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5 Stars - 3 Reviews and 229 Opinions
Hembadhu,
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232 Opinions
Viperjazz
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Starting from the landing in Male , to the speedboat transfer to the resort as it slowly materialised from a little spec in the ocean. It was absolute heaven. the lagoon villa, opens into a private balcony with access right into the sea, heck who needs a pool, and the water is so clear, you waddle around with glasses, no snorkelling gear required to see the fishes. Absolutely fantastic! the service is unquestionable and ask the chef for japanese food, which is his specialty. Have a moonlight dinner on the beach, watch the stinrays come for the afternoon feed. Simply WOW. Expensive, but everything is expensive in maldives , and you only do it once :).
The massages were to rave about at the spa as well.
Unique Quality: taj Service , the lagoon villas are fantastic
el81
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What a remarkable resort. Although it's quite small (you can walk around it in 8 minutes), it's picturesque and looks like the set of Swiss Family Robinson or Robinson Crusoe. Although quite a long journey from Male Airport (45 minutes by speedboat), it's well worth the ride. Friendly staff met us directly on the dock, and we were escorted to the reception, which to our surprise, was outside, surrounded by palm trees and a charming decked area. Check in was swift and easy, and we were taken to our rooms.
I was booked into a Lagood villa, which was built on stilts in the ocean. Wow. It had everything and more than I could ask for - fully-fitted bathroom with walk-in shower and bathtub, closet area with tea/coffee making facilities, AC, satellite tv (but who on earth would sit in their room and watch tv with such spectacular surroundings), king size bed, ocean views, balcony with ladder leading directly into the ocean, fruit basket and complimentary wine upon arrival.
Head for the dive centre to hire out some snorkel gear. I believe it was $12 for 24 hours, but it's well worth it. And the sunsets on the balcony? Trully breathtaking, and the memory will stay with me forever.
In terms of food - it was quite a selection! Both Indian and Japanese, as well as some international cuisine for those with a not so adventurous appetite. During the evenings they open the seafood/grill restaurant. I had amazing seafood here. The chef certainly knows what he's doing.
Unique Quality: What really impressed me about this resort was the friendliness of the staff, and how personal it all felt. Everyone knew me by name, and would bend over backwards to make sure you were having a good time. You know everyone by name, and it feels like you are part of one big family. Upon your arrival, you are invited to join the general manager for a welcome drink on the decked bar in the afternoon. This is a great service as he then tells you the activities that are found on the resort, which you can also see on the notice board near the reception area.
An unforgettable experience is feeding the stingrays. Apparently the same group of stingrays have been visiting the island, in the exact same spot, for a number of years, and always at 5pm! You can tell they are the same ones because the resort cut off their stings. Although this might seem cruel, it's for a good reason as they all gather on the shore to grab some morsels of fish that are thrown to them by the staff members. Guests are welcome to do the same.
Vivanta by Taj Coral Reef Maldives Photo: pic from reception area of beach & dock
Travellers3
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We had a wonderful 2 week stay at this hotel. The journey to the island was horrific due to the storms when we landed at Male. We travelled on a speedboat for 55 minutes of wave crashing hell, wished we could have gone to our island by seaplane. Thought we'd made a big mistake in our choice of location but soon felt better. The weather for the first few days was nasty (we went in October, apparantly not a particularly good time to go) but after that perfect. We loved feeding the fish out of our hands and seeing the stingrays and a small reef shark come into shore daily. The hotel had a spa which we indulged in a few treatments, pure heaven - we were massaged and pampered looking out to the indian ocean, bliss. Nobody used the swimming pool due to the amazing white sand beach and crystal clear water directly in front of the hotel. The food was excellent and very varied, never cold. The service fabulous, especially at the beach bar where we drank our beers whilst chatting to Raul (i think it's spelt that way). Recomend this hotel to someone else? Without a doubt for the above reasons.
Unique Quality: We had a standard room, hey nothing standard about it. It had a lovely outdoor shower and very spacious. The beach was out of this world and the amount of different fish to see incredible.
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You don;t have much choice here as you must use whatever is on your island resort. On the Taj Coral Reef was a fairly good one with a buffet service If you're not funny about that sort of thing you can get them to cook fish you have caught in the sea that evening. Fresh and lovely! Also make sure you try to 'local' food. Vegetarian curry style usually, and very nice.
Spent 5 nights at the Taj Coral reef in August last year.
Ordinary hotel. Poor food quality - and nowhere else to eat!
Had a noisy room near the bar, and wasnt the idyllic paradise we expected!! - Reef around the resort was mainly dead, and very few fish! - If diving go to the Barrier reef or the Red sea!
If you like Tuna 24/7 go to the Taj, if not - go somewhere else!
we have just returned from 2 blissfull weeks at the Taj Coral Reef, Maldives.
what can I say ????? Within 4 hours of returning to the UK, we had booked our Honeymoon for October 2007 at this resort !
