Jeeebus Family Travels to Maldives / Dubai (lots of pictures)

Jeeebus

Diamond Member
Aug 29, 2006
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Had this trip planned/booked for around a year - had no clue whether it would be cancelled outright or if Covid would magically be gone. Reality was somewhere in the middle as new variants were popping up and travel restrictions were getting tighter. In any event, the trip was a go. Flew Emirates business class from Miami to Dubai for the first part of our trip (Dubai). I've been around 4 times, but this was a first for the family. This was a busy week - Ski Dubai, Burj Khalifa, Ferrari World (theme park in Abu Dhabi with fastest roller coaster in the world), dune bashing, etc. We front loaded the activities as things would slow down in the Maldives....

It's difficult to describe how amazing the resort (Soneva Jani) was in the Maldives. We stayed in a 2-bedroom overwater villa that was around 4,500 sq. ft in size. Our neighbor for a few days was Justin Bieber and his wife who apparently last minute booked the 4 bedroom villa (which goes for about $30,000.00/night) and (I believe) around 10 other villas for their friends. My estimate is he was dropping at least $100,000/night. I was pleasantly surprised that Bieber is generally a quiet/nice guy. Only had a couple times that the friends got a little loud, but we're talking a few minutes if anything. Definitely could have stung a bit if we showed up for a relaxing family vacation and instead get a party.

This was not a cheap vacation by any stretch of the imagination, but it was much needed. Just got back this morning after 21 hours in the air (1 hour seaplane, 4 hours from Male to Dubai, and 16 hours from Dubai to Miami) (plus around 5-6 hours of sitting in airports), so running on fumes at this point. A few pics of the journey....

Best way to start a journey to the desert - at a gigantic indoor snow park.
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View from the 148th floor of the Burj Khalifa
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Dune bashing in the desert
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My son trying out sand boarding (surfing down the dunes). The kids would later take surfing lessons in the Maldives
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At a desert camp with a beautiful falcon
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Stayed at the Atlantis hotel on Palm Island, Dubai for a night (other nights at Conrad Dubai). Huge hotel with gigantic waterpark that the kids enjoyed for the day.
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Miracle Garden in Dubai. Cool place. Flowers/greenery everywhere.
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One of the many meals that contributed to my pants size increasing this trip. Dubai has some splendid restaurants. This was at Il Borro (an Italian restaurant with outdoor seating on a turtle lagoon)
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Visited Expo 2020 (world fair - first one in the Middle East)
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This is a crazy water wall at the Expo. Music by the Game of Thrones sound guy. Water comes cascading down and barely brushes over your feet on the bottom. A real sight to behold.
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Relaxing part of the trip begins. 4 hour Emirates flight to Male (capital of the Maldives). From there it's a 1 hour seaplane flight to Soneva Jani. First time on a seaplane. The resort is completely mask free as they require a negative PCR test to enter the country and then a test upon arrival with you being quarantined to your villa until the results come back. A week of normalcy with everyone isolated from the hysteria of new variants was definitely nice - getting 5 or so PCR tests in the span of a week - not super wonderful.

Quarantine not a problem. Ordered lunch and dinner for in-room dining and the kids enjoyed the lagoon/slide all day.
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Sunset
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This is the main restaurant at the resort called The Gathering. We were staying in the "Chapter 2" villas so pretty much all food/alcohol/activities was included. It's a sharp price increase, but paying for a family of 4 to eat and play at the prices they charge would probably have made up the difference. I don't think a lunch or dinner would be less than $400 - $500 for a family of 4 (without alcohol)
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The Crab Shack restaurant. Great place. From the menu, looks like lunch would be $175/person if not in the all-inclusive. Can't imagine I'd be eating there if that was the case.
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Appetizer at the Crab Shack
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Jeeebus

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Aug 29, 2006
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Part 2

