Diamonds Athuruga Beach & Water Villas

We flew in by sea plane from Male. Quite an adventure in itself, as the pilot opened up the throttle and we tore across the sea to start climbing. A short 35 minute or so flight and we touched ( or splashed ) down and taxied to the pontoon. (The islands position on the flight path dictates you are the first to be dropped off and last to be collected, which is a great add on.) There to meet us were the resort’s Guest Manager and team. A short transfer to the island’s jetty and we had arrived. The weather was and had been, uncharacteristically poor, but that did not diminish the beauty of this place. ( In any event, a day or so later the Sun came out. ) We were shown around and introduced to all the island has to offer. Our beach front villa sits as the name suggests, right on top of the beach. Ten yards or so and you are in pristine waters of the Indian Ocean with it’s abundant marine life, including many types of fish and shark ( all of which harmless) The resort has its own marine biologist and aqua centre. Do go on the guided snorkelling trip. Even for beginners, it’s glorious. There’s a PADI centre for the more qualified and adventurous of course. The staff - Simply amazing. They really have made a good holiday, a great holiday. ( sorry for the cliche..) They really are superb and cater for your every wish, with a smile and easy going nod. Tipping - The US Dollar is king. A couple of Dollars at the bar and a 5 or ten every couple of days to a member of the front of house staff and room team, keeps the wheels running smoothly. It is a largely Italian based resort with most of the food leaning that way, pastas, pizza, etc, which personally, we enjoyed. There are local dishes and they change daily. The BBQ Chef was particularly popular. Internet! I guess if there was one thing that is missing, or we missed, is internet coverage. There is no TV or Radio in the accommodation. The only Internet that is available in the bar and reception and that is ‘patchy and slow’. It may be a well designed feature of the resort coordinate everyone from their rooms at night to congregate in the bar with a view to creating an entertaining bar environment? Commendable if correct? But sadly not supported by the entertainment schedule, which was quite poor, on the most part with tired old karaoke and accompanied dancing staff amongst other fairly lacklustre entertainment in place. What with the advent of ‘Starlink’ a little more internet access would be welcome for some, but we except, not all. All in all. It remains a wonderful place.

To give this review an accurate account, I would like to point out that my wife and I have been travelling to the Maldives for 29 Years and made 24 visits to 13 different islands, so we have some idea of what to expect. Regarding Athuruga this visit was our seventh, but with a 20 yr gap between our last visit and this one. Yes things change over 20 years and people change too. But Athuruga was always our happy island and that for our last trip to the Maldives was the reason we chose it. So let’s do the review…..we arrived at the airport and no one from Athuruga was visible, we eventually asked someone if they could contact the island representative which they did and five minutes later someone appeared. Seaplane luggage sorted we were transported to a lounge in the new sea plane terminal, I can’t remember the name I think it was something like Nooni, it was the worst lounge I have ever been in, in the Maldives, not clean and everything had to be bought. Our seaplane flight was relatively quick and we were at Athuruga within 35 minutes. We were taken to our room a junior suite number 41, it was in a position on the beach where we have stayed before but the room had been updated to a suite. We will start with the issues…and our views The room was a bit tired and not really very functional with very few drawers but two wardrobes and not many coat hangers. The flooring was a bit messy and looked unfinished and some of the skirting boards didn’t quite fit correctly leaving holes onto the walls. The loungers on the beach were quite dangerous with the corrosion on them pictures below Our first room boy as not very good, he didn’t clean the room very well and he didn’t change the bedding when he was supposed to after three days but apparently he claimed it was our fault for not asking him to, but the reception staff had stated bedding would be changed every three days. I went to reception and pointed out the bedding hadn’t been changed, they agreed it should have been and made a phone call, we heard nothing then until the next morning when we had a new room boy, no apologies or anything but at least the bedding had been changed. Our major complaint was with regards to the dining room the display of food for breakfast was appalling not very much at all. You could order an omelette with beans and bacon but the omelette was cold because the chef cooked the omelette then put it on a cold plate whilst he warmed the beans up in a frying pan and warmed the pre cooked bacon on the grill, by the time the beans were warm and the bacon the omelette was cold and pretty soon it was all cold. This also applies to lunch and to evening meals everything was cold or at best like warm, the food on display on the boat centre didn’t appear to have heating under them and didn’t always go with one another and very few choices. This was a shame as the cooking stations made very tasty food but it was always cold or luke warm, in 10 days I only had one meal that was warm. Let’s go to the positives… As I said the food at the cooking stations were very flavoursome shame about the temperature. Our waiter Rasheed was brilliant as were the pizza chef whose name I cannot remember but a real comedian. The ice cream station was brilliant, and fortunately always cold. Our new room boy was Imran, he was brilliant and did his job to an excellent level and very friendly. The room was clean in respect of creatures, no ants, spiders or cockroaches. There was little interaction with management if any and reception staff were not always that approachable. We tend to look after ourselves but when we did ask or speak to staff it wasn’t met with friendliness. Which was one of the things we loved about the old Athuruga it was a happy place full of people with lovely food. On one day about 30 people left and after that not very many arrived and the island looked and felt almost empty. Our overall opinion on the island and the experience was that everything appeared to be penny pinching, done as cheap as possible or to save as much money as possible. It was such a shame as the island used to be brilliant, it appears to have lost its heart and soul. I was not impressed with the reef either it used to be vibrant and full of creatures it certainly wasn’t that good now.

