South Palm Resort Maldives

From reading the previous reviews we were a bit worried but from the minute we landed in Male, we were met by a blue bay travel rep who took our luggage to get checked in and then took us to the lounge to wait for our flight to Gan and while you waited in lounge there was free refreshments and food to help yourself until you are called to your flight. Once we arrived in south palms we were treated like royalty, the staff were all so welcoming and couldn't do enough for us throughout our stay, a big mention to Sully who was our waiter throughout our stay, if your lucky enough to have him he will make your holiday, very knowledgeable and experienced and a friendly face. Our room was one of the palm villas (208) and from walking around the island we can 100% say we had the best side of the island!! We walked straight out onto the sandy beach and we had the clearest of waters to cool down in, our side of the sea had no seaweed in unlike the other side of the island. The rooms are very spacious, air con was good, there is a mini fridge that is stocked with drinks but you get charged if you drink them so we didn't bother as they were quite expensive. Our room got cleaned twice a day with 2 fresh bottles of water and towels each time the cleaner came. The food was OK. It was quite repetitive, alot of seafood and curries for lunch and dinner. For breakfast you had choices of different pastries, cereals, fruit and omelets, however the drinks were all watered down, the only thing that wasn't was the diet coke which came out of a can, so I stuck with that. I would definitely suggest bringing with you beach shoes as going into the sea is full of coral which is sharp and a snorkle mask. Bring snacks as there is no snacks throughout the day and factor 50 is a must!!! If you get chance the dolphin trip was brilliant!! We saw so many dolphins and they swim straight up to the boat. We had a brilliant holiday here, very chilled and relaxing we loved the staff but the only reason why we would not return is because of all the travelling, it took us 27 hours in total to get there!! So would recommend staying in Dubai for couple of nights to clear jet lag and tiredness!!

Arrived after 24 hours of travelling but we were not met at Male by a rep and had no clue how to get onto the internal flight to Gan as Blue Bay do not supply any tickets or info. After a while I spoke to the Cana Reef rep as I know Blue Bay advertise this resort too. He took us to the air conditioned lounge and rang our rep who eventually turned up about 1 hour later. Not her fault, she is ran ragged dealing with departures and arrivals, they need more staff. South Palm could be lovely but needs investment. To say it’s only 5 years old is quite shocking. We initially had a beach villa but had ants in our bed and cockroaches. There were also many flies in the restaurant on food as most things are uncovered. The food is very repetitive and don’t go if you are vegan or vegetarian as they cook toasties etc on the grill that has had raw meet on it. The deserts are terrible and the drinks especially the cocktails are vile. I’ve never drank so much Diet Coke in my life. Pool is nice but there are loose tiles and no hand rail and you get glass glasses to bring back from the bar yourself may I add as no waiter service allowed at the pool. Most staff are lovely but when we tipped our waiter he went off with us as though our tip was not enough!! We moved villas to a water villa due to the problems we had faced which was good but had to wear shoes on the outside verandah as sharp wood sticking up in places. The manager who sorted for us was kind but we found out he died playing football shortly after!!! The place needs serious money spending on it and it could be made lovely. I would personally not return as it is far too far for what you have waiting for you although being in the Maldives was beautiful and the trips were amazing.

