My partner and I stayed at the Ranveli village resort in January, only a month after the tsunami that devastated a lot of the Indian Ocean and Far East coastal areas. I was expecting a complete disaster and considered pulling out, as the travel companies in the UK declared all travellers to these areas could be refunded or swap itineries. I felt guilty not going, as I felt the country needed all the help it could get after the disaster and could do without one of their main forms of revenue backing off.

Much to my surprise, despite my country's warning not to go and the press declaring the Maldives 'ruined', there was no sign of destruction or damage anywhere on this island - and it HAD been hit. The staff were very upset and concerned that they would lose their jobs as a result of people cancelling their holidays and this only made me happier that we had stuck to our plans.

Although this is a 'budget' resort do not let that put you off. It is excellent value for money and very beautiful. I had researched many islands before booking and this was one of the best value for money. Most of the budget islands have 200 rooms (too crowded for me) or only cold water for showering!!!(it's not THAT hot) This island is very quiet and secluded, just what I wanted in my Maldivian paradise island. However, if you like things lively or get bored easily, this resort is not for you.

I will go through the negatives first to get them out of the way and then concentrate on the positives.

NEGATIVE:

The island is a budget island. You pay for what you get, in all cases. I wanted to experience the Maldives without paying 4,000 pounds, and so paid approx 800pounds(sterling) each for 1 week full board (drinks not included). The rooms were basic and not very modern. Although not particularly relevant, above our large king size bed there was a striking, oil painting of a very aggressive looking, great white shark, bearing all his teeth.... romantic! It made us laugh anyway.

The neighbouring island has a large electrical mast (pile on) that is not overly attractive. I may be picky, but it slightly marred the 'castaway' feeling I craved. Don't get me wrong; it will not ruin your holiday by any means.

I know that one or two rooms had a problem with their air con, but ours was perfect the entire time and the hotel was very forthcoming with moving people if they so desired.

There is only 1 restaurant that serves all breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is also snack bar with sells alcoholic drinks and that is it. There is no entertainment except a disco a couple of nights a week. We were fine with this, as we just wanted to chill out, spend some time together and appreciate being there. Nightclubs and heavy drinking were not on our agenda for this holiday. If you get bored or restless easily, I suggest you go to a bigger, livelier resort.

There is a small shop that sells mostly shell-based objects and some overpriced sarongs and suntan lotion. If you want anything, I suggest you bring it with you, because you won't be able to buy anything worth having here.



POSITIVES:

The resort is budget, yes. But compared to many of the islands I researched it is brilliant in comparison. It does however; depend on what you are looking for in a resort. Most of the less expensive resorts I found had in excess of 100 rooms, which means 200 people on one island.... or more. Not my idea of 'Maldives paradise', but that's just me.

........................
This website lists each resort in the Maldives, takes you to their individual webpage and more importantly (from my point of view anyway) tells you how many people each island holds. (In brackets next to the name)[------------]
.......................

The grounds, although not plush like a 5* resort, are neat and well maintained. Watered daily and full of beautiful flowers and palm trees. The walkways are swept constantly.

The rooms, although basic and a little dated are clean and left neat everyday. Room service liked to leave flower petals on the bed, or make towels into swans etc. A nice touch. If you can, have one of the villas at the back, the same side as the pool. These rooms have the best sea view. The ones on the other side are on the main beach, but are further away from the sea and the views are concealed behind the palm trees.

There is no la Carte menu, not even a la carte standard but it is fine for a week and was varied every night. There was a buffet with salads, pasta, fish, chicken and other 'delights'. Nothing on offer looked suspicious or under/over cooked. It was just a bit basic. Fine for a week by all means, better than many other 'buffet' style resorts I've suffered.

The beach was lovely with perfect sand and crystal - I mean CRYSTAL! - clear, warm water. Like a postcard. You could see many fish without even snorkelling. I saw a banana fish (that was our waiter's name for a 3 foot long, thin yellow, tubular fish). A stingray. A baby shark. Shoals of fish and an eel. It really was beautiful.

If you don't like swimming in deep water, this is the resort for you, as it has both deep and shallow water surrounding it. On one side of the island the sea is very shallow for many meters, on the other side, the water drops away rather sharply and this provides great views when scuba diving (which the resort offers from a lovely, friendly, British man, who's name escapes me).

Compared to many other places, there were not many insects. I encountered only one cockroach - which I killed with a book. And no mosquitoes, although I generally don't ever get bitten. I didn't hear anyone else complain though, which is a good sign.

