GO! Our best visit in 7 years!
We just returned from our visit last night. We were there Sunday April 4-Saturday April 10. IT WAS THE MOST NORMAL I HAVE FELT IN A REALLY LONG TIME. Just wanted to get that out there. If you are on he fence about your trip, don’t be. GO. It will be a tad more challenging travel-wise (I will explain below), but as far as the resort goes, WOW. Not. One. Single. Worry. Hang on, this will be a long post.
Getting there: We flew American and, shockingly, no complaints at all. However, be patient with the airline employees. They have a lot on their plate when checking you in. Make sure you have hard copies of your authorization and negative covid test. Place each with each passport to make it easier for them (so, my authorization and test result was with my passport, hubby’s with his, kids with theirs). Don’t just hand them a stack of papers. Once you get the the gate of your Providenciales flight, you will need to check in with the gate agent for them to check your paperwork – again (at least we did in Miami).
Arriving: My only compliant about travel – we had to sit on the plane (doors were all open, air running) for customs to allow for more space (think social distancing here). We sat for about 20-25 minutes. We arrived on the 1PM flight and the airport was super busy – which is a good thing IMO. Was not thrilled about sitting on the plane, but I’m not sure what else they could do. Both my husband and I are two months vaccinated, kids are low risk, so I was not worried at all. That many not be the cases for others.
FastTrack: I cannot emphasize how amazing this service was. If you can. Swing the cost, do it! It was $70 per person, plus tax for arrival. We were met by a FastTrack employee, who literally whisked us through customs to the front of a line. While we were doing that, she retrieved our luggage for us and arranged for our transport with Beaches. Once we were done with customs (about 25 minutes), we were loaded onto our transport (just us – depending on your party size you may get a shuttle just for your family like we did – we were 4) and off we went. We did tip the FastTrack person $20. I’m not sure if that is customary, but we were so impressed. Also, when you talk with the locals, things were really bad this past year. So, if you can give a little extra tip, do.
Arriving at the Resort: We were booked in the Caribbean Village in a Seaside 1-BR Concierge Villa Suite (LV1). This has been booked since last year when we were cancelled because of Covid. We always book what best meets our budget and will keep our family of 4 comfortable. No more, no less. Hubby likes his stocked bar and I like being able to use the concierge for a variety of requests. This year, the concierge was super useful and dinner was reservation only in pretty much all of the restaurants. AND WE LIKED IT. Yes, we liked being able to make dinner reservations as it helped with planning our day and we did to have any long wait times for dinner (which can happen especially during peak times like Easter). It was nice. Disclaimer – our kids are older, this was our sixth visit, so we ate later (between 8-9 every tonight). We like the nightly shows, but its not a priority for us as much as family time together. Our concierge was able to accommodate all of ours dinner reservations – be flexible. We gave her a range of time and she was able to get to all done for us. As usual, our room was not ready upon our arrival at 2:15-2:30. We changed and were headed to the beach/pool by 3:00.
Our time: I was told the report was about 60% capacity. It was comfortably crowded. Masks required for anything indoors as well as when you are being served buffet food outside such as at Arizonas for lunch. There are “buffets” but the Beaches employees serve you. We liked this as well. We had no issues eating what we wanted, when we wanted and where we wanted. Yes, you do need to check to see what is open when, but we had no issues, no complaints at all. It was all fabulous as always. There have been some menu changes to offer more vegetarian, gluten free type foods. We found the changes nice. Again, no compromise on the food. It was delicious. Lunch was pretty much either pizza, Bobby Dees snacks, Mac and Cheese truck for the kids. Hubby and I snuck away a few times to Jerk Shack and Neptunes. But we are pretty much snickers during the day with a big dinner tab night. We had dinner at Schooners, Arizonas, Le Petit Chateau, Kimonos and Soy. Ok, we may had had appetizers at Soy more than once (reservations were not required at Soy). Hubby and I also had our date night at Sapodillas. All of the food was amazing! Note for new people - order what you want. If you want 2 appetizers, order two appetizers. If you want 2 main dishes, order two main dishes. We attended the Sandals Select Lunch at Schooners on Wednesday - always a favorite as well. We appreciate the company’s recognition to those who are so loyal tp the brand. My kids love the bingo, especially when they win.
