Villa Park Sun Island

Maldives is like heaven on earth. The flora and fauna are enchanting and fascinating. All the employees of the resort make the paradise even more beautiful with their exceptional kindness and smile. The only thing I didn't like was the excursion where we were supposed to see turtles, manta rays and whales. At the place where the whale was seen, 15 ships and about 100 people were suddenly in the sea, waiting for the whale. Which did not emerge, neither did the manta ray. I wouldn't even emerge in such a crowd! We paid a lot for the trip, saw little, and in the end I was sorry that I participated in the mistreatment of these wonderful creatures. Read less

Our Sun Villa was nice very close to the beach. I want to mention that everyone from the stuff was very kind helpfully and always friendly! Our Housekeeper Hassan took very good care about everything! ! At the Restaurant all Chefs and waiters did a wonderful Job Manik/ Anand and Bodey were the perfect example how to take care about guests! The Diving Center is very nice our Dive Guide Nico did everything very carefully and helped us a lot for our OWD! Great experience!!🩵 Read less

This was our second visit to the Maldives, first time at Villa Park Resort (Sun Island Resort). Getting there… Once we landed in Male and found the Villa Resort booth, a very friendly gentleman greeted us and let us know the next flight was in about 15 minutes so escorted us to the domestic terminal and checked us in for a short local flight to Maamigili island. We were tired from the long trip and a bit jet lagged so we were glad someone was there to navigate us through this process. He let us know our luggage was going to be delivered all the way to the resort and that we didn’t have to worry about it anymore. Knowing we didn’t have to worry about our luggage until we arrived at the resort was a relief. Once we landed in Maamigili, there was a shuttle waiting to take us to the dock where we waited for less than 5 minutes for a short boat ride to the resort. This process was very smooth. Once we arrived at the resort a golf cart drove us from the dock to the reception. Check in… The reception area has colorful tropical furniture, and feels breezy and welcoming. We were greeted by the check in team and sat on a couch with other guests to check in. We were given a cold towel to freshen up as well as a cold fresh passion fruit with mint juice, which was delicious. It was nice to be able to sit, have a cold towel and drink after a long trip. As a group, we were welcomed and formally checked in by one of the check in specialists who collected our identification as well as signed agreements followed by a brief explanation of the resort’s restaurants, activities, excursions and answered all of our questions. We also got the phone number of our check in specialist in case we had any questions throughout our stay. By this point our luggage had arrived at the reception area. We identified our bags and were taken to our room by golf cart. Once in our room, our luggage was delivered and brought into our room. Although we were tired and jet lagged, the check in process was smooth, made us feel welcome and left a great impression on how our future interactions with other staff members were going to be. Room… We stayed for 3 weeks in a water villa (room 343). The room had great amenities, such as ice cold AC for midday naps, mini fridge to keep our water cold, desk to set and charge our electronics, chairs to sit and floor to ceiling glass windows to take in the view and admire the ocean from inside when it’s either too hot to be outside or raining. The bed, sheets and pillows were really soft and comfortable. I slept better than in my own bed. There are a few different sodas, juices, beer, chocolate bars in the mini fridge and wine, liquor and snacks available on the counter as well. The bathroom is spacious, bright, and with a big bay window and a door with a glass insert that opens up to the stairs that take you down to the lagoon. At low tide, I’d say the water level is about thigh high. Swimming straight out from our room to a large dark looking area in the lagoon brought me to an amazing coral reef. At low tide, I could only swim around it, not over it. There were so many beautiful fish and no one else there. It felt like a hidden gem! Being over the water was wonderful. We are morning people so we enjoyed every sunrise from the deck with a cup of coffee in hand, listening to the waves crash in the distance, birds singing, and feeling the ocean breeze on our skin. The early morning sky was so beautiful with the change of colors and sun rays peeking from the horizon, it seemed unreal. The same goes for the white sand beaches and the crystal clear water… we’d never tire of looking at it in wonder of how beautiful this place is. Housekeeping… Our room was always flawlessly cleaned and organized by the housekeeping crew Muhammed, Manoj and Varatharaj, who came and introduced themselves to us, learned our daily schedule, preferences and