Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa

Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa sits on Furanafushi island roughly 7 kilometres east of Velana International Airport, opened in 2000 under the Marriott Sheraton flag. The structural identity carries three threads worth naming together. The full-moon-shaped lagoon arrangement around the property's perimeter is the namesake geometry: an unusually complete circular reef-and-lagoon configuration produces the property's signature visual identity and supports the daily-snorkel-rhythm directly from the villa decks. The Sheraton-flag positioning sits at the mass-luxury value-tier-of-the-luxury-cluster slot within the wider Marriott Bonvoy Maldivian portfolio (sister to W Maldives at Alif Dhaal, St Regis Maldives Vommuli at Dhaalu, Westin Maldives Miriandhoo at Baa, JW Marriott Maldives at Shaviyani, and Le Méridien Maldives at Lhaviyani, completing the cohort + country six-flag Marriott portfolio at the cohort's quickest-arrival anchor). And the 15-minute speedboat routing places Sheraton at the cohort's near-quickest-arrival tier alongside OBLU XPERIENCE Ailafushi.

Setting

Furanafushi is a natural island roughly 7 kilometres east of Velana International Airport, with the property's signature full-moon-shaped lagoon arrangement around the perimeter producing the unusually complete circular reef-and-lagoon geometry. The 176-villa stock distributes across the perimeter and the over-water cluster around the lagoon.

The position places Sheraton at the cohort's near-quickest-arrival tier and within tender range of the marquee North Malé dive cluster, the Malé excursion routing, and the wider central-atoll day-trip configurations.

Critique: the 176-villa scale at the older-development geometry sits below the cohort's low-density secluded alternatives; the full-moon-lagoon arrangement is the structural distinctive rather than the secluded-island operational tone.

Who it's for

• Marriott Bonvoy loyalty travellers wanting the cohort's quickest-arrival-tier Marriott flag at the premium-AI inclusion arithmetic. The 15-minute speedboat plus the Marriott Bonvoy cross-portfolio integration (six Maldivian flags + the wider global programme) is the operational distinctive within the cohort's chain-luxury cluster.
• Families and couples wanting the full-moon-lagoon-geometry trip identity. The unusually complete circular reef-and-lagoon arrangement around the property produces a daily-snorkel rhythm directly from villa decks that the cohort's standard fringing-house-reef alternatives cannot match.
• Travellers wanting Sheraton-brand operational consistency at the premium-AI tier without LVMH-Maison polish. The Sheraton-flag operational identity reads at the mass-luxury value-tier-of-the-luxury-cluster slot, structurally below St Regis polish and Westin wellness-six-pillar codification, sitting at the chain-luxury middle.
• Repeat travellers wanting Bonvoy point-redemption arithmetic at the cohort's quickest-arrival routing. Sheraton Maldives Full Moon historically operates as one of the better Bonvoy point-redemption arrangements within the Maldivian portfolio.

Who it isn't for

• Travellers wanting the cohort's ultra-luxury anchor polish. Sheraton operates at the Marriott mass-luxury premium-AI value-tier-of-the-luxury-cluster slot, structurally below [Gili Lankanfushi](/resorts/gili-lankanfushi) / [One&Only Reethi Rah](/resorts/one-only-reethi-rah) / [Patina Maldives](/resorts/patina-maldives) anchor-cluster polish.
• Marriott loyalty travellers wanting the LVMH-Maison-tier or wellness-codified Marriott alternatives. For St Regis butler-polish at the Maldivian universe, [St Regis Vommuli](/resorts/st-regis-vommuli) at Dhaalu; for Westin six-pillar-wellness-codified, [Westin Miriandhoo](/resorts/the-westin-maldives-miriandhoo) at Baa.
• Couples wanting formal adults-only operational tone. Sheraton is structurally family-and-couples crossover.
• Surf travellers. The full-moon-lagoon geometry does not sit at the cohort's surf-cluster reef passes; for surf-adjacency, [Adaaran Select Hudhuranfushi](/resorts/adaaran-select-hudhuranfushi) or [Cinnamon Dhonveli](/resorts/cinnamon-dhonveli-maldives).

The villas

The 176 villas distribute across Deluxe Room, Cottage, Beach Bungalow, Garden Villa, and Water Bungalow configurations along the Furanafushi perimeter and the over-water jetty cluster around the full-moon-shaped lagoon. Sub-category square-metre figures vary; confirm at booking.

