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So you have kids, and you thought those sun drenched stress free relaxing
holidays were but a distant memory. What if you could do both? Have a
holiday with your kids, but still get some of your own time to be pampered
and relaxed? Mauritius in general and the Saint Geran in particular are your
answer. The Saint Geran specialises in pampering people, both big and small.
It is a five star resort that openly welcomes families, but doesn't leave
you feeling overrun like some "family" resorts do. Spread over 60 acres,
there is a blissful feeling of space. Though you are certainly aware of
other people there, the overall design of the resort means you're not
continually bumping elbows, far from it. The location is superb, situated on
a private peninsula within a coral reef, the water is gentle and calm. The
beeches are fine white coral sand with only a very gentle slope. The gardens
around the resort are beautifully laid out, and very well maintained. That
alone would rank it highly as a beech resort. Next though there is the
accommodation, it is an all suite resort, with very generous sized rooms.
Every room faces off to the beech on one side, with a stunning garden to
walk through to your front door on the other.. Fittings are first class with
large king sized beds, up to date technology with stereo, DVD and internet
access, and marble fitted bath and change rooms. The resort is all two
storied, so you either walk directly onto the beech, or have a generous
terrace looking out onto the water. The resort has three restaurants, and
the executive chef is Alan Ducasse, so the quality of the food is excellent.
The main Terrace restaurant is primarily for guests, and is situated around
the pool, with many of the tables on small islands dotted through the pool.
The breakfast buffet is definitely a challenge to the waist, with every type
of food on offer. No warmer trays full of pre cooked green scrambled eggs,
everything is cooked fresh. The omelettes are truly to die for, and our boys
had to be strictly rationed on the fresh pancakes. We encouraged their
appetite for the large quantities of tropical fruit. Dinner is an every
changing feast with a new menu every day, and for the gourmands could be
held of 7 distinct courses. Yet you have to try the other two restaurants as
well. Ducasse runs one of his Spoon restaurants in highly stylish quarters.
The menu is experimental and not to be missed. As well there is a seafood
and Creole restaurant called Paul et Virginie right down on the beach. The
resort offers the full range of sports. There is a gorgeous nine hole golf
course, a five court lit tennis club, and a full featured set of water
sports. Everything is included bar private golf, tennis & scuba diving
instruction. During our stay we took advantage of much of that. The quality
of instruction is superb, with both my wife and I learning to water ski
expertly by the end of the week. The scuba diving is very good, though the
visibility on the East coast is a bit poor. Try diving on the west coast for
the best sites. Then there is the spa. Run by Gvinchy it offers a full range
of treatments from European trained specialists. You can have done
everything from a body wrap to a hot stone holistic massage. Massages are a
speciality and you can have them done in the spa or in the privacy of your
room. There is a beauty salon as well, and a very well equipped gym with a
staff of personal trainers that will happily help you create or update a
training plan. Something both my wife and I took advantage of. Last but
certainly not least is the children's club. Capable of handling
toilet-trained toddlers from the age of two up to 18 is has a range of
activities for all ages. For the young ones its an uber nursery with the
usual range of games and art, but as well they really treat them with pony
rides and glass bottomed boat trips. Older children and teenagers are also
catered for, with special tuition in golf, tennis and any of the water
sports as well as site seeing, bike riding and trips up into the hills. The
facility has its own toddler's pool, play ground and a pitch of grass for
the more active games. As well it has its own kids restaurant for lunch and
dinner that serves honestly tasty food. Useful for those times when your
active or want some private time with your significant other. Though it does
the usual range of sausages and beans, it does many interesting items with
seafood, fruit and vegetables. Our boys are generally good eaters, but they
both grew well on the excellent food they ate during our stay. Many nights
we honestly had to drag them away crying they were enjoying themselves so
much. The club also has a large staff of nannies. If you need one (which we
did for our one year old), you'll be assigned the same person for your stay.
If necessary she'll work every day, but does gets more time off when you go
so you needn't feel too guilty. They work 8 hour days, but ours was
extremely flexible, often doing 4 hours in the morning so we could go
diving, then coming back in the evening so we could have a meal to ourselves
once the boys were asleep. Ours was very good, and after a first few
transition days getting used to each other, they were generally happy to
spend time with her. All of the above probably sounds very attractive, but
frankly could be found elsewhere. What really sets the Saint Geran apart is
the service. The staff to guest ration is 2:1, so its off to a good start.
