Beaches Turks & Caicos reviews
15993 TripAdvisor reviews
A slice of heaven
KDJ2Go (Toronto, Canada) on Mar 23, 2024
This was our 5th trip to Beaches Turks and Caicos and it did not disappoint. The beach is amazing! You can go for long walks and enjoy the white sand. The water is so clear. We had no difficulty finding beach chairs with shade. We found the beach in front of the construction was the least crowded and widest and the sound of the waves blocked out any construction noise. The pools are great. They are busy so chairs can be a little harder to find in the morning but by the afternoon we were always able to grab fresh towels (which are restocked throughout the day) and claim a few chairs while we swam. It also depends which pool you are at. We were always able to get chairs in the morning at the pools in the Key West. The restaurants were great. I am a vegetarian and I have to applaud Beaches on the improvements they have made to include interesting vegan choices on the menu. Years ago I needed to spend a lot of time with the culinary concierge to make sure there were options for me. This time I was able to order of the menu easily and enjoyed my meals as much as the omnivores in my family. Shout out to Edvir at Schooners who remembered our strange requests between visits and made our family feel special. We are a family that tends to eat earlier 8am, 12:30 and 6pm. We never had more than a 10 minute wait, with the exception of Dinos and Bella Napoli where we waited on pizzas. Food and beverages were served at a nice pace. We had no concerns with waiting long times for meals and we were there when the resort was fully booked. Kimonos is worth going to for dinner and a show. We lucked out and had an amazing chef who had us laughing and singing. He had my son up cooking. He said it was the best part of his trip. One note around food and drink…it would be good to have the beverage machine in the Caribbean and Key West villages back. We like to walk in the morning so heading to the Italian village or Cafe du Paris for a latte was not a big deal, but we would loved to have one closer. Tip- bring your own travel mug to hold your beverages. The water park is fantastic for kids (and adults). My 12 year old loved going down all the slides. The instructor at the surf simulator was wonderful. He gave great instructions and both my 12 year old and husband enjoyed surfing. As our kids are older we were able to take in some of the shows in the evening. Big Boy(Cordano) has such a soulful voice. The dancers are amazing and the choreography was top notch. We even snuck in a nostalgic Sesame Street show and loved the characters. Generally speaking everyone is friendly on staff. Kindness begets kindness. Asking the hostess or waiter how was their day goes a long way towards a smile. We have traditionally stayed in the Caribbean village or the Key West village as they are closer to the beach and a little quieter. The Italian village is the hub of activity and tends to be loud throughout the day and the French village has no balconies and is furthest from the beach. This time we stayed in a one bedroom concierge room in the Caribbean village. We like having a separate space from the kids and it has a large balcony. The room has not been updated since our first trip to T&C a decade ago but it was clean and we love to have the large balcony to watch the sunrise and to enjoy a glass of wine when the kids are asleep. We don’t spend time in the room during the day so the older decor was not a problem. Shout out to our housekeeper Nadine who kept our place spotless. A couple of recommendations for you…if you are staying in the Caribbean village request a room that is not facing the construction. Your view will be of a plywood fence. If you are debating whether there is a benefit between regular room and one with a concierge, there is little difference. I would say that in our first 3 trips to T&C the concierge was attentive and we enjoyed little treats and notes left in our room. Butler level gives you a lot of perks like reservations and cabanas. The concierge will book Kimonos, that’s it. Although we found in the past the concierge would do things special for birthdays and anniversaries (both of which we had and marked on our reservation), this time we asked about our son’s birthday and the concierge did not apologize he just wrote down our name and sent cupcakes to the room two days after the celebration. We also were interested in the concierge cruise and asked to put our name down and when we checked on the timing the day before they had no record of us. Both the concierge cocktail party and the cruise were canceled due to “issues”. No one left a message to let us know and we left activities to make time for this. It was disappointing. Also, they asked for our favourite alcoholic beverages when we arrived. This was not restocked regularly as it has been done in the past and also when we have been to other beaches. When I phoned to inquire the concierge told me it was my responsibility to call. I also inquired as we had received no information as returning guests. Traditionally there would be some acknowledgement that you are a repeat customer and you would have an invitation to the welcome back lunch. When we asked the concierge, rather than offering to look into, we were told that isn’t their dept and we would have to talk to the Loyalty program. There was no apology or offer of help. We were made to feel we were being a nuisance. Again, generally speaking we found the staff friendly and helpful…just not at the concierge office. All in all, don’t look for much out of your concierge. We had a fantastic vacation and made more wonderful family memories. It is a great place for kids and adults alike.
Paradise for all
Cheryl G on Mar 23, 2024
Wonderful resort. Easy to navigate from place to place. The staff are truly what makes this place great. Roger and Tashi thank you for helping my son who has autism try new foods. Cafe was one of my favourite places too. Highly recommend! We stayed in the French village and loved the water park for the kids too.
