Need travel advice - traveling with a baby
 

My husband and I have free flight tickets (have to be used by mid April) and want to go to the Pacific, but can't decide if it would be better to go to Australia or Moorea/Bora Bora or Figi for 10 days. We have an 11 month old baby -- would it be too difficult to travel with a young child? In any case, any ideas on the best itinerary? All ideas welcome!

Hi there,

Of the locations you have a choice of going to with a child I would recommend Fiji.

Fijians love kids and really look after them.

Chances are if you choose the right place you will think you were in heaven as far as child care was concerned. We have taken our kids to fiji (One of whom has been twice now) at similar ages for their first visits as your child is now. The children had more attention than we did. In fact they still get emails (though as they are too young to read we have to relate the stories to them) from the people at the resort we stayed at.

BTW what is your budget approximately and what do you like doing on vacation?

A place I cannot recommend highly enough in Fiji is Navini Island. Been there twice and hope to get back there later this year. Check out there site below.

http://www.navinifiji.com.fj/

Believe me it is not difficult to travel with a child in Fiji.

Ask away on any questions you may have.

Hope this helps

Steve

Where you go in the Pacific has much more to do with what you want to see and do that whether you have a baby or not as they can be factored into anything and anywhere that you want to be.
I would think that being in one place like Fiji for 10 days may be a bit long though and Moorea is expensive +++
Mid April is a great time of year for a lot of the South Pacific anyway so if you let us know what you would like to see then we may be able to help further.

We've been researching and can't decide, definitely need advice.

We're looking for warm weather, a bit of relaxation, somewhere where babysitting is available, as well as snorkling, hiking and water sports. Sight seeing would be great too.

1) If we were to go to Australia, are there travel packages available that take care of air & hotel accomodations? If so, which do you recommend? And which places would you recommend visiting? (Keeping in mind it'll be mid-March and we have an 11 month baby)

2) If we did go to Fiji or Bora Bora/Moorea -- do you recommend staying on the island or taking a cruise to all the islands? If you recommend staying on the island, which hotels/resorts do you recommend that are "reasonable" but nice and also take kids? (Reasonable being upto $250 US. Are meals included in the resorts?)

Thank you so much!

Hi there,

As far as the Aussie part is concerned there are people on here with vastly greater knowledge of OZ than I. In saying that, yes there are packages available to Australia that take care of all travel and accomodation. Qantas holidays for one. (Do a google search on Qantas).

As far as relaxation coupled with snorkling and affordabl echildcare is concerned I am still voting for fiji.

There are other resorts in the island groups off the West coast of Viti Levu (The main island) that cater for all sorts of budgets.

Here is a link to a selection of Fijian accomodation choices.

http://www.tourismfiji.com/page2.html

This list is by no means a complete listing of all accomodation but rather a selection (Toward the higher end price wise as well) that will give you an idea of what is available.

Here is a link to a larger and slightly cheaper resort.

http://www.manafiji.com/booking/index.htm

Navini, the place I suggested in my first reply does not quote meals as part of the accomodation. They are separate.

Only the high end places (>$1,100 per night) seem to include meals in the tarrif. Never stayed at one of these places, way beyond our means.

However I have stayed at Castaway Island (Who also quote meals separatly) and as noted above Navini Island. Castaway was good. The bures are a little close together but there are plenty of activities to keep you interested.

I have not stayed on Mana, friends have and they thought it was fine, they had children with them at the time too and they were well looked after.

BTW, all resorts in Fiji that are open to kids are very good at looking after them.

I know sitter services are available in OZ but I do remember a thread on here where one parent was quoted an astronomical amount for childcare by a hotel.

Hope some of this helps.

Steve