Maldives travel: What it’s like to visit right now

Maldives (CNN) — I sat on a lounger in a Maldives resort’s overwater restaurant, gazing at the sparkling Arabian Sea, uneasy.

I was not wearing a mask and neither were other guests or staff.

Not that it was necessary: ​​Everyone on the palm-fringed private island of Soneva Fushi was tested for Covid-19 on arrival and then quarantined in their own villas until they received a new Negative result.

I was able to roam the island freely and defy the 6-foot minimum social distancing measures the world has been accustomed to since early 2020.

In a few days in this Indian Ocean paradise, after an unusual year, everything was back to normal – but the transition took some getting used to.

Maldives: now open to all

The 1,200-island country reopened its borders in July without mandatory testing or quarantine, then reversed course in September, requiring all incoming travelers to test negative for Covid-19 (96 hours before departure). The online passenger health declaration form also needs to be completed 24 hours before departure.

Like all countries heavily dependent on tourism, it has been hit hard by the crisis. According to the World Bank, tourism directly and indirectly accounts for two-thirds of the country’s gross domestic product.

The industry boomed in 2019, with tourist arrivals up 14.7% year-on-year to a record 1.7 million total. Officials hope they will reach 2 million this year.

Ali Wahid, the country’s tourism minister, said in a statement in May that the impact of the coronavirus pandemic was “more devastating than the tsunami of 2004 and the global financial crisis of 2008.”

So it’s no surprise that it was one of the first to reopen.

My journey began at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City, where I boarded a flight with Qatar Airways – one of a dozen airlines currently serving the Maldivian capital Male.

Note the emphasis on “PCR”: I’ve seen prospective passengers at JFK denied boarding passes because they offered a quick test and it wasn’t pretty.

During boarding, Qatar Airways passengers are required to wear masks and face coverings, which are provided free of charge at the gate.

I was on a half-empty plane from New York to Doha in economy class, sitting alone in a row. Then I flew to the last stop in Male on Qatar Airways business class Qsuites.

With plenty of personal space and sliding privacy doors, it’s definitely my go-to way of social distancing on the fly.

In the morning, I finally arrived at Velana International Airport in the Maldives and landed on the blue specks of the pristine atoll from my window seat, as exciting as ever.

The most luxurious quarantine in the world?

Getting off the plane in business class before most others becomes a huge blessing because border control checks are strict and time-intensive. I approached the border control point with some documents required for entry: a printout of my negative Covid test result, a copy of my two resort reservations (Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani), and a copy of my completed Traveler Health Declaration QR code.

After claiming my checked bags and going through customs, I found Soneva Fushi’s gracious (and masked) airport attendants, who took me to the check-in counter for a scheduled seaplane flight to their resort.

A van took me and other resort guests to Soneva Fushi’s dedicated airport lounge, where we kept our distance, grabbed a snack, and completed the resort check-in process before boarding.

We later climbed into their private purple seaplane for a scenic half-hour flight to their “international airport” (a small isolated platform that floats in the ocean), before taking a speedboat to the resort’s stretched wooden jetty, masked The “barefoot housekeepers” and management staff welcomed us.

The housekeeper and I jumped into a wagon and he took me straight to my huge beach house…for the next 20 hours it was the only island life I could see.

A few minutes after I was in quarantine, a lab technician in a white hazmat suit entered my residence, tested my villa for Covid-19, swabbed my throat and lightly stabbed my left nostril. He told me that I would receive the results the next morning.

Aerial view of one of Soneva Fushi’s newly built overwater pool villas.

Sandro Bruckmeier

Soneva’s Maldives resorts – Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani – are just two of a handful of resorts that are conducting in-resort Covid tests for all guests as an extra layer of protection against the spread of the virus.

They are offering these PCR tests for free, as well as a lot of credit for food, beverages and activities for the inconvenience of self-isolation.

There are two post-test scenarios for Soneva’s guests: Covid-negative means one can clearly explore the island and its many off-site activities, carefree and without a mask.

Covid-positive results require 14 days of quarantine in own villa (accommodation free). While I was relieved to get a negative result, I can’t help but think there are worse places on earth to recuperate for two weeks if the results were different.

After my butler explained my negative results in an early morning Whatsapp message, I experienced the eco-luxury resort on my next visit like it was in the pre-pandemic era: with other guests in the crystal clear lagoon Snorkel with manta rays in the water; indulge in delicious Maldivian and Pan-Asian breakfast dishes at a beachfront buffet and test my personal waterslide at Fushi’s brand new Water Retreats (the world’s largest overwater one and two-bedroom villas) – all without spraying the disinfectant on my swim shorts.

“The Maldives offers a fantastic opportunity to make you feel ordinary again,” said Levius, who was apparently impressed by his temporary home in Soneva Fushi.

Travis Lamp

I was completely accustomed to this newfound “freedom” when I arrived at my second resort, Soneva Jani, known for its sandcastle-style water villas with retractable roofs. The test has already been done at Soneva Fushi, so there is no need for another Covid test.

During my trip to the twin resorts – popular with Soneva guests even before the Covid era – the seaplane transfer between the two was the only time I had to wear a mask until the end of the trip.

But traveling during the epidemic is a personal choice, and everyone has their own threshold.

I believe the Maldives has done a commendable job of preventing the spread of the virus and installing protocols to keep locals and travelers safe; select resorts like Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani that offer in-villa testing give you extra peace of mind.

A typical Maldives holiday finds travelers isolating themselves in their villas anyway, spotting a wide variety of fish from their decks, swimming and enjoying in-villa delicacies in their own private bubble.

Depending on the resort, the Maldives offers the perfect opportunity to relive the ordinary – and for some, it’s worth a trip halfway around the world to experience that long-lost feeling.