I’ve been getting so many questions about our Turks and Caicos family vacation. I am writing this blog post to give you the answers to some of the most frequently asked DMs that have been showing up in my inbox.
Every year we try to take a family vacation (just the four of us). Obviously, last year we were unable to go anywhere, but this year we decided to hit up one of our favorite islands. Turks and Caicos.
We have been to Turks and Caicos one other time as a family, 3 years ago. That trip was the family vacation other than Italy that our kids still talk about as being the best!
We knew that we didn’t want an on-the-go vacation, but a getaway that would be just plain relaxing. That’s why we chose a beach vacation this year.
Turks and Cacicos Has Our Hearts
The last time we went on to Turks and Caicos we stayed at the Palms resort.
The Palms is right on Grace Bay just a few hotels down from the Beaches resort where we stayed this time.
We loved the Palms resort when we were there a few years ago. We made great friends, we loved the high-end vibe of the resort and that it wasn’t overly crowded.
When we were planning this trip, we wanted to try a different resort. We looked at a few other upscale resorts and Beaches.
Our reasoning for choosing Beaches was because it had a lot of activities for the kids to do like a water park with slides, kayaks, paddleboards, snorkeling, and a lot of food options to choose from. We chose the resort because we heard great things from other families who vacationed there and thought the kids would have more fun there vs a more upscale option.
Side note: I have also stayed at Beaches resort 2 years ago when I brought my Elite coaches here for a trip. I had a great experience when I traveled with all the ladies!
When we arrived at the resort everyone was pumped to get to the beach and the pool. Although, my oldest Landon was not so excited! His first reaction is that there were too many people!
We got to our room which we thought was going to be a two-bedroom ocean view room and we were kind of shocked that it was really only 1 bedroom with a hallroom for the second bedroom which was right by the door! Which meant every time we went in and out of the room it was waking up the kids.
The pictures were definitely deceiving with the room layout! We paid for the ocean view but definitely didn’t get that vibe. Our balcony was pretty teeny tiny (again for the price we paid).
But from a cleanliness perspective, Beaches did amazing at the upkeep of the resort.
The ocean of course was gorgeous and it took us a few days to find a quiet part of the beach to hang out. We ended up walking to the far side of the resort each day and found chairs and an umbrella away from the crowd! We also found an awesome little bar and pool that were not crowded that we spent the week at.
Seriously, give my boys a football and regular ball, some snorkels and they are happy! We literally do not need entertainment.
They went to the water park for 1 hour and didn’t go back!
Now, lets talk food!
The food at the Beaches resort was EHHH! If you are someone who enjoys the culinary experience on vacation this is not the place I would recommend!
For breakfast, most places were buffet-style. Which, that is totally ok with us! We kind of prefer that in the mornings.
Most days we ate lunch at either the beachside Arizona restaurant, the pizza place called Bella Napoli that is outside by the pool or the Cricketer which had burgers and fries.
If you wanted a grilled chicken salad, you were basically getting iceberg lettuce!
We did enjoy Kimono which was the Japanese Steakhouse and Soy which was the sushi place. We ate at Schooners which was on the beach twice because it not only had a gorgeous view but they did have great food options.
There were a few additional places we didn’t get to try because they were adult only and we didn’t want to leave the kids.We heard great things about Neptunes and the Sky Restaurant.
The cocktails were subpar especially when you are used to high-end drinks. They really didn’t have high-end liquor and the drinks were nothing to write home about. Again, Matt and I really like food and drinks! So we crave that awesome unique experience.
We ALL got sick at one point during the week. We aren’t sure if it was something we ate, drank but we couldn’t really put our finger on it.
It was a good 24-48 hours of a queasy stomach and for Landon, he did throw up.
Overall, we had a great time together! The weather was awesome and the beach is gorgeous!
If you like the all-inclusive style resorts then you might really like this place. It is WAY better than any of the Hard Rock resorts we have stayed at when we traveled with Beachbody.
The Italian village was central to all the activities but I would stay in the Key West Village.
They are spacious, some have their own private pools and room for everyone to spread out! Plus it is a little quieter on that side of the resort.
The French village has the best pool and seemed a little more laid back as well.
We got the impression that “butler service” was the way to go if you wanted a full-service experience. They do reserve a cabana for you daily + umbrellas and chairs on the beach. The Butler service also helps with reservations, brings you food on demand, and more! But I just don’t know that the price was worth it at this specific resort.
We ended up doing our own private excursion one day which was our favorite. We took a boat, went snorkeling, and swimming around the island. That was by far our favorite day together! Lady K was the name of the company we used for that experience.
In the end..
The Mitro’s sure did learn a lot about our vacation style as a family!
As a family, we prefer smaller more intimate, and high-end experiences. Obviously, we love good food and drinks and all-inclusive is not our jam!
Regardless, we totally enjoyed the quality time together, we loved hanging with the boys and they loved the unlimited strawberry daiquiris of course!
Now on the way home and looking forward to being back in our own beds! Vacation is always fun and relaxing but we do like to get back to our normal routine and definitely normal food again!!!!