Turks and Caicos

[PorscheGuy 127]

What’s the scoop. Wife wants to bring the kids this summer (8&11).    One of the few islands we have not been too. 

What are the “tourist traps” to avoid?

Any can’t miss local restaurants and activities. 

Prices look in line with other islands. Fairly easy to get there using southwest points. I’ll let someone else sit next to window 

[Tyler Durden 132]

Southwest flies to T&C?  Go go to Coco Bistro.

[VABuckeye 2472]

Also eat at Bay Bistro and Mango Reef.

Take the ferry over to North Caicos one day.  Then rent a car and drive over the causeway to Middle Caicos.  Visit Bambarra Beach and Dragon Cay.  If you catch them at low tide there's some fun exploring to do.  You can walk a mile out at Bambarra at low tide.  Dragon Cay is a very cool dragon shaped rock formation.   It's my favorite little beach in the world. Then head over to Daniel's for lunch.  Daniel fishes every morning and his son serves a lunch of fried whole fish and beans and rice until they're sold out for the day.

 

[Anastasis 23471]

Thursday Fish Fry is must go. 

Edited May 8, 2018 by Anastasis

[Angry Gorilla 1769]

3 hours ago, Anastasis said:

Thursday Fish Fry is must go. 

Yeah the fish fry is great

[Anastasis 23471]

Yeah, I was skeptical because that usually just signals tourist trap, and no doubt there is a little bit of that, but we had a blast.  May or may not have gotten lit and totally rocked out the dance line. 

Edited May 8, 2018 by Anastasis

[hornbri 1418]

10 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Yeah, I was skeptical because that usually just signals tourist trap, and no doubt there is a little bit of that, but we had a blast.  May or may not have gotten lit and totally rocked out the dance line. 

Agreed the fish fry is a good time. That is a must do. 

[Horns99 169]

Agreed the fish fry is a good time. That is a must do. 

Add another one to the list - fish fry is a good time

[VABuckeye 2472]

Loved fish fry

[Landomatic 3813]

Have heard mixed things about fish fry.  Y’all love it but I’ve heard it’s touristy and nothing but standing in lines with a bunch of them in a parking lot.  Sounds like a day at a buffet in Vegas or a day at Six Flags to me.  What’s fun about it?  Or what am I missing?

Edited May 13, 2018 by Landomatic

[Landomatic 3813]

Bumping this thread...have trip booked for mid August.  Southwest flight from Dallas to Ft Lauderdale to T&C.  Staying at Gansevoort which looks amazing.  Only thing we really have booked is riding horses on the beach.  Is this fish fry thing really worth doing?  Anything else we need to know?

[Jacob McCandles 202]

23 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

Bumping this thread...have trip booked for mid August.  Southwest flight from Dallas to Ft Lauderdale to T&C.  Staying at Gansevoort which looks amazing.  Only thing we really have booked is riding horses on the beach.  Is this fish fry thing really worth doing?  Anything else we need to know?

Try the Conch Shack - very casual, on beach spot for dinner

Hit Chinson's Grille Shack to and from airport 

Everything is super expensive at the grocery and liquor stores - so plan accordingly

 

 

[Brew 3049]

We split time and stayed at the Gansevoort, Amanyara, and a house near Sapodilla Bay last time we went. The Gansevoort is a great place and we ended up eating at the beach restaraunt there multiple times. You can also walk down the beach to several restaraunts at other resorts. The Gansevoort is in a good location because fish fry is right there, you can snorkel the Coral Gardens Reef and Smith Reef from there, and you are not very far from the main area of town.

If you rent a vehicle and are there during the week, I would visit Malcolm’s Road Beach and Sapodilla Bay/Turner Beach. If you make it to Sapodilla Bay, Las Brisas is worth a meal. We rented jet skis from the guys on Sapodilla Bay and went around to Bonefish Point and the beaches on that end. Each beach is completely different and worth a visit.

[Anastasis 23471]

I am trying to angle for an early november jaunt to T&C but some other shit is getting in the way.  Gansevoort is p.i.m.p. but kinda isolated IMO.  It's basically at the end of the beach and a pretty good distance from any grocery or restaurants.  We stayed at palms last time and it worked out well.  A short bike ride from grocery, shopping and restaurants. 

[Anastasis 23471]

Oh, and hit somewhere cafe for drinks and a snack while you are walking up and down beach. 

