Beaches Turks & Caicos Trip Report
 

Recently back from Beaches in T & C. Had a great time! Went the first week in December which I highly recommend because it was not packed at all and because it was in between holidays and not yet high season, we got reasonable rates. It was my husband and I and our toddler. We paid 4500 for 7 nights and that included insurance for all 3 and a seat on the plane for our daughter who's under 2.
It's a perfect vacation for traveling with young children. We flew straight there from Charlotte, about 2.5 hour flight. We didn't have to leave the resort once, which we wouldn't have wanted to with a 21 mth old. (on all our past trips, AI or not, we always took at least 2 or 3 trips out of the resort and also sampled local restaurants)
The food variety was very good. The food rated from mediocre at Arizonas, to very good at Le Petite Chateau and Sopadillas (both adult only)
We went to a different place for dinner every night, so we tried every place. Arizonas was good for lunch (they have a buffet daily from 11 to 5) but for dinner when it turns Southwestern, the food wasn't very authentic at all. Guiseppes,Kimonos and Schooners were all good for dinner. At check in they give you a schedule from the beginning about the restaurants and when they are open. Each restaurant has one day a week they are closed, but it was no big deal as there are plenty of places to eat. Arizonas and Bobby D's diner serves food starting at 11am, so if you want or need to eat lunch before 12:30 you can go to either of them, likewise if you want or need to eat dinner before 6:00 (or you have to feed your kids before you drop them at kids club so you can eat at an adults only restaurant)you can eat at either of them. Evening entertainment was fine, not super exciting but we were back in our rooms by 8:30/9 every night anyway as our toddler needed to get to bed. Most entertainment at night was over in the french village, we would stroll to the main stage after dinner, listen to music while our daughter danced. The Cafe de Paris is there and you can get pastries and desserts and cappucinos and bring them outside while listening to music and people watching. During the day, we mainly spent time at the Cascade pool (near Arizonas) or the Riviera pool in the french village. It's the nicest pool and nicest newest looking area of the resort. But we really liked the cascades pool because it was right next to Arizonas for a quick snack and only a few steps from the Beach. The beach was beautiful and so was the water. Although the way everyone raved about it and how it was nicer then all the other places in the caribbean, I had expected it to be even better. I think the beaches on the caribbean side of Mexico (playa, cancun) where just as beautiful and the beaches were MUCH larger in Playacar.
The ocean and pool in T & C were a bit cool, I guess because of the time of year and not as southern as some other islands.
We found service to be good, there were a few people who weren't super friendly but in most cases it was good. It was typical of the caribbean, on the slow side, but we are used to that.
Our room was in the main building, which I think was the best location. Close to the pools in front and the beach and close to the french village. We were in the 2nd to lowest category of room. They offered to upgrade us to the french village but we declined because I felt it was too far from the beach, plus the rooms there have no balconies. The main building it was right in the middle of everything.
Every night after we put our daughter to bed, we sat on the balcony and enjoyed the breezes. We had a slight ocean view from the balcony. The rooms were older though and a bit musty smelling the first day, but I always notice the rooms smelling musty in the caribbean because of the dampness.
We did utilize the kids club, some times it seemed very organized and the caretakers friendly, sometimes it was a little unorganized and some of the women didn't look as nice. We used it 2 nights when we went to dinner at adult only restaurants and we used it to other days during the day. One time was while we went snorkeling.You can walk about 15 min down the beach and snorkel right from there. It was pretty good, we saw a seaturtle and got pictures.
I could post a lot more, but this will do for now. Please post any questions and I can answer them for you in more detail.

I thought of a few other things I didn't mention in my last post:
The whole resort is quite clean and the grounds are kept very nicely. I had seen some posts earlier that had said the place was dirty, but that was not the case at all when we were there. Also, there was an abundance of chairs and towels at all times, so we had none of those problems, but we weren't there during high season so I'm sure that helped.
I also never noticed the mosquitos, but in the evenings I would get bitten on my legs. By the end of the week I had quite a few bumps! My husband didn't get one bite however. But bring bug spray and itch spray!
Hope this trip report helped, I know when I was planning this trip it really helped answer my questions when people posted reports when they got back from their trips!

Please help: I am visiting Turks and Caicos around 4/23-4/30 of this year. I am going on an unplanned vacation to see one of my closest friends get hitched. Because of the unexpectedness of this trip and my financial obstacles (bought new house), the resort where the wedding is supposed to take place (Beaches) seems unreachable. After first posting some premature posts, and then reading a wealth of information, it seems as though I am going to spend quite a bit of money. With this realization reached, can you tell me some places close to Beaches that may be less expensive (non-all-inclusive would be helpful). Also, can you tell me what to expect in the way of variety of resturants, day trips excursions, and cost of vacation living? Thank you very much.

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In February 2002 my wife and I stayed at the Comfort Suites and would not hesitate to return. Next door is the Port of Call plaza with 3 fairly good restuarants (Lattitudes, Barefoot Cafe and Calico Jacks(?)). We also ate at Graces Cottage (very good but expensive), Hemmingways (quite good)and the Tiki Hut (local fair, reasonably priced) behind the CS. We did the pirate cave tour accompanied by a beach BBQ (not bad at all). We also took the tour to the caves on Middle Caicos (quite interesting). On the way back we stopped at Iguana and Seashell Islands (for snorkelling). I am gald we went. Hope this is helpful. Enjoy your holiday. The vista on the beach at Grace Bay is enough to make a grown man cry.

Comfort Suites is a great value but would be a rather long walk to Beaches.

Two closer choices (non-inclusive) are Sibonne and Coral Gardens, both substantially less money than Beaches.

RLT,

You seemed to have gotten a great deal/price for the Beeches resort. Did it include the airfare? Would you mind sharing the name of the travel agent you used. We are a family of 4 and planning a trip for June.

I think that it seems like a good price but remember their child under two is free, and it was probably only a couple hundred for the seat for the baby. Once you are paying for two kids over two you will get into big bucks, plus they were in a low room category, if you have two kids you would probably want more space