The 360 All-Inclusive Honesty Rating

About as complete as all-inclusive gets in the Maldives. Dining is unscripted, so you eat where you like on the island, and the plan reaches across to Hurawalhi's Kashibo and Canneli. Over 100 wines and 9 champagnes, all Wine Spectator 88 and above. Spa treatments are unlimited rather than rationed, and private diving, jet skiing, flyboarding, Seabob and personalised excursions are on the plan, which almost no resort includes. Two exclusions are worth knowing before you book: the 5.8 Undersea Restaurant is not covered at all, meals or drinks, and it is the thing many guests come to Hurawalhi for. Diving is included but certification courses are not, so you can dive and you cannot learn.

This is the only plan in our catalogue besides Kudadoo's where the honest answer to 'what will still catch me?' is 'almost nothing'.

In-villa dining is included — the only all-inclusive plan we have read where it is, when every other resort excludes it from every plan and charges in full. So is unlimited spa at Soneva Soul, unlimited experiences from the Experiences Menu INCLUDING DIVING, and unlimited access to the visiting Michelin-starred chef dinners. The ice cream, chocolate and deli rooms are open 24 hours. The minibar is replenished daily and the laundry is done daily.

Children are covered properly too: The Den and all children's experiences are in.

What is excluded is genuinely exotic rather than the usual small print — private plane and boat charters, Soneva in Aqua charters, boutique purchases, photography, babysitting and telephone calls, the Soneva Private Reserve Wine List, in-villa Soneva Soul treatments, and four named signature experiences: So Bespoke, So Hands On, the Drift and Dine Picnic and the Astronomical Dinner Cruise.

Two things to be clear about. It is priced per person per night and it is by a wide margin the largest meal supplement in this catalogue. And every paying guest in the villa must be on it; you cannot buy it for one person.

Read it against what it replaces rather than against other resorts. Half board and full board at Soneva Jani cover FOOD ONLY — every drink, alcoholic or not, is charged on consumption. That is unusual even among board-basis plans, and it makes the step up less of a leap than the headline number suggests.

Super premium branded spirits is not a phrase many resorts put in writing, and the minibar carries wine and beer rather than only soft drinks. All five venues are on the plan and a boat excursion is included on any stay, not held back for long stayers. Two limits worth knowing. At Amazonico and the Asian restaurant only the set menus are included, so ordering off the wider carte costs extra. In-villa dining is not on the plan at all, so room service is chargeable even though your minibar is not. Note this grades a point above its sister resort Emerald Faarufushi, which sells a plan of the same name on weaker terms.

The drinks are described as premium branded and the spirits are named rather than left vague: whisky, vodka, rum, brandy, gin and tequila, with wines by the glass including sparkling and beer in draught, can and bottle. Dining is a dine-around across four venues, and the a la carte restaurants give you BOTH a set menu and a credit, which is more generous than most plans structure it.

Three limits. The spirits are not where you eat: at Korakali, Raakani and Teppanyaki the mealtime drinks are beer, wine, juice, soft drinks, tea and coffee, and the full premium bar sits at Fanihandhi, 10:00 to 23:00. The minibar is non-alcoholic drinks and beers only. And excursions are a 20 per cent discount rather than an inclusion, with no spa benefit mentioned anywhere on the plan.

Two good details that cost the resort little and read well: unlimited ice cream all day at Fanihandhi Bar, and one guided house reef snorkel per stay.

The best bar of any plan we sell, and it is not close. Fifty-five premium brand spirits and liqueurs, named as premium rather than left vague, plus port and sherry. Over fifty wines and over fifty cocktails. And champagne by the glass in every outlet except the undersea restaurant and the Champagne Pavilion, which no other plan in this catalogue offers as a standing pour. The minibar carries house wine in red, white, rose AND sparkling, a bottled spirit selection and beer, refilled daily, and there is a demi bottle of champagne in the villa on arrival.

Three restaurants: Canneli for all meals, plus a daily three-course dine-around lunch and dinner at both Kashibo and JFK.

The exclusions are clean and mostly exotic. The 5.8 Undersea Restaurant is out entirely, five-course lunch and seven-course dinner. So is destination dining, and sundowners at the Champagne Pavilion, where a bottle of Taittinger with canapes is a US$120 supplement.

