Day 1
After dropping off our bags and settling into our villa, it was time for our vacation to begin! Our first stop was the Island Kitchen, one of three restaurants on the property along with The Pearl and Hawker, to get some lunch. Island Kitchen is located in the main building of the resort and served as the hub of activity as it also had two bar areas and the main pool.
We sat under the shade of the veranda right by the pool and started with drinks, a mojito for me and a mango daiquiri for her. I don’t remember what she ordered but for some reason I decided my first meal in paradise should be pasta carbonara (???). I’m going to blame that on jet lag as island hotels in the middle of the Indian Ocean aren’t known for their world renowned Italian food.
After lunch, we decided to take a stroll around the property. The hotel has a trail that makes a loop around the island, connecting the beachfront villas and overwater villas to the main building. We walked past the tennis courts and checked out the fitness center. It was well appointed, given the fact that The Westin brands itself as a healthy lifestyle hotel, but I only saw one person using it the entire time we were there. While the equipment was standard gym equipment, it had some of the best gym views I’ve ever seen as it featured floor to ceiling windows and was located on the 2nd floor. Downstairs was a lounge area, though I never saw anyone use it.
After walking through the fitness center, we went over to the spa to book massages for the next day. The spa is located in another overwater villa near the gym. Though it had some great views, it was basically in the corner of the resort which made it quite a walk from where we were staying.
From the spa, we headed back to the main part of the resort, walking along the beach this time instead of the trail, and went to Sunset Bar. Sunset Bar is located on an open air terrace above Island Kitchen and offers “Sundowners” for guests each day. “Sundowners” are discounted cocktails offered in the evenings and they have a specialty cocktail that rotates daily. We sipped our cocktails and munched on some snack mix while we watched a gorgeous sunset over the water.
Having enjoyed our drinks and a great sunset, it was time for dinner. After talking with Athyk during check in, we decided it made sense to purchase the half-board prepaid meal plan which included dinner. We elected not to do the fixed rate for lunch given the activities we had planned and because I don’t really ever eat 3 full meals in a day. For the first night, we had dinner planned at Hawker which is inspired by the street food of southeast Asia. The restaurant was located next to the main building on the waterfront.
Tonight, was a ‘Balinese Nights’ theme which deviated from the traditional menu on offer. The menu is below.
For starters, we had the stir-fried prawns and the shredded, grilled duck breast. For the mains, I had the slow braised pork ribs and Mrs. ATX Jetsetter had the mussels, prawns and octopus which was served like soup. My main was also accompanied by a side of rice and some kind of prawn flavored crisp which was very good.
At this point the jet lag was catching up with us so we decided to skip dessert and head back to the room to get some sleep.
Day 2
On our second day, I let Mrs. WS93 sleep in, and I went out to the deck to enjoy my coffee and read with a fantastic view. It was at this point that I met our neighbor, a crab that I named Carlos, who would make many appearances, some surprisingly, over the next few days.
After the boss woke up, we headed off to breakfast at Island Kitchen. A hostess showed us to our table and then took us to the buffet area. The buffet was included for our stay on account of my Marriott Titanium status. If you’re a Platinum member or higher, selecting this welcome benefit is a no brainer as food here is expensive. The buffet was extremely well stocked and included pastries, meats, cheeses, salad items, fruits, yogurts, juices, and some hot dishes as well. They also offered complimentary mimosas as well which is a nice touch as most other alcoholic drinks were well over $10.
I had a mimosa and a cup of coffee accompanied by some ham, bacon, sausage, hash browns, assorted cheeses and scrambled eggs.
After breakfast, we went and laid by the pool and caught some sun before our 1:30p spa appointment. Though the hotel was sold out, due to its small size it was never overly busy and always felt relaxing.
Arriving at the spa, we were quickly checked in and offered cool towels and a glass of water before heading back for our massages. Mrs. ATX Jetsetter booked us a couples massage which was desperately needed as I tweaked my back picking her suitcase full of bricks up a day earlier. The room had two massage tables, another wall of glass overlooking the ocean and glass cutouts in the floor allowing you to see the water while being massaged.
After the massage, all of our jet lag and my back pain faded away. On the walk back to our villa, we stopped by the dive center and picked up the complimentary snorkels and fins to take a swim off the back deck. While in the water we saw a 3-4’ black tip reef shark and a pod of dolphins about 75 yards out. Back on the deck, a large ray came cruising by only 25 or so yards away. It was awesome getting to see these animals up close.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing on the deck and then got ready for dinner. We made reservations at The Pearl, which is the hotel’s overwater restaurant, but first we headed to Sunset Bar to grab a quick drink. There was more cloud cover than the previous night but the view was good nonetheless.
