Beaches Boscobel Jamaica

[Anonymous]

Any opinions on this resort for a 4 and 5 year old? We are considering FDR, but the actual beach looks to be better at Boscobel. We are not the fancy, pampered vacation type, so we had planned on FDR. But the photos of the beach there don't looks os great. Does the Beaches kids camp keep the kids as happy and occuppied as having a vacation nanny at FDR?

[Anonymous]

Hey no opinion on this but I am back from a trip with my 4 year old and we had the best time at the Barcelo Mayan Palace in Mexico. The beach is fabulous...white sand, clear, calm water, GREAT POOLS, and 2 water parks for the kids. My four year old still talks about it daily. Never a fight for space or shade. Great service. We did the kids club a few hours daily, based on the activities our kid was interested in. Some stuff he did:

paint aprons, make chef hat, make cookies, movie, sandcastles, water park, water balloons, mini disco at night. He begged to go back each day.

For after hours we hired a sitter for 3 hours on three nights so we could do dinner alone and stuff. It was 10 an hour and so worth it. Our son loved playing with the sitter, she took him to dinner and then they walked around the resort and got ice cream.

The hotel is very upscale, HUGE bathrooms and the food is excellent (and I ususally hate AI food). It's a direct flight from DC. One downer is the drive from airport is about 75 minutes. For us worth it as the direct flight was no problem.

[Anonymous]

I went to Beaches Boscobel a few years ago with my children. A side note: the hotel used to be the old Playboy Hotel. The irony! Anyway, here are the good points: my kids LOVED it. The staff are extremely friendly and helpful, there are lots of activities, the main dining room is on a big patio overlooking the pool, there's a separate kids pool, and the popcorn and ice cream machines (where kids can help themselves) is turned on at 11 am. Heaven for the little ones. Cons: The beach is accesible via a bunch of steps, which is a bit inconvenient, and the beach is respectable. The food is OK (the Jamaican dishes are delicious, but most visitors didn't eat them), but there's a good selection, and lots of kids food, like pancakes etc. I'd recommend Beaches Boscobel, but would recommend Beaches Negril more, because they have a really lovely beach. I'd recommend either of the Beaches over FDR, unless you really need the nanny option.