Hi Scoya

Thanks for you thoughts, We booked though the London Company "The Holiday Place", they did all the Donkey work and quoted the price including the seaplane transfer.
Shop around to compare prices but for Lily Beach all inclusive you would expect to pay between £1600 and £1900 per person all in.

Regards

Joe

Hi Joe

just been reading the forum on tour operators and noticed you had one on Hayes and Jarvis. We have booked to go to Lily Beach with them and have booked scheduled flights on Emirates. Found out a couple of weeks ago that our return flight from Male to Dubai has been cancelled. This means we have to get an earlier flight and spend nearly 12 hours in Dubai airport. After much negotiating between travel agents/tour operators I decided to phone Emirates myself. What I actually wanted from them as a goodwill gesture was to let us use the buisness lounge at Dubai airport. When I spoke to them they were very helpful and have agreed to put us in a hotel near the airport while we are waiting for our return flight to Gatwick. Only have 6 weeks to go now and keeping my fingers crossed that everything runs smoothly. Could you just let me know what sort of clothes to wear in the evening at Lily Beach. Is shorts o.k. or is that just a bit too casual.

Thanks Sandra

Hi Sandra
Have you thought of flying back to heathrow as the link from Male, the 11.30am flight would have a less chance of cancellation, I can only think this is due to the downturn in tourist's due to the Tsunami.
Shorts are fine, everybody dresses down.

Have a great time.

Regards

Joe

We went last October, from the 10th - 22nd.

Had FANTASTIC weather... although it still statistically the rainer monsoon season, we truly had 11 days of pure sunshine, bar one morning when it rained until 10am, and one afternoon when it rained for 1/2 hour - we swam in the sea during that one!

Apparently though, the week before we were there, they had a whole week of wind and rain - very unusual though they said.

Here are a few photos to show what the weather was like. Perhaps we got kucky, but we'd often see clouds in the very far distance, but for some reason they never quite made it to our island!

Hi Joe, me again. When you have time please could you send me some more of your Lily Beach photos. They were lovely. Thanks Julie

Joe

could you tell me if the wait fcr the sea plane is on a first come first served basis. Is there just the one sea plane connecting Male to Lily Beach.
Also would you be kind enough to send me some of your Lily Beach photos too.

Many thanks.

Sandra

Hi Sandra
You will be escorted to the seaplane terminal, don't worry they take good care of you, on arrival, (only 10 mins ), the staff take your luggage and usher you to the desk for the lily beach flights, there are about 5 flights per day but that is dependant on the amount of guest's, more guest's and they will provide more flights, waiting time for each flight about 30mins average.

PM me with your e-mail and I'll send you a few photo's.

Regards

Joe

Joe have sent you my e-mail address through your private messages.

Seems to be a lot of people going to Lily Beach this year. We chose to go there because of the reviews from this site. We have only got three and half weeks to go. Is there anyone going around the same time as us?
Trying hard not to get too excited yet as it makes the weeks drag by.

Will write a detailed review when we return.

Sandra

Hi Sandra, Just to say have a lovely time at Lily Beach. I want to know all about it when you return. We go in November. It will be our first visit to the Maldives and i can't wait. It seems very popular

Julie

Thanks Julie

we have 3 weeks till we go. Have been out with my husband today to buy some masks and snorkels for our hols. We wanted to do our padi before we went but never managed to get round to it.

I'm trying not to get too excited yet as it seems to make the weeks drag by.
Got my provisions ready, chocolate, teabags etc and I'm taking a portable dvd player with me just incase I get bored (sad aren't I).

This is a whole new experience for both me and my husband. Not normally a beach person I am hoping I can relax and enjoy. Heard so many nice things about the Maldives and Lily Beach just felt we had to give it a try.

I will certainly do a review when I return and hopefully let everyone know what a wonderful time we had.

Sandra.

Hi Joe,

That's throughtout the regular economy cabin - abd by the way it's 33". The premium cabin has 36" of leg room.

Just a shame that FC don't cover Lily Beach.

Tracy

Dear All, Have been considering Lily Beach Resort and have been offered the flights, via Dubai with Emirates. We land Dubai at 00.30hrs on 27/12 and depart again at 03.10hrs for Male on the outbound journey, on the return sector we land in Dubai at 22.10hrs on 10/1 and depart for LHR at 03.10hrs on 11/1. My question is, not having flown via Dubai, is there enough to keep you occupied, should you not be able to find somewhere to catch 40 winks? Has anyone done this routing with these flight times?

