Siyam World Maldives

Well after a very long journey to get here (every flight delayed which meant we missed our sea plane by 10 mins so had to wait in lounge for 3 hours…although very nice offering soft drinks, snacks) then out in pouring rain to seaplane that took us to Sun Siyam (we were the only ones not staying here) so then had to catch a boat to Siyam World, we finally arrived in paradise! Our host quickly took us to our room which in fairness was the one I’d chosen (half way down the Rialto bridge as didn’t want to be too near the end 😂) to then find we were on the seaplane side and they operated from 6am and were very noisy! So we asked to transfer, went to Together Bar for a quick glass (or bottle) of champagne and then finally relaxed! Our new room on Tower Bridge was heaven. Lots of space with the most gorgeous view! The plunge pool and slide were an added bonus. Although no where near the amount of sea life we saw at Kuramathi, we saw a variety of fish, baby shark and a sting ray from our decking. Our 9 nights were amazing, we ate at Kurry Leaf 3 times (Indian, our favourite), Wahoo Grill (steakhouse, Delmare (Italian) and Takrai (Thai, our second favourite). All the meals were stunning and the settings were amazing. After dinner at Takrai we walked to the end of the pier as there are soo many fish and sharks that you can see under the lights. For lunch we ate at Shipwrecked, pizza, pasta, salads or Jungali which served various types of food and again both were superb. Drinks are plentiful and having Champagne included was a real highlight! On the beach on each parasol stand there is a button you can press for service. The beaches are as you would expect in the Maldives, white sand and the sea is turquoise blue. We did kayaking and paddleboarding and even saw a turtle whilst out on the water and baby sharks. We went early July which is classed as the rainy season but other than the rain we had in Male, we only had 2 short bursts of rain in 9 days but when it came down, it came down! There were a few overnight showers but days were hot, around 34 but with humidity the app said it felt like 45! Night time is a lot of fun, we tended to go to the Together Bar until the early hours as there was so much going on each night eg White Party, LED party, dj’s, live music and karaoke. We also attended the cocktail party early one evening where a live band played. The staff were incredible, really friendly and want to make your holiday memorable. A huge special thank you to Shanker at the Together Bar, from the moment we arrived he looked after us, bringing us champagne whenever he saw us and always smiling. Other people to mention are Rido in Orchid Bar who makes delicious cocktails, Poppy in Delmar/Shipwrecked and Limbu who was our host and was always quick to answer any queries. We finished our holiday on a real high with going out on the Dolphin Cruise on our last afternoon. We saw about 50 dolphins all swimming with the boat and doing jumps out of the water. We travel a lot and this was supposed to be a special treat to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary but after the absolutely incredible time we had, we have already booked to come back next year! Read less

My husband and I chose Siyam World for our vacation. We were assigned Elli as our ambassador. She was available for us from the second we reached and helped us out with every small thing until we left. We had an amazing time here and there were so many activities that we couldn’t complete all of them even in 4 days. The food was outstanding and especially the choice for vegetarians. They have so much variety of food and drinks. We were spoilt for choice. Be it Italian, Japanese or even Thai. The breakfast spread was very very elaborate and impressive. Elli also helped me out with my husband’s birthday celebration. Also, special shout out to the chef at Arigato. He made a special vegetarian meal for my husband’s birthday. It was the best Japanese we’ve eaten. The activities planned are good fun. Even at the Dive centre, Tam helped us out with every small thing during the night snorkel and Manta ray excursion. She is brilliant at her job. The resort is extremely clean and the staff is very courteous and accommodating to any small request. We would highly recommend the hotel to all our near and dear ones especially for the warmth and comfort we were made to feel from start to end. Read less

