One of our clients has just returned from Maradiva, Mauritius, and given us this great testimonial on her return! If you’re looking to head to Mauritius on the off season, here’s a good idea of what you might expect.
Thanks for the follow up and yes we had a wonderful wedding and honeymoon, thank you. I would be happy to write you a review 🙂
Indeed we were absolutely thrilled with the hotel. It was exactly what we wanted in terms of a peaceful and very relaxing, romantic break (with very few children around) and we felt we chose the right place for us. The overall service is faultless and delivered with genuine smiles and the villas are of a very high standard with wonderful bathrooms. Spacious rooms, interesting furnishings and good products. The room service is the best I have experienced in that you have a terrace so can really enjoy in room ‘dining’, with a waiter who sets up and serves and then promptly returns an hour later. The mini bar and Nespresso facilities are impressive and the standard of amenities is high. They also do wonderful private dining – on beach, in villa, on the jetty which are delivered superbly.
The hotel was very empty while we were there which meant that we had plenty of space and private service, I think that probably in high season the pool area would get quite packed as it is a small space (unusual for a resort hotel) and although the villas all have lovely (but tiny) plunge pools I suspect this could be a disadvantage in high season. The water sports and boat house are well run and the staff are professionally trained and friendly. We had private trips every day as the hotel was so quiet but I imagine in high season the facilities would stand up well. The gym is top class and impressively clean with great equipment and they have a super selection of personal training and sports programmes.
The food is of a very high quality however the dinner menu is quite limited. I have a feeling this may be because some people have a half board option but usually I would have thought they have a separate menu. This did mean by night 10 we knew the menu off by heart!! Secondly the food is inconsistent in that although its always good the same dish never arrives twice which is a little frustrating. Having said that, the waiters are super and the service is good – if not a little over friendly at times! The prices I thought were very fair for a 5* hotel.
The spa is Indian themed and well staffed and looked after. The treatments are of a good standard, if not as luxurious as you get in Asia. Again the staff are friendly and the facilities good. The jacuzzi for some reason is cold (!) as its in the pool which was the only let down for us. The treatments I thought are highly priced even for a 5* with manicures at 40 GBP.
The hotel claims it is 5* plus and although we honestly had a wonderful time and it is luxurious hotel, there are some areas that do not put it in this league. For example the furnishings in the bar area are next to the pool as well so tend to be quite grubby and a little dirty as people have sat on them with suncream etc. The Four Seasons would have replaced them already. The consistency of the food really is an issue especially as often what comes isn’t quite what they say on the menu – i.e. they forget bits in the salad when the chef changes. The soap container in the womens loos was broken and was not replaced all week. With these small things in mind probably its slightly below a real luxury Four Seasons/Ritz Carlton quality hotel but we honestly hardly noticed them and they certainly did not affect our trip at all.
Overall they go out of their way to do everything they can to make your trip perfect and also very private. A couple of times they cooked things for us off the menu (as I am vegetarian) and they organised some really lovely surprises for us – our first night they set up a private table on the sea shore on a deserted beach with our own waiter for no cost at all. Very special indeed.
