Client Testimonials

lovely resort, could be better still with a small number of tweaks to some aspects but these are not vital, eg more regular liter picking on high tide mark, extra lounger in villa garden to give more choice between beach / garden chilling.
snorkelling best of the 4 islands visited so far with lots and lot of fish even if fewer rays, turtles, sharks
Goathi villas are great with own very private gardens, as to be expected, one or two better than others (prefer the higher numbered villas ay 206 - 212).
Food perfectly ok but not up to level of say Coco Dhunni K
lots of Italians, only one other British couple during our time there.
Quite a few of the staff struggle with language
Lounging platforms on other side of island are a great idea,m especially the individual ones with rooves,
The cheaper villas are well catered for with loungers etc on the beaches but for us the Goathi were almost perfect.

Amazing holiday that exceeded all my very high expectations. The resort, the beach, the sea, the staff, the villa - it was all beyond words. Thank you all at Angelfish for helping me making my dream come true! Your service has been outstanding and I will gladly recommend you to everyone I know.

This was out 8th trip to the Maldives since 1998. We mainly look for an excellent house reef and as small and quiet a place as possible. AaaVeee seemed like a good choice and it also came within our limited budget.

AaaVeee is a lovely place, it has a lot of character and is more like a maldivian resort from over 20 years ago, rather than the super-luxury, highly expensive, (somewhat soul-less) resorts that are so widespread now.
Its better than a budget resort, but dont expect luxury.

This means there are are a lot of pros and cons....
Pros: very friendly and intimate (only 30 rooms), beautiful interior (lots of greenery), great house reef (bleached, but some v nice spots and lots of great fish), food is very good, service is first rate and very friendly. Quiet (mostly).

Cons: They dont spray as much as other islands so there seems to be more insects. We both got bitten a lot (take a lot of repellent!) and we had some nasty roaches in the bathroom! The villas are supposed to be similar to Maldivian homes, but they are very dark (no real windows) though well appointed and if you get a 'Goathi' beach villa you get a great garden area which backs onto the beach. It's sold as being quiet and peaceful but for a couple of days they had parascending going on from one side of the island (where there were birds nesting) which was horrendously noisy. They also had loud music playing from the bars on some afternoons. They havnt quite worked out who they are trying to attract I think, old fogies like us or young couples looking for more to do than snorkel and read.

Other points to note:
1) they dont have a platform for the sea-planes so expect to be dropped at a neighbouring resort (eg Vilu Reef or St Regis) and picked up by speedboat
2) it's a long distance from Male which means on going out they often fly your luggage later - make sure you have enough essentials for a day in your small carry-on bag for the sea-plane
3) Look out for the aaaVeee rep at Male when you arrive (it's hard to find their desk among the hundreds that are there now) - our guy was great and sorted out paying for excess weight in the baggage for the sea-planes (they're v strict on this now)
4) The small shop on aaaveee only really sells souvenirs, they have a couple of tubes of toothpaste and useless factor 10 sun cream, but no snacks or swim suits etc
5) unless you're a big drinker go half board instead of AI. AI is 75 dollars per day each. You can buy a decent lunch (salad, burgers etc) for around 10-15 dollars and drinks arent that pricey. (beer/coke - 5 dollars) - cocktails 10-15 dollars. Plus the choice of drinks etc is limited for AI. Food is very good, always buffet with a sort of indian/general asian feel - so mild curries etc, but they also do pasta etc.
6) the beach villas (goathis) are a lot better than the cheaper rooms in the interior. You get a lovely shady garden area (around 10 x 5 m) with chairs, table and loungers which backs right onto the beach and is totally private
7) most of the visitors are italian or german - we only saw one other british couple (I hoped for none, but you cant have everything)
8) The BA direct flight is very convenient (and has good arrival/departure times) but they use a tired old 777 so it's not particularly comfortable. If you dont mind changing planes in the middle-east I'd use another carrier (emirates for example).

We'd go again, but will probably try somewhere else if it's within budget.

Resort was stunning.
Just a few things you might want to be made aware of in future:
We had a noisy family of four next to us on the beach villa which was a shame but once we moved to the water villa it was lovely we got room 99!
I was surprised they allowed young children in the water villas and had a few screaming moments which wasn't quite the tranquil experience definitely think there should be designated adult only rooms for honeymooners.


They didn't seem to know anything about the honeymoon deals we didn't get the movie night and it took a while to get my spa discount.

Food was fabulous and there were some friendly staff.

We did have an issue where we'd booked the beach bbq for our last night then found out via a poster that theyd changed it to valentines night (the day we were leaving) no mention of it to us and if we hadnt seen the sign would of been none the wiser, didn't feel the staff dealt with it well at all and received no apology from any of them. we booked a provate dining in the end which they gave us extra money off but still cost us alot more when it wasn't really our problem.