There was nobody to meet us at the airport, we didn’t know what flight we were booked on or the departure time for the international flight. We looked for the rep for 1.5 hours and was told they would be with us in 30 mins. Nobody ever met us, after several promises we had to find our own way. This could of easily been avoided if Bluebay or the hotel had supplied us with the ongoing flight details. If we had known it was going to be a five hour wait for the domestic we would have chose a different resort. The management lied about the rep being at the airport and this happened to countless people whilst we were at the resort. One group of ten found out that they only had six seats booked when they arrived at the domestic airport and had to stay in a hotel at Male and wait for flights the next day! The resort is run down, the restaurant is appalling. The food is covered in flies and the hygiene i.e using the same tongs for both cooked and uncooked meat is unacceptable. This is not an all inclusive resort. Three meals a day in one restaurant with no snacks, watered down drinks and no option to have a drink in your room unless you pay for the exortianate mini bar. The food was absolutely dire. We weren’t told until we arrived at the resort the the restaurant near the water villas was closed. This is still advertised as open by Blue Bay. It’s a ten minute walk to the restaurant from the water villas. There was no fruit bowl as advertised in our package on arrival. The butler service, turn down and chocolate never happened. I would not recommend this resort as we were extremely disappointed. The staff were pleasant, especially Arif in the bar who worked especially hard offering table service to 60 plus guests some evenings on his own with one other member of staff behind the bar. I wish we had changed resorts with Blue Bay but as Tripadvisor was 4.5 at the time of booking we thought it was going to be worth the extra flight but how wrong were we! I would score this as a 3* resort and that is being generous. I would look at other resorts and avoid this one.

We went as a family of 3 adults on 13 th March 2025 for 10 nights. We landed at Male airport on 14 th at 4.55 am where we were supposed to be met by representative from South Palms but he was not there. We asked other hotel reps who said he will come soon and asked us to wait or go to information desk. Information desk gave us resort’s phone number. Called resort they told us he will there soon. Finally rep showed up at 8 am whilst we waited in hot humid waiting area. There was no apology and he took us to domestic airport lounge and told us he will be back at 10.30 am to check us in flight to Gan. He did not show up at all so we went to check in at gate. Luckily there was airport manager who checked us for flight departing at 12 pm. Blue Bay do not provide any documents for transfer from Male to Gan! So after 25 hours journey we reached the resort. The resort is absolutely stunning but the management let it down. We were staying in beach villa which was basic but had everything you needed. The beds are rock hard I have returned with backache. The resort manager came to meet us in the evening because I had emailed Blue Bay because the trouble we had at arrival. The manager kindly offered to upgrade us to water villa or to pool villa but both of these were unsuitable to us. The water villa is nice but has no sun cover , the sun bed is for 2 people and the access to sea is unsuitable. The pool villa has pool with no seating area,the seating area is room with window and door with no view to sea or pool. The pool is also enclosed by walls on all 4 sides so no views. Not sure how is one able to relax on bean bags in a room with large window and no air in the stifling heat. The manager then offered us 2 bottles of J P Chenet bottles of wine. I had to sign a document which stated that “ by accepting these 2 bottles of wines I will not be claiming any compensation for the troubles we had on our arrival”.! This was demoralising and very petty. There is one restaurant at this resort it is huge with no air conditioning and few working fans. When we went for our dinner we were not allowed to seat to where we liked we were told that these were reserved and showed us to table with no fan above and not near a window. So we had our dinner because we were exhausted. Next day we asked for a better table and after tipping we were showed to a table of our choice. We have visited numerous hotels and resorts all over the world but have never experienced such behaviour where the resort staff stipulate where we can sit. These table was assigned to us for the rest of our stay. The restaurant has minimal choice of food where you can find something to eat. The food is not refilled, no one checks and when you ask it takes about 10 minutes for it to be refilled. Couple of times we were told they have run out! This was not near closing time either. The deserts is bare minimum, they never refill fruit. The fruit offered is either water melon or pineapple nothing else. Till our 8 th day we were not aware that they served ice cream, we were told by another guest! We asked our waiter at lunch why we have never been offered icecream. he just smiled. We felt racially prejudiced because we saw other guests sitting wherever they liked. Out of frustration my husband did speak to the restaurant manager and things improved slightly. On our last day we were sent a bill to settle before leaving so we went before dinner but at reception we were asked to come back after 8.30 pm? The reception is always empty. On our return we were escorted from the boat at Gan airport to be checked in and were told that the representative will at Male to take us to international airport at Male for our return flight obviously he was NOT there so from our previous experience we made our way to international airport. We were told that the resort is being bought by another company so hopefully there may be vast much needed improvements. Be prepared for long journey and don’t expect the resort to make any extra effort without any monetary benefits. I have made Blue Bay Travel aware of all the above, did get one response whilst there but nothing else after.