1. Where to book?
Travel Fair
Bei & I are not really keen on travel fair,
largely because of the crowd (he hates crowd) and fairs are usually so over-rated.
The myth of travel packages being cheaper in fairs is yes, a myth.
They usually just give you more freebies, like suitcases?
Moreover, it is only cheaper IF you go to the common popular countries,
like Europe.
Agency
We went to a couple of travel agency, like Asa Travel, etc in Chinatown.
A lot of travel agency in Chinatown so we thought we would check it out,
but it takes super long for the staff to check the travel package prices, MEH.
Well, perhaps the packages they have are all for the beach villas.
But we wanted a water villa for our honeymoon.
I mean, who wants to spend their honeymoon being bitten by bugs and all?
Isn't water villas more appropriate for honeymoon?
Anyway, in the end, we received quotes for about $7~9K,
and it wasn't even a 5-star hotel.
Online
We very much given up hope and wanted to just book via the agency
BUT BUT BUT
clever Bei researched and found this website which a lot of people uses:
This website is the best!
They have everything about Maldives!
We were kind of skeptical about it though.
After all, imagine remitting a few thousand dollars over,
not knowing for sure if they really book the hotel for you.
Well, this website acts like an agency actually,
they even live support which is like a live chat for you to ask questions.
You can check on the rates of every single hotel in Maldives,
the promotions, etc!
Bei did all the asking and we he finally decided on Hilton Hotel,
because of the brand name.
He said he doesn't want to risk our honeymoon being miserable,
on some ulu pandan hotel.
Some of the hotels there really have the weirdest name,
but surprisingly, a lot of people voted it as a good hotel.
Total spending for Hotel Booking: $5.2K
(5D4N, including breakfast only)
You can choose to have all meals accommodated for a higher price,
but I don't recommend that because there's so many restaurants there for you to try!
2. Flight?
Singapore Airlines
I had a really bad experience with SQ before.
You can read it here.
Come to think of it,
there was also another time -
the tv on board the plane from Paris back to SG was down
and the staff was so slow in rectifying it,
I burst out crying cos I wouldn't imagine sitting for hours with no tv.
ANYWAY,
I heard that it was so so much cheaper to travel to Malaysia,
and take a plane from there to Maldives.
But Bei didn't want the hassle,
neither did he want any budget airlines.
So, we narrowed down to Cathay, Emirates and SQ.
SQ proved to be the cheapest,
as they were having this "Sweet deals 2 to go".
So, we flew SQ yet again.
This time,
we got irritated again.
At the entrance of the plane (after all the check in and all the other checks),
we just wanna step in and sit.
The crew at the door greeted us,
so Bei told her where we are seated - the seat numbers.
Then, she asked for our passport & tickets
(HELLO I KEPT IT ALREADY,
YOUR COLLEAGUE JUST CHECK IT LIKE 10 SECS AGO)
So, Bei said we already know where we are seated,
why do you still need to see it?
And she went all stern
"I need to see them"
I was like wtf and proceed to dig them out of my rilakkuma bag.
(at that point, I wished I brought along my chanel, prada, etc).
IS THIS PART OF THE PROCEDURE?
The old men behind didnt have to show their passports!!
MEH
We feel so intimidated.
(next time, I'm bringing all my branded bags, lol)
The service throughout the flight was very pleasing though,
there was this super nice lady who was super nice to me.
The nice staffs are the juniors,
but the judging one is a senior.
Total spending for airline: $1.7K
3. Hotel
Hilton Hotel
They indeed lived up to their reputation,
I would say.
They have a weekly newsletter,
showing the activities available everyday.
Once you check in,
spare no time and start planning your days!
Some of the restaurants are highly sought after,
and maybe fully booked!
Fastest fingers first!
Here are the pictures of the weekly newsletter,
say thank you!
There's a lot of things to do, right!
I also took photos of the in-room and guest services books available in our villa.
Say thank you again!
FOOD!!!
Shopping is MEGA-expensive.
I hope they entice you to stay at Hilton Hotel,
they are really pretty good!
I will be posting a villa tour video
(depends on when Bei is free to help me edit blah blah),
so do stay tune!
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