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Travel Vacations Travel Blog The following are reviews from our valuable customers. We invite you to join in with your reviews and comments too!
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Beaches Turks & Caicos Vacation was great! I can't think of any real hiccups that we had. The day we got there, it took a few hours for my grandparents and my sister and brother-in-law to get their bags b/c they got delivered to the wrong rooms, and the wind was up for several days which limited a few of the already included activities, but other than that things went pretty smoothly. I think we all had a good time. I do have some things that I/we noticed about the resort/trip that might help you and your other clients in the future. I have to say that we noticed a TON more families there with little kids (newborns-6) than we did at Negril. I'm not sure if there actually were more or if we just noticed them a lot more. The sesame street program there seems to be much bigger and more organized, so it seems to be all around you (literally b/c they have these character cutouts ALL over the place). The rooms we were in were nice, and it was great to be right near several of the restaurants and one of the bigger pools (with the swim-up bar). The down side to the rooms is that they have the main entertainment stage right near them and the microphones and music are so loud that you can hear them really clearly in the room. They have early morning programs for the kids (I think it started at 8 one morning…), and late night ones too that go until around 9 and then move into the music bar, which is also right next to the rooms. Honestly, I am hoping that they can find a new location for that stage or something when they open the new section, b/c the entertainment starts around breakfast time and when around when the restaurants open in the evening, so you get serenaded by sesame street characters while you are eating, too.
There seem to be a lot more excursions available at this resort that are less "touristy", which we really enjoyed. They have a brand new catamaran, named the "Kitty Katt", and they do snorkeling (where you can catch a conch to take home) and sunset tours on it (for an additional fee) that we really enjoyed. Alexander and I also went on a kayak tour that was really interesting and peaceful, where we got to see quite a bit of wildlife and learn a lot about the islands. If you go at the right time of the month (I can't remember if it was full or new moon), there is an tour where they take you out to see the glow worms. I think it might have been neat to do that, but we were there at the wrong time.
They have a huge diving program available (the GM told us that there are 50 employees just for the program), which my aunt and cousins seemed to really enjoy. We really missed having the bigger water slides and lazy river available, especially when the wind was up and we couldn't go snorkeling or sailing or anything b/c of the undertow. The two slides they have there are really only good for the smaller kids. I think the new water park will be a great addition to the resort.
The room keys are electronic cards there, which aren't supposed to get wet. They also give you a separate "charge card" to use to charge things to your room, which also isn't supposed to get wet. (In contrast, at Negril, they give you little bungee cords with your key, so you can wear it around your wrist or ankle even if you are only in a bathing suit and it can go in the pools/ocean with you.) Next time I go, I'll have to find something I can take with me that will be convenient to carry around that is waterproof b/c the normal little screw top floating cylinder cases won't work b/c the key card won't fit.
To anyone who has been before, they have changed the pricing structure on the pictures taken by the employees for you, and it is much more expensive to get them now. Last time we went, it was something like $200 for a cd with an unlimited number of pics, which we just planned on doing again. When we got to the shop at the end of the trip, we discovered they didn't have that option anymore. Mom and I ended up getting a package with only 25 pictures on a cd (and a standard beaches picture frame) for $290. The photographers are also a bit more pushy and there are a lot more of them. Probably b/c they are making a killing selling them…
The direct flight and the short 10 minute drive to the hotel was a BIG plus. Leaving from the international terminal @ DFW is nice, and going through customs/immigration at DFW is a cake walk compared to Miami. I might pay more to take a direct flight to/from Dallas just to avoid that hassle. We didn't get charged an "exit tax". Beaches tells you to be ready for it, but no one asked for it at the airport, and we never did see where we were supposed to pay it. Not sure what the deal was with that. Looking at the list above, it sounds like there were a lot of things we didn't like, but that really isn't the case b/c none of them were really deal breakers or spoilers. Overall, it is a beautiful place, and it was a nice, relaxing vacation. Before we left, we were all talking about possibly going back after they open the new section, if that tells you anything! Thanks again for all of your help! We probably wouldn't be able to do these family vacations like this if you didn't make it so easy for us. I appreciate it more than you'll ever know!
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