We have recently returned from a 11 night stay at Amilla Maldives staying in one of the Lagoon water villas. On arrival in Male we were met and escorted very promptly and efficiently to the check in for seaplane and onwards to the Amilla lounge in the new, and much improved, seaplane terminal. The Amilla lounge was comfortable and really well appointed for the short (45 minute) wait for our seaplane transfer. Showers are available for anyone with a bit more time waiting etc. For anyone who has previously the experienced the old seaplane terminal the new one really is a game changer. After a short seaplane transfer followed by an even shorter speedboat we arrived at Amilla and were met by the resort team on the jetty and our Katheeb Nappe. We were given some coconuts and cold towels, a really nice touch, and given a lift on a golf cart to our villa via a brief tour of the island and amenities. We arrived at our villa (310) which was towards the end of the jetty which was as we had requested to maximise the morning/afternoon sun and to avoid being overlooked by sunset villas. As we entered the villa our first impression was of the space available, the villas truly are massive. We have stayed in the Maldives before and whilst space could never be described as being at a premium, this villa was much bigger than we have had previously. Nice to have a whole separate ‘sitting’ room side with separate air conditioning etc. Loads of storage and wardrobe space. Handy provision of bedside lamps with wireless charging pads and also USB in the back for the obligatory go pro and gadget charging. Pool was much bigger than we had previously also, and importantly, because of its aspect, much warmer. We found that leaving the AC on in the sitting room side, was actually sufficient for the whole villa and a little quieter. A small thing on the room if really being really critical, whilst the room had a very elaborate sound system, it felt a little dated, we found it difficult (and failed to) connect our phones, a more modern, portable Sonos/B&O system would be preferrable rather than all the ceiling mounted speakers and a cupboard full of AV kit, As I say, it clearly was a decent set up, but its just that tech has moved on so much in the last ten years. Not a game changer on any front but just maybe something that could be looked at if any room investments are planned. All the villas are provided with bikes which we actually found a really fun way to navigate the island and we used them for all of our visits to the restaurants and for getting about the place, some people chose to walk, and guess if we were in a sunset villa (closer to resort) we might have but zipping about on the little bikes was fun. Nappe (our Katheeb) looked after us politely, efficiently and proactively. I don’t think we perhaps we asked quite as much of him as some guests might but any requests for dinner reservations or activities were always met. I like the whatsapp system as well, far easier than having to call reception to make arrangements and whole resort pretty much had WIFI coverage. Yousef our housekeeper was lovely and friendly, and after a few days of syncing our routines where he realised that we didn’t go for breakfast but that I was often diving in the morning and my wife was at the gym, he would clean and replenish room amenities whilst we were away and we would often return to find a new palm leaf creation on the bed. Same in the evenings where we would generally eat a little later than most people I think. We would meet him coming up the boardwalk with a smile. Villa was always immaculate and he clearly took pride in his work without being obtrusive to our routine, the perfect balance, congratulations. All the service staff were always friendly and approachable. The nature of the island is pretty laid back, it’s what we personally want in an island, but maybe sometimes, some of the staff were a little too far on the laid back scale, and you had to make just that little bit too much effort to get their attention. We would never want fussy service and someone sat on our shoulder, and having worked in service industry for a long time, I recognise it’s a fine balance to get right, but given that the island was relatively quiet, I would have thought they might have just been a little more ‘on’ it. I would have my concerns if the resort was at capacity, but maybe once they are it almost becomes easier. I went diving with the team at Dive Butler on 5 mornings. Sadly the Manta’s had departed early this year so no sightings of them but the diving was still nice. Nice small groups on the days I went out, well appointed boat and decent kit. I was well looked after by Alex my DM. We went snorkelling quite a bit on the reef by the blue hole near our villa, but we actually found the best spot was off the jetty near the spa, saw lots of black tips there and occasional ray swimming past. Quite nice in the morning to see the small sharks herding the fish into the shallow. We specifically chose Amilla as the restaurants are all a la carte (evening) as we are definitely not fans of buffets. We were also not seeking gimmicky things like underwater dining etc, each to their own, but in our experience they have lacked some substance beyond the theatre of the venue. Lunchtime our preference was probably for Emperor Beach Club (EBC) we liked the lobster wraps, bao buns and taco’s, though Pizzas at Feeling chilled were also good, I particularly liked the Maldivian my wife the truffle one, she is Gluten free and it was nice that they were able to deliver GF base without issue. Only thing we found was that the menu was perhaps a little too similar fundamentally between the 2 lunch offerings. Maybe could introduce few more oriental dishes to EBC to differentiate it somewhat. Worst thing with EBC was the fly’s, as humidity was high, with the rain we had (out of Amilla’s control obviously) there were always lots of fly’s and Mosi’s. Staff were keen for us to sit inside to avoid this, but on the occasion we did sit inside, we were only ones doing so and found the room a little lifeless and felt a bit empty, also when you spend your