An Anniversary in the Maldives
- Michael Babick
- Jul 10, 2025
- 9 min read
We originally planned to visit the Maldives on our honeymoon, however, we got married in late 2021 and while borders had started to reopen they carried with them restrictions. The most concerning of which being the requirement of a negative COVID test to return stateside. Makes sense, however, this trip was booked on points (more on that later) and we figured getting stuck on an island for a minimum of two weeks in quarantine where the room rate is $3,500/night would not be a smart way to start our marriage. I hope you enjoy reading about our trip!
Alright, now that I’ve turned on my out of office auto reply and turned off Teams and Outlook notifications, let’s go!
Getting There
After much anticipation and several months since our last trip we headed to DFW airport giddy to start the adventure with a side of dread for what lay ahead - the long journey. From door-to-door it would be about 36 hours. We’d leave on a Friday and not make it to our Maldivian villa until Sunday afternoon. No overnight layovers and certainly no beds - this flight was booked on points and was, as with all of our flights, in economy.
After checking our bags we made our way to the Amex Centurion lounge in DFW’s terminal D. Before making the long haul over to the Middle East to connect we had to make a relatively short flight to JFK. Yes, I am aware that there is a flight from DFW to Doha (DOH) which makes the flight to JFK redundant. No, that routing was not available when booking with points. Yes, I am still upset about it.
We left a packed Centurion lounge and headed to our gate a short while later to head to JFK. We landed in JFK’s terminal 8 which was fortunately the same terminal our flight to Doha was leaving from. We grabbed a bite to eat at the only restaurant that was still open (I believe their only options as they were getting ready to close were chicken tenders, onion rings, fries, and mozzarella sticks) before making our way to the gate and finding out we had club access thanks to my OneWorld sapphire status - the food here was better than the overpriced restaurant and provided a great space to hide on our almost four hours waiting for our next flight.
On this trip we’d bounce across time zones - US Central and East, Qatar, Maldives, and “island time” - most resorts choose to align with the Bangladeshi time zones to allow for a later sunset. Plus, somewhere along the way our friends and family back home fell back by an hour.
As we waited to board I found the digital advertisement boards had my firm’s advertisement going. How am I supposed to unplug from work if I see my firm in the airport?! Oh well, I had turned off Teams and Outlook notifications.
We boarded our ~13.5 hr flight into Doha and settled in for the long haul. We departed at 1:20am and wouldn’t land until 8:45pm. As such, I really don’t have much to share from today. The flight was fine - uneventful and food was about as good as you’d expect it to be. I’d fly Qatar again.
We landed in Doha and made our way to the lounge where we’d wait about 4 hrs for our next, but not final, flight. This lounge was, to put it candidly, chaotic. We left a bit earlier than we needed to in order to explore the Orchard - Doha Hammad International Airport’s indoor garden. This part of DOH was absolutely gorgeous and peaceful! We had dinner at Gordon Ramsey’s burger bar, I was skeptical as to if this would actually be good or if the celebrity chef was just in it for the royalties - it was fantastic!
We boarded the flight to Male, the capital of Maldives - about 5 hrs from 1:05am to 7:50am. One school of thought for beating jet lag is to sleep on your flight based on your destination’s time zone. For example, if your flight lands in the morning at your final destination you should plan to wake up just as that one lands. I personally subscribe to a different school of thought - if I am sleep deprived I won’t have any issue falling asleep that night - I’ll generally just stay up for the duration of all flights. If I can get some sleep, great! Otherwise, I’ll just plan to catch up the first night. Why do I go on this tangent? Because a 5 hr flight will mean you spend about 45 minutes taking off/preparing for landing and otherwise unable to recline, about an hour to an hour and a half waiting for meal service (dinner at 2:00am just feels wrong), so you’re left with a bit less than 3 hrs to actually sleep.
Anyway, the flight was fine and felt like a quick regional hop relative to the one we had just gotten off. On our descent into Male we were welcomed with sweeping views of deep blue water broken up by dozens of reefs and atolls with white sand beaches and some of the clearest turquoise waters we’d ever seen.
Customs and baggage claim in Male was quick and easy, shortly after our St. Regis airport butler was waiting to take us to their arrivals lounge. His colleague whisked away our luggage and took it to the Trans Maldivian Airways counter - the seaplane operator that would take us to the resort - the final leg of our journey.
We were loaded into a very well air-conditioned Land Cruiser and handed cool towels scented with the St. Regis signature scent (my absolute favorite). If this wasn’t the best way to welcome us after the long travel day I don’t know what was! We both felt instantly refreshed.
They handed us the menu for their lounge so they could have our snacks and drinks of choice waiting for us when we got to the St. Regis airport lounge. After placing our order we were played the welcome message from our villa butler, Ismail! What an experience!
The St. Regis airport lounge was beautiful and provided a great place to wait for our seaplane ride. They had showers, however, we just opted to wait until we got to our villa.
After no more than an hour in the lounge we were taken to our seaplane and boarded almost immediately. It was about 45 minutes to the resort with a brief stop to drop off passengers at another resort. Rivaled only by our scenic flight over Denali National Park in Alaska, this was one of the most beautiful flights we’ve ever taken. For 45 minutes we flew only about 1,000 feet above the sea below - getting a beautiful look at the islands and resorts which make up the Maldives.
The Resort & Our Villas
We stepped off the DeHavilland Twin Otter seaplane and onto the dock at the St. Regis Maldives. Wow! Pictures do not do this place justice. I can’t express enough how nice it was to be greeted on the dock by smiling hotel staff and seeing the clear waters and villas awaiting us.
