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Shore Thing
What's a family vacation without sand and surf? These deluxe villas offer the perfect combination of fun in the sun and sophisticated surroundings.
By Elaine Glusac
Everything old is new again. Consider the classic family vacation. Family travel is the top trend in the industry, say experts, and many upscale hotels and resorts have led the charge to family unity with harmony-inducing creature comforts. According to Peter Yesawich of YPB&R travel researchers in Orlando, as income rises, more children travel; families earning more than $100,000 take nearly half of all family trips. How to satisfy the entire clan? Take them to the beach where upmarket villas and concierge properties provide the privacy that the group requires and a safe haven from best behaviors without giving up the excitement of resort activities, making the vacation as fun - and fabulous - as possible.
Caribbean
The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas
Clock-watching on the beach is a killjoy. But I strap on the wristwatch knowing that without it Seth and I will miss our plane. We've already missed meals. And appointments. Because what's harder than tracking time at the beach is rousting a 5-year-old from play.
Despite country club appearances - tapestries underfoot, elaborately carved reception desk - The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, acts the ultimate chameleon, at once graciously sending a pair of honeymooners on their married way while welcoming Seth with a choice of stuffed animals to keep. He hugs his new toy as a golf-cart driver whisks us to our room in the resort's new wing, which added residences and Club Level rooms to the 30-acre beachfront setting. While the spacious Club quarters lack kitchens, a staffed and well-provisioned lounge provides complimentary meals, snacks, and drinks all day, a fueling stop perfect for families.
But it's the second pool that came with the resort expansion that captures Seth's interest as well as that of about five other families, residence owners, which makes for an ad hoc pool party. I order lunch at my chaise-cum-lifeguard-post while Seth kicks around with Ritz-provided rafts.
One pool can keep most kids occupied for a week. But at the Ritz there are two, plus two beaches, paddleboats, kayaks, sailboats, and windsurfers. Another morning, before hitting the pool and never leaving it, Seth and I strap on masks and snorkels to tour the corals, urchins, fairy basslets, and trumpet fish in the shoreline shallows. We also chase the resident iguanas into the bougainvillea. Later we settle down to an arts-and-crafts project on the beach, pouring quickset cement into sand molds and decorating them with shells and sea glass. The Ritz Kids club elicits an "Oh, wow!" from Seth for its bright and cheery digs lined with artwork, puzzles, books, games, movies, blocks, and sand toys. Which buys me time at the recently expanded spa and in the gym.
When my wristwatch calls time, I resort to the lowest of parental tactics, the bribe. "Ritz is opening on Grand Cayman next fall," I tell Seth. "We'll go there. The kids club will focus on underwater discoveries." It's to be run by Jean-Michel Cousteau. More wattage: chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin is doing two restaurants, Greg Norman the golf course, La Prairie the spa. It gets Seth into the taxi. He knows I'd be nuts not to keep my promise. Club Level rooms from $995 (from $655 as of April 5), (800) 241-3333, www.ritzcarlton.com
Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic
Horseback riding to breakfast. Kayaking up rivers. Donkey polo. Casa de Campo knows how to entertain the most attention-deficit families. On the 7,000-acre enclave, one of the Dominican Republic's most luxurious, the only problem is the problem of choice.
But Casa de Campo has launched a villa rental program to take the mystery out of the first step in your stay, booking. Its website now allows guests to fully tour each available villa virtually. Three-, four-, five- and six-bedroom options each come with their own pool, kitchen, maid, butler, concierge service, and golf cart for getting around. Descriptions are detailed down to the number of beds and their configurations (king, double, etc.) and, in addition to photographs of the living rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms, include shots of the waterfall pool at the three-bedroom Casa Cristales, for example, and the billiards table and playground in the four-bedroom Villa Alegre.
The next step in the decision tree may be what to do with the kids. Casa de Campo can take them off your hands or provide new ways to play together. If you opt for the former, the caregiver-to-child ratio is one-to-one in the toddler program. Lizard hunts, banana boat rides, and beach Olympics entertain toddlers ages 4 to 7. Tweens move up to participating in activities throughout the property. And teens get their own clubhouse plus peer-only beach volleyball, merengue lessons, and sunset kayaking.
A roster of free daily activities - from 11 a.m. sand-castle building to 5 p.m. beach volleyball clinics - gets the entire clan moving. For an additional fee the staff will put together family adventures including horseback riding, kayak tours, and scavenger hunts.
Optional nanny service gets parents time on one of three golf courses and in the spa. Not to mention date night at one of nine restaurants. Villas from $840 per night, (800) 877-3643, www.casadecampo.com.do
Mexico
Abercrombie & Kent Concierge Villas
With some 40 years of luxury travel touring business behind it, Abercrombie & Kent recently got into the villa rental business - good news for those who want all the seclusion of a vacation home without forgoing the staff attention and amenities of a resort.
A&K's Concierge Villas promise the services of an on-call agent 24/7 to deal with issues from small (a shortage of coffee cream) to large (the sunrise urge to paraglide). In Mexico, the firm owns or manages luxury homes in Ixtapa, Puerto Vallarta, Playa del Carmen, and Cabo San Lucas.
