We would like to travel to Anguilla with our children (ages 7 and 4) and we're looking for a resort that welcomes children, as opposed to merely tolerating them. We are also looking for a great beach, nice accommodations and outstanding food. A spa would be a plus, but isn't mandatory. To be respectful of honeymooners and those who travel sans children, we prefer resorts that have separate pool areas for families. We also reserve our dinner tables as early as possible (17:30 or 18:00), to allow the romantics their time in the restaurant. (Yes, we remember what it was like to travel before we had children.)

I've read about the separate pool and water play area at the Malliouhana Resort & would love to hear from anyone who has visited there with your children.

A few questions about Malliouhana...
1) Since the resort is up on a bluff, are the steps leading to the beach very steep?
2) Our children love a hearty breakfast (French toast, waffles, bagels, fresh fruit, omelettes, croissants, etc.), so what types of items are on the Malliouhana breakfast menu? I've read great reviews about their lunches and dinners but nothing about breakfast.
3) Would love to obtain a list of family-friendly restaurants on the island that serve an outstanding dinner. Have read that Malli's main restaurant allows children to dine from 18:00-19:00, but that there is no adult menu available at that time. This seems quite odd considering that we would mainly want to dine as a family. Apparently, their adult menu isn't available until 19:30.
4) Would like to travel after school is out (June) in hopes of other kids visiting at the same time. Is this a good time of year to visit with kids, or will we be surrounded by June honeymooners?

Just starting to research CuisinArt. Have already ruled out Cap Juluca with the kids, but will consider it for a couple's getaway with my husband next year. Any other resorts to consider? Thanks!

Malli is the only resort on the island with a separate area for children. I understand that CuisinArt hosts quite a number of families & it's on a lovely beach with a decent (not great) restaurant. Shoal Bay Villas is quite popular with families as it's on the glorious Shoal Bay East which has the calmest, clearest water & blinding white sand. The restaurants near it, however, are mostly not open for dinner & tend to be the "beach bar" variety (good food at some, though).
Straw Hat is the nicest restaurant with a children's menu & I have have seen kids at Picante's, E's Oven and Tasty's, as well. There are often kids playing on the beach at Sandy Ground while Mom & Dad relax at Johnno's or Roy's with a nice cold Carib.

We know Anguilla quite well, but have never stayed at either Cuisinart or Mallihouana - however, we did look around at both places. Cuisinart struck me as being very much an 'adult's' type of place - people looking for peace and quiet! No facilities for children as far as I could see. So, I would certainly stick with your original choice of Mallihouana which does have facilities for children and a separate area for children's activities (as far as I know, it is the only hotel in Anguilla that does).

Malliouhana is great choice with children. It sounds like it's exactly what you're looking for. I've taken teens there and they want to go back. The Children's Place with the pool, ship waterpark, and Bistro with kids' menu, is great. You won't be disappointed. For dinner, there are many places to go on the island. And for those times when everyone doesn't want to go out, there's always room service. Take advantage of the Friends and Family package where the adjoining room is offered at no additional cost. The spa is the best on the island, IMHO. There are a lot of steps to get down to the beach, but you'll want to do it to get down to the Chidlren's Place. We always had the Continental breakfast delivered to our patio, so I can't speak about hot breakfasts. But Tasty's has great breakfast, expecially the Grand Marnier French toast (had it last week!). When I was at Malli in June three years ago there were only ten rooms occupied, and I had two of them. There was at least one other family. From your posting, I wouldn't even look anywhere else on the island. Mallihouana pretty much has everything you're looking for, as long as you rent a car to go out for dinners.

MaryD, Carola22 & ALR,
Many thanks for the excellent feedback. I just called my travel agent and asked her to gather some info. on Malli's June 2006 packages, which aren't available yet. ALR, thanks for the tip about the Friends & Family package. I read about that on the Malli web site, and I hope that it will be offered again next summer. We just returned from the Four Seasons on Nevis. Although the rooms are spacious, it would have been nice to have had another bathroom/shower, so that second room will be just perfect.

ALR, I wish you hadn't mentioned the Grand Marnier French Toast. It sounds delicious! Where did you eat that? Our entire family is already missing the food at the Four Seasons. Unfortunately our little ones have developed quite the taste for chocolate souffle...

Tasty's -- great island food prepared by a classically trained chef (the seafood salad is to die for & I would swim from St. Martin for his hash browns!).

Tasty's with the Grand Marnier French toast is right on the long road. You can't miss it on the left going toward the Valley from Malliouhana.

Oh, for chocolate souffle, I take my kids to Pimms or Cuisinart.

Come to think of it, last week we had chocolate souffle and a mango souffle at Altamer. You might want to take the kids there for a nice dinner early. They have a spcial price if you order before 6:30 (not sure if it's every day, so at least that's one more nice restaurant that is open early enough for kids.