[Anastasis 23471]

8 hours ago, Jacob McCandles said:

Everything is super expensive at the grocery and liquor stores - so plan accordingly

Lando shoudl hit the duty free at FLL and load up. Pick up your mixers at the grocery.

[lonestarguido 21]

Oh, and hit somewhere cafe for drinks and a snack while you are walking up and down beach. 

This!

They usually have some sort of guitar player going at night and it’s a quick walk from the Gansevoort.

Loved that hotel, food was good at the hotel restaurant but yes it can be a 20 cab ride just about everywhere


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Frank Erwin 203]

Lots of good recs in here.  We went last summer, family trip.  We did a house on Sapodilla Bay, which was great.  Las Brisas is great restaurant in that area.  Also loved Coco Bistro and Da Conch Shack.  Only thing that seemed touristy about the Thursday Fish Fry was hawking cheap t-shirts, the food there was good (well follow the long lines for the best food). We also did a fishing trip with Panoply. It was pricey, but hell, everything in T&C is pricey!  We didn't have a bad meal there and every place was kid-friendly.  We look forward to going back and visiting some of the other islands like Middle Caicos and Pine Cay.

[Anastasis 23471]

Anybody stayed at Alexandra?

[Landomatic 3813]

Headed there now.  Will report back.

[VABuckeye 2472]

On 8/3/2018 at 3:41 PM, Anastasis said:

Anybody stayed at Alexandra?

I've stayed at Alexandra twice.  It was fine and the location is good  I don't know what restaurant is on the property now as Mango Reef (which is very good) moved to another location.

Edited August 15, 2018 by VABuckeye

[Landomatic 3813]

Back from T&C.  Pretty much the only way I can describe it was...damn near perfect.  Here's my way too long report back:

Resort

Stayed at Gansevoort which, from everything I saw, was the right call for us.  It was a little bit isolated from the run of other places that were kind of on top of each other.  Felt a little more exclusive.  Everything about the property was spot on, at least for us.  Everyone knew us by name almost immediately and went out of their way to make everything great.  Lots of "happy anniversary" from everyone starting with the guy who got us at the airport to the very end.  Easy property to navigate, everything was close without being crammed.  And just the right amount of people...not too big and not too small.  A few kids but not too many, the demo was pretty much 30-40 something couples without kids.  It was expensive, but I was expecting that.  No big surprises in billing at all which is always nice.  Every single person who worked there that we interacted with throughout the trip was awesome and all came to give us hugs/handshakes and tell us how much they appreciated us when we were leaving.

We had one of the bigger/more expensive rooms with a full kitchen and right on the water.  It was amazing, but if I had it to do over again, I would just take the cheapest room they had.  People say this a lot, but this was one of those trips where you're literally only in your room to shower and sleep.  Wake up every morning, go grab free breakfast, hit the pool/beach, go to dinner, sleep, repeat.

Food

Tried to take as many of Surly's suggestions into account as we could.  We pretty much took everything day-by-day and relied on Surly and the concierge as we had nothing planned (by design) heading into it other than riding horses on the beach...more on that later.

First night was Da Conch Shack.  They had a live band and it was recommended to be fun on Wednesdays.  It was fun.  Service was slow which just got us wound down enough to realize what "island time" really means.  Food was good, party was awesome.  We closed it down, met some awesome people and had a blast.  Found our new driver for the rest of the trip...more on that later.

Next night was Thursday night Fish Fry which we could walk to from the Gansevoort.  We showed up a little too late for this and by the time we got there, all the lines for food and drink were way too long so we didn't stay long.  Cool vibe though and everyone seemed to be having a great time.  We were starving so we headed to Mango Reef which was a great speed.  It was quiet but didn't feel like anything else on the island.  It looked onto a marina, food and service were great.  I'm guessing it was just quiet because everyone was at the fish fry.  Heard it was rocking most other nights.

Walked on the beach to Somewhere Cafe for lunch on Friday.  It was probably the only thing I was a little disappointed in.  The view was cool, but we found the food to be very average.  Everyone else seemed to love it so maybe we just ordered wrong.  It wasn't expensive though and the drinks were pretty good.