life eating indoors, its nice to be outside on your holidays. Maybe a bit more pest fogging is needed? Appreciate the environmental trade-offs that go with that procedure however and that in trying to be as sustainable as possible it maybe doesn’t sit right. We ate at Feeling Koi on probably 4 or even 5 of our nights as we really enjoy sashimi/sushi and it is difficult to access where we live in the country. The sushi was of a very high standard with lots of choice which was a real treat. We had the sea bass and black cod for main course, but beyond these were a little uninspired further with mains so ended up having more sushi/sashimi on return visits. Its fine with us as we are fans of sushi, but maybe worth considering if you aren’t. We were also told in the downstairs restaurant that they were out of anything but house sake (which I’m afraid to say wasn’t the best) but later found out from another guest that they had the better grade cold sake upstairs in the sunset bar and that they had been brought down some on request and among their AI budget. Barolo was nice – good Tuna steak and pasta dishes. Not necessarily our favourite as cuisine easily accessible at home but each to their own. East was very good – we enjoyed a couple of meals there had great curries and tandoor food. We also went to the Maldivian night and sampled the buffet which was good with plenty of choice, avoid the red chutney however, its ferocious! We enjoyed the dancers at Maldivian night, was at least some link up to the local area which sometimes you can become a little unconnected with on these islands, it was also nice that Amilla arranged excursions to nearby inhabited islands (we didn’t participate so can’t comment). Had pre and post dinner cocktails most evenings. By end of our trip the guys in Baa Bar had our drinks order nailed on. Good cocktails in the sunset bar above feeling Koi also. The fire dancer was good – only thing we found a bit strange was the scheduling and then in following on from that the positioning of the act. The act was always outside the BAA bar but was normally on when most people were eating/finishing dinner so was seen very few people, if he moved along the beach a little, to say beach side of pool, more people would have seen the act whilst having dinner, or maybe schedule it for after dinner, say 9 or 9.30 and then may encourage people to the bar after dinner for a drink, it often felt a little lifeless post dinner. On the whole we enjoyed the food at Amilla but were perhaps not blown away by it. We have been fortunate enough to stay in a number of excellent resorts around the world and sample some amazing food, Amilla was really good but maybe not world class. Sadly – we did have one major negative with Amilla and I guess in particular our villa, though anyone renting a sunset or lagoon should be aware of it. On our penultimate full day we spotted resort staff moving a platform to nearby the blue hole on the edge of the house reef and end of snorkelling zone. I assumed that it was some sort of snorkelling or diving platform for the blue hole so I swam out to it. To my alarm when I got there I realised that it was not a snorkel platform but they had moved the seaplane jetty. This jetty was now within 3/400 metres of our villa. I fully appreciate that the seaplanes need to land somewhere, but this should not have been placed right in front of the lagoon/sunset villas, every other resort we have stayed in the jetty was on the opposite side of island to villas, or much further out to sea. Every time a plane landed (circa 4 a day) the people standing on the jetty were looking straight into our villa and then obviously on take off the associated plane noise was pretty obtrusive. Worse still was that this jetty seemed to service every other island in the vicinity for those few days so once the plane landed you had speedboats arriving and departing with guests. I messaged Fappe our butler about it and he said he would speak to the managers, they did offer to move us to one of the reef villas on the opposite side of the jetty, but we had specifically chosen the lagoon villa because of its aspect and we only had 2 nights and 1 full day left so we stayed where we were. A number of other guests who we had met during our stay were commenting on the jetty position for those last few nights, yet everyone had been told something different about why it was moved (airline request due to choppy seas, seasonal schedule) which seems suspicious. The map we looked at on booking didn’t show the jetty being located there (we wouldn’t have booked it), a subsequent map we have been shown does show ‘seaplane landing strip’ but no jetty pictured and the scale is definitely incorrect, the strip and jetty are much closer to the villas than map shows. No pictures on the resort gallery show the jetty in that position either. Far too close in my opinion for $1000 a night room. If this is important to you, I would certainly suggest that you check with the resort where the jetty is going to be at time of your stay, it now seems that it’s a seasonal change and that it will remain in that position now for some time. We landed on the old jetty at the opposite side of the island and for the majority of the week when it was there never even heard a seaplane, when it moved it was liking being in the seaplane terminal at Male. We certainly wouldn’t have booked a sunset or lagoon villa had we known that the jetty was going to be in that position, fortunately it was only for the last few days of our stay but had it been there the whole time we would have been really disappointed. On our return to Male, the service was equally slick, met at seaplane terminal, taken to lounge as we were too early for international terminal, bags kept in vehicle, then escorted right through to check in desk by ground staff. A really good top notch service from Amilla groundcrew on both arrival and departure. On the whole we had a really lovely time at Amilla, we have come back fully charged and refreshed after a lovely break on a tropical island. The seaplane jetty just took the shine off the holiday for us, which was shame. …