Customer service was great until you had a problem, i didnt feel the staff really went the extra mile for you in these cases and had the computer says no attitude.

However i would still recommend the resort as the good out weighed the bad by far!

Thankyou for your help with choosing the right resort for us and all your help we will be highly recommending your sevice to our friends.
For the Sri Lanka part of our holiday
We were really pleased with how professional and knowledgable our guide Nihal was, he really is an assett to aitken spence.

A couple of the excursions wern't that great we stopped at a spice garden but it was a tourist trap selling dodgy products as we drove out we saw the whole street had one after the other, this was similiar to the turtle hatchery which i would strongly recommend not sending anyone too they are moving nests (a big no no) and keeping the turtles so tourists can see them and make money. we spoke to one of the girls from the oliver ridley foundation on coco palm at great length because we were a bit disturbed by what we had seen and she confirmed that the majority of these turtle hatcherys are just in it to make money from tourists and dont release the turtles back in the wild, I realise both of these were our choices but i just wanted to let you know about them so possibly tell future clients to avoid them.
Our favourite hotel was 98 Acres! you were so right Jo everyone that goes to Sri Lanka must experience this amazing hotel i didnt want to leave! thank you so much for recommending this to us it realy was a very special place.

Kumbukgaha Villa was delightful i loved the limited menu and the staff were like family so kind and helpful.
We got a birthday cake for Aaron and honeymoon gifts which was really sweet thank you for reqquesting those for us it really made it extra special for us.

Kalus hideaway was fantastic too, i think the staff were the friendliest here and we got upgraded to the suite, so felt very pivalidged :)


All excursions bar the ones above were great, i even managed to climb the sigirya dispite worries about the wasps thankfully they had moved their nests to the other mountain so it was fine :)


Thanks again for all your help
Mr and Mrs Smith
:) x

Joe thank you so much for your resort and room recommendation, absolutely spot on! Great resort and i think we had the best beach villa (333)
We had a wonderful time but interesting its 7 years since our last visit to the Maldives and then it was probably a 70% European 30% Asian customer split whereas this time it was 80% Asian and at best 20% European. Not a great problem but it does change the atmosphere in the evenings (less people to talk to)
My only slightly critical comment is, Coco should recognise at check in that we had been travelling for 18 hours and just want to sleep.Instead they spend time filling in forms and providing details that could wait until after breakfast the following day.(as experienced in other good hotels/resorts we have stayed at).
Anyway we had a great holiday and our sincere thanks for all your help and advice.
Mike & Diane

Angelfish travel were recommended to us and they met all expectation. Their service was efficient informative and attentive. Further to an unexpected family bereavement 6 days prior to the departure date, angelfish travel were both caring and compassionate to our circumstances and went out of their way to help us reschedule our trip. We wouldnt hesitate recommending angelfish travel to friends and family and would like to express our personal and sincere gratitude to angelfish staff for all their help and assistance in facilitating our fabulous holiday in a fabulous location. Thank you x

A truly wonderful resort and holiday.

The staff were simply superb-everyone made an extra special effort. No task was too much. We have never experienced such wonderful staff. Indeed on the last night they arranged a surprise beach dinner for us which made by partner cry with joy.

The management were wonderful [Guillaume] as were all the staff that looked after us and the friendly bar staff.

Your advice about opting for the beach villa's was superb-beyond spacious and the island kept an intimate feel. The food also exceeded expectations and was superb.

The house reef was stunning and the diving was also great-I had a whole boat and staff to myself. If there was any minor criticism it was simply the costs of the water sports activities and spa.

Thank you for dealing with our request so rapidly and for all your assistance and advice.

Perfect resort for a mother./daughter holiday and great value for money. Only negative feedback, service in the restaurants and front desk were quite inconsistent, sometimes even rude or confusing.
Overall a great recommendation Jo, would go back in a heartbeat!

Aaaveee is the most natural and unspoilt island we have ever visited.
The beaches and vegetation are amazing and the snorkelling was good.
We found the food enjoyable but our room was dark and small but had 2 showers in the outdoor bathroom which is very useful.The more expensive rooms only had 1 shower in an indoor bathroom.
We hope this island does not get spoilt by overbuilding in the future.

Just returned from a week in Makunudu, fantastic recommendation from the Angelfish team, absolutely loved the place, rustic, brilliant for snorkelling, friendly staff, food totally blew me away, expected influences from India, Sri Lanka etc but when the best sushi I have ever tasted turned up on buffet could not believe the standard, range and quality of ingredients. 10/10!
Bit dissointed with Sri Lankan airlines, thought would be a better standard but overall perfect week, will be back to both Angelfish and Makunudu for sure.
Martin Cockerell