You can rent a sailing boat, kayaks, snorkel and scuba gear here. Water sports are really the only past time. It is mostly relaxing, sunbathing and swimming.

There is a small pool, which I didn't venture in as it was on the other side of the island (although it is only about 500m long!) but it looked nice and clean, although small.

The staff are very friendly and helpful. They always say hello and are genuinely interested in talking to you. When you arrive you are 'given' one member of staff. He stays with you and serves you the entire time (they get very concerned if you arrive to dinner and they are serving someone else, panic flashes in their eyes, bless). We built a genuine rapport with our waiter and learned they get paid approx 50pounds (sterling) a month. They work 11 months out of 12 and have 1 month off to see their families who live on other islands, and they have to pay for their airfare out of their wages. They send all their money home to their families. While we sleep in 'basic' accommodation, these men sleep in rooms of 3/4+ with no air con. They deserve all the thanks, smiles and spare money you have. We left 50 pounds as a tip. It was very generous and we have never before left such a tip, but although the money is by no means insignificant to us, it is an entire months wages for someone, who can send it home to his family. We didn't want to come across as 'flash' but really wanted to say thanks for all his undivided attention. I hope the tsunami did not affect any other hotels or it's staff too considerably.

Hotel website:
[--------------]
All in all this resort offered just what we were looking for. It was beautiful, clean and simple. I would recommend it, especially for the price, but only if you are happy with either your own company or whoever you're travelling with, as you will only be able to entertain yourselves (although there is scrabble in the bar!).

We flew out to Ranveli Village on Xmas Day evening for two weeks- a good time to fly from Gatwick as it was extremely quiet, just four flights going out that night, but not many facilities available as obviously all shut for Xmas Day. We booked through Portland and paid the extra to upgrade to premier class, only to find when we got to the check-in that we werent even listed on the flight, let alone in upgraded seats. This was amazing as Portland's rep had actually phoned us to offer us the upgrade and then didnt put us on the flight.

That aside, the flight was fine. We arrived at Male and were taken by minibus to the seaplane transfer, which was something of a shock as the brochure had said it was a boat transfer! However, this was an experience not to be missed and one that we will never forget. Seeing those tiny islands from the air is breathtaking and I remain captivated by those sights after five months! We were put down on a large floating platform with our luggage and collected by a dhoni that took us the last section of our journey by sea.

The first sighting of the island was indescribable. It was mind-blowing and left one completely speechless. It was exactly like one of the island picture-postcards that you always imagine really dont exist. We arrived on to the jetty and were taken into a lounge in the bar for a welcome drink and a quick chat by the island rep (who incidentally could do with smiling and being a little more friendly on occasion). After a short time we were taken to reception to be taken by the room boys to our room, which was functional but not superb. We have stayed in better rooms, but not in such lovely surroundings. Everything was there and was cleaned several times a day, and the view out to see was spectacular to say the least.

The meals were great and the choice not too repetitive. The house drinks were okay, but we were always being chased to sign for everything even though we were all inclusive, which was annoying to us and to all others we spoke to. The staff were not to blame so we just smiled politely, but it seemed like a very strange way to aggravate the guests. Surely there must be an easier way to distinguish the A/I guests??

The island was fantastic, the beaches beautiful, albeit a little short of shade. And the loungers were constantly left with towels on and nobody laying on them. One day a group of italians placed towels on 16 loungers and then went on a day-trip!!! Nobody did anything about it. Having stayed at a resort in Dom Rep where it was not permitteded to reserve loungers unless just popping for a meal or drink, I think this is something that the owners of Ranvelli should consider. The only other faults were that the check-out system was a nightmare, with people queuing for ages on their last night to settle bills as they would not let you pay for anything as you purchased it from the shops, bars etc. Also, I think that the kayaks/boats/ snorkels etc should be part of the A/I package but are also additional extras.

On the whole this was a fabulous island. Weather fantastic. Nice and quiet if you just want to chill and get away from it all. Beautiful reef and an enormous variety of fish etc to see every day. Watch out for the giant morays, they are a bit scary, especially if you swim into one by accident as I did under the jetty one morning! New Year was amazing, and we danced on the beach till the early hours. Would we return... probably not as we like to try different places, but definitely to the Maldives themselves. I would give it 9 out of 10 for living up to the brochure description, despite Portlands ineptitude with our booking!

