Category Archives: Family

5 tips for taking kids on a luxury holiday

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Travelling with kids can be a great experience, expanding your children’s horizons and giving you a chance to spend real quality time together.

Family fun on a luxury holiday

Family fun on a luxury holiday

So don’t let worries about safety, keeping them entertained or strange food put you off.  Here’s our round up of some of the leading bloggers who have turned travelling with children into a way of life.

1. Tips on packing for a luxury family holiday

Hip Travel Mama claims the biggest mistake we all make is to over pack, particularly when travelling with our kids. One essential she recommends is a kids ‘distraction pack’, which she gives to her children only once they’re through airport security, full of games, colouring crayons, pads and so on.

2. Encourage them to keep a travel journal

Family travel site Ciao Bambino advises getting children engaged with a trip by encouraging them to keep a travel journal. Whether it’s full of crayon pictures for younger kids, or thoughts and pictures for the older ones it’s a great memento of a family trip.

3. Get to know you hotel concierge

Julie Cohn advises Travelingmom readers to get to know the hotel concierge. She claims many parents don’t make the most of the free services the concierge offers including informing, organising and booking family activities.

Family holidays at Constance Belle Mare Plage

Family holidays at Constance Belle Mare Plage

4. Book a trip to celebrate a special occasion

Kim-Marie Evans of Luxury Travel Mom has a tradition of taking her children on a luxury break on their own for their 10th birthday. Taking the children away one at a time gives an opportunity to really connect with them as individuals. Her major tip is don’t feel guilty about your other children (or your partner) – so long as they each get their own turn. She also advises getting the child involved with the planning so that the trip is one you both want.

5. Make travel an educational as well as a fun experience for kids

In an interview for This is my happiness, Paul Johnson of A Luxury Travel Blog says he believes it’s important to talk to your kids about where they’re going, find it on the map, talk about the history and culture of the place so that they get the most out of their trip.

Want to know more about taking your children to Constance?

 

Smith & Family rates Constance Le Prince Maurice and Halaveli

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Stylish family travel specialist Smith & Family has included Constance Le Prince Maurice and Constance Halaveli in its guide to the best family-friendly coastal hotels.

Smith & Family loved Halaveli's family beach villas

Smith & Family loved Halaveli’s family beach villas

Part of the Mr & Mrs Smith group, Smith & Family aims to select the very best fun, stylish hotels from around the globe to recommend to its readers with children.

Having already attracted a loyal following amongst couples seeking beautiful luxury hotels in the Indian Ocean, families are now also discovering that Constance offers much for those looking for luxury where children are also welcome.

Constance Le Prince Maurice and Constance Halaveli

Constance Le Prince Maurice, Mauritius and Constance Halaveli, Maldives have been included in its ‘Beach in Reach’ section, which it says looked for hotels worldwide that mixed ‘buckets of fun for children with a relaxing retreat for parents’.

At Le Prince Maurice, Smith & Family were impressed by the two-bedroom family suites with a children’s bedroom complete with bunk beds and steps to the sinks in the bathroom.

Halaveli was praised for its family beach villas, which come with what it described as ‘helpful essentials’ including pushchair, cot and bottle-sterilising unit. For older families it recommended the double storey villas with pool giving parents and teenagers plenty of space to spread out.

Both hotels were recognised for the complimentary ‘fun, friendly kids club’ Constance Kids Club.

Read more on the Smith & Family website.

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Top 6 reasons to visit Mauritius with kids

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With everything from jungle ziplines and quad biking to pirate cruises and crocodile parks, Mauritius is a kids’ paradise full of action and adventure.

Watersports at Constance Belle Mare Plage

Watersports at Constance Belle Mare Plage

Here are our top reasons to take your kids to Mauritius this year.

1. Experience the exotic wildlife first hand

Whether you choose to witness the feeding of the Nile Crocodiles at La Vanille Réserve des Mascareignes or walk with lions at the Casela Nature & Leisure Park there are plenty of opportunities to get up close and personal with exotic wildlife in Mauritius. Those looking for something a little less predatory can visit the Mauritius Aquarium to get close to over 200 species of fish.

2. The thrill of adrenalin-pumping activities

Mauritius has a wide range of activities from ziplines to quad biking that you can enjoy alongside your children, leaving the whole family feeling the thrill of new adventures. Glide through the air above tropical forests laced with stunning waterfalls on ziplines in Rivière des Galets. Kids aged 8 and over can get behind the wheel of their own quad bike in the beautiful surroundings of the Yemen Natural Reserve, other activities here include hiking, swimming in natural pools and ziplining. For more high-speed fun enjoy a day whizzing down the waterslides at the Le Waterpark, Belle Mare.

3. Scuba diving and submarines

Kids of 8 and above can take an introduction to scuba diving course at resorts like Constance Le Prince Maurice and Constance Belle Mare Plage. For younger children, or those not tempted by diving, there are other great ways to explore the depths of the Indian Ocean in Mauritius. Take an underwater walk on the seabed at Belle Mare Plage or stay dry while exploring beautiful reefs and wrecks in a submarine.

Constance Kids' Club

Constance Kids’ Club

4. Watersports galore

There’s loads to do on the water with the kids in Mauritius with water sports including everything from water skiing, windsurfing, paddle boarding and kayaking to game fishing and catamaran sailing. For more adventures on the water take a family boat trip like the Pirate Cruise to Ile aux Cerfs on a replica pirate ship with themed shows and music on board.

