First day impression was awful, but left feeling like it was a wonderful vacation and resort.
The ugly: the staff! if you think you are getting Four Seasons kind of service, then forget it. Half the staff is pleasant and courteous, the other half are over you before you even say hello. The number one thing this resort can do to improve is to better train their staff on service (and this applies to the entire week across the property)...from check-in thru check-out. This resort is expensive. It should have the right level of service to meet the expectations of the people vacationing...and we are not high maintenance people. So management of Beaches....fix it! We arrived and were rushed through check-in with no explanation of anything about the property, about the amenities, about the activities, etc. It was really awful. We worked through it ourselves after Day 1.
Day 2, I got to know the property with my 11 and 12 year old girls. We spent the day at the water park and enjoyed the ocean and restaurants. Honestly, if I ignore the staff's "i would rather be anywhere but here" or "you will be gone in a week so I don't care about you" attitude, the resort was really fantastic. The restaurants were great (food was great), the pools were great, the pool bars were fun. The resort is like 4 large resorts in one as they are separated into themed villages. We stayed in Key West, but roamed the entire resort every day. I was never bored the entire week.