Seeing as nobody else has bothered to reply, I'll risk saying what I suspect a lot of others here may be thinking.

If you are insisting on an AI resort-style hotel, then presumably you intend spending most (if not all) of your time there. If that's the case, then so long as the weather's good and the hotel's a decent standard (which a 4* ought to be), I don't really see what difference it makes where it is, as you won't be seeing much of the surrounding area anyway. So why bother looking for somewhere new? Why not just go back to one of the places you've already been and enjoyed yourself?

An all-inclusive holiday is not the sort that I would choose for myself, but everyone's entitled to their own opinions and choices, so if that's what you want, go for it - but why bother with the hassle of looking for somewhere different each time? That's not meant as a put-down, just genuine curiosity.

hi
have you thought about borneo or kenya??? both beautiful places,hot tropical weather, lovely people.

Hi
I'd go for an all inc in the Maldives, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Hey Joe,

long time no speak !

When was it you had planned a trip to mexico - do you know if your hotel was badly damaged yet?

8 weeks yesterday till we go back to Lily Beach - really can't wait. Have a feeling it will be a very emotional trip for both of us. Most importantly though we have to see if our adopted family of ugly birds (as we called them) who resided in the srubbs outside our bungalow are still there - especially the dad as he only had one working leg and therefore had to hop everywhere(we named him Alan after Engliash basketball player Alan Hopper - sad i know !!) We were really worried about him and his family of 4 chicks as the Tsunami waves came in so fast we thought he might not have been able to run away (they were flightless birds) but thankfully we found him hopping around waiting for us to feed him later that day.

We've booked to go to Veligandu which is even smaller than Lily Beach and gets fantastic reviews next May. Our once in a lifetime holiday has turned into 3 trips in 18 months!!

have you booked up another Maldives trip??

Tracy

Perhaps I was being a wee bit vague xenosuk,

Ok, the place must be set within a exotic country,perhaps with a top notch veiw set within the 4/5 star hotel,good food with possible a diving school or top notch snorkelling on hand,a good array of water sports with decent surf perhaps and if possible somewere within 50klm of barrier reef/rated wreck site,sports fishing would be a bonus or even something really unique such as paragliding/microlighting or even a safari balloning sort of option.

Anyone?

Second Joe's idea - has to be the Maldives.

Hi Tracy
I see that you all set for Lily Beach, Yes, it's just over 2 weeks before we are "hopefully" off to Mexico, the hotel is OK, just waiting for up to date information.
It seem's that our friends are always keen to avoid going to place's that we book, as you know we went to Lily 5 weeks after the Tsunami, now we are off to mexico 3 weeks after the place is hit by the worst hurricane in a generation.

We have booked to return to Lily on the 5th March so try to leave some drink for us

Have a great time

Regards

Joe

Well, if you'd said that in the first place mustafa

Seriously though, I do think you'd have got quicker responses. Sounds like the Maldives would be perfect for you.

Maldives eh....Mmmmm?

Dont suppose Anyone has any links to ponder over have they?

I would start by going through the 29 page topic we have on the Maldives at the top of the page( one of the "stickies")

Many thanks Fiona.

Another vote for the Maldives from me. http://www.key2holidays.co.uk have good deals. http://www.kuoni.co.uk has good info but is quite expensive. Just bear in mind you'll most likely be stuck with buffets if you go all inclusive. If you don't mind them then thats cool, but just something to bear in mind if your prefer a la carte/off the menu. Sometimes with the all inclusive you can eat in the a la carte restaurant once or twice a week if there is one, although you may have to pay a supplement.

Mustafaholiday -
i agree with previous suggestions maldives... we have just returned from paradise island booked with airline network - paradise island is part of the villa hotels network here is their internet site http://www.villahotels.com. its only 20 mins by speedboat from airport, and has everything water sports, dive shop with morning, afternoon and evening dives, fishing, island hopping, and snorkelling trips, we did the afternoon trip to male not recommended not much to see and for $30 pp rather warn people to go island hopping instead at $16 half day or $33 full day including lunch. one word of warning monarch fly direct package tours from manchester/gatwick but really cramped on the flight the people we were with were dredding flight home. we flew with emirates via dubai (stop of 2 hrs) and the service, food, complementary drinks and leg room on the flights was worth the extra couple of quid. villa hotels have a few resorts on different islands. drinks were expensive we were hb some people were ai and some on fb its all according what you drink/eat. there was an italian, japanese, coffee shop - all not included in the ai package - the seafood restaurant was badly damaged during the tsunami so is being rebuilt as are the water bungalows. elaine

Cheers Elaine

errr this may sound daft but anyone know the cheapest travel agent to book through for the Maldives?

While im at it, is it worth going AI there, or is everything so cheap and varied that you may as well book HB, BB?

ta

ozza, you need to be aware that prices of food and drinks will vary between hotels and that each resort island in the Maldives has just one hotel on it with everything on that island being owned by the hotel. So if you book HB or B&B you still have to eat the hotel's food at their prices.

The only way of visiting other islands is on the sort of organised trip that Elaine talks about, so you really need to do lots of research beforehand to make sure that the hotel you're staying in offers exactly what you want from your holiday, because once you're there you're stuck with it. So finding the cheapest deal isn't always the best plan for the Maldives, as it could end up costing you more in the long run or not being the sort of place you want to spend two weeks on.

You can find a list of the different resorts here

Have just booked our 3rd trip to Sun Island @ The Maldives

2nd October 2006 (Counting down the months already)
Staying for 2 Weeks on All Inclusive
Upgraded to Superior Deluxe room
Upgraded to Seaplane Transfer

Price @ Thomas Cook = £1333 each

If you get a price off their website and go in store they will match the price

My previous review of Sun Island can be found here:

http://host.picturewizard.com/2004-9/173743/sunisland/sunisland.html

Unsure why the pictures for OCTOBER 2003 don't work - but they work fine for JUNE 2004

Daza
Hope you have found the new India/Indian Ocean forum!