They are all extensively trained by the best in the business. For example,
when the Saint Geran closed for renovations in 2000 most of the senior staff
was sent to work and train in Europe at a variety of the best hotels. Plus
they do specific training like bring down someone from Marks and Spencer to
teach the butlers how to fold cloths for packing your luggage. But what
really makes the difference is that they are all genuinely friendly and
really like kids. Let me give you a few examples. You arrive bright and
early for breakfast. There will be an immediate flurry of activity as baby
chairs are brought up, silverware is replaced with kiddie cutlery and linen
bibs are expertly tied around small necks. The staff will make faces and
crack jokes with the kids. If the inevitable happens and food is thrown to
the floor, far from anyone making a fuss you may not even notice its been
cleaned up. Do you want an indulgent day laying on the beach? Well, when you
walk down a nice man will trot over to the sun loungers you've chosen (there
's more loungers than guests to make sure you've always got a selection, no
need for Germanic morning sorties to get the best location) a nice man will
trot up with two big fluffy towels each, bring complimentary bottles of
water with glasses full of ice, and give you an cold rosemary scented towel
to sooth your brow. Want a drink or one of their extraordinary beach
lunches? Just wave a green flag and another nice man will come over to take
your order. You literally never need leave your very comfy lounger bar
moving it to follow the sun or shade as you wish. Is a tidy room important?
Well a team of two will take over an hour each morning to clean your room
and change the bed with freshly ironed linen. Not enough? They come back
again when you're out at dinner to do a final tidy up, bring you fresh
towels, turn down the beds and leave you a last late night snack. Do you
have a screaming child and urgently need some warm milk? Call your personal
butler and it will be at your door in 5 minutes or less (yes, we timed them,
and yes it was never more than 5 minutes). Has there been a small accident
in one of the kid's beds? I called when it happened to us and was told they'
d be right by to change the bed. I was expecting someone to come by with
fresh linen, but within a few minutes there was a knock at the door. Our
butler came in, folded up the offending bed and rolled in a new one,
complete with freshly laid linen. They actually keep a number ready, "just
in case". I also asked sheepishly what they do with the wet one, and was
smilingly told its was washed down with antiseptic soap and left to air in
the sun for at least a day. Has it been a long day, and all you want to do
is be a vegetable and have your dinner watching the telly once the kids are
asleep (they have a library of a couple hundred of the latest DVDs)? You can
have room service, except its not your ordinary room service. Within 20
minutes of ordering a team will come sweeping in to the room (they can be
amazingly quiet if there's small sleeping bodies in the corner of the room)
and will set up the table in the room or out on your patio, complete with
linen and silver service. If you order white wine it will come in an iced
bucket. Plus, they will bring each course separately if you wish to make
sure you get each course at the right temperature. You can also do this at
breakfast if you can't be bothered getting yourselves and the kids dressed
and ready to go out the door. It really makes for an unforgettable
experience. It is not cheap, so be warned, but it will make for a family
holiday to be remembered. We were able to both have time to ourselves and
have some really fun time with the boys. I'll never forget watching my
oldest sitting in the shallow water singing as he make very wet sand
castles, or my youngest laughing wildly as we chased around under the palm
trees searching for small immature coconuts. I'll also not forget the
friendliness and helpfulness of the staff. It truly sets the Saint Geran
apart. Now, if the above has convinced you to go, here are a few pointers
they don't tell you: 1) If you are on Half Board, don't order from the "Room
Service" menu, as you'll pay full price for what's delivered. Go to the
Terrace Restaurant and get that evenings menu. Order off of that from room
service and you will only pay a small "tray charge" to have it delivered to
your room. 2) The Terrace Restaurant has a rather arcane reservation
process. The idea is that they will block a certain table for you for your
entire stay so that you will get to know your serving staff and vice versa.
That is fine if you eat with your family every night and want a "safe" table
inside the restaurant rather than out under the stars or on one of the cute
little Islands on the pool. We got caught out the first night we fed the
children early in the kiddies club and used the babysitter, expecting to be
able to get a romantic table for two outside. It was very disconcerting to
be led inside and be told nothing else was available. Its easy to solve, you
just have to make sure the restaurant knows you want a different table some
evenings. It was the main unpleasant experience we had in our stay. 3) The
hotel has a tip at the end of your stay policy, and if you pay once when you
settle up your bill it will be distributed from a "tip pool" amongst all
staff. This makes it much more comfortable as a guest as you never get the
feeling someone is angling for a tip for a specific bit of service. However,
some of the staff do stand out, and we made a point to give out some
personal tips to a few individuals. This is not at all frowned upon as was
very graciously received, but is not required. 4) Though the quality of the
food was excellent, they do serve seafood, and seafood can never be
guaranteed safe. I had a bad day after what we thing was a dodgy
langoustine. You need be no more cautious than in Europe, but should be no
less cautious either. |
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