The most beautiful island. Clean as a whistle, raked beaches every day Friendly staff with excellent chef's. The Water Villas are just amazing and the fine dining in the water Restaurant was real good. The cocktails are a bit disappointing. They don't really present them nicely and the mixes are inconsistent. That said it was one of the most beautiful Resorts we visited. Well done to all the staff

Our second visit to Diamonds Athuruda, we booked directly with the resort, and we're helped by Faarish, who was outstanding! Great communication, great incentive to return, we were REALLY looked after! This made the trip very special. We stayed in rooms 22/23, which was a double water villa, very private, absolutely perfect! Our room attendant Easa was very attentive and kept our place perfect! We mainly ate in the water villa restaurant, and all 4 waiters were so professional! Chef Subash is a genius! Our kids also ate at the buffet, which was top notch, Mohammed, Abdullah, Ali, Malaka (top barman/barista) Always greeted with a smile! 😀 The snorkeling at Diamonds is 5* - the house reef was one of the main reasons we booked, it never disappointed, manta rays, eagle rays, turtles, black/white tip sharks, sooo many nurse sharks! Whilst we didn't take any trips, all the dive staff were super friendly and helpful! Our boys used the free equipment regularly! Such an idyllic island to kick back on - we will return for a third time, for sure! 🦈🐟🐠🐡

This kind of review is unexpected for me, as I never had such an experience in my solo travels or travels with someone else. First of all, I'd like to pay my respects to the stuff of the water restaurant, as they were always very polite, cheerful and willing to do the best for their customers. Also I'd like to thank you the instructors from water center, as I had great experience with them during whale shark safari. In general - I've stayed in water villa, which is very nice and has everything what can people need. The resort has a very small spa of a third party, however they provide nice service too, and I had 3 massages of different kinds. And the weather was great first 5 days of my staying, so I had my time with the sun and snorkelling, after that the weather got bad, with raining and strong winds, however as October is still a rainy month, so that was expected. Now, I'd like to share the worst part of my staying which totally ruined the experience of what was supposed to be a great holiday for my birthday. I usually put of valuables in the safe box. During first days I've noticed the safe box was opened, which I was sure I closed. I've decided to count the money and found out the one banknote of 50 euro was missing. My thinking was that probably I was mistaken and I didn't have it. After several days the situation was repeated. The safe box was opened and another banknote of 50 euro is missing. To say that it was total shock, it is nothing. So I reported this situation for the manager at the reception, who told of course that they never had some incidents before, but agreed to refund. As I was in total shock and was feeling extremely uncomfortable and not sure what to expect as I was staying alone and someone obviously was having key to my villa, I told all this to the manager, who said they totally understand and they will do everything for my stay and changed the guy who cleaned the room. However, the holiday for me was already ruined, at that moment I had 4 more days of stay, which I spent being nervous and not happy at all and was really relieved at the check-out day. This was really frustrating for not having the dream holiday because of some person who totally ruined the resort reputation for me and probably did it because I was travelling alone. Anyway, I've got the refund eventually, as I had unpaid shark safari tour of cost around usd 200 and they allowed me not to pay for it. With this review I'd like to pay attention to this situation of the general manager and make a full investigation with understanding that the resort reputation is on display. Of course, I cannot recommend this resort, not matter how many positive things I had there.