LUX* South Ari Atoll

This was our first, and hopefully not our last, visit to Lux South Ari Atoll. What a place! We were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary so wanted to go somewhere special, we could not have chosen a better place. After a rather disappointing journey (seaplane was not running) we made it to the island of paradise, and paradise it is! Rooms - we chose a Beach Front Suite and were not disappointed. It was very spacious and we had our own sun lounges directly outside on the beach. We were on the south side of the island so saw some amazing sunsets. The room was cleaned twice a day, big shout out to Mode our cleaner who was fantastic and created some amazing towel art. Food ??? breakfast at East Market, just soooooo much food with a big choice. Lunch was always at Veli Bar (Zaheer, Mausd, Qasim, Khan, Alhan and Vishnu) ??? the dream team who looked after us. Very friendly with amazing food (best fish and chips ever). Dinner ??? Allegria was our favourite. The Manager (apologies I have forgotten his name) was outstanding and very professional. Staff ??? all so friendly and helpful. A couple of names we want to mention who were outstanding. Cham in East Market Bar was a delight and greeted us every evening with a smile. Sumeet and Aus also from East Market Bar were awesome. Our favourite part of the day was sitting at the bar with these 3 guys who entertained us with stories from afar. Would love to go back next year and already saving the pennies as it???s not cheap but certainly worth every penny saved.

We came back from our unbelievable holiday at Lux Maldives 6.-13.04! It was our 5th visit but rather shorter than other four stays at Lux Maldives since 2012. We haven???t seen the new look of Lux Maldives after its renovation in 2016. The last four trips were made in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 from Germany. I have celebrated my 40th birthday at Lux Maldives in 2013 and this time we celebrated my husband???s 50th birthday there. My two boys are grown up with Lux Maldives Kids club from their age of 2 & 4 years old and this time they are grown up boys, 9 & 11 years old. As their interest changes, this time they are more into nature itself, for whale shark, turtle and manta in snorkelling. Since we lived in Singapore last two years, it has been easier to travel to Lux Maldives distance-wise from our new home, however, we were somehow busy to explore other destinations in Latin America, Europe and Asia even though we wanted badly to revisit Lux Maldives one day sooner. It was finally happened this time! Since we haven???t seen the new look of Lux Maldives after 2016, we were very excited to go back to Lux Maldives. Beyond our expectations, it has transformed its look with elegant white and futuristic touch, sensibly harmonized turquoise shade with the Maldives nature which I found all in all are well thought for the island in nowhere. For the first time we stayed in Beach Villa east side. Surprisingly we found other beauty at east side since we are used to west side viewing heart-breaking scene of sunset every day. We enjoyed so much quiet and hidden atmosphere at east side even though it???s close to the main areas where swimming pool, MIXE, gym, kids club and Beach Rouge are located. We spent many lunches & evenings at Beach Rouge where you enjoyed excellent service/food in a beautiful white/red open stage facing turquoise sea field. (I am very particular with timing of service and temperate of food in any restaurant, I would only give 7 stars to the team for their excellent work at Beach Rouge!!!) Unfortunately one thing I was not so happy at Beach Rouge was music played by Dj. I am not sure whether the lounge music mix is so easy to dance with in the disco night. The music was not definitely selected for all. It was no fun at all. Most of wonderful things about Lux Maldives have been said by many other guests in many other views in detail, so I don't want to repeat them. (And they are all true in my opinion!) However, one of the most important reasons for us to go back to Lux Maldives is simply people there. Many of them who we met during our holiday, they work so hard and sincerely taken care of their guests heartfully for anyone???s wonderful holiday memories. They made our wonderful holidays each year possible in past and this time surely as well. They are ones who offers a cup of coffee with smile at Caf?? Lux and wipes the floor at the reception. It is true that we enjoyed what we paid for, food, accommodation, service, beautiful environment, nature and etc, but these are as you might expect from other five star hotel/resort. I think Lux Maldives makes itself so special even more with those because there are many champions so sincerely taking care of their guests beyond their duty itself. It is the reason for us to go back to Lux Maldives again. We couldn???t believe that many of them still remembered us after our last visit in 2015 and welcomed us this time. We felt so blessed we could meet each other in good health & spirit again in Lux Maldives. It is an absolutely blessing place! Every day our room was newly born by Anfal, with utmost care and we would sincerely appreciate his excellent housekeeping service. Atish at the reception gave us the most amazing help and guide during our stay. It was wonderful to meet again Khan, Zaheer, Masud and their team with smile and care at Veli pool bar. Senses gets never changed with excellent food and service in elegancy in this all years of changes at Lux Maldives!!! Lovely to be there again! Our favourite restaurant this time was out of all, Beach Rouge. we appreciate sincerely Saju & Daminda and their entire team for their authentic meals and service. I am still dreaming, sitting at the table & looking at the ocean in Beach Rouge. Buggy driving was one of joyful moments for our boys with Hilal who guided them with the secret beautiful scenes of Lux Maldives. The highlight of our visit from the beginning was to see Mamoun again who we get to know him from our first stay at Lux Maldives. Unbelievable!!! He is in charge of transferring the warmth of hospitality to guests in the centre of Lux Maldives. It was unbelievable to greet him this time again and I felt like travelling back to old days with our small children for the first time to Lux Maldives in 2012. We are already looking forward to our next stay during Christmas this year (we might have to postpone the planned ski trip to Japan because our family wish to travel again to Lux Maldives over Christmas). Sincerely thank to the whole team for the amazing memories our family experienced again during our stay 6.-13.04.2019!

