Meal prices in 4 seasons
 

I found some hotel packages which do not include full board (only breakfast) but I heard the food prices in Maldives are sky high. Could anyone tell me the approximate cost of a meal at resorts like 4 seasons, soneva gili and banyan tree?

Thanks!

Bugs,

I was in Four Seasons, Maldives last November with my husband for his birthday. We went for full board, which put around USD$100 more per head per day.

I think the first thing you have to consider is which resort you are going to. In some resorts, even if you pay full board, you can only eat whatever you like in ONE of the restuarants (I think that's the case of Banyan Tree and Soneva Gili). That means if you want to go to other restaurants in the resort, you still have to pay. In others (such as the Four Seasons), you can eat whatever you like in ANY of the restuarants on the island, thus allowing you much more flexibility and, in the end, you don't have to pay much extras.

In our case at Four Seasons, I think it's better to go with full board. Perhaps we would not spend more by going without one but we definitely would not save much either. And without full board, we might have felt a bit restricted in ordering what we wanted. For instance, one night, there was a special crab menu, which included a crab meat soup, an crab meat salad, a crab (we could choose different ways of doing it and we chose to have chilli crab [the size of my face]) and a dessert. And the menu costed around USD70 to USD80 (I can't remember the exact price) per person. The food was very good but we might not have ordered two menus for the 2 of us if we had not have full board (considering that there are also other options in the menu and that we were staying for an entire week with other expenses and special dinners).

I remember that a pizza or a spaghetti at the Italian restuarant costs around USD15 (we thought the quantity is only good for lunch). Drinks are expensive too but they are not included in full board, anyway.

I hope it helps.

Thanks very much, Selina! That crab dinner made me drool... maybe I should go for full board!

Another question I have is whether snorkeling can be done around the resort water area at 4 seasons or you need to take a boat trip?

Thanks!

i am planning a trip to the maldives in novemeber and live on the east coast -- any suggestions on travel agents or best ways to book this trip? thanks in advance for your help.

Bugs,

My husband and I were beginners in snorkelling, so we used (free of charge!) the snorkelling equipment from the hotel and tried our luck in the resort water area. There were small fishes and some corals but, of course, nothing to compare with taking a boat somewhere to snorkel.

Actually the resort offered us and other guests a complimentary snorkelling trip by boat and we booked ours. But because it was raining very heavily that day, we cancelled our booking (although others did go).

I am not sure if the resort offers this trip to all guests at any time of the year, though.

Snapple,

I don't know any travel agency or tour operator in the US. I can only tell you that it's almost always cheaper to buy a package. Don't try to book tickets and accomodation separately.

We just found out that we have enough frequent flier miles to get us to the Maldives--been on our "wish list" for years. Any budget-moderate places to stay on the Maldives around Christmas-New Year's (I know--high season, but, perhaps we can grab a place by planning now)?