It seems for some reason to be fashionable to criticise Monarch's long-haul charter flights, but my partner and I have just enjoyed an absolutely fine return journey to the Maldives in the Premium cabin of an A 330 on our annual holiday.

Granted, this was the Premium cabin; we did not, admittedly, experience the economy section which seems to generate so many of the complaints, but if decent levels of comfort and service are important to you then the supplement (£ 229 per person in our case) return is a worthwhile investment which, for a trip to a destination such as the Maldives, hardly makes the overall cost of your holiday unaffordable.

Departure from Manchester was about an hour late. The flight started at Gatwick, and was an hour or so late arriving from there. The extent of the delay must have been known to the handling agents and yet we had to put up with the irritation of the estimated departure time on the screens being constantly put back at ten-minute intervals. That's a fairly minor gripe, though. On the return, the flight was punctual almost to the minute.

The cabin was clean and comfortable, with the 34" legroom adequate. We were booked into 2A and 2B on the outward journey, which meant that the window seat was slightly narrower than those further down the cabin to allow for the curvature of the fuselage, but it was still comfortable for me, and I'm a big guy (5' 11" and 18 stones).

The service was fine; in fact it was very good. There was a juice/water service prior to take-off and and an amenity kit (as good as you get in Business class on some airlines) was provided on the outward journey, and Premium passengers were offered free copies of the Independent or Telegraph. Also, everyone received a blanket and pillow.

Double rations (included in the price in Premium) were handed out when the drinks trolley came round on the outward journey, although this may have been simply because it was late and doing this would avoid the need for a later run when passengers were trying to sleep (although drinks were available thoughout the flight if requested). On the return two trolley runs were made prior to dinner.

Food was hard to fault. To begin with, I have a nut allergy and my partner has a fish/shellfish allergy, so special meals had been ordered in advance requested. These came properly and clearly labelled, and the cabin crew took the precaution of checking with me on both journeys whether I had a problem with them serving nuts to other passengers (which I did not). Dinner both ways consisted of a cold fish starter (cold meat for my partner), salad, ,hot meat dish with vegetables (a choice of two mains for those not on special meals), dessert (lovely bowl of grapes and strawberries for me on outward journey) and cheese with grapes and biscuits, rounded off with coffee.

On the outward journey, breakfast was served prior to arrival in Male, and this consisted of fruit followed by bacon, sausage, omelette, mushrooms, hash brown and tomato, with rolls and jam plus tea/coffee and juice. On the return, sandwiches, fruit and cake were served.

Hot towels were provided after each meal.

The overall standard of food (in terms of both quality and quantity) was significantly better than you would be served in say Virgin's Premium Economy or BA's World Traveller Plus.

IFE was perfectly OK if not spectacular (old favouites such as Only Fools and Horses and the Simpsons being represented), with a further six channels (five film, one more general entertainment) in Premium in addition to the channel being shown in Economy.

Cabin crew were friendly and attentive throughout.

At the end of the return journey my partner and I (who are both very experienced business travellers across the globe and have sampled many different airlines and aircraft) commented on how good the flights had been.

Overall, it was excellent value for money, and I look forward to using Monarch's premium service in the future.