Ozen Madhoo- The most beautiful resort in Maldives

All Inclusive 6* Luxury Resort with Water villa with Pool

Ozen Madhoo- The most beautiful resort in Maldives

Ozen Madhoo is a 6 * Luxury resort in the South Male Atoll. It is an all-inclusive resort which means that the package cost includes all meals, un-limited beverages and select activities.

It is accessible by a 40 min Speedboat ride from Male. The speedboat trip is smooth and beautiful and the boat ride gives you a good tranquil introduction to Maldives

Ozen Madhoo is a luxury resort spread over 3 islands. It has a very long beach stretch and offers stupendous views of the Ocean and the Sunset. Its Sunset view are probably the best in the Maldives. It has a traditional dark and luxurious decor, with a lot of classical colours and depth in its deign. Ozen Madhoo has 94 beach and water villas, many of them with a pool. The beach villa with pool (called Earth Villas) are especially note worthy

The average room size in Madhoo is at par for its price category with the Beach Villa with Pool measuring 185 SqM with a 20 SqM pool. The Water Villa with Pool are 112 SqM .

The unique feature of Madhoo room is its Main Pool area which has awesome cabanas, sundowners and incredible views. This is topped up by a Gin bar in the terraces. This gives the entire area a Mediterranean party pool feel and given its an all inclusive resort its wonderful to have unique cocktail and munch on gourmet snacks, while sitting in a exclusive cabana with your feet dipped in the pool! In fact even by exacting maldives standards the resort has exceptional views and small touches like water swings and exceptional house reef and snorkelling add to the experience. We even saw sharks not even 10 ft from the shore. The madhoo area has beautiful marine life and the dolphin cruise (part of the all inclusive package) is a highlight

Madhoo alo ha a good kids club which amongst other thing gives kids supervised beach access and has its own kids pool

A key feature of Madhoo is the gourmet Indian restaurant, which serves proper high quality Indian fare. It also has a all inclusive buffet restaurant with exceptional live counters and an Pan Asian restaurant. The food choices are very in-line with the Indian palate

A note on the all inclusive feature of Madhoo. Madhoo is an all inclusive resort and this means all meals across restaurants, all alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages and select activity like fishing expeditions, Dolphin Cruise, sunset cruise etc are included are included as part of the cost of the resort

All in all, Madhoo provides an excellent luxury, all inclusive resort option with an exceptional beach. It ha perhaps the best sunset views in maldives and indian palate favourable dining options (A 4 Night stay in a water villa with pool will cost approximately 4.5 lakhs including transfers and taxes)

Unique Feature:

- Beautiful beach and outstanding sunset views
- Premium all you and eat, all you can drink resort
- Pool Villas with a classical deign and direct access to great snorkelling
- Gourmet Indian restaurant and restaurant serving “Chindese” options
- Outstanding main pool area with a Mediterranean party feel

Please see detailed pricing for Ozen Madhoo

March 27, 2021March 28, 2021

Cruising with an Infant – Holland America Cruise in Canada and New England

Cruising with an Infant – Holland America Cruise in Canada and New England

Holland America Cruise in Canada and New England

Cruising with an infant – Holland America Cruise in Canada and New England On MS Veendam

Superior Verandah Suite
Holland America Line

M/S Veendam is a medium sized ship weighing about 58,000 tons.
The trend these days is for larger, ( and even larger) ships. Think 5000 passenger with amenities and entertainment options which rival, even exceed 5 star resorts. ( Don\’t be surprised to find, surf simulators, multi deck water slides and Broadway adaptions).
If a “large”ship experience is what you are looking for, then this ship is not for you. Holland America celebrates the original sea faring traditions with a classic cruising experience. Think large very comfortable rooms (even for base category, interior rooms), fine dining, and exceptional service. It’s not that the newer bells and whistles are not there. We enjoyed the evening entertainment, the casino and the kids play areas. The organised activities are varied, from wine tasting, lobster cooking classes, poker competitions, cup cake and tea ceremonies. They however do not “define” the ship and you will get better elsewhere.

