Six Senses Laamu review: why we returned one year later

Why we returned

This review comes with a bit of delay as we visited SSL back in march of this year, and I am just now coming around to writing it. We are seasoned Maldives travelers having visited upwards of 25 properties (mostly in the 5*+ segment), and this year we decided to make a return to Six Senses Laamu, just 12 months after our initial visit. This is a pretty big deal for us as this is the first time we have actually planned to revisit a resort in the Maldives (with so many properties it sometimes feels like a waste to re visit places). I think speaks volumes about how special Six Senses Laamu is. After visiting a second time I am happy to report that SSL was just as amazing as it was the first time around!

I wrote an pretty exhaustive review on six senses last year (feel free to check my profile to review this) so I will keep this one a bit more brief focusing just on a few key areas that I loved, saw improve, or still need improvement:

Villas

The villas: the villas at SSL are magnificent. Its crazy to see just how impeccably maintained they are (they do not look more than 1 year old despite having been built almost a decade ago). I have lost count of how many villas I have tried/toured in the Maldives (probably upwards of 50), and I really do not have enough good things to say about the villas at six senses. They might not be the biggest villas in the Maldives, but for us they just work. This summer, we had the opportunity to visit Soneva Fushi and whilst the villas there are more grand and of the same exact style, there is still something so special about the ocean beach pool villas at six senses. Perhaps it has to do with just how private and spaced out they are. For us, they are perfect, and I am struggling to find anything better than these villas.

The only concern/watch-out I have for the villas is that unfortunately several villas are pretty poorly located. I mentioned this on my last review, but by poorly located I mean that several villas either face either each other, face the longitude restaurant, have poor seafloor (with either lots of rubble or seagrass or both). For this reason, if you want to stay overwater, I recommend booking a sunset laamu water villa and requesting one at the end of the jetty. This way you will have fully open views with a gorgeous ocean right under your villa as well as a view of the sand bank.

Management visibility

GM visibility: this is what made our stay. In my 2022 review, I mentioned that we did not really get the chance to interact with marteyene (GM) throughout our stay which I felt like was a missed opportunity as I always like to get to know the management of the resorts I visit. This time around, marteyene did everything in her power to make sure we had the best experience ever as repeaters. After she found out how passionate I was about the Maldives, she took time out of her day to take me on a private of the entire island, showing me her favorite accommodations, and telling me a little bit more about the history of SSL. She also organized a couple excursions for us including one to an amazing nearby reef with incredible live coral. I cannot say enough good things about her, the property she runs, and how much she cares for her guests!!!

Sip Sip service

Service at sip sip: last year, we definitely had issues with the service at sip sip but this year we could not fault the service. In fact, it was some of the best service that we had on the entire island! Generally beach/pool service in Maldivian resorts is pretty poor but happy to report that during all of our lunches, the service was super attentive and the food was great. A stark (good!) comparison to the slow service (1hr+ wait time on some lunches) that we had last year.

Breakfast

Breakfast: breakfast was also noticeably improved compared to last year. I am not fully sure why, but the cold cut and cheese room as well as the Maldivian buffet area were not operative in march ’22. This year, they were, and IMO they really elevated the overall experience

The SHELL

The SHELL: we arrived on the day of the SHELL inauguration and subsequently had a tour of the venue. What an AMAZING project. Definitely take some time out of your day to tour it as it is spectacular.

Other dining service

Service at all other dining venues other than sip sip: aside from sip sip which improved majorly, we did see a big decline in the service and the speed of service during mealtimes at all other venues. Nothing that in made/broke our stay as we don’t really come to Maldives for fine service, but enough to notice that it was not up to standards at this price point. For example, service at breakfast was incredibly slow - especially with drinks. The drinks come in pretty small glass cups and as soon as you finish it might take the team 20-30 minutes to bring you a new one despite reminding them. Similar speed issues with the service at leaf. There was a lot of down time between courses and a lot of the times our plates were not cleared quickly. Food remains excellent however the service could use some improvement in my opinion.

Food continues your be outstanding it’s just the service that could use up leveling

Beaches, photography and seagrass

The southern beaches: last year, I mentioned that the southern beaches were not attractive due to the poor sand quality and the groynes. After some renovation this year, the team added a TON of sea walls and groynes. I cannot say that it looks any better. So, if you’re booking a ocean beach villa and are averse to groynes and sea walls, best to avoid anything above 86 as all the villas in this location unfortunately face this issue. Admittedly, this is just one small corner of the island, but bluntly, its not very attractive or reminiscent of the Maldives at all and I’d be pretty upset if I were to be allocated a room here.

Website photography: I mentioned this in my review last year and I am still seeing that this has not been addressed. This is pretty atypical for the Maldives but he way that SSL is photographed all over the website is not representative of what SSL looks like when you are there. The photoshoots were all performed probably in the early 2010s, when SSL opened, and there was no sea grass in the lagoon. If you take a look at the ocean water villa category, for example, you will find amazing pictures of the electric blue lagoon. In 2023, that lagoon does not look that color anymore (it is mostly black or very dark green). I would really encourage SSL to do a revamp of their website photography so that it actually reflects reality (if I booked an ocean villa expecting the view on the website only to find that the lagoon is covered in seagrass I would be pretty upset)

The seagrass: while I am fully aware of the benefits of seagrass after spending some time with the marine biology team at SSL, I am just not a fan of it, especially on resort islands (on uninhabited islands, different story). So, this is just a friendly reminder for anyone reading this that if you are looking for an island with shimmering blue lagoon as far as the eye can see, this is not your island (and, again, forget the pics you see on the website). You will have some of that at SSL but the overall beauty of the waters and color is not comparable to places like conrad, como cocoa, Anantara Dhigu, etc. after speaking to the GM about the seagrass and their conservation efforts, it does not appear that in the short term at least there are any plan to do any removal efforts. Personally and as one of the few pieces of advise I have for this review, I think that in some areas like between jetty A and B and in front of the 90 series villas, the seagrass is getting a bit too close to shore. This is the Maldives after all and lots of people (myself included) like to see pretty blue water. With a little bit of grooming and removal, guests could benefit from a few more meters of sandy baby blue lagoon that is both more scenic and more pleasant to walk and plunge on. So please keep this in mind!

Final verdict

Overall, six senses has a very special place in our hearts. We do not repeat resorts often, but can see us returning here in 2024 since we just like it so much. Thanks again for such a lovely holiday:)