5. Experience different cultures

It’s great to show kids that not everyone in the world live the way they do at home and a trip to a local fishing village or to the capital of Port Louis will introduce them to the laid back, friendly way of life in Mauritius. Visit the Port Louis food market and sample the Mauritian version of ‘fast food’ with stalls selling roti chaud and alouda, a type of Mauritian milkshake. Flacq market on Sundays is an easy-going local market with clothes, hand made wooden toys and fresh produce.

6. 5* luxury and a free kids club

Let the kids enjoy the space of a private villa with its own pool within Constance Belle Mare Plage resort, with all of its family-friendly facilities close at hand. At Constance Le Prince Maurice most family villas have their own pool. Kids in the Family Suites can have fun in their own room complete with bunk beds while parents enjoy the peace and quiet of their own seating area. All Constance hotels and resorts have a complementary Constance Kids Club where children can make friends, play games, swim, put on shows and get creative under the supervision of our friendly, fully-trained staff.

What the experts say

Turning luxury travel with kids into an artform Luxury Travel Mom, aka Kim-Marie Evans, recently visited Constance Le Prince Maurice with her 8 year old son Keaton. Watch her video of the trip Where Luxe Families Getaway and read her review about the hotel where she writes ‘children aren’t just welcomed [here], they’re completely adored’.

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Pursuitist rates luxury family holidays at Le Prince Maurice

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Premier luxury website Pursuitist applauds Constance Le Prince Maurice’s family-friendly credentials.

Family fun at Constance Le Prince Maurice

Family fun at Constance Le Prince Maurice

In her review for the trend-setting website Kim-Marie Evans, Luxury Travel Mom, says Le Prince Maurice makes the perfect family holiday destination.

‘A glance at the images of the ultra luxe Le Prince Maurice on the island of Mauritius might make you think this exclusive paradise is not kid friendly. Nothing could be further from the truth.’

Evans visited Mauritius with her 8 year old son who enjoyed a raft of activities under the experienced guidance of the staff of the Constance Kids’ Club including learning to water ski, a trip on a glass bottom boat and exploring the island.

‘Families can enjoy ocean front villas with private pools or swoon worthy thatched roof huts perched over the water on stilts.’

‘While the parents enjoy the world-class spa or water sports in the bathtub warm ocean, children enjoy their own fun in the complimentary kids’ club. Little ones have their own village including a shallow swimming pool, mini sun loungers and trampoline all within a safe picket fenced enclave.’

To read Kim-Marie Evans’ full review and have a gander through her beautiful photographs of the hotel and Mauritius, visit the Pursuitist website.

More information on Constance Le Prince Maurice

 

 

Lux Traveller review says Halaveli is ‘absolutely perfect’

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Luxury travel website Lux Traveller has described Constance Halaveli as a ‘true 6 star experience in the Maldives’.

The double storey beach villa at Constance Halaveli

The double storey beach villa at Constance Halaveli

The review, written by Lux Traveller CEO Marina Noble, gives Halaveli a glowing score of 10/10 for service, rooms, spa, attention to detail, wow factor, location, generosity and value.

Noble also points out that all the villas at Halaveli come with their own pool, something which she says is, ‘quite rare in the Maldives and sets Halaveli above others’.

As well as the individual pools, Noble praises the luxurious, ‘no expense spared’ design of the villas and their technological features including Apple TV with a wide range of free movies, Nespresso coffee machine and iPod docks.

She goes on to say how impressed she was with the range of activities on offer at the hotel including snorkelling, excursions and the wellness-focused spa with its traditional and modern treatments.

Noble took her two young children to Halaveli and was struck by how child-friendly the hotel was, with everyone from the restaurant staff to the Constance Kids Club (which she describes as, ‘a great addition to an already child friendly resort) making them feel welcome.

Noble reserves her strongest praise for the staff at Halaveli, ‘The best service ever throughout the hotel.’

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12 reasons to spend Christmas at Constance in the Seychelles this year

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Get a taste of Christmas with these 12 highlights of the festivities at Constance Ephélia and Constance Lémuria this December.

Enjoy a Christmas at Constance - Cocktail lessons at the Zee Bar

Enjoy a Christmas at Constance – Cocktail lessons at the Zee Bar

  • Kick off the perfect family Christmas with the Grand Christmas family Night at Corossol at Ephélia on Christmas Eve.
  • Get in the festive spirit and join us for Christmas Carols on the Pool Deck at Lémuria.
  • Enjoy a sumptuous Christmas Gourmet Menu by Chef Kamlesh at Ephélia’s elegantly refined Cyann restaurant.
  • Learn to mix the perfect cocktail at Ephélia’s Christmas Eve cocktail mixing class at Zee Bar.
  • Savour a Christmas dinner with a difference at Lémuria’s Seahorse restaurant with its opulent Christmas Day turkey and truffles menu.
  • Let the kids stay up late on Christmas night to enjoy the North Pole pyjama party at Lémuria’s Kids Club.
  • Wake up on Boxing Day to a sweet champagne breakfast at Ephélia’s Corossol.
  • Watch the kids have the time of their lives as they put on a Constance Circus to entertain the parents at Kids Club, Lémuria.
  • Get yourself ready for the New Year’s Eve celebrations at Lémuria with a special ‘Glamour Sparkling Ritual’ at the Shiseido Spa. The treatment includes a premium facial, manicure and pedicure.
  • Enjoy the New Year’s Eve party at Lémuria with a special ‘Glamour Night’ themed dinner at the Legend restaurant followed by tunes by DJ Nicolas to welcome in 2014.
  • Start the New Year off with a flourish of luxury at Ephélia by enjoying the special New Year’s Eve white truffle discovery menu created exclusively for dinners at Cyann by Chef Cristhian Busca.
  • Enjoy a champagne fountain as you countdown to midnight at Ephélia’s lively Zee Bar.

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