View from the Royal Ocean Sunset Suite @ Ayada (Maldives)
I ate the views at this particular property. (They were certainly quite nice.) Unfortunately, that's about all one could "eat" or enjoy -- because it was an otherwise stressful stay; mired with some pretty serious problems.
Ayada is quite far from Male International Airport. So, after your long journey to the Maldives, you'll need to travel another hour via a domestic flight, then transfer and suffer another 45 minutes by boat .... and, frankly, it ain't worth all that effort, inconvenience, or the money -- unless you care little about food and service.
(Did I mention the rats -- yes, actual vermin -- that will greet you at the local airport? But I digress ....)
Over the entire course of my 5-night visit, I experienced repeated lapses in food and service -- with delayed in-room dining (up to 2 hours, in some instances) -- meals that often arrived cold and/or were inedible due to feckless preparation or the substandard (canned and frozen) ingredients that were used.
The promise of a "dedicated" butler was an utter fraud. (You often had to call for assistance. And, frequently, those calls went unanswered.)
And little did management care. They merely offered "lip-service" to the complaints.
Do not be deceived, my friends. Ayada Maldives is a low-end summer camp for adults, masked and deceptively advertised as a "high-end," "luxury" resort.
So, if I were you, I would pass on this poor mess of a place, notwithstanding the exquisite views .....
It's truly a shame that this particular company cares little about its customers, product, services ... or even its employees.
Interestingly, it appears that this so-called "resort" has been ridden with problems since its opening. With ownership -- Ahmet Aydeniz Group -- purportedly engaged in a pattern of "shortchanging" and mistreating its personnel. (See an employee's blog posts here.)
Luckily, there are many other resort options in the vicinity that are vastly superior and a heck of lot easier to get to.
Cross this awful one off your list ... bucket or otherwise.