 I just wanted to share our amazing holiday experience with all those families that, like us, are always on the look out for a safe, interesting, child-friendly holiday escape. The Shangri-La Resort in Fiji is just that. We are a family of six, with four children under the age of five, so you can imagine that every move has to be planned with military precision! But from the very moment we arrived at the resort, life very quickly became a lot more relaxed.
The children's meals were all included in the price of our holiday and the food was really exceptional. Ranging from an extensive breakfast buffet that catered for even the fussiest of eaters, to the prepacked lunch boxes that could be eaten at the restaurant or picked up by parents and taken to the beach, pool or, in our case, room where three out of the four children were having their afternoon naps. Dinner was buffet style and again catered for every taste. Staff were always on hand to clean up after messy eaters and even better to entertain restless kids while Mum and Dad made a mad dash for the ice cream counter to finish off their meal. The best part was that parents did not have to eat with children - leaving parents free to go out for a quiet dinner afterwards while the children were being very well taken care of by a Fijian babysitter.
Our sitter was Merelita and I have to admit that without her, our holiday would have been much more like hard work. Our older children aged four and two were both eligible to attend the Kids' Club which runs every day, however our one year old twins could not attend without supervision. So, we soon fell into the routine of spending the morning with the children, giving them lunch, then Merelita would arrive at 1:00pm and take all four off to Kids' Club for three hours... leaving two very grateful parents with time to spend at the Adults Only pool for some much needed Rest and Relaxation. At only $7 per hour, this was an affordable luxury that we couldn't have done without!
With four children it is very difficult to find accommodation that would allow us to stay in one room rather than having the additional expense of twin or interconnecting rooms, which in this case would have added $5,000 to the cost of our trip. The Shangri-La had rooms that comfortably fitted a king-sized bed, two separate beds for the older children and two portacots. The rooms were cleaned every day and despite endless amounts of clothes, swimming gear and nappies everywhere, we managed! I thoroughly recommend the Shangri-La to all families - especially those that, like us, have plenty of little additions! The Fijians are lovely people who really love children and go out of their way to put a smile on their face. Vinaka Fiji - we'll be back!
Nicole Spore
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