Komandoo Island Resort review- Maldives

A 'good' resort but some work to do

Let me open this review by saying we may very well return to Komandoo so don't think this review is entirely negative, it's not. This is an honest review of a resort which prides itself on being 5 star and, somewhat surprising to us, continues to receive 5 star reviews. 

 Full Trip video:

We booked Komandoo for our 3 week honeymoon based on the fact it's one of the few adult only resorts in the Maldives and due to the amazing reviews. We'd waited a year following our wedding in order to be away for 3 weeks and it's fair to say our expectations were high, however there were a few niggly bits which dulled the overall shine of an otherwise incredible honeymoon. To place in perspective I've been very lucky to have been to the Maldives on a couple of occasions previously, Mayaafushi and Mirihi as well a number of resorts in Mauritius, Antigua, St Lucia, a couple have been 5 star resorts and others 3 or 4 star so I've seen a broad spectrum of accommodation types. 

First of all, and not the resorts issue, make sure you have a pen in your hand luggage to fill your immigration card as soon as you land in Male, it's a bit of a fight to try and find one to complete, not sure why they don't hand out on the planes. But anyhow, after 17 hours travelling there was quite a delay before our seaplane flight to the resort. We were quite disappointed especially as we then flew to Kuredu and had quite some time waiting there. Ultimately it was 4.5hrs from landing at Male until we reached Komandoo so were exhausted upon arrival. The welcome coconut milk and ice cream were well received albeit we were absolutely shattered and just wanted a shower and a nap. When we arrived in our water villa (Eagle Ray 12) we were amazed at the beautiful view and size of the villa. However, there's no escaping the rooms are looking very tired and need a deep clean, there was a crack in the tile on our shower floor as well black mould all over our shower tiles and our jacuzzi bath was broken. In order to get it work we had to take the bath panel off to locate the button to turn on and off. There was also on overwhelming smell of urine in the toilet, for days we kept the lid down thinking it was the drains but it really bothered me so I turned investigator and pretty much stuck my head down the toilet. Then I realised there was a huge buildup of urine smelling limescale at the front of the toilet under the rim. Having taken maintenance 4 days to repair our bath I decided to sort myself, I soaked tissue in Coca Cola from our minibar and wedged up under the rim to act as a descaler. After doing this for a few days combined with a good scrubbing from the toilet brush actually made a bit of a difference so it wasn't offensive to be in our toilet again. 

There's a very handy washing line in the water villa which was a lovely touch however do not use the clothes pegs provided!! They're stained brown wooden pegs and due to sheer exhaustion I used a couple when we arrived and freshened up however they stained our clothing. In the room are some really useful thoughtful items, dressing gowns as well as life vests which if we'd known beforehand wouldn't haven't taken one with us, really nice consideration. We also has honeymoon t-shirts, fruit platter and some sparkling wine with an imaginative towel display upon arrival thanks to Ali. He also repeated the towel displays on our anniversary and again on Valentine's Day when we also had chocolates and a beautiful red rose in our room. Wonderful gestures, thank you. 

Candlelight Dinner:

We were looking forward to taking part in a number of trips whilst there however the biggest disappointment to us was that Hayes and Jarvis and Komandoo advertised daily trips to a local desert island, Kadadoo. We love snorkelling and were looking forward to visiting different places however these are not happening. Kadadoo is the 4th resort of Crown & Champa which include Kuredu, Hurawalhi and Komandoo. 2 weeks after our return these daily trips are still being advertised. The resort is due to open in December 2017 and the building work has been ongoing for some time. We even saw a Hurawalhi plane at Male advertising both that resort and Kadadoo Residences. To not communicate this to prospective travellers is not acceptable. The building work is obvious and does spoil the view from Komandoo, when calm you can hear the works which starts early and finishes well into the night. The 'local' island people also talk about which is visible from the sunset side is also a lot closer than people have described and is an industrial tuna fish canning island, it's not pretty and it's not what we had been expecting. 

The location offered few options for evening entertainment which suited us as we didn't want a party island however we were desperately disappointed when the few events (2 movie under the star events) and a crab racing event were cancelled with no reason and no communication, on one occasion we sought an explanation and were told it was too windy for the movie but there was no explanation for the first time it was cancelled. We had been sat waiting for the event to start under the clear and calm sky so still don't know why that or the crab racing was cancelled. Another communication issue which needs addressing, the information provided to us at pre arrival stage and on the Komandoo website doesn't match the information provided in people's rooms, info re doctors, food, trips didn't match, they didn't always match the info we'd been provided with. 

Beware overbooking at Komandoo, unlike other resorts we've been to there is no identified transfer days, I'm used to Sundays being a day when people arrive and depart which is easy for a resort to manage however seaplanes and new people came and went pretty much every day. This has led to problems of overbooking and people are being offered the opportunity to move and on some occasions are being moved to Hurawalhi despite their protestations. Hurawalhi looks lovely (we went there to go to the 5:8 underwater restaurant, brilliant experience but air con is useless at lunchtime so you will get very warm, ) but it's a much bigger resort which doesn't have the intimate feel of Komandoo. People we spoke with said it was a resort which was very stylish but they had not enjoyed their time there as it was not the usual, relaxed and intimate feel they loved about Komandoo. 

There are two restaurants on the island the buffet restaurant where you have all meals and the Aqua restaurant which offers an a la carte and tasting menu. We asked to book the Aqua restaurant upon our arrival for Valentine's Day to be told it was closed that day as the main buffet restaurant would be doing something special. Fair enough we thought so booked another day however shortly after spending a considerable amount of money there Aqua was advertising a special Valentine's Day menu, after a dinner on the beach meal for our anniversary, a meal at the Aqua restaurant and at the underwater restaurant we couldn't justify spending another $300 to eat there, disappointing. We were also surprised there was no offer of vouchers towards eating at Aqua if you were all inclusive and didn't eat at the buffet restaurant, other resorts offer a token gesture or credit towards your bill if you eat elsewhere on islands but not here and not sure why. A note about the buffet restaurant, if you want a seat on the deck at tea time either be prepared to get there at 19:20hrs and fight your way to the front or tip your waiters excessively. I was taken aback being pushed to one side by people behind me in the queue desperate to sit at the front, watching ladies in their 70's running through foliage to the side of the restaurant to get to their seats and staff reserving seats for some visitors. This last point really sticks with me, first come first served or nominated seating, do not show preferential treatment in this way it was very frustrating. We loved our Vila on the sunrise side, the villas from approx 7 to 15 are sunrise side and look out to open sea, we had the sun on our deck until about 15:00 which was perfect for us. However there was an issue with privacy which we weren't anticipating, Hurawalhi offer jet ski and speedboat trips and we frequently felt on view as these went zooming past on a regular basis. 

Spotted Eagleray:

 

The snorkelling is out of this world, the coral is bleached but we saw and swam with a number of turtles, rays, black tipped reef sharks and a couple of octopus as well as a huge range of wonderful fish. Definitely the best snorkelling on a house reef I've seen and was amazing highlight of ours.
We loved our honeymoon, it was our honeymoon so were going to! The snorkelling was incredible, the food wonderful and the overall location beautiful but this is not a five star resort and feel that should be fairly reflected.

Octopuss!