ROBINSON Club Maldives

Just returned from Robinson Club with my wife after a 2 week magical stay here. Ok, so my review is a straight forward honest report of my experience here, I will touch on the positives and will point out the negatives . The negatives though I want to point out shouldn't be a deterrent from visiting this resort . I have rated Robinsons as excellent, I was torn between very good and excellent but considering I've had such a lovely holiday I thought only fair to give the full thumbs up. So on arrival via speed boat we were greeted by Seth and his staff with glass of sparkling wine or a beer , a very warm welcome indeed. Checking in was very quick and was shown to our room once given a quick tour of the island . We stayed in room 1201 , one of the beach villas . Couldnt get more of a ideal location as it was right by reception and close walk to everything. Although to be fair anywhere on the island isnt far to walk . Room is spacious, clean and leads out to your own sun bathing area over looking the sea . The side we had seemed to have rougher part of the ocean but trust me this comes as a blessing as the sea breeze is lush and welcoming after spending a day toasting yourself by the pool . Bathroom is massive and again clean with a magical tropical feel to it as it's all in the open , the open air shower I just love and such a invigorating experience showering looking up watch a bat fly over your head and the palm trees swaying. Towels are changed twice a day and room is always supplied with bottled water, with your bed turned down at night. So this holiday was for my wife's 30th birthday present , for our last 2 days stay I upgraded to a water villa with lagoon plunge pool. Amazing!! And well worth it. If you are able to book one of these rooms for your stay do so. Rooms are little bit smaller then the beach bungalows and bathroom is all inside, but you have your own private decking with a plunge pool , sunbathing bed , and you'll be over looking the ocean . Watching the sunset in your own pool is breath taking plus if you stay observant you get to see dolphins casually swimming by . The air conditioning in the water villas are alot better too then the ones in the beach bungalows. Again , clean , smelt nice, no complaints here. Food .... what can I say ??? Out of this world. Food here is best I've had , and it's a buffet restaurant!! Variety each day and gourmet style presentation of the food . Healthy foods , fish salads, lean meats etc I'm usually used to pizza n chips ( which they do have lol) every night and day due to lack of choice and other foods not being that good, but the food here doesn't disappoint... 5 star Pool area clean, plenty of shaded areas as well as sun spots. The pool area is a sun trap and gets hot very quick. Wednesday at 12 they host a pool party, music bbq , floating bar in the pool serving nibbles and sparkling wine, inflatables in the pool.... ( yes this is adults only) .. such fun great atmosphere. In general its peaceful, loved the fact there were no screaming kids or loud people getting drunk around the pool. Pure relaxation . Entertainment and staff- now I usually find hotel entertainment boring and crap but here was not too bad. Different things on every evening. SUNDOWNER is a highlight for my evenings . Section of the beach with a bar DJ etc bean bags on the beach and chance to chill out and watch the sun rise .. breath taking Staff are all lovely , friendly even the maintenance staff are lovely, great you whenever they pass you , really feel welcomed and you can tell they are happy working where they do and looked after there. Animation team work to entertain, great dancers .... my eyes always lit up when Lera was around . My wife called her my holiday crush lol. Jungle party is another highlight you dont want to miss. Of course another highlight of the holiday is getting your snorkel on and seeing what is beneath the Indian ocean ... if your brave enough to go to the shelf , you'll see eagle rays, reef sharks , turtles and of course colourful fishes. It's all safe , sea is clean clear and so picturesque to look at. You'll never get bored of looking out to the sea. Another highlight... is the club pride on being a barefoot island , restaurant, bar all sand .... I'm struggling to adapt back to having to wear shoes in UK All adds to that stress free feel vibe you get from this resort. So , if you've already booked to come to Robinsons you've made a good choice it wont disappoint and if you haven't booked yet and undecided then dont hesitate any more. Myself and my wife have had the best holiday ever. I didn't think anything could beat Mexico but the Maldives tops it. Ok so now for the negatives and they are minuscule... Beach bungalows- now if you google up images Robinsons advertise this lush powder white sand on your door step of your villa leading to the sea. This may of been the case years ago but with corrosion of the beach there isnt really any walking area to the beach. You have your beds parasol then wham .... rocks with fallen debris trees washed up dead coral etc making it impossible to have that walk to the ocean from your bungalow. I'll include pictures Although still picturesque in it's way I was a bit disappointed. I guess it's not really Robinsons fault as they cant help nature taking place . I'm only mentioning this so you know what to expect. Again with corrosion of the island in places sand bags are placed around perimeter of the resort to hold together. Not a major problem but again mentioning it so it's not a shock. One gripe I do have is the mini bar isnt inclusive. I've spent over £8000 on this holiday , for that, like they do in Mexico youd expect to have a mini bar included. Made it impossible to stay in the room if you wanted to as if you wanted a beer it meant you had to go main bar . A beer costs 5 dollar if my memory serves me correct . Was even more frustrating if staying in water villa . Restaurant food and staff as I mentioned was brilliant . There was the odd waiter that didnt know what planet they were on so got frustrating when asking 3 times for something before getting what you needed. Bottled water ... its warm !! Surely ice cold water served at your table could be kept cold?! .. this is my only gripe regards to the restaurant . I've read on previous reviews complaints about decor being out dated and run down.... hmmm , to be honest I thought it was all fine. Maybe lick of paint in certain areas wouldn't go a miss and some fixtures looked dated and old but these things dont impact the enjoyment of your holiday. Coral and reef..... not the best , 80% of the coral is bleached and dead which was a shame. Finally .... the resort is 95% German. Nothing against German people of course but considering English is most spoken language world wide I found it frustrating when entertainment, residents presume your German and talk to you in german . I found as well certain management lost interest in you once they learnt you're english and then turned their attention more to their German guests . Again wasnt a major problem, management was still friendly enough but at times it could feel like your the stranger on the island. To be honest that's it I would say yes I would come again although I'd more likely try a different resort . This is nothing against Robinson I'm like that wherever I go I the world. My holiday was first class, came away feeling refreshed and made wonderful memories TIPS: dont go mad packing lots of shoes and flip flops.. you dont need them, it's all barefoot . I'd recommend a set of flip flops for around the pool only because the wooden floor gets extremely hot. Pack maybe set of scuba shoes for the sea. And buy your own snorkel set . All these dirt cheap on amazon or sports direct. Mosquito repellent.... dont need it. The resort is all treated, there are non , and was a pleasant change to have 2 weeks with no bites. Adaptors ... again dont need them, they have same plug sockets as UK Pack light loose clothing , Maldives is hotter than I thought, and dont be shy on suncream. You're on the equator. If you can , treat yourself to the island hopping snorkel trip . Only couple of hours but worth it. And definitely book dinner on the beach... lush ( lobster is to die for) Hope my review has helped. Big thank you to all the staff at Robinson for making my holiday a dream