Seafood platter at the Crab Shack
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Mud crab. First time having it. Pretty delicious.
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The spa. I have never done a spa treatment/massage, but what the hell, when in Rome... since it was included, I got a massage/spa treatment every day. For the most part, good stuff. And since this is ATOT, I will specify that no, there were no happy endings.
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One of the many highlights. Dinner at So Starstruck - the resort has the largest telescope in the Maldives and dinner is hosted by a visiting astronomer who showed us various planets, the moon, etc. Kids absolutely loved it. Dinner was again excellent.
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One of the many beaches on the island
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Sunset on the patio of our villa
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Dinner and a movie.
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The night sky over the villa
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Went for an early morning bike ride around the island. Stumbled across a green turtle that got lost trying to make her way back to the ocean. They have an on-site marine biologist who I managed to track down and an hour later she was back in the water.
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Winding dock that leads to a pier from which you can take a boat to both sides of the island.
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Our villa when you first walk in
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The master bedroom
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Outdoor shower/tub. Definitely my preferred place to shower during the trip.
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Jeeebus

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Aug 29, 2006
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Part 3

The master bedroom has a retractable roof so you can watch the stars at night. All by the push of a button.
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upstairs at the villa
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the upstairs bedroom
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view from upstairs
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One of very few resorts in the Maldives with a water slide attached to the villa. Kids loved it. I had a blast going down too.
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Having a private pool was nice.
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View of the villa from the water
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More food
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Their organic garden. All of the salad and other produce is grown on island.
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Not a lot of wildlife on the island, but plenty of fruit bats.
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Chef cooking up our tomahawk steak for our last night dinner. Was the best dinner we had - essentially private. Just us on the beach with live music under the stars.
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Overall an amazing vacation with too many memories to list.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
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Holy crap! That must have been some trip! So this is how 1%er travel and live. :p

Thanks for sharing. I envy your memories.
 

bbhaag

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2011
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Looks amazing man! What a wonderful time for your family to enjoy.

Did you bring back any rare or exotic seeds? I know you are a gardener like me so I have to ask.:)
 
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Hoober

Diamond Member
Feb 9, 2001
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Looks incredible, Jeebus. Assume you'd recommend that resort in the Maldives if you were to go back? We've been looking at a trip out there.
 

nisryus

Senior member
Sep 11, 2007
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Wow I am speechless! Glad you and the family had a great trip.

Now this makes me want to sell my house and go on a vacation.
 

TheVrolok

Lifer
Dec 11, 2000
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Awesome pictures! This was on my list before kids but didn't get around to it, definitely higher on the list now for when they kids are a little older and we could manage the flight.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
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Looks nice and I definitely want to hit up the Maldives at some point.

You do any diving or fishing out there?
 

Jeeebus

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Aug 29, 2006
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Did you bring back any rare or exotic seeds? I know you are a gardener like me so I have to ask.:)

Nope. Only fruit they grow on the island is banana (I have plenty) and passionfruit (which is not an edible type except for the bats). The bulk of fruit is imported from Sri Lanka or India.

Hoober said:
Looks incredible, Jeebus. Assume you'd recommend that resort in the Maldives if you were to go back? We've been looking at a trip out there.

It was a fantastic resort. The experiences were unique and the villa really has no comparison. We did guided snorkling with 2 marine biologists, surfing lessons, dinner with an astronomer, had our own private "barefoot butler," etc. I would definitely recommend it, but if you asked me whether the price was worth it, that's a harder question to answer. It's hard for me to justify what we spent, especially considering that fantastic resorts exist a hell of a lot closer to home that would cost significantly less. Even in the Maldives, we could have stayed at something like the Conrad Maldives or Park Hyatt for around $1,500 - $2,000/night and I'm sure had a great time. But you only live once and we'll have these memories forever.

purbeast0 said:
You do any diving or fishing out there?

Just snorkling. Didn't have time to get dive certified and the only fishing they have is local reef fishing. No real fishing vessels as it's pretty remote. Saw a bunch of fish I wouldn't mind catching though.
 

Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
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You know .... I WASN'T hungry prior to clicking this thread! :mad:


;)


Looks like a great time and some awesome pics thanks! :D

(reminds me I'm SERIOUSLY past due for a REAL vacation myself!)
 
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Geekbabe

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www.theshoppinqueen.com
Nope. Only fruit they grow on the island is banana (I have plenty) and passionfruit (which is not an edible type except for the bats). The bulk of fruit is imported from Sri Lanka or India.