What holds it below a 5 is everything outside food and drink: spa, watersports, excursions and in-villa dining are all excluded. Its sister resort Kudadoo includes unlimited spa and private diving, and also excludes 5.8.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner across all four restaurants, with branded spirits, wine by the glass and cocktails from a set list. Three things to know: drinks run 11am to 11pm only, room service and the minibar stay on your bill, and a few dishes on each menu carry a surcharge. Everyone aged 12 and over sharing the villa has to be on the same plan, for the whole stay rather than part of it.

Dinner across five venues with no visit allowance, which is unusually open: Flavour, Zest and the a la carte Smoked, Sea Dragon and Azure. Drinks are international spirits by the glass, wine, cocktails and beer, across three bars including the adults-only Forbidden Bar. The minibar carries alcoholic drinks and snacks and is restocked daily.

Four things qualify it. Certain menu items in the a la carte restaurants and certain beverage items carry surcharges, so the venue is included and part of what is on its table is not. Consumption is by the glass and in-outlet only: no take-away, no full bottles. Deli Cafe and Aroma Cafe food is not included except during the 15:00 to 17:00 afternoon refreshment window, and food ordered at Breeze bar and the Beach Club is out too. And the plan requires a minimum of four PAID nights, so it cannot be bought for a short stay.

Spa is a 10 per cent discount, not an inclusion. Compulsory gala dinner supplements apply on 24 and 31 December, charged at a lower rate to all-inclusive guests than to guests on a board basis.

Drinks and food may not be shared with anyone not on the plan; anything given to a non-PAI guest is charged.

The bar is properly branded, and named. Johnnie Walker Black Label, Singleton 12, Bombay Sapphire, Tanqueray, Absolut, Bacardi, Captain Morgan, Jagermeister, Baileys. This is a real list rather than a house pour, and fifteen wines come by the glass across sparkling, white, rose, red and dessert. Fifteen classic cocktails, plus whatever the mixologist builds from the same spirits. The minibar is on the package too, which most plans at this level exclude.

Mar-Umi is the catch. The signature restaurant is not included on any plan. Half board gives a food credit of US$60 per adult at dinner, full board adds US$40 at lunch, and the drinks package is explicitly not valid there at all. The one meal most people will want to book is the one you pay for on both sides of the bill.

Three more limits. Drinks run 11:00 to 22:30, and the package itself only starts at 14:00 on arrival day and ends at 12:00 on departure day, so the first afternoon and the last morning are short. Spirits come by 30ml shot, never by the bottle. And nothing may be carried beyond the immediate area of the restaurant or bar it came from.

The Cigar Lounge, Wine Cellar, Raalhu Bar, destination dining and wine dinners are all outside the package. There is no champagne anywhere on the list.

Six places to eat are on the plan, across all three meals: buffet breakfast at MIXE and East Market, a la carte lunch at Senses, Veli Pool Bar, Lagoon Bar and Beach Rouge, and dinner a la carte at Senses and Beach Rouge or the buffet at MIXE and East Market.

Umami and Allegria are the two that cost you. Dine at either and you get a credit of US$30 per adult per meal deducted on the invoice, not a free meal.

The minibar is one of the best anywhere: water, juices, green tea, soft drinks, wines, VODKA, GIN, beers and sweet and salty bites, restocked every day. Very few plans put spirits in the villa.

And there is no clock. The plan starts when you arrive at the hotel and finishes at your departure time, irrespective of check-out. Almost nothing else in this catalogue does that.

What comes with it beyond the table is unusually rich: a US$30 per adult PER DAY spa credit at LUX* Me Spa, the wellness classes, sauna, steam room and plunge pool, snorkelling gear, kayaks, pedal boats and paddleboards daily, scheduled snorkelling trips on the house reef, ICI ice cream, and a coffee and pastry at Cafe LUX*.

Two things to read carefully. SIGNATURE DISHES AND THE PREMIUM BEVERAGE MENU ARE EXCLUDED IN EVERY RESTAURANT AND BAR, so there is a surcharge menu wherever you sit. And in-villa dining is not on the plan at all.

