A family resort in the Maldives is marking its second birthday by sinking wine into the ocean — and you can claim a bottle on your next trip.
Centara Mirage Lagoon Maldives celebrates two years since opening this November, and it has used the milestone to show off what it does best: keeping travelling families busy. The anniversary programme, themed 'Two Years of Family Wonder', runs across the island and leans on its marine setting and kid-friendly design.
The standout event is an underwater wine ageing experience run with the resort's Best Dives team. Guests can watch selected bottles being sealed and lowered onto the seabed, where they'll rest for at least two months before being brought back up. Travellers can reserve their bottles and collect them on a future stay — a neat excuse for a return trip, and a twist on the usual resort anniversary cake.
The rest of the programme is gentler and geared to all ages: sandcastle carving on the beach and a tree-planting ceremony, with each tree planted as a symbol of the resort's environmental commitment.
It's worth noting how quickly this property has picked up awards. Within two years it has been named Best Resorts for Families at the Travel + Leisure Luxury Awards Asia Pacific 2026, Best Family Resort at the Travel Trade Maldives Awards 2026 and Best Family Friendly Hotel in the Maldives by Little Steps Asia 2025. Cluster General Manager Jorge Fernandez credits the resort's underwater-inspired design, family-focused rooms and activities built around multi-generational travel.
Why should this matter to you? The Maldives has a reputation as a couples-only destination — overwater villas, honeymoons, quiet dinners for two. Centara Mirage Lagoon is part of a push to change that perception, offering a resort where kids' clubs, family pools and shared experiences are the main event rather than an afterthought. If you've been putting off a Maldives trip until the children are older, resorts like this are making the case for going now.
The anniversary activities themselves are time-limited, but the underwater wine ageing is designed as an ongoing hook — bottles submerged now can be collected by guests in months and years to come. Combined with the recent award recognition, the resort is clearly positioning itself as the family option in a market that traditionally courts adults.
Anyone planning a Maldives family holiday in the coming season would do well to watch what this property adds in year three, as management has hinted at expanding the family offering further.
