(Disclosure: This post contains referral links. Fantastic Memories Travel, LLC may receive compensation for purchases made at the linked site). After months of discussion and an argument or two, your family has decided to take a beach resort vacation. You never expected THAT was going to be the easy part! Great resort destination options abound, so how do you choose? One of the guys you play basketball with raves about Beaches Turks & Caicos. Your wife’s friend from work can’t stop talking about Dreams® La Romana. Your neighbor seems to be off to a different exotic Club Med location every year. And the local newspaper just did a Travel & Tourism piece on Nickelodeon Hotels & Resorts Punta Cana that  has your eight-year-old BEGGING to get slimed. You searched reviews online for help deciding, and just walked away more confused than when you started. For every rave review about a property, there was another calling it the worst. vacation. ever. Who was right? Which family vacation resort really is the best? How do you make the choice that makes you your family’s vacation hero? As with most things, finding the right answer requires that you ask the right questions. Each family’s answers to these questions will be slightly different, and will help direct your choice of resort.

7 Questions to Consider When Choosing a Family All-Inclusive Beach Resort

1. Do you have (or are you prepared to acquire) Passports for each family member? Most all-inclusive resorts are located outside of the United States, in places where United States citizens must have a Passport for travel. But there are a few locations where you can have an all-inclusive (or at least very close to all-inclusive) beach resort experience without a Passport, including resorts in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Florida (including Club Med Sandpiper Bay), St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands),
2. Are you looking for maximum relaxation or will you get bored easily? Which is more important FOR YOUR FAMILY, lots of activities or peace, quiet, and privacy?
3. How do you most enjoy spending your time at the beach? Is building sandcastles in the soft sand important? Do you prefer to relax in a comfortable lounge chair? Do you want a great snorkeling experience? Are you certified to SCUBA dive (or would you like to become certified)? Do you enjoy water sports like kayaking and paddleboarding? What about deep-sea fishing or sailing?
4. What kind of dining do you prefer? Do you prefer familiar food, similar to what you enjoy at home? Or is vacation an opportunity to explore and try out new and different things? How important is the variety of dining options available? Do you want the convenience and flexibility of buffet dining, or do you prefer scheduled meal times and personal attention from the wait staff?
5. How important are specialty “Kids’ Club” programs to you? Do you intend to spend your vacation with the whole family together all the time? Is it important to you that there are programs for children in a variety of age groups? Are options for very young children important? What about a teen club?
6. What’s your budget, and where would you prefer to be flexible? A more exotic destination may mean more expensive flights, are you willing to trade-off some resort amenities for a particular destination? Would a fantastic, exclusive, club level experience be worth less desirable (but less expensive) flight times? Are you willing to pay more up front for a resort that offers more inclusions under the “all-inclusive” banner, or would you rather pay less up front and have the option of purchasing additional amenities or experiences later?
7. Do you plan to spend most of your vacation time “on resort” or will you want to spend a substantial portion of your vacation on off-resort excursions?

Consideration of these questions are a great start to ensuring that you are your family’s vacation hero. But every super hero’s secret weapon is their sidekick. Let a Fantastic Memories travel professional be your sidekick. We can help you apply your responses to these questions to the huge range of beach resort destinations available. We can help bring order to the chaos of third-party opinions and reviews so that your choices result in Fantastic Memories for your family.