Fihalhohi Island Resort Review

Overall Rating

Scenery - Snorkelling - Weather

Food - Hidden Charges - Limited activities

My boyfriend and I went to Fihalhohi Island Resort in June/July 2005 for two weeks with First Choice holidays.

The Journey

We flew with Monarch Airlines .if you're going to Fiha, don't! The amount of problems this airline manifested was ridiculous, including delays, inhumane seating room and actually flying us to Manchester to drop all of 5 passengers off before flying to Gatwick, our chosen airport, without informing us. This was a nice little surprise. Unfortunately I think that this is the only UK airline to fly into Mal , but I could be wrong? The flight out was 10 hours 35 minutes.

Arrival at Mal was smooth and easy. The locals are very grateful if both sexes cover their shoulders and knees whilst in Mal due to their Muslim religion, this isn't required at Fihalhohi. After collecting your luggage, you look for your rep, who will give tick you off their list and explain that your boat will be leaving shortly and would you please wait outside. So off you go outside and sit down in a chair, which actually belongs to a very cleverly placed caf . A bloke then comes along and asks you what you would like, well now your sitting there you can't exactly say "Nothing mate, just your chair." So you order a drink .a can of coke say .for $3! (£1.74) Eventually you're called for your boat. Please take a travel sickness pill even if you believe you'll be ok, because you probably won't, it was very choppy - honestly our bellies kept flipping over, like when you go over a bridge in a car.

Arriving at Fiha will take your breathe away, it is paradise to look at, every picture you take will look like a postcard. Once off the boat you're greeted with a cold face towel, a coconut with a straw  and asked to go to reception. Whilst there you will fill out a form giving your details etc and the staff will then give you your room key, get two bag boys and lead you to your room. Tipping is customary in the Maldives and for bag boys its $1 per bag. You will also be asked to attend a welcome meeting later in the evening, if you're too jet lagged and tired honestly don't bother going. All the information they give, though essential, is provided for you in your room in a handbook.

All of the staff speak English, however some are more fluent than others. It's best if you speak slowly and clearly to avoid confusion.

The Room

We stayed in the cheapest type of room, a "Classic", which was massive. Inside it had two beds, a desk with a chair, two comfy chairs with a coffee table, a vanity table with mirror and stool, a mini wardrobe room with plenty of space, and a bathroom with shower, toilet and sink. Also a vase of flowers was provided along with 2 small bottles of water.

The room also contains a telephone, (incoming calls only), an umbrella, hairdryer, fridge, free safe, ceiling fan and an air conditioning system. The air conditioning isn't turned on in a classic room but can be for $10 a night. If you're a light sleeper like me then you must take ear plugs. If you could sleep with a helicopter at your window then you'll be fine the fan is a little loud to say the least and the air con, if you choose to pay the expensive $10 per night, is even louder. If you choose not to have the air con the first few nights won't be nice, it really is just too hot to sleep .PJ's? Don't even waste the suitcase space! Knickers, that's all you'll need for night time, even the thin sheet on the bed is too much at first, but once your body gets used to it you'll be okay.

Strangely, the room doesn't have a clock, which is difficult when you need to know when to get ready for dinner, et.c, though if you want an alarm call in the morning just ask at reception.

The plug sockets are actually English, so no worries about taking anything electrical.

Although the island doesn't have any mosquitoes, the government there is very strict about keeping them and therefore malaria out of the atoll and so each room is fitted with a mosquito ball and refill tablets, which the room boys will change daily.

The room also contains a handbook with information about the island, local customs, and prices of treatments at the health centre, writing paper, envelopes and fax paper.

Outside of your room is a veranda. This contains two plastic chairs, a coffee type table, washing line, rack (for shoes?) and brilliantly a tap to wash the sand off your feet. Leave your veranda light on when you go to dinner; else you will have trouble finding your room on the way back!