We had an incredible time which starts as soon as you get off the plane ! We were greeted by a representative who took our cases to our `taxi` which was a fabulous motor-cruiser. On this we were made to feel incredibly welcome and were told which islands we were passing on our 1 hour trip to the island. Once at the resort, we were met with fabulous cold towels at the dock and took straight to reception for a cold drink.
As our passports etc.. had already been taken to our Lagoon Villa, we actually checked in from the comfort of the room and given a guided tour of our home for the next two weeks.
the villa was lovely with stunning views of the ocean. Yes - the breakes have nets covering them but you can look past that when you see what these people are doing to preserve this stunning island. After 3 days at the resort, we were called and asked if we would like a courtest upgrade to a de-luxe Lagoon Villa !! Again this as fantastic with the most amazing view over the Indian ocean.
The all-inclusive package was marvellous with lots of soft drinks, selected spirits and cocktails to chose from. Also the food was brilliant !!! Plenty of choice and although the menu was repeated there was more then enough choice to ensure we could sample different cuisines !.. Any `catch of the day` was brought to your table and the waiter was very attentive.
The resort is very very clean and you can tell the staff are very proud of their island and continue to ensure the preservation of this little corner of pure paradise.
We cannot recommend this resort highly enough and the fact that we decided this was to be our Honeymoon destination only 20 mins after arriving says it all.
We are so looking forward to returning to the Island in Oct 2007.
We have just returned from eleven days of relaxation at the Taj Coral Reef. As one of the smaller island resorts, gives ensures more of a desert island feel to the whole experience, even if you dawdle, circumnavigation of the whole island can be accomplished in ten minutes.
From the moment we arrived, we were impressed by a seemingly genuine desire by all the staff to provide excellent service, from the arrival cocktails provided at 3AM, through to farewell drinks from the bar staff.
All inclusive is really the only option, as pay as you go would probably become quite expensive. Other Reviewers have been critical about the food offering, but this was not our experience. The choice was generally good, with unsurprisingly an emphasis on Indian Cuisine, but also an interesting Japanese selection.
Each meal time a very animated Grill Chef will eagerly cook to order, your choice of various pasta dishes (or omelettes in the Morning); this is certainly recommended, if only for the entertainment value of witnessing the preparation.
As with any Maldivian Island, the main attraction is the marine life. If you can do choose a Lagoon Villa, the private deck area and direct access to the coral lagoon ensures that extra feeling of luxury. However the beach is genuine picture postcard.
Things you must do – feed the Stingrays at 5PM each day (everyone does); take the Sea Plane excursion, a bit expensive for a 20 minutes trip, but what other way can you see the whole island; and get a massage to chill you out and tame your sunburn
We stayed at the Taj Coral Reef for our honeymoon at the beginning of April 2007 for 10 nights. We were met at the airport by friendly, helpful attendents who took us to the large power boat which takes us from the airport to the resort. We had drinks on the boat which was much needed. We were met at the resort with a welcome drink and shown to our luxury water villa.
The accommodation: The room itself is lovely, but we felt that as a whole it was dated. The bathroom was modernish, but with 80's tiles around a lovely 'marble' effect bathroom suite! On the plus side the fact that we had a private sun deck with immediate access to the lagoon behind, was amazing.
The food: We found the food very good. The buffets were beginning to get a little irritaiting after 10 nights, but that was not due to the standard of food, more to personal preference. The chef which cooks you omelettes for breakfast, pasta for lunch and fresh curry/crepes on special nights was fantastic. He was a real showman and eager to please. We loved him!
The snorkel/diving/watersports: To a very high standard. The Blue In Dive centre staff were very helpful, and they went out of their way to help. I took the Discover diving course and was impressed with the safety and helpfulness of my instructor. The diving (although not ever having done it before, but both myself and my husband are keen 'fish people') would say that there is a very large number of species of fish to see and the diving around is very good. The wreck at the end of the jetty was impressive. I saw a lot of different fish, and my husband saw a lot of fish snorkeling. It was all good value for money, having checked out the prices on our return. We did waterskiing which was fun and went out on a catamaran twice...the all inclusive allows for 1 complimentary catamaran, but the 1st time there was no wind, so the guy kindly took us out again.
The staff: very good....not a lot more to say. All were very helpful, eager to please (overall), polite and kind. All have good sense of humour, and to be honest made our stay 'above average' instead of 'neutral/average'.
