Our anniversary week at North Island in the Seychelles was absolutely amazing — even as it wasn’t perfect. But our 2.7 million Bonvoy points were very well spent, indeed. And that’s much better than the US$74.5K it otherwise would have cost! #northisland #seychelles #luxurycollection #diving #scuba #turtles #tortoises #privateisland #privatebeach North Island is spectacularly beautiful. Having been fortunate enough to have stayed at many private island resorts over the years, we certainly think North may be the most beautiful and serene. The Seychellois certainly make it easy to love. The arrival by helicopter certainly is one to remember, too. The beaches have incredibly soft white sand, crystal clear blue/green waters, and few if any other people on any of them at any time. It all feels so worlds away from everything — even as it’s just a 20 min helicopter ride or 1 hr 15 min boat ride to the main island of Mahé. The North Island facilities and villas are all “rustic elegant” in style and generally very comfortable — and with a tremendous sense of place that makes you know you’re on a private tropical island and not the usual luxury resort. North Island isn’t the usual modern 5* luxury resort. North Island is a private tropical island luxury getaway with a completely traditional Seychellois ambience and sensibility. With the Seychellois islander service touch to match. About 65% of staff are Seychellois. Our villa was enormous and definitely rustic chic. The online videos and photos speak for themselves. It’s important to note that the Villa’s main suite bedroom and studio suite room (which I had requested before arrival to be converted into a second bedroom as a back up for air con) are enclosed and air conditioned; but the Villa’s main bathroom and studio bathrooms both are outside and not air conditioned. Not everyone will appreciate going out to the bathroom or to shower in the heat and humidity. But if I could handle it, it’s hard to imagine that most others couldn’t. My husband absolutely loved it. The GM Oliver had indicated plans to enclose the bathrooms with air con for a few villas in the coming year. I’d definitely love to stay in one of those on a return visit, indeed. One of the 10 regular villas was closed during our stay as it was getting a new roof installed, but we never heard anything of it. There are 10 “regular” villas (we had villa 😎, all around 450 square meters (4900 square feet), plus the larger Villa North Island (villa 11) at 750 square meters (over 8000 square feet) that also includes a cinema and study in multiple stories. All 11 villas are found on the East beach, along with the main Piazza restaurant and bar, boutique, activity center, library, spa, gym, and office/reception. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner can be had at the Piazza or in your villa. But you can have any meal anywhere on the island. Some special locations incur extra charges, but in-villa dining and even on the beach dining are complimentary. Every villa also has its own electric buggy that you could take anywhere on the island. A great perk that really lets you explore as much as you want. Check in officially is 3 pm. But after the reservations team wouldn’t budge on the terrible helicopter arrival and departure times (originally 3:30 pm and 11:05 am respectively, I asked the Ambassador team to try and adjust for us. The front office manager Jessy was much more helpful and allowed us to book an earlier helicopter at 10:35 am (after our flight arrived at 8:30 am) and got us into our villa by 1 pm or so. They also allowed us to depart by helicopter after lunch at 2:15 pm so we weren’t waiting needlessly at the Mahé airport for our 7:30 pm departing flight. Jessy really took care of us for all of that (and was lovely whenever we saw her on the island). That made a huge difference in our arrival and departure experiences. #earlycheckin #latecheckout #ambassadorstatusmatters The west side of the island includes Honeymoon Beach, which is private and can be reserved for the day, and Sunset Bar and beach, which is where many have dinner and enjoy the sunset. We had a full afternoon on Honeymoon Beach and absolutely loved it. We never did the Honeymoon Beach picnic that so many love because I was too concerned with how hot it might get. Only 4 villas were occupied on our arrival. But all 10 were occupied by our departure. Lots of Russians and Europeans. Americans make up less than 20% of their guests. The Villa air con largely held its own and cooled as low as 69 F in the Villa’s main bedroom and 65 F in the smaller studio bedroom in the evenings — but both didn’t go lower than 73-74 F during the most intense 90 F heat of the days, especially in the later morning. (All 11 villas are on the East beach and have sunrise views.) April also turns out to be the hottest month of the year (but also one of the best for diving visibility), so I suppose that’s pretty impressive. Dining and service both were very good, but with a few confounding disappointments that never quite surprise us whenever we’re in the islands. Island time is always slow. And island service often can be curious. Service generally was excellent. Most service is accomplished through your private villa host (formerly known as butlers). Each villa has their own host. Our host was a lovely man who always meant well and often did well, but who sometimes could be tone deaf and do what he assumed we wanted or just go through the regular motions rather than doing what we asked. We certainly would request a different host on a future visit. We asked for so many things from him that never came to fruition that it became almost funny to us. We asked for breakfast orders at the Piazza to be prepared for our arrival so we didn’t wait in the heat; he kept putting the orders in only after we’d arrived. We asked a couple times for more bananas and kiwi for our fruit plates, but we always got the same fruit plates. We asked a few times for a ladle for our villa water jug to clean our feet before entry but never got one. He took our villa buggy one morning without letting us know, effectively stranding us at the Piazza; we had to wait in the heat until the staff messaged him and he returned. He wasn’t there at the Piazza or main areas or anywhere to be found whenever we returned from our diving excursions. He put our fine wines in the bar refrigerator rather than the wine vault to be stored properly — despite our having been clear. He always meant well, but he too often heard what he assumed we wanted rather than what we actually wanted. Ultimately, we just learned to ask around him or to follow up with Simon or the