Just had a wonderful 10 days at Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu spoilt only by the family from hell in the villa next door. The following is part of the review I wrote last week on our otherwise fabulous holiday. Thought it worth airing the subject on here .....contentious as the subject is.
QUOTE
The only down side for us was an Italian family next door with 2 very young children....18 months and 2 1/2 years I guess. These children screamed, whined and cried continually to the point where a few people complained to the management. The parents did not have any control over them whatsoever....we did try to have a polite quiet word with them but they were not interested. Recall another reviewer mentioned this same family in their review recently. We did minimise the problem by going snorkelling and swimming on the other side of the island when they were on the beach and eating later in the restaurant in the evenings. At the risk of really stirring up a hornet%26#39;s nest, I wonder why some parents take their very young children to such a remote, quiet and obviously romantic tiny island and impose them on other people? When our children were that age, we didn%26#39;t dream of taking them to such places and went to holiday camps where there was plenty to keep them amused and they were with other children. Realise I have entered ';Grumpy Old Man'; mode and I do realise that this is outside the immediate control of resorts and tour operators but why don%26#39;t some of these romantic resorts impose a minimum age of say 12 years for children? Taking a marketing view, if they advertised a ';no young children'; policy, I bet the extra bookings from couples would outweigh any losses of families with young children. RANT OVER!!
UNQUOTE
Babies on romantic Maldive islands .......blessing or curse?
This subject always incites polarised views so one has to be very careful about responding, however I will be brave and hope that no-one reading my response will take personal offence.....
I don%26#39;t think we%26#39;ve ever experienced anything quite as awful as the scenario you have described, but we have been on an island where unruly teenagers caused such offence to other guests (in this case by making racist comments and playing war games) that the management had to speak to the parents. Also one time we had a noisy toddler two doors away so hubby decided that rather than face me confronting the awful parents about their screaming monster we would move rooms! That was a sensible move on his part as no-one likes to have thier parenting skills criticised :-)
Personally we would prefer if there were some adults only resorts but not everyone feels that way. In our earlier days of going to the Maldives resorts were open to anyone, but we did not see any children. However the Maldives seems to have become more accessible in recent years (pre credit crunch, that is) and some islands have introduced a no under 12s policy. That is a compromise, but still not perfect. We%26#39;d definitely vote for that perfect adults only resort...
Babies on romantic Maldive islands .......blessing or curse?
Gosh that sounds awful. I always moan about the kids kicking the seats on the plane behind me or the person seating infront having there chair fully reclined as it can go...doesn%26#39;t compare to that though.
At least one thing is for sure, and at a great expense, having a water-bungalow you%26#39;ll be free of kids as there is an age limit on them I think??
Sorry to hear your awful experience...
Best wishes KP :P
Well...we are unlucky enough to be involuntary childless...thats a whole other story....but seeing as we decided that we would concentrate on ourselves and take the holidays we would never have been able to with children I don%26#39;t really want to be subjected to anyone elses children while on holiday.
I can stay at home and listen to next door%26#39;s children screaming and running rings round their parents for free...why would I want to listen to that when I have paid a good few thousand pounds???
I would pick an adults only hotel wherever I went on holiday if possible
Jox
Watch for the zappers - mention the word children in this forum and people get very heated.
I also had a problem on holiday last year with a small child - only about 1 year old - screaming for a few hours on end. One poster suggested I should have moved to a different part of the island!!! My argument is if adults behaved in such a manner you I would speak to them or the management, but with a small child you can%26#39;t. The whole idea of the maldives is so that I am on the beach and can just laze in front of the villa with the sea in front. I am in full support of island being adult only and would be more than happy to go if there was one (that I could afford of course!).
Now I%26#39;ll sit and wait for the fal out.....
Softail
perfectly understandable rant. I%26#39;m off to maldives next year and will be taking my well behaved 16 year old Son. he is a keen travellor, very polite and will be no trouble at all.
I fail to see why people would take really young infants.
Maybe they should have an island in maldives dedicated to people with young children travelling with them????
Am taking my son to Sun island as have been told by many that it is a well equipped island for most people.
I guess i could wait another 2-3 years and go with just my husband But for three reasons I%26#39;ve decided otherwise:
1) Prices of holidays are creeping up and I feel it%26#39;s now or never as in time it may be out of our price range.
2) As a nurse I see many people wishing they had been there and done that. So am doing that whilst I have my health. Morbid as it may sound who knows what%26#39;s round the corner?
3) We are a well travelled family and my Son WILL truly appreciate this paradise.
Brent, guess what? I am half Italian but when I choose my holiday resorts I ALWAYS go Italian free!
Italians on leave show the worst part of themselves and Italian kids are tremendous! I went on leave in Italy with horrible scenes at meal time italian mummy running behind their kids in the restaurant shouting ';vieniiiiiiiii quaaaaa!';.
Of course they are many type children some noisy some more quiet (same for the adult) but you cannot ask children not to play on the beach etc ... so better resorts free kids at least you have no bad surprises!
jsteel what can I say...your first paragraph describes our case perfectly...I felt I had to write something.
Been only once to the Maldives and we%26#39;ll hopefully return, and I dread indeed such a case as brentstevens described...we were lucky last year as we went to peaceful Mirihi (just one young kid very well behaved) and the more family-oriented Kanuhura, but had more trouble in the latter with noisy adults! Anyway that helped us know we%26#39;ll choose small islands in the future, because we liked it better...and because we half-hope families will choose larger resorts with more things for the kids...
Hi La Viagg
Mrs D and I were on Athuruga - an Italian run and with predominantly Italian guests - last November.
There was a young Italian couple there with 2 young kids - one about 18 months and the other about 3 and a half. Both children were an absolure delight.
They were never badly behaved or noisy and had a wonderful time playing in the lagoons and in the sand. They took their meals at the same time as the parents, they never charged round the restaurant screaming and when the little one got too tired she just put her teddy on the table and laid her head on it and went to sleep.
OD
As I said not all the kids are the same and thanks God not all the Italian are like that but they mainly are :(
I am half Italian and husband is Italian so I know what I am talking about :)
Let%26#39;s say that you have been lucky, good for you!
Why do Parents take take Children on Holiday to the Maldives ?
Because when they are little,they Travel Free or Half Price,that is why.
On a more personel note,we ALWAYS try to opt out of School time or pick Islands that do note take them and choose Water Villas because nearly ALL under Twelves%26#39; are banned however, we have also met more noisy, badly behaved Adults during out Travels, than Kids !!!
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