Amazing holiday deal: 7 Nights full board in the Maldives for £599!!!

Oral Slang

http://www.libraholidays.co.uk/forms/holidays1.asp?HolidayType=IT*SH&Month=Jul+08&Day=21&StartDate=&Start_Date=21-Jul-08&Diff=0&BrochureType=EG&Duration=7&Departure=1-UK*LON%2BSE*LGW&Arrival=1-EG*EGYPT*LXR&Resort=ERN&Accommodation=11274&Board=FB&NoAdults=2&NoChildren=0&NoInfants=0&PromotionCode=&BrochureTypeText=Egypt+Holidays&depCodes=LGW%3BLGW%3BMAN%3BMAN%3B&depCode=LGW&arrCodes=LXR.TCP%3BLXR.TCP%3BLXR%3BTCP%3B&arrCode=LXR&dbCodes=L07%3BL07%3BL07%3BL07&dbCode=L07&Action=Search&Click=Y&brochureDurations=&DepartureName=Gatwick&CountryName=Luxor&ResortName=River+Nile-luxor&AccommodationName=Domina+Prestige+Nile+Cruise+4l&x=0&y=0

Noticed today though, had I booked online directly through Libra Holidasy instead of going through Markstravel, I would have saved us a few bob - about £80. Ah well, cheap enough at the price I got it anyway, so happy days!

thewools

Booked and confirmed - so we are heading to Biyadhoo in September all-inclusive!

Bit of a wait but hopefully will be worth it.

Couple of Quick Questions to all who have returned etc

We will have to get a connecting flight to Gatwich, London so will prob travel with Ryanair to get from Dublin to Gatwich - So will we have to collect our baggage in Gatwich and check in again? Not sure what way it works here as I'm booking flights through two parties here instead of one.

Every connecting flight i was previously on I didnt have to collect baggage at connecting airports but not sure here.

Also what was the boat ride from Male to the island like?... (she's dreading the boat bit ) hehe

vibe666

good to hear you're all booked up thewools, you'll love it.

I was actually just looking at my latest travelsupermarket email and biyadhoo was in there again for aug-sept for £699 and I was half tempted to book it again only herself only has 3 holiday days left for the year.

anyway, what we did was booked a ryanair flight from dublin to gatwick a few hours ahead of the main flight. you just come into gatwick as a regular passenger, collect your bags and then go from arrivals to departures and check-in to the main flight. we gave ourselves over 3 hours room and it was just about right for a spot of lunch at Pret-A-Manger (I still keep saying I should buy a franchise for Dublin!), a spot of shopping in the duty free and a bit of a sit down and relax before it's time to squeeze into the monarch sardine tin for the long haul.

if you're much over about 6 feet tall or anything other than the typical slim-medium build paddy, you might want to give serious consideration to the premier upgrade option. I think it was £160 return extra, but it's well worth it for the bigger more comfortable seats, better food and private tv/media player etc. for the 11+ hours you'll be onboard.

things to consider.

all inc. is a must, but you'll be ballhooxed for the first day so you might not make the most of it. we started from day 2, but signed up for it on day 1 so it counted from breakfast (don't forget it includes water and soft drinks all day too, so well worth it).

for the flights.

you most likely WILL take too many clothes (or at least she will ). light t-shirts and shorts are the order of the day (and night), or light linen trousers and a light short sleeved shirt, anything else will be too hot. forget about shoes, just take some runners for the plane and maybe some sort of flip-flops and some sea shoes (croc's or something else that doesn't mind getting repeatedly wet). I took off my runners before we even got to our room, everything is sandy paths and is cleaned daily. the only thing i had on my feet for the entire week was flippers/fins, other than that I was barefoot the whole time same as about 80% of the people there.

your luggage can be a bit of a pain, ryanair is 15kg + more or less any hand luggage you can carry as long as it fits in the overhead lockers, whereas monarch is 20kg + 5kg hand luggage (altho they didn't weigh ours, some of the other guys said they did theirs). what we did was keep the big bags at 15kg for the first flight and then had a bag inside 2 backpacks wth another 5kg of dense heavy stuff each (remember liquids under 100ml only for customs)and then before we checked them back in at gatwick we moved that extra weight from the hand luggage to the main big bags and checked it in and that worked a treat.

we got two great lilo's on ebay but didn't use them nearly as much as we would have liked so maybe consider taking one or two, but just cheap ones, don't go overboard like I did and waste money , we spent most of our time snorkelling and scuba diving (rent the stuff there rather than bringing it unless you're already qualified divers and have your own gear already). not sure about ryanair, but apparently most airlines (inc. monarch) will give you an extra 10kg of luggage allowance anyway if you show them your PADI diver's ID (or so I'm told). a face mask, snorkel and fins is a couple of dollars a day to rent, or the little shop has sets of them for about 20-30 dollars afaik if you really want to buy.

