The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands

Our recent stay at The Ritz Carlton Maldives was truly fantastic! Even though it was monsoon season and we got two rainy days during our stay, we still enjoy it so much! The rooms, apart from their stunning beauty, are super functional and really designed to let you enjoy every aspect of your outside space, from a hidden outside shower, to the amazing infinity pool, to the platform where you can sunbathe just a few inches from the sea water! However, what made our experience memorable was the outstanding service provided by Ford, our Arhis Meeha! From the beginning, he went above and beyond to make sure that we would enjoy our trip at our best by organising plenty of thoughtful surprises throughout our stay! Not to mention every time we were with him, we managed to spot lots of sea creatures around the island: a shark, a graceful sea turtle and even a super cute manta ray! Thanks again to Ford and all the staff at the Ritz Carlton for making our stay memorable!

To say that this is a luxury resort with great service is underselling it. The physical property and location are obviously superb, but it is the absolutely incredible service that made this trip truly remarkable. From the time we walked through baggage claim at MLE until the time our RC porter bid us farewell (after escorting us through the first level of security, the check-in process, and all the way to the final security check), we were made to feel like true VIPs. No detail too small, and no requests too big. Our Aris Meeha (butler), Alina, was such a rockstar!! She always made sure we had what we needed, that every preference was met and noted, and she surprised us with treats and other thoughtful acts on a near daily basis. Alina seemed to anticipate our every need and, like a magician, seemed to always be right around the corner to cart us around or guide us through the many onsite activities. My wife and I have been fortunate to stay at a few amazing luxury resorts, but Alina, and the rest of the service team, made this the most memorable of experiences. The villas are spacious and modern (automated controls, plentiful USB ports, gorgeous LED lighting, etc.), and very well appointed. We enjoyed a couple of hours at the impressive overwater spa located in the center of the ring of villas. Once again, the quality of the service and expert attention to detail made it worth every penny. All of the restaurants are terrific, but we really enjoyed being ferried to the nearby island of RC’s sister property and having lunch at the food trucks and an outstanding dinner at Arabesque. The overall quality of the food from the breakfast buffet, to lunch at the Beach Shack, to the in-room dining, was absolutely top notch! I could go on and on, but needless to say, we could not recommend this property highly enough.

What can I say but WOW, WOW, WOW! I stayed at the Ritz Carlton in late June for my honeymoon...and I was blown away every minute of every day! What was the common thread you may ask??? It was the people...everyone of them from the moment we met the arrival team at the airport until we saw them again upon departure...EVERY single person, every single one was there with a smile on their face with a mission to provide amazing service. I'm not kidding when I say every one. The did everything in their power, and they are empowered to take care of every guest, to make sure that we had the BEST experience! I have worked in the hospitality industry for 39 years and this is so rare...and it was abundantly and consistently clear that everyone on the team, from top to bottom, is there to please and delight guests. The resort is built to the highest of standards. We stayed in a sunset overwater villa...and it was spectacular!!! Spacious, high quality finishes with the privacy we wanted on our honeymoon but just a short bike ride from everything. The pictures online do not do the resort justice. Ownership has invested the money necessary to build the resort so every vantage point highlights the location, the incredibly blue water and the remote nature of the resort. World class in every respect! But the people are what really make a difference...it starts with the team that greets you at the Male Airport...the biggest smiles and the biggest welcome lead by Shareem. He was the first person we met and the last person we saw before leaving the Maldives and he and his service set the tone for a 6 star, not 5 star experience. We boarded a yacht and embarked with another group of guests to the resort. Upon arrival we were greeted by our private butler Maryam! Her smile during every moment of our stay was 1 million watt. EVERY request was met with pleasure and a genuine eagerness to please us! The hotel does not have a front desk and she was key to making our dream honeymoon come true...and she came through with flying colors!!! She made sure we knew where to be, when to be there and what kind of amazement we were in for! Maryam made our trip amazing and set a new high bar for luxury hotel service...Thank you Maryam! I hope our paths cross again soon. Our interfaces with the guest experience manager, Rafath, were amazing as well. While Maryam set the tone for our stay from the moment we arrived, everyone bent over backwards to provide world class service. Highlights of our trip were a private beach dinner with Chef Anthony, massages at the spa, snorkeling, cocktail making class with Sunny at Eau Bar, stand up paddle boarding at the beach and just hanging out in the villa. The resort has many activities you can interact with other guests or you can stay by yourself. We started everyday with breakfast at La Locanda...what a treat...an amazing global breakfast buffet with service to match...the servers there suggested things to accompany my breakfast I never even thought of...Shout out to Grace, Naseem, and Shafraz for alway starting our day with a smile and great conversations. We enjoyed lunch a few days at the Beach Shack which had a great selection of more casual choices and had the pleasure of being served by Cake...and he wowed us every time! Every night at sunset, the resort has a ceremony at Bar Eau to say goodbye to one day as the sunsets. An amazing, can't miss experience. We had the pleasure of getting to know one of the Bar Eau supervisors, Hishu, who is an absolutely amazing person and one of the STARS of the Bar Eau experience...he always went out of his way to take care of us, suggest new drinks and make us feel very, very welcome. His team was stellar...Sunny (as already mentioned) was awesome and fun, Eresta the bar tender always wanted to wow us and have a fun conversation, Jai who was in bar tender training is ready for his moment, and Enie was also so fun and engaging. We enjoyed dinners at all of the outlets and they were all world class. We had the opportunity to meet the General Manager, Renato, at an Bonvoy Elite member cocktail party and it is clear that the tone of excellence and kindness is set at the top. Keep up the amazing job! You may have read that resort is expensive...it is. However, the extreme levels of service, quality food and beverage product, and the high quality of every experience more than warrants the price. We are already planning our trip back!!! I mentioned a number of key staff members in my review but we sincerely want to thank every member of the team! We will be back!!! Sorry for the delay in posting this review...our honeymoon went on for another three weeks afterward. Best, Andrew & Lucas

