LUX* South Ari Atoll

Lux island is the most perfect location for a dream honeymoon! My husband and I went to lux for 5 days in mid May 2019 to start off our honeymoon and it was the most amazing start!! Lux offers pure paradise and luxury from the moment you arrival to your departure. you are treated with the most amazingly friendly and professional services. The island has so much to offer and we tried our best to sample everything, from over 5 different restaurants to the spa and day excursions, we even got to see whale sharks and sea turtles! Our beach villa was just beautiful we could step straight out onto the stunning beach and all made better by our amazing room staff a gentleman called Mode I believe? He was so lovely and friendly, he made us different towel animals on our bed each day and honestly was just the nicest guy! Another mention is to a gentleman called Nacer! He was the best! He helped us from the moment we arrived and gave us all the help we needed from booking our dinner reservation each day to sorting out our excursions, we couldn???t of done it without the wonderful and friendly help from Nacer! So finally a massive thanks to all the lux staff for making our stay so amazing and memorable but special thanks to Mode and Nacer Many thanks Lauren maclennan/shepherd!

Arrival/Departure We arrived on a day which had horrendous weather. We arrived at the Lux lounge and were told that we had to wait 3 hours for our seaplane to the island. After 2 hours of waiting, we were then told that all flights via seaplane were cancelled for the rest of the day due to bad weather. We were then hurried to the domestic airport to take a 30 min domestic flight to a bigger island, and then transferred via speedboat in choppy waters to our island. You can imagine how chaotic the airport was, with many tourists and guides clamoring to get them to their respective destinations. We eventually arrived at our island 5 hours after arriving in Male. No fun. Plus our entire day was gone. On our day of departure, our international flight was at 1.35pm. The seaplane came at 10.15am. However, there was a family who had a 11.30pm flight. Their seaplane was scheduled to come at 3pm, meaning they had to wait at the Lux lounge at the Male airport for more than 8 hours! This erratic seaplane scheduling is horrendous! The Stay Despite our rough arrival, we were welcomed by the most amazing hospitality. Each family was greeted by our own staff (who spoke our native language) and they escorted us to our respective villas after a comprehensive explanation of the island. We also received welcome drinks and our kids got lollies. Our water villa was serviced very well. It was clean and new. Toiletries smelt so good. Unfortunately coral around the villas are dead, so not alot of fish. This resort offers lots of instagrammable moments all round. I did comprehensive research before coming and found that its deco is very contemporary and hip (w/o being too cool for school). The Food Kids 6 yrs and below eat for free, so there were considerable savings for us as a family. Other posts talk about bringing your own bottled water and all. There is absolutely no need for that! The resort provides bottled water in your rooms, and at the pool/beachside. They are free. Breakfast at East Asia Market was phenomenal. It was truly a delight, savouring different cuisines from all over the world. There was even a protein shake station! We had room service most nights. Prices for the snapper was USD32, spaghetti bolognese was USD28, croque monsieur was USD28. There was a surcharge of USD8 for room service. The Weather I was worried about this as we were traveling during the 'monsoon' season but apart from the first day, we had ok weather. It would rain for maybe 2-3 hours in the late afternoon, but they were just passing showers. The Staff We have nothing but praise for the staff here. My daughter fell ill on the first day after the tumultuous arrival and when staff got to know about it (since we had to get the island's doctor to pay a house call to our room), they showed genuine concern. They even followed up with us on her condition on subsequent days. My kids struck up a warm friendship with the staff who drives the buggy, Centey. Lux is so fortunate to have staff like him - earnest, genuine, hardworking. He made every effort to stop for guests walking along the main road to offer rides, and also made an effort to remember names. One very early morning, he even helped me search for bottles amongst the bushes! Also special mention needs to be given to Fair, the staff at the ice cream parlour (ice cream was AMAZING by the way, better than Haagen Daz and Ben and Jerry's!). He was so patient in recommending flavours, and dispensed cones at my kids' request. We also appreciated the concern of the staff at Umami (lady wearing kimono whose name starts with S and a young man waiting on our table whose name started with A). My daughter was still ill whilst we were having dinner, so they made arrangements for the buggy to come right to the restaurant to pick us up to go to the clinic. How caring! Now, for the not so good. The dudes at the sea sports rental area are unfriendly and standoffish. They are the only ones in the resort whom we did not appreciate. They gave us contradictory instructions, and one even had a stand-off with my husband. He could not communicate well in English, and insisted on charging us for the snorkels we had borrowed, when they were clearly supposed to be free. We had to get a mediator to intervene. He cooled down after and told us that many visitors of a certain ethnicity had been rude to him, so he was on the defense. Whatever the case, it was no excuse for him to be rude, especially when we did nothing to provoke him! Service Recovery When we told the Russian receptionist about this incident, she was so sorry and gifted us a bag of cofffee beans. Good damage recovery. The incident with the water sports guys left a sour taste but I suspect they may be external operators, I'm not sure. Regardless, we will definitely recommend this resort to friends and family. We will also be back!

#SmileAlltheStay One of the hashtags of Lux South Ari Atoll resort is famous for and boy we were really smiling all throughout our stay. Starting from the fun meetup with the staff on Male airport heading to luxurious and comfy lounge until we landed on the resort, to assisting us on our "wow" water villa room, exploring the island, indulging on breakfasts/dinner buffet, splurging on our cameras for that ig worthy snaps since everywhere is picture perfect, to meeting new people and sharing our delightful experiences in the resort - Lux South Ari Atoll is nothing but a pure perfect retreat for those who seeks relaxation at its finest form. We were far away from home, but everyone in the resort felt like our extended family. Whether from occasionally bumping to the General Manager or to the cleaners and drivers, they made sure we are enjoying our stay and making the most out of our holiday vacation. My parents were just the happiest, they really felt like they were in paradise. If i could just put it in one word, hmm I cannot. Hahaha I'll just make one tagline - "When relaxation and paradise collides" - Lux South Ari Atoll Maldives.