if you're only going for a week and are thinking of learning to scuba dive, even though it will cost you more, do all the basics at home in a pool and then you just have to do 3 open water dives when you get there to qualify and can do regular dives for the rest of the week.

the dive centre there told the guys I went with via email that they could complete the course in 2.5 days (which is technically true) but between us going on excursions and the dive centre being booked up it took almost the whole week for them to complete it and the last dive they got done was the final one for the OW course itself, so no diving with sharks or mantas etc. which was a bit of a let down.

i'm sure I'll think of more, but I think that'll do it for now.

Onikage

vibe666 wrote: »

it was just about right for a spot of lunch at Pret-A-Manger (I still keep saying I should buy a franchise for Dublin!

Pret A Manger is not a franchise. Weary travellers are stuck with O'Briens and McDonalds in Dublin

But everything else sounds good!

vibe666

ah well, looks like you're right. i wonder what one would have to do to obtain the rights to open one in dublin?

anyway, imagine having it in the bewleys building in grafton st.

talk about licence to print money.

BostonB

vibe666 wrote: »

...time to squeeze into the monarch sardine tin for the long haul.

if you're much over about 6 feet tall or anything other than the typical slim-medium build paddy, you might want to give serious consideration to the premier upgrade option. I think it was £160 return extra, but it's well worth it for the bigger more comfortable seats, better food and private tv/media player etc. for the 11+ hours you'll be onboard....

Those monarch flights are something else aren't they. When I went there wasn't a option to upgrade.

vibe666

i think you might have to do it through the agent beforehand, but there might be an option once you're there, not sure.

thewools

Cheers for the help Vibe...

Im 6"3ish so might have to look into getting an upgrade for the flight alright - would make a long journey a bit more tolerable surely!

Your "magic" mosquito repellent didnt seem to help much so i might have to look into that.

Only 9 weeks to go now :mad:

vibe666

actually, one more thing about the legroom. if you're given the option to upgrade to extra legroom and you're not of the skinny persuasion, aim for the seats right at the tail of the plane, rather than the ones at the exits. they're even smaller than the aerlingus and ryanair exit seats and they left me numb in both legs for about 3 days afterwards they are so tight, and the window seat at the exit actuallly has LESS legroom than a regular seat thanks to a big lump sticking out of the door.

go for the rear seats as they are in pairs and have the tray on the seat in front like a regular seat, but still get extra legroom for you. if i was going again and couldn't get premier seats, they'd be the ones I'd choose.

thewools

Time to re-open this thrend i think!!!

Im away in little over two weeks and think i have everything sorted...

Bug spray - Check
Sun Cream - Check
Clothes / Sandals etc - mmmm getting there
Snorkel & Mask - In the post
Underwater Camera Housing - In the post (hopefully )
Cash?? - Not yet, any idea how much we should bring? I know most things are paid via Credit Card over there...
Connecting Flights - Check

Didnt opt for the Premium seats with Monarch yet, just wondering could this be arranged at Gatwich before we board...

Is there anything i'm missing??

dos30

Cash, $100 is plenty.

All you need cash for is tipping, everything else (excursions, shopping, diving etc..) is paid for at reception when you leave.

Bring plenty of mosquito spray. I brought 3 tubes for myself and the missus. Got another 1 off Vibe when he left and still had to buy 3 more in the shop over there.

Bring flippers for snorkeling and some entertainment for the evenings you don't go to the bar. We brought a laptop, watched all of season 4 of house over there. Brilliant

thewools

dos30 wrote: »

Cash, $100 is plenty.

All you need cash for is tipping, everything else (excursions, shopping, diving etc..) is paid for at reception when you leave.

Bring plenty of mosquito spray. I brought 3 tubes for myself and the missus. Got another 1 off Vibe when he left and still had to buy 3 more in the shop over there.

Bring flippers for snorkeling and some entertainment for the evenings you don't go to the bar. We brought a laptop, watched all of season 4 of house over there. Brilliant

Thanks Dos30, Was going to bring the laptop but it "died" last week... so think thats out of the equation!! We are going all inclusive so we (well ME!!! ) plan to make the most of the "free" beer and spirits...

Ye might just get a couple hundred yoyos changed to dollars and see how things go..

Dont think ill bring flipppers - I read somewhere that we can rent them over there so this should help reduce luggage space a bit...

Got a fair bit of mosquito spray - we are hoping there not going to be too hungry though

Think all i need now is a few good books...