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As a team of travel consultants passionate about the Sandals brand, we couldn't wait to take our daughter to their family resort "Beaches" for her first birthday! For this trip, we decided to arrive a day early, to maximize our beach time and spent the first night at the Windsong, a 50 suite condominium resort situated perfectly on Gracebay. With a national marine park right off the beach, this hotel features some of the best snorkeling on the island and offers complimentary non-motorized water sport activities to all of it's guests. At this property, you can literally walk off your patio with mask and snorkel in hand and be exploring the diverse aquatic water life around the reef without doing a full day tour. :) After a good night sleep we checked into Beaches around 10am and were quickly taken to our room in the Key West Village, which featured a private balcony, comfy king sized bed, walk-in shower, fully stocked bar and plenty of room to spread out.
Having previously visited this resort, without children and staying in the Italian Village, we knew how grand the property was and enjoyed the seclusion of the Key West side. As the newest part of the resort, it is like a resort within the resort, with secluded pools scattered throughout the property and it's own restaurants. While the entire resort is family friendly, the Key West Village would be great for couples or even families looking for a little bit of isolation, away from the hustle and bustle of the Caribbean Village. Also, Bayside, at Key West had the best breakfast buffet out of the all of villages, Sky had amazing views of the ocean and Schooners was the place to relax for a tasty lunch.
As this was our first family trip, we didn't think we'd use Camp Sesame but after a few days we decided to check it out and absolutely loved the team there! You can check your children into the camp for a few hours, or all day and it is part of Beaches' All Inclusive package. The next day we dropped our daughter off for a few hours and got to enjoy some time together on the beach and at the Spa. Later on in the afternoon we went to check on her and saw how much fun she was having, so for the rest of the week we took advantage of it. At camp Sesame they have plenty of activities, take the children swimming in their own designated pool, out to lunch and kept them on the nap schedule (which we appreciated). Overall, we felt great about how well she was taken care of and could tell how much they cared about the children there.
Bravo team Beaches!
Throughout the week, we enjoyed many of the restaurants and thoroughly enjoyed the pop-up Indian one, inside the Italian Village. The bartenders took excellent care of the adults but always looked after the little ones too. On many occasions they made special fruit smoothies for our daughter and would come out and play with her. The water park was fun for all of us and there are lifeguards throughout the property as well as the beach. The Spa... Make time for that! They have the eucalyptus steam rooms, saunas, as well as the hot and cold plunge pools, that you'll find at a number of the Sandals resorts. The service menu is extensive and we had an amazing couples massage. The diving was exceptional as was the snorkeling. If you take a 10 minute walk to the left of beaches there is a protected marine park (across from Windsong) where we saw a spotted eagle ray, nurse shark and a friendly turtle. If you're lucky, you might even spot the famed Jojo the Dolphin! :)
In the end, we left feeling relaxed, recharged and more bonded as a family. :) It was a great holiday and we can't wait to go back again later this year! ** Travel Fam!For those looking at an amazing family getaway, this is the place to be and we would LOVE to send you there. We've created a strong partnership with the Sandals/Beaches brand and invite you to use our complimentary/professional services to plan the vacation of a lifetime! We can't wait to speak with you! Much love and travel, Jonathan & Angela
Email: info@RivageTravel.com
