Cancel Maldives and go where?

[ChimneyPot]

I know this is a very first world problem.

DH and I are due to go to the Maldives in less than a weeks time. It will be our first holiday without the children in a very long time.

This was organised a year ago and the dates are not flexible as an adult child is minding the youngest.

The weather in the Maldives is cloudy and rainy at the moment and that seems set to continue.

We are booked to go to a tiny island where we would be snorkelling, swimming and lazing in the sun for a week. There really isn’t anything else to do there.

If we cancel we would get just under half our money back.

Would you cancel and where would you recommend going next week for one week instead.

we’ve been in the Maldives for the past 5 days and the weather has been terrible 😢 we knew we might get a few showers but we weren’t expecting endless days of cloud and rain. we’ve spent most of our time in our villa or the pool bar playing board games. the evenings are nice, but the days are a little depressing as we’ve spent a lot of money to sit in our room and see weather we could have seen in the U.K. it looks like it might get better soon, but no guarantee. I would take a look at the webcams and decide if you will feel disappointed by the weather you see there or if you’re quite happy to mill about drinking, playing board games etc. if I could go back in time I would have stayed in Dubai (where we did 3 days before coming out to the Maldives and had beautiful sunshine).

Maldives webcams

I’d cancel. Been there, done that and it was miserable.

Take a look at SongSaa Private Island in Cambodia. Just checked the weather and it looks great.

Very Maldivian but I prefer it, personally.

@birdsong886 how disappointing for you. what atoll are you on?

we’re south male atoll, 45 min speedboat from male. hopefully the weather will pick up!

Rochelle Hulmes is there on Instagram and she addresses the rains and storms in her Instagram story- same as what most people have said in this thread!

It’s always mixed weather and plenty of sun. If you are snorkelling you won’t care anyway! Don’t cancel, it’s still the most beautiful location even with showers (which are almost always after 5pm).

We went to koh lanta on 28 Nov and the weather app said rain every day for ten days. It rained three times and only one of those was prolonged enough to affect what we were doing.

We were in the Maldives at the same time last year and it was rainier than Thailand and we were too 'early' for better weather, but it was still sunny 90% of the time.

Looking at the long range forecasts for South Ari Atoll it may improve towards the end of next week... for a few days at least. Do let us know what you decide OP! I feel for you 😕

Don’t cancel. We didn’t have the best weather for our honeymoon a few years back and honestly my favourite memories were watching and listening to the rain on the ocean from our room, getting caught in a storm then having a hot bubble bath, going for massages and spa treatments…. It slowed down the pace even more and was surprisingly lovely. You can still snorkel, eat wonderful fresh food and relax. Weather goes by Male which is a flight and boat ride etc away remember! We found the forecast wildly inaccurate.

But you're not guaranteed the weather anywhere that you're likely to be able to afford with half the money back. So what happens if you cancel and go to, say, the Canaries and it pisses down? I know where I'd rather be.

You can get good and bad weather anywhere. Mostly in the Maldives if it rains it’s just for an hour or so, and there’s something quite dramatic about tropical downpours! I’m off there soon with work (I only get one night there 😢😢) so will be able to tell you what the weather was actually like. 🤣 January is definitely at the better end of the scale though wrt rain. People expect too much perfection from their holidays and are disappointed when they find perfection doesn’t actually exist. You could look for a long time to find somewhere better than the Maldives in January for lying on a beach!

Hi @ChimneyPot I hope you don’t mind me asking what the weather is like? (if you’re there now). I go for the first and probably last time next week, getting a bit worried too! But fingers crossed for some sunshine thrown 🤞

This is what I was going to suggest!

We’ll pack a rain coats because we will need them to get to restaurants and the spa

Cheap umbrellas you can leave for the next person. Rain coats are sweaty in the tropics and umbrellas can be used for sun as well.

You won’t need raincoats or umbrellas. It’s too hot for a raincoat and your hotel should provide umbrellas.

Hotel rooms in the Maldives tend to have two golf umbrellas 👍🏻

Noooo don't cancel! We had this exact scenario this time last year, the forecast for our atoll said nothing but clouds/rain. However, there was nothing but the odd puffy cloud in a bright blue sky and not a single drop of rain when we were there.
The forecast was still awful whilst we were there, saying cloud whilst we were sunbathing! I think it's not particularly accurate for each location.

Oh Op what a dilemma.
My friend is currently there and she says the weather is gorgeous. She's on the Raa atoll?
Would be such a shame to cancel

Definitely don't cancel, we honeymooned a few years ago and yes it rained a handful of days but for about an hour or overnight, we had one day out of 14 where it rained all day but we still snorkelled, ate, drank, read and went to the spa!

The hotel will provide umbrellas and there will be golf buggies to take you to dinner.

The Maldives is paradise for me rain or shine!

Am update as promised.

Arrived yesterday lunch time. It was warm but a bit cloudy and there was a 5 minute very shower when we were on the beach so we stayed under our grass parasol to stay dry.
Currently lying on beach in 28 degree heat. Patchy clouds but I can see a patch of rain in the distance.

I have been to this resort before probably another short shower later.

The food will still be great, the fish will still be swimming, the rest will be just as relaxing.

Thanks for the update OP. Wishing you a fabulous holiday with lots of great weather.