DHONI STELLA 2

Dear Max, hope you are well. I owe you a big thanks for a great holiday with Stella and my family. Even though weather was literally not great, did not see the whale shark and so on – we were so well taken care off by the crew, enjoyed the few hours of sun shine, had some great dives, visited some wonderful islands and enjoyed Stella. I am sure over time that one or two friends of mine will mail you – let me know if you need recommendations. I hope we will have the opportunity to return. Please send our regards to the full team.

Now we are back home for 2 weeks already and the beautiful Maldives seem to be so far away again…We wanted to thank you for the great trip on Dhoni Stella, we enjoyed it very much (despite the big waves the first day…..). The boat is beautiful and the crew was amazing and professional. We were so happy to see turtels and even a nice big sting ray when snorkeling. We also loved the delicious currys and dishes the cook was preparing in that small kitchen. I tried to cook the coconut curry at home, but without the Maledivan recipe it was just not the same… Thanks again for the smooth organisation - we will definitely recommend your Yachts to our friends.. Kind regards from Switzerland.

OMG Max we have had the most incredible time on the Dhoni Stella. Your crew is amazing. They have attended to our every want and need. Aju is the consummate professional. I just think it is his nature. He represents your company with the highest standard. You are very lucky to have him. He was dealing with 4 old women in their 60-70 and it didn’t even phase him. Mallah has such a great personality and it was a blast getting to know him. He seemed to be everywhere on the boat. If he wasn’t serving us a meal, or cleaning our rooms, or taking us in the small boat to accommodate our wishes, he was cleaning the boat. Amazing deck hand. Suranga was so accommodating for our meals. He cooked things that were local and he cooked things that we were familiar with from our country. He also helped with getting 4 older ladies in and out of the small boat. Some days that was challenging for us. Hameed, the captain, at the direction of Aju, took us wherever Aju thought we could have the best experience. He also was available to help get us in and out of the boat. Your crew was amazing. They helped make our experience a once in a lifetime adventure. All in all Max, this vacation was a 10 out of 10. Thank you so much to you and your crew. We experienced things we will never see again.

Dear Max, so we are back in Denmark again and looking back at a fantastic trip to the Maldives. We truly valued the entire experience. Great food, great staff, great weather, great snorkeling, great route planning…. basically everything. We also did a bit of fishing here and there with varied succes but always with great enthusiasm. We saw sharks, turtles in abundance, mantas, and thousands of fish. We saw beautiful islands. We have always found it difficult to come back to the Maldives because we had a great experience at Soneva Sushi five years ago. Therefore it was so great to come back to the Maldives in a truly different manner and get a truly different travel experience. All the best wishes to you and the staff on board the Dhoni Stella 2.

We can really say that it was the trip of our life. Having been to Maldives 5 times, it was by far our best experience. One aspect we truly enjoyed was the exchanges we had with the crew, we really felt they were our friends at the end of the trip and were sad to leave them ! Nasru was perfect in his leading role, always finding solutions to our problems, patient with my wife while diving and choosing easy spots for her, she gained a lot of confidence in diving and that to me is equally valuable as what we've seen. He was also very knowledgeable about all the sites we have seen (2 local islands plus Male), the history of Maldives and very friendly. Malla was also very kind, funny guy also interesting to speak with, giving a great service on board. Aju and captain, the men from the sea, were perfect in their roles too. Among others, Super nice experience to do octopus and night fishing with them, lots of fun. As for chef Kumar, maybe not as outspoken but as kind as the rest of the crew. His food was delicious (special mention to the flan we asked for it 3 times during the trip!) and he was always checking to see if everything was ok. The boat is perfect for two, enough space in the bedroom, sundeck and dining/living area. The itinerary itself was well balanced between all activities we like and we were blessed with the weather, what more can we ask? We will definitely try to be back the soonest and I may send you some customers as I have a couple of friends who were waiting for my feedback before eventually contacting you and they will definitely have a great feedback. Finally a word for Max: perfect trip manager from A to Z, always friendly, very responsive and knowledgeable. Regarding the suggestions there are not so many but: my wife was suggesting to have a kind of menu onboard.The whole week we drank instant powder coffee until my wife told Malla that they should have proper coffee and that's the only time Malla told us he could also do excellent cappucino...which was indeed excellent but we would never thought of. He told us it was on the website but same here we don't go to the website before ordering :-). For the food it would help sometimes too, because the chef was asking "what do you want to eat today?" and it was hard to answer not knowing exactly what was on board. A few games for rainy days would be great too (Uno, monopoly...you name it). I think that's all I have to say, thanks a lot for eveything.