Smaller print worth knowing: food and drink are one item at a time, nothing may be shared, takeaway boxes carry a supplement, and the resort reserves the right to close up to two restaurants during the year.

The best minibar we have recorded anywhere, and it is not close: a bottle of white, a bottle of red, four beers, ten soft drinks and four iced teas, replenished every day. Both restaurants are on the plan for every meal, and drinks are unlimited from the signature all-inclusive menu at ALL restaurants and bars rather than being confined to one outlet, which is how several resorts at this level do it.

Two limits to know. Lunch and dinner are a three-course allowance: order beyond it and you pay menu prices, and selected premium items carry a surcharge whatever you do. And this plan is food and drink only. There is no spa, no excursion, no diving, no sunset cruise. What you do get outside the restaurants comes with the room on any plan.

Separately, and nothing to do with the meal plan: Noku has no kids club and no babysitting, and states that all water villas have unrestricted ocean access. Worth knowing before booking a family in.

The specialty grill is on the plan, not on a discount. A three-course dinner at FLAMES from the chef's menu is included outright, on top of every meal at Soul Kitchen. That is the opposite of what most resorts at this level do with their signature restaurant, and it is the reason to take this plan.

MIZU is the exception. Dinner there is 20 per cent off the food, though your drinks are covered. One of the three restaurants still costs you something.

The bar is broad and the hours are long: all the cocktails and mocktails, beer, wine by the glass and a selected range of spirits, from 10:00 to midnight at WINK, to 18:00 at the pool bar, and with lunch and dinner at Soul Kitchen. Two things to know before you order. It is by the glass, in the outlet, only — no take-away and no bottles. And anything after midnight is charged.

The minibar is itemised rather than vague: eight soft drinks, two juices, two beers, a white and a red, and two chocolates, restocked daily.

Beyond the table you get snorkelling gear, kayaks and paddleboards, and Nova's group yoga, fitness and beach games at no charge. The spa and the paid watersports are a 15 per cent discount, not an inclusion.

One gate, and it is a real one: the plan needs a minimum of four paid nights, so it cannot be added to a three-night trip.

Generous, and unusually strong on things to do rather than just things to eat. Three restaurants are open without limit, the drinks are premium, and the activity side is the best of the OZEN pair: unlimited snorkelling excursions on two shuttles a day, a sunset cruise and sunset fishing once each per guest, and a voucher ladder you can spend on either spa treatments or dives. Two catches. The two showpiece venues, LONU and the underwater Minus Six Meters, need a minimum four-night stay, so a three-night trip reaches neither. Dinner at Hudhu Bay Beach Club always costs extra. Benefits stop at 11:00 on departure day and extensions are chargeable.

Three restaurants are open to you without limit, and the drinks are genuinely premium: three champagne brands, whiskies in the 12 to 18 year range, a 101-label wine cellar chosen by a resident sommelier, and a minibar restocked daily with champagne. The limits sit at the top end rather than the bottom. Teppanyaki and the Cuvée wine library always cost extra. Soyi and ORIGINƎ give you one dinner each per four nights rather than free rein, so a three-night stay reaches neither. ORIGINƎ breakfast is open only to guests in RESERVE villa categories, so your villa decides where you eat. Benefits end at 11:00 on departure day.

The plan buys a four-course meal plus a side dish at lunch and dinner rather than a three-course one, and it is the only plan here that lets you take breakfast in the villa at all — including a floating breakfast if you have a pool villa.

Then read the eleventh bullet. A tray charge of USD 50 applies to every in-villa dining request, the floating breakfast included. So the breakfast the plan gives you costs fifty dollars to have brought to you. That is the sharpest catch on this sheet and nobody finds it until they order.

Three of the six places to eat are on the plan: The Dining Room, The Bar, and The Island Grill at dinner. KOI, The Treehouse and Private Dining are 50 per cent off instead, which is a real discount and still a bill. The weekly Thursday international buffet and the weekly Beach BBQ theme nights are both included outright, where the board-basis plans only discount them.

The bar runs 11:30 to 23:30 from every outlet on selected alcoholic and all soft drinks. Premium spirits and wines are 25 per cent off, not included. The minibar is included and restocked daily.

At Christmas and New Year the gala dinners are not covered. You get a credit towards them, double what the board-basis plans give, and pay the difference.

