I grew up with parents that love to travel but ones that were always budget travelers. We never stayed in fancy hotels nor resorts. As I grew older I went to some resorts with my friends, mostly places where you get all inclusive average meals, a few pools and some entertaining at night.
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About a week ago I had the chance to attend to Social Media on the Sand Conference (#BeachesMoms) at Beaches Resorts in Negril, Jamaica. I was very excited to be invited because I had followed other bloggers that got invited in the past and it just seemed like an amazing experience, plus we got to stay here at a discounted rate. I expected it to be great but it blew my mind!
I had never been to a luxury resort that catered to families and kids the way Beaches Resorts do. We were greeted at the airport by some of their staff and they promptly took us to the mini van that would be driving us to the resort. It was a 90 minute drive but a very pleasant one and our driver talked to us about Jamaica. I was very amused to hear how many times he said “yeah, mon”. I soon learned everyone says “yeah, mon” all the time and it just sounds so awesome.
We got to the hotel and I felt like we were in a little piece of heaven. We were welcomed by some of the hotel staff singing to us and they all put flower necklaces around our necks. They had a table set up with all sort of delicious snacks, which was great since we had been traveling for about half of a day by then.
Check-in was quick and they took us to our room. Our amazing room! The first thing we noticed was that our fridge was stocked with water, juice, soda, red wine, white wine, champagne and it was all free! This was the beginning of one of the best vacations of our lives.
During our stay I attended to blogging related events during the day while my husband entertained the kids. We spend the afternoons together and at night we attended all the fun activities that the resort offers.
There is so much I want to say about staying at Beaches Resorts in Negril that I think I’ll have to break it up in several posts. Today I want to share with you the highlights of our stay and why we will definitively go back.
How Beaches Resorts changed the way we vacation:
The food is A M A Z I N G
Beaches Resorts in Negril has 9 restaurants and we tried almost every single one of them. The food was outstanding and a lot better than I expected considering my previous all inclusive experiences. They even have a coffee shop, Cafe de Paris, that serves amazing cappuccinos and dessert. I can’t live without good coffee so this was great.
The fruit was delicious too! The fruit in the US just doesn’t taste as good so it was refreshing to eat very sweet papaya, mango, watermelon and all sorts of delicious caribbean fruits. They even had sugar cane which I devoured because it reminded me of my childhood.
They have a Kids Camp (daycare)
If you’ve been following my blog you probably know my kids don’t go to daycare. To be honest, I have trust issues and have only left my kids with mom and mother-in-law. I learned that the resort had a 9am-9pm Kids Camp and I wanted to try it because my husband and I don’t get to spend a lot of time alone. Since we would still be on property it made me feel better and once I met the staff all my concerns were gone.
It was also great to have someone there to help out with the kids. One day my husband and I left them in Kids Camp for an hour and we went to have fun: we went down the huge water slides, had a cocktail, went to swim at the beach and just had a fun time.
Beaches Resorts is made for families
Everything at Beaches Resorts revolves around the kids and parents having a great time. You will find a lot of fun activities to do during the day, lots of water features and shows the whole family can enjoy. The staff steps in every time your kid is cranky and tries to make them happy.
They also have a lot of water activities you can do during the day. Our kids are small so we decided to do the glass boat tour and it was amazing! I cried when my 3 year old touched a starfish for the first time and told me it was her dream to feel one some day.
We also enjoyed all their land sports but especially the mini-golf. My 3 year old was so obsessed with it that even on the day we were leaving we had to stop by so she could play one last time.
This entire place was just so magical for my kids and seeing them so happy made me cry several times.
Sesame Street is part of the resort
Yes, all the Sesame Street character live at Beaches Resorts so you can imagine my kids’ excitement when they got to see them walking around the pool or the beach. They are so nice to the kids and stop every time to hug them, take pictures or just to say hi. They even join the kids during Kids Camp for some fun activities, like baking cookies with the Cookie Monster.
Every night Sesame Street has a live show and once a week they do a parade that finishes at the beach. The parade had all sorts of dancers and artists so it was amazing to watch. We did both things and it was just so much fun, not only for the kids but even for us.
You can even have one of the Sesame Street characters stop by your room to tuck your kids into bed. This was probably the most exciting part of the whole trip for my daughter. She’s still talks about it every day. We had Elmo stop by and he even gave her a stuffed animal which she takes to bed every night.
The next morning after the tuck-in we got to have breakfast with the Sesame Street characters and say hi to all of them. If your kid loves Sesame Street you have to go to Beaches Resorts!
The water features are the best
When I think of a resort I imagine pools but nothing like what we saw here. They have basically an entire waterpark right at the resort called Pirate Island Waterpark. There are 3 pools: a kiddie one and two bigger pools for all ages. Both of the big pools have swim up bars where you can get from kiddie smoothies to adult beverages and the kiddie pool is shaded.
The best part of the waterpark is that they have 2 huge waterslides, a splash pad, an entire playground with water features and a lazy river. My kids had the time of their lives and so did we! My 3 year old loved the lazy river and was convinced she learned how to swim faster on this trip and my 1 year old loved getting splashed in the playground.
The beach is beautiful
I have been to some resorts that are not on the prettiest beaches but the beach in Negril is amazing. It’s a 7-mile beach with white sand and clear blue water. The water is so clear you can actually see the fish and starfish at the bottom of the ocean.
The sun sets right on the horizon of the beach giving you the most beautiful sunsets you’ve ever seen and the resort has a lot of chairs and umbrellas set up along the beach so you can just sit back, enjoy and relax.
The staff is out of this world
The staff is really great. They go out of their way to make sure your stay is as best as possible and they are so friendly. I am convinced Jamaicans are the nicest people on the planet because every single one we met was always smiling, making our kids laugh and talking to us.
I even had lunch with one these guys while my husband went snorkeling. He even helped me with the kids.
My husband and I are travelers. Our souls light up when we travel and we feel truly alive. We make traveling a priority in our family and try to travel as much as we can. However, we had never taken the kids to a resort and after being at Beaches Resorts we realized that we have to have this type of vacations for our kids and to bond as a family.
Had I not been invited to Social Media on the Sand we would have probably never gone to a Beaches Resorts in Negril thinking it was too expensive but after we went there we realize you get your money’s worth and more. Plus seeing your kids so happy is just priceless!
We have made a commitment to keep taking our kids there because family vacations should be about making everyone happy and that’s what Beaches Resorts knows how to do.
I am very grateful for this vacation and I cannot wait to go again!
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