You might also want to consider looking at the Carimar Beach Club. It's located right next to the Malliouhana. We stayed there with our two children and rented a beautiful two bedroom unit that had a beautiful living room and full kitchen. The kids could play at the Malliouhana for $25 ea. for the day and they didn't charge for my husband and I to lounge in the pool. When we went to a nice restaurant that didn't have "kid food" we fed them early with take out from the Malliouhana where they had a great kids menu. Then we brought things for them to do while we had a nice "adult dinner". It's much less expensive and we spoke with several people staying there who had previously stayed at the Malliouhana and were much happier there.

Sound like a good way of doing it, but beware that if the Malliouhana is busy you will not be able to use the Kids Club. During our Christmas/New Year holiday we have used the Kids club on several occasions, but have always booked ahead of time (to avoid disappointment for the little ones) and always had to pay for all the adults.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to this query last year. We have decided to try the Malliouhana in May, and I'm looking forward to visiting those family-friendly restaurants everyone mentioned. I've read the comments about Straw Hat, and I'm also looking forward to breakfast at Tasty's.

Now for another question... Since we'll be traveling with our children (ages 7 and 4), I think it's best to fly to St. Maarten and take a water shuttle to Anguilla. (Our alternative was a flight that lands at AXA at 9:00 PM... without any delays.) So, what's the best way to get from SXM to Anguilla? I've read about the private boat transfers, and I have attempted to contact two services via email to obtain current pricing. I am still awaiting responses. Can anyone recommend a service that you've used recently?

I thought the private transfer (as opposed to the ferry) might be faster for our children, and thus less stressful for my husband and me.

We would also like to rent a car while on the island. Any agency recommendations? Both of my children use booster seats, so I am hoping that the rental cars are equipped with workable seatbelts (with should harnesses) in the backseat. Should we plan on lugging their booster seats, or can I leave them at home? Would love to hear from some of you who have traveled there with young children. Thank you in advance.

We've gotten the best rates from Avis the past few years (online -- the rates are NOT available on the island). Booster seats are listed as an option you can choose but I would e-mail them AFTER you secure the rate.

We always take the ferry -- never done it with kids. It is a schlep across St. Martin to Marigot but the ride itself is only 20 minutes.

BTW, as of today, Anguilla immigration is requiring passports from everyone, including U.S. citizens.

MaryD, thanks for the tip regarding the rental car agencies. Since the last leg of the trip will be by boat, I really want to reduce the amount of luggage we'll be hauling. I wonder in what condition we'll find the booster seat rentals. Dragging our luggage, along with two travel-weary kids, to the ferry does concern me, which is why I'm hoping that someone can recommend a private boat transfer service. (Still haven't received replies from the two companies I emailed.)

We got passports for the children two years ago, so we're all set with those. I saw another post from someone looking to go to Anguilla with small children in early May. Since we'll be pulling my older child out of school for a few days, then it's great knowing that there would be other children there at the same time. We visited the Four Seasons on Nevis last year, and our children had a fantastic vacation. There were many other children there at the time, and the family pool was their little meeting place.

Which two private boat services have you tried to contact? I use Gotcha ([email protected]). I've used Funtime for their shuttle, which is a shared airport transfer, but they also do private transfers ([email protected]). I can provide phone numbers if the emails aren't working for you.

ALR,
Thanks for providing contact info. for those other two services. I had contacted Sea Grape Charters and Offshore Sensations via email, but it probably would have been better to obtain phone numbers for them.

I read about Funtime's shuttle but am concerned that a delay could cause us to miss it, so I'd probably have to opt for their private transfer. I have not found a non-stop flight to SXM from Chicago in May, so we'll have to connect in either Philly or Charlotte. A delay at ORD or in the connecting city would make us miss the boat -- literally.

The expense of the private boat transfer is painful, but at least a private boat would wait for us. I've done as much research as I can about this trip, so I've just turned everything over to my travel agent now. She says the resort can arrange for the private boat transfers to/from Anguilla, so I'll see what the pricing is on the proposal. I'm preparing myself for about $350 each way. Ouch! Oh well that $700, is still $250 cheaper than flying into AXA, and we'll arrive hours earlier upon arrival, and can hang around several extra hours on our day of departure.

Pity that the airlines wouldn't let us use our FF miles on the dates that worked for my husband's schedule. At least we could have flown to SXM for free.

For private boats on Anguilla I would go with Funtime or Gotcha. These boats are very reliable, I have seen them on Anguilla crossing over to St. Martin for many years. Chris at Funtime has 5 boats,and Gothca has a few. This is important as they have back up. They will get back to you. I have used Funtime's private charter on a few crossings, I request the covered boat -
just in case of squalls.

For 4 people, I would definately do a private charter over a shuttle. The shuttle is $60 or $65 per person, so you might as well have the conveniense of leaving SXM on your flight schedule rather than wait for others on a shuttle arrangement. The cost difference is small for four people.