Well, that’s a wrap on fall break 2022!  My kids always get the first week off in October – and we love it!  It’s always about two months out from when school starts, so you better believe we start counting down, but most importantly, it’s such a great time to travel!  The summer rush has died down, and the holiday rush hasn’t yet started.  Plan ahead and you can catch some pretty sweet deals!  This year we went to Nassau, Bahamas – a destination I never imagined being able to visit.

Now this was a work-ation for the hubby, so needless to say, the work didn’t stop for either of us.  But overall, we enjoyed our time in the Caribbean.  You can read more here about how I booked this trip – I used points earned from two of our favorite cards: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card.  (All the Southwest personal cards are great, the Priority card is just the one we happened to have at the time of booking back in April/May.

Grand Hyatt Baha Mar had the Hyatt Family Plan Discount Rate available, so I was able to book two connecting rooms for our family of 5.  Keep in mind this Hyatt perk isn’t always available at all properties; I had emailed them prior to booking, to inquire.  Both rooms were really nice, with views into their multiple pools on site.  Our room had one king-size bed, and was spacious enough to fit the baby’s playpen in one corner.  A connecting door led us to the second room, with a queen-size bed for each of my older two kids.  We needed the additional space, and more importantly, the bathrooms!

There were multiple pools on site, food trucks by the beach, and Baha Bay Luxury Waterpark.  We didn’t leave the resort at all, so most of our time was divided between hotel pools, beachside lounging, and Baha Bay Luxury Waterpark.  Baha Mar resort guests enjoy unlimited access to this waterpark and we all loved the pools, slides, and water experiences.  Now there is a lot more to do on site: cooking classes, mini golf, gallery & art center, wildlife experiences, kids club, shopping, and a casino.  There’s also various excursions you can also book for additional costs, but we decided not to do any this time around.

Why?  Well for starters, food was not included in our stay – dining was expensive and overpriced.  This is one aspect I do wish I had given more thought to.  But sometimes when you are planning multiple award trips at once – well, you overlook things.  So each of those above mentioned on-site resort activities?  Yes, each would be an additional cost/person.  Also, we have trips coming up in November and December, and frankly speaking, we needed to watch our costs as food expenses were already putting us over budget.  

One evening, hubby and I were able to put the baby to sleep, got room service for our older two kids, and dined at Marcus at Baha Mar Fish & Chop House.  We waited 45 minutes for a table for 2 (we hadn’t made a reservation), and another 45 minutes to get our dinner.  By this time we were beyond hungry, and it was late – so just plain tired.  But I have to say the food was worth it and refreshing.  The view overlooking the beach was great, and the light evening breeze added to the ambience of the restaurant.  Now prior to our visit we did receive an email from the hotel encouraging us to make reservations for dinner – but that was more so for upscale resort restaurants.  (It would have made sense for us to make a reservation at Marcus, but we hadn’t planned on dining there.)

I also didn’t like the fact that we would have had to pay an additional $50/day if we wanted a microwave and/or a mini fridge.  Now it’s fairly standard to be able to request these items at most hotels, but never have I been asked to pay a fee!  We always tend to bring food back to the room from meals, and it would have been nice to store or heat up leftovers as needed.  When guest services told me the cost over the phone, I said no thank you and hung up.

While I understood ahead of time that this wasn’t an all-inclusive resort, the price-gouging was just ridiculous.   Grand Hyatt Baha Mar is a beautiful resort with lots to do for the whole family – but I have to say that if you plan on visiting – plan ahead when it comes to dining and activities.  Even kids club activities had a daily cost, so our little one enjoyed the (free) flamingo exhibit, and lots of pool time.  Do your research on the respective restaurants so you are well aware of how much daily meals will cost you, and look into activities and excursions.  We love doing water excursions on beach vacations, but this time around we had planned on just lounging poolside.

I’m grateful that points and miles allowed us to visit this beautiful Caribbean destination, though I will reiterate that even when your flights and hotel stay are covered, there are always additional costs associated with travel.  Here’s to hoping that future beach vacations don’t have such excessive additional costs like this one!  This trip was special nevertheless as it was our little one’s first beach visit, and last free flight – she turns 2 in December, ah!  As I always like to say: adventures had, memories made, lessons learned!