The problems: We thought we were getting the honeymoon package, champagne etc. Nothing! It felt like a 'regular' holiday, but it wasn't. We did a 'Romantic escapade' which entailed going onto a speedboat, just the 2 of us, champagne on our return journey back from the 'blue lagoon' snorkeling, dinner, a romantic turndown and breakfast in the room. Again, disappointment, they forgot to do the romantic turndown. My husband had to ask, and there was no apology. We got one on our last night! After speaking to other couples, some couples, not even on honeymoon, were having romantic turndowns, every night for 4 nights...for no reason! The kids....oh my...very loud. Especially, from the european families, they even had a temper tantrum when the staff asked them not to play pool without adults! We were under the illusion that there was a no kids under the age of 12, not true. There were a lot. We also felt that our room was not cleaned till almost midday, rubbish was not cleaned from the room...just greater attention to detail needed.
Overall: Would we recommend it...tricky. It depends what people want. We wish that we had been alot more choosey with our resort...my husband thought he had booked the Taj Exotica...it was a little bit of a shock. I've stayed at some exclusive resorts, I was a lucky girl with my parents, and I was expecting greater results from Taj Coral Reef. Nevermind...it was still great, if a little expensive! But from research everywhere is expensive in the Maldives. Even though we were all inclusive...keep $1000 spare for spending money for snorkel gear, trips and stuff to keep you occupied.
Tripadvisor was invaluable in deciding which resorts we booked so I always said I would report back after our honeymoon. The Taj Coral Reef more than lived up to expectations and it was definitely the best decision to ensure we booked a lagoon (water) bungalow as we spent most of our time on our private deck, snorkelling in our own back yard as you go down private steps directly into the sea, and when we got too hot we could just go into the aircon of our room or have a quick shower to cool off. There was a nice cooling breeze of the sea too on that side of the island whereas the main beach was quite hot to sunbathe on. The range of fish literally at knee depth in the water was incredible. I was squeamish about snorkelling but am now a total convert. We brought one mask and snorkel with us to save hire costs and it worked well.
Pricewise – we went half board as I don’t drink and all-inclusive would be a bit of a waste. Our bill at the end was 650 dollars for five nights and included in that we ate a big lunch every day which had to be paid for, raided the minibar a fair bit, had a joint massage treatment, hired a pedalo one day and went on the night fishing trip( do not miss this – seems a bit basic at first but is competitive good fun and the sunset at sea is stunning and magical). The euro was strong so it wasn;t too bad. Drinks are expensive – just make up your mind that’s how its gogin to be and then don’t; worry about it. A coke is 4-5dollars a beer 8, a cocktail 12 and a bottle of wine 30 +.
Mosquitos – I am paranoid as I always get attacked on holiday and I did not get a single bite – they spray every day. I could relax at night with no repellent on at all.
Foodwise – the buffet was really good and plenty of choice – better than later hotel buffets we came across and you can get the dish of the day made to order each day as part of your deal too, not extra. Invariably buffet food is never piping hot anywhere you go so sometimes its nice to get cooked to order items. They will also cook any fish you catch on the night fishing trip at no charge. The bar did nicer lunches than the main restaurant – especially the pizza.
Don’t forget to feed the stingrays it is a really weird but cool sensation and those photos in particularly made everyone at home jealous!
Décor – is nice and clean and rustic rather than luxurious if you want 5 start luxe surroundings then expect to pay five star prices like at the nearby reethi rah. Ie the stilts our water bungalow was on had rust marks on the paintwork – but who cares, the beds are huge and the bathrooms really nice, plus plenty of movies on TV when you wanted a night in. It is mostly a honeymoon resort and therefore the bar and entertainments etc are quiet in the evenings there’s no Ibiza type disco til dawn. If you need to relax and experience a robinson crusoe island this is perfect. We loved it for our five days although we wouldn’t; have liked two weeks as when our energy came back (after the flight and wedding exhaustion) we would have been running out of things to do but I think this is the same for most islands on the Maldives.
I went to the Taj Coral Reef Resort in the Maldives in November 1999.
It must be one of the closest places to paradise in the world!
This time it was to a different island. The Ari Beach Water Village. It was even better than last time!
Taj Coral Reef
Has anyone been to the Taj Coral Reef Resort? Opinions?
It's on my shortlist for my next trips to the Maldives. My (very frank) guidebook to Resorts in the Maldives says "great effort and care has been put into creating a resort which looks great, has first class facilities and a beautiful landscape". In the picture, I see there are sea walls on one side to prevent erosion so I imagine that it's not very pretty during low tide. The book also says that there are plenty of recreational activities to choose from.
What guide book are you using? I have the Lonely Planet one. Are there others? Thanks...
My guidebook is called Resorts in the Maldives by Adrian Neville. Go to my Maldives travel page for more info on the book under Shopping... I haven't seen this excellent book anywhere else except at Malè airport!!
No, but I'm going next year!
Really looking forward to it. Aparently they feed the sting ray daily. Got to see that !
When are you going ?
Have you been to the Maldives before ?
We had a standard room, hey nothing standard about it. It had a lovely outdoor shower and very spacious. The beach was out of this world and the amount of different fish to see incredible.
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