replaced everything we needed, i.e., shampoo, soap, conditioner, towels, beach towels, etc. In the beginning of our stay I asked for one extra bed sheet and a refill of water and every time our room was made, the extra bed sheet and the water was there for us. Our room was cleaned in the morning and there was turn down service in the evening while we were at dinner. We were surprised with a beautiful bed decoration done by Manoj and Varatharaj when we got back to our room one day. We felt so special and it made our trip so much more memorable! The housekeeping supervisor, Ahmed, expeditiously helped us when we had a bike incident outside our villa. He was so quick to help us, call for a cart and take us to the infirmary. He stayed with us until we talked to the doctor and lined up a golf cart ride back to our room when we were done. This made us feel like he truly cared about our well being and we’re so appreciative for his help. Restaurants… We were assigned to the Southern Star restaurant for our stay. Every meal we had at Southern Star was delightful. We were greeted with a big smile by the restaurant manager, Zakir, and hostesses, Tia and Sushma, when we walked in and we could choose the table we wanted to sit at. Seating is not assigned, it is on a first come first serve basis, which is great because we get to enjoy different areas of the restaurant. Our favorite spot was by the water, in Allam’s section, who was always really nice and welcoming. There are different sections for each type of cuisine; salad, indian, maldivian, western, grill, pasta, fruit, desert. Salads can be mixed in a cheese wheel. The hot kitchen was amazing with so many different options to order for each meal. For breakfast we’d get eggs, sometimes omelets. They also had pancakes, waffles and samosas with chutney. For Lunch and dinner there were steaks, fish, kebabs, chicken, calamari, different kinds of pasta dishes. So many talented people worked in the hot kitchen cooking these delicious dishes right in front of our eyes! No matter how hot and busy it got in that kitchen, you guys always put out delicious food with a smile in your face: Rakesh, Selva, Sami, Santoush, Kazul, Priyantha. Mr Sha-Alam, aka the fruit ninja, was at the helm at the fruit station. What a friendly and funny guy! He learned that we liked certain fruits and had them ready for us on multiple occasions. He surprised us with beautifully decorated and carved fruit plates. In our last few days we tried a traditional Maldivian breakfast and wish we had tried it sooner, mas huni. A trip to the Maldives is a huge deal for us and everything we’ve experienced was amazing and over the top for us. - Here are a few things that could have taken our experience at Villa Park Resort over the top. The decks on the water villas have an open wooden divider with some shrubs. These shrubs are supposed to serve as a natural privacy fence, which is a great idea however, the shrubs had almost no leaves and we could see our neighbors sunbathing and they could see us. A more functional privacy fence would have made us feel more secluded and our stay more special. Having musicians wearing traditional Maldivian attire playing traditional Maldivian music either at the dock or at the reception when we arrived. This would set a great atmosphere and mark the beginning of a great memorable trip. Traditional Maldivian attire. I understand it may not be practical for everyone to wear traditional Maldivian attire, however, it would’ve been nice to see at least the reception staff wearing it. Individual check-in process for a more personal touch. It felt a bit awkward sitting with other guests during this process. I personally, rather wait a bit than having a group check-in. The menus for the special restaurants (outside of the all-inclusive package) do a great job at describing what each item is, however, I’m a visual person and would have really liked to have seen restaurant menus with pictures of each dish along with the description. - Final thoughts: There’s something special about Villa Park Resort (Sun Island). The resort is beautiful, the food delicious but the staff members really made this experience exceptional. Everyone we had the pleasure of interacting with was not only polite but really made us feel welcome. I have never experienced anything like this. Every single staff member we interacted with from the amazing servers that we made friends with to the management team, spa staff, activities staff, groundskeepers, housekeepers, literally every single person who works at this resort is LOVELY, KIND, CARING, HELPFUL, JOYFUL, FRIENDLY, and they go out of their way to make sure we are happy in a sincere way. We loved getting to know each and every one of them and hearing their stories. This holiday far exceeded our expectations and we would love to come back! Special thanks to: Zakir (Southern Star restaurant manager): Alam Sha-Alam: Fruit Ninja Hendi Rimod Vijay Milinda Roland Chef Ali Rakesh Selva Samy Santoush Kazul Buddika: Teppanyaki Lakmal Read less