The resort provides you with 2 beach towels with your room number on, 2 bath towels, 2 hand towels and 2 face cloths. If you want your bath towels changing then leave them on the floor for the room boys. Despite this you must take at least 2 more towels with you because you wake up, have a shower each, then at 12.30 it's dinner time, but you're all sticky from the sun so you have another shower. After dinner you go back into the sun, get sweaty again and have another shower before evening meal - all with one towel. Also nothing dries quickly on the island because it's quite humid, so the towels from the morning won't dry in time for the evening. Likewise, if you wash any clothes; my knickers took 3 days to properly dry on the line. As nothing dries here it's probably best to take spray deodorant rather than cream/gel.

Talking of water, the shower curtain in our room was about 60cm off the floor which meant the whole floor in the room got soaked every time we had a shower, so we used the room as a 'wet room'. Don't know whether this was just specifically ours (no. 44).

The room boys will come as often as you want them too. You're advised to tip them $5-10 per week, so we left a dollar a day on the bed. They change your sheets, towels if you wish, the mosquito tablet and swept/mop the whole room. Your room door will have a tag on, red and green. If you don't want them in your room after they have cleaned for the day then put the tag on red, as one day we took the tag off all together and they came in anyway, (our valuables were out, etc., though nothing was taken.)

Outside of your veranda there will be two beach loungers with your room number on the back, which is good, no getting up early to reserve a chair.

The Beach

The beach is amazing. The water is crystal clear, the sand pure white and gorgeous tall palm trees everywhere. It's honestly more beautiful than anything I've ever seen. It's also impeccably clean.

The heat is intensive and unfortunately the island has no parasols. As a result under every palm tree you will find 5 people crammed together desperate to get out the sun but maintain a view of the gorgeous scenery.

If you think that something is crawling up your leg then chances are there is something crawling up your leg. There are giant ants everywhere, they are completely harmless though.

The snorkelling is amazing here. If you don't have any gear then the diving school rents out, though to be honest it would be cheaper to buy your own before you go and take it with you. There were 6 baby black tip reef sharks patrolling the shore line in 1ft of water the whole time we were there. The diving centre explained when I asked that they were harmless and wouldn't bother you; but it was still a bit daunting at first, swimming along and coming face to face with a shark. We humans are scared of them for a reason, it's in our genes. Wait until it's extremely sunny and the tide is out before taking underwater pictures, else they won't come out very well.

The staff at the diving centre are friendly, very helpful and multi-lingual.

If you're a bit iffy about swimming with fish all around like my boyfriend was, then take a walk on the runway to the water bungalows. They are directly above the reef and you can see clearly loads of fish. If you choose to go to Fiha mid-summer you are almost guaranteed that a water bungalow will be available, though this comes at an additional $80 per night.

Just off from the beach, are the 'gardens'. Basically hundreds of palm trees, etc., on most palm trees you will find either a hammock or swing, both of which are usually out of the sun, which is nice if it gets too hot.

The island feels extremely safe and people just leave their beach bags on their loungers whilst they snorkel, etc. However, you need to hide anything that is quite small, especially keys because the island has hundreds of back large birds which are, lets just say playful. They enjoy picking things up, playing with them and then dropping them somewhere else. They are funny to watch  other wildlife includes a few fruit bats which are interesting and large.

Restaurant/bar

When you first go into the restaurant you will be allocated to a seat which then becomes yours for the duration of your stay, along with whichever waiter runs that table. If you can, grab a seat marked 'Mohammed', his tables are right next to the door. He is by far the best waiter there, polite, excellent English and funny. We had no idea how much we were meant to tip the waiter as it does not say anywhere. We tipped $1 per meal, which was $3 a day. Have no idea whether this is generous or stingy?!

The food unfortunately was the biggest let down of the holiday. Let's hope you love fish and spicy curry type foods! Although there is a buffet selection, it's all cooked very similar and so everything has a very Indian taste to it, therefore if, like me, you have blander taste buds there isn't much you can do. Ideally they need to provide something standard every night for those who don't like the food, something like chips or potatoes, things that everyone likes. There were a few meals that I skipped because I just didn't like anything. We stayed full board and we recommend that you don't. Half board would be best. There is a bar/a la cart restaurant over the other side of the island called the Blue Lagoon. The food here is excellent and reasonably priced; more westernised - chips, burgers, hot dogs, etc. Tthe milkshakes here are amazing, the best I've ever tasted. If you fancy a drink in the day it's best to come here as the view is gorgeous.

