My wife and I recently had the opportunity to stay at Club Med Sandpiper Bay in Florida.  This is a great property for the right family.  If you are looking to stay in the continental US, want an all inclusive with great service, and are an active person/family, this is the place for you.  This will be a 2 part series.  I’m going to focus on the activities  and the facilities in this post.  In the next post I will talk about the rooms, entertainment, food and staff.

Let’s start with the activities.  This could probably be a post all on it’s own.  There is a lot to do here and the great news for people like me with children, your kids will be too busy to miss their electronics.  In fact, one of the few things I did not see here for kids are big game consoles or TV’s to park themselves in front of and check out.  Instead, they had an amazing staff and non-stop activities, many of which are organized.

The first thing we will tackle is what I am classifying as the sport activities.  There is a soccer field, basketball court, tennis courts, multiple sand volleyball courts, a lap pool complete with lane lines and flags (my competitive swimmers will know what I’m talking about here), and a golf course.  They even have miniature versions of tennis courts for the very young guests.  While there we saw a pick up game of soccer going with kids that was being led by one of the G.O’s (staff).  We also got our own pickup game of sand volleyball going complete with plenty of Top Gun references, and I’m happy to say, no injuries.  The onsite golf course is included, and they have all the equipment you need.  Many of the sports include group lessons for free with private lessons available for additional purchase.  So for the uber competitive people out there worried about their child missing a week of practice, no need to fear.   You can actually vacation and work on your elevating your game.

Moving to the non/less mainstream sport activities.  Ever wanted to run away and join the circus?  Well here is your chance to get a taste of what it would be like on the trapeze.  Just make sure you don’t let your friends talk you into doing it “with them” only to have them bail and “observe” from the bleachers.  Kind of feels like I lost a bet on that one, but totally worth it.  Want to work on your short game, there is a miniature golf course.  Paddle board?  They got’em.  Sailing?  Yep.  All of that is included.  For an extra charge you can strap on a water jet pack and go blast off over the water.  The lovely Mrs. Frazier enjoyed a morning yoga class by the water.  Speaking of water, there are multiple pools and a small water park for the young kids.  There is a small, adults only pool with hot tub and bar.  Can’t remember what we were drinking, but it was delicious and had orange juice in it, so I’m sure it was mostly healthy.

Shifting gears I do want to talk about the facilities.  My first impressions of the facilities were just so-so.  The property is dated and in need of some updating and maintenance.  I’m being a bit picky here, but I did notice shingles dangling (probably from recent storms), cracking concrete, worn/falling apart outdoor furniture in some places and dated room fixtures, particularly around the bathrooms.  There was also more garbage around than I’m accustomed to seeing in all-inclusive properties.  Not too surprising on that front as I’m sure the costs of maintaining this type of property in the US with our higher minimum wages would make it more difficult to have the amount of staff that you can have in other countries for the same money.  That being said, it is still a beautiful location.  The fact that it is an older property also means the rooms are bigger than a lot of properties I have been to.  For me, I can overlook slightly less maintained buildings and landscaping in trade for a large room that is more comfortable for the family.

I was also a bit disappointed in the gym and yoga facilities.  The paint colors are not from a modern palate, the equipment was older, not really what I would expect from a place that is specializing in being a sports academy.  There were only 2 treadmills and when I went to work out in the morning both were taken.  I ended up running around the facility and out onto the surrounding roads.  It was not a huge deal, as the neighborhood around it seemed safe enough and there were other golf courses I ran by so the views were nice.

The sports facilities I mentioned above, were excellently maintained.  The sand volleyball courts were nice, nets in good shape, etc.  They also had a good number of Bali beds around the adult pool that were definitely a happy place.  All the pools appeared to be well maintained.  The beach area, while NOT on the ocean, was in good shape and inviting.

The need for updates and the property not being on the ocean really are the only negatives.  I’m really looking forward to the next blog and sharing how absolutely awesome, the staff is here.  The staff completely makes up for what the facilities are lacking.