-
Here’s a trip report that worked out longer than planned. CW redemption to Mumbai with companion voucher connecting to Indigo BOM- MLE paid in cash and booking a resort through Destination2. I picked Indigo as it connects well outbound but on the way back arrives after the BA flight leaves. You therefore need to stay at least one night in Mumbai. Since we like the city, we stayed 3 nights and headed to Colaba and the Taj Mahal Palace.
BA flight outbound was great, as was the B lounge once we’d ditched the terrible Prosecco for champagne. We had old-style yin-yang CW outbound but it was clean, the crew were exceptional and the food as good as I’ve had on any BA flight. I’d have been happy to pay good cash for that service.
The Indigo flight was very pricey once we’d included baggage, a ‘convenience fee’ and up front seats. The total bill was just shy of £500 each. Still, it’s all way cheaper than cash CW direct. And we flew school holidays so little chance we’d get redemptions.
Indian immigration LHR-BOM and MLE-BOM was a breeze, as was baggage claim. Aircraft doors to arrivals was about 20 minutes each time. Departures is not well signposted from arrivals, but a bit of airport sense told me to just find an elevator/escalator and that did the trick.
I forgot to check in for Indigo in the UK but an electronic boarding pass was enough to pass Indian security to get back into the airport and get a paper boarding pass from Indigo.
We went to a Priority Pass lounge since we were SLF for the MLE flight and after being turned away from what looked like a nice lounge despite it being in the app, we ended up in a gloomy hole that in hindsight we should have turned around from. If I did this again, it go to Costa.
The new Male seaplane terminal is awesome. Even the cheapskate areas are very comfortable and the Dusit Thani lounge was as good as any I saw in the old terminal. It also feels a lot better organised with mini departure lounges per plane and everything is immaculate. I really look forward to see what they do with the main terminal as they’ve done a splendid job with this one.
Dusit Thani itself is the best Maldives resort we’ve stayed in so far. I’m a convert to pools on the water villa deck having been sniffy about them before since the sea is just there, but for a few minutes to cool off, they are great. Food in the Thai restaurant is every bit as good as I’d hoped and the grill restaurant was good too. I’ve had better Maldives buffets, but it was still decent. Drink quality is very good. I still think resort butlers are a stupid gimmick, but he was a nice enough chap. Scuba was decent but it was not manta season so one of the Baa Atoll draws was of course a no-show. It’s not a big diver resort so plenty of my trips were 1:1.
We booked Dusit Thani with Destination2 which was an outstanding experience. The agent was great and followed up with a resort booking reference that I double-checked to ensure there was no bait and switch happening. The rate was half that of booking direct or any other OTA in the UK. TUI was pretty much the same price but only on their German-language sites and there were certainly a fair number of Germans and Swiss at the resort. But I was keen to give D2 an go anyway.
Indigo MLE-BOM was totally faff free, just handing over a passport. Same RyanAir experience at top dollar price. We were clearly inoculated to bonkers prices and paid $35 each for the business lounge in MLE as we were economy on Indigo. It was much better than I remembered it, but no alcohol of course.
The Taj in Mumbai is a bit more hit and miss than our pre-pandemic visit. Service at its best is as good as ever: a concierge sorting out a tailor to repair a top for my wife. Sometimes it’s pretty rough: ordering at the pool it a chase a waiter affair. The Indian restaurant in the hotel was 80 quid and one of the worst meals I’ve eaten in India. Our room was beautiful and the hotel remains a sweet smelling museum. We booked with BA Avios hotels which was the best rate we could find. Don’t expect any after sales service from them.
That’s about it. We did a lot of shopping as we’ve seen much of what Mumbai offers a tourist otherwise, sometimes twice taking friends. OH has even more Indian jewellery and we have some probably dodgy items from the Chor bazaar. Home in Club Suite tomorrow.
Often you get more issues at Indian customs leaving the country than coming in so be careful/take necessary precautions.
Seems a big shame to have all the incredible food at your disposal in Mumbai and eat at the hotel resto.
Great trip report – interesting that Destination2 was cheaper than booking direct!