Friday night we decided to stay on property and eat at Stelle as we were slightly over served at the pool all day.  Plus they had a DJ and we were told it would be a fun night.  It was.  And honestly, it was about as good of a meal as I can remember having in a while.  The food was amazing and once again, cool vibe and lots of fun hanging out with people we'd been meeting throughout the trip...more on that later.

Saturday was kind of the special "anniversary dinner" night so we went to Coco Bistro, which was...very special.  Hard to get in on late notice so we had our concierge pull some strings and boy did she.  Went with some new friends we met throughout the week and had an awesome night.  We were greeted with a "happy anniversary" right away and quickly whisked off to their VIP area.  For privacy reasons, I won't talk more about this, but it was pretty special.  Food was great, service was great, scene was beyond great.  I even rolled the dice and ordered a steak.  Who the hell orders a steak on a seafood island?  It was way too expensive (beef was the most overpriced food on the island everywhere we went) but I was assured it was great...although I had my doubts if they even knew what a great steak was.  It was actually as good of a steak as I've ever had.  They appreciated it when I told them that since I was from Texas.

Activities

The only things we did were ride horses on the beach through Provo Ponies and an island boat tour through Island Vibes.

The horses were awesome.  We did a private tour (nobody else in our group - not cheap).  They let us run them on the beach just because we're experienced horse people and you walk them right out into the water which was badass.  If we hadn't ridden much or it was our first time or something, the group thing would have been fine.  In other words, I wouldn't do private unless you're really experienced with horses.  I highly recommend Provo Ponies...they did a great job.  Apparently you need to book them at least a month in advance.  Several people we met were bitching because they couldn't get in.  Our guide was really cool which kind of made it and he was also a really badass photographer.  I just handed him my phone and he spent most of the ride taking pictures of us and he got some amazing photos.  He was also a damn good DJ...more on that later.

The boat tour thing was probably the best value of the entire trip.  There were about 20 people as part of the group which was a little touristy so that kind of sucked, although we met several very cool people on it.  It was like $90 per person for 4 hours.  We went from the resort to snorkel to another little island where they made fresh conch (literally cracked open the conchs and served it fresh right on the island) to another spot to swim.  On the way to snorkel, a dolphin followed us forever and he actually hung around and swam for a bit while we were snorkeling.  I was one of the fist off the boat just because of where I was sitting so I swam with him for a while, close enough to reach out and touch him.  Pretty cool for being in the wild.  And to top it all off, the whole thing was pretty much all you could drink.  Compared to everything else, this was a hell of a deal.  The dolphin definitely made it, but even without him, it would have been well worth the money.

Bars

The only actual bar we went to was Sand Bar after Coco Bistro on Saturday.  It was rocking but I heard from several people that the bars kind of all depend on what night it is and what time you get there.  Our tour guide from the horses was the DJ and he was really cool once again.  He also informed us that he was the DJ at the fish fry on Thursday.  That whole area (I believe they called it uptown) was a really cool part of the island that I wish we'd have found earlier.  We just stopped in the one place for an after dinner drink but you could walk around to lots of different places and everything had a really cool vibe.  Would have made for a really fun night had we been prepared for it.  Danny Buoy's was across the street and lots of people talked about going there.  The other place I kept hearing about was Infinity Bar, although it wasn't in that area.

People

Probably the best part of the trip was all the amazing people we met.  I don't know if we just got lucky or if these types of places attract like-minded people or what...probably a combination.  Every day at the resort we pretty much felt like we were friends with everyone by the end of the day.  And the next day would come and some would check out and some new ones would check in and rinse and repeat.  Met a few that I have no doubt we'll stay in touch with for life.  It's always fun to meet people on trips anywhere, but I don't ever recall meeting this many who were all really great.  Only met a couple people who sucked the whole time which is rare because most people suck.  Also met a couple professional athletes and another famous person who were a little guarded at first, but once they realized we were treating them normal, they all warmed up very quickly.  It was pretty clear that they come to T&C to just be treated like a normal person and get away from the spotlight for a while.  The culture of the whole island is to pretty much treat them like everyone else.  Not everyone abides by that clearly, but it seems most do, especially the locals.

General

Generally speaking, it was just a very easy place to travel.  Now that Southwest goes there, it was just a quick connection in Fort Lauderdale and we were there.  Left Dallas about 6:00AM and we were pretty much checked into our hotel and laying by the pool by about 3:00PM.  Two quick easy flights which were fairly inexpensive and one time change is nothing for an international trip.

