We began by
taking BART from the Bay Point/Pittsburg station at Todd Darling's suggestion as
it is the start of the train and goes directly to the SF airport. It was $11
each and went well. We flew all night on American from SF to Miami (me in a
middle seat that did not recline) arriving at 5AM and our flight to
Providenciales was not until 1PM so we were thrilled to have passes to the
Admiral's Club courtesy of our AA rep. It would have been nice to have
recliners or couches to lie down on but instead they did have somewhat
comfortable chairs in quiet areas and areas with TVs going as well as
juice, coffee and mini-muffins. The best thing was they had 8 shower rooms with
a shower that has liquid soap and shampoo, a sink, toilet, hair dryer
and privacy! It was great to shower after the all night
flight!
The flight
to Providenciales was only an hour and a
half also on American. I have only ever
spent one night in the Caribbean previously at the El San Juan hotel before a
fam on the "Exploration Starship"in the early 80s and the only all-inclusive I
have stayed at before was Club Med Ixtapa in 2002 before it was refurbished and
included alcohol. I have never stayed at a Four Seasons or a Ritz Carlton, but
have stayed at nice Hyatts, Marriotts and Fairmonts. The Veranda Resort was
definitely one of the best hotels I have ever experienced. We were met at the
airport by one of the resident managers with champagne and driven the 15 minutes
or so to the resort. We were quietly checked in on a couch in the reception
area while meeting the General Manager of the
hotel.
We were
escorted to our room by our personal concierge and then were to meet the
Resident Manager at 6PM for a site inspection and dinner on the beach (but a
rain shower changed that to one of the restaurants). We were dead tired but
rallied and met him an hour after checking in. We had an ocean-view studio on
the fourth floor of the main building which was large with a king size bed, flat
screen TV, large balcony, kitchenette area with a refrigerator, microwave,and
sink and a dressing area with double sinks and a bathroom with toilet and
shower. The resort has 2, 3, and 4 bedroom villas and beach houses as well.
Some are privately owned and not rentable, some are in the rental pool and get
the all-inclusive benefits, all are very nice and great for families! We also
saw the spa, gym, and kid's area. They have a complimentary kid's program for
kids from 3-12 and a game room with Playstations, Wiis, etc. for all to use.
The beach is amazing and quiet and peaceful with baby powder white sand and
turquoise, clear, warm water. The resort has a main pool area close to the
beach with an outdoor pool table, really nice hammocks, fire pits at night,
etc. They also have a family pool and an adults only pool in the center of the
two sections of the resort that are specific to those groups. There are 3
restaurants and usually only one was open for breakfast and lunch and then
usually 2 were open for dinner. The choices for dining were great, with our
favorite being the Sky Lounge which was on top of the main restaurant
overlooking the beach, pool, fire pits, etc. On Saturday night, they bring all
the tables and chairs out onto the beach for a beach barBQ with entertainment,
it was a really nice experience also. You know you are at a nice all-inclusive
when the vodka they pour is Grey Goose. The wines were mainly from South
America and were not fabulous but drinkable. The beach staff would bring fruit
skewers and cold washcloths to the beach and anything one wanted to drink.
Non-motorized watersports were included such as snorkeling, kayaks, and
sailboats. An example of the level of service is when I requested distilled
water for Jack's CPAP machine, they put 4 gallons of distilled water in our room
when he needed about 8 ounces! Wifi was complimentary but I was not able to
access any of my Segale stuff , not even email.segaletravel.com. Phone calls
from the room to the US and Canada were complimentary which was nice since ATT
charges $2.25 per minute on the cell phone. On our last night, they left a
bottle of champagne, chocolate covered strawberries and 2 tote
bags!
We were
treated to a couple's massage the morning after we arrived and it was amazing!
The guests at the Veranda were from all over, three young couples from Italy,
honeymooners from the UK, Kentucky, New Jersey, Maryland, etc. Most people were
from the East Coast which has much better air service. Even from London, BA has
nonstop flights to Nassau, then they continue on to Providenciales. There are
excursions to North Caicos, and Middle Caicos for snorkeling, etc. and one can
take a ferry to those less inhabited islands. I wanted to go to Grand Turk
which is where the cruise ships dock (and there is a Margaritaville and
flowrider) but the only way to get there is to charter a plane for the 45 minute
flight each way and that was not in our budget! The Turks and Caicos are a
British Crown Colony and there is no visible poverty, no street vendors or beach
vendors, and it is very clean. They grow nothing on Provo, and everything
imported has a 30% duty on it so an all-inclusive is really the way to
go!
The hurricane
damaged some of the resorts and some close in September and early October
anyway. Beaches was damaged and was closed while we were there and it is right
next door and so the Veranda took some of their displaced guests as it is the
only other all-inclusive on the island that accepts kids (Club Med is 18 and
over). Where the Veranda has 2 beach chairs and a table and then another set
about 15 feet away, at Beaches the lounge chairs sit right next to each other
and about 6 rows deep. Apparently when it is open there are lots of people on
the beach, but it was very quiet for us!
After 6 nights
in paradise, we moved to Club Med which our rep, Sam, had arranged for us
complimentary. The Veranda insisted on driving us there and it is about 15-20
minutes down the beach. When we were shown to our room, which was super hot
even with the air on full blast, and very basic, we both really wanted to call
the Veranda and see if they would let us come back! We requested a fan and
extra pillows (which finally came at 11PM) and then headed to the beach. The
beach is the same, only wider and has more shells and is sort of on the point,
absolutely beautiful! The pool area is really nice and the sport courts looked
great. The restaurants, bars, and accommodations are very old and tired and
apparently they just found out that they can extend their lease for another 25
years so hopefully they will close it and tear it down and rebuild! As opposed
to Grey Goose at the Veranda, at Club Med they poured a tiny amount of a no-name
vodka, the chardonnay was awful (and Jack likes 2 buck chuck!), and the only
beer they served complimentary was the locally made Turks head. Coronas and
other beers were $5, decent wine was $5 or more, and I have no idea what Grey
Goose was but it definitely showed me the difference between
all-inclusives! The food was all buffet except the special restaurant, the
Lucayan, is open 2 nights a week and we were able to dine there the second
night. It was good, but the filet mignon was more like pot roast! I wish I
knew if the upgraded Club Meds serve the same things or if the food and service
has been upgraded as well. For the younger group (18-30 something's), it is
probably great. They have entertainment nightly and all types of sports
including the circus! The staff is international, young and energetic. We met
a lady from Canada who was there for the second time because she loves the ocean
but on her last trip, some people she met had a rat in their room which was a
bit disturbing! There are no elevators either and the buildings are up to three
stories high, not fun with luggage!
The return
trip was fine but customs in Miami took forever, so many lines and then you have
to go through security again to check-in for the continuing flight, people need
at least 2 1/2 hours between flights if they are clearing customs! When we
landed in SF at 11:30PM which was 2:30AM in the Turks, we were thrilled to have
Todd Darling there to drive us home in his beautiful
Jaguar!
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