Chrissy's Beaches Turks & Caicos Review

[Girasole]

Hi All! Well we got in late last night from an awesome trip! I was so happy with how things went.
Hm...where to start!

Flights - Delta (
We got our flights for free from his mom - she used her miles to get us the tickets which was super nice & saved us a bunch of money. I would have loved to go first class especially since it was our wedding but because of the way the tickets were purchased we couldn't upgrade unless we handed over our first born (just kidding!). Our flight from Turks to Atlanta was very loud but otherwise all went well.

Resort - Beaches (A++)
We arrived to the airport & were met by the Beaches staff who marked our bags, offered us water & got us on the Taxi to the resort. I have previously been to a sandals which had a little "relaxation" space @ the airport so I was a little disappointed they didn't have that but this airport was extremely tiny.

Once we arrived at the resort (only about 15 min) we were greeted with cool towels & drinks. We quickly learned that they checked us in under the wrong names (few people there have my new married last name) so they quickly took us from the Carribbean Lobby to the Italian Village Lobby. Our room was upgraded since we were getting married & I have a Signature Guest Membership (and our TA emailing the resort to tell them we were VIP guests). We had an awesome room in the Italian Village that had a perfect view of the ocean & beautiful sunsets.
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First day - we decided to go to the waterpark (A) which was a ton of fun. We did the lazy river, FI did a few waterslides and we just relaxed and learned our way around the resort.

Wedding Coordinators:

Off-resort - (B-) I had a difficult time getting Monica to respond to me in a timely manner but when she did she was helpful & answered all my questions.

On resort - (A+) - We had Patricia & Shayna help with our wedding planning. Patricia did most of the planning & day of the wedding detals. They sent an album to our room with our meeting time & location. We spoke with them about everything we had planned, upgrades, locations of the wedding, food, etc. After a long talk we decided to upgrade from the 1 hour private cocktail reception to the 2 hour private dinner reception. We were so glad we did! We also used the garden gazebo which was perfect for our 4 pm ceremony. We had a small party (9 of us) and it was just very intimate & we had such great service. We had hot & cold hor'dorvs (at my DH's request) then our 3 course meal and then cake. We tasted the three types of cakes & my DH loved their Chocolate rum cake! I would have liked a few more options. We ordered cupcakes for everyone to take back to their rooms as a "snack" but they didn't have icing (we were told it was too hot) which was the only thing I wish we didn't upgrade to. Their vegetable spring rolls were the bomb (according to DH). I upgraded my flowers to the roses which were beautiful. We took our I-pod & speaker dock which was great for our small reception. We opted out of dancing which still worked out nicely. Every day the wedding coordinators on the resort called to make sure things were ok, helped us make reservations at the restaurants, etc...


Pools:
We loved the Iguana Pool (A+) - not many kids or generally not crowded & the bar at this pool had an awesome drink called the Iguana Trail!

Italian Pool ( - close to our room but had tons of kids & adults after 11 am

French Pool - did not swim or visit often - it seemed a little far for us to get to from our room just to hang out

Arizona's Pool - again did not swim or visit often.

Food:

Mario's (A) - we loved breakfast @ this restaurant. It was buffet & had so much to choose from. The restaurant was beautiful. We also did our reherseal dinner which they easily & quickly accomodated all of us & our waitress did a fantastic job! The food was very good.

Reflections (B-) - breakfast was similar to marios however it seemed more crowded and not as spread out so there were lines at the different stations. We had dinner here 1 night which was the seafood night but none of us were blown away with it. It was "ok"

Kimonos (A-) - we ate here with my DH parents and we thought it was a lot of fun. Reservations were difficult to get but our Wedding coordinators were very good at getting us in. The food was very good & prepared the way you requested it. This was the one night I felt truly stuffed when we left dinner. The only drawback was that it was loud & the night we went there were a ton of kids so it seemed much louder.

Schooners (A-) - we ate at Schooners twice. The first time was lunch for a Welcome Lunch which I thought was very good, there was a great selection & we got to meet a lot of the management staff and talk to them about the resort. We also ate there with our family & the service was very good but the food was just ok.