All of the creature comforts of home were very well established, yet there was no question we were in a foreign country.  Although we didn't use them much, our phones worked great, our wifi worked great, TV got normal channels, plugs were normal, didn't have to mess with an exchange rate or fight through language barriers.  Pretty much everything that you'd want to be Americanized was, but not much more than that.  They drive on the wrong side of the road, but even most of the cars had the driver on the left like here.

Every place we went was an easy 5-10 minute cab ride.  Cab (which was more like a van that held several people) was about $20 everywhere from what I could tell, but we met a private driver with an Escalade who was only $25 the first night so we used him for pretty much everything going forward.  We just kept him on speed dial and he showed up whenever we needed him.  Very reliable and a lot nicer than a cab.  Super cool guy too and was able to help recommend a lot of things and give us lots of tips and info.  It was like having a private guide for the whole trip.  If anyone wants his contact info, PM me and I'd be happy to give it to you.

We found everywhere to be just the right amount of really chill without being too sleepy while still having lots of much more party feel places if you wanted to take it up a notch.  Just about a perfect balance top to bottom.

Overall, it's the first vacation I've ever been on that I really wasn't ready to leave and I can't want to go back to.  Might need to become at least an annual trip.  Only complaint is that we didn't stay at least a week.

[Anastasis 23471]

 

20 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

Walked on the beach to Somewhere Cafe for lunch on Friday.  It was probably the only thing I was a little disappointed in.  The view was cool, but we found the food to be very average.  Everyone else seemed to love it so maybe we just ordered wrong.  It wasn't expensive though and the drinks were pretty good.

 

Damn sorry about that one man. 

[Anastasis 23471]

So you're not going to tell us who the famous person that you ate at Coco with is?

[Landomatic 3813]

2 hours ago, Anastasis said:

 

 

Damn sorry about that one man. 

No worries man.  Like I said, we probably just ordered wrong.  Everyone we talked to about it said they loved it.  I'll probably give it another shot.

2 hours ago, Anastasis said:

So you're not going to tell us who the famous person that you ate at Coco with is?

Haha...no.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21978]

3 hours ago, Landomatic said:

 We were greeted with a "happy anniversary" right away and quickly whisked off to their VIP area.  For privacy reasons, I won't talk more about this, but it was pretty special. 

There is no sex in the champagne room

[Anastasis 23471]

38 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

Haha...no.

damn.  how about a pic of the wife on the beach then. 

[JimmyHoffa 1188]

Hello bump. 

Just starting to get dates together to head out this fall just the wife and I. We were scheduled to go and stay at the Windsong a few years ago but my FIL passed away so we had to cancel. Already have a long list of things to check out but looking for a great property without a ton of kids (if any) 

Coco bistro, conch shack is on the list as well as snorkeling. Any other recs are welcome. 

 

[Brew 3049]

Gansevoort was kid free when we were there. It was pricey, but after Amanyara it was all relative. We’re thinking about going back with the kids this time and are probably going to go with the house option again.

[Frank Erwin 203]

If you want a house instead of resort, there are some new construction one bedroom condos on Sapodilla Bay and Chalk Sound.  They each have a private plunge pool and are perfect for a couple looking for privacy.

[Brew 3049]

8 minutes ago, Frank Erwin said:

If you want a house instead of resort, there are some new construction one bedroom condos on Sapodilla Bay and Chalk Sound.  They each have a private plunge pool and are perfect for a couple looking for privacy.

They were building those when we were there. They looked like nice setups from the outside. The other benefit is it was pretty difficult to get into it and Turner Beach both, so if you get a property on the water you have there you have easy access.

[zman13 180]

Just went to T&C in April.

If you want the "picture of the Caribbean beach on postcards" experience, go to Chalk Sound. Amazingly beautiful. 

Taxis are crazy expensive. Even the official T&C tourist website recommends not taking a taxi. 

We rented a car. I enjoyed turning on the windshield wipers repeatedly when I was trying to use the turn signal (cause it's reversed). Also using a turn signal and not just pulling out in front of other cars makes you a tourist. 

As recommended above, if you are up for an adventure, go to North Caicos/Middle Caicos on the ferry and rent a car. Dragon Cay beach has a huge cave on the beach and Bambarra is shallow and you can walk to a giant sandbar.  We stayed for a few days in North Caicos and that was very interesting. It's a whole different lifestyle on North/Middle compared to Provo.