Two things here are unusual enough to be worth the booking on their own: the in-villa minibar carries liquor, beer and wine and is replenished twice a day on request, and shisha at Saffron Affair is complimentary between 15:00 and 17:00. All four restaurants serve alcohol with lunch and dinner, and Souq Oven pours from an 80-label international cellar. The catch is length of stay. The excursions and the activity vouchers, which is where the massage, the jet ski and the tank dive live, start at five nights. Book three or four and you get the food, the drink and the gym, and none of that. Note also that the resort lists what is included and never states what is not, so treat the absence of exclusions as unproven rather than as a promise.

The bar is the most fully documented in our catalogue. Three pages of named brands rather than a vague promise: Johnnie Walker Red, Dewars 12, Ballantines, Tanqueray, Beefeater, Absolut, Finlandia, Bacardi, Captain Morgan, Jose Cuervo, Jagermeister, Kahlua, thirteen wines by the glass, fifteen cocktails, and Tiger, Carlsberg, Heineken and Corona. You can see exactly what you are getting before you book, which almost no resort lets you do.

Three restaurants are on the plan: Raha for the buffet at all three meals, Eats & Beats for a three-course a la carte at lunch and dinner, and Crusoe's for lunch. Alifaan and Kabuki run on a credit of US$65++ per adult PER NIGHT rather than once per stay, which is a genuinely useful shape. Read the small print on it though: at Kabuki it only covers the Omakase or Pan-Asian tasting menus, it does not carry forward if unused, and service charge and tax sit on top of it.

The exclusions are where this plan gets particular. Champagne, brandy and cognac are out. So are fresh juices — the packet ones are included, the fresh ones are not. So is ice cream at Eats & Beats. Wine tasting, The Lab wine dinner, Dining by Design and the lobster dinner all sit outside it.

Nothing reaches your villa. In-villa dining is excluded, the minibar carries water, canned juice, soft drinks and snacks but no alcohol, and the terms say plainly that beverages are to be enjoyed in the restaurants and bars, not in villas.

Drinks run 11:00 to 23:00, by the glass, within each outlet's own opening hours.

The dine-around here is unusually wide. Lunch is a three-course a la carte meal at any of ChopstiX, Anchorage, Kakuni Hut or Masala Hut. Dinner is the themed buffet at Feast, or a three-course meal at Anchorage, ChopstiX or Masala Hut. That is four or five places to eat on the plan rather than one restaurant and a discount.

Baan Thai and Sea Salt are the two that cost you. Dine at either and you get a credit of US$45 net per person, food only — your drinks there are not covered.

The drinks are better than the word 'selected' usually signals. Alongside the beers, wines by the glass, spirits and cocktails you get fresh juices, milkshakes and smoothies. Two other resorts in this catalogue put fresh juice behind a higher tier or outside the plan altogether. Here it is in.

The timing is generous at both ends: from the moment you arrive until 23:00 on arrival day, 10:00 to 23:00 daily, and from 10:00 until you actually leave on departure day. All-inclusive guests also get a longer lunch service than the board-basis plans, to 17:00 rather than 15:00.

Two limits. The minibar refill is soft drinks, water and bottled juices only, with no alcohol until the tier above. And you cannot change venue inside a meal period: the meal is in one restaurant, and a second one is charged.

The bar is the most ambitious in our catalogue. Free-flowing Champagne, over fifty premium wines, prosecco and sparkling wines from around the world, premium-brand spirits, and unlimited cocktails and mocktails including a zero-proof range. No other contract we have read commits to Champagne without a supplement and then counts the wine list.

The minibar matches it. Replenished daily with two bottles of premium wine, four beers, soft drinks and selected snacks — plus two spirits of your choice for the stay. That is the best minibar in the set, and the only one anywhere that lets you pick the bottles.

The dining is all day and genuinely broad: breakfast at Kula, lunch across Kula, Joos Cafe and Todis, and dinner at four venues including the specialty restaurants. Half board and full board get Kula or one alternative and nothing else, so this is a real step rather than a discount.

Beyond the table: a massage per adult, non-motorised water sports through the day, one scheduled excursion of your choice — sunset cruise, sunset fishing or the dolphin cruise — and ten pieces of laundry per room per stay.

