Is there a lot to do there?

This is the most common question I’ve gotten, and the easiest. The answer is a resounding YES. There is a ton to do there. There are so many activities that we didn’t get to everything, despite my best efforts.

We loved what we did get to do, which included playing on the white sand beaches, pool hopping (we went to several different pools in one afternoon), snorkeling, swimming in the ocean, checking out the swim up bars (they have ones just for kids and the bartenders are great at making fun frozen concoctions for kids as well as grown-ups), an epic foosball game, floating down the lazy river, and zooming down the fun water slides at Pirates Island water park.

We loved trying all the different restaurants and grabbing quick treat at Cafe de Paris became a sweet daily ritual. There was also time hanging out in hammocks and saying hi to Cookie Monster. That’s just a sampling of the activities we enjoyed as a family.

My daughter enjoyed the teen activities, including a Foam Party on the beach which described as “really awesome.”

My husband and I enjoyed some couple time, too, grabbing breakfast together at Sky, a restaurant on the second story of a beach-front building that offers an incredible view, and karaoke night at Cricketers, the English Pub.

You get a schedule of events in your room each day and can choose to be as busy or as relaxed as you wish to be.

Are the activities included in the price?

All the things I’ve listed so above were included in the price. The vast majority of activities at Beaches are included in the price, even the water sports.

We did some activities that were an additional charge. We spent some mother-daughter time on the “Kitty Katt” catamaran cruise that included snorkeling and a visit to Iguana Island, operated by Island Routes. It departs from the pier at the resort.

Also, my daughter, a newly minted 13-year-old, enjoyed the teen and tween activities with her new friends, including the foam party at the beach and volunteering through Island Impact and the Sandals Foundation. Those trips can cost around $25.

And my trip to the Red Lane Spa was not included, but boy, was it worth it!

Members of our family are gluten-free/dairy-free or have food allergies. Are there choices of things to eat for those of us with dietary restrictions?

Fear not! There are lots of options and Beaches has a Culinary Concierge Desk to help you navigate the choices at the 20 restaurants. Should you need specially prepared items, they ask for one month of lead time prior to arrival for any special preparations or special products not carried on the resort.

I have kids between 7 and 10 years old. What is there for them to do there?

Beaches gets that there’s an age at which kids do not want to be babysat but are not ready to fly solo. Here’s what the website says about the Kids Camp program for this age group:

“Not yet a tween or teen, sometimes it can be hard to contain all the exuberance of youthful spirits. At Beaches, we celebrate this energy and channel it into an unending slew of fun-filled activities for this ever-active age group. Sailing, snorkeling (ages 8-10), swimming, beach volleyball, beach soccer, scavenger hunts, glass bottom boat rides, pizza making, reggae jam sessions and an unbelievable array of incredible options abound!”

Kids Club is open 9 am to 9 pm and the cost is included – parents pay nothing additional. Hooray! You can also get a nanny later than that for an additional charge.

I know you want first-hand info, so I asked my few fellow conference-goers with kids that age. Kendra of Headband for Today says her 7-year-old boy was a fan. “He really liked being able to be independent and have his own experience there.”

Sarah of Solo Mom Takes Flight says that her kids, ages 5- and 7, were big fans of Kids Camp. They had been before and loved it, but she thought on this trip they may have outgrown camp. She was wrong. “They loved the idea that they could go out on the catamaran, etc. without me. Every time I picked them up they had made new friends.”

The XBox Play Lounge is also a hugely popular place for kids that age and a good option if they’d rather not do Kids Camp. Sherry of SherryBoswell.com is the mom of 10-year-old Jared, who spent many happy hours in the XBox lounge.

Is it clean?

Yes. Beaches was very clean, and that’s true throughout the resort, from the room to the spa to the pool decks.

Did you feel safe?

I felt completely safe the whole time we were there.

It’s also possible, ahem, that one day in a flurry of activity to get to all the fun, the door to our room was not closed all the way. We didn’t discover this until our return. Nothing was disturbed, everything was exactly as we left it. I know, I know. Phew! And there was a stern family discussion about how that will never happen again, but what a testament to the safety and honesty of those on the property.

There were security guards at the entrance to Beaches, but they were very good at not being very obvious. In fact, I don’t know that I noticed them until towards the end of our trip. The conference had a fantastic Halloween costume party on our last night. We had to walk from one end of the resort to our room on the other and I wanted to walk home along the beach – it was a beautiful moonlit night. The security guard greeted us kindly when we walked from the beach back onto Beaches property.

While I appreciated the security presence, I also did not feel unsafe on the island. We stayed on the resort the whole time (see above on so much to do), though my daughter did venture off to volunteer and I felt comfortable allowing her to do so. On the plane ride down, I sat next to a man from North Carolina who had lived on the island for more than a decade and had done some work with their police force. What he said made me feel secure.

How did my tween do on the flight?

She was a champ, and slept more than I did on the way home. There are more flights during the busy season. October is not the busy season, so we had to connect. I flew through Charlotte on the way there, Miami on the way home. From Chicago, those really aren’t bad flights at all.

How expensive was it? Was it more expensive than other vacations?

That’s a tough question to answer because I’ve never been to an all-inclusive resort before, so it’s tough to compare all expenses. I have to say that I enjoyed the all-inclusive quite a bit, and the fact that there is no tipping at the resort made it that much nicer.

How expensive your vacation is depends on a wide variety of factors, including how many people are traveling, what size rooms you need, which of the four villages at the resort that you select, any extra activities, etc. Because I attended through Social Media on the Sand, we received a reduce rate for the conference, but we felt that we certainly got a great value and were very glad that we spent the money to attend. The memories we made are priceless.

You can get a quick overview of our trip in this video:

The fine print/legalese: As an attendee of the Social Media on the Sand conference hosted by Beaches Resorts, our accommodations were discounted as part of the conference. My opinions about Beaches Resorts are solely my own based on my experience.

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