Ultimate Family Job: Mauritius

Meet our Ultimate Family Job competition winners! The Prout family has just come back from their first Club Med Holiday and wants to tell you all about it!
Discover all their adventures and read about their stay at La Pointe Aux Canonniers in Mauritius.

Hi, my name is Katie Robson and I am the mum of the family, we then have Scott who is Dad and our 2 beautiful boys: Flynn who was 5 at the time of the holiday and Freddie who was 3. Then of course the family wouldn’t be complete without our resident cuddly toys BoBo (the giraffe) AND Beaver!

We applied for the Ultimate Family Job as a family who loves to travel and like most, dreamt about what an unbelievable experience it would be! But at the same time, we never for a second thought we would actually win it, even when we found out we were the winners we still couldn’t believe it until we boarded our first flight to Paris. The dream of visiting one of the admired Club Med resorts was finally going to become a reality and we were so excited!

The resort The activities A family resort

The resort

How would you describe your holiday in three words? 
Relaxing
/Fun
/Paradise
This was our first holiday with Club Med so we really didn’t know what to expect, except of course that it was going to be amazing from the research we had done before we left.
We were lucky enough to be sent off to Mauritius for our first destination where we would be staying at the beautiful Club Med La Pointe aux Canonniers. We were met by the wonderful staff at La Pointe where we were greeted with a glass of champagne and taken to the reception point where we were given a brief welcome chat and escorted to our accommodation by a member of staff. Our first impressions were that the hotel certainly exceeded our expectations, it felt like we had landed in paradise surrounded by greenery yet only a few steps away from the beautiful white sand on the beach. The staff went above and beyond to welcome us and were always so happy, friendly and ever so helpful we really couldn’t have asked for anymore.
Our typical day at the resort was one of relaxation, indulgence and of course tremendous fun. We would wake early where I would start the day with some sunrise Yoga in the beautiful gardens that backed onto our rooms, looking out onto the sea. I would nearly always be met every day by our youngest Freddie who would come out in search of any fallen coconuts that he loved to collect and take them back to show his daddy. We would then head off to the beautiful Belle Creole where we would choose from a whole host of breakfast options from fresh fruit, cereal, meats, juices, bread and cooked delights (what to eat was the only tough decision you had to make at La Pointe, because there were so many tasty options). We would vary our days going from the main pool at the front of the hotel, trying out different locations on the beach or having fun in the large kids pool if there was a pool party or a kid's activity on.
Scott and I would sometimes enjoy spending child free time in the zen zone with a good book. We would relax, swim, snorkel or take part in the different water activities available before heading off for lunch usually at Alama beach lounge, where we would again be met by a vast array of different foods to choose from that we could then take back to a wonderful table situated looking out across the beautiful beach into the sea. Our afternoon would be much the same although the kids would normally join in with some of the outdoor kid's club activities, Scott would try his hand at water polo or volleyball whilst I watched on with a cocktail in hand. We would then head back to our rooms late afternoon where the kids would be greeted with a new bed towel model (created by the cleaning staff) and would take a long nap. Scott and I would make the most of some quiet time by sitting out in our garden (with another cocktail) looking out at the ocean.
Freddie & Flynn loved so many aspects of the holiday but by far they enjoyed just being by the pool or sea every day, practising their sandcastles, swimming and snorkelling to see the tropical fish. They enjoyed taking a break in the shade whilst playing one of the games provided by the Kids club. Afternoon snacks were a must and by far one of the most treasured experiences for us as a family was when we were all able to stay swimming together in the main pool during a small tropical storm.
The view is something that we will never forget, we used to wake up in our room, look through our open patio doors onto the lush green gardens, through the palm trees, over the hammocks and into the sea, that in itself sums up the beauty of La Pointe.
The sound of the local birds and the waves was heavenly.
The large number of facilities and activities available for us made the resort even more wonderful.
Despite the large number of guests staying at the resort you were always able to find a location of stillness and peace.
Evenings at the resort were full of fun and dancing.

Deluxe rooms We stayed in the Interconnecting Deluxe Rooms, which offered a wonderful view!
The rooms were great with no need for a key as everything was built into a Club Med bracelet we wore, meaning you never had to worry about losing your keys.
The rooms were extremely spacious, beautifully decorated with a huge double bed in each, an immaculate large bathroom, ample storage space, security box and a lovely patio that enabled us to sit and watch the sun go down every night.
The rooms were kept so clean by the wonderful cleaning staff that greeted us with a smile every day.
The rooms were very family-friendly. We were never worried about the children running out of the rooms without us, as we were able to control the locks on the door so we always knew they were safe.

