A Black Girl's Guide To The Maldives: 10 tips for nailing your vacay!

Crystal clear waters and powdery beaches.  If this is the view that the word Maldives conjures up, then you’re in luck.  It’s all these things and more and its all waiting on you!

I travelled to the Maldives to celebrate my birthday with my bestie and we connected through Doha, Qatar. 

1/ Before you travel here, ensure you complete a health declaration.  In Doha we were required to fill this out before we were allowed to check in for our flight.

2/ The hotel you select is key to the success of your trip.  One thing I didn’t realize is that each hotel is on its own island, so there’s nothing else there but your hotel.  So for my night life girlies, this is not necessarily the vacay for you.  But if you want to relax, unwind and reset – Welcome Home.

 I stayed at the JW Marriott in an overwater bungalow on Shaviyani Atoll and it is a beautiful resort.  There is an amazing spa, beautiful beaches and excellent restaurants.

3/ Get ready for an amazing ride in a seaplane.  And don’t worry, its safe and most importantly fun.  Once you arrive in The Maldives and go through immigration, a rep from your hotel will be waiting on you holding a sign.  You will be escorted to a lounge where you will wait to board your seaplane.  (Depending on your mode of transport to your island- some persons go by speedboat or ferry).  Flying over the Maldives is breath taking so have your phone ready!

After disembarking the seaplane, we were greeted by all the staff singing and clapping and welcoming us and of course a welcome drink! 

4/ We were assigned a butler on arrival who took us around to tour the island and he checked us into our bungalow. His name was Jaleel and he was amazing.  He added us into a whats app group and anything we needed we just sent him a message and he had it sorted in no time.

5/ Bring all your coins! The Maldives is not cheap hunny. And everything is imported so food costs are astronomical. I recommend bringing snacks.  On my next trip there I will be sure to bring some snackity snacks because there is no where to purchase anything once you arrive at your island.  Dinner for 2 people most nights averaged around $250 - $300 – and that’s just dinner! 

Breakfast was included in our room cost and it was a beautifully laid out buffet we were able to enjoy each morning.

Room service was also available for those lazy days when you don't wanna leave your bungalow.

6/ Pack your black girl sunscreen.  This is a beach destination so you will be outside – A LOT

7/ Non motorized activities at the resort are free like snorkeling, paddle boarding and kayaking.  If you would like to do other activities such as a boat day or dinner on the beach, you can arrange this with your butler and it will be added to your bill.

8/ Wear braids or some type of protective style as you will be spending time on the beach, snorkeling, in your private plunge pool and doing sunrise yoga.

 9/ Tipping is easy and you don’t have to worry about finding cash.  We were allowed to add the tip for our butler and other staff onto our final bill.  We tipped approximately 10% of our total bill which is considered higher than average, but he was truly excellent and we wanted to ensure his assisting staff was covered.

10/ Ensure you research the time of month in advance.  We went during the month of September (which is considered rainy season) and it was overcast most of the days although we didn’t get any rain.

If you’re trying to decide if this is the right fit for you, I would recommend this destination for honeymooners or for celebrating an anniversary.  Obviously we did it as a girls trip/ birthday trip, but we still had an amazing time, however it is a very romantic setup and most persons we met at the resort were honeymooning.

 Overall we felt very comfortable and catered to our entire time there.  The service was excellent and the attention to detail made me so happy. I am all about service, so this was one of the key things I was looking for.  Add this to your ever expanding list of places to see ASAP. You wont regret it!

Bucket list = check!