Sun Siyam Iru Veli

It was an amazing experience with an amazing hospitality

Our therapist Reni and Amrica were great and gave us a relaxing experience

Definitely an experience to cherish and remember for a life long

We stayed at Sun Siyam Iru Veli for 6 nights in November for our Anniversary vacation. While there was rainy weather at some points, we managed to snorkel everyday and felt like we got the full Maldivian holiday experience.

Service & Island Host: We were attended to from the Arrival hall at Male Airport, throughout our stay at Iru Veli, and back to the Check-in counter upon Departure. We didn’t have to worry about navigating our way through the sea of people; a friendly face from Sun Siyam was always nearby.

Our Island Host/Ambassador Fauzaan took care of us at the resort as well; he helpfully set up a Whatsapp group for us so that we could communicate and reach him if we needed anything. His service was very personal - on our last night, he even came to our dinner place without being asked to share helpful information about checkout with us. Thanks Fauzaan!

Our room was attended to by Monir, who was impeccable with his professionalism and helped to keep our room comfortable and clean when we brought the sea and sand in. He gave us some personal touches - my favourite was the leaf art of the Moorfish Idol on our bed!

Villa: We stayed at the Dolphin Ocean Suite and got the Half-Board package. While these villas are a little pricier, they are well worth it - we got up every day and simply jumped into the ocean from our back porch. The waters are incredibly clear. There’s a beautiful reef along those villas and while we didn’t see any dolphins, we had a jolly good time with all the marine life there! We saw all types of reef fish & animals (googling ‘reef fish in Maldives’ beforehand helps you know what you’re looking at) - particular highlights were the oriental sweetlips, cornet fish, lion fish, parrot fish, unicorn fish, a baby shark, and a juvenile longfin batfish that decided to hang out at our ladder.

Activities: We came knowing that we’d want to snorkel around the waters, but didn’t expect to absolutely fall in love with it! We went for the complimentary Lucky Dolphin Sunset Cruise and got lucky; we also went for the complimentary guided snorkelling safari to a nearby reef and saw lots of marine life, including a sea turtle! Our top highlight was the Whale Shark excursion - a full day out with the best guides (led by Robbie and we’re sorry we can’t remember the other names) who really brought us on an adventure. We ended up swimming with the whale shark for quite some time - a totally magical and unreal experience. Lunch was at ‘picnic island’ and we managed to sneak in a snorkel at the most amazing reef! Super alive and we saw a stingray. The guides also brought us to a couple of local islands and kindly treated us to drinks, and we got to see a snippet of authentic local Maldivian life! All in all, absolutely loved it.

Spa: We visited the spa twice. First for the Perfect Escape package and since we liked it so much, went for another (Balinese/Classic Western) at the end of the trip to soothe our aching muscles. We were attended to by friendly Ayu at reception, and our masseuses were Wayan, Pia and Reni. In particular, Pia gave me both massages and each time they were deep and relaxing. My husband also doesn’t really like massages, but after the first massage he suggested that we go back! It’s also quite an experience to have a massage while looking at the ocean below - we even saw a shark!

Food: There are 3 main restaurants - Aqua Orange, Grouper Grill and Roma. We had our daily breakfast and a buffet dinner at Aqua Orange and they provide a good spread of cuisines. We attended Lobster BBQ night at Grouper Grill and it was quite an experience! The grill is good. We finished our trip with a last dinner at Roma and the pasta and lamb were delicious. However, for Half-Board the minibar snacks are chargeable - so bring your own if you tend to be peckish. We also had the Floating Breakfast which was very decadent and instagrammable. Worth a try!

Other bits: at night, go to the jetty and look down. Apparently, it’s a nightly affair that a group of nurse sharks swim in the jetty waters and visibility can be good if they decide to swim close to the surface. We went back 3 nights to see them - must have seen 10-15 of them the first night.

In short, an amazing vacation and we have become avid snorkellers now. Thanks Sun Siyam!

Every thing was excellent....just upgrade food pls property n hospitality is too good must visit ....Fatima is an awesome ambassador she is warm kind n very helpful she made our anniversary very spesial wit room decors thnx fr everything