Fiji, Raro or Samoa???

Has anyone been to these islands and if so what did you think? Were they child friendly? If you have been to more than one which was better? and any hotel recommendations would be appreciated.

DH & I are thinking of going with DD once he is back in a couple of months time, I want to go somewhere that is relaxing and child friendly.......and cheap too of course, so I am keeping my eyes & ears open for a good deal!

you probably wont get anywhere near Samoa at moment as Survivor is filming there...the accomodation etc cancelled peoples vacations and so Raro is pretty busy hence why they are advertising non resorts at moment...the resorts are filled with the cancelled bookings from samoa!

I adore raro tho - would recommend the raro beach resort and great for kids there. Muri beach is the best and heaps of places to explore - get a rental car and possibly take your carseat with you! It is 50km zones so pretty safe driving (and easy!) around the island which is only 32 kms roundtrip! Safe beaches mostly as it is a lagoon so rough waters are over the bar.

Fiji - well I am currently admiring the Radisson after friends went last month and it looked divine! AM hoping to convince DH to go there later in year if not early next year when summer dies off....

I have only been to Samoa, and that was only because we went over to DPs family for xmas one year so yes probably biased.

From experience with Sa depending on if your fussy with food or not (which I can be!) if your willing to eat anything and everything taro etc then it isn't too expensive, they have maccas there and every meal is $15 tala (samoan currency) There are a few really nice restaurants one in particular that did a fettucine to die for I'm not a fan of island food and don't eat meat so choices were limited. If you do make it there then go to Peanukies I think its spelt basic island food, curries, etc but quite good in reality (yet again biased as sil husbands restaurant lol, if you see a little half asian boy running round thats my nephew)

Transport wise don't take a bus. They are an experience and a half that DP and his uncles wouldn't even let me near. They are fitted out with huge speaker systems and wooden seats. The locals see tourists and try to get them to sit on their laps not entirely sure why on this one lol. But taxis are cheap as chips anyway. We used to taxi from Apia central city to papa loloa which was the village we were staying in for $5tala which was probably about a 10-20min drive. There are two markets there the old and the new where you can get bargains. DPs sis who lives there still haggles for things lol.

A nice but expensive place to stay is Aggie Grays there are two hotels the city one and the lagoon one to choose from otherwise hotel kitana. On sundays alot of things aren't open until about 2pm because of church services so keep that in mind.

Any other questions feel free to pm me

Oh was also going to add that maybe you could try looking at a club med package at one of the other islands or Australia or something. That way all your meals accomodation etc are included You can pay extra for under 23mths to be looked after.

I probably have more to say about Sa as well but got distracted as the god kids have shown up and are meeting DD for the first time lol

I love Fiji, the people and the islands everything is just lovely! Fijians love kids and are fantastic hosts. The first time we went we stayed at the Shangri-la Resort the kids were 7 and 1. We went back in March this year and they were 13, 6 and 19mths... We chose to do the island thing this time around and I loved it even more. We will definitely go back.

Fiji is fabulous. We have takern DS at the age of 3 and 4 and we are off again in 3 weeks with both kids and grace is only 6 months. The fijians are wonderful with the kids. Wouldnt hesiate to recommend it

For our next island holiday we're going to go to Rarotonga. The thing that appeals with this is that once you land your resort wont be a big drive away as Raro is not that huge.

We're been to Fiji a couple of times, and I really liked it but the travel time to and from the resort is quite long. It does of course depend where you stay but we stayed at the Shangri La Fijian and it was great for families but it took a couple of hours to get there from the airport. If you head out to one of the islands then you will have another flight or have to take a transfer to the wharf and then a ferry to the island. All very doable but it just adds so much extra travel time and less relaxing time (well, thats my opinion anyway).

Not sure when we will next get to the islands, it will be Gold Coast for us for the next few holidays I think!

We went to plantation island in august last year with our just turned 3 yr old and 18 monther. It was AWESOME, and every day this past week or so I have been thinking so much about how much I want to go back....

fattartsrock wrote: We went to plantation island in august last year with our just turned 3 yr old and 18 monther. It was AWESOME, and every day this past week or so I have been thinking so much about how much I want to go back....

I want to go back sooner rather than later.... I loved it there.

Just to add my two cents worth, Raro is great. We went over a couple of years ago (it's where we got engaged!) and stayed at Pacific Resort on Muri Lagoon and it was awesome. The resort was possibly a bit pricey but once over there we didn't find it very expensive - and it's NZ dollars which is nice and easy. Totally relaxing, great for kids, and some fab eating places for cheap. And really easy to get around.

Went to Fiji a year ago and stayed at the Shangri La. In terms of stuff for kids to do, they seemed to have an awesome programme and the Shangri La has great beach/pool/everything there. but it was prolly more expensive to eat/drink/do things and I've heard it's gone up since then.

My vote would prolly go to Raro :)