ROBINSON Club Maldives

Spent two weeks on the island and we were the only British couple staying the whole time ( they was also one lady from U.K.) the island is very well cared for, the reef was not in a good condition with not a great number of fish to see. My main complaint is that apart from snorkelling the main reason I holiday in the Maldives is to enjoy the local cuisine. The executive Chef was German and the majority of the food offered was European. Hardly any of the spicy meat and vegetarian curries I usually enjoy. The accommodation was good apart from the rusting bath but being outside must make it difficult to keep the bath shining. All the staff though were great, friendly and hard working, especially the bar staff. Maybe it is all of the Maldives that is suffering from reef bleaching or , like the previous review we have been trying to find a better reef each time we go to the islands but failing miserably ( my favourite was Kuredu but we went there about 10 years ago, maybe that reef isn’t so good anymore)

First things first. On an absolute scale, this resort is very pleasant indeed. For those who have never been to the Maldives before (and this seemed to be the majority of guests at RC), I’m sure most must have thought it an unparalled paradise. For us, this was our fifth visit; each time we went to a new island. The first we thought unbeatable… until we went to the second, then the third. And fourth. Of the five, RC comes last. For this, I must say, I blame myself at least partly. Let me explain. Friends of ours with young kids had been to RC in 2013 (also their first Maldives trip) and they had raved about it, and shown very enticing pictures of the reef (snorkeling is our primary reason for visiting the Maldives). Since this time, and unbeknownst to me, RC had become “adult” only (no one under 14); as a consequence, our 16-year old twins felt distinctly teenagey there! More importantly, however, was that I had failed to understand the significance of “Club” in “Robinson Club”. This holiday club approach was not really for us. The laid-back atmosphere of the other island we'd visited was definitely absent and replaced with regular events, live music, etc, etc. There was never-ending (and forever repeating) music playing just a little too loudly in the background everywhere near the public areas. So, to summarize this aspect, it simply wasn’t our thing, though I get why others might love it. Next, the beach and reef quality. The beaches were in excellent conditions, with only a very short stretch of 10 to 20 m of sand bags at one point. We were positioned at a point where at high tide the beach was barely a meter wide, but that was fine for us, as it allowed immediate access to the reef. For those occupying a beach villa, the numbers 1320 to 1332 might be preferable if sunbathing is your thing. Access to the reef was excellent with many access channels distributed thoughtfully around the island. The reef itself, though, was a sorry sight to see – 90% bleached and certainly not the colorful display shown me in 2013! The fauna was more promising, though there were no large shoals of fish like we experienced elsewhere (apart from a regular huge parade of parrotfish, which was truly a wonder to behold!) In general, the fauna were less interesting than we had experienced before, but this could definitely be due in part to the general decline in health of the corals in the Maldives since we were last here three years back. Still, despite all this, there was still plenty enough for me to put together an interesting seven-minute YouTube video! One last comment about the beach and reef – I was incensed by the regularity with which we could see guests trampling all over the corals – I’m sure the staff must also have observed this, but no action was taken as far as I could see to stop it, despite theoretical warnings given to all guests when they arrived. It takes your standard coral a couple of years to grow even a centimeter, so such repeated vandalism will denude the reef in RC sooner or later. The food. RC obtains consistently excellent reviews for its food in tripadvisor. After a couple of days of being really rather disappointed by the offerings, this confused me, though now I think I understand it. The majority of guests are German, and the cuisine reflects this – the food is labelled first in German (no problem, I speak the lingo) and there is a bias towards westernized meat and carb dishes with a German slant. This went down very well with most of the guests. For our family, however (except my carnivore twins) the food seemed notably inferior to the four other islands we have visited. My other child is vegan, and was thrilled to come across the RC website extolling their vegan credentials. The reality however is that the selection is exceedingly limited and contains almost no protein. Alarmingly, the difference between vegan and vegetarian had to be explained more than once to the kitchen staff. Also, unless specifically requested to use little or no oil, the vegan offerings were consistently very oily. Even when my daughter pointed this out, about 50% of the time the chef preparing the meal would either ignore this or simply didn’t understand… Probably my daughter was the only vegan there (get used to more coming soon is all I can say, however!) so I understand that preparing an individual meal for one person at a buffet is time-consuming. I simply feel that the website about this is at best misleading. More minor niggles. The minibars in the rooms were unstocked, so if you wanted a bottle of wine or a G+T on the veranda, you had to call room service and pay very high prices. This seemed small-minded for a five-star resort all-inclusive package, and was not something we’d experienced elsewhere. The bathrooms in the villas were a little run down with fittings rusting and coming loose in many places. The parasols on the edge of the beach were also very dilapidated. Small things, but they add up. The upper management could come across as being a little imperious with the lower-echelon staff, in particular the non-European ones. We were told by one or two staff that they were obliged under threat of being otherwise sacked to perform additional tasks outside their job description that could make their working day in excess of 16 hours. Whether this was either true or widespread, I cannot really say, but one wonders why such a fiction would be disseminated… On the other hand, most of the staff were really genuinely friendly, although just a few were distinctly less so, particularly one or two of the serving staff at the buffet. Some of the German staff were indeed almost overbearingly friendly, though I attributed this to the club atmosphere. They even asked to sit with guests at lunch and dinner as a gesture to improve staff-guest intimacy. Again, this is something you either like or don’t. In summary, imagine an alien coming down to earth. The first thing he encounters is a guy in a VW Passat, who takes him for a thrilling ride. Zorgon Beetlejuice is overwhelmed with the beauty, speed, and grace of this earthly transport. RC is a Passat.

We spent a glorious five lazy days here soaking up the sun. The overwater bungalows with pool on the deck are relatively new, very comfortable, clean and well-appointed. We had direct access to the crystal clear ocean from our room, with an abundance of sealife to snorkel above, on the “house reef.” The main restaurant food was delicious with great variety daily. WiFi signal in the rooms worked well. The staff is very friendly and attentive. The only reason I don’t give this place five stars is because it had so many “extra” charges for an all-inclusive resort—things which have been included in many other all-inclusives we’ve enjoyed—such as kayak use and other non-motorized water sports; stocking the room fridge with sodas/juices (they only provide water), or having any sort of alcohol in the room (free at the bar, but outrageously priced to enjoy it on our back deck from our private pool). There is also a shortage of beach chairs for those in bungalows who wish to laze on the beach—and those relaxing spots are no where near the only open bar. The initial resort communication with us about inter-island transport from Male was slow/poor, but it went quite smoothly. One other big plus is that they routinely fog the island, and so we managed to go without a mosquito bite for the whole week—I’d add a half star back for that alone!