Booked through Portland for £930 a week - all inclusive. Went from Manchester but they do not tell you that you have to stop at Gatwick for a couple of hours plus - and this makes it a very long day. Look in the Thomson brochure and see if you can find it, we could not ?
That aside I thought the whole holiday was a joy. The resort is tiny but beautifully kept. The food is superb and was to our taste. Really nice ambience in the restaurant and the waiters do it just about right - friendly, precise but not fawning. They worked for the tips but that did not seem to be their prime motive.
Favourites - Lovely pasta and innovative curries, breakfasts.

The weather was HOT over Easter. Did some time in the sun but used up the cream quickly as week got hotter. You do not need too many clothes and don't bother with shoes. They are brushing, brushing all day to make the place look sharp and tidy. There were quite a few Italians who were reserved but became more friendly as time passed.

We really enjoyed the turtles, Moray eels, reef sharks, rays and the fruit bats. Put that together with the fabulous snorkeling and it was a great, great holiday.
The beer was San Miguel and we enjoyed the relaxed bar areas.

I am sorry if this is an unoriginal report but I just wanted to recommend this direct package holiday since when I wanted to research there was not much on offer. If you have booked this you will not be disappointed. We went island hopping and felt that we were very lucky to be on Ranveli. The rooms were airy and clean and the air con worked well. Cleaned 2/3 times per day and he was very thorough. Excellent turn down presentation on last night.

One recommendation is to tip small and often from day one
Take your own snorkel gear.
Keep update on bar bill because mistakes are made.

Never been to the Maldives before and loved it, we travelled from the uk, took about 12 hours, then a short hop in a bus to the Maldivian Air Taxi Sea Plane transfer, about 12 of you get in the 60's twin otter sea plane, no air con, bit noisy, barefoot pilot, loved it, about 20 minutes of flying over the turquoise blue sea you arrive and are dropped off at a little raft, then promptly the dhoni boat comes and picks up up and takes you to Ranveli.
The rep and barman takes you to the bar area where you get a free non-alcoholic cocktail and a cold towel, which are very welcome whilst you fill out your hotel registration card.
A couple of maldivian porters will take your bags to your room, they have an army of staff to look after you, tip the porters a couple of bucks each, they all work a year on the island and get a month off and are not paid much.
You will sign for every drink and meal you have, even if you are all inclusive and then settle up at the end of the holiday, you can ask for a running total from reception as you go though which I found useful.
All Inclusive option covers non premium spirits and lager/wine and soft drinks, the premium brands are available just expect to pay for them, I found them reasonably priced though. Cocktails are the dearest, but make for a good photograph, they are $8 each.
The island is very small and you can walk round it in 10 minutes, beautiful as it is, if it is excitement, nightlife and shopping you want this probably is not the holdiday for you.
Internet access is available and is charged by the minute, other paying extras are the gymnasium and pool table.
There are a few trips out, the night fishing is popular, you go by dhoni to about 5 mins away in the indian ocean and fish using handlines, the boat crew will bait the hooks for you, it is $25 or free on AI, I would urge you to forget the fishing and go on top of the boat and watch the sun set and the stars come out, you get a great view with no white light polution like you get here. If you catch something the chef will cook it for you and bring it to your table.
Stuff I liked:
- Beach, great, watch out for the sun very hot, sand beautiful and white, everyone walks round without shoes, but the sand is made up of tiny coral bits so you may get cut a little, I would recommend some reef shoes certainly for in the water.
- They have a lovely safe shallow lagoon perfect for using a lilo, get in the lagoon at one end of the island and let the current take you to the other end, fab.
- Sneak a bread roll from the buffet and feed the fish at the end of the jetty, all colours all sizes.
- Food, pretty good, all buffet style, plenty of choice, always cooked well, breakfast the chef would do eggs and pancakes to order as well.
- Small friendly atmosphere, staff especially friendly.
- Nice clean pool to laze about next to.
- Tip your room cleaner a few bucks each day and you will come back to your bed covered in flower petals.
- Free use of the communal library, take a book with you and donate it to the library, all languages welcome.
- I don't dive or snorkel but was told it was very good, it was $495 for the full padi course, the resort has a dive shop and will take folks out daily on snorkel and dive trips, also catarmaran half an hour was $35.

Stuff I didn't like as much:

- Got a few mosquito bites, take some repellant.
- Entertainment wasn't up to much, maybe twice a week something would be organised, but in context you are miles away from anywhere so resources are limited.
- There are games in the bar, chess, scrabble, and backgammon, could do with a few more.

Accommodation consists of 54 flats in 4's, they have bath and shower, balcony and aircon, are clean and comfortable. No tv though unless in the bar common room. No water bungalows here though.

I would highly recommend this 4 star resort, it is clean comfortable and the staff are efficient and helpful, would I go back? undoubtedly.