This place is perfect in every way imaginable. I'd go as far as to say that this is the best Ritz-Carlton property in the world AND one of the best resorts in the world, period. The initiative of my review is to write, in very great detail, everything potential bookers want to know about this property, so prepare yourself for a lengthy review. I'd also like to clarify that although this property is "perfect," there remains some room to make it even MORE perfect, hence why I'll leave some suggestions for improvement at the end. Additionally, throughout this review, I'll be using the term "Aris Meeha," which is the equivalent of a personal butler at The Ritz-Carlton Maldives. In the words of Forbes, "Aris Meeha" is the "local Dhivehi term for an attendant to the royal family." There's quite a few things to cover so I'll go through the following in sequential order: the general experience from start to finish, hard product (villas, bicycles, etc.), soft product (service, food, etc.), location, activities, room for improvement (suggestions), and final thoughts. 1. The General Experience After baggage claim at Malé-Velana International Airport, our hands were immediately freed from any further work. We were met by a Ritz-Carlton airport Aris Meeha who already knew us by name and took care of all the formalities. She led us to our speedboat which was very comfortable and had fast onboard Wi-Fi along with some cold towels, snacks, and water. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a mixed group of staff and management, more cold towels, and passion fruit juice. Unsurprisingly at this point, they also knew our names. Soon after, we were introduced to our main Aris Meeha, Arafath, who took us on a tour around the island and escorted us to our villa. Instead of a standard front-desk check-in, guests at The Ritz-Carlton Maldives are checked-in within the villas themselves. Arafath also shared his WhatsApp so we could contact him at any time. We had breakfast at La Locanda, complementary mocktails/cocktails from our Marriott Titanium Status at Beach Shack, lunch at Arabesque, and dinner at Summer Pavilion, La Locanda, and EAU Bar. The food was consistently excellent across all the restaurants, but our favorites were lunch at Arabesque, breakfast at La Locanda, dinner at La Locanda, and the drinks at Beach Shack. We didn't get the opportunity to try dinner at Arabesque, but I'm sure it's great. In terms of activities, most of the time we simply swam around our villa and within our villa's own pool. However, we also did jet skiing and shark snorkeling at a nearby reef drop-off. Both were incredibly fun. Our departure was also fully taken care of by the hotel. Surprisingly, instead of the speedboat, we were upgraded to The Ritz-Carlton Yacht which was much more luxurious than the speedboat. It even had on-board showers and bedrooms! Upon arrival at the airport's dock, another airport Aris Meeha guided us through initial security all the way through check-in until we finally waved goodbye at outbound customs. 2. The Hard Product (Villas, Bicycles, etc.) The hard product throughout was fantastic. The villas were extremely modern and well-designed. Our overwater villa boasted Aman-level minimalism, which makes sense considering that the resort was designed by Kerry Hill: an architect who designed numerous Aman properties. The infrastructure and architecture throughout the rest of the island were also excellent. Internet throughout was consistent and fast, which is quite an accomplishment for a remote island in the Maldives. Additionally, bicycles were provided for each villa. Although not the best quality, they were more than adequate for swiftly getting around the island. On a more unfortunate note, The Ritz-Carlton Maldives is an artificial island, which means the beaches and on-site snorkeling aren't the best, but we didn't find this to be a huge issue. The beaches, although not great in the context of the Maldives, are still miles better than most places in the world, and the resort offers off-site snorkeling excursions for a much better snorkeling experience. 3. The Soft Product (Service, Food, etc.) Service was excellent in every way imaginable. Everyone on the island knew our names on day one. When walking or biking past staff on the sand road, they will put their right hand over their heart in acknowledgement. Most resort butlers elsewhere are mainly for show. At The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, this isn't the case. Our Aris Meeha, Arafath, was our main connection to the resort. He helped us arrange everything, ranging from dinner reservations to reserving activities to giving us buggy rides when requested. He was always a WhatsApp message away and always seemed available for us, despite having to assist four to five villas simultaneously. He truly went above and beyond. Our villa attendant, Ahusan, was also perfect. He came twice a day: once in the morning/afternoon for housekeeping and once at night for turndown service. Ahusan timed it so that he entered our villa whenever we were out for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. This alone goes to show the level of communication amongst the staff at this resort. Every night, he'd leave some chocolates, goodies, or other surprises, like writing "goodnight" with sand next to our front door. One night, I was biking along the boardwalk but struggled to find my villa because the villas all looked alike and the villa number labels weren't clear. Ahusan approached me, knew exactly who I was, by name, and