wedding/honeymoon help Maldives with 4 year old

miss_renegade

We're currently saving/planning our wedding. We've been together for 8 years and have a 4 year old daughter. Ideally we want a register office ceremony over here to invite family to, but then have our actual 'ceremony' as a 'renewal of vows' ceremony in The Maldives with our daughter (as non-muslims can't marry there) .


I'd like to hear from anyone who's been to the maldives, maybe had the renewal of vows ceremony? and also anyone who's been with children to find out how they enjoyed it.


Also if anyone has any tips/sites which are cheaper than the package holidays i'd appreciate them! (cheapest i can find for the 3 of us is £4500 for a week )

Thanking you

bylromarha

June 2009, we went to Bandos with our then 5 and 3 year old.

Kids loved it, we loved it. We chose Bandos as they were one of the few which seemed family friendly. Family rooms available, "kids club" (read creche) available, babysitters available.

The kids club turned out to be suitable for up to 2 years old only and the only thing really to amuse the older kids was a TV. So don't rely on it - our 2 went twice whilst OH and I went snorkelling for an hour alone.

Babysitting service reliable and around £6 per hour.

More than enough to keep us all amused for a fortnight - the big sand pit and water play with real friendly fish in never lost its appeal. Then there were pools to go swim in too - kids enjoyed the variety.

We went on a few excursions, but the kids only really enjoyed the dolphin hunt. The other trips, they kept asking when we were going back to the house.

I'd advise remembering to budget in your extras. We went half board, and 3 excursions, kid lunches (we filled up at brekkie and lastest til dinner), drinks, babysitting and OHs 1 scuba dive cost £1200 for the fortnight. You are their captive audience, so no shopping around for best price.

Can't advise where to look as we went on Tesco vouchers...wouldn't have been able to afford it any other way.

silvercar

Thomson and First Choice offer the same hotels as Kuoni, destinology and other more expensive places - often at a much cheaper price.

The big pricing difference is flying charter (Thomson Airways) direct to Male or scheduled (BA or Emirates) via Dubai.

miss_renegade

thanks for replies, i'll look in to charter flights, and Bandos was one i came accross and liked. thanks for the tips!