An "everything is possible" experience, which motivates me to write my longest review ever.
ARRIVAL
For visiting Nujuma a Mercedez or Lucid will pick you up from the Red Sea International airport and your luggage will be directly delivered to your hotel accommodation from the airport. This swanky ride will take you to Turtle Bay Hotel where a Lamia Catamaran will be waiting for you, or you wait for it in departure lounge for no more than 15-20 minutes depending on the schedule. You can also choose Helicopter on Sea Plane, but they do come in with premium charges.
As soon as you enter the Catamaran, you are greeted by Nujuma staff welcoming you to the vessel and offering you soft drinks and water while they sail you to resort. Once you reach, you can also sight the nearby St. Regis Red Sea, which is also part of Marriott, and you can go there for a meal as well while staying in Nujuma. We were greeted by Suniel (Director of Rooms) and Maddie (A. Director F&B) along with more Ladies and Gentlemen who gave us wet towels, welcome drinks and dates. We were introduced to our Najm Mohammed, young energetic gentleman. "Najm" means star in Arabic, they are your personal host at Nujuma. Mohammed took us around the resort explaining everything and did quick check-in inside the Beach Villa. We stayed 2 nights in Sunset Beach Villa and 2 nights in sunset water Villa.
THE VILLAS
We were welcomed with lot of chocolates, fresh cut fruits, cute artwork on bed (for our engagement anniversary) and beautiful view. We got letters from housekeeping and laundry team, written in Hindi also and they felt so personal, crafted by Rishabh who is very creative. The Beach Villa in itself is amazing, the interiors by Wimberly Interiors are so thoughtful. The outer construction by RSG with ropes from Switzerland and the conception by Foster + partners together has made this place looks like the best resort that I have ever visited (this comes in after visiting Ritz Carlton Maldives, Mandapa, Raffles Bali and various Taj properties). The Water Villa is exactly same architecturally but on water with breathtaking views. Shebara is also a nice option but for me, it doesn't feel part of the landscape. For me, Nujuma, with all its beautiful elements like rope and wood, felt more part of the sea and naturally crafted architectural experience. What maintains and gives soul to this place is its staff and their commitment to "everything is possible" attitude.
RESTAURANTS
I had long chats with Maddie for curating romantic dinner experiences for me and wifey for celebrating our engagement and wedding anniversaries. She was extremely patient and helped a lot with the menus as well. Anas who was also taking notes on the side made sure everything went well and saw us off on departure. Maddie met us couple of times checking on our F&B needs which was such a special touch. Our butler for our engagement anniversary dinner at "Jamaa" beach was Satyanand with whom conversations came naturally and he attended to all our needs. "Jamaa" means get together in Arabic. Chef Wali also met us making sure we were enjoying our food. They created special pita bread for us with garlic, chilli and onion and we were an instant fan of it.
Next day we went to "Maia" meaning water/liquid in Arabic, where they serve best of Zero Cocktails along with food from Jamaa. Domnic created perfect drinks for us and we had it every day thereafter, the food overall was amazing. Ryan and Cappuccino were also very hospitable. Cappuccino has viral energy which makes you smile, we danced with him on one of the days. We met all of them couple of times during our stay and every-time they received us with warm smiles remembering our names.
We had breakfast everyday at Sita, derived from Arabic word "Sitta" meaning six, as it has 6 domes (open and close). We preferred sitting outdoor in shade every day and they would place an umbrella protecting us from sun. The breakfast menu is a-la-carte and limited, but enough since they run on sustainability we appreciate the food is not getting wasted as compared to buffet models. At Sita, we were served by Camille and Mubashir, both very welcoming and convivial remembering our meal and drink preferences. We also met Taufiq who manages Sita if we are correct and Chef Max who taught us how to make different kinds of Manakish and Pita breads. The session with him was lovely and he was super friendly. Yash also met us, and we had long chats with him ensuring we were comfortable time.
Coming to the last dinner, i.e., Wedding Anniversary dinner, the team made a beautiful setup at Tabrah restaurant beach. "Tabrah" which mean luckiest catch of the day, has beautiful interiors and outdoor space with lovely beach outside. Marvin was our butler for the evening and he was excellent ensuring we were attended well and had privacy at the same time. Michael, the restaurant manager, David and Aiyana also helped, along with Chef Shijil who cooked us lovely Indian food as per our preferences and also came to meet us.
STARGAZING
In one of the evenings, we had a stargazing session with Habib. This gentleman will catch your attention with the Arabic history and stories about stars and how they perceive it. The session was very nice. Unfortunately, due to lot of winds the sky wasn't that clear but we still had an amazing time.
NEYRAH SPA
We had long treatment/journeys at Neyrah Spa on our wedding anniversary. We were welcomed by Rasmiya who explained about our treatment. Lia and Asmi were our therapists, and they were the best that we ever had in all our luxury resort stays. The spa itself is extremely beautiful. We had our treatment at Neyrah suit which is spacious and well appointed with excellent views. Since we had our anniversary dinner we had to rush for getting ready and couldn't utilize all the Spa facilities but I am sure they are amazing. We coordinated with Christer for therapies and he helped resolve all our queries.
SERVICE OVERALL
During the stay we were spoiled with many presents like personalized bathrobes from housekeeping and laundry team; incense sticks from Rishabh; cake, coral shaped chocolates and beautiful luggage tags. Our host, our star, our Najm, Mohammed made sure that we had the best time everywhere, took us around the resort, clicked nice pictures, remained patient and organized in house activities. He surprised us with beautiful story book capturing our journey and photos during our stay at Nujuma. The storybook was crafted with help of Sana, who is very creative. Also special thanks to Arvind, Nishantha, Prazad, Golam and entire housekeeping and laundry team for surprises and keeping our Villa perfect. We wanted to meet GM Dennis as well but believe he wasn't available at the time, so we left a letter for him appreciating all the team members. Later we got to know the cluster GM Tony was staying at Edition Red Sea where we stayed earlier, would have wanted to meet him as well for the brilliant team that Mr. Tony and Mr. Dennis have.
I also want to thank the email team from front desk office-Hansen, Shoog, Hadeel, Abdullah, Alan, Khaled and Rahaf. Because I like to capture details and pursue perfection in a luxury stay, I want to thank them all for their patience while answering my infinite emails.
SUGGESTIONS & CLOSING
Lastly, some suggestions, not affecting how I feel about the place at all.
1. The complementary beach bag could be nicer. When I compare, I directly compare it to Ritz Carlton Maldives with similar tropical landscape and they had better quality beach bag made by Palatino
2. Since this place gets hot in the day, his and her hat could be a good addition for Villa guests
3. We missed having a photo studio at Nujuma. It is a place which is so exclusive that it is not easy to visit it again so early hence we would have preferred having an in-house photographer who can click nice postcard pictures/videos and capture the beauty of this place with us being in it. We did the same at Ritz Carlton Maldives and Mandapa Reserve since they have one and those pictures and videos turned out to be beautiful
4. Like Maldives, some sunset/sunrise/moonlight cruise options on stable boats unlike an open speedboat which may not be that comfortable for relaxing
5. In every other Ritz Carltons and Raffles we have received welcome letters/ occasion greetings from GMs and I think that it adds cherry on the top of already amazing stay
These are just some wish list items which we would have wanted to be there but setting them aside, this is now the benchmark of luxury stay for us and now we are worried how we will meet this benchmark when we stay anywhere else.
Thank you Nujuma team for everything.
Love, Respect, Regards,
Vipul Gupta
