LL for kids

[wisemom2007]

Hi there;



I know in no time...ours,would be all grown up and not wantto travel with mom & dad! for right now we enjoy every family vacation....my older daughterwent on a trip with her school to France and now she prefers to travel with her friends!!! we're planning on a trip to Punta Cana with another family so hopefully everyone will enjoy their time!

Do you recommendany nice resort there?

[curtiejoe]

hi wm07



One place in the Caribbean we'ne never been to is the Dominican. So, sorry, no recommendations. But, you may be able to find comments from some of the other LL Community contributors on Punta Cana. Or, there may be terrific resorts/properties offered in the DR on LL's "Auctions" or "Buy Now" areas on their website. Check it out. Good luck!



curtiejoe

[JulieCP]

Hello! New user here, but with kids almost 7 and almost 3, this is a topic near and dear.

When my oldest was 3, we went to Maui and stayed in a luxury all-suite hotel. It turned out to be terrific---at night we could put her to bed on the pull-out couch in the living room and we could relax in our room. Every suite had a microwave and mini-fridge, which enabled us to make her mac n cheese when necessary, and the hotel had a deli/grocery (which was of course quite expensive for a deli, but a lot cheaper than the restaurants), so some nights we just got food and ate it on our private balcony. It really was lovely.

Another thing we did was tag-team the parenting. About one-third of the time we did stuff as a family, one-third of the time my husband did stuff and I stayed with our daughter, and one-third of the time I did stuff and he stayed with our daughter. Worked out great as I was not interested in hiking up the volcano and he was not interested in the spa.

Cheers!
Julie

[curtiejoe]

Hi julieCP

For someone who just joined LL Community today, you sure have got the hang of it quick. Great to have you on board. This is a terrific site.

I can tell you and your husband have got travelling with kids down pat. The tag-team approach you've developed could be a good model for other parents to adopt. In Maui, your flexible attitude seems to have made luxury travel even with a 3-year old a pleasant experience, rather than the horror show it can often become. Good on you!

curtiejoe

[curtiejoe]

hi fabia



Wasn't aware that Club Med had family-friendly resorts. Some of the other contributors on LL Community will be pleased to know this, though I myself tend to steer clear of luxury reorts that cater to children (for as I said before, in my experience the idea of kids, especially small ones between 2 and 6 is really not caompatible with my notion of a truly "luxury" resort).



curtiejoe

[disneygal]

Absolutely, some Club Meds cater specifically to families, with kids' clubs and even some baby clubs. But they wouldn't really qualify as luxury resorts. Sandals is also trying for that niche with their Beaches properties. A number of other all-inclusive chainshave some properties that are particularly family-friendly, such asRiu and Iberostar in the Riviera Maya.Some of them, like Club Med and the Riu hotels have different properties targeting families, singles and couples. That way they cover all the bases!

[curtiejoe]

hi disneygal



Good of you to forward the info about kid & family-friendly resorts. It'll be helpful to LL contributors who're trying to find that sort of accomodation. Also, useful for me and those who seek adults-only luxury properties. Thanx.



curtiejoe

[JulieCP]

Curtiejoe--

I, too, would steer clear of luxury resorts that cater to kids if I were traveling without. Good grief, if you're getting away from your own, why would you want to surround yourself with other people's kids?

But I do think there are a lot of people (myself most definitely included!) looking for kid-friendly luxury resorts. I've done the travel on the cheap thing (I used to work for Let's Go Europe, in fact). I'm over it!

We went to DisneyWorld recently (a kid place if ever there was one) and we stayed at the Wilderness Lodge, and it was fabulous. Obviously it was geared toward kids, but we also got to go to a lovely, sophisticated restaurant on site (without kids--my mom came along to help babysit.) It was so nice, in the middle of Disney, to come back to my hotel and feel like I was in a beautiful spot.

We're counting the days (ok, years) until ours are old enough to take to places like Corcovado in Costa Rica---there are some wonderful luxury eco-resorts that are great for kids (but not really little kids).

Julie

[disneygal]

Hi Julie,



Great example! Wilderness Lodge isa niceplace that also caters to kids. Did you have dinner at Artist Point? In reading this discussion, I was thinking of the Grand Floridian - a hotel in the luxury category and yet kid-friendly. But I agree that the two usually don't go together. And not having children,I look foradults-only properties whenever possible. Of course DisneyWorld is the exception, but you know what you're getting into there! I think there are lots ofupscale properties that are also family-friendly. There are many folks who want a nice vacation experience for the entire family. Especially in the eco area, I think we'll see more in the future.

[curtiejoe]

hi julieCP



You're going to love visiting Costa Rica, whether you go with your kids or not. It's a fabulous country with lots of great attractions for all ages. It's got a wonderful variety of scenery, peacefulfriendly people who refer to themselves as Ticos, and an enviable way of life: no army, no income tax, no sales taxes and education for every kid from Grade 1 through university is free! WOW!I know of many countries which could learn a lot from CR.



curtiejoe