15 minutes before our reservation we made our way over to the restaurant. Initially the hostess tried to seat us at the bar, but we opted to grab a drink and wait out on the uncovered portion of the patio for a table to become available. This was a bit disappointing as we had a reservation. I had a boring vodka soda but Mrs. ATX Jetsetter ordered something obscure that showed up in a box (???). She said that it was good though.
As soon as our table was ready, it started to rain so we ran under the cover and got seated. The restaurant has a fixed menu that changes daily and we were both excited to see what was in store for us tonight. I’ll let the photos do the talking here.
As the third course was being served, the manager appeared out of nowhere with a bottle of champagne. I thought he was being nice and giving us a glass to celebrate our honeymoon, but he ended up leaving the whole bottle with us on ice and constantly topped our glasses off. By the end of the meal, we were stuffed full and quite buzzed, so we headed back to the room to sleep it off.
Day 3
We awoke early to some dreary weather which was less than ideal as Mrs. ATX Jetsetter had a dive scheduled for 9:00am. We headed off to breakfast early to give her time to eat and the same manager from the night before was working. He offered to check with the dive center while we ate to see if the weather was going to cancel it.
Fortunately for her, it cleared up just enough for her to go out and I headed poolside with a book and a bucket of beer. She returned from the dive, and we split a pizza poolside and I even managed to swim a few laps in the pool. After leaving the pool, we headed back to the room to change before our cocktail making class. There was an invitation waiting for us for the Marriott Bonvoy Mixer that night so it looked like we would be spending a lot of time today at the Sunset Bar.
We were the only two guests in the class and our host couldn’t have been any better. We had a great time making cocktails and our bartender even let us behind the bar to mix our own.
Between our cocktail class and the mixer we ran back to the room and found a small honeymoon surprise waiting on the bed which was a nice touch. The mixer was your typical Marriott Elite reception with wine, a few specialty cocktails and snacks on offer.
For our final night at the resort, we had dinner at Island Kitchen. During the meal they had brought in musicians from one of the local islands to perform some traditional Maldivian music while we ate which was neat.
Since we were sitting in the middle of the ocean, and it is one of my favorite foods, I decided to have the scallops for dinner. Unfortunately, the scallops were a major letdown as they were cooked in some sort of shell with lots of cheese (???) and the shells were so hot it kept cooking the scallop long after it should have been done. The dish was borderline inedible, and I sent it back after a couple of bites, which I very rarely do. I had become quite full off of the passed appetizers at the mixer and didn’t order anything else.
Day 4
On our final day on the island, I had coffee on the deck with Carlos while completing our document uploads for our Etihad flight that evening. From there it was off for one final breakfast and a few mimosas from Island Kitchen. Upon returning from breakfast, Mrs. ATX Jetsetter let out a bone chilling scream that made me jump in the air. Looking around, I realized Carlos had snuck into the villa that morning through an open door and was hanging out on our curtains. Using the coffee tray and an umbrella, I was able to coax him down onto the tray and release him outside where he watched us curiously for the next hour or so.
Athyk, messaged me via WhatsApp to let us know that they would be at our room at 4:45pm to pick up our bags and handle the checkout. Our seaplane was due to depart at 5:45pm Westin time to get us to Male in time for our 8:05pm Etihad flight to Abu Dhabi (The Westin is an hour ahead of Male). Knowing our departure time was set, we headed back to the beach for one last bit of sun and sand. We had a drink and a late lunch on the beach before returning to the room to pack.
After packing up, Athyk messaged me saying that the seaplane would not be arriving until 6:15pm local time due to weather delays leaving Male so, at promptly 5:15pm he picked us up and drove us to the indoor reception area where we settled up the bill and completed all of the necessary check-out procedures. We stayed there for a little while until it was time to head down to the dock for our seaplane back to Male.
Summary
All in all, this was a wonderful hotel stay and the staff could not have been friendlier. I talked with a few of them at length and most were from India or Sri Lanka, and they came over on 6-month contracts. They were always available to help but weren’t overbearing. While it was never a problem for us, even fully booked nothing was ever crowded, it is worth noting that the hotel isn’t adults only so you may end up sharing the pool with a random kiddo or two. If our travels ever bring us back to the Maldives, I would look at staying at the Westin Maldives Miriandhoo Resort again if the price was right.
Next Stop, Amsterdam!
