Vacation with Baby
 

I am looking for suggestions for a vacation with my wife and 1 year old son. We live in New York and are looking for a 4 or 5 star resort that is located in Florida or the Carribbean. The resort would need to have a nice pool, clean/large rooms and good restaurants that are obviously kid friendly and located in/or near a town that allows us to walk around with the baby.

Any positive or negative feedback would be appreciated.

Vacation with Baby

Tis is one of those situations where you get one or the other. ;)

Kidding. I don't really have any advice I just thought it was a cute title and thought I would bump it back to the top for you. I'm sure you can use some help with planning this!

Thanks. We could definitly use advice and welcome any and all suggestions.

Have you considered Aruba?
My husband and I saw a lot of children when we went to Aruba. The pool areas all seemed very nice and the beaches were beautiful. The water was very calm. There were plenty of good restaurants. Also, Oranjastad would be neat to walk around!

Have been to Aruba and know it is a direct flight from NY. It has a few very nice hotels, Marriott, Hyatt and Radisson. The marriott has some very nice timeshares next to it that would offer kitchens. (may be helpful with a 1 year old.) Restaurants are excellent on the island and very child friendly. Bring lots of sunscreen! We enjoyed it when we went a couple of years ago. We stayed at the Marriott hotel and it was great, large clean rooms. It is a large resort. The tap water is good to drink. I would bring formula or boxed milk(parmalat). The milk was different there and didn't taste good. I am not sure why.
We are going to Cayman Islands this spring and I understand that it is very kid friendly as well. There is a Hyatt, Westin and brand new Ritz. We are staying at the Marriott there as well on points, but it is a smaller hotel resort on this island.

If you want to go ritzy, the Breakers in Palm Beach is a stunning property on a fabulous beach with many excellent restuarants on the property. It is extremely family friendly and you can walk around Palm Beach.

Sunset Keys Guest Cottages (a Westin prop) are gorgeous and a one minute shuttle boat ride from all of the action on Key West, Florida. It's a 27 acre private island with a zero entry pool, really pretty.

It can be hard to find a resort that is within walking distance of a town. The resorts tend to be just out of town, or even a bit far from town to allow them to have the best and/or cleanest and least crowded beaches. So you might need a car or public transportation where you end up. Check out familytravelforum.com, which has tons of resort descriptions all over the Caribbean and Florida.

South Beach Miami has a variety of hotels meeting most of your criteria at various price levels - you would be close to beach, shops, assortment of restaurants.

Some general advice. Look for at least a mini-suite so there is some separation from you and baby. Room should have m/w and refrigerator - not just minibar size to store food and drinks for baby. Breakfast buffet would be an added plus. No matter how kid-friendly, eating in restaurants with a baby for 3 meals/day gets old really fast.

When looking at destinations, look for non-stop air arrangements - not just something called direct air - since that can involve one or more stops.

While not included in your destination list and involving a longer plane trip, Coronado Island, San Diego meets all other criteria.

Wherever you fly, for comfort and safety buy you son a seat on the plane.

There are not many 5 stars in the Caribbean that allow children. One I know of that does is the Four Seasons Nevis.

When we stayed there, we saw hardly any kids, but that was during the off-season. I've not read them, but I've heard there are a lot of reviews on tripadvisor complaining about how many children are there. (FS Nevis.)

The town there (Charlestown) is not one I would consider kid-friendly as far as walking around, so maybe one of the FL suggestions would be a better fit.

The Buccaneer St. Croix is a gorgeous resort that has kids program. Many families return there year after year. My friends just back from there last June and loved the place. Christenstaid is supposed to be nice.

Also, consider the Westin St. John. The property has beautiful swimming pools, beaches, and is close Cruz Bay.

Casa de Campo in DR seems nice. They seem to have a good program for the 1-3 set. Santo Domingo has a lot of history since Christopher Columbus helped build the Spanish colonial city.

Grand Cayman is a really nice flight. It isn't much further than just going to Florida and then you get the awesome Carribean experience. There are many nice resorts in the Seven Mile Beach area, but we will be renting a condo close to town that I found here.

http://www.vrbo.com

That way we will have a full kitchen and laundry which will be great.

You have to drive on the other side of the road there, but it was easy to figure out. All the speeds are slow.

The Ritz in Naples is nice and we saw lots of families there. They have beach, 2 pools, spa, several restaurants, beachside bar, golf (at the golf resort -- free shuttle between the 2). And Naples has plenty of restaurants, shopping. I second the suggestion of a suite or adjoining rooms. Otherwise, you'll find yourself going to bed when baby does!

Another suggestion would be some of the resorts in Puerto Rico. We stayed at the Wyndham and loved it.