Soneva Fushi

So if there was one place in the world that I would rather be, it will forever be Soneva Fushi. From the charming, gentle and thoughtful staff, to the beautiful, authentic villas and lush surroundings, there is nowhere quite like it . The airport lounge gives a glimpse into what pleasures lie ahead, lovely nibbles, massage and compression leggings to ease the symptoms of a long flight. Our lovely barefoot guardian, Adonia, was super fantastic! We never felt awkward requesting anything ( which we have felt previously in other places) and she thought of everything before we even knew that was what we wanted! Truly, she made our time here amazing. The food here is sublime, great quality and created with great skill and thought. We loved the evenings where all the chefs had a cooking station and you could wander around, just picking what you fancy. Great for experimenting new flavours! We had a family Villa for 4 adults on the sunset side, so much space and we loved it…although the new Crusoe 2 beds tour left us breathless…. Next time! We really don’t mind the view of the local island, ( nor did the dolphins that pass by in the channel between!) but I can appreciate some won’t want that. The beautiful beach more than compensates, and we enjoyed the views of Out of the Blue and out of the Sea in the distance. Shout out to all the beautiful restaurants staff, I’m so bad with names, but they were all, without exception, outstanding! They remembered our names, what we liked etc, the spa staff, Josiah the Chinese doctor is highly recommended. I have a thing about lovely loos… and Fushi has beautiful toilets, all with a view!!! Check out was flawless and easy.. so sad to leave, but the consulation was a 2 night trip on Soneva in Aqua on the way to Jani…buts that’s another review for another day! To sum up, Soneva Fushi..you have our hearts! Check in and out was seamless, very sad to l Shout to Adonia,

Soneva Fushi is special! We stopped in a sunrise overwater villa, & it was excellent... & HUGE The water slide is a lovely touch... But we used it twice in a week... However the study, bedroom, deck, pool & bathroom are all incredible spaces. The food is excellent (would strongly recommend Out of the Blue), & breakfast is always special. This is NOT a cheap island to book, but once you're there, prices are very comparable with most other Maldivian resorts. Service superb throughout. If you only get to go to the Maldives once - Then this is the one to pick.

What a treat Soneva was. We came for a few nights as part of our honeymoon. Complete paradise, it's exactly what you dream it to be. We loved our villa on the beach, it was really nice to have direct access to the shore line. We went snorkelling most morning's and evenings - so many fish! We had dinner one night at So Bespoke which was a highlight, a Japanese meal was made in front of us while we watched the sunset. The ice-cream / chocolate room was also a big highlight, this was open to enjoy at our leisure. I highly recommend the guided snorkelling. They take you on a boat out to see and you'll get to snorkel at a reef out in the middle of the ocean, we saw turtles, 1000's of beautiful fish and reef sharks. The sunset dolphin cruise was also stunning. We loved out time at Soneva Fushi! We also went to Soneva Jani, Soneva Fushi was our favourite out of the two.