Dining on M/s Veendam:

The food is very good and they take a lot of effort to vary it. For all the 3 meals, you have the option of a proper sit down course or buffet. For an extra charge you can eat at the Italian restaurant (Canaletto, USD 10) or the steakhouse ( Pinnacle Grill, USD 23). Once in the sailing you have option to have food at the Le cirque restraurant, the award winning New York restaurant. (USD 43). We thought of having a meal here. However menu looked uninspiring and didn’t motivate us to loosen the wallet!
The best buffet option was the breakfast buffet, having multiple live counters including a egg florentine section and waffle counters. I have always maintained that the best indicator a ship’s food standard is the omelette counter (it was excellent!). A good breakfast buffet will have small things like separate counter for fried eggs and omelettes. (this ship had it) I found the lunch and dinner buffet to above average and nothing exceptional. This included the burger and pizza counters. They did however take care to vary the menu. Additionally you had speciality nights, where they focussed on dishes from various countries. The real variation came in the late night Snack Counters where you had a new country’s cuisines (Chinese,Thai , Californian, French, German and so on) everyday. The options were Interesting, the food though wasn’t brilliant at these late night counters.
The sit down dinners were however excellent! It was comparable if not better than an expensive New York restaurant. Consisting of a four course meal, you had to pick items from a menu card. The options were varied and interesting. Surprisingly the vegetarian options were more than adequate. This is not a ship where a vegetarian will go hungry!
Options for Kids
My focus was on my 3 year old kid and I had heard horror stories about Holland America being unfriendly towards children. I had also heard that nearly everybody who travels HAL is above 70 years! The cruise gave me a positive surprise. Make no mistake Holland America and M/S Veendam is not by any measure the pinnacle of kids entertainment on the high sea.The kids club was however well stocked with excellent educators. My 3 year old was engaged, with activities like cake making, pyjama parties, story book reading. The downside was there not enough age segration. ( same educators and activity for 3-7 years). My 3 year old did feel a left out in a sea of 5 and 6 year olds. There were about 20 younger kids ( infant to 7) and 20 more older children on this sailing

Service:
The other standout are the excellent staff who was very friendly and made a special effort to “bond” with my infant. Service on this ship was a standout and actually flawless ( and I am comparing with expensive 5 star hotels). 10 out of 10

Itinerary:
We took the Canada and New England cruise starting from Vancouver. The ports were Vancouver, Quebec, Halifax, Prince Edward Island, Sydney ( Nova Scotia), Bar Harbour ( Maine) and Boston. We found the itinerary excellent as it allowed us to do locations which are difficult to do my land. Also most of the places were one day itineraries, so you didn’t feel that you have “missed” anything. The Eastern part of the Canada is extremely interesting due to its French culture, both in terms of Architectural influences, language, food and the general vibe. In additional locations like prince Edward island and Halifax gave an excellent idea about Atlantic Coast island and Ports.

Highlights:
a) The most delicious lobster you can taste and a price which is 1/10 of that in a big city restaurant
b) Quebec. You would be hard pressed to believe that this was a place in Nort America and not a coastal town in place. Wonderful vibe and 95% of the population speak only French
c) Bar Harbour : One of the cutest fishing towns / villages you will ever go to. The Arcadia national park is a highlight
d) Montreal and Quebec : Beautiful small cities. Cosmopolitan, relaxed and picture perfect.

So should you do this cruise?
Yes, especially if you want to want to see Canada and New England in a non complicated way

Should you do this cruise with your kids?
The answer is yes and a no. The experience will be adequate. However given the limited nature of Kids activities and Kid centric facilities, you will find better

March 27, 2021March 12, 2022

Emerald Maldives – All Inclusive Luxury Resort

Emerald Maldives – All Inclusive Luxury Resort

All Inclusive Luxury Resort with Water villa with Pool

Emerald Maldives – Luxury All inclusive resort

Emerald is a 5 * Luxury resort in the Northern Raa Atoll. It is an all-inclusive resort which means that the package cost includes all meals, un-limited beverages and select activities. It is also a part of the leading hotel of the world portfolio

It is accessible by a 45 min sea-plane ride from Male. This is a shared sea plane transfer and in a single trip will service 2-3 nearby resorts. While the usual procedure is for the sea-plane to land directly at the resort, in rare events, the sea plane might even drop you to a nearby resort for a very short 5-10 min speedboat ride

Read about sea-planes in Maldives here.

Emerald is a relatively new property which started operations in August 2019 and is designed in modern, light, airy colours. Situated on a medium sized island, Emerald has 120 beach and water villas, many of them with a pool.