Chinson's Grill is tasty. Friendly people but not much atmosphere.

Groceries are expensive:

 

[Landomatic 3813]

Yikes...

tl;dr - Turks and Caicos Islands Travel Advisory.  For increase in crime.  Because of Covid.  Sucks.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/turks-and-caicos-travel-advisory.html

Quote

Do not travel to the Turks and Caicos Islands due to health and safety measures and COVID-related conditions. Exercise increased caution in the Turks and Caicos Islands due to crime.

Read the Department of State’s COVID-19 page before you plan any international travel.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a level 4 Travel Health Notice for the Turks and Caicos Islands due to COVID-19.

Travelers to the Turks and Caicos Islands may experience border closures, airport closures, travel prohibitions, stay at home orders, business closures, and other emergency conditions within the Turks and Caicos Islands due to COVID-19. Visit the Embassy's COVID-19 page for more information on COVID-19 in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Country Summary: The vast majority of crime occurs in Providenciales. Local medical care and criminal investigative capabilities are limited.                

Read the country information page.

If you decide to travel to the Turks and Caicos Islands:

• See the U.S. Embassy's web page regarding COVID-19. 
• Visit the CDC’s webpage on Travel and COVID-19.
• Avoid walking alone and at night.
• Do not answer your door at your hotel/residence unless you know who it is.
• Do not physically resist any robbery attempt.
• Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive Alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
• Follow the Department of State on Facebook and Twitter.
• U.S. citizens who travel abroad should always have a contingency plan for emergency situations. Review the Traveler’s Checklist.

Last Update: Reissued with updates to COVID-19 information.

 

[zman13 180]

When we went in 2019, there was a similar advisory. The 2019 advisory wasn't as dire - it was more of the "don't walk drunk around bad neighborhoods at night" type of warning.

The local paper usually reports all the crime. Looking at it for the last few weeks, it doesn't seem that bad:

https://tcweeklynews.com/index148.htm

[EdTomBell 31]

As someone with a vrbo booked for June, definitely not excited to see that. But, it looks like it was issued in February when they were having serious covid issues. Per capita numbers right now are lower than Texas. 

[Catpfish 618]

We have a vrbo booked for July.  Wondering if anyone has any updates on restaurants, bars, etc.  I'll be following to see how you report back @EdTomBell

[Fud 9559]

Heading to TCI next week, for four nights staying at The Seven Stars

For dinner, so far we're thinking
Coco Bistro
Seven (hotel restaurant)
Magnolia
Thursday Fish Fry (still isn't back on yet, apparently)

So I need to pick one more dinner to replace Fish Fry, and the other recs I've come across are; Coyaba, Graces Cottage, Sui Ren, Baci, Las Brisas, Opus. Any strong opinions about any of these, or any not listed?

Lunch will be more playing by ear since we might just stay on the beach some days instead, but some recs I've seen are Omar's Beach Hut, Hemingway's, Bugaloos, SharkBite, Chinson's Grill, Las Brisas, Bob's Bar and Eats, Mango Reef, Da Conch Shack... any places we have to hit up?

For bars, I have Infinity Bar and Danny Buoys listed, and they appear to be nearby the hotel

For activities, we only have the pony in the ocean/beach ride planned, and will mostly be laying around. It's mostly a trip to get my wife away from our 6 month year old for a few days so she can relax, so the highlights will mostly be the meals for me 

[Brew 3049]

When we stayed on Chalk Sound, we ate at Las Brisas and Chinsons pretty much every meal. Both were excellent. When we moved over to the Gansevoort, we ate on site every meal. The restaurant on the beach was really good for a lunch place. I don’t have much else other than that.

[Catpfish 618]

I pm'ed @Fud, but I guess it's just as good to do it here.  We are leaving on the 10th and staying at the Villa Renaissance as the honeymoon we never took.  It seems like everything has to be done last minute, but not too last minute.  Test within 5 days, everything uploaded to TCI at least 24 hours before departure, etc.  Does anyone have any insight on the Covid insurance and any other thing that can be done more in advance?