Let me start by saying that this was an absolutely fantastic holiday and resort from the moment we stepped off the seplane to the point at which we sadly left for our journey home. The place met and in fact exceeded our already high expectations and I could not recommend it highly enough for anyone going with a young family. We are a family of 2 adults and a 9 year old boy and from the outset everything was so well thought out, right from the app that we downloaded a week before we arrived, the the greeting we got from our wonderful ambassador Peri to the seamless checkout. We chose this place because we wanted somewhere with a variety of places to eat in the evening, relax during the day and also with plenty activities with an active 9 year old boy - on all 3 counts the resort was fantastic. Accomodation: Let's start with the accomodation - we were in a beach villa which was very well presented with a lovely little back garden, well sized personal pool (enough to perform a few glides end to end after a hard day drinking and eating) and access to a part of the beach which felt essentially like it was our own. Every morning started with a dip in the sea, some snorkeling followed by the pool as we decided what the day would bring. Beach/pool towels were readily available and replaced once a day (more if you so desired using the app/ambassador vie whatsapp), minibar complete with the main staples for the relatively small amount of time we were in the room overall. Someone would come twice a day to clean the room, another to replace the minibar contents, one more to clean the pool and another to tend to the garden - their manner was inobtrusive and they were happy to come back if it suited, flexibility was a theme throughout our stay. Sports facilities/Activities: Moving on now to the sporting facilities - well, these were fantastic. lots to chose from: tennis/paddle ball/badminton/basketball and of course football. 2 6/7 a side pitches and a full 11 a side pitch which both my son and i used at least half the evenings during our 12 night stay. I want to call out here the quality of these facilities, everything felt so well looked after. We met some great like-minded families and ended up having some great impromptu games of football with kids adults and even some games between the adults whilst the kids were being coached by the local coaches (on of the few experiences we paid for during out stay) - this was a much needed counter balance for me given the amazing food and drink on offer both during the day and in the evening. I recommend the kids couching course, our some thoroughly enjoyed it and made some great friends which helped make his holiday even better. on top of this there was an inflatable assault course which was great fun and a LOT harder than it looked with my middle aged man balance. Long and short, plenty of ways to burn a few calories in ways that are fun, and ways in which you can do it with your kids. TIP - if you're a dad like me who loves football, bring your astros! you'll use them once you see the football facilities Daytime options: Daytime options were fantastic, and varied - all offering something quite different. In case a full lunch was not wanted in the main restaurant all provided some lighter eating options, which mean that on some days we lazed around and used the opportunity to camp down and relax. Given the options at hand there was never a need to ‘secure’ loungers – everything was very relaxed and you were never more than 20 steps from a towel cabinet for fresh towels. Jungali – a great ‘inland’ facility with a swim up bar, late morning pool activities and a lovely meandering pool. The staff were very accommodation and skilled in their cocktail making and my first day was made when my request for a ‘Negroni’ was received without question. The food here was good and a nice alternative to Tempo if a quick stop gap lunch was needed to bridge the gap between breakfast and the evening meal (more on these later). Whilst is was described as bar snacks/light lunch the quality was very good. A special shout out to SIKANDAR who was very attentive and was readily available to provide us with top ups and food – he had a great positivity about him and a good sense of humour with it. Together Bar – by the sea with a big two-tiered pool, also offering light lunch options. A lovely place to relax between the pool and the sea for those who like both options Shipwrecked – another lovely beach front bar with a pool and serving great pizzas. The view from the infinity pool into the sea was quite spectacular Orchid – only visited this on our last day but a stunning looking pool with amazing sunset views We did not try to adults only bar/pool mint Sports Bar (Kulhivaru): This is a lovely air conditioned bar and we used it a few times during the day when the rains set in (only 2 days this happened) and the kids could play pool/table tennis/table football and just be boys for a bit, them mums could relax by one of the pools the dads could enjoy a few cold beers talking football (which we did – us dads need to meet like minded people too!). Also an amazing venue to watch any sports, including the Euros. The staff were so accommodating and it got VERY busy on semi-finals/finals night - shame they could not put on an England win for the English contingent, but I guess they can’t perform miracles ! All in all superb variety which meant that no one day felt ‘samey’. We even spend a fair few morning just chilling around our villa pool (esp when the rain came down which was actually great fun – on that note DON’T worry about he weather thus time of year: it rains, it stops, it dries and we had a lovely mix of rain, clouds and sun with a ratio of approx. 