An All-Inclusive Week in Turks and Caicos
All-inclusive vacations are always amazing, but with family, it’s even better! This was a trip that was initially planned years ago, but was delayed due to the pandemic. We finally went in October 2022.
Accommodation
Our resort was Beaches: Turks and Caicos, which is a family friendly all-inclusive resort. This is the same company as Sandals, but is family oriented versus couples only.
We had an amazing 4-bedroom Key West villa with a private pool and always one of my favorite things… a hammock! After traveling for months, a huge perk for us is having a washer and dryer, and luckily, our villa had both. We were as close to the beach as we could be (which unfortunately also meant prime real estate for wedding viewing). We had 2 awesome butlers who were always at our service whether it be securing a pool cabana, bringing emergency cookies, or restocking our bar. Every morning, they would set up our beach chairs and pack us a cooler to the beach. That was awesome!
Our villa was a great location to the beach, Key West pools, and bar.
Somehow, I didn’t take many pictures of our place! But here is one of the villa itself.
The Property
This resort is divided into 4 villages: Key West, Italian, French, and the Carribean. Italy is the most central location and is by far the busiest. We enjoyed the quietness of the Key West area, but liked the liveliness of the Carribean side. Each area has its’ own vibe, so it just depends on what you’re wanting for which location you should choose for your stay.
It is a large property, but it only takes about 15 minutes to walk from one end to the other, maybe not even that long. There are 2 walking tours a day to get you familiarized with the grounds.
The grounds are very well-maintained and full of lush greenery. It’s a beautiful resort to stroll around.
Of course the beach itself is gorgeous with clear water and white sand. Pro tip is to pack your own floats.
A huge perk of Beaches is the water park. Unfortunately, it was under renovation while we were there, so we didn’t get the full experience. They did supplement with temporary inflatable slides in the kiddy area. Thankfully, the lazy river was still open! The kids enjoyed ordering drinks at the swim up mocktail bar.
There are TEN pools on the property! They each have different vibes, so make sure to explore and check them all out. Having a butler was great because he was able to set us up a cabana at any of the main pools.
A quick pool bucket list:
Have a drink under the grotto in the Carribean pool
Do aerobics in the Italian pool
Relax in the quiet Key West pools
Order drinks from one of the many swim up pool bars
Another major perk of Beaches resorts is the complimentary programs for kids of all ages, even newborns. The programs are divided into age groups and each vary on times, rules, and activities. Read more about all of the programs in the link below:
BEACHES® Kids Camp: Fun Activities For Kids Of All Ages
The kids loving going to camp! (really!)
Entertainment
Besides the amazing pools and beach, there were many other entertainment options. The best way to know about all of the options is to find the bulletin boards with the weekly entertainment lineup. There was always something to do, you just had to know where to go. Below is just a snip at 2 of the days activities.
For kiddos, you cannot miss the Sesame Street breakfast! It was loud, energetic, and a little crazy, but it’s still a must-do. Be warned, there is a DJ, and the music is LOUD, but the kids absolutely loved it. When we walked in, it felt like a Sesame Street birthday party with balloons and decorations everywhere. It was hard to actually get to the buffet and eat your breakfast because there was so much happening.
This was a great time to interact with all of the Sesame Street characters. They bounced table to table, played with all of the kids, took pictures, and even had a dance party. One of the highlights was watching Bert breakdance. You’ve got to go once!
There were nightly outdoor stage shows including reggae night, Sesame Street shows, a welcome party, plus others. My favorite part of the welcome party… the chocolate buffet! They had all sorts of truffles, cookies, and even chocolate martinis.
Besides the stage shows, there was always some sort of other nightly entertainment available such as karaoke, bingo, or dancing in the club. Live music could also be found around the property.
Shots with Judy provided nights of entertainment. She is THE BEST. She really added so much fun to our vacation with her upbeat smiley personality. She was at the Key West bar and even brought her own bluetooth speaker to play DJ for some of her favorite guests…. did someone say Fireball?