Among the 10 villas in Cabo at the romantic and exclusive southern tip of the Baja Peninsula is the four-bedroom Villa Stamms, a single-story hacienda in the gated Cabo del Sol community on a Jack Nicklaus golf course with views of the Sea of Cortez. The estate, which goes from $11,500 per week, houses a gourmet kitchen, outdoor grill, private pool, and large-screen entertainment system. On the bargain end of the luxury spectrum, A&K offers Casa Lisa from $2,000 per week, which gets you five bedrooms in the Cabo del Sol development, views of the famous Arco rock formation, spacious kitchen, satellite TV, heated pool, and a master suite with his and hers bathrooms.
For families, the concierge will stock the pool deck with water toys and organize off-residence outings including tide-pool discovery treks along the shore, scavenger hunts to local restaurants, scramble golf on one of the region's courses, horseback riding, water skiing, and the aforementioned paragliding. The staffer will also stock the kitchen, reserve tee times, hire a personal chef, arrange for massage therapists to visit, and secure baby sitters, all while remaining largely behind the scenes, ensuring you privacy and primo family bonding time. Villas from $2,000 per week, (888) 499-5745, www.akdestinations.com/conciergevillas
Hawaii
Four Seasons Resort Hualalai
Checking into the romantic, cocooning Four Seasons Resort Hualalai with kiddo in tow, my husband and I fretted we would shatter the bliss of evident honeymooners given an ill-timed outburst. But the Big Island property has discovered the key to keeping disparate guests happy - separate but equal pools. For the grown-ups, there's a serene adult pool without splashing and shrieking. For the fitness buffs, there's a lap pool at the spa. For families with babies, there's a sand-entry wading pool. And for everyone, there's a swimming lagoon stocked with 3,500 Pacific fish.
We met our first set of honeymooners at the daily eagle ray feeding at the King's Pond, a unique saltwater pool that allows guests to snorkel the marine-life-rich waters without braving the surf that crashes constantly along this stretch of the Kohala Coast. Given enough space and aloha spirit, we found ourselves perfectly at home with the trip-of-a-lifetime newlyweds.
For maximum breathing room, our family booked a bungalow-style executive suite discreetly hidden behind the coconut palms, including a gracious living room designed in native woods and wickers; a separate, spacious bedroom; a large lanai; and a grand bathroom with an outdoor lava-rock shower and flowering orchids, which delighted our son. By way of welcoming him, the staff had left a stuffed whale on the bed and spelled out his name in sponges in the bathtub.
The accommodations lack a kitchen, but housekeeping provides whole-bean Kona coffee and the means to brew a cuppa, and the restaurants offer plenty of child-friendly options. We again mingled affably with the romantic contingent over an outdoor dinner and hula lessons under the stars.
Counselors with the Kids for All Seasons program entertain 5- to 12-year-olds with canoe lessons, sand sculpting, swimming, gecko hunting, and lei-making lessons. Teens have their own club center with a large-screen TV and six video game stations. And parents don't have to sacrifice elegance once they've made the leap from romantic duo to fearsome threesome as the family grows. Rooms from $560 per night, (888) 340-5662, www.fourseasons.com/hualalai
Pure Kauai
Day 1: massage for parents, beach walk for the kids
Day 2: family horseback riding at Princeville Ranch
Day 3: morning family surf lesson, afternoon family hike
Day 4: parents' pilates, kids' hula lessons
Day 5: mountain tubing in the morning, afternoon lei-making for the kids
Pure Kauai puts together itineraries that mimic a resort. But it's done in private villas or estates on the lush garden island, bringing all the necessary talent to you, including cooks, personal trainers, massage therapists, surf instructors, and others to teach and entertain the keiki (that's Hawaiian for "children").
The custom vacation service is the brainchild of Phil Jones, former owner of Muscle Truck Company, which brought mobile gyms to on-location stars such as Russell Crowe, Jim Carrey, and Keanu Reeves. His new venture provides custom escapes on Kauai with an emphasis on health and relaxation. Families build their own itineraries that range from ocean watsu treatments, life-coaching sessions, and tarot card readings for the parents to outrigger canoeing, beachfront yoga, and shell collecting for the kids or the entire clan.
Accommodation options on Kauai include a two-bedroom villa with a four-poster bed, mountain views, gourmet kitchen, and a private path to the beach. Another overlooks the scenic Bali Hai headland and has its own private beach. Others include a 4,000-square-foot Japanese style three-bedroom home with a guesthouse on Anini Beach, a four-bedroom on Tunnels Beach with snorkeling in front of the house, and a nine-bedroom estate on the edge of the Kalihiwai Ridge with unparalleled views of five surrounding mountains.
The service is preparing to bring its custom planning to Aspen as Pure Aspen in 2005 for a change of climate. Villas from $3,200 per person for a family of four for six nights, food, lodging, and activities included, (866) 457-7873, www.purekauai.com
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