My wife is trying to help somebody at her office with a few questions. Here goes...

"He wants to go end of April with wife and two daughters (ages 10 and
12). Beaches might be sold out. He also thinks that Beaches might be
too babyish for the girls?. He was told about The Sands at Grace Bay
and The Ocean Club, but wanted to know if those were kid friendly? He
said that he and his wife are OK with there not being too many other
kids there. Also, do those resorts have snorkeling available or will
they have to go to a dive shop to go snorkeling. Any other advise on
what to do. They would rent a car for a day or two."

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

SD

Not stayed at Sands but can tell you Ocean Club is definitly "kid friendly". Beaches is a very family oriented resort and appeals to those with young children mostly 12 and under but you'll see families with younger teenagers.

There's no "off-beach snorkeling" near any of those resorts but they all will gladly arrange, on a fee basis, a full or 1/2 day snorkel trip for their respective guests. The best off-beach snorkeling on Grace Bay is at Coral Gardens.

I just booked my first trip to T&C, so I'm not an expect, but I have spent a lot of time researching and can offer the following information:

1) It appears that the Sands is sold out for late April, but I only checked their website (may be some rooms available by calling the resort directly.

2) Ocean Club/Ocean Club West are generally regarded as family friendly places. One of them, OC I think, has a kid's club.

3) A lot of the resorts (not sure about OC/OCW) have snorkel equipment available for guests to use, so they could possibly borrow equipment from the resort and take a cab/shuttle or walk (depending on where they stay and how long a walk they wanted) to the off the beach snorkeling near Coral Gardens.

4) Boat excursions (snorkeling, diving, or just touring) are popular things to do. Most of the resorts are on Grace Bay, but other popular things to do are day trips to other (more remote) beaches on the island.

We stayed at the Sands two years ago the first week of May. We loved it there. There were some children there including my own but we opted to pull them out of school to go when it would not be that crowded. Sands is definitely kid friendly. My boys were 9 and 10 at the time and we borrowed snorkel equipment at no charge from the Sands. Sands also has water floats. There is no snorkeling around the Sands but at Coral Gardens. My boys loved it there and we spent a few hours snorkeling. We also took a catamaran cruise and snorkeled a few spots. It was absolutely beautiful. You can book any snorkel or dive trips through the Sands. We walked by Beaches and it was packed, even for early May. We were glad we chose the Sands. We walked by Ocean Club and it looked very similar to the Sands.

If they stay at the Sands they will have a shorter walk to the reef down past Beaches. All three resorts are nice and have a mix of families and couples. They should go out on a half day snorkel excursion they are so much fun. There is also mini golf down by the golf club near Leeward. They can take the Gecko shuttle to get around to differant restaurants and to the reef at Coral Gardens if they feel the walk is too far. Another resort you may want to look into is the Alexandra they were offering deals becauce there is construction around the resort,if they don't think they would be bothered by it. They should have something open and at a pretty good price.
I would go with the Sands as my first choice. They also have a kid friendly restaurant.

For the end of April, such short notice at peak season, you might be hard pressed to find anything.

Check out:
Sands (first choice) if avalaible

Beaches is not to baby for 10-12 year olds-they'll love the freedom of going around independently with all of their new friends.

Best for snorkeling: Coral Gardens (Beaches is fairly close too)

It's not impossible to walk from Sands to snorkel at Coral Gardens. OC is pretty far for snorkeling.

If all above are booked, try:
self catering luxury of Villa Renaissance (in the "hub&quot
Le Vele (also self catering)
May even try Somerset (expensive)
but Palms next door, so girls will meet other kids
Alexandra (construction, but get decent deals because of it)

good luck, and tell us if you found a place for then!

Thank you for all the very helpful input!

Cheers,

SD