[Fud 9559]

Just a heads up, for the covid test, most pharmacies including Walgreens and cvs have a 2-3 day turnaround. There’s a place in houston called rapidcovidclinic that does it within a day, which we had to do, but you’re paying out the ass for it 

[EdTomBell 31]

On 5/6/2021 at 12:30 PM, Catpfish said:

We have a vrbo booked for July.  Wondering if anyone has any updates on restaurants, bars, etc.  I'll be following to see how you report back @EdTomBell

Got back a few days ago.  Everything below qualified by the fact that I’ve only been to Caribbean once before (Cayman), and this was our first air/international travel since the pandemic, so limited basis for comparison. 

COVID/travel: TCI case rate is less than Austin, we’re vaccinated, and travel requires producing a negative test, so we didn’t really worry about it once there. The airports were complete fiascos and no American seems capable of wearing a mask over their nose, so the travel days sucked badly. Provo airport would have been charming but for being packed like sardines with little or no air conditioning and a flight delay. Hertz-affiliated car rental place was very shady, but don’t know if there are better options. 

Safety:  We didn’t have any issues but you don’t have to go very far to see people living in tough conditions, so not shocking if theft is an issue. 

Beaches and stuff to do:  We rented a villa on the other side of the island from the resorts (did the same in grand cayman and enjoyed the privacy and quiet) so I only saw grace bay beach a little bit. All the beaches we saw were gorgeous. If you want to drink on the sand and look at gorgeous blue water this is your place, but in general I would say less sea life close in to shore if you want to snorkel off the beach, etc, at least from what we saw. 

Eating and Drinking:  My top four in no order would be Grace’s cottage (only higher end place we went), Turks Kebab, Omar’s Beach Hut, and Bob’s Bar. Latter two are not near the resorts, but definitely recommend if you’re nearby. Preferred Omar’s to da Conch Shack (you can also do a jet ski tour). Bob’s was closest to us and more for transplants than for tourists on the two nights we went.  Basically an outdoor dive bar in a small marina with pretty good food.  Turks Head brewery was also fun (tiny, but the owner was cool). 

[strangulation! 1716]

13 hours ago, EdTomBell said:

Turks Kebab

hell yes. glad to hear they survived

[VABuckeye 2472]

Bay Bistro is really good.

For something different take the ferry to North Caicos and rent a car.  Drive across the causeway to Middle Caicos and go to Mudjin Harbor which is the prettiest little harbor you've ever seen (it's not a harbor it's a cove) and explore the aptly named Dragon Cay.  There's a restaurant at the top of the hill with an amazing view.

[zman13 180]

On 6/15/2021 at 3:27 PM, VABuckeye said:

Bay Bistro is really good.

For something different take the ferry to North Caicos and rent a car.  Drive across the causeway to Middle Caicos and go to Mudjin Harbor which is the prettiest little harbor you've ever seen (it's not a harbor it's a cove) and explore the aptly named Dragon Cay.  There's a restaurant at the top of the hill with an amazing view.

We stayed on North Caicos for a few days. It's much less crowded than Providenciales. It's a great place if you want to get away from everyone, find some deserted beaches and take it easy.

It's not a good place if you want lots of choices in restaurants and bars. There are few gas stations, grocery stores, etc. 

[VABuckeye 2472]

Yep, which is why I suggested hitting Mudjin Harbor on Middle Caicos.  It's a nice day trip from Providenciales and of course you have that beautiful water to look at.

[4th and 5 4921]

On 7/27/2018 at 9:38 PM, Anastasis said:

Lando shoudl hit the duty free at FLL and load up. Pick up your mixers at the grocery.

is this possible? Grab a bottle a vodka at the duty free and bring it thru customs to T&C without a $$$ hickey?

also is the fish fry up and running?

 

On 8/22/2018 at 12:04 PM, Landomatic said:

Back from T&C.  Pretty much the only way I can describe it was...damn near perfect.  Here's my way too long report back:

Resort

Stayed at Gansevoort which, from everything I saw, was the right call for us.  It was a little bit isolated from the run of other places that were kind of on top of each other.  Felt a little more exclusive.  Everything about the property was spot on, at least for us.  Everyone knew us by name almost immediately and went out of their way to make everything great.  Lots of "happy anniversary" from everyone starting with the guy who got us at the airport to the very end.  Easy property to navigate, everything was close without being crammed.  And just the right amount of people...not too big and not too small.  A few kids but not too many, the demo was pretty much 30-40 something couples without kids.  It was expensive, but I was expecting that.  No big surprises in billing at all which is always nice.  Every single person who worked there that we interacted with throughout the trip was awesome and all came to give us hugs/handshakes and tell us how much they appreciated us when we were leaving.