Two things stop it short of the top. Room service is not included and is charged at published rates. And premium items marked as non-included still carry a charge inside the restaurants, so a surcharge menu exists even here.

One to plan around: the spa massage needs a minimum four-night stay, and doubles to 45 minutes at six.

Three restaurants are on the plan and the beverage list is published in full, brand by brand — Absolut, Beefeater, Bombay Sapphire, Bacardi, Captain Morgan, Johnnie Walker Red, Jameson, Jim Beam, Jack Daniel's, Olmeca, with the wines named by producer and country. Only a handful of resorts anywhere let you see the bar before you book.

The timing is among the best we have found. The plan starts the moment you arrive and runs to the day you leave; arrive after 18:00 and you keep the benefits until 15:00 on departure day. No 11am cut-off.

Three things will still reach your bill.

The Pearl, the five-course signature restaurant, is limited to ONE DINNER EVERY THREE DAYS. Go again and you get a credit of US$70 per adult towards it, not a free meal. On a four-night stay that is one Pearl dinner.

BBQ Themed Nights at Hawker are NOT on this plan and carry a supplement of US$83 per adult. They are included one tier up.

And nothing reaches your villa. In-villa dining and destination dining are both excluded, in-villa breakfast is charged, the minibar carries no wine, champagne or spirits, and takeaway drinks to the villa are not allowed.

One structural limit: you cannot change venue inside a meal period. Each meal is taken in one restaurant, and a second one is charged.

The dining here is better than the grade suggests. Lunch and dinner at any operational a la carte restaurant, every day, with a reservation, which is more generous than most plans two bands above it. What holds it at a 3 is everything around the food. Drinks are house throughout: house wine by the glass, house draught beer, canned rather than fresh juices, and spirits the resort does not describe as branded or premium. The minibar is the thinnest we have recorded, soft drinks, water and two beers, with no wine or spirits at all. Spa is a 15 per cent discount rather than an inclusion, there is no diving, water sports stop at an hour a day, and premium dishes are marked out on the menus and charged separately. Take it for the restaurants, not for the bar.

Breakfast and dinner are the buffet at Magu. Lunch is better than that sounds: the over-water Ocean Breeze, or a la carte at the poolside Zero Degree. Dinner anywhere else costs money. You get up to $50 per adult off the bill, which is a discount rather than a free meal, so a two-course dinner at one of the signature restaurants will still leave something to pay. The drinks are good but they are not everywhere: premium spirits and selected fine wines until midnight, at four of the eight outlets. Snorkel gear, a kayak, bicycles and the kids club are included. Nothing in the villa is, beyond wifi. Excursions are all charged, which is the main difference from the Diamond plan above it.

Two rules here that no other plan in our catalogue has. Drinks are served by the glass and are not allowed to be taken to the villas, and the minibar holds only soft drinks and water with anything further charged. Between them there is no way to have a drink in your own room without paying for it. Included drinks are also concentrated in one place, Latitude Bar from 11:00 to midnight, plus by the glass at dinner in Aqua and Stars. The spirits are described as standard brands rather than premium.

How well you eat depends entirely on how long you stay. Under four nights every meal is the Air buffet and no speciality restaurant is available on the plan at all. At four nights or more you get one dinner at Stars, one at Aqua and one lunch at Latitude, after which it reverts to a credit of US$50 for lunch and US$70 for dinner. Tsuki, the Japanese restaurant, is not on the plan in any form, and the weekly Breeze beach BBQ is US$120 a head.

On a three-night stay this behaves like a much thinner plan than the grade suggests.

Three a la carte dinner restaurants are included for every villa category, which is genuinely good and better than most plans at this level. The drinks are where it thins out. The resort specifies house all-inclusive wine, beer and cocktails and never claims premium or branded spirits, unlike its sister resort Emerald Maldives which does. The minibar holds soft drinks, beer and water only, no wine. In-villa dining is excluded entirely. And the excursion needs a seven-night stay, so on the three or four nights most Indian travellers book you get none. Same plan name as Emerald Maldives, weaker terms, and the two are worth comparing side by side before you choose.

The dine-around is the reason to take this plan. Dinner is a daily choice of three restaurants and lunch a choice of two, every day, with no allowance and no minimum stay. Very few plans at this level give you that.