10/30/60). Restaurants: The main restaurant Tempo had a great variety of food, never felt crowded and we used it for breakfast/lunch and a few evening meals. Breakfast variety was great and the produce superb. Same goes for lunch, the quality of the food on offer was really very good, and varied. Evenings has a theme each evening and on the few nights we used Temp in the evening we had a great meal. Drinks order were taken almost immediately and there was also the facility to pour yourself water/wine which was a great touch, although service was that good you did not need to Kaagi (Maldivian) – the view and food were amazing, the fish curry so so tasty and they way they stagger sittings mean it never felt crowded and this was lovely Kurry Leaf (Indian) – our favourite! Some of the best Indian food you can eat, superb lamb curry and butter chicken, the fish tikka starter to die for, and some truly superb staff who we got to know well during the 3 times we visited this amazing restaurant! Set on a jetty my son was mesmerised with the sharks and rays swimming below us, my wife and I mesmerised by the food and personally the Indian Sauvignon Blanc I was introduced to! Big call out for PRONOY who was lovely on our first visit and ensured that we got the same seat the next time as our son loved watching the fish (these small things make the difference). He was just lovely and had a great way about him. Also to INAZ who was also so accommodating and friendly in both Kurry Leaf and Tempo every time we say him. Finally a big thanks to ASHAN for his service and lovely conversations about Sri Lankan Rugby (being an ex player) – who knew Sri Lanka were big into Rugby! Lovely guys and they all made this restaurant our favourite (the brilliant food also helped!) Wahoo (grill) – amazing started and grilled food including steaks and seafood – beautiful setting with lovely staff. A shout here goes to IJAS who was great to chat, extremely attentive with our drinks and clearly a keen sports (cricket!) fan. We also saw him in Together bar and he was always going out of his way to help us (including getting someone to get a frizbee out of a palm tree!) Andalucia (Spanish) – superb food including paella and squid in rice dishes that were really authentic. This restaurant is also next to the best peer to check out the sharks/sealife at night after your meal We did not visit DeMare but I can already vouch for the quality of the pizzas from our lunctime experiences at Shipwrecked All in all the food was SUPERB and the options at hand meant that you could comfortably spend 2 weeks on this island and have a different eating experience/combination every single day. TIP: download the app and book restaurants before you travel if you want the earlier times with children, they get booked up fairly quickly once there Shuttles: Whilst the island is easily walkable it was great at times to have the option of jumping on one of the 10 or so extended golf buggys which circled the island constantly in both directions – Hari is superb and is so funny and the whole service is just so well run (GPS tracking screens in each of the ‘bus stops’ so you know where the ‘cab’s are!) Weather: Yes it was monsoon season but this too NOTHING away from our experience. Out of 12 days we had only 2 which you could class as ‘rained off’ but even those we had nice long lunches, played in the villa pool or Together bar pool or took the kids to the sports bar to play. The rest of the time it was a mix of blue skies/scattered clouds and the odd heavy shower (which I loved as it is ‘proper’ rain as us brits would call it). Temp is constantly 29-31 so the rain never meant you felt cold. I would book again at the same time of year without question Ambassador: So finally to our Ambassador PERI! Met us at the welcome pier with a wonderful welcoming smile, went through how things worked (we had done a fair bit or pre work as this is how we are but if you aren’t then it’ll all be explained once you get there), set up a whats-app group and away we went. Nothing was a problem. At all. We were sent daily agendas, provided updates on any special activities which were happening and any requests we put in (e.g a lounger needed replacing) were serviced pretty much immediately. No calling reception, all seamless and very easy – every question we had was answered within minutes. In fact we visited reception to settle our extras bill the day before we left – that was it! We literally had very little to request during our stay, such was the quality of everything, but Peri was sure to check in to check if we needed anything and went over and above to ensure we had everything we needed. Outside of the staff I called out there were many others who made our stay what it was – the environment in which you exist on the island as a holidaymaker is positive/energised and relaxing, the people there make it so. We will certainly be back to this resort – it has everything our family could want from a holiday Read less