This review is a little long, but worth reading if you have kids. If you don't have kids just book, its a great resort - no shortage of food options and never had a bad meal. Staff were courteous and facilities good, although the pools were not temperature controlled, so in April were very warm. The only concern from our side was the kids club. We specifically booked this resort due to the reviews of the kids clubs and the ability for the club to cater to all ages. Whilst our kids (almost 3 and 5) had fun, the resort are exposing themselves, and the children, to risk. On the first day I counted 25 children in the kids club with 2 staff overseeing. When I asked about the shortage I was advised one of the ladies had not returned from holidays, and I later heard the normal manager of the kids club had relocated to Lux's other resort. The ladies running the kids club were lovely, but clearly understaffed (and knew it). By the second day a third lady had arrived to help, however still not sufficient. In all other areas of the resort, staff were in abundance, just not here. What was more concerning was that the kids club were willingly accepting children under two, whose parents were told would receive one to one supervision - I can't see how this was provided as no additional staff were brought in, even though this comes at a cost to the parents. On the first day I phoned reception to inform them of my concerns and was told I would receive a call back which never came. Midway through the stay I bumped into the resort manager who asked how everything was going, I raised my concerns about the kids club to which his response seemed more about excuses - staff away, 70 children on the island and difficult for them to know how many of the kids would actually use the kids club. He did not seem to have any intent to resolve the issue and clearly had no plan in place to deal with fluctuations in numbers of children. The other concern with the kids club is the security, or lack there of. The gates to and from the club were generally left open, including the gate to the kids pool area, which despite being very shallow could be an issue for the younger ones. If the gates were closed they were easily opened, and our 5 year old often escaped to come and locate us. Whilst we had an amazing stay, we would be reluctant to return simply because of the potential risk the kids club presents. If you intend to take an infant or toddler and intend to leave them in the kids club, reconsider or seek assurances additional trained staff will be available before booking. If your kids are in the 5 to 7 year bracket they will have fun, but if you are a nervous parent it might not be for you. What I will say is we met a number of parents who had returned to the island 5 and 6 times, and as I understand it whilst they too had concerns about the kids club, it had not always been an issue. It is a simple fix, so I would hope the resort are proactive and rectify the issues quickly - if they do, we would likely go back.