What holds it at a 3 is the qualifying. At Breeze and Firedoor you eat a set three-course menu, not the full carte, and NON-STARRED MENU ITEMS ARE EXCLUDED across the board, so you are reading the menu for stars before you order. The bar is house wines, beers, spirits and cocktails, and premium pouring brands are named as an exclusion. Drinks run 11:00 to 23:00 only, so nothing alcoholic at breakfast and nothing after eleven. The minibar is refilled every two days and is non-alcoholic.

In-villa dining, private island dining and special island dining are excluded from this and every other plan, and no meal credit applies anywhere, so there is no way to convert an unused dinner into anything else.

Two of the five restaurants are not on this plan. Aailaa, Fiamma and Kaashi are included at their designated meal service hours. Shio, the fine dining grill, and Hashi, the Japanese-themed dinner, give you 60 per cent off the total food bill instead. That is more generous than most resorts are with their signature outlets, but you are paying at both.

The drinks are a list rather than a bar. Unlimited beverages from a selected list, served at all restaurants and bars from 11:00 on the day you arrive to 11:00 on the day you leave, and by the glass only except for beer, soft drinks and water. If something on the list is unavailable you are offered an alternative rather than a free choice. Nothing may be carried back to the villa, and you cannot buy a round for anyone not on the plan.

Nothing in the villa is included. The minibar carries soft drinks, wine and beer, restocked once a day, but in-villa dining is excluded from every meal plan here and charged in full, drinks with it. The wine room and destination dining are out too.

Two good touches that cost nothing extra: a floating breakfast and a three-course beach dinner from the Aailaa menu, each once per villa per stay. Reserve both when you check in, not later.

The drinks outrun the food here. Premium brand spirits, port and sherry, house champagne and a wide wine list run all day until closing, the minibar is refilled daily with bottled wine and beer, and two bottles of spirits are delivered to your villa during the stay. Eating is more constrained. Breakfast and dinner are buffet in the main restaurant, and the windows are tight: breakfast ends at 10:00, lunch runs 12:30 to 14:00, dinner 19:00 to 21:00. The a la carte dinner is one per three nights and capped at a starter, a main and a dessert each. In-villa dining is excluded entirely, drinks included, so room service is chargeable even though your minibar is not. Spa is a one-time 20% discount usable in your first two days, not an inclusion.

The food is identical to full board. Breakfast at Turquoise, then lunch and dinner each as a choice between Turquoise and a three-course meal in the selected restaurants. Stepping up from full board buys you alcohol and the minibar and nothing at all on the plate.

What you get is unlimited alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks from the beverage list in the selected restaurants, plus the bars, which are open to all-inclusive and premium guests only. Every minibar item is included, which is more than most plans at this level give.

What you do not get sits one tier up, and it is worth knowing before you book. Premium brands, Champagne and, oddly, fresh juices are all reserved for Premium All Inclusive. So are the daily and weekly themed dinners and the culinary classes. On this tier you can drink alcohol but not orange juice.

Two structural limits apply whatever plan you take. One venue per meal period: eat at a second restaurant in the same meal period and you pay for it. And destination dining and in-villa dining are excluded from every plan, so anything ordered to the villa is charged in full.

The resort does not name the selected restaurants, does not publish the beverage list, and reserves the right to change venues without notice and to amend the inclusions at any time.

Drinks, not meals. Dinner stays in the buffet room and lunch is not included at all, only discounted. What you are buying is beer, wine, spirits and cocktails from midday, bottled wine from the resort list, and a minibar restocked every day. If you want the signature restaurants included rather than half price, this is not the plan.

Buffet at every meal, and which of the two restaurants you eat in is decided by your villa rather than by you. Sunrise and Sunset guests eat at Kilhi; Premium Beach Villas with Whirlpool eat at Keymaa. Crossing to the other one costs a supplement. Drinks are house-brand spirits, house table wine, beer, soft drinks and packet juices, all by the glass. Room service and the minibar are charged separately, and the resort says so outright. This is a straightforward value plan on a value island, not a dine-around, and it is priced accordingly.