Összkép: profi vendéglátás, nyugodt pihenés, kellemes programok. Szobák: tiszta, kényelmes, hatalmas ágy, jól felszerelt fürdőszoba. Étterem: finom, változatos ételek, hatalmas választék. Italok, bár: csak minőségi italokat szolgálnak fel. Személyzet: barátságos, kommunikatív mindenki, legyen felszolgáló, menedzser, kertész. SPA: egy több, mint 2 órás páros masszázson voltunk, kellemes környezetben, profi masszőrökkel. SPORT: a szigetet körbe lehet futni, nagyjából 2 km, jól felszerelt konditerem éjjel-nappal használható, a csoportos órákat profik vezetik. Vízi élmények: sokféle túra közül választhatunk, mi teknős-lesen voltunk, ahol 6 fős csapatunkat 2 túravezető irányította, illetve jet-skiztünk, ahol egy hajóval kísértek minket. Környezet: nagyon zöld, kellemes sétautakkal, csodás naplemente bárral. //////// 813/5000 Professional hospitality, relaxation, pleasant programs. Rooms: clean, comfortable, huge bed, well-equipped bathroom. Restaurant: delicious, varied cuisine, huge selection. Drinks, though: only quality drinks are served. Staff: friendly, communicative everyone, be it waiter, manager, gardener. SPA: We had a double massage for more than 2 hours in a comfortable environment with professional masseurs. SPORTS: The island can be circled, about 2 km, a well-equipped gym available around the clock, and group lessons are run by professionals. Water Adventures: Choose from a variety of tours, we were turtle-headed, with our team of 6 guided by 2 tour guides, and jet-skis, accompanied by a boat. Surroundings: very green, with nice walking paths, wonderful sunset bar.

I have been to Maldives several times, and must say this resort is a real disappointment. The excitement of having to take a 50 min domestic flight (not seaplane) followed by 25 min speed boat ride was quickly overcome with disappointment on the resorts. All the bungalows and water villas look aged and old fashion, and need urgent revamp. This means the skyline is scarred by ugly looking water villas. The interior of the water villa was even disappointing. Excitement of a dream trip turned into disappointment then into dismay and regret. The first question that came to mind was: did I spend all these money to come to this kind of old fashioned, dated resort? I chose this resort also based on house reef comments. Well, that was another utter disappointment. More than 90% of the house reef are dead or bleached. There are lots of fishes around, swimming around dead hard corals. On the brighter side, service is good, and food is excellent. But verdict is that we will never come back here again, and think that we have wasted money and time on a very old property. Here are some specific comments: Service: Good. And Guest Relations Manager Seth is always there to help. Food: Excellent. Thumbs up. Internet: Very bad. No service in water villa; Called reception 3 times and nothing was done. Also no service at main restaurant area. This is 21th century, and weak or no internet service is unimaginable. Beach and sea: Good. Clear blue water. But everywhere in Maldives is this standard, or higher. Many parts of the island beach are suffering from serious erosion of sand. Huge sand bags are used to rectify this problem. Fish: Lots of them. Colorful too. House Reef: > 90% dead. Not worth a trip at all. Water Villas: Complete disappointment. Old, out of fashion, ugly, and not worth the money. Even the walkway to water villas look so distasteful… so much concrete and old wooden planks. Sunset view: Sun sets over all these ugly water villas. Activities: no freebies. Most other resorts offer free windsurf lessons, free sunset cruises, etc. Gym: Old room but good and well maintained equipment. Some hotel staff are allowed to use the gym together with guests. I am fine with this, despite the fact that the gym is small. But 2 out of 4 occasions I used the gym, I experienced very strong body odor from the hotel staff using the gym. It was so strong smell that I could not continue my exercise and had to leave the gym. I would suggest if hotel staff use the gym, they should apply STRONG deodorant. No discrimination; but very, very strong body odor. And I asked if they were hotel staff and they replied yes. Restaurants: This is first hotel (in my entire life travel experience) which I witness hotel staff having meals (+ alcohol, drinks) in all the buffet meal times (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) together with hotel guests. I have nothing against this policy, just find it very strange. You have breakfast, lunch and dinner together with the receptionist who checked you in, or the dive masters, or the customer service staff. Great benefits for the staff.