This was our second trip to Laamu, the first in April this year was cut short by illness.

The resort was magnificent the first time and has got even better.

The property epitomises "barefoot luxury" - no shoes were worn or needed from arrival to departure.

ACCOMMODATION

The accommodation, in Six Senses fashion was both quirky and of the highest quality. Rooms, mainly over-water bungalows are spacious and apart from the first 4 or 5 on jetty number one ( which I would avoid) have a high degree of privacy. The in room equipment is as one would expect from a resort of this quality, with high quality soundless air conditioning i pod docks and a flat screen tv though quite why one would come to the Maldives to watch TV is questionable. The bungalow was spotless and this was maintained throughout our stay

FOOD AND DRINK

The food was of the highest quality and with 3 restaurants the variety and choice was very high. The head chefs have worked in top end restaurants around the world and this was very evident. Prices are very high and given there is nowhere else to go it makes sense to have the half board option.
The price of alcohol is significant, no doubt this is to a great extent caused by local taxes, but wine is more expensive than at other resorts in the same league. The wine list is varied with a significant number of bottles costing over US$ 100 and a few reaching into the thousands. The bottom end bottles which were perfectly good cost between US$ 50 and 70. The sommelier was however really good and did not try and push the very expensive options.

STAFF

The staff from the management down were both very friendly and happy and as importantly good at doing what they were supposed to do. The GEM ( basically a personal butler) was always on hand, the rest of the senior management were present whenever they were needed but not obtrusive and in your face. They are clearly very much on top of everything.People remembered your name and where you were from and you were made to feel special .

THE BAR AREA
The resort was designed with an extensive over water bar area which is perhaps too large and impersonal. There is a resident DJ playing background music in the evenings which was good but might not appeal to everyone and the bar area was not zoned so finding quiet spot is not possible.

OTHER GUESTS
In the six months between our visits the age range and nationality of the guests had become much more varied, as initially one might have got the impression that this was a resort focused primarily on honeymooners from South East Asia. There was on our second visit a good mix of people so that no one should have felt uncomfortable.

DIVING
We have been keen scuba divers for over 25 years. The dive operation here is, from a customers perspective the most well run and organised I have ever encountered. The facilities and equipment were pristine, there was not a grain of sand in sight and the dives were faultlessly organised with good informative briefings; guides/instructors who were obviously still loving doing what they were doing nice boats and a relaxed atmosphere. Local dive sites within the atoll are a bit lacking in larger fish but within 3 days we managed to encounter Mantas and other rays, sharks, turtles, big groupers, wrasse. Corals were in good shape with much variety and there were all the usual suspect from morays and stone fish to the increasing numbers of
huge lionfish.

SUMMARY
The telling factor was we did not want to leave and would love to go back , what more can one say

We stayed here in July 2012, such a disappointment after our other Maldive trips. First of all I will say the local resort staff were lovely as always. Shelomi runs the kids club, and this I cannot fault, Shelomi was fun, safe, inspiring and so much fun with the kids. Inti our room guy was again lovely with excellent service. Sadly the resort is let down by the watersports centre. My husband goes to surf and sadly this was so overpriced, charging $160 for a short trip in a dinghy each time to get to a break that sadly was not so good, the watersports centre did not check the surf each day or recommend best time to go out often the surf was not suitable but still charged us thousands of dollars, in fact the watersports manager was overheard saying that our bill for watersports was "racking up nicely". Seemed they were only interested in getting as much money as possible out of us. The local guys who worked in the watersports centre were great and did their best.
Six senses sprayed the island after a week of us being bitten by mosquitos, with some sort of pesticide that caused a dark potent smog, that lasted for a while each day, the staff spraying wore masks and one inhale you could tell why!
The food was good, excellent selection on buffet theme nights...
Sadly no pool on the island was a negative point for the kids so we upgraded to the one villa that had a private pool. This villa was lovely, the kids loved the pool but it was not available for the whole time so we only had it for 5 days.
We did not see one reef shark in the whole two weeks, usually when we visit the Maldives we enjoy seeing them. I believe they only like crystal clear water, perhaps when the resort settles in, they may return when the sediment settles from the change in ecology from all the buildings on stilts... coral quite damaged and we would not return to this island or resort.
When we complained about our extortionate bill the manager said she would contact us, she never did..We came away felling ripped off... Not how we usually feel when we leave the Maldives, our 5th trip this was.

We stayed for 10 nights at the most gorgeous six senses. After our tour through India. It was so nice to come to the Maldives for its beauty and peacefulnes. We stayed in a beach villa or small house. It was so spacious so many areas to be upstairs, outside, inside on the beach you choose. I loved how we where given bikes as form of transport to get around the island which takes a round 10 mins to do one lap if you are keen. Our Gem he was so lovely any tiny request he would help you out so sweet. Breakfast in the morning was an adventure every day, the choice was amazing considering everything has to be bought in beautifully fresh. We met the head chief one night early in to our stay and mentioned to him I was vegetarian, well that a lucky encounter as from that moment on a got my own special 3 course dinner that I was shown the menu first in the morning to see if I liked it and of course it was amazing. How special is that. We enjoyed speaking to the staff who where so lovely and genuine people. The manager what a hoot Jonathan he had a couple of good stories to tell. What a beautiful location. My husband went out for a couple of surfs but we weren't really there at the right time of the year end of the season. July I understand to be better. I enjoyed snorkelling around the resort in sparklingly clear water. We where also lucky to have a Maldivian local star come and play his music "Shiuz" for a few night so very nice while you enjoy you afternoon bubbles. Thankyou to all the staff you made our stay a very special moment in our journey through life. Thanks