Constance Moofushi

We’ve just returned from our sixth Moofushi trip and it’s every bit as good as our previous visits, in some areas even better, so next year will see our seventh trip to this wonderful island. One area where we saw a real improvement; and next to the staff probably the most important asset for this resort, is the reef. Coral bleaching is an unfortunate fact of life across the world, but many of the Maldives resorts are actively fighting back against it, with Moofushi more than playing its part. They’ve planted 265 coral baskets over the last couple of years, with 100 more planned for the immediate future; and the reef here is showing definite signs of recovery. It’s great to see and the fish clearly approve, we saw even more this year than last, and last year we saw plenty. But the staff are, without doubt, this resort’s greatest asset and they always have been. We’ve been treated like royalty on every visit here from our first in 2015 right up to now, as is everyone who comes here. We were horrified to read a bruising review a few weeks ago, someone complaining about preferential treatment for some people and poor service for others (them). Nothing could be further from the truth here. In our experience, having spent nearly 100 days at Moofushi over the years, everyone is treated brilliantly. Indeed, the sad facts tend to be the other way around, some people feel they’re so entitled that the whole of the resort should focus on them and to hell with everyone else. How the staff here keep their dignified composure constantly amazes us, but they do. Lots of familiar faces this year and some very welcome new ones, with special mentions for: The wonderful Hassan, Food and Beverage Manager, Head Sommelier Madu and his team of Aime, Koko, Geeth and Maeva. Nestor, Hassan’s no 2, was great, as was Risham, Ranjith, Mohamed, Yaabe and James, all of whom made sure that everything ran smoothly in the restaurants, which it always did. Key to this were Maiz, Wasee, Shammu, Saif, Ammad, Al Amin, Ali, Najaa, Nizz, Yammu, Irufan, Riche and Rasheed. The delightful Gopan heads up a great team of bar staff; Ramu, Fonseka, Ushaan and the three ‘flair show’ experts; Praveen, Darma and Kuber. All great, they know your drink within a couple of days and never get it wrong. The lunch menu in the Totem Bar restaurant has improved yet again, more expansive with a wider choice; likewise in the Alizee a la carte restaurant. But the buffet still remains our preferred dining venue, simply because it gives us a headache every time we visit, that of deciding what we haven’t got room for on our plates! Chefs Daniel, Dilup, Sunup, Priyantha* and Indu have raised the bar across the resort by quite a margin; and it was excellent anyway, with standout support from Yogi, Yanti and Hossein, just three more of the superb chefs at this resort. (*Priyantha makes the best ice creams we’ve ever tasted, but he won’t divulge how….) And it’s great to see Dylan back, a professional DJ and producer who’s made a real difference to the entertainment options at the resort. Good job Dylan, well done. We’ve always had wonderful service and attention from our room boys and this year, Saffah, was simply exceptional. We couldn’t fault anything in the room. Always spotless, everything topped up, little extra touches here and there, which make such a difference. Indeed, on that front, one morning Mevin, the general manager, noticed that Anne had had an accident with her sunglasses, one of the arms had snapped off. Within an hour she had them back, fixed. Brilliant. One or two niggly things happened in the room, again; fixed, more or less instantly. That’s the sort of thing that sets Moofushi apart from other resorts. But, as in previous years, we leave our last thoughts for the unsung heroes of this place, the wonderful team of people who keep the whole island spotless. Two of them are Alamgir and Gopal, very quiet but never still, always tending to the island as if it were their own. And Majib, again quietly and diligently keeping the ‘other facilities’ of the island in tip top order. Two weeks flew by and we weren’t bored for a second. We loved every minute of it, not least because we never felt like visitors, more like houseguests. And perhaps this is why people return to Moofushi year after year. You’re not a visitor, you’re family. And, unlike some members of some families…..we all get on, famously.

Great place, went out of season and the weather lovely. Stayed in one of the rooms over the sea. We've stayed at Constance Halaveli before and one observation is at Halaveli there is a huge amount of sea life to see on the walk to the island. For whatever reason, there was not a lot of sealife under the walkway. Plenty of sealife out on the reef that surrounds the island and at night if you walk to the end of the jetty where the plane lands you can see a massive amount at night. It's a must do there. Staff are lovely. Food is great.