restaurant or bar team or others to get what we needed. The funnest service miss involved a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne that the F&B Director graciously brought us our second day after minor mishap with a fan on our first night. For our anniversary night, the team arranged a lovely romantic bath and champagne for us when we returned from our Chef’s Table dinner — only to realize that they had re-gifted the same bottle of Veuve. Oops. The F&B Director winced after we mentioned it; the GM looked pained when he heard about it. We all agreed it was so bad that it actually was hilarious. The GM very generously sent us a bottle of 2012 Dom Perignon the next day to make it up to us. Talk about amazing service recovery. Service otherwise was actually great. The dive team guys were absolutely fantastic, and we spent quite a lot of time with them as we did 4 dives. The island team did screw up telling us they had nitrox (enriched air) in advance — even as they didn’t have working nitrox equipment, after all. Minor, but very annoying. Otherwise, the dive team were absolute gems. They easily and graciously accommodated changes in schedule, and they always tried to find the dive sites that would please us as best they could. Service also was impressive in that they did everything possible to keep me cool. They did screw up the first night by not bringing a fan as promised at the Sunset Bar, but after that they were amazing at setting up fans wherever I might eat. At the villa, at the Piazza, at the Sunset Bar. They even installed power at the Chef’s Table so they could set up a fan for me. I’d never have survived that night outside without the fan, so I was extremely grateful. Pool service was very slow but friendly. We often chilled out after our afternoon scuba dives at the main pool with a cocktail (that’s how we discovered the barman’s excellent Pina Coladas). We also often had lunch by the pool before our afternoon dives. It’s a really beautiful and large free form pool. Just a short walk from the Piazza and beach. The spa and gym are just above the pool. The gym was enclosed and air conditioned — but could get to 73-74 F during the day. Too hot for me. The spa was open air. My husband loved his massage and didn’t mind. Scuba diving was good — but perhaps not quite as good as we’d hoped. We saw lots of angelfish, parrotfish, snapper, moray eels, rays, a huge stingray, turtles, lionfish, a few octopi, tons of wrasses, huge lobsters, crabs, and even a few sharks. But as very experienced advanced open divers who’ve dived around much of the world, we had hoped for a bit more. The water was very warm (87 F or so), so neither of us used a wetsuit or even a shortie. Visibility was pretty good, maybe 50-70 feet in many spots. We did dives around North, as well as out in the open ocean and around nearby Silhouette Island. We never went deeper than 75 feet. Still, we enjoyed our dives. And the dive team guys were awesome and very fun. Simon, the F&B Director, is a real gem. We absolutely loved him. We interacted with him more than anyone else in management. Dining had many incredible highs and a few disappointing lows. The food largely was quite good, but the special meals had issues with portion size — with way too much food so we couldn’t even get to the end. We had an Asian night dinner our second night that was just way too much food — but oh was it delicious. Except for the overcooked whole fish. But the Indonesian spicy noodles and beef dish were to die for. For our anniversary dinner at the Chef’s Table, the portions again were way too large, so we only ate half of what was on offer and still it was too much — but it was delicious. Except for the Kobe beef, which was the worst we’d ever tried. They made it up to us by giving us a free filet mignon dinner another night, and that was so good that we did it again (with twice as much filets for me) on our final night. The seafood grill at the Sunset Bar was just not that good. It was all overcooked. They tried so hard and were so proud, however, that we couldn’t bring ourselves to tell them. But we enjoyed the complimentary bottle of Dom Perignon with it so all was not lost. Breakfasts were spectacularly good. I absolutely loved their French Toast with figs, but they also added caramelized bananas for me when I asked. We loved their very fluffy omelettes, their fried eggs, and especially their mixed Seychellois scramble with amazing spices on the side and their incredible Eggs Florentine. Their açaí bowl was delicious. We enjoyed their pancakes and waffles, too, but I kept returning to the French Toast. The Piazza restaurant and bar team were really great. The bartender whose name now eludes me made such a mean Pina Colada that we kept ordering them throughout our stay. They even sent him to the Sunset Bar on our penultimate night so he could make us Pina Coladas while we had our seafood grill. Impressive service. Service recovery was also impressive. When things went awry and we mentioned it to someone, they always tried to fix it or make up for it. The managers really went out of their way to accommodate us and make us happy. I asked if they might reduce the exorbitant 150 euro corkage charge for champagne to the 75 euros they charge for wine, and the F&Ah director was happy to do so. (We’d brought 6 bottles of wine with us, including two bottles of great Champagne.) The GM comp’d a few of our dives. They comp’d a few of our lunches and dinners. They even comp’d my husband’s massage to our surprise. Even our villa host made sure without us asking that we could stay in our villa past checkout time at 11 am so I could stay cool before our 2:15 pm helicopter departure. Last but not least: the tortoises! They’re really everywhere. And they’re huge — and almost universally friendly and wanting to get rubbed down! We spent quite a few afternoons with some apples from our villa host feeding and rubbing down the tortoises. It was a blast. (FYI the oldest tortoise with a hole in his shell, Brutus, is estimated to be at least 180 years old.) Overall, we loved it. It wasn’t perfect, but it was so incredibly special. We are most grateful for the beauty of the island, the amazing beaches, the warm hospitality and generosity of the staff and managers, the largely good weather, pretty good diving, the amazing tourtoises — and of course the villa studio suite air con that saved me. Not to mention this being perhaps the ultimate escape and most privacy we’ve ever enjoyed while on holiday. We definitely will be back. And we still can’t believe we enjoyed this all on Marriott points.…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.