guided me to my villa. Service doesn't end at the resort itself either. It extends all the way to the airport. Our hands were completely free from arrival to departure. Even on our departure date, we did little to no work until we were past outbound customs because our airport Aris Meeha took care of everything. Both airport Aris Meehas made going through the airport incredibly quick and efficient. In terms of food, as I stated above, all of the restaurants had great food (special mentions for Arabesque and La Locanda). Additionally, all non-alcoholic items within the in-villa minibar were free and restocked daily! The nuts and truffle chips were absolutely delicious. Due to our Titanium Elite status, upon arrival, the resort left some chocolates, fruits, and Champagne in our villa as a welcome gift. Upon checking, the complementary bottle of Champagne retailed for $200. The in-villa amenities were also outstanding. Toothbrushes, combs, and shaving kits were all provided in addition to Bamford-branded soaps and lotions. 4. Location Personally, I'm a fan of the location because it's accessible by boat whilst also being far enough to create a sense of remoteness. However, this is completely subjective. 5. Activities Truth be told, there's really not much to do in the Maldives other than sit around and relax with the addition of some water activities here and there. The Ritz-Carlton has a list of endless activities, ranging from cooking to yoga to boxing to snorkeling to diving and the list goes on. Although The Ritz-Carlton seemingly offers a ton of activities, only so many of them are water-related. Personally, I'd only go for the water activities because that's the whole point of going to the Maldives; I'm not particularly interested in learning how to cook or box because I can do that anywhere. But again, my opinion on this is completely subjective. We opted for jet skiing and shark snorkeling, both of which we thoroughly enjoyed. 6. Room for Improvement (Suggestions) This property is as close to perfect as any resort can get, but I have some suggestions to make it even more perfect. - A minor construction flaw I noticed was with the villa's outdoor shower. Technically speaking, the angle of the wooden planks should make it so it's impossible for neighbors to see into the shower area. However, upon experimenting with my own neighbor's villa, at some specific points of the villa (near the pool and most parts down the staircase), I had a direct line of sight into my neighbor's outdoor shower. This isn't a huge deal because 99% of the time, your neighbors won't be out on their deck when you're showering, but in the 1% that they are, things gets awkward very quickly. There's no quick and easy way to fix this, so perhaps during a future renovation, this flaw can be addressed. - The villa number labels for the overwater villas are quite small and difficult to see. Additionally, they're located flat on the boardwalk/ground, which makes it near impossible for cyclists who want to maintain speed to see them. Adding vertical signage like the villas on the island would be much better. - Many times, my feet were covered in sand upon walking into my overwater villa. Overwater villas should have foot washes. I may be incorrect so take this with a grain of salt, but I believe the beach villas have foot washing bowls. This makes sense because they're located on sandy areas, but guests in overwater villas also have to walk through sandy locations throughout the resort, so adding foot washes to the overwater villas would be highly beneficial. The only issue is that it's quite difficult to carry foot wash bowls all the way to the overwater villa section of the resort, and daily refills would also be a hassle, so perhaps in a future renovation, this can be addressed by adding foot wash faucets near the front doors of the villas. - Add a holding lounge somewhere near the dock at the airport. This way, if one of the speedboats or yachts experiences a delay, guests have a comfortable air-conditioned area to stay in. - Add an air-conditioned holding area at the resort. Our villa wasn't ready upon arrival, so we had to wait in a hot and humid area for quite a bit of time. This isn't a huge deal, but it would be much nicer to have an air-conditioned holding area. 7. Final Thoughts The Ritz-Carlton Maldives is truly a one-of-a-kind resort. This resort is as perfect as it gets. If you're considering booking this resort and you're trying to decide between multiple resorts, I assure you that you cannot go wrong with The Ritz-Carlton Maldives.

This is our third trip to Maldives and we decided to try Ritz Carlton. We were picked up in a Yatch from Male Airport and whisked to our resort on Fari Island. Mitzi one of the crew members was simply amazing and took great care of us in the Yatch. Upon arrival Marie from the rooms department greeted our family with her beautiful warm smile. We were introduced to our private butler, Aramaday who took great care of us during our stay. Everything was a ‘yes’ for our family and he played a great role in making our stay even more memorable. We had booked two lagoon Villas since we were traveling with the family. 320 and 321 both were amazing. Best villas ever !! Even though our stay was short just 2 nights; we ate great breakfast, dinner at Arabisque and Summer Pavillon. Lunch was at Beach Shak.All were excellent. Aako helped my family with water sports and was super helpful. We’re now looking forward to returning in the not so distant future. Thank you team at Ritz Carlton Maldives !!