As you would expect the food and drink on offer was above and beyond comprehension at every serving. Our children are quite fussy with their food but we did not need to worry as they had so many options every day that they always wanted to go back for more. Even if there wasn't something they wanted we could always rely on the wonderful Chefs to create something from scratch for them.
Scott and I were spoilt for choice when it came to breakfast, lunch and dinner. There were so many great options it was sometimes even hard to make a decision. Whether you were looking for healthy options or something a little more indulging there is always plenty on offer. Our favourite part was being able to watch the chefs cook right in front of you whether it was fresh fish or meat or a wonderful curry, it was great to see. Our favourite food of the week was enjoyed on the night of The White Party.
Our favourite restaurant was the Alma Beach Lounge as we love to eat al fresco, with the great food on offer, a bottle of wine and stunning views. How could it not be our favourite? We would recommend trying everything that was on offer! We enjoyed the local curries the most, along with the freshly caught fish.

The activities

We took part in a number of activities including yoga, pool exercises, tennis, volleyball, water polo, sailing and of course snorkelling which we did every day.
Our favourite activity was snorkelling as we saw something different every time, from colourful fish to wonderful reefs. Also French Boules was a new family favourite of ours and something we had never done before. There were so many activities to take part in, we wish we could have stayed longer to fit in more.

We only actually did one excursion which was swimming with the turtles and that is something that we will never forget. The boys absolutely loved it, especially the part of being in the boat where our wonderful guide let them both help drive the boat (he was only pretending of course) which they thought was amazing. We were taken to a spot where there was a bale of turtles where we then had the opportunity to climb into the sea and swim alongside them. Although the boys were apprehensive at first once they were in with us and saw the turtles up close they couldn’t get enough of it, it truly was a beautiful experience. We learned so much about the country on that trip as our guide was more than happy to tell us about the island and answer all our questions which made the experience even better.

Did you enjoy any of the resort entertainment (live music, dance, circus show, workshops...)?

The entertainment on offer at La Pointe was brilliant, the kids absolutely loved the live productions we could all sit and watch for an evening, with their favourite being Aladdin. Without a doubt our favourite event of the holiday was the 'legendary' white part that is traditionally thrown on the final night at all the Club Med resorts. The planning and production that went into this was nothing short of spectacular. The staff moved all of the dining rooms outside enabling all the guests to sit around the pool. There were bridges built across the water with fireworks going off whilst we watched a live singing performance from the whole entertainment team, it was brilliant.

A family resort

Flynn and Freddie loved the Mini Club Med Kids Club, there were so many activities for them to take part in everyday that they enjoyed every second of it. The entertainers were great and both the boys felt relaxed and comfortable. Their favourite activities were without a doubt the huge pool party that was thrown for all the children and one day they set up an inflatable water park which was so much fun we wanted to join in.
We would definitely use the Kids Club again; in fact, we would use it more next time as we know firstly how safe the kids are and secondly how much they enjoyed it. The Kids Club definitely gives you the opportunity to spend more time together as a couple however we opted to spend the majority of time together as a family as for us this is what this experience was all about.

Have you been able to spend time without your children during your holiday?

Even though we have young children we still found that we had plenty of time to relax, the pools were so safe that we didn’t need to be in with them all the time allowing us time to sit back, relax and watch them enjoy themselves. We completed nearly all activities along with the children. However if we hadn't wanted to, we would have felt more than safe with leaving them in the Kids Club or taking part in the various activities that were going on every day.

We were concerned about travelling to Mauritius with the children as it meant flying for pretty much 24 hours, getting on 2 different planes and stopping in Paris. We have never flown that far before with the children, in fact 4 hours was the longest flight they had been on prior to this.
We really couldn’t believe how easy it was to transition from one flight to another. We were only in Paris airport for around 2 hours which seemed to fly by and before we knew it, we were boarding the long flight to Mauritius. The airport at Paris was easy to navigate around and any time we got stuck, one of the airport staff quickly came to our aid and pointed us in the right direction. We really weren’t sure how the children were going to react to the long haul flight but once they found out there was an entertainment system with 100s of games and films they were in their element. We took on plenty of our own games, colouring etc. for them as well so they were pretty much entertained the whole journey and as we flew through the night it wasn’t long before they fell to sleep which of course made a big chunk of the flight fly by.  If we had any tips for the long haul it would be to make sure you have plenty of snacks, games and comforts for the children as this helps to settle them a lot quicker. Once we landed in Mauritius once again it was made as very simple as the staff in the airport took us to the front of every queue since we had young children, which meant avoiding unnecessary delays. The transfer to the hotel was around an hour and again very straightforward and of course by now feeling very tired, it gave all of us an opportunity to get some well needed sleep before we arrived at the hotel.
Of course taking plenty of sunscreen for the kids is a must! But above that, the Snorkel face mask we bought before going out was an absolutely brilliant buy. Both our boys used them all day every day and never got bored with them.