One restaurant, house pour, and a minibar counted out in cans. The Dhandifulhu buffet is the whole of the dining. Athiri Grill and Muraka Fine Dining are never included on this plan, only discounted 30 per cent, so the two restaurants you would actually choose for an evening out stay on your bill all week. Behind the bar everything is house brand: house wine, house gin, vodka, rum, whisky and brandy, and cocktails made with those same house spirits. Juices are canned. Two small inclusions read as unusually mean once you notice them: the kayak is 45 minutes ONCE for the whole stay, and the sauna is 30 minutes once.

One real credit. The extras gate at three nights, the lowest threshold of any plan we sell, and they buy a guided snorkel on the house reef and a sunset fishing trip. Most resorts make you stay four, five or seven nights before anything like that appears.

If you want to eat somewhere other than the buffet at Dhigufaru, budget for it rather than expecting the plan to cover it.

Raha Market is where the plan feeds you: breakfast, lunch and dinner, all three at the same restaurant.

The other three places to eat are discounts, not inclusions. Onu Onu at lunch, Kata and Azure at dinner only, all at 30 per cent off the food. Half board and full board guests get 20 per cent off the same restaurants, so on the food side the all-inclusive step buys you ten percentage points and nothing else.

The bar is where the plan earns its name. Selected house-pour wines, beers, spirits, cocktails and mocktails, by the glass, with meals in the restaurants and at the Onu Onu bar from 11:00 to 23:00 daily. Half board and full board include no beverages at all, so this is the real difference between them. The wine cellar and premium spirits are out.

The minibar helps: a selection of beverages and snacks, refilled once every day, included rather than charged.

We grade this one at the lower end and want to be plain about why. One restaurant carries the whole plan, the pour is house by name, and three of the four venues still cost you money. What lifts it above the floor is the twelve-hour bar and the daily minibar.

One line worth reading twice: during low demand periods the resort may close a restaurant for operational reasons. On a plan where a single restaurant does all the work, ask which venues are running before you book a green-season stay.

The thinnest all-inclusive we sell, and the reason is one line in the fine print: the single a la carte meal is only available on stays of seven nights or more. Book three or four nights, which is what most people do, and you eat every meal in the main buffet. Spirits are the house gin, vodka, rum and whiskey. Juices are canned; fresh juice, ice cream and milkshakes are held back for the tier above. Diving and spa are not included at all, only discounted 10 and 15 per cent. There are no excursions. Note too that Dhaavani Coffee Shop is not on the a la carte list at this tier or the next, only on Infinity. If you want more than the buffet, price the Dine-Around tier before you book this one.

The thinnest all-inclusive we sell, and the reason is one line in the fine print: the single a la carte meal is only available on stays of seven nights or more. Book three or four nights, which is what most people do, and you eat every meal in the main buffet. Spirits are the house gin, vodka, rum and whiskey. Juices are canned; fresh juice, ice cream and milkshakes are held back for the tier above. Diving and spa are not included at all, only discounted 10 and 15 per cent. There are no excursions. The minibar and the all-day bars are the plan's redeeming features. If you want more than the buffet, price the Dine-Around tier before you book this one.

Read the drinks line twice, because it is doing something unusual. Fifteen premium wines and three beers are unlimited. The wider list — a further choice of premium wines and 61 branded premium spirits and beers — is DISCOUNTED, not included. Ask for a particular whisky and it lands on your bill. Nobody else in this catalogue splits their bar that way.

The dining is genuinely good for the price point. Unlimited two-course lunch AND dinner at The Bluu on top of the Maaga buffet, plus a three-course meal at the Mediterranean restaurant: one meal on a four-night stay, two on five nights. Themed dinner nights at Maaga are included rather than surcharged, which is rarer than it sounds.

The timing is the best thing about it. The plan runs from the moment you arrive until you leave the resort, with no arrival cut-off and no departure-morning cut-off. Resorts charging three times as much stop pouring at 11:00 on your last day.

What comes with it beyond the table is unusually generous: snorkelling gear for the whole stay, a snorkelling lesson, an hour of non-motorised water sports every day, and one Discover Scuba Dive on stays of four nights or more.

Two gates. AIG needs a minimum four-night stay, so it cannot be booked on a short trip. And the spa is a 30 per cent discount usable only in your first two days.