Hotels in Carribean with kids clubs type facilities...

[HandbagAddiction]

So...apart from Sunsail in Antigua, has anyone got any good recommendations of hotels/resorts in the Carribean that are all-inclusive, have great facilities for children (dd is 2 currently) and lots of stuff for my 'can't sit down for more than 10 minutes otherwise I get bored' DH??

Looking for a week long break in late Jan/early Feb??

we went to st james' club in antigua which had everything you're looking for. we didn't go all inclusive, but most people did. also, we didn't use the kids club as only dp & i went, but it looked fine. i think soupy's been there too, so hopefully she'll see this. we went at the end of october last year. hth.

Thanks Hoxtonchick - will check it out.

Shameless bump for anyone else???

We went to Almond Village (i think that's what it's called) in Barbados. AI, included all the kids club costs. We went in September 2 years ago when DS was nearly 4. It was quiet then as outside school holidays. We ended up not using the club much, but it looked good. Plenty of stuff for DH too, or yourself if you can be bothered! All the main watersports included, and Dving too if you're interested. And you can do the PADI exams as well.

St James CLub, Antigua. Liked it so much we bought a timeshare

I think they like the child to be toilet trained but DS2 was 2 the first time we went and they took him on the proviso we came back and checked if he needed changing. Best bit? They take your children and feed them their dinner so you can have an evening meal!

Personally, I wouldn't bother with the all inclusive part - watersports, kidsclub etc are all included anyway and with children', you don't get the "eat and drink as much as you possibly can" opportunities anyway. Also, the beach cart serving drinks failed to charge us around 75% of the times we got drinks from them.

Soupdragon, would you recomend not paying for the whole All-inc option then?
Do they not have inflated prices at the restuarants and bars then, and then you get a massive bill at then end?

sounds dreamy. we went to barbados before children and even then regretted not going AI.
Any good companies to go with?

Soupy - thanks for this. Mrs Boo too!

Funnily enough we went to the Almond Beach Club - sister hotel to the Beach village when I was 24 weeks pregnant with dd. This time - I'm hoping (subject to everything continuing as it should) I'll be about 22 weeks and just want to enjoy some sun with dd and dh.

Will go and check out the St James Club....

Any more suggestions??

who do you book with? I want to see some prices!!

MrsBoo, re the AI option, we spent less than we would have done had we paid for all inclusive. Partly, because you have to pay for children and with ours at 5 and 3 (and 4 and 2) when we've been, it simply wasn't worth it. Having done AI before, we also realised that all it does is encourage us to binge excessively and we really didn't want to do it! As the activities were all included anyway, it simply didn't make sense. The prices for food and drink didn't seem that inflated tbh and the bars often forgot to charge you anyway.

We booked our original holiday with Virgin (who have an onsite check in facility for your return journey!) and flew BA when we used our timeshare last year.

SoupDragon: thanks for that info. I'm planning ahead for next year when my DS will be 6 and DD 2.
DH got to pick France for this year, but i really fancy lazing about for a while...

What we might try next time is to go AI for the first 3 days do the staff get to know us...

handbag addiction - we went to the almond beach club too - wow, the best holiday we ever had and the best room (directly overlooking the sea.) we went to look at the village and would consider it, but it was a bit over-run with kids so i expect you do have to choose your time of year. we went with virgin - they always do great flights and i think they are reasonable value. you get £100 off for booking before xmas

My cousin has been FDR in Jamaica and really enjoyed it. Their children were very young at the time. They do AI in Cuba now though. Can't remember the name but might be able to find it later.

We've been to Almond Beach Village - albeit years ago. We loved it. A word of warning though, standards are supposed to have gone down hill quite dramatically in recent years. DH's dad used to work in the travel trade and Almond beach was a favourite with airline staff. However loads of his colleagues have stopped going there. A neighbour went to Barbardos earlier this year and said that lots of people were transferring from Almond Beach to her hotel because they were unhappy.

Club St Lucia by Splash, St Lucia. Turtle Beach Resort Barbados. Gala Resort, Playacar, Mexico, Sunscape Resort, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic or Riu Merengue, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Beaches Resorts (the same chain as Sandals) are at the higher end of the spectrum price wise and have three hotels in Jamaica and one in Turks and Caicos (which looks amazing). However, they have amazing kids facilities/clubs etc. Also Club Med have resorts in the Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos and (like Beaches) their kids clubs start from age 2. Club Med always seem to have loads of activities geared to toddlers and families in general - check their website clubmed.co.uk. FDR in Jamaica provide you with your own Nanny per family I believe. Also in Jamaica is the Wyndham Rose Hall Resort which is particularly orientated towards families.

Have you considered the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai which has a great kids club, beach, swimming pools and huge adventure playground and free access to the WaterPark next door where there are waterslides and fountains and shallow pool for babies/toddlers. It is a particularly amazing hotel which caters to families with younger children.

Don't forget to check reviews for these hotels at tripadvisor.com and holidays-uncovered.co.uk, debbiesdominicantravel.com and debbiescaribbeanresortreviews.com and caribbean-on-line.com. The last website and holidaytruths.co.uk both have a discussion forum where you could also post your question.
Hope you have an amazing holiday.