First holiday suggestions please

[MumCrumbs]

Hello all,

My partner and I are looking to book our first ever holiday (together 12 years 😳) for us and our 11 year old son.

I don’t even know where to start. I don’t want to do Disney though but do want to go abroad.

Money isn’t too much of an issue as I am looking to save first anyway.

Please can I have some suggestions of places you’ve loved that are all inclusive with excursions and also things to do/see outside of the resort. I did like the look of Mauritius but I’m not sure of what there is to do. If you could tell me who you booked with, roughy prices, month or any other info I would be so grateful.

I’ve ordered some brochures but would like some real perspectives.

TIA xx

How about a cruise? That way you get to see several places in one trip. Our last cruise was in the Caribbean at Easter, and whilst is was busy, the weather was just right. We went with Royal Caribbean and did 8 days round trip from Fort Lauderdale. There was loads to do on board - we simply didn’t have time to do everything. It’s not quite all-inclusive because you do end up paying for extras like Wi-Fi, excursions, tips and alcohol. However I did feel that it was worth what we paid for it.

I hadn’t even thought about a cruise, sounds like it could be a good idea. At the risk if sounding stupid do you get off the ship at different places to do things at all? Thank you 😊

Do you only want to go during school holidays.
Are you in the UK?
can you all swim ?

@MumCrumbs
Absolutely. We got off the ship at every stop. We did a couple of excursions with Royal Caribbean,
but we did a few self-organised trips. On the first stop we just took the dc to the beach and did some snorkelling and browsing round the markets.
These pages will give you a bit more information about what you could do:

www.royalcaribbean.com/gbr/en/booked/shore-excursions

www.royalcaribbean.com/gbr/en/faq/questions/shore-excursion-tours

I wouldn't go to Mauritius for a first holiday also I wouldn't look at brochures and believe what you see. Photos can be hugely misleading (ie out of date/don't mention the huge building site next door/can't see all the litter around or how rough the area actually is/how isolated you are) Better to look things up on tripadvisor to get realistic pictures and reviews.

For a first holiday I'd keep it simple with not too much of a culture shock or too long flights. I'd go with someone like Tui and I'd go to Spain or Italy or Greece. You need to be very careful where ever you go though as often AI resorts are in the middle of nowhere and getting around isn't easy. Also the food with AI's can be pretty crap and repetitive unless you spend a lot of money, it's convenient - but for me half the fun is eating out at different places and experiencing the culture and it's not like you have young children to cater to.

I've never done a cruise as they don't appeal (expensive and prefer to get to know a place and stay there for a couple of days at least) but you need to think about the cost of excursions on a cruise and that you might be tied to their expensive excursions if you need visas for different countries you visit (or otherwise have to pay for and organise visas yourself) obviously if you stay in Europe that's not such an issue. Just don't think you can freely wander on and off the boat, you might have to get a tender to get to shore and then you are strictly time limited.

You need to think about what it is you want to see/do. Is it a different beach every day? Ancient ruins? Cute little towns to wander around? Water sports? Snorkelling off the beach? Boat tours? Hiking? Theme parks? Are you happy taking local transport buses/trains/taxis, would you hire a car (and potentially have to drive on the other side of the road)?

A good 'potential first holiday' that we did was to stay at Tui Blu Flamingo bay Lanzarote. Nice little beach, lovely on site restaurant right on the beach, couple of little shops. Lovely walk along the promenade to the much brasher 'Brits abroad' Playa Blanca with lots of shops/bars/restaurants - also we hired electric scooters which was a lot of fun. And then trips out to Timanfaya, to see the Cesar Manrique stuff and the Lagomar museum which is like a Bond lair! We hired a car but if you didn't want to you could probably do organised tours very easily.

Have a fantastic first holiday whatever you decide!