What 368 DialAFlight clients thought of The Maldives

Eric could not have been more helpful every step of the way - we WILL be using DialAFlight again

Glen was amazing!

Jim Camahin was exceptionally polite, professional, friendly and helpful. He made the experience very seamless and stress free - couldn’t ask for more.

Danny Sharma was amazing in all respects. Thank you

Please tell other visitors to Maldives they need to fill out immigration info online before leaving UK as very stressful doing it in airport after queuing for an hour only to be sent away .. staff member Nicole is a diamond

Roy gets it right every time

Excellent service as always from Stacey Rayner. Great holiday and some wonderful memories. A*

Thank you Bradley! Incredible holiday. It was flawless

Jim is an excellent and professional member of your team - second time we have booked with him and he's been amazing.

Lloyd was excellent. Really felt looked after. Thank you

Excellent arrangements. Darren Is amazing as always. Definitely recommend to friends and colleagues.

Excellent as always

Excellent customer service

Very helpful and great service

Would not recommend a stop in Abu Dhabi if layover is 4 plus hours as facilities are poor.

Not only excellent service from staff but also very competitive price for holiday

Gary and Tammy were very helpful and ensured that best flights were booked despite the airline constantly changing them.

Excellent. Richard is been amazing. Nothing is too much trouble.

Toby was excellent, easy to get hold of and delivered as per request. We will use him again for future holidays for sure.

Glen Blackburn really understood what my wife and I required from our holiday. He provided us with all the relevant details that really made it easy for us to make a decision. He understood exactly what we wanted, keeping in line with our budget and provided a first class service.

Marie was amazing throughout the whole process.

Thank you to Seymour who organised this long awaited break. We are both front line NHS staff and we really needed this. So thank you for not turning me away as many other companies I contacted who would not help or reply or consider looking for deals! Thank you. We will definitely recommend to our friends and family.

Very efficient service.

As ever, another smooth holiday just finished. Excellent service. We always book through DialAFlight with Clark Maroof and his colleagues!

I would like to thank Ben for sorting out a lovely holiday for us both - we had a fantastic time and we would recommend you to all our friends and family

The trip was excellent and all went to plan. Good communication from Des during the whole process. Will def use again.

Totally fantastic service, recommendations and flight times - will definitely be booking again.

Holiday destination was fantastic. Everything ran extremely well and DialAFlight did a amazing job for us. All bookings and changes we were kept informed of and all ran smoothly. I would have no hesitation in recommending them.

Always willing to assist and help with even the silliest of questions. Thank you for everything.

Stafford was brilliant, and kept us in the loop. He was really friendly and helpful, made our holiday process so easy and made sure we were happy with everything. Would definitely recommend DialAFlight.

The tiny island that's huge on fun

Sally Chaplin was afraid her paradise destination was too small to satisfy her all-action family... but Kandima Maldives was a triumph

As we were waiting for our flight to the Maldives to be called, I started to have a few serious doubts about my sanity. Here I was, heading halfway round the world with three youngsters who find it absolutely impossible to stay still for even a minute.

What's more, we were flying to an island that I feared might be just too small for a whole week's stay.

We'd heard that Kandima Maldives - on part of the Dhaalu Atoll - was different from the usual five-star luxury honeymoon spots. It is billed as a four-star lifestyle resort - on a lush tropical island with a large natural lagoon - and what particularly attracted us was the promise of an exhaustive list of activities for both adults and children.

Let the ocean lap beneath you in an Aqua Villa

Still, this, our first foreign beach holiday in 12 years, was a bit of a gamble. But we got off to a very good start. Before the flip-flops had even come out of our suitcases, Sarah, 11, discovered that at 4pm they turn on the water at Kandiland, a kids' club which has a large wet play area. And parents can have peace of mind by knowing that the Kids' Club here is supervised by a multilingual team of fully qualified child carers.

After getting soaked and bouncing on the trampoline for a while, she scanned the Kandiland itinerary and signed up for candy-floss making, Maldivian drumming, rock painting, an art class and mocktail mixing.

George, 17, was itching to go on a jet ski, but when he declared it was the only activity he would try, my heart sank - because my husband Gavin and I had set our hearts on mojitos by the pool.

The resort offers a selection of watersports including kayaking

However, all was not lost. George discovered Burn, Kandima's fully equipped air-conditioned gym - he's sports-mad and cannot waver from his intense training schedule, so this was a real godsend.

He also joined us on a sunset fishing trip, landed a red snapper and ate it for lunch the next day.

I worried about the food on offer before we left the UK, as our children are fussy eaters. We always argue about where to eat and there would plainly be no McDonald's, Starbucks or Burger King available at Kandima.

We were on an all-inclusive package, which included all meals in the resort's self-serve Flavour restaurant - and fortunately the choice on offer there was immense.

They had everything from a full English breakfast through to curries, freshly griddled fish and a dizzying array of salads. In fact, Sarah and her 15-year-old sister Alice were both so inspired by the food at Kandima that they were only too happy to sign up for a pizza-making class. We also had high tea in the Deli - known as K Tea.

Peace and quiet on the idyllic beaches

There are a number of other restaurants and bars including Azure, which has a chic beach house atmosphere and provides casual dining by day and elegant Mediterranean dishes by night.

Sea Dragon has excellent authentic Chinese cuisine, served family-style. To end the evening in some style, with exotic cocktails, there is the ultra cool Forbidden Bar where DJs are in action late into the night.

For perfect steaks, fresh fish and incredible sunset views, Smoked restaurant was the place. Guests dine al fresco here, and the food is prepared barbecue style.

The temperatures in the Maldives tend to hover around 28–30°C (82–86°F). We liked to stick to the shaded areas, of which there were plenty to be found, until about 3pm. Thankfully, our Sky Studio with interconnecting rooms was blissfully air-conditioned. It was also spotlessly clean, modern and had a vast bathroom. Best of all, it had a balcony, complete with a swing seat, overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Enjoy your own private outdoor tub and shower in a Beach Villa

Of course, no parent needs me to tell them that a holiday with the kids is never really a total break, but our trip can only be described as a huge success.

George, Alice and Sarah were happily exhausted at the end of each day and us adults even found that we could manage to grab the odd siesta.

For all of us, Kandima turned out to be exactly the right mix of paradise and practicality.

First published in the Mail on Sunday - August 2018

More articles below...

For more inspiration, read what travel writers have to say...