On arrival in Male we were met by a guest representative from the Constance group who immediately helped us collect and sort out baggage and unknown to us had arranged for us to be taken to their superb guest lounge while we awaited our transfer by seaplane to Moofushi. To our surprise we only had to wait 10 minutes as there was spare capacity on an early flight. The flight with Trans Maldivian Airways was superb and the early morning views across the ocean were stunning. After a 35 minute flight (we had to visit another island to drop passengers off) we landed on the waters surrounding Moofushi. Once again we were met by the fantastic Moofushi team who took us directly to the reception area. As ever this proved to be seamless and we were advised we could have access to our water bungalow (118) immediately. There is none of this "you cant have your room until 2pm" on Moofushi! After a personal welcome from Mevin Ramasamy the General Manager, we were taken to our bungalow. To say we were blown away is an understatement! It was quite simply stunning with a huge bed and every amenity you could possibly need....including the fantastic mini-bar!! The views from our walk-out decking/veranda were beautiful, and the sea accessible by a set of steps leading off from the veranda. At night the soundproofing is so good that you forget your sat in the middle of an ocean. I don't want to labour how good the Moofushi is...but it's in a class of it's own. The facilities are exemplary the staff are simply amazing, and by that I mean all the staff, waiters, chefs, cleaners, wine sommelier, groundsmen/women and management. The food in the main restaurant is outstanding, with a varied choice every single day. I spoke to the chefs on a daily basis and thanked them for all they did. The waiting staff are the most attentive and friendly we have ever met on our travels...and we could not praise them enough. The same can be said of the wine sommeliers and the bar staff....amazing...all of them. Our cleaner Janna was just the nicest man ever, and nothing was too much trouble for him. Our only negative, if it's a negative, is the rudeness of the Chinese guests, who treated the staff as though they were beneath them and their lack of manners (they clearly can't function without their mobile phones being on all the time!) is painful. In summary this island is the nearest thing to heaven without actually being at the pearly gates! It's beauty is unrivalled, the staff are superb, the food divine and the sea and the sand are heavenly. Thank you Moofushi.

This was our 8th visit to the Maldives, having been to various islands including Soneva Fushi and Komandoo previously, but wanted to try a new resort to celebrate my 60th. We have dealt with various tour operators over the years but were recommended to try Angelfish Travel, a family-run business, for a more personable experience by a friend of my wife's. I am very pleased we did. Clare and the team at Angelfish Travel were great. They are extremely knowledgeable on the Maldives, having personally visited many of the islands themselves, and provided us with an excellent, friendly service giving us advice and help on choosing a new resort to visit. The resort we chose eventually was Constance Moofushi and it was a delight and did not disappoint. The island had a wonderful 'Robinson Crusoe' rustic charm to it with a perfect relaxed vibe. We stayed for 14 nights in a Senior Water Villa which was spacious, light and airy with lovely rustic ocean themed decor. Dining was great in the Manta Ray restaurant with many choices of food, BBQ and daily international themed cuisine. The Totem Bar was also a delight having its own separate food menu with a relaxed vibe. We also dined twice in the Alizee Restaurant which was very nice. Service and staff were lovely and very attentive throughout the resort. The Cristal All Inclusive package was superb value and covered the vast majority of our food and drink (including a choice of a substantial number of quality wines recommended by the sommeliers to go with our meals). The villa mini bar fridge was also included with one daily replenishment. We went on a number of different excursions, mostly snorkelling, and were lucky enough to swim with Whale Sharks, Turtles, Reef Sharks to name but a few and had a particularly marvellous experience with a large group of Manta Rays in relatively shallow water. The Blue Tribe dive centre team on Moofushi were great organizing and guiding these trips. The 'House' reef itself was also very good with a few resident turtles, small reef sharks, eagle rays and lots more besides. We were so impressed with Moofushi that we cannot wait to return to the island same time next year. Thank you Angelfish Travel for finding us this wonderful little piece of paradise

We wanted somewhere special to holiday to celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary, and having never been to the Maldives before we decided to research places to stay. Fortunately for us, friends of ours had visited Constance Moofushi on 3 occasions and recommended the resort to us. From start to finish this holiday was up there as one of the very best. We arrived at Male Airport after a relaxed Emirates Business Class flight and were greeted in arrivals by a member of Constance staff who escorted us to the Constance lounge area where we could help ourselves to refreshments in comfort. The check in process was completed there and then we were taken to the Seaplane for flight to Moofushi Island. We were greeted warmly at the jetty at Constance Moofushi and given a private tour of the island by our host before arriving at our beautiful water villa, where our suitcases were waiting for us. The villa was spacious, the bed extremely comfortable, the shower perfect temperature, air con quiet and efficient and the view from our deck picture postcard perfect. We ate extremely well throughout our stay, twice at Alizee which was a la carte, and the huge buffet which had different theme nights and every choice you could imagine on offer every breakfast, lunch and dinner. We also had lunch at Totem Bar most days which is a la carte and beautifully presented in a gorgeous setting. All the staff we met during our stay were friendly and knew our names and our drink preferences from the very first day. Gopan, Ricky and Darma, in food and beverage - Ko Ko, Maeva, the Sommeliers and Mevin the Manager, were all oustanding in their service to us. I took my first snorkelling tuition with Mauro from Blue Tribe and was thrilled at how quickly I was able to enjoy seeing the underwater world beneath me, including a black tip reef shark, under his reassuring and expert guidance. The sunset cruise we took was complimentary and a beautiful excursion where we were fortunate to see dolphins swimming alongside our boat and jumping in the glow of the sun as it set on the ocean. We enjoyed the complimentary wine tasting and cocktail making in the lagoon and dancing barefoot in the Manta bar, then making our way back to our water villa, the night star glowing with stars and a clear view of the Milky Way above us as we crossed the boardwalk to bed. We treated ourselves to the couples massage at the Constance Spa, which was so excellent we booked for another before we departed for home. We had the most wonderful holiday on this most magical island and could not fault the customer service we received, the food, the drink, the entertainment, the laid back friendly ambience. Hope we get to return one day.