beaches and views were stunning and the Oblu underwater restaurant is an absolute must, wow what an experience. Plenty of water sports and excursions to choose from and we really enjoyed the bait fishing trip, my wife caught two beautiful fish to my zero lol. The sea life is in abundance and we saw so many sharks, sting rays so many different fish species around our reef, such a magical experience. The food was excellent with plenty to choose from, I particular loved the fish dishes and not one bone found in any of my dishes which is phenomenal filleting from the chefs and wow the puddings. We had professional photos done on resort and we were so happy with the results and highly recommend this. The photographer Ibrahim done an exceptional job and the quality of his work was superb, and a really nice man. The romantic dinner for two was just so magical, having our own waiter, and the 5 courses served with excellent wine is a must. Our waiter Sohan done a grand job. Compliments to the many chefs wow they can really cook to perfection. We also really enjoyed the nightlife and lively DJ, with excellent cocktails. We had the best honeymoon ever and highly recommend this resort and such a slick operation from arrival to end, compliments to all the staff and management and we would certainly love to go back again someday. Read less

We have spent nearly 2 weeks here and had a wonderful time. We have stayed in a beach bungalow which we would thoroughly recommend. The food has been very good and the staff wonderful. We thought long and hard about going to the underwater restaurant which is quite expensive but so very glad we did it was a delightful experience and would definitely recommend. Our servers Mery & Jacquey were excellent. Read less

The holiday was absolutely stunning. The beach was cleaned every day All the staff was polite and always spoke. Lot's of fish to see if you like snorkeling. We even saw a small shark everyday. Now the bits that wasn't so good I asked for a ground floor room and this request was not auctioned. My partner has mobility issues and we had to climb 2 lot's of steps every time we went to the room and had a 5 to 10 minute walk to the restaurant everyday as the buggies were never about when we needed them. This was a hot grawling walk in the heat. The bed was uncomfortable but the room was nice and always clean. The food was hit and miss but we never went hungry. Read less

We chose this resort for our honeymoon, neither of us having ever visited The Maldives before, and we were not disappointed. Having read various reviews, we opted for a water villa and specifically requested a west facing one by emailing the resort a couple of months before we arrived, so that we could enjoy the Maldivian sunsets. The west facing villas are all numbered in the 600s. We were very lucky to be given Villa 641 which opened out onto a particularly sandy bottomed part of the lagoon - some of the others had a lot of rocks on the ocean floor. It was also a good distance away from the bar area, so we were never impacted by the noise of loud music etc. The water is quite deep outside the water villas (at least 6ft), so not great for people who aren’t confident swimmers but life jackets are provided and there were plenty of other people making use of them quite happily in the lagoon. We travelled here with Virgin Atlantic, and their policy is not to accept bookings to the water villas if you are bringing children younger than 12. However, lots of other tourists did have younger children staying in the water villas with them - not sure it was worth the money for them as we didn’t see any making use of the access via the steep steps down into the ocean. The life jackets provided were all adult sized and it wouldn’t be suitable to use inflatables in the lagoon. My husband is a keen snorkeller and there was plenty of marine life to see whilst we were here, without needing to pay for snorkelling excursions. There were plenty of snorkelling experiences on offer, including one with Manta Rays ($250 pp for 3 hours) and another with Whale Sharks ($500 pp for a full day) as well as some less pricey options but all were non-refundable, with no guarantee of seeing the specific creatures you were hoping for. We were lucky to see rays, sharks and all sorts of exotic fish in the immediate vicinity of our villa. Snorkelling equipment is available to buy in the resort shop but it is very expensive - we were pleased we brought our own with us. One experience which we did opt for was dinner in the underwater restaurant. We booked it via the app before we arrived, but have since found out that once you arrive, you may be offered a small discount via the app. There was no problem getting a table, but I would advise opting for an early sitting in the evening as you choose which table you would like on arrival, and the tables on the outer perimeter definitely gave a better view of the marine life. Children under 13 aren’t permitted in this restaurant in the evening, which is why we chose dinner rather than lunch, when they are allowed. The food we had was amazing - not a lot of choice for vegetarians, however. Service was brilliant - staff were very attentive and really couldn’t do enough for us. Mery and Shani served us for the majority of the evening and they helped make the whole experience very enjoyable indeed. The underwater restaurant is not cheap - the cost is $125 pp plus tax and if you have a bottle of wine (cheapest is $45) , the cost soon mounts up. All in all, we paid $390 including wine and tax, but as it was our honeymoon, we were prepared to pay that. The rest of our meals were included in the ‘Fushi plan’ which is all inclusive, and were at the main restaurant ‘Element X’. We thought the overall standard of food was really good, with loads of variety and plenty of options for vegetarians. All of the staff here work really hard and were so helpful. Wherever we went in the resort, we were greeted with a smile and a cheery ‘hello’, from the reception staff to the bar staff and room cleaners. We felt so welcome. The room cleaners did a fabulous job each day and they were always so polite and helpful. In particular, Mohamed and Sajan did a great job. All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here and felt that, for us, it was a great introduction to the beautiful Maldives. Read less