For an additional cost, scuba classes are available. Greg and I had pre-booked online for this, but when we showed up, they turned us away since we had not stopped by the dive desk 24 hours in advance to complete required pre-work. This was quite frustrating, as we were never made aware of that. So just be aware, if you do book scuba classes, be sure to go to the dive hut the morning before.
Non-motorized water sports were included. It’s always fun to go out on the hobie cats! A guide will take you out, or if you’re a pro yourself, you’re able to go out on your own. Even though we know how to sail, we like opting for the guide option for some extra relaxation.
Parasailing was not included. Nearby vendors tried to tempt us into it daily and finally, on our last day, we committed. For $225, 3 of us flew and 1 person sat in the boat (who could take pictures). It was my first time parasailing and it was absolutely incredible! I want to do it on all vacations.
When in Turks and Caicos, you have to get out into the beautiful clear water! We took a 4-hour journey on a private boat tour. It included a snorkeling spot, full of itty bitty jellyfish, which was pretty cool to see. I don’t know the science behind it, but they couldn’t sting us.
The reefs were beautiful and very visible even just by snorkeling. Turks and Caicos have some of the best dives in the world. I’m too scared to learn to scuba dive, but for divers, this is a bucket list location.
Back to the boat, our guide took us through a very shallow area where we were surrounded by sea turtles. This was amazing! I was impressed with how fast they swim. Our next stop was walking around an island full of iguanas. Apparently there are 5000 reef iguanas on the island. Beer, rum, and wraps were served to us on the boat.
Back to free entertainment- family photo shoots. They were available basically any time we wanted and we could book as many shoots as we wanted. The shoots are free; you just pay for any images that you want afterwards.
Even if you don’t buy pictures, I think photo shoots are always a good time (as long as you have a fun photographer!).
One of the best entertainment options we attended was the Friday night Island party. It started with a Sesame Street Street Party. It was a fun parade of dancing characters, glowsticks, music, and more. It ended at the island party which included more dancing, music, and limbo games. There was a huge buffet of delicious Caribbean foods. You can’t miss this night!
Dining
With 21 restaurant options, we never went hungry. Our butlers were amazing at getting us reservations wherever we wanted. I’m not going to dive into all 21 of the eateries, but just a few highlights.
Neptunes has the best breakfast (in our family opinion) and offers a lovely ambience with ocean views.
For fancier coffees and morning crepes, the coffee shop in France was our go-to spot. In the evenings, it had many dessert options.
There are 2 pizza spots. The one by the Iguana pool in the Carribean area is the best. We didn’t discover the garlic pizza here until the last day, but oh man, is it good!
The Jerk Shack is a must visit. This is a very casual dining experience on the far end of the property, in the Carribean area. The food is delicious. Right next to it is what we called the rum shack. It’s a no-shoes needed spot (which is sometimes the best!). You can ask for it to go and they will wrap the food up in aluminum foil.
Soy was delicious. It is a sushi only restaurant, so unfortunately Greg’s mother couldn’t find anything on the menu to eat. But for sushi eaters, this is a great spot. This was a fast-paced dinner, which we appreciated.
Kimonos is a hibachi restaurant and is a fun dinner option for the family. Hibachi is always a good time! All of the cooks were singing, which made it even better. Reservations are mandatory.
Sky was the closest restaurant to our villa and was our favorite dinner spot of the trip. It is an adult only rooftop dining (sounds amazing right?). We almost canceled one night because it had been raining all afternoon, so we figured a rooftop dinner sounded like a bad idea, but luckily we stuck it out and enjoyed the gorgeous post-rain rainbow and sunset. Jacque says this was the best steak on the property.
There are so many restaurants at Beaches that we didn’t have enough nights to eat at all of the restaurants, so one night, we had food from both Bombay and Marios delivered to our room. This let us try both spots but enjoy the relaxation of lounging in the villa in our swimsuits. It’s always good to have at least one of these casual nights, especially after hanging at the beach all day.
No matter what you choose to do at Beaches, you’re in for a good time!