We had one of the bigger/more expensive rooms with a full kitchen and right on the water.  It was amazing, but if I had it to do over again, I would just take the cheapest room they had.  People say this a lot, but this was one of those trips where you're literally only in your room to shower and sleep.  Wake up every morning, go grab free breakfast, hit the pool/beach, go to dinner, sleep, repeat.

Food

Tried to take as many of Surly's suggestions into account as we could.  We pretty much took everything day-by-day and relied on Surly and the concierge as we had nothing planned (by design) heading into it other than riding horses on the beach...more on that later.

First night was Da Conch Shack.  They had a live band and it was recommended to be fun on Wednesdays.  It was fun.  Service was slow which just got us wound down enough to realize what "island time" really means.  Food was good, party was awesome.  We closed it down, met some awesome people and had a blast.  Found our new driver for the rest of the trip...more on that later.

Next night was Thursday night Fish Fry which we could walk to from the Gansevoort.  We showed up a little too late for this and by the time we got there, all the lines for food and drink were way too long so we didn't stay long.  Cool vibe though and everyone seemed to be having a great time.  We were starving so we headed to Mango Reef which was a great speed.  It was quiet but didn't feel like anything else on the island.  It looked onto a marina, food and service were great.  I'm guessing it was just quiet because everyone was at the fish fry.  Heard it was rocking most other nights.

Walked on the beach to Somewhere Cafe for lunch on Friday.  It was probably the only thing I was a little disappointed in.  The view was cool, but we found the food to be very average.  Everyone else seemed to love it so maybe we just ordered wrong.  It wasn't expensive though and the drinks were pretty good.

Friday night we decided to stay on property and eat at Stelle as we were slightly over served at the pool all day.  Plus they had a DJ and we were told it would be a fun night.  It was.  And honestly, it was about as good of a meal as I can remember having in a while.  The food was amazing and once again, cool vibe and lots of fun hanging out with people we'd been meeting throughout the trip...more on that later.

Saturday was kind of the special "anniversary dinner" night so we went to Coco Bistro, which was...very special.  Hard to get in on late notice so we had our concierge pull some strings and boy did she.  Went with some new friends we met throughout the week and had an awesome night.  We were greeted with a "happy anniversary" right away and quickly whisked off to their VIP area.  For privacy reasons, I won't talk more about this, but it was pretty special.  Food was great, service was great, scene was beyond great.  I even rolled the dice and ordered a steak.  Who the hell orders a steak on a seafood island?  It was way too expensive (beef was the most overpriced food on the island everywhere we went) but I was assured it was great...although I had my doubts if they even knew what a great steak was.  It was actually as good of a steak as I've ever had.  They appreciated it when I told them that since I was from Texas.

Activities

The only things we did were ride horses on the beach through Provo Ponies and an island boat tour through Island Vibes.

The horses were awesome.  We did a private tour (nobody else in our group - not cheap).  They let us run them on the beach just because we're experienced horse people and you walk them right out into the water which was badass.  If we hadn't ridden much or it was our first time or something, the group thing would have been fine.  In other words, I wouldn't do private unless you're really experienced with horses.  I highly recommend Provo Ponies...they did a great job.  Apparently you need to book them at least a month in advance.  Several people we met were bitching because they couldn't get in.  Our guide was really cool which kind of made it and he was also a really badass photographer.  I just handed him my phone and he spent most of the ride taking pictures of us and he got some amazing photos.  He was also a damn good DJ...more on that later.

The boat tour thing was probably the best value of the entire trip.  There were about 20 people as part of the group which was a little touristy so that kind of sucked, although we met several very cool people on it.  It was like $90 per person for 4 hours.  We went from the resort to snorkel to another little island where they made fresh conch (literally cracked open the conchs and served it fresh right on the island) to another spot to swim.  On the way to snorkel, a dolphin followed us forever and he actually hung around and swam for a bit while we were snorkeling.  I was one of the fist off the boat just because of where I was sitting so I swam with him for a while, close enough to reach out and touch him.  Pretty cool for being in the wild.  And to top it all off, the whole thing was pretty much all you could drink.  Compared to everything else, this was a hell of a deal.  The dolphin definitely made it, but even without him, it would have been well worth the money.