My favourite restaurant in Bombay is the Britannia for Parsi cuisine which you can’t get here.
Great report indeed- I’m going to be visiting the Maldives next year so considering the option of going via India, so this was very helpful.
Not at all surprised that Destination 2 were cheaper as they price off B2B rates with little mark up unlike bigger OTAs. Bit like an independent travel agent 😉. Acid test would be what would happen if there’s a problem – I’ve not heard any views either way.
I found this fascinating even though the Maldives have little appeal to me. I must visit Mumbai some time, though. Thank you for posting.
Often you get more issues at Indian customs leaving the country than coming in so be careful/take necessary precautions.
Seems a big shame to have all the incredible food at your disposal in Mumbai and eat at the hotel resto.
It was late and were tired. It is fifth trip to Mumbai.
Destination2 seem to come up as cheapest option for lots of ME destinations too.
Do you need a visa if simply transit via Mumbai?
Destination2 seem to come up as cheapest option for lots of ME destinations too.
Do you need a visa if simply transit via Mumbai?
https://www.visa-india-online.org/complete-guide-to-indian-transit-visa
@masaccio out of interest did you ask Dusit Thani to price match against Destination2?
@masaccio out of interest did you ask Dusit Thani to price match against Destination2?
‘Fraid not. I guess I should have given it a go as their reception is very responsive. I got email back usually within 30 minutes. The Taj was sadly less helpful and took 2-7 days to respond to any email.
A very interesting review, thank you. This travel lark is a subjective business is it not? My brother is in the industry and cannot go to Mumbai enough. I went for the cricket world cup and will never return. The Maldives, however – I have been 9 times and have 2 trips booked in the next 12 months. The destinations could hardly be more different and that is part of the joy of what we do.
Thank you for your trip report. I’m pleased it went well. How was the snorkeling?
That’s an interesting routing, something I wouldn’t mind trying another year.Next year we’ve used a load of avios and gone business with Qatar, we fancied trying them and we were disappointed with our outbound club flight to the maldives this February.
I’m pleased Destination2 worked for you, we’ve booked with Travel Republic next year, I did put a thread on here. We only lose £15 if we cancel so I’ve locked in an excellent price for Constance Moofushi for next year, but we’re still flexible if a good offer comes up elsewhere.
So off the back of this thread, I’d be interested in knowing with the following options what people would suggest booking for my wife and I for March 2025 to MLE (I’m a travel agent, so have hotels and only need reward flights). I’m flexible on dates but no direct club/upper class direct available, do like direct flights but want to hear thoughts on whether it’s worth an indirect route to do business class.
1. BA – Premium out, economy back with a 2-4-1.
2. Virgin – Premium both ways (need to check if my voucher still valid)
3. Combo of above – BA PE out and Virgin in (waste of a voucher?)
4. Business to India (BLR has plenty of availability) and India to MLE cash
5. QR business out but requires an overnight in Doha.Any thoughts much appreciated. My wife is a nervous flyer so no crazy 3/4 stop routes please!
Thank you for your trip report. I’m pleased it went well. How was the snorkeling?
I’m pleased Destination2 worked for you, we’ve booked with Travel Republic next year, I did put a thread on here. We only lose £15 if we cancel so I’ve locked in an excellent price for Constance Moofushi for next year, but we’re still flexible if a good offer comes up elsewhere.
Snorkelling was good, not excellent by my rating but people we spoke to thought it was amazing. Visibility was a bit poor at times and the drop off on the reef not as deep as some reports so the blue was not that deep colour I love. Fish variety was excellent but shoaling not as large as I’ve seen. We saw a turtle a couple of times and my wife swam through a school of bannerfish when she was on her own.
I have a dive torch so we went out on the reef at night (suggest you go just after sunset and come back in the dark) and that was much better. Heaps of lion fish, loads of horseshoe crab, some free swimming morays, fan worms, etc.
Hope Constance Moofushi works out well for you. Some friends went a couple of years ago and loved it.
Thank you for the snorkeling report it sounds decent there. We went to moofushi in february and were very impressed but we’re open to somewhere else.
Since we did a repeat of this, I thought I would follow up.