We were greeted with coconut water (in freshly carved coconuts branded with the St. Regis logo) and cold towels (laden with what we would later realize is the St. Regis signature scent, Caroline’s Four Hundred - American Beauty roses, white lilies, green stems, quince, apple and cherry blossoms).
After a few minutes in their welcome area sipping coconut water (and I mean sipping, like the smallest sips possible as neither Kaleigh or I are fans but wanted to be respectful of the fact they put so much effort into the presentation) our butler picked us up to take us to our first villa, giving us an orientation of the island on the way.
I say our first villa because we wanted to experience both the beachfront and the overwater villa. Two nights on the beach and three nights over the water.
We walked into the beachfront villa (our first accommodation) and instantly realized this was a good decision. The room was nothing short of STUNNING, every little detail had been considered - from each and every window covering and light being controlled from the iPad beside the bed to the pot of water on the deck to wash the sand off your feet coming in from the beach. Below is a brief room tour, I’ll let the video speak for itself.
We opted for a quick shower and wasted no time getting right into swimsuits - we had an appointment with that crystal clear water and the plunge pool at the villa.
Food here wasn’t lacking either - in cost or flavor. Bear in mind that we were on an island and everything (with the exception of a small vegetable garden) had to be shipped in on a boat from the main island which (with the exception of some seafood) had to have it shipped in from somewhere else first. Jokes aside, we didn’t expect food to be cheap, but, we can honestly say it didn’t feel like a waste of money either.
Each restaurant felt like an experience - from Cargo, their Middle Eastern restaurant made to feel like a shipwreck (and looked like a scene from Survivor), to Orientale, their Asian restaurant which made us feel like we were somewhere in a small village in Asia, there was something unique about each experience. Even room service, while not particularly themed, was elevated with the quality of the food and the warmth of the staff. Oh, and something we really enjoyed, the mocktail/non-alcoholic drink menu was a mile long at each restaurant!
Which brings me to my next point… oh my… the staff… there’s no words to describe how attentive, considerate, thoughtful, and kind the staff at the St. Regis was. From our butler, Ismail, to the wait staff at restaurants, everyone was so friendly and had such warm smiles. People remembered our names and told us their stories - many were from the Maldives but others came from all over the globe and spoke about how this is the place to be… I believe it!
After our two nights in our beach villa it was time to transfer to our overwater villa. Y’all. Personally we’re conflicted which villa we enjoyed most, they were both just so impressive! I’ll let this video speak for itself.
Excursions & Activities
So, you fly halfway around the world and take a tiny plane to a tiny island… what now? Oh, everything you want or absolutely nothing, the choice is yours! We opted for a mix.
There’s certainly no shortage of things to do (and pay for, lol). We opted to keep it relatively light on activities and instead worked super hard to ensure our sunburns weren’t the worst by reapplying sunscreen regularly as we wasted the day away on the beach or patio in a lounger (I took oh so many naps outside) or in the pool. The level of tranquility was absolutely unmatched. Imagine being able to lay back and listen to gentle waves with MINIMAL background noise. We were told that the island holds 100 guests but that they were only at 60% occupancy… honestly, I’m not sure where all the people were because it felt like we were sharing it with only a handful.
We did do a few things of note, however. We had a soak in the Blue Hole sea pool at the spa. While it looks like a giant hot tub, it’s actually just seawater so the temperature was a tad chilly. What made the experience memorable, however, was all of the jets working overtime to massage muscles we didn’t even know needed massaging!
Their watersports center is LOADED with things to do - from kayaking to fishing, scuba diving to private island expeditions. We opted for a short jet ski tour, the seas were choppy to say the least and we had a ton of good laughs when I would launch off a wave and send us both airborne. (No pics from this I am afraid)
I enjoyed snorkeling directly from our villa and seeing stingrays, eagle rays, black tip sharks, and several small reef fish which I recognized from Finding Nemo but couldn’t name.
My favorite? Waking up at 6:30am! On vacation?! What?!? It’s true! The resort hosted sunrise yoga each morning. Truly a great way to relax, be fully present, and feel absolutely great! I am happy to say this is something that made its way back home to Fort Worth.
I am ashamed to admit that I did do some grading and homework, however, I made sure that if and when I did so I was partially submerged in the pool - not a bad deal if you ask me. Also, a Formula 1 Grand Prix just hits different when watched from here.
Funding Such an Experience
This is the million dollar question! Ok, it wasn’t nearly that much!
Full disclosure, Kaleigh and I are so incredibly fortunate to get to have experienced this level of luxury and serenity. There’s only one way this was possible - points!
For those curious, here’s a breakdown:
Prior to COVID I traveled every week, spending 48 weeks a year away from home - usually I did about 5 nights a week in hotels on those trips. Fortunately, my former employer allowed me to use a personal credit card for these expenses which really made the points accumulate. The math is pretty rough as this was some time ago, but here’s how one goes about earning 536,000 Marriott Bonvoy points required for such a stay:
Sign up for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card
Spend!
Earn 3 points per $1 at grocery stores, gas stations, and dining.
Earn 2 point per $1 on everything else.
You earn 6 points per $1 on stays at Marriott on top of loyalty bonuses and points earned just for staying regardless of which card you pay with (this is where I got most of these points, as a Titanium Elite member I was earning up to 17 points per $1) but most folks aren’t staying at a Marriott 5 nights a week.
Do the math!
If you only spend at grocery stores, gas stations, and dining you’d need to spend $178,666 for 536,000 points.
If you spent “everywhere else” you’d need to spend $268,000.
If you spent exclusively at Marriotts and had top-tier status you’d need to spend $31,529 - easy when you travel as much as I did for work.
Thanks for letting us share this journey with y’all!
Safe travels!
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