The main bar holds a massive list of cocktails, I've never seen so many different types on offer. They are roughly $6 each.

For everything that you purchase at Fiha you have to remember to add a 10% service charge to the cost. This goes towards the people who work on the island that you have no contact with, like the chefs/gardeners, for example. Although this doesn't sound like much it really does start to add up, especially when you count the tips. This is what makes the island so expensive. As an example, this is how much my boyfriend and I spent every day.

Breakfast - 1 bottle of water (to last the day) $3
- 1 bottle of apple juice $4
- 1 coke $2 (300ml a can)
- $0.90 service charge
- $1 tip for the waiter
Lunch - 2 cokes $4
- $0.40 service charge
- $1 tip for the waiter
Dinner - 2 cokes $4
- $0.40 service charge
- $1 tip for the waiter
Bar - 1 cocktail $6
- $0.60 service charge
- $1 tip for bar staff

Room boys - $1

That's $30 a day. The above isn't exactly extravagant either.

If you order something, you don't pay with cash, you sign it to the room. Therefore please check everything that you sign for as it's so easy to say "Room 88", leave and let room 88 sign the bill. This signing business sounds like a good idea - you're in your swimsuit all day so you can't carry money so its best that you sign. However you might as well carry money, because if you do order something you have to leave a tip, which is money! Because of the tipping business, you will have to visit the cashier every now and then to exchange larger notes for $1 bills.

You settle your bill the day before you depart at the cashier's desk. He will provide you with everything that was charged and signed to your room plus 10% service charge. This can be settled in cash, traveller's cheques or by credit card.

Entertainment

Is extremely limited: karaoke, bingo, crab racing, etc. They did screen a F1 race in the bar at one point. The bingo night is a big scam. A guy will approach you and shove 5 tickets in your hand explaining that they are the price of a beer. What he doesn't explain well is that he means each. So one ticket is $3.50 plus 10% service charge, so the 5 tickets would cost $19.25.

Facilities

The island offers a telephone at $5 per minute plus 10% service charge.

Billiards is available at $3.50 for 30 minutes plus service charge.

The internet is available. $5 for 30 minutes or $8 for 1 hour, plus service charge.

Both ping pong and badminton are free. Ask at reception for the rackets, etc.

There is also a herbal centre, which we couldn't afford to visit  but I do have a full list of treatments and prices. Don't hesitate to email if you would like them.

The island also provides many excursions, i.e., island hopping, banana boats, water skiing, diving expeditions, etc., all of these are highly priced though, on average about $80 per person.

Although First Choice does have a rep, he is the rep for 11 islands, meaning he only visits your island once every 11 days. This is not good, though he can be contacted via phone at $5 per minute.

A laundry service is also available: $1 for a T-shirt type prices, remember that service charge too...

The Weather

We went June/July which is classed as monsoon season, however when we got there the staff assured us that it hadn't rained in 4 months. It did rain twice whilst we were there, but both times it was during the night. Everyday was intensive sunshine, though often with a few clouds which in the heat were greatly appreciated.

Girls

Just a quick section for the girls:
Topless bathing is strictly prohibited throughout the Maldives, as is all forms of pornography.

If you wear fake tan, be aware that as soon as you go into the salt water it will come off in big patches and look awful. I had to exfoliate and reapply every night.

Water resistant mascara - don't bother, the sea just melts it all down your face.

Sort out the time that you take your pill before you go. Fiha is 5 hours ahead of England which can be a pain if you take yours at 11pm UK time 'cause that's 4am Fiha time.

Conclusion

The island is beautiful, the snorkelling is awesome and the sun is scorching. Unfortunately the food, hidden expenses and lack of stuff to do lets the holiday down. Literally, unless you are a sun worshipper/snorkelling fanatic you will at some point be bored. I know it seems hard to believe considering the stunning scenery, but there is only so much time looking at it takes up. Would recommend 10 days as holiday duration, one week isn't enough but 2 weeks is just that few too many days.