Maldives - one 'room' for family of 5

[Underparmummy]

Trying to find a maldives holiday for next feb - all inclusive would be best for our family. Struggling to find hotels with big rooms/suites where we don't have to split up. Any recommendations?

Holiday booking is the major drawback to 3 kids!

I've just moaned about this to my friends.

I'm trying to book a return to Mexico and it's now over £12k for 10 days.

We need to leave one of the kids at home. Who's your least favourite

Our 3rd is small enough to sleep in a pop up tent bed. (Arc 2 travel cot). As long as we have floor space we can get her in our room as a 5th but there may be regs on the maximum room occupancy even if that type of thing would work for you (layers of rolled yoga mats on the floor in a pinch?). It's very expensive to make the jump to 2 hotel rooms. Alternatively, we normally stay in an airbnb / homeaway / etc but don't know if that's even available in Maldives, and will have very different facilities.

www.expedia.co.uk/Hotel-Search?rfrr=TG.LP.SrchWzd.Hotel&storedCheckinField=&lang=2057&storedCheckoutField=#destination=Maldives+(all)&startDate=05/02/2018&endDate=12/02/2018&adults=2&children=1_4,1_8,1_9&regionId=6051084&amenities=1003&sort=theme

I'd ring some of the specialist agents and ask them. Some islands are much more geared up for children than others.

you might get away with a child is less than 2 and in a cot if one of your 3 is that age but once older it is a complete nightmare as we have found out. we have more than the standard 2 children and as a big family we did expect to struggle a bit to find places but not as much as we have over the years.

what amazes me is that holiday companies haven't caught on to this and expanded their offer of rooms to sleep 5,6 or 7.

Just a suggestion, why not find a cheaper holiday closer to home that meets your sleeping arrangement needs? Why fly all that way to spend 14 nights living in squalor, having disturbed nights, sharing an ensuite bathroom ,climbing over beds, tripping over piles of clothes and beach stuff!

Youngest will be 3.5 and he's blinking enormous.

It does seem odd - are families of 5 really that rare?! We normally rent houses so hadnt realised this was an issue until now.

viques - because dh really wants to do this one for his landmark birthday, we're late as no funds for it (on the actual bday) but will have the funds next year. I do agree though - no squalor!!!

Mexico is really good value, how can two rooms be £12k? I had a quote for 2 rooms for may and it was nothing like tgat

Are you fixed on the Maldives?

We had a really lovely holiday in Mauritius at this resort here as a family of 5. We had two interconnecting rooms with teenage daughters next door and 10 year old son with us on a full size bed in our room.

Interconnecting rooms - that's what we have done since having DC3. And it is much nicer than all in one room which we did with two DC-some space and no need to creep around not disturbing them in the evenings!

Have a look at Centara Grand Island. They have 2 bedroom villas that sleep 2 adults and 3 children.

We went a few years back. The 2 bed villas get you access to the 'Club' facilities which includes better brands of drink. Food was great in all restaurants, but the club food was awesome.

Centara

2014 we stay at the Moon Palace resort. If you can find me a 10 day stay in either Easter hols or May half term for a family of 5 for less than £12k then I'm all ears! When it was just the 4 of us or baby was under 2, we only paid around £5k.

Omg the extra child really adds to the cost 😱

Thank you all! Still looking...

Yes the extra child ads lots! Even though it thinks its a dinosaur.

I have found if you book with a hotel direct they will often put an extra bed in the room for you, whereas if you book with a tour operator they don't offer this option and try and put you in two rooms.

OP check out Furaveri Island Resort & Spa - DH and I stayed in a Beach Pool Villa as a couple in March and it was heavenly (and excellent value compared to some of the more established Maldives resorts - it's relatively new) but I know they also have villas with 2 or 3 bedrooms available, for a reasonable price.