We pretty much park ourselves at the Italian Pool everyday as our home base. Hubby likes that pool and its vibe. We did have to get up early to get a couple of pool chairs as the Italian Village pool like always during peak time is packed by mid-morning. No biggie. We are early risers, our kids are self sufficient, everyone is happy. We did spend some time at the water park, which is always wonderful. We love the lazy river. On Thursday we did the Kitty Kate boat tour - always a favorite and this year was no different. We enjoy this tour because budget wise its not that costly and the tour only lasts until lunch. They did still have the bar and served individually wrapped snacks. You did not have to wear a mask on the tour at all.
All in all, everything was so normal but for all of the masks and hand sanitizing (all the time, which is fine). The employees are 100% of the time masked. Sometimes it could be difficult hearing and understanding, but again, we were so happy to be there it did not matter. It seemed as if the employees were happy to be there as well – basically the entire vibe of the resort was nothing but positive and happy. This was probably our best trip to the resort ever. Yes, there are little things like sometimes waiting longer for a drink or food, but nothing that we would have considered a major issue. We were happy to be there and that pretty much trumped everything.
One of the reasons we keep returning to Beaches is the consistency. Consistency of the resort, the restaurants and the employees. Bishop holds a special place in our hearts and we are always so happy to see him - “What What What - Why not!”. Natrice has been braiding my girls hair since our first visit in 2015 and I honestly think she’s enjoyed watching the girls grow up. Angela is always our waitress at Sapodillas for date night and who can forget Big Boy for all of your entertainment! It’s just always nice to see a lot of the same faces from year to year. Almost like visiting family. One thing is for sure - this past year was hard for them and the island.
Covid testing: We are US citizens, so we needed a negative test to go home. This was scheduled for us at the Nurses Station in the Caribbean Village on Thursday at 2:30. We had some paperwork to fill out before, but we showed up at 2:30 and the whole thing took maybe 15 minutes. We were taken in as a family. We each sat while the nurse conducted the rapid test. Easy, no complaints. We were given a number to call after 15 minutes for our results. By Friday afternoon we had an email with our results. You just went to the front desk at any village and it was printed out for you - this is one thing I think could be easier. It would have been easier to have the results printed and delivered with your departure envelope. It was a tad inconvenient for us (and the employees it seemed) to have everyone rushing the desk to have it printed out.
Departure: Nothing too different from the normal. Our luggage was out our door at 11. We reported to the Departure Lounge at 1:30 in the Caribbean Village, ID’d our luggage and off we went to the airport. Now, the airport. There were a ton of flights departing on Saturday. A TON. We did have the FastTrack service, but this does not FastTrack you though check in. Thankfully, we were Priority with American, so no long wait - but the regular wait, just be prepared. Again, have your paperwork ready and with each passport. Please be patient with the airline employees. They are doin their job and its a tough one right now for them. Don’t stress about the lines - you will get through and you will be ok. But again, I cannot emphasize how FastTrack helped zoom us through customs. That line was super long as well (from the door all the way down almost to the end of the airport). We went to the front of the line and just zipped on through. For us, it was worth it. However, if I had to choose between arrival or departure FastTrack though, it would be Arrival hands down. Just get me to the resort ASAP.
I know this has been a long one, but I wanted to emphasize that Beaches has everything just perfect despite the unpleasant environment we are in right now (which is getting better). Do not be afraid to go. Do not be afraid to travel. Do take the precautions you need for your family, but allow yourself to relax knowing that Beaches has you and your family as priority. This was by far our best, most enjoyed trip to Beaches in 7 years. I do think part of it was we appreciated our trip more having had one taken from us last year due to Covid. We are thankful to al the resort did to help make things less stressful (travel insurance, covid testing, ease of changing our reservation etc). It was crazy to think it had been 2 years since we last visited. Our expectations were not just met, they were surpassed. The resort was truly amazing and had everything just right. We are already looking forward to next year!
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