Arizonas ( - DH loved their ribs! I got their steak and it was pretty fatty but it was cooked to my liking. Service was very slow which is why I gave them a B

Sapodilla's (A-) - we went here our last evening before leaving with my DH parents & it was very nice. The service started out very good but as they got busier it declined & it was very hard to get the same attention. The food was excellent & prepared very well.

Bobby D's (B-) - we had a burger & banana split here and both were just ok. The burger was very greasy.

Bella Napoli Pizza (A+) - I love pizza on any given day but this play had fresh made brick oven pizzas that were to die for. Everyone that was with us loved them & we tended to get them for lunch. DH & I would split 1 of their pizzas or sometimes take one back for a late night snack. The only downfall of this place is that it closes early.

Barefoot by the sea - we did not eat here but our family did & thought it was very good.

Cricketers (A) - we loved this place! The food was good pub food & it was a great place just to hang out after about 9:30 or 10. We watched the Lakers game, hung out with some friends we met on the resort, etc...

Gordon's Pizzeria - ( - I had lunch here one day that DH was off fishing. I had a grilled chicken caesar salad that was ok. Service was a little slow.

Cafe de Paris (B-) - We stopped in here one evening. They have deserts but I am not much of a pastry person which they had a lot of.

I have to agree with Megan that they don't have a lot of "snack" type foods. DH & I weren't completely blown away by anything in particular but the food was good and there was a lot of it!

Drinks - unlimited, just about everything you could possibly want...well except DH mom who wanted a pomegranite martini which they didn't have but told her they will if she ever returns, ha!


Spa ( - I had my hair/makeup trial & mani/pedi - hair went very well, makeup was ok, mani was ok and pedi was ok...nothing to rave about but the staff was very nice.


Activities

Beach - the beach was awesome, water was warm & so clear. Snorkeling wasn't much to be desired at least on Grace Bay. We didn't venture to other parts to check that out

Kayaking - DH had fun with this

Waterbikes - were not allowed out on a few of the days due to weather so we didn't get the opportunity to try it.

Deep sea fishing & bone fishing - DH & His dad did this, they hired a private charter but for their deep sea trip didn't have a great guide and hardly caught any fish. Their bone fishing trip was awesome & they caught a ton of snapper and bonefish (after fighting with the baracuda a bit)

Sounds of Sax (A+) - this guy played there a few of the nights & he was awesome!

Photos:

Tropical Images (A++) - We worked with David who was awesome! He took our family off the resort the day before the wedding & we did family photos. After those photos were done he took just my DH & I around the island. We went to Blue Hills & another beach which had an amazing view of Turtle Rock and a great sunset! We haven't seen our pictures yet but we had a great time doing our photos & even my DH who hated the thought of spending the money we did on photos had a great time & thinks our pictures will look great!



The trip was great, service was great and the people were just so happy & pleasant. I will say that this is definitely a family resort & if you are looking for something more intimate you may want to look at the Sandals resorts instead. There are a few places to escape the kids but overall it is very kid friendly. I wish my brother & nephew could have come!

Chrissy

[wendyjd]

Sounds like a great wedding!! I am impressed with finishing a review the day after you return, wow.

 

Congrats on a the wedding again.

[KarenM]

Congratulations Chrissy!! Wow, you got this up super fast! So glad everything went so well for you two. Sounds like a wonderful trip!

[Cindy*]

Congratulations Chrissy. Thanks for the review.

[winnie]

Congratulations Chrissy! Great review! Makes me miss T&C all over again...

[Girasole]

Thanks guys! It was truly a great trip! I think we will definitely be visiting again in the future. I know we were also looking at possibly taking a trip to St. Lucia at some point after looking at all the Sandals brochures for there, ha!

[AishaB]

It sounds like your day came off perfectly and that you guys had a wonderful time. Congrats!

[JanineA]

Congrats Chrissy! Sounds like your day turned out exactly as you planned and you had a wonderful time.

[JENISE]

Everything sounds wonderful. Congrats on having such a perfect day!

[jaynreneewed]

thanks for the review- congrats