We have twice visited Soneva Fushi over the past two decades (last in 2016) and combined a 5-night stay there this time with a stay at nearby Amilla (having visited neighbouring Anantara Kihava in 2018). We flew with Qatar Airlines from BHX to MLE via DOH, our trip arranged once again by Caroline at stylishresorts.com. Thanks to both for a great service. Our inter-island speedboat transfer went very smoothly, the Soneva launch arriving to collect us at the appointed time. We were introduced to our butler ("barefoot guardian" in Soneva-speak) Miqdad on the boat, and check-in completed easily. Since much has changed since our last visit (including the loss of the underground wine cellar and the library, but with the enlargement of the old sunset bar, the development of an overwater dining complex and 8 water-villas), Miqdad gave us a quick tour of the island before taking us to our "home", villa 54. As returning guests we enjoyed an upgraded room (2-bed, 1 bathroom, small kitchen), a bottle of champagne and free snacks and non-alcoholic drinks from the well-stocked fridge and minibar. The kitchen had both kettle and a Nespresso machine and cafetierre, perfect for the coffee addict. The villas still have the same island rustic charm, with an open-air bathroom featuring a great bath and two showers (one outside). The A/C and fans both worked well, being quiet and unobtrusive. Perhaps a few of the sockets could be updated to offer USB/USB-C charging? The Wi-Fi was not reliable throughout the stay, thankfully there was no need to work-from-the-island. The plungepool is 1.4m deep, but has no steps and had we been using the 2-bed villa with small children this might have been a safety concern. The front "garden" leads down to the beach, although it is worth noting the properties lower in the 40s and lower 50s are onto a much wider beach - for 53-56 the beach disappears at high tide. There is also little direct sunshine, as the gardens are all quite overgrown. The large area given over to a water feature at the rear seems wasted, perhaps it could be reduced in size and a private sundeck built? We have always stayed on the sunset side, as we have no issue with the near-neighbour island of Eydhafushi, although some might. The calls-to-prayer and prayers of the muezzin and imam drift gently on the wind, and we found them sonorous and relaxing. The background hum of a generator/compressor less so, particularly on an otherwise still evening. Soneva has always impressed with its "Silent Service" - the room is always prepared while guests breakfast, and the housekeeping staff are rarely encountered. This has now been expanded by a service whereby any bottle of wine purchased one day "follows you" to your next dining venue. Smart. One feature which was very welcome and rarely seen was the free laundry service, which just attracts a "donation" of $11 to a local charity. Breakfast has always been a high-point for the resort, and it remains "Best in Class". It was especially good to meet Sira again, who has been with the resort since day 1. On our past visits he ran the fresh fruits offerings, earning our nickname "Mr Mango", a role which has passed to his son. Hopper with curry and dhal from Sira were superb, they'll be much-missed when he retires. We had the same waiter- Allu - looking after us for breakfast throughout our stay,and we also met Miqdad each morning. Nashifa at Out of the Sea was also most welcoming, as were the team of sommeliers. Soneva are moving towards catering for the "money no object" crowd, with an emphasis on larger groups and multi-generational families, rather than couples Soneva have adopted a policy of staff not wearing name badges, ostensibly to encourage guests to ask and to facilitate interaction. We make a great effort to engage with staff when we travel, but we felt the absence of name badges definitely discouraged this and raises the risk that staff are merely seen as nameless servants. We would also note that other than staff in guest-facing roles, there was often no greeting or even acknowledgement from staff passed on the island paths. The main negative about Soneva Fushi is the cost, and in some cases the poor value for money when compared with other 5* resorts, with prices for much of the F&B offering and experiences 50-100% higher. It's hard to know whether this is just general inflation, or a consequence of the involvement of Private Equity as a co-owner. For example, the So Primitive grill beach dining experience (grill & buried in sand) is $350 + service/tax (26%) ie $441 per person, excluding drinks! For that price two of you can dine at many UK Michelin-starred restaurants. At Out of the Sea (formerly Bar (a)Bara), a Cold Seafood Platter (for 2) is offered at $428. Plus 26%. A 90 minute glass-blowing session costs $300 for one, $500 for two. Plus 26%. 2hours on the Sandbank "with umbrella, water and towel" is $165 each. Plus 26%, A 330ml lager is $12, craft beers $21. Mocktails $19. Plus 26%. Oddly, the In-Villa dining offering is both broad and very reasonably priced, as are the mini-bar alcoholic drinks. We suggest a couple allow a minimum $1,000 per day for in-resort expenses during a stay. Would we recommend Soneva Fushi? It depends. If money is no object, absolutely, but for many people there is much better value to be had at other 5* resorts.

I am absolutely appalled by the way this hotel handled our departure with several safety concerns throughout our journey. The seaplane from Manta Air was delayed and Soneva staff knowingly sent us away even though many of us repeatedly asked and voiced our concerns to the hotel staff, regarding how we could possibly make it before dark. The planes are only allowed to fly when there is visibility and yet they still send us away on the plane at dusk and after 7 minutes in the air, we had to do an emergency landing. When we landed back in the lagoon, the staff instead send us away on a speedboat to a commercial airport 15 minutes away with full speed -and at this point it was now dark out. We felt very unsafe and we were offered no lifejackets. We had several children on board. Very very concerning. The staff then put us all on a commercial plane to Mahle - also knowing full well that we would be stuck in the middle of the night there. The second we arrived the local airport staff from Manta Air told us we would not make the plane, and we would be rescheduled. This was also confirmed by the local Soneva staff on site as they had told the people rearranging the flights that it would not be possible to make the plane. They still send us away because they didn’t want to deal with putting us up at Soneva for an additional night and paying for our new tickets even though it was solely their responsibility that we didn’t make the plane. We had to purchase new tickets out of Mahle ourselves, which we do not know if the insurance covers and the hotel doesn’t seem to take this seriously at all. We are very very dissatisfied with the way the hotel has handled this whole situation and will also be pursuing this case legally at this point, as several safety breaches was made from Soneva’s side. We are a group of 14 people in total who had this experience and have paid several over a hundred thousand dollars at this hotel for the last couple of weeks. Suffice to say, we will not be taking this lightly.