Paradise Island Hotel Maldives

We stayed at Paradise Island Sept 09. What a wonderful peaceful holiday. The staff were friendly and the whole place was very clean. Food excellent with a wide choice. The desserts were fantastic. Went for two weeks and thought we might get bored so took a book to read but did not touch it once.

The lads that clean the rooms do a really good job our room was always spotless. On our arrival it was our anniversay and there was champagne and fruit in our room waiting. It was also my birhtday and our room boy decorated the bed in flowers which look fantastic it must have taken a long time to do. It seemed a shame to move them. We wnet all inclusive but beware as cocktails are not included in this and can work out expensive. A tip now and then to the staff goes a long way and they will make sue you get extra good service especially in the bar. Went night fishing being a women who has never fished really enjoyed it. Overall really good holiday would reccommend. ur first choice rep Maddie was really great always checking we were ok without intruding in our holiday. Went island hopping and definately prefered our island.

Sharon & Darren

Not sure if it is a culture thing but was shocked to experience the appalling standard of service at Paradise Island Hotel. There was hardly anyone wearing a smile and at each point we felt that they were doing us a favour even if we were paying! However i must admit that the spa is great, excellent people work here. The Italian restaurant is great, excellent food, view and service, hats off to the man who has created such a wonderful restaurant on this island. Wish the resort management learns from the spa and Italian restaurant team.

We loved everything. The night fishing was fun and they will cook your 'catch' if its big enough or feed it to the sharks if its not. We went for 8 days but could have stayed a lot longer and not been bored. There was loads to do and though the pool area is a little small we always had a sun lounger and it was only a few steps to the sea anyway. The food was fine and we found the rose wine was the best. There were some odd things on the menu for instance porridge with chicken for breakfast and fish curry, but such a big choice we always ate too much anyway and really enjoyed everything we had. You can wear anything at night and people did dress up a bit but not the full evening attire I wore a dress most nights but you could have worn shorts or anything there is no dress code and anything goes really. you can walk all round the island in about half an hour and it really is breathtaking. We would love to go again. My tip would be loose half a stone before you go then you can eat and drink what you like, and learn to snorkel you'll love it and it's so easy!

The name says it all, Paradise Island Hotel, i defy anybody to complain about this island,the food was to die for only problem was you couldn't fit it all in, it was so romantic felt almost like it was our very own island, the people were lovely didn't bother you at all but were on hand if you needed them, the beach just blows your mind, straight from your patio on to the beautiful white sand, we have been home nearly a week and are still comatozed, i envy anybody going soon, we will definitely be back. This holiday is made for lovers and newly weds, it makes you feel your the only couple on the island

We are going to the Paradise Island Hotel again in October with friends, and next April 2008.

When you go away to the Maldives you expect a 'Paradise Island' and this wasn't the Paradise Island we expected. Coming from Huddersfield straight from our wedding, we thought there would be a more 'Paradise' features than there was. The food was different all the time, and there was too much choice. There was no DVD player in the room, and we kept on getting bitten by insects. There were honeymooners from all over - London, Liverpool and Aberdeen etc. We thought there would be more from Yorkshire. When you're from Huddersfield there should be a lot more to moan about.

Excellent island, Paradise Island Hotel was awesome. The food, staff, activities all good.

The Paradise Island Hotel is an excellent introduction the Maldives, it's one of the best holidays we've had in a long time. Excellent Spa facilities and treatments, excellent Italian restaurant. The dollar is very strong at the moment which makes this island excellent value for money. Rejuvenating Massage (includes back, shoulders neck) only $30 which is approx £17.50. Bar drinks are about the same price as here in the UK. All in all I would only recommend all-inclusive if you are extremely thirsty. Our final bill was approximately $1500 which for 2 weeks of late nights, heavy drinking and lots of spa treatment is fantastic value for money if you consider it is approx £300 extra per person to go all-inclusive.

