Has anyone been the Maldives with DC and would you recommend it?

[stealthsquiggle]

DH and I are dithering about committing to spend an eye-watering amount of money on a fantastic-looking holiday to the Maldives - all opinions and experiences welcomed - especially if anyone has used any dive school which they would recommend (DC are 9 and 5, FWIW)

We went in May to Lily beach with DD who was 3.9yrs at the time. If was our 5th time, but the first since she arrived. She had an amazing time, although she is a real water baby and is already a confident swimmer. She loved the wildlife, the fish, the turtles, sharks etc and still talks about the holiday. One of my best memories was watching her playing in the shallow water on our first day whilst two tiny baby sharks swam around her - magical.

A trip of a lifetime definitely.

Thanks - off to look at Lily Beach now as I don't think it was on the shortlist!

We went without dc to The Four Seasons at landaa Giravaru a couple of months ago, but there were quite a few families there and they had a really good dive school, snorkelling, jet skiing, children's and teenagers hangout centres, even crab racing for the littleies.

this is the link; www.preview.fourseasons.com/maldiveslg/photo_and_video/

We stayed in a Beach Villa with private infinity pool.

Your children could also go out on the reef, building new bits, feeding sharks and all sorts of cool things.

As you say, though, eyewateringly expensive.

of Mumblechum business obviously going well

We went 3 times to Bandos Island which was fabulous. Last time we went DD2 was 15 months. They have a FREE kids club which is open from around 8am to 5pm and do babysitting in the evening.
Older kids were teenagers so we had great fun diving all day on the house reef which is one of the best in the Maldives.
I can't recommend the diving school highly enough. DS1 and I did our advanced courses and 3 speciality courses out there and DD1 did her open water and some of her dives towards her advanced. Although the house reef is fab they also do some good boat dives.

Also, it is one of the closest islands to Male (airport) so after a long flight it is nice only having a 20 minute speedboat transfer.

Oh I so want to go there again

Wow - Lily Beach and the Four Seasons make the options we were looking at look, if not cheap, then certainly less eye-watering.

Bandos seems more possible - I am checking it out.

Thanks, all - I was half expecting to be lambasted for even contemplating spending that much on a holiday

I stayed on Kuredu resort and spa and although it was lovely, there were quite a few places you couldn't go if you had children which was a shame as it claimed to be family friendly.

For example, we couldn't sit on certain cabanas with DD there (yes, we were asked to move!) and couldn't use certain facilities/pools, some of which were the best places to enjoy the sunset etc
My then DP was sunburnt and couldn't leave the room/hut and they made a big deal about having food in the room and wouldn't let us take any drinks back.
(was ok for me while he was burnt as he looked after DD while I did my own thing!)
On the plus side, it was beautiful and the facilities we used were good and it's well worth getting a water plane transfer as the ride/view was fantastic!

MOS, not really - happily for me dh earns 10x what I do!

Bandos sounds lovely too... maybe Christmas.....

Definitely definitely definitely.

We went this time last year with DCs aged 7,9,11. It was amazing, and worth every little eye watering penny.

We stayed here Maldives. It has recently changed it's name from Diva, and you'll find lots of very positive reviews on Trip Advisor.

We didn't do any "proper" diving, but snorkelled every day. We were able to do it off the beach there, which though not as spectacular as going to deep water was exciting enough for the DCs, and meant they felt quite independent. DD2 in particular wasn't the most confident swimmer, and by a couple of days in we were joking about her swimming all the way to Sri Lanka.

Do go if you can, you won't regret it. We used Tots Too, who seemed very knowledgeable about the region, and were really helpful, if you haven't got a travel agent yet.

I know Lily is pricey, but we didn't spend one single penny whilst we were there. Trips were included, kids club and not to mention the 70 bottle wine list. Vodka and tonic...which of the 8 differnt vodkas would you like today. Even on the beach there were ice boxes every 50 yards filled with beer and soft drinks. only wish i could have taken more advantage - i was 7 months pregnant when we went (and the previous time we went i was 6 months pregnant with my daughter).

otherwise, i too would reccommend bandos, although budget carefully for your food and dink as it is expensive. if you want a reletively inexpensive all inclusive, have a look at Vilamendhoo or Reethi beach (and I use inexpensive in a loose term as everywhere in the maldives is ridiculously expensive....but so worth it).

we are definitely going all inclusive - our DC are at an age when I really don't want to be mentally counting the cost of every half-drunk drink - but Lily Beach is a good bit more than (some of) the other AI options (although it does look wonderful)