Anyone done a mark warner with kids?

[scampadoodle]

Dh really wants to have a 'hot' holiday this year, & because I'm expecting no2 in June, we thought September would be good. Ds will have just turned 3. With such a small baby, somewhere with kids' clubs is essential for ds (he goes to nursery & playgroups & loves them. Very sociable kid) & I was wondering about Mark Warner or Club Med. The Club Med website put me off as it's so labyrinthine, but the Mark Warner one was great. Is it all as fab as it sounds? Which are the nicest resorts? & is it worth what seems like a LOT of money?!

OK, this is where I reveal myself as a very bad mum... DS2 was due mid May last year - we were booked into Mark Warner Lakitira for end Sept - giving myself a week's leeway so that baby would definitely be 4 months (and so old enough to go into baby club!).

Depends on what you're looking for: very English, very middle class punters. Childcare is excellent and they are very much set up for young families, especially out of school holidays. Kids clubs run 9-1 and 3-5 each day and the nanies supervise kids tea. Nannies are all English and some go back each year. Range of activities they do with kids is impressive - Last year they took our 2 year old canoeing and sailing, and he was swimming each day with them.

Ratio of nannies very good for babies too, and both of mine have been in baby club without any probs. When i just had 1 we used the baby listening service, buut with 2 I have opted for babysitters - no problems in getting nannies to sit for us. Some people had sleeping children in buggies next to table, but one restaurant was adult only.

We've been to San Luciana and Lakitira: we're booked to go to Lakitira twice this year.

It is a lot of money, and really we've paid it because they are so good with little ones. Possibly if I was just looking at my 3 year old I might feel that he would settle in a more general club setting (Thomas Cook or whatever) but I've never really explored those options.

For adults you can be as active or lazy as you want. Equally you can be as sociable or not. Certainly I'm looking forward to my hols this year!

Thanks 150%... Waiting til no2 is 4mths would take us way into October which can be a bit dodgy weatherwise, so I'll just have to muddle through with the babe! Very reassuring to hear that the kids' stuff is good - that's what counts, really. I think dh & I just need to able to laze around as much as poss, with optional activities for him when he gets bored (he is male, after all. Or was last time I looked)

3 months is still at the nice and sleepy stage so hopefully you'll get a break. And you won't be needing purees (the one thing that did worry me: seeing peach puree for the 5th day in a row. They told me it was fresh but I was unconvinced).

scampdoodle, we think they are great. SO incredibly family orientated. Yes it is £££, but everything is included. The kids club are fun and busy and the girls are lovely.

We went to Paleros.

Club Med is very french, they speak french as the main language in the villages wherever you stay, and the miniclubs etc are also in French, which can sometimes confuse the little ones, especially is you have one who is quite reluctant to go anyway!

One thing to remember with Mark Warner is that it is all inclusive food and drink so you are less likely to go off site and try the local cuisine. And they give the kids back to you in the middle of the day for a couple of hours, so you can't hire a car and take off for the day unless you hire a babysitter for the lunch time period. Sunsail take them for a whole day, but only do babylistening on certain nights (when the halfboard deal includes dinner). Swings and roundabouts. We've done both and been happy enough with both. These holidays are especially good for only children who are used to having lots of other kids around and get bored with adults.

We went to Lakitira with a 2 and 4 year old and it was really good - would recommend it to anyone as we actually got a holiday (I was pregnant with DD2 at the time). Don't know if I would say it was worth the amount you have to pay to go in the summer holidays though.

It's worth checking out Neilson Beach CLubs as they actually offer more than Mark Warner or Club Med (like all inclusive waterskiing and breakfast and lunch daily and dinner 4 nights per week unlike Mark Warner where you have to pay for waterskiing and not all meals are included). Neilson clubs are smaller as well and some Mark Warner places take over 250 people which for me is too big. Child care is excellent although if you want babysitting it is worth trying to prebook (i hired one every night from 7pm, they would take the baby off whilst I got dressed up and bring him back when I'd gone to dinner, bath him and put him to bed about 8.30 pm and then put him on baby listening which cut down the cost). Neilson also are better value so give them a go.

I'll second the Neilson recommendation. The Sea Urchin Club for 2-5 year olds is free - and very good! But obviously, once they are over 2, you are paying for their flight and bed anyway.

We went on a Surf, Sail, Cycle holiday to Portoheli in Greece (although we were just interested in the sailing) and it was great, although the transer might be a bit long for you with a young baby. Plus it's maybe not the best resort for someone who is not getting involved in the activites.

Their Beachplus holidays are more "general" ones - why not give them a look here

Trifle, Mark Warner has free waterskiing and all meals are included. Are you possibly thinking of sunsail? I'm interested in what you say about Neilson. I'll need to look at them for next year.

I haven't been to the other ones mentioned, Scampadoodle, but I definitely recommend Mark Warner. I've been to Lakitira and Paleros. Lakitira has the nicer accomodation and better facilities but Paleros is very nice too and on a smaller scale.

MW had all meals included at San Lu and Lakitira definitely plus wine with meals - other bar drinks werm't included so I guess strictly full board rather than all-incl. We've been told that this year there will be a charge for water-skiing at Lakitira, though this seems to be the first year for that.

Thank you everyone...very helpful. I'm just waiting for the brochures now

Very interested in this thread, as I was thinking of a Mark Warner hol, but Neilson option seems very appealing (esp as they are cheaper ) DS will celebrate his 2nd birthday whilst we are away, can anyone tell me if he will find the Starfish club too young, as the cut off age is 2?

Neilson should be cheaper than Mark Warner because they aren't full-board - or at least when we went they weren't? I think the question of whether the Starfish Club would be too young really depends on when you go and how many other children are in the club at the time. We also went on hols with Neilson when ds1 turned 2 but the kids club consisted of only 5 kids, including one under 2 (apart from ds) and they had brought a second nanny (NNEB trained) in for that child specially so it was two carers and 5 children and they all had a ball. In terms of cost, I think I remember that we paid for ds as an over 2 because we wanted a seat for him and then we didn't pay for the club.

Neilson is not quite full board - from memeory, you get 4 evening meals and 2 lunches - but it might be more.

Our experience of the childcare was the same as Annh's: ds was just over 2 and as it was the ned of season, it was very quiet, so he ended up having 1:1 care from a lovely girl called Lydia (all the blokes lusted after her!). There was supposed to be another wee girl, but her mum wasn't prepared to "let go", so she stopped going along.

if your ds turns 2 while you are away, I too would go with paying for a seat and then the club will be free anyway.

has anyone done a MW holiday with a baby? ours wil be 10months when we go - mid august unfortunately but we have to go then. what were the facilites like for babies? their brochure says they provide sterilisers/purees/cots etc but just wondered if they were in decent condition or really cruddy? we're looking at the corsica place at the mo.
grateful for any opinions

we went to Paleros when dd was 12 months. There was a kitchen available 24 hours with steriliser/ microwave/ fridge, and everything was kept really clean. Travel cot in the room was fine, and childcare was great.
The purees weren't brilliant -quite repetitive and only 2 or 3 choices, but at 10 months you should be able to supplement tehm adequately with the "real" food.
Top breakfast tip - for some reason they don't put weetabix out - but if you ask they will have some.

we went to Lemnos in Greece a few years ago and all loved it, it's nice and small and some nights we had dinner on our own and others we joined other adults, it was a good balance. Would really recommend it. Expensive but you feel like you've had a holiday at the end of it.