The average room size in emerald is above par for its price point ( abut 175-190 SqM) . The pools in the villas are medium sized, about 15 SqM. The unique feature of emerald room are its massive bathrooms with huge bath-tubs and outdoor and indoor showers, which are nearly 30% of the room size. The toiletries are also high end and and it has mini bar which is temperature controlled ( and whose contents are part of the all inclusive package). Emerald has plenty of true luxury touches, setting it aside from other peer category hotels

It has a upgrade category of villa called the Superior villa which are 310 SqM with a 24 SqM Pool. The facilities are same in the normal Villas

The other defining feature of Emerald is its enormous kids club, which apart from a massive indoor area, comes with a sprinkler pool, kids zip line and very large set of child related outdoor activities.

Emerald has a great house reef and good quality snorkelling is possible at the resort itself. Another unique feature is that Emerald provides high end bikes to all residents staying in a villa as a regular accessory. Every Villa has a bike stand with a bike for every resident. This makes commute within the resort much easier and is a boon for the kids

Emerald has 3 restaurants. The main, buffet restaurant, a South American Grill and a Pan Asian restaurant. Food is quite good and varied and the un-limited high end beverages mean you get the best wine and champagne with the meals.

A note on the all inclusive feature of emerald. Emerald is an all inclusive resort and this means all meals across restaurants, all alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages and select activity like fishing expeditions, sunset cruise etc are included are included as part of the cost of the resort

All in all, Emerald provide an excellent luxury, all inclusive option at a very reasonable price point. (A 4 Night stay in a water villa with pool will cost approximately 3.4 lakhs including transfers and taxes)

Current Deal in Emerald

Unique Feature:

- Sea Plane Transfers
- Premium all you and eat, all you can drink, resort
- Large Villas with massive bathrooms, many with an in villa pool
- Massive kid club with Sprinkler Pool, ZipLine, Adventure Course
- True Luxury touches in the VillasPlease see detailed pricing for emerald

March 6, 2021March 28, 2021

Top Visa Free destinations for Indians

Top Visa Free destinations for Indians

Top visa on arrival destinations for Indian passport holders

Don’t have time for a visa for your summer vacation? Below are 10 fabulous destinations which you can do with Visa on Arrival for Indians

a) Turkey (conditional visa on arrival)

Not strictly a “visa on arrival” destination, however if you have a valid UK or US visa, Indians can get a visa on arrival. A short break in Turkey will include a Istanbul, Cappadocia, and probably a few days in Mediterranean resort.

Turkey is now open to Travel

b) Seychelles

Seychelles is a great beach destination accessible by direct flights from 5hr from Mumbai.

Seychelles is opening up for Indians from April

h) Maldives
Maldives is a great short break option especially as it is fully accessible in the times of Covid

Maldives is now open to Travel

i) Sri-Lanka
With an Electronic pre – arrival Visa, Cheap flights and great hill and beach destinations, Sri-Lanka is perfect for a 5 to 7 day break.

Sri Lanka is now open to Travel

b) Bhutan ( visa on arrival)
An undiscovered gem, India is one of the few countries for which Bhutan doesn’t require a visa. Bhutan can be visited in 4 to 7 days, covering Thimpu, Paro and maybe Wangdu

c) Taiwan ( visa on arrival)
Yes. No Visa required. In fact Taiwan is a tourist surprise and do drop us a mail if you want to discover it

d) Hong Kong ( visa on arrival)
Perfect for a super quick getaway, Hong Kong along with Macau continues to have a no visa on arrival policy for Indians. However if you have an unstamped passport, you will be subject to questioning.

e) Cambodia
Angkor Vat and more. Cambodia is exceptional as a short get away destination. Its cost effective and can be easily fit in a one week travel planhttp://www.tierratravels.com/pack/cambodia-and-vietnam-35.html

f) Thailand ( Still a visa on arrival destination) An evergreen favorite.

g) Philippines
A recent inclusion, Philippines now offers 14 day visa on arrival if you posses a valid UK, US, Shenzhen, Japan, Australia, Canada and even a Singapore Visa. Boracay is arguably the top beach destination in SE Asia and visiting it just go easier

j) Jordan :Jordan and Petra is an undiscovered gem and Indians can take advantage of direct Jordan air flights to reach Amman in under 6 hours.An exciting trip idea is to combine Jordan with Istanbul

k) Mauritius :This Island paradise and perfect get-away fro Indian honeymooners doesn’t require pre-authorisation.

Tierra offers you seamless Visa services as part of our comprehensive services’