Resorts

"Many thanks to those of you who responded to my question about a place to travel in the Caribbean with our 16 month old daughter. …In sum, …there are about 4 chains of resorts that have infant/toddler programs at some of their resorts - these are Club Med; Beaches; Breezes; and FDR/Pebbles. Those chains are all quite different. There are also lots of "family friendly" resorts but their kids programs generally start at 3 or 4 years of age, although most offer babysitting services.

Below are the responses that I received:

1. Beaches kids club does take kids under 2 and some Breezes do. We just went to St Lucia in June with our 22mo twins. Stayed at Almond Resorts:
- they are only on Barbados and St. Lucia but also take from infant on up. I think we are going to go to someplace a little closer next time - long flight to St. Lucia!!! The Beaches on Turks & Caicos was our 2nd choice.... Also if you find a resort that you really like, but the kids club doesn't take that young, see if they have a babysitting service. Most do... it is an extra fee, but probably not too much. And hopefully you can use the same person each time. We did that at night so we could go to dinner alone (WOW!!!) and worked great.

I also called each resort we were interested in to ask about babysitter/kids club qualifications - CPR certified, child care training etc. most resorts were very helpful.

2. There is very little for the under-2 set. Club Med has some properties with Baby Club (Sandpiper, Fla; Punta Canta (starting Dec. 19) and one other--Ixtapa maybe)--the Baby Clubs do book up so you have to reserve well in advance. In the end, we decided to go to FDR Pebbles in Jamaica for a couple of reasons. There is a direct flight from Baltimore to Montego Bay on Air Jamaica and the resort has a full children's program PLUS each family with children under 6 is given its own NANNY!!!!! They have a sister property called FDR Resort and neither of them is ultra posh, but all the reviews on TripAdvisor RAVED about them--Pebbles in particular--as a fabulous place for families with small children. The price was right too. The four of us are going for $3,800 (airfare is almost half of the total) and with their Bring Your Own Grandparent promotion, we are bringing my in-laws for free (they just pay airfare).

There was another really nice place in the Dominion Republic that also offered childcare for all ages, but is would have been about $8,000 for the week, which was more than I wanted to pay.

3. We have searched for such a place too, and have discovered that most "kids camps" at most resorts do not begin until the age of 4 or 5. But a place like Beaches Turks & Caicos (where we have been) does have childcare available all day long on a drop-in basis in a nice facility for babies and toddlers. So it's not a "kids camp" per se (no scavenger hunts etc), but it is a cheerful nice place with lots of toys and activities where they will watch your child for as little or as long as you would like between the hours of 8 am and 6 pm. It's included in the price of the all-inclusive vacation. If you want a nanny to come to your room in the evening after the childcare center closes, they charge a modest fee (like $5 per hour.)"