It was out first time at the Maldives( but not the last one I am sure!) We stayed for 9 nights. It was perfect. I have never been anywhere like this before. It was like in the movies... The weather was sunny and extremely hot. The island is quite small, relaxed and very friendly! Sometimes we felt that we are alone on the island. there was nobody around you on the beach... We were just sitting in the water and the fishes were just moving around us. It was unbelievable. You can visit the islands and resorts around by boat.
I'm sure that we will go back.


Everything was clean and perfect. The staff is incredible, very helpful and

we stayed at this hotel for 10 nights it was truly breath taking,we travelled with my self and husband and our nine year old daughter , we had a sea plane transfer which was amazing and then a speed boat taking you to the island , one word was wow . we did a lot of snorkelling and my husband went deep sea fishing, he found it great, we all so went over to sun island there is allot more going on over there , but I think we made the right choice in staying at holiday island the staff are friendly and very welcoming, we would take out bread rolls from the restaurant and feed the fish wow it was like an aquarium if you thinking of going to holiday island go ..its paradise. and id certainly recommend this hotel.i would all so say i recommend the spa , we have been all over the world and this spa was amazing.

We stayed in this resort for a week in July.
The weather was very good, just 1 day raining all day, the rest it was sunny and hot.
We got free upgrade to sea transfer, which was a bonus.
The island is quite small, with a few paved pathways and no swimming pool - the thing we were looking for exactly.
The food in the restaurant is excellent - great variety every day, spacious restaurant itself, nice and attentive staff.
The rooms are spacious, with two entrances (one from the beach, another from the pathway), cleaned twice every day by very discreet and attentive cleaning staff. There is air con, hair drier, beach towels, room towels, shampoo etc., TV and phone in the room.
You have your own little beach space in front of the room with a table, leg shower and 2 chez-longues designated to each room.
The best rooms are on the jetty side in the area between reception and beach bar. That is where the beach is not effected by corrosion and where you can see the sister island.
We were originally put on the opposite side of the island (where you have the reef with all the little fish and baby-sharks), but the management was kind enough to change our rooms on request the next morning.
There is a SPA (excellent treatment!), table tennis, jewelery shop, souvenir shop, snooker, night fishing (a bit boring), crab racing etc. available as entertainment.
The free shuttle to the sister Sun island is great treat for those who wish to enjoy a bigger island, go for disco, sting ray feeding, swimming pool, shopping...
In general, we enjoyed our holidays a lot and would recommend it to others.
THE DOWNSIDE - THE RUNWAY BEING BUILT ON THE NEIGHBOR ISLAND - IT SPOILS THE SCENERY, THE QUIET WILL BE GONE WHEN IT IS READY.

As my title says Holiday Island needs to be split into two so I'll split my review accordingly.

Negative first:

The main reason for the title is the airport being built on the other island.
The airport is on an island facing the side opposite the jetty side. The runway has been created by pumping sand off of the sea floor and juts out and dominates the view from the beach on the side as said before opposite the jetty. The airport also contains an air traffic control tower which is covered in scaffolding. If you happen to have your room on this side of the island (we were in 228) the view you will be faced with is far from picturesque.
At around 16:00 every day we also had the pleasure of watching 4 motorbike riders racing up and down the runway which is not what you would expect to see on a "paradise island". The creation of the runway has also changed the natural current that would have shaped the island by concentrating where the water can break on the reef on that side of the island. This means the waves on the reef are very big which have destroyed the coral. The current is also very strong to swim against which for an experienced swimmer like myself alarmed me.
The only place on the island that has coral is where the watersports hut is. This coral isn't great by Maldives standards but still contains some good fish. The trouble with this is people bombing about on jet skis while you snorkel. The markers are not good and I nearly had someone ride into me on a jetski which was unnerving to say the least.
As said before the only place containing average coral on the entire island is the watersports hut so there was no alternative place to have a good swim unless you went over to Sun Island which is free to get a boat to.
Other islands visited also seem to carry out any maintenance work on a nearby island which Holiday island dont do. This means that you may here the sounds of drilling, boat repairs and circular saws.
The all inclusive package is extremely limited. You get beers, limited spirits, mixers, wine (really not good) and canned drinks. You can get bottled water from the main restaurant but nowhere else which is ludicrous. NO COCKTAILS are included and neither are fruit juices which is pretty poor in comparison to other islands visited.
Cocktails to buy seperate are about $12 each and beers are $4.50 as are soft drinks.
Not included in your trip are mask, snorkel or fin hire so I suggest if you like snorkelling daily you take your own as hiring this costs $9 per person per day. I took mask and snorkel but no fins which were $5 per day where as other islands these things are free and are only chargeable if you lose them.

If you are booked to go to Holiday Island, have read all of this and are now despairing there are some positives so fret not.
The jetty side is exactly what you would expect from a Maldivian Island. The water is turqoise, the sand is white and the view is great.
The rooms are very good with well working AC, UK plugs, comfy beds and good bathrooms which include an outdoor shower with small garden. You also get a patio with two chairs and two beach loungers.
The gardens are well maintained and the spa is definitely worth a visit. The spa may be worth hanging back on until the end of your trip as the longer you stay the greater the reduction in price. We ended up with 50% off whereas after day two we were offered 20%.
The food was above average for a buffet style restaurant, in fact I would say its the best I have eaten. The Maldivian night for anyone enjoying curries in the UK will blow your mind! The choice isn't huge but what is offered is generally good although some interpretations of Western dishes can be strange but you are abroad so try to eat local.
The service in the restaurant was also very good.
The main bar is a great place to kick back and have a drink and the evening entertainment is..... entertaining. This may be because its so bad but we had fun watching. Service in the bar from the older guys who know their trade is very good indeed. Some of the younger guys can do a lot to learn from these.
The beach bar is also a nice place to watch the sun go down and has some limited choice for the all inclusive guests. No all inclusive have a pretty extensive range.

The excursions we went on were the whale shark trip which is something I would recommend to anyone. If you aren't a confident swimmer take a life jacket but do not miss out!!!! No words can describe how great it is to swim with these placid animals!!!
Please note that be ready to move fast when they're spotted as two people on our boat messed about getting into the water and missed the experience...

We also did the hand line fishing trip which was a great way to spend an evening. You sit off of a small island and watch the sun go down hoping for a bite. We caught about 20 odd fish between everyone on the boat. Nobody blanked!

A free boat can be taken over to Sun Island which I would recommened for anyone who loves to snorkel. The house reef near the Italian restaurant ( turn right off the boat) is very good. The further you swim from the restaurant the better the fish get which also include turtles.

The Island also as stated before is predominantly German and Italian but this didn't bother as at all.

If I were to sumarise I would say that Holiday Island represents value for money but strangely is more expensive (from the people we booked with anyway) than Sun Island.