Food & drink

Five dining venues anchor the Sheraton premium-all-inclusive plan. Feast, the principal all-day pavilion, runs the rotating buffet plus à-la-carte across breakfast-to-dinner with separate Maldivian, Asian, Mediterranean, and international sections. Sand Coast is the Italian beachside restaurant running the lunch-and-dinner pasta-and-pizza programme with the trained-Italian-chef integration. Anchorage handles the pan-Asian dinner configuration with wok-station and Japanese-counter elements. The over-water specialty venue runs the dinner-only premium configuration; The Sand Bar handles the lunch-and-sundowner programme.

The Marriott Bonvoy mass-luxury operating identity carries the wine and cocktail programmes at the chain-luxury consistency tier; the premium-AI plan covers Feast plus rotating à-la-carte upgrades at the standard Marriott inclusion arithmetic.

Honest read on the food: the five-venue cluster is broad and the per-venue polish sits at premium-AI standard; for cohort dining-cluster scope at greater depth, Kurumba at eight venues remains the cohort's premium-AI dining-anchor.

Diving and the house reef

The on-property dive operation runs at the premium-AI cadence with the central-North-Malé position placing Sheraton within tender range of the cohort's marquee dive cluster: HP Reef, Manta Point at Lankan Reef (southwest monsoon manta-aggregation), Banana Reef, and the wider channel sites.

Certification courses run from Open Water through Divemaster; the full-moon-lagoon house-reef arrangement supports daily snorkel-rhythm directly from villa decks rather than boat-dispatch for the casual-snorkel layer of the trip.

Honest caveat: for dive-specialist depth at the cohort, Bandos carries the Orchid PADI 5-star with on-property hyperbaric chamber; Sheraton's strength is the full-moon-lagoon house-reef integration at the premium-AI inclusion arithmetic rather than dive-specialist programme depth.

Spa and wellness

Shine Spa for Sheraton operates at the Marriott chain-luxury premium-AI wellness depth, with treatment menu covering massage, facial, body-scrub, and Marriott-portfolio signature treatments.

The premium-AI scale means spa booking arithmetic at peak season runs at the contested-slot cadence; lock in treatments at booking confirmation.

Honest caveat: for wellness-immersion destination programming, the cohort's dedicated wellness alternatives sit clearly above.

Activities and the on-island programme

Watersports cover the premium-AI scope: stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking, sailing, snorkel-guide trips, the on-property dive programme. The full-moon-lagoon geometry supports the daily snorkel rhythm directly from the villa decks at the cohort's structural advantage.

The family-and-couples crossover positioning supports the structured kids' programme; the Marriott Bonvoy cross-portfolio split-stay coordination across the six Maldivian flags (W + St Regis + Westin + JW + Le Méridien + Sheraton) supports multi-cohort multi-tier loyalty-stay arithmetic.

Smaller offerings: the dolphin-watching cruise, the sunset cruise, the private-sandbank dispatch with a chef, and the Malé excursion at the cohort-near-quickest-routing arithmetic.

Getting there

The standard routing from Velana International is a 15-minute speedboat direct to the Furanafushi jetty.

The speedboat runs on the wider daylight schedule with prior-arrangement late-night dispatch. The 15-minute crossing ties Sheraton with OBLU XPERIENCE Ailafushi at the cohort's near-quickest-arrival tier (behind Kurumba at 10-min, ahead of the 20-min tier).

Visa: most nationalities receive a 30-day free visa on arrival. The Tourism GST applies at 17 percent on the total-stay arithmetic.

Best time to visit

North Malé Atoll seasonality follows the standard Maldivian pattern. December through April is the dry window with the European peak; the Christmas-New-Year cluster carries the steepest rate spike.

May through November carries the southwest monsoon; the August Italian-and-German school-holiday cluster produces a secondary spike at the family-AI tier.

Contrarian's pick: late September through October for the shoulder-value window; the cohort's near-quickest-arrival arithmetic makes weather-flexible late-decision travel genuinely viable at the premium-AI inclusion tier.

Sustainability, the numbers

The Marriott Serve 360 group-wide sustainability framework covers the standard chain-luxury operating discipline: energy efficiency programmes, waste segregation, marine-environment stewardship, plus the Marriott-portfolio coral-restoration partnerships at the wider Maldivian cluster.

The full-moon-lagoon geometry produces the structural reef-protection alignment with the property perimeter ecosystem; the on-property dive school operates daily reef-monitoring as operational practice.

What is absent: a property-specific audited annual impact report at the Soneva framework depth.