I won accomodations to Beaches Turks and Caicos by blogging about Trumpeting Media’s Rest and Relaxation Suite last year. Airfare was paid for by my family. All opinions expressed are mine.
Now that the school year started, that means that it’s time to plan your family vacations around your school holidays. It’s always good to plan early so that you can get the best airfare and price possible. After writing about how I’ve been dreaming about a trip to a Beaches Family Resort, to my pleasant surprise, our family won a four-day, three-night trip to any Beaches Resort. We decided to go to the Beaches resort on the beautiful island of Turks and Caicos, an island that we have never been to.
Here’s our review of Beaches Turks and Caicos:
Getting there: Going to Turks and Caicos from the New York City Metro-Area is an easy, direct, three-hour flight via the awesome people at JetBlue. As soon as you get to the small airport at Turks and Caicos, you can easily find the Beaches people at the end of the exit and they will direct you to a van that will take you and your luggage to the resort. The drive is a quick 14 minutes through town. By the time it sinks in that you are in Turks and Caicos, it’s time to get out of the van!
When we got out of the van, we were welcomed with a smile and handed a cool, citrus-scented towel to cleanse ourselves and then given a yummy tropical drink while our bags were whisked away to our room. And that was before we even set foot inside the resort! We were led to an office where we signed paperwork and received our member cards that we can use at the giftshops. Beaches Turks and Caicos is an all-inclusive family resort which means once you are on the resort, you don’t have to take out your wallet for anything, including tips. (Unless you buy something at the giftshop, but you use your member card and it will automatically charge your account.) It’s definitely a liberating feeling not having to shell out cash every time we wanted something to eat or drink or wanted to do an activity.
As soon as we got to our room, we quickly changed out of our New York City clothes and got right into our bathing suits and went right to the beach, was was absolutely clear and beautiful. There were many chairs to plop our things down.
Accomodations: Our room was in the Caribbean Village. The accomodations were amazing, fully appointed and the Carribbean Village is centrally located and within a three-minute walk to all of the pools, restaurants, water parks and activities. Our room had a huge king-sized four poster bed, and a twin bed with trundle. The bathrooms had big fluffy towels, and all the shampoo, soap and conditioner you would need. I also loved that the bathtub had a clothes line so that you could hang your bathing suits at the end of the day. It’s the little conveniences that I appreciate.
Activities: Our days consisted of figuring out where to go first. “Should we go to the pool first? If so, which pool should we visit?” Then we’d ask, “Should we go to the beach next?” or “Should we hit the waterslides?” These are the kinds of decisions I could get used to making on a daily basis. The resort has three water park areas: a small area for little toddlers, a medium size area (shown above) and then a larger one. Both the medium and large water parks are for the 5-year olds plus and adults, it just depends on what you like to do! We loved that there were options for everyone, and we couldn’t get enough of all the activities.
Everything at Beaches Turks and Caicos is just grand. The picture above is taken at the French pool, which was medium sized (!). And as you can see, the wet bar is just huge — and super fun for the girls to swim up to and order a kid-friendly smoothie.
Activities abound. Beaches Turks and Caicos has a ton of water activities and sports that all members of the family can enjoy. Our girls did some snorkeling in the crystal clear, wave-free waters. We saw some fish and hermit crabs, which totally freaked the girls out – in a good way. You can rent those oversized water bikes, go scuba-diving and get your hair braided. There was a Sesame Street breakfast with the characters, and a Sesame Street show which our 6-year old watched. There is an Xbox game room and game area where the girls played foosball and Nok Hockey.
Beaches Turks and Caicos has a supervised kids camp, which looked like fun, but our girls weren’t into it. And besides, for only a handful of days, we wanted to spend time with them! But if we stayed longer, we would have taken advantage of the kids camp.
Food and Dining Options: What I like about all-inclusive resorts is that there is an immense amount of food available. All food and drinks are included so you don’t feel bad if your picky eater doesn’t finish their meal and wants another chocolate croissant instead. And, when you’re at the beach or the pool, and the kids get hungry or thirsty, all you have to do is just walk over to one of the many restaurants and order up anything you would want.
During our stay, we enjoyed breakfast at Cafe de Paris, which is where we ate every morning because of their expansive hot and cold breakfast selection: yummy crepes, super-fresh squeezed orange juice, eggs and omelettes made to order…everyone in the family was always satisfied! Lunch was usually quick because the girls wanted to stay out-and-about so we would eat at Bobby Dees, which is perfectly situated by the water parks. Of course an afternoon snack of hand-made pizza at Dino’s Pizzaria was a big favorite of the girls and was usually followed by a kids slushee at one of the swim-up bars. Dinners were at Barefoot by the Sea (where you take off your shoes and are sitting at the beach!), Arizona’s (amazing ribs), Mario’s (for all-you-can eat Italian food). There were so many restaurants that we didn’t get to, but we know we will hit up on our next trip to Beaches Turks and Caicos.
Dispelling the all-inclusive myth. I’ve heard, through various people, that all-inclusive resorts could be “cheesy”. Beaches resorts are anything but. It is a high-quality resort, with fabulous amenities, amazing activities and delicious food options. We enjoyed our stay so much that we booked our 2014 trip on our last day there—a true testament to how much we loved our stay at Beaches Turks and Caicos. We’re counting down the days until we return!
5 Quick Tips for Traveling to Beaches Turks and Caicos:
1. Traveling during the “off-season” is always a plus. The beach and pools were not crowded and all those stories of guests having to wake up at 6 a.m. in order to “reserve” a poolside lounge chair was non-existant. (We went in late June – early July).
2. Bring a several bottles of sunscreen and bug spray. It’s better to bring more than you need than paying a premium at the gift shops.
3. Bring sun hats and sun shirts. The sun is very strong in Turks and Caicos and you can burn easily!
4. You don’t have to necessarily “dress-up” for dinner, but bring one pair of nice sandals (or a pair of nice shoes if you are a guy) and a few “nice but casual” outfits.
5. Dinner can get crowded during the normal dinner times of 7:00 p.m. and up. So either go on the earlier side, like around 5:30 – 6:00 p.m., or make a reservation.
Where are you planning to go on your next family vacation? Does Beaches Turks and Caicos sound like a place that your family would go to?
For more information, visit the Beached Resorts website.