Amazing Family Vacation
AnnaFamilyVacay (Boston, Massachusetts) on Mar 23, 2024
We spent two weeks at Beaches, Turks and Caicos, at the Caribbean Village (delux double) Despite it being the oldest building at the resort, the room was very clean and spacious enough for our family of three with lots of luggage and had a well-sized balcony overlooking the pool and the ocean. The property is very well managed, from check in to check out to all the different events, food services and transportation. We had a chance to meet the Guest Experience Manager - Patricia - and HR Manager - Gloria - both are incredible at their jobs and make sure that the guests have their dream vacation experience. The ocean was the best that we’ve seen in the Caribbean - warm, clean (no sea weed) and not too rough for most of our stay. We swam everyday and didn’t even go to the water park - although it seems to be a big hit with the younger kids. We visited there on the last day for my daughter to get her hair done with Sandy, who is incredible. Overall, we had an amazing time and highly recommend for families and kids of all ages
It was fine
jsho15 (Vienna, Virginia) on Mar 23, 2024
Several friends have asked about our vacation since we've returned and I've consistently said: "Our trip was... fine. It was a fine time." I will break it down into the various experiences we had, some good, some bad. Arrival - We got in late and we appreciated that the staff member that checked us in was brief. She knew we were exhausted and gave us an expedited introduction to the resort and showed us to our room. Key West Area - very quiet and clean. Not as bustling as the Italian Village. 1 Bedroom Key West Concierge Suite - The room was clean and the refrigerator was stocked with Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Soda and Tonic water as well as regular bottled water. We had requested white wine and sparkling wine be stocked as well, and while it arrived on our second day, it was never replenished. The bedroom was certainly showing some age in the sense that the furnishings are a tad on the old side and the vents rattled when the AC came on. Luckily we brought ear plugs. Our kids enjoyed the trundle beds. The washer and dryer were a nice bonus and we did use it quite a bit. The bathroom vanity was smaller than it appeared to be in the pictures. We were a bit confused at some of the verbiage on the website when we booked the trip because it said something about butler service being available but this was not an option for us. The sheets and pillowcases did not seem to be changed throughout the week and smelled bad towards the end. Bartenders - they were hit or miss. My first interaction with a bartender in the Bayside restaurant was tense. I asked for an Aperol spritz and the response was "No aperol". I asked, "Are you out or do you not carry it?" and she said, "No aperol. Not in the system." I replied, "Will you get it sometime this week?" and she replied, "No aperol." So I avoided her as much as possible. There were others who were delightful and tried to be as helpful as possible. Additionally, my daughter waited for 45 minutes at the water park kids' drink bar and was never acknowledged. I took her to an adult bar for a virgin daiquiri. Restaurants - the food was better than we expected. We never left hungry or unsatisfied. The chair and towel situation - I had read about the beach/pool chair situation before we got there and man oh man... we were not prepared for this. It's true that the chairs are basically all claimed between 6:30 and 7:30am on the beach and at the pool. Every day. They do come available around lunch when some people switch spots.
Wonderful vacation but some issues
lesliehflies (Ames, Iowa) on Mar 22, 2024
This was our second visit to Beaches TCI and we again had a wonderful week, but there were more issues than the last time; see the the "Issues" heading in the later part of this review. My biggest pieces of advice to help enjoy your trip: 1) be flexible and enjoy what is available (even if not what you originally intended) because there are many good options and 2) ask the staff for what you want- they will go above and beyond to help make everything great. The resort is beautiful, the food and service generally very good, and the activities were very good (and we had better weather in March than December, not a surprise). Below I give a more details, organized by topic. Sandals-Beaches App Download this before leaving home (you may have trouble downloading onsite due to weak internet). Despite some errors in opening times/what is adults only, the Sandals-Beaches app was generally the most reliable source, and very convenient on the phone. In addition to restaurant info and menus, the day planner lists activities, there is a resort map, etc. Ocean activities Sailing, kayaking, etc.: They have Hobie Wave sailboats available to check out. I sailed several times, both by myself and with an adult family members. Lovely views and great fun. The sailing is somewhat challenging due to waves, current, and variable winds, so if you have not sailed Hobies before I recommend taking a lesson or taking a ride with staff. Watersports staff are great. Other options including kayaks and aquatrikes. All of these are first come first serve on yellow or green flag days (they sometimes change flag midday and cab advise on whether that is likely). Beaches free boat trips (snorkeling, glass bottom boat, etc.), booked through Aquasport hut 1 day in advance (or through concierge or butler if you have these services): Book VERY early in the day, especially later in the week. On a Sunday I had no trouble making a booking arriving at 7A (when they open), but by midweek you need to arrive before 6:45 to get a booking (and earlier for a larger group that wants to go together or for a specific time). Family who went on glass bottom boat said it was okay but not great. On a prior visit I enjoyed the snorkeling trip, but it was not essential because the best snorkeling is actually off the beach- walk less than half a mile west from west end of Beaches (look for the roped off area you have to stay out of). Aquasport hut loans out snorkels and masks. Water Park and Pools We enjoyed the water park a lot (except for the incident described below under Kids). It has several tube slides, several body slides, and lazy river (there are sometimes shortages of tubes, but mostly we got them without much trouble- you can also use your own floatation device in lazy river if you have one). The swim-up bars in pools are a lot of fun (although if you don’t want to wait you may do better walking to a nearby bar) and make great chocolate monkeys for kids (and grownups). Some large pools (Italian, French) are heated, some smaller pools don’t seem to be, so if the temp is not to your liking try another pool. Activities One mistake we made on our first visit was not adequately perusing the activities, and missing out on some we would enjoy. On this visit we remedied having missed tie-dying t-shirts by doing it twice, with different colors (once Monday at 11 Italian pool and once Pirates Cove water park 4 P Thurs). Staff at these were great and the results excellent. Staff do the tieing and dyeing but you choose the colors and design, which was great for a 6-year-old but might frustrate older kids who may want to do it themselves. Bring your own white t-shirts (especially if you want to do more than one) - you can buy white Beaches Turks and Caicos t-shirts for tie-dye but they are not cheap. Our 6 year-old also did the cookie baking with Cookie Monster, which was fun but really aimed at younger kids (they didn’t let them do anything except cut out a cookie from premade dough, where as some 6 year-olds do much more baking than that). Rooms Given the (very high) prices and the fact we don’t spend a lot of time in the room, we tend to look for the cheapest option that meets our needs, which on this trip was two adjacent Caribbean deluxe doubles for 4 adults and 1 child in Caribbean Village, which is huge. We like to be near the center of the entire resort, and staff did a great job of accommodating our request to be near the eastern part of Caribbean Village (close to Italian Village, which is central and where we stayed last time). In general, we found our rooms very comfortable, and the housekeeping staff do a great job under challenging conditions (unpredictable guests and the never-ending battle against sand). The one issue with the rooms was poor internet. I travel about a dozen times a year for business and pleasure and this internet was the worst I have experienced since a horrible stay in Houston 5 years ago on business. Internet is not critical on vacation (for a business hotel this bad internet would have triggered a 1 star rating), but still annoying to the point we mostly used our excellent cellular service when in the room (internet was better in some locations but poor in many). Restaurants My overall favorite restaurant: Schooners for best ambiance and service coupled with good food. Jamesly is the best- he went above and beyond to get special things for our granddaughter. In addition to Schooners, Bayside, Sky, and Neptune’s all have beautiful settings. In terms of food only: Best dinners: Sky (twice), Le Petit Chataeu (but terrible ambiance- flies and very loud Sesame show) Best lunch: Cricketers, especially beef and stout pie (but pastry crust may not be available till close to 1PM- many thanks to Camille for alerting me when it became available) All breakfasts were good: great at Schooners, Skye, and Neptunes and very good at Reflections (this was a surprise to me as I don't generally like buffets). Best dessert: Mario’s warm chocolate tart No waiting at opening time for any restaurant except Sky (see below under Butler issues) Issues Lack of accurate restaurant information You should assume will be impossible to get accurate information about restaurants except by going there at the time you think it is open; this includes which are adults-only (when we were there only Sappodillas) and when anything is open. Where kids are allowed changed recently (late February?) and hours seem to have changed also (and sometimes the kitchen is not ready on time). We got multiple conflicting answers from staff about the adults only question, most wrong, and the website and the Sandals-Beaches app were both wrong sometimes. With that said, you can almost always find somewhere good to get food at any given time. Butler issues People who pay for butler accommodations get many special privileges and priorities. Overall, I would say this is just mildly annoying to everyone else, but is a huge problem at Sky Restaurant, which recently converted from Adults-only to Everyone. Sky is a very small restaurant on top of Bayside. One night when we went there, we got the “last” table despite arriving by 5:25 for a 5:30 opening. The problem was that more than half of the tables were being held for butler reservations, and when we left after finishing our meal, 2 of those tables had sat unoccupied the entire time. This is not good use of facilities. Kids concerns The highest tube slide (red) requires riders to be 48”. Our granddaughter has been measured by a doctor as more than 48” and looked right at the 48” line on the Beaches sign in my opinion, which was shared by staff when we went there Sunday. She rode that slide in a double tube with me and other adult family member several times. However, on Wednesday afternoon a different staff member at the red tube slide decided where was not tall enough, despite my telling him she had done it Sunday and I had pictures to prove it. Fortunately, our granddaughter adopted the flexible-choose to have fun attitude, and we enjoyed the lower yellow tube side. Furthermore, it is basic kid psychology and good management to add in a little wiggle room, so the kids you deny are clearly are not tall enough rather than arguably being on the line. While for the most part there is a kid-friendly ambiance (and staff and guests alike are very tolerant of normal kid wiggles and cries), the food options for kids do not really align well with American kids’ tastes. Staff go above and beyond to get special foods on request (multiple times) so if you don’t see what your little one needs, just ask. But Beaches TCI management should rethink their kids menus. Horrible airport Beaches, please use any influence you have to get TCI to improve PLS airport. Worst airport of more than fifty I have flown through (including more than five in Caribbean). This airport is so bad it is causing us to rethink our plans to return to this particular Beaches/Sandals resort, although we love it despite the issues mentioned above.