It was a fantastic resort. The experiences were unique and the villa really has no comparison. We did guided snorkling with 2 marine biologists, surfing lessons, dinner with an astronomer, had our own private "barefoot butler," etc. I would definitely recommend it, but if you asked me whether the price was worth it, that's a harder question to answer. It's hard for me to justify what we spent, especially considering that fantastic resorts exist a hell of a lot closer to home that would cost significantly less. Even in the Maldives, we could have stayed at something like the Conrad Maldives or Park Hyatt for around $1,500 - $2,000/night and I'm sure had a great time. But you only live once and we'll have these memories forever.



Just snorkling. Didn't have time to get dive certified and the only fishing they have is local reef fishing. No real fishing vessels as it's pretty remote. Saw a bunch of fish I wouldn't mind catching though.

From the sounds of all the covid tests & your limited exposure to throngs of people, it was worth it just to keep your family safer ❤️
 
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kage69

Lifer
Jul 17, 2003
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The boat ride from Male to the island we stayed on was pretty rough, and at night. Didn't go well for many onboard. Watching so many people get really scared and toss their cookies was the only bad part of the trip though. The Maldives probably had the best diving and snorkeling I've seen anywhere. Ever. The food and hospitality were top notch as well. Looks like the place has only gotten better since I was there, wow. Nice accommodations.

I'd like to go back, give my kids their own Maldives memories.

Nice pics Jeebus, thanks. You do any fishing while there? Edit: oop I see nm
 
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Jeeebus

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Aug 29, 2006
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The boat ride from Male to the island we stayed on was pretty rough, and at night. Didn't go well for many onboard. Watching so many people get really scared and toss their cookies was the only bad part of the trip though. The Maldives probably had the best diving and snorkeling I've seen anywhere. Ever. The food and hospitality were top notch as well. Looks like the place has only gotten better since I was there, wow. Nice accommodations.

I'd like to go back, give my kids their own Maldives memories.

Nice pics Jeebus, thanks. You do any fishing while there? Edit: oop I see nm


What resort did you stay at? The seaplanes don't fly at night (I assume landing at night is iffy), and a boat ride to our resort (Soneva Jani) would have been around 3 hours (I think). There was a speedboat on the island that takes you from one end to the other. Took a few nighttime boat rides and even that was sketchy as they have all sort of boats docked in between, rocks, pilings, etc., none of which are lit up.
 

Jeeebus

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Aug 29, 2006
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i was trying to estimate the price tag on this trip based on the pictures, but eventually my brain experienced an integer overflow error
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It wasn't... cheap. That said, at least the plane tickets weren't out-of-pocket as we used around 900,000 points (ridiculous, I know) for the business class tickets on Emirates (roundtrip Miami to Dubai to Male). Hotels in Dubai were not tremendously expensive at the time of booking (back in April), though they shot up 4x the price as the date got closer. Seaplane transfers alone are around $1,000/person in the Maldives, but they were included within the rate for the resort (if you stay in Chapter 2 which is the all-inclusive side). I'll politely refrain from providing the per-day rate for the villa as it was obscene. That said, it's probably on their website anyway as you can book the rooms online.
 
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brianmanahan

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Sep 2, 2006
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It wasn't... cheap. That said, at least the plane tickets weren't out-of-pocket as we used around 900,000 points (ridiculous, I know) for the business class tickets on Emirates (roundtrip Miami to Dubai to Male). Hotels in Dubai were not tremendously expensive at the time of booking (back in April), though they shot up 4x the price as the date got closer. Seaplane transfers alone are around $1,000/person in the Maldives, but they were included within the rate for the resort (if you stay in Chapter 2 which is the all-inclusive side). I'll politely refrain from providing the per-day rate for the villa as it was obscene. That said, it's probably on their website anyway as you can book the rooms online.

well there's definitely worse ways to spend money! and the kids are old enough that they'll remember it forever.

i'm tempted to do something like this someday. right now i spend %10 of my gross income and save the rest. been doing that for 3 or 4 years now. no vacations, no hobbies anymore. just main job work and side job work. (oh and posting on ATOT!)

maybe after a few more years like that, i'll spend some of that money on a once-in-a-lifetime resort trip.

of course i better get in way better shape before i ever consider staying at a place where people take their shirts off!
 
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