The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands

From the moment we arrived we were greeted at the airport and were escorted to the ritz lounge at the doc then they proceeded to take us on Their private yacht to the island! I was blown away the yacht ride to the island was everything!! When we arrived to the resort I knew I was in paradise!!! I actually cried leaving!! Everything about this place is absolutely perfect. Their attention to detail is insane. Our Butler Ford was amazing. He was like a ninja every time we would leave he would always have some sort of sand decoration on on our dock right in front of our door saying some kind of sweet message like happy anniversary or good night Josh and Ashley. Every request we had he was on it. I cannot say how grateful I am for all the bartender staff on the island they were ableto make my favorite drink the Ramos gin fizz!!! Very cool of them!! all the food on the island is very very good you get for what you pay for! Our favorite restaurant was the Asian one the dumplings were to die for! We did the trip to the other island for Indian food. The boat ride and island was neat but the food fell short. I would stick to the restaurants on the resort. The breakfast buffet was out of this world if you can’t find something to eat at their breakfast, then you are one picky eater. They had every single cuisine and everything was just delicious. It was very hard not to eat everything! one of my favorite things Is that all the items in the mini bar in your villa are complimentary and they fill up every day in your villa. we were in Villa 116 over water snorkeling wasn't the best because they just set up their resort and their reef is not quite established yet but I will say there was plenty of sea turtles rays and sharks and I saw one eel overall the property is just stunning. They have plenty places to hang out snorkel, white sand beaches if you have children, they have a huge play area for them. I was a little jealous lol. the bikes they have are awesome. You can ride around the whole island overall we had the best stay!!! Cannot thank Ford enough the was the VIP!! He really made our stay special! I would go back to this resort in a heart beat! Oh forgot to mention the diving Thomas and the dive center is awesome. Really felt safe and comfortable with him. Highly recommend their diving team some of the most extraordinary diving places I’ve ever seen. Book this resort!! Villa 116 was awesome very private plus to the right is a little beach area you can hang about on. 116 for the privacy win!!

We chose The Ritz-Carlton Maldives after learning that Nic Von Rupp would be there, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of our trip. Surfing with Nic was a truly special experience. He is a top-level athlete, but also an incredibly nice, open and down-to-earth person. Being in the water and around someone of his level added huge value to our stay. It was also great to meet his father Roman and his coach Julio - both amazing people who made the experience even more memorable. The hotel deserves a lot of credit for creating programs like this. For guests who love surfing and sport, having access to someone like Nic is a real game changer and a truly unique experience. We are already planning to come back and will definitely recommend this experience to our friends.

My husband and I came here on our honeymoon, and can confirm: the Ritz-Carlton Maldives truly feels like something out of a movie. Every bit of the rooms and resort grounds lived up to what we had seen online. The design of separate islands connected by bridges make it feel as if you're going "into town" when you bike or get a golf cart ride over to dinner or to go to the beach. By the end of our 7-night stay, we had a nice routine down yet never felt bored or like we were ready to leave because it always felt like there was more to do. The grounds are immaculately groomed. The sand art created on the floor of our room each night was a real highlight. And the couple of picture-perfect sunsets and sunrises we got to experience against the crystal clear waters had us already planning a return trip to the Maldives before we'd left. The food and beverage team at the Ritz-Carlton was also superb. We were a bit worried about what to expect given I'm gluten free (celiac), but we met the Food and Beverage director at one of the beach happy hours, and she kindly informed us about some gluten free items to watch out for (read: gluten free naan at Arabesque and via room service!) and even remembered us throughout the rest of our stay. But the highlight for us was definitely Chef David at Summer Pavilion. He went above and beyond to not only accommodate gluten free, but give us a different experience each time we came back (and we came back quite a few times!). To this day, at home, we have a dinner we just call "Chef David" which is an attempt to recreate a beef and rice noodle stir fry dish he made that still lives rent free in our heads! We did notice that we seemed to be in the minority of guests staying for an entire week; most people seemed to come for a few days and then leave. And unfortunately, we did notice that service from our Aris Meeha and room staff, dropped off around that same time frame -- perhaps as he shifted to take on new guests. But for a five-star hotel (and the price of this hotel) that was a bit of a bummer. We had to resort to sorting things out on our own for the last 3-4 days of our trip when we saw that we weren't getting anywhere messaging for reservations/a golf cart ride/etc. The offered activities also left a bit to be desired, with morning yoga and a facial class feeling particularly terrible. And as others have noted, the coral and ocean life here just hasn't yet grown enough to quite give you the quintessential Maldives swimming experience straight from the overwater bungalows (particularly compared with friends who stayed at other resorts in the Maldives). All in, the Ritz-Carlton Maldives was a truly wonderful experience. But would we come back? Perhaps for a day or two for memories' sake. But if we were to come back to the Maldives, I'd also wonder if the service might be better at some of the other hotels.

Its been a magical 3 nights (gals trip!) at The Ritz Carlton Maldives. Loved the resort’s design especially Eau Bar. Everyone made us feel at home and service was seamless the icing on the cake was our butler I-gie. Her attention to details and communications with her team were always on point. Every night we come back to our beach villa to some lovely surprises. Food and service were top notch esp the Summer Palace dinner. We had a spa massage which is sublime ! The resort offers a free session of professional photography and a printed copy as keepsake - we had so much fun posing around the island ! The dolphins cruise was one of the best we’ve ever experienced, we had 2 pods of dolphins swimming next to our dhoni! Can’t wait to be back again !

Overall very satisfied — probably the best resort I have stayed at so far. Special praise for the pre-arrival email communication: every reply was clear, precise, and answered my questions directly, with every single point I mentioned in my emails being addressed. Many other resorts, even luxury ones, do not do this well or give it much attention. Of course, a reminder: things on the island are not cheap. I forgot to bring an SD card and ended up having to buy one on the island at nearly eight times the usual price.