Bars

The only actual bar we went to was Sand Bar after Coco Bistro on Saturday.  It was rocking but I heard from several people that the bars kind of all depend on what night it is and what time you get there.  Our tour guide from the horses was the DJ and he was really cool once again.  He also informed us that he was the DJ at the fish fry on Thursday.  That whole area (I believe they called it uptown) was a really cool part of the island that I wish we'd have found earlier.  We just stopped in the one place for an after dinner drink but you could walk around to lots of different places and everything had a really cool vibe.  Would have made for a really fun night had we been prepared for it.  Danny Buoy's was across the street and lots of people talked about going there.  The other place I kept hearing about was Infinity Bar, although it wasn't in that area.

People

Probably the best part of the trip was all the amazing people we met.  I don't know if we just got lucky or if these types of places attract like-minded people or what...probably a combination.  Every day at the resort we pretty much felt like we were friends with everyone by the end of the day.  And the next day would come and some would check out and some new ones would check in and rinse and repeat.  Met a few that I have no doubt we'll stay in touch with for life.  It's always fun to meet people on trips anywhere, but I don't ever recall meeting this many who were all really great.  Only met a couple people who sucked the whole time which is rare because most people suck.  Also met a couple professional athletes and another famous person who were a little guarded at first, but once they realized we were treating them normal, they all warmed up very quickly.  It was pretty clear that they come to T&C to just be treated like a normal person and get away from the spotlight for a while.  The culture of the whole island is to pretty much treat them like everyone else.  Not everyone abides by that clearly, but it seems most do, especially the locals.

General

Generally speaking, it was just a very easy place to travel.  Now that Southwest goes there, it was just a quick connection in Fort Lauderdale and we were there.  Left Dallas about 6:00AM and we were pretty much checked into our hotel and laying by the pool by about 3:00PM.  Two quick easy flights which were fairly inexpensive and one time change is nothing for an international trip.

All of the creature comforts of home were very well established, yet there was no question we were in a foreign country.  Although we didn't use them much, our phones worked great, our wifi worked great, TV got normal channels, plugs were normal, didn't have to mess with an exchange rate or fight through language barriers.  Pretty much everything that you'd want to be Americanized was, but not much more than that.  They drive on the wrong side of the road, but even most of the cars had the driver on the left like here.

Every place we went was an easy 5-10 minute cab ride.  Cab (which was more like a van that held several people) was about $20 everywhere from what I could tell, but we met a private driver with an Escalade who was only $25 the first night so we used him for pretty much everything going forward.  We just kept him on speed dial and he showed up whenever we needed him.  Very reliable and a lot nicer than a cab.  Super cool guy too and was able to help recommend a lot of things and give us lots of tips and info.  It was like having a private guide for the whole trip.  If anyone wants his contact info, PM me and I'd be happy to give it to you.

We found everywhere to be just the right amount of really chill without being too sleepy while still having lots of much more party feel places if you wanted to take it up a notch.  Just about a perfect balance top to bottom.

Overall, it's the first vacation I've ever been on that I really wasn't ready to leave and I can't want to go back to.  Might need to become at least an annual trip.  Only complaint is that we didn't stay at least a week.

 

do you have the contact info for the driver?

 

headed that way soon, thanks for all the recs that have been given....and if anyone has some more recent ones, they would be appreciated!

[Landomatic 3813]

17 hours ago, 4th and 5 said:

do you have the contact info for the driver?

[The Royal We 3072]

Anyone been to T&C recently? Kicking tires on a trip without the kids and there are a lot of different options.
 

Como Parrot Cay looks really nice but pretty spendy. Grace Bay looks like it may have lost a step according to some recent reviews but is not much cheaper. 

[Ghost of LL 15545]

Bumping this.  At some gala just before the pandemic, I "won"* a trip to T&C for a week.  So we've finally gotten around to booking it for the week of Thanksgiving.  We're going to be at a house on Chalk Sound, so I imagine we'll have a meal or two at Las Brisas.

I'm real interested in @Landomatic's driver.  What was the arrangement you had with him?  And I wonder if he's still driving after the pandemic.

[Frank Erwin 203]

Dinner at Las Brisas I highly recommend.  Chalk Sound is a nice "off the beaten path" area.  We are going this summer and can provide updates after that