Maldives as a single parent with my (just) 18 year old

[Britneyfan]

Hi, as above does anyone have any recommendations for the Maldives this summer? Especially if you’ve been yourself and would recommend a particular resort, I’m finding it confusing and difficult to pick.

I’m thinking of going as a single parent with my son who will have just finished A-levels. I know it’s often seen as a romantic destination and am fine with being there alongside honeymooning couples as long as it’s not ALL honeymooning couples and us sticking out like a sore thumb?!

My son isn’t super sporty but loves swimming and would enjoy snorkelling too, he might try a water sport or two if it’s on offer as might I. We do love a pool as well as a sea option. It would be nice if there was another teen or two for him to hang out with and some sort of games room. Craft type opportunities for both of us (but mainly me!) would be great. And a spa or at least an option to have massages. Something like a beach cinema we would both enjoy and maybe opportunities for low key activities like craft or making cocktails or board/card games. We sometimes enjoy a daily game of waterpolo and a bit of an entertainment team getting people involved as long as it’s not super intrusive/noisy and inescapable. Mostly we both enjoy just going to relaxing beautiful environments where we can spend a lot of time swimming outdoors, enjoying sunshine, good food and reading and just generally chilling.

We are both unkeen on fish/seafood so it’s really important there are other options too! I love a good cocktail on holiday now and again and would be disappointed if there are no or very limited cocktail options and just wine or whatever for alcohol. AI would probably be good for the budget, I’m also fine with half board if there are other local places to eat. Food should be good quality but not overly fancy! A family resort is fine with us as long as most of the money you pay for a holiday isn’t going towards catering to 3 year olds basically, but we are also open to adult hotel options.

Finally in my dreams we have an overwater room of some kind with a little balcony, but I am not a millionaire and appreciate that these sort of amazing rooms can often blow the budget spectacularly. My son would love a separate room but that’s probably going to make it unaffordable realistically! He’s ok to share the room if we have to but a double bed for me with an extra sofa bed or something for him would be good.

Also I think it’s off season there, is it completely mad to go then? It definitely makes it more affordable and I’m ok with intermittent rain if it stays generally warm and there is generally sunshine between the showers. Can cope with a few overcast days but probably would be gutted if it was raining or overcast the whole time considering you go there to enjoy beaches and the sea!

Thanks in advance for responses.

@AsACloud I’m glad to know it’s not just me finding it all a bit bewildering and feeling like I need to put more research into it than my average holiday 🤣 Kuramathi looks good. I like the idea of a split stay, although in reality I’d probably find it annoying to have to pack my stuff and move halfway through my holiday I think. Good to have it as an option though for sure.

TBH it’s not an inconvenience at all. You throw your stuff in a suitcase & they move everything for you. It was seamless. When you see the water villa that you’re heading to…you won’t care that you had to pack your bags!

The standard - less honeymoony and more fun and funky

look out for good deals on secret escapes and the like

NH collection was fab, I especially liked the beach villa. We were in one without a pool. but these had the best beach metres from your villa. Moving to a water villa half way through the holiday was no hassle at all. Moving islands though would be more time consuming. We actually upgraded to a WV on the island, which in our case worked out cheaper.
Another thing to mention is that some accommodation, especially on older resorts is rather rustic. I have never been Kuredu, but I do remember a few years ago their entry level villas had not been upgraded.
We have visited all class of islands. My favourite budget island was Embudu. We have also stayed at Shangri la villingilli. Their water villas are sublime and it’s only a short trip to Gan (an old air base) which is connected to local islands via a causeway which we cycled.
We are going back to the Maldives in September. We usually go to a reputable agent with a budget and our requirements and they will give us a few choices and we do our research from there.

Food should be no problem for you,my DH doesn’t eat fish. Robinson Club had excellent food although Constance Moofushi which was a class above was disappointing for food, but excellent for wine and cocktails.
Even with all our experience we still go through around in circles choosing an island!

I've been to the Maldives twice, first time with little kids aged 1 and 4, last time they were 8 and 11. Both times stayed for < week, that's long enough for my husband, kids would happily stay longer they still rave about their last visit, and would go back in a flash. Obviously they don't really remember the first visit. We are not resort people, normally go on more sightseeing trips, so the kids like the uninterrupted beach and swimming time and I love to snorkel for hours at a time whilst I turn into a prune. As we don't stay for long we've only been to resorts near the airport, to minimise transfer time. Last time we stayed at Kurumba, but the same company own Kuramathi, we liked Kurumba; it has a good house reef, lots of a la carte restaurants and free kayaking plus lots of paid watersport options, but it's very close to Male and not very desserted island feel. So I think Kuramathi would be a better choice. There is also a Hard Rock resort if you want a more lively vibe, but we've not been. Simply Maldives has a great website for narrowing down choices, can filter resorts by boat transfer Vs seaplane transfer, or restaurants options or presence of a swimming pool etc.

I was at kuredu a month ago. Really recommend it for a nice chilled holiday, it is split into different resorts so Sangu is all honeymooners and Instagram worthy water villas, O Resort is for over 12’s and is really chilled, and the restaurant, bars and pool lack the busyness and noise that the main ones have. the snorkelling from the beach right outside my beach villa was exceptional, sharks and turtles right there next to you every morning swim. The Main resort is for families. We also did guided night snorkelling and was literally having to gently push the sharks away!
My only gripe was because it is quite literally an island resort on what was once a desert island so it lacks any historical places of interest to visit! I love a good museum or historic house tour!