This year was LHR-BOM-MLE/MLE-BLR-LHR mixing BA/Indigo again. BA Club Suite outbound was excellent in every way and was one of those flights that gives you hope for the airline. Inbound the food was terrible and I did have a good joke about it together with the steward; BA really needs to find a different caterer in Bangalore.
Indigo, apart from the row 1 seats we booked, was a £150 per person per flight RyanAir-style crapfest. I especially liked when we chose the wrong check-in desk and, after our bags were tagged, we were asked to pay for the upgraded check-in. I declined and asked for my bags to be untagged so I could go to another desk. They backed down.
Indigo was fairly strict on excess baggage. We were both foolishly 3kg over our 20kg allowance. That was £65 outbound and would have been $75 inbound but the gate agent could not be bothered to do the payment. So we spent the ‘saving’ on the MLE lounge as there’s no Priority Pass for international at MLE.
BOM and BLR immigration and baggage claim were fast. BOM was 45 mins airplane door back through immigration, re-checkin and international security, BOM was 15 minutes from airplane door to looking for an Uber.
Tip (we regretted not doing this): take a buggy from the plane to immigration as it was quite a trek for OH on her knees and you arrive ahead of the rest of the plane. My guess is that in an airport they’d be happy with USD as you’re unlikely to have rupees.
Tip (also figured this out too late): ignore the eVisa lane that had one person and randomly closed as we got to the front. Use business/first instead.
Tip (we remembered this): take the second corridor to the left after the BOM arrival doors and before the steps to go straight to back to departures via the escalator.
Tip (we chose not to do this): register for UPI payments at the airport as it’s the only place you can do it and cash is starting to get rarer. Uber and hotels are all good with ApplePay, but small shops and autos are UPI or cash with a grimace. Nowhere near as cashless as China, but the trend is there.
Resort this time was Dhigali, booked through D2 again. No private lounge at the seaplane terminal, but the new terminal is so good you really don’t need one. There is a Priority Pass lounge apparently. The resort itself is very nice. Food in the sometimes-difficult-to-book a la carte restaurants is excellent, but the buffet is very hit and miss. Diving at least when we were there was superb, and the house reef excellent even though the blue is a bit of a swim from the lagoon pool villas.
India hotels were the truly exceptional Oberoi and the disappointing, but fairly unavoidable airport Taj.
We booked Dusit Thani with Destination2 which was an outstanding experience. The agent was great and followed up with a resort booking reference that I double-checked to ensure there was no bait and switch happening. The rate was half that of booking direct or any other OTA in the UK.
Hi masaccio, thanks for the report(s). Can you say a bit more about your D2 experience please.
We have a holiday booked (but not yet paid for) for somewhere we know and have been before. Looking at D2 it does appear to be cheaper for the same dates although I can’t be sure as the website seems a bit clunky.
It says seaplane transfer included but when I hit ‘continue’ it comes up with a banner which says ‘Transfers for this hotel are compulsory, Please select a transfer to continue’ – although there is no transfer option anywhere.
Sounds like you did some of it at least on the phone – did you achieve anything online?
Thanks masaccio! A few questions if you dont mind…
Tip (we regretted not doing this): take a buggy from the plane to immigration as it was quite a trek for OH on her knees and you arrive ahead of the rest of the plane. My guess is that in an airport they’d be happy with USD as you’re unlikely to have rupees.
Is this at BOM? Do we need to book one before arrival?
Tip (we chose not to do this): register for UPI payments at the airport as it’s the only place you can do it and cash is starting to get rarer. Uber and hotels are all good with ApplePay, but small shops and autos are UPI or cash with a grimace. Nowhere near as cashless as China, but the trend is there.
Another problem is many money changers in UK dont seem to stock INR, not sure if its due to a rule or just liquidity issues.
At BOM there were buggies just waiting at the top of the jet bridge and plenty of them. I called D2 to make my booking and didn’t pay any extra fees. For the Maldives, I got put through to somebody called Nadine both times. But if you use the website, there is a final fee page after any extras. I do agree some of their packages can be confusing but high is why I ended up calling.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