Hi Max, I just wanted to say again how much we all enjoyed our cruise on the Stella 2. What a beautifully fitted out boat she is and we certainly all made the most of the loungers on the top deck. The cabins were so spacious too and the bathrooms modern and very functional. The crew could not be faulted in any way - always helpful, friendly and cheerful. The meals were some of the best we had on our whole trip especially the fish fresh from the ocean. They were very attentive to our likes and dislikes - Kumar would loved to have used some salt but my sister is not able to have food with salt. We had an amusing time when he said he would normally use lots of rosemary but we had said we did not like it. The herb rosemary had been confused with my sister Rosemary! Kudar learnt how everyone liked their tea and coffees without having to be told again, and that we liked drinks at sunset - very on the ball! I really enjoyed my dive and Nasru was very reassuring for a rather inexperienced diver like me. I've left it rather late in my life to qualify! With best wishes.

Dear Max, greetings from paradise "on Stella 2" just a little note to say best holiday EVER !!!! THANkyou. Nasru has been amazing from the minute we meet, accomodating and so knowledgeable re best surf spots, diving spots and private sand bars, and photographer. Malla is the best, so beautiful to have the company of, a quiet achiever who has spoilt us rotten, attention to detail is without fault, the boat is kept so clean, our rooms/beds immaculate, the dinning room service first class quality. Have loved snorkelling with him as well. Kumar, what can we say 5 star restaurant every day... so generous and freshens delish! We all look forward to meal times! Captain Hassan tops off your fantastic crew, we have felt so happy, safe, spoilt and totally indulged in all your Stella 2 has to offer, THANkyou Max, highly recommended.

Dear Max, sitting in the departure lounge, feeling immensely content and gratified. It was sad to say farewell to our wonderful crew, but all good things come to an end. As already mentioned our meet and greet went without a hitch. All meals prepared by Suranga were absolutely superb, he is a master of curries and the diversity of the menus was an eye opener. Not only is he a very competent chef, his gentle and likeable personality equals his talent of preparing food! Under the Captainship of Hameed we felt safe at all times, he has immense knowledge of the waters, channels and atolls. Stella 2 is a beautiful boat, well built with an honest motor, the room was more spacious than any live aboard I have been on, which is well over 10. Good shower pressure and the toilet flushes easily (not always the case on boats). We wanted for nothing on board, enjoyed the sun and star deck no matter the weather. Mallah was a magician in all his skills, our room fastidiously cleaned, the good smell of Detol greeted us each morning after cleaning. A wonderful turndown each evening with the top sheet folded like I have never seen in any lodge or resort. His napkin folding is an art in itself, origami! He spoke the best English of the crew, has a very sharp sense of humour and was a fountain of information. Our wines were all well presented, no corked red wine, ice at all times of the day. Aju was immensely helpful in understanding our wishes for our snorkelling requirements, which equated to between 3 and 6 hours each day in 60 to 90 minute excursions. The reef fish were in the biggest variety and numbers of many places I have snorkelled and dived on the planet. Our highlight was eclipsed on our last full day. Until then it has been the quality of the fish and sheer numbers on the Alimatha Resort house reefs and especially the night snorkel with the nurse sharks and a bait ball of many millions of small fish, we had 24 nurse sharks all around us and the bait ball was attempting to escape them so swam through us, with about 100 ending up inside my wet suit and a few in my fins, such were the numbers. The Alimatha reef was so good I asked if we could go back there for our 3rd night which was even better than our first night there. That experience was surpassed by our arrival at Guraidhoo Island where we were greeted by dolphins frolicking between our anchor point and the breakwater/harbour wall. We swam out to them and enjoyed approx 45 minutes with over 100 Spinners. What a sight to see a wall of dolphins in front of us at various depths!, when that show was over we swam to the house reef and had another hour cruising along with the current and an excellent array of fish and a few healthy corals. The dolphin extravaganza was most unexpected and something I have fantasised about since watching Flipper as a little boy in the early 60’s! Aju waited for us patiently in the tender boat for most of our snorkels or he kept a watchful eye from the main boat. In conclusion Max I have nothing but praise for your operation and especially the staff. We look forward to returning again in a year or two.

Dear Max, I wanted to email to thank you for a fabulous trip on Dhoni Stella. You have a wonderful crew all of whom were so professional and contributed to making our trip so enjoyable. Nasru's organisation was perfect and he and Ammaday ensured that we had plenty of snorkelling opportunities and had calm, scenic anchorages (and some great fish for dinner). Kumar produced a cornucopia of food every day from the tiny galley and his donuts were a real crowd pleaser. Malla was a most attentive steward and we appreciated his attention to detail and his care for our comfort. So thank you once again for a most memorable trip which far exceeded our expectations. I can only hope that we may be fortunate enough to return for a longer trip next time. With regards and thanks.