Have just been reading about Dubai airport on airline quality website - it would appear from comments mades that this is not the greatest of airports to be transitting through - Any comments?

Also, I've been quoted a price of £2250pp for 14 nights, I feel this is a good price, but again, would like any input or advice if you feel the price could be cheaper? (I know I could knock £130pp off by flying Xmas day and with Monarch - but that ain't happening in a month of Sunday's!).

Any input would be most appreciated, as in addition to being a Maldive "virgin", I've only flown longhaul on direct routings before, so going via Duabi will be an experience in itself. Thanks, Scoya.

Have you considered flights with Sri-Lankan Airlines. They fly direct from Heathrow on the way out and return vis Sri Lanka but with only a 85 minute stop-over.

See you at Lily Beach - we leave on Dec 19th for 2 weeks. By the way we paid £2150pp for our holiday with Thompson Worldwide.

Tracy

Hi scoya

we are going to Lily Beach and flying with Emirates in 3 weeks time. Emirates have cancelled our original return flight from Male to Dubai which means we have to spend nearly 12 hrs in Dubai airport. I phoned Emirates myself and they were so helpful. They are going to give us a hotel room to rest in while we wait. As much as I love Dubai airport I felt this was just a wee bit to long to hang around. This is also my first time to the Maldives but I have been to Dubai before and I love their duty free shopping.

I think you got a good price for your holiday. Interested to know who you booked it with.

Not sure but think holidays to Maldives, Sri Lanka etc are a bit cheaper since the Tsunami ?? People seem to be a bit put off by what happened. Lots of my friends ask me if I am worried about going there. Well yea but just the same as I am worried about getting into my car every day, doesn't stop me driving though.

Hi Scoya. Our flights 18months ago to Maldives were similar timings to yours and via Dubai with Emirates. The transit was exceptionally easy and you check your bags in at London/Male and don't have to collect again in transit. We actually enjoyed splitting the flight in this way rather than flying non-stop. Dubai airport was ok but we have free access to airport lounges which at that time of night and for 2-3 hours, I think would be worth paying to get into if you can.....free refreshments, quiet and comfy and it is possible to get your head down!

Hi Scoya
You will enjoy your stay, believe me i've been there, what puzzles me is why your return flight reaches Dubai at 22.10, following our stay our outward flight was as yours, our return flight departed Male at 11.30 am arriving at Dubai early afternoon then our connecting flight arriving at LHR at 20.20 with an easy 2 hour stay at Dubai, by the way the transit area at Dubai is about as good as it gets..... the time will fly past, a shoppers paradise.

Regards

Joe

Not sure if Emirates are still doing this flight, but when we left the Maldives, there was a flight that departed at 0220 in the morning, and going from memory got into Dubai around 0530, then we took off again about 0730......or thereabouts. We arrived back at Heathrow at midday.

We specifically chose these flights afer doing our own research on Emirates website, so that when we contacted the travel agents, we gave them the specific flight info. (there was one that left Male at 1945 but that would have meant a long time at Dubai - a bit too long).

Leaving at 0220 meant we got a full day in our hotel and the beautiful Maldives, we extended our room check out time till 8pm, had a lovely last dinner, then showered and changed in the courtesy room about 11.30pm before we left for the airport. Then thankfully because of the time we were tired when we boarded the plane, and slept all the way to Dubai, and then only had a 2 hour layover.

Might be worth seeing if they still operate this flight time.

P.S! After saying all that, it's no good if your hotel can only be reached by seaplane, becase then you'll have to leave your hotel by about 4/4.30pm while it's still light. Either that, or get a beach hotel close to the airport as opposed to on Male for your last day/night, so you can have as much time on holiday as you can.

Our hotel was only 10 mins speedboat ride form the airport and so it didn't affect us.

I had not thought about that. It is obviously better to go for a hotel not too far from the airport or one that doesn't require a sea plane. I have been considering booking the Hilton Rangali, but, that has sea plane transfers. Can anyone in that case, recommend a good hotel which maybe only require a speedboat transfer or one not too far from the airport? Thanks.