Need Help with vacation!
 

Going on vacation late October for 20 days. 2 adults/2 kids. Open to anything, but must have great snorkeling, AC in the room, and a seperate bedroom, or 2 bedroom room. If you have stayed at a certain AI resort and you LOVED it, please let me know. We have had some bad AI in the past. Have been looking at Cayman Islands. The Reef looks good, but I'd love to hear from some people who have stayed there. If you have any other ideas of great islands, please let me know. Thank you for your help!

We have stayed at the Reef Resort several times and love it. We used their new AI plan once, but prefer to be able to eat on our own and choose our own places and also prepare some meals in the condo. (like breakfasts to save time & money) Do you have specific questions? The beach, pools, snorkeling, beach bar, etc are all great!

Thank you! I am having such a hard time planning this trip. Mostly because I can't seem to make up my mind where we want to go! lol. I've looked at T & C, Barbados, Jamaica, Bahamas...you name it. But The Reef in Grand Cayman seem to be the best deal we have found. I'm glad to hear from someone who has been there. So here are some questions...and Thank You!!
1. Is there a grocery store nearby?
2. How is the beach right in front of the resort? With 2 young boys it needs to be sandy and not rocky.
3. I like that the resort is far from the busy part of the island, but how far is it from restaurants? (Even though Aruba is only 18 miles long, it took an hour to get from one end to the other.)
4. Since you have been there many times, where is the best snorkeling on the island?
5. We plan on renting a jeep while there, is that really necessary?
6. Have you seen The Villas of the Galleon? How would it compare to The Reef?
Thank you sooo much, I appreciate your time and help with this. I am tring to plan a really nice vacation but we were somewhat disapponted by the resort we stayed at in Aruba. I want to avoid that again...:)
Thank you!

Have you checked Breezes, Curacao?

what did you not like about the resort in aruba?
1. yes across the street. it's small but has basic stuff - i don't recall a meat dept but they may have frozen meats. with 3 weeks you'll easily head back to seven mile enough times to go to the real grocery. (there is a good store close to the airport & on the route to the reef)
2.the beach is good. they feed fish at the end of the pier every day & the boys will like that
3. there are 1/2 dozen restaurants within 20 mins. the rest are 45 mins away in georgetown/seven mile beach.
4. good snorkel off reef resort beach. also from several spots on the way to rum point. several spots on seven mile. reef does a guests only excursion to stingray city that would be fun for all of you.
5. you'll have to have a rental but i don't think a jeep is necessary unless you prefer it. all roads are paved
6. vog is in the middle of seven mile beach, reef off by itself. reef has pool, restaurant, entertainment, activities, beach bar. vog has no pool & is near all above, but you couldn't just let the boys head off from your room by themselves as you could at the reef.
you don't say how old your boys are but if they're into skateboarding look at this: http://www.blackpearl.ky/view_gallery.php?gallery_id=16
with 20 days you'll really be able to get to know the island.
there's a farmers market early sat am, a fun place to snorkel with lots of different kinds of starfish in the kaibo area, the mastic trail hike which is a trail cut through natural cayman flora and a botanical garden with gorgeous plants from all over the world, stingray city, some pirate stuff in ?? savannah or boddentown, rum point.
hope this helps :)