A Great New Category In The Maldives

Lily Beach, Robinson Club and Centara Grand are the others in this new category (although Lily Beach may be considered five star). What unites them is the ease that comes over a resort where everyone has everything ‘free’. For guests, there are no tensions about extras, however many they might have or at whatever time they might want them. For staff, the feeling they get off guests at ease is given back to them in happy conversation, help and service.

What primarily distinguishes Constance Moofushi from the others is its French Overseas style, as delivered by this experienced, top-end Mauritian company. There is an accent on fine food and drink delivered with white-clad, attentive service. There is an elegance to the whole resort yet, at the same time, it has a cool beach-traveller look and feel. It may be stretching it to invoke the location Louis Vuitton adverts but the idea comes to mind, particularly when you see that very style of trunk in use as wardrobes and drawers in the bedrooms.

The Beach Bar

The Beach Bar is the totem of the place. It’s cool, like the bar you would choose on a long stretch of beach with many alternatives. Trunks of wood for seats at the counter under thatch where conversation and wit get together to pass a little time in the shade. On the sunlit sand are low slung seats and more trunks, now length-wise, levelled-off and used for tables, long and short. As dusk falls the mood changes, candle lamps come out and reflection and soft words take over.

The premium in the all-inclusive means there are no compromises on the quality and variety of the buffets. Reacting to any changes in the nationality and preferences of new arrivals, the executive chef and his team do a remarkable job in pleasing everyone. And then there are the three sommeliers. One for the specialty restaurant (Alizee, on the beach) and two for the main buffet restaurant. They do a great job guiding diners to good wines to augment the enjoyment of each course. One can pay for a special wine or champagne but with over 150 labels included, most guests are more than satisfied.

Other Activities

There are no motorised watersports here and everything available is included, except for the catamarans. Further free activities are the gym with personal trainer and both aerobics and yoga with another expert. It is notable, however, that there is just one excursion included in the deal.

The housereef was a wondrous place a few years ago. Sadly bleaching events followed by construction work has meant the coral life is only fair, with very good patches. History suggests it will come back to its former glory over time. Having said that, it is still better than many a resort right now, it’s just that I remember it as so impressive before. The fish life is still very good and the reef is accessible from the beach and the water villas.

The Beach

This is a very small island, the interior is attractive and mature but guests are guided around the perimeter. Happily, the beaches are fantastic. There are two huge bulges of lovely fine sand and just one small area of unnoticeable low island wall by the ‘garden lounge’, where a platform for sun loungers is placed.

One of the beach areas extends out behind the original water villas. The decks of these villas have steps down to the lagoon yet their entrance is from a jetty above the beach. It is the best of both worlds for many Europeans. An extension of this jetty houses the new Senior Water Villas. These are more distant for privacy and a little larger, with a bath tub, and finer decorative details and amenities. A second jetty with all Senior Water Villas entirely over water is a favourite with the Asian clientele, who come mainly in the low season months.

The Resort Style

The rooms are built and decorated as the whole resort is: a modern interior design blended with rustic wood, rope, wicker and weave under thatch. It’s a lovely combination, both stylish and uplifting but warm and comforting too. That is not to say it is five or six star deluxe stuff. But the tv, entertainment and information system is the best around. Constance Halaveli has the same thing. It is based on free wifi, a mini mac and an intuitive one handset device.

The all-inclusive price puts the initial holiday cost higher than that of Constance Halaveli (and other five star resorts) but at the end of the holiday your bill is considerably less. Less or more, it is the highly trained, always willing and unusually happy staff that make sure this a truly great resort.

Review written 14 July 2011