This was a first time visit to the Maldives & Paradise Island Hotel; we had a perfect 2 week honeymoon here on this island. It is larger than most islands featured in holiday brochures but I would definitely recommend. bungalows were clean & air-conditioned with an outside shower ;-) water bungalows being renovated post Tsunami. The beaches were Fantastic & very picturesque, snorkelling was superb, what a colourful array of friendly fish, dolphins, turtles, mini sharks etc. The dive school was excellent.

Paradise Island Hotel:

I found very little reviews on this resort that I, my husband and our 22month old son had booked onto. I could only find 2 brief reviews, both which were at extremes - i.e. really good or really bad.

Thinking the latter, I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderful Paradise island is. It's a big island compared to others, giving lots of space and activities. Although it was busy, we saw few people on the beautiful beaches and it felt like we were the only people there. The lonely planet does not rate this resort highly for snorkelling as it has a shallow lagoon; however we found the snorkelling excellent. There is a house reef which was frequently visited by large manterays and wonderful marine life.

The staff were also brilliant. The all live on the island (most only see their families once a year for a month), so they were all very doting on our son, as well as the other toddlers there. Although the resort does not have cr che or baby sitting, we would plan our own activities around our sons 2 hour afternoon nap. When he slept in his buggy, we would leave him in the restaurant/dive school/ equipment hire shop, while we went off and had some water activities to ourselves. The staff were always happy to baby-sit for us!

The resort also has an amazing luxurious spa which is only 6months old. We had an open-roof room with two benches for a body scrub (USD 25each for 25mins) and flower bath (USD 25each for 30mins) which our son joined us for. The place can only be described as sumptuous!! Surrounded by beautiful tropical vegetation, lots of natural flower fragrance, it was perfect to relax and be pampered. This was also timely, as we had checked out at noon, but given that our island departure was at 5pm, this allowed us to enjoy the beach once more and go to the spa to be cleaned up and prepared for our flight - this also prevented a USD50 for an extra 4 hour room charge. (be prepared for lack of English in the spa and also very confusing as to whether they will accept credit cards - they can, but they have to walk to reception to make transaction which is a 5 min walk away).

My only disappointment with the resort is the children's facilities. Given that we chose this resort purely based on the Childs play area and children's swimming pool - both of these were a let down. The playground was long and separated by vegetation. As a parent, it's difficult to watch your child from one place as you can't see through the hedges. There was a little creek running under a mini bridge which was not flowing - this invited all the mosquitoes to the area and smelt pungent. The play equipment was all tired and needed to be updated. The children's swimming pool is very poorly designed - it's adjoined to the adult's pool (which is relatively small to the resort), however it adjoins to the deep end of the adult's pool and not the shallow end (which seem kind of dangerous to me!).

Paradise island is a very big resort; we had a wee walk to the main restaurant each night as our room was on the far end of the island. After 2-3 meals, you get used to the walk (and take your stroller for kids). The room cleaned and towels changed twice daily, large spacious rooms with outdoor shower. Very tidy and clean, but could also do with a modern makeover.

We went on 3 excursions - 1 full day - to local fishing village (USD53 each), one boat trip snorkelling 2 hours (USD 16 each) and then night fishing for 3 hours (USD30 each). We also went on the glass bottom boat over the house reef (USD 16 each), but in reality our own snorkelling visits over the house reef was just as good as the boat trip snorkelling at a dive site and the glass bottom boat.

Food was really good, given the diversity of the guests (Asia, Australasia and Europeans); there was a huge variety to pick from. We went to the Japanese restaurant on the resort one night for Teppanyaki - this was USD 110 for 3 of us (includes 15% discount if you are Full board or all inclusive). We went Full board as we are not big drinkers; soft drinks were USD3.50 a can, water 1.5l USD 3.00, Milkshakes usd 4.50, tea usd2.00. A bottle of water per day was our staple, plus the can/milkshake at meals or afternoon. Fast-food was available 24hrs per day, approx usd 10-15 for burger & fries/club & fries etc. There was a seafood restaurant and also Italian restaurant, in case you wanted a break from the main buffet.

In general, we loved our holiday. We would probably not go back there again, because of the children's facilities, but if I was going without toddlers, I would recommend this. There are lots to do (providing you are ready to pay for everything your use other than the pool