Hellobee Boards

@PinkElephant: Orlando Grande Lakes(JW Marriott/Ritz Carlton). You have access to both properties, amenities, lots of restaurants, lakes, golf and a whole lot for your kids!

@PinkElephant: we booked a super last minute trip to St. Martin/St. Maartin last summer—like we booked 36 hours before we left, and we stayed at the Oyster Bay resort. It’s a small resort and it was super uncrowded when we went last august but they have a variety of rooms from 1 bedrooms to 2 and 3 bedrooms. We booked a pool front loft suite, which had a king bed down and 2 twin beds upstairs and it overlooked the pool but they have many different room types.

It’s not an all inclusive and it’s not a huge resort—so it doesn’t have that busy/buzzy feeling but we had such a great time. We would literally have the pool to ourselves most days or at most 1 other family. They have 2 small restaurants on site and you can eat by the pool from the bar menu (which we did a fair amount because it was American type bar food so my kids would order small pizzas or burgers or chicken strips or whatever.) The infinity pool was really beautiful.

It’s a small island so we rented a car and visited different beaches every day. There are a ton of great restaurants there, and oyster bay is kind of between the Dutch and French sides, so we spent time on both. There was an amazing French restaurant just around the corner from Oyster bay and we went there twice.

We also spent a day on Anguilla—it’s only a 25 minute boat ride a day. You can also do a day trip to St. Barths, which is about a 1 hour boat trip but we didn’t attempt that.

The water was so blue and clear and we had such a great time just fooling around and it was really cheap for a last minute vacation. Overall, we had a great time but it’s super different from the atmosphere of a big all inclusive where you never leave the resort. But there’s a lot to do—you can charter a boat for day trips, you can do water sports, they have an inflatables course on one of the beaches, etc.

We just did pool, beach, and good restaurants though—we also found a couple of off-the-beaten-path things like the highest point on the island, a “hidden” cove with a cool rock formation, etc. But we didn’t book any big group excursions and still had a blast.

I also have three. Have unfortunately never taken a vacation with all three of them (or even two, thanks covid), but this post intrigues me.

@Anagram: I've been eyeing Oyster Bay but having trouble stomaching the cost of flights; for the last minute deals, was the flight a less desirable itinerary (i.e. long layovers) or were you able to get a good itinerary from your location?

@erinbaderin: This looks awesome! Curious, do you think your kids would have loved it as much if they were a bit younger (toddler to preschool range), or were the activities mostly geared towards school-aged kids?

@PinkElephant: Hope you find something awesome!

@periwinklebee: Actually I think my kids would have loved it more if they'd been a bit younger. The Family Club area had a mini "waterpark" (more like a big splashpad) that I had hoped my kids would spend a lot of time at, but actually my 9 year old was a little bit for it and little brother wants to do what big brother wants to do. The Kids Club also seemed generally geared towards younger kids, mine mostly just used it for the mini soccer field and for the snacks.

@erinbaderin: Thank you so much, super helpful!

@Anagram: Amazing, thanks! I checked out jet blue vacations, and crazily booking the flight and hotel for a week jointly was cheaper than just booking the exact same flight alone, crazy. Still pretty pricy for the particular week we have off this summer, but I'm going to keep an eye on it. Thank you!

Check into a cruise! I think they are one of the most affordable ways to travel with a family because everything is included. We usually get adjoining interior rooms. It's the cheapest option and adults get privacy, and don't have to go to bed when the kids do. Our favorite cruise line is Royal Caribbean. Our latest cruise this past March actually stopped in St. Maarten!