Club Med

Turkoise, Turks & Caicos Islands

October, 2011

Introduction

We visited Club Med Turkoise in Oct and this was our 11th visit to this Club Med and about our 23rd Club Med visit overall. Obviously, we know our way around. We are primarily sailors who take some snorkeling trips when the wind does not cooperate. I've done multiple reviews of this Club Med previously and not all that much has changed, so this will be a brief review and I will include a few photos within and at the end of this review.

The pool area with umbrellas and other shelters.

Getting there and Back

This year, as last year, we took a Delta non-stop flight from Atlanta to Turks & Caicos. The flights were reasonable but the baggage delivery time in Atlanta was terrible and included delivering the bags to a different carosel than listed on the overhead monitors.

The Provo airport is getting busy and is sometimes very crowded.

Weather: not so good

The weather was definitely the worst we have encountered at Provo. There were several days of cloudy weather, followed by a couple of days of frequent light rain and the week ended with a couple of the beautiful bright days that we expect. The Club Med staff reacted as well as possible to the poor weather with alternate activities and things to do out of the rain. Unfortunately the weekly regatta and the armada ("sail-away") to Iguana island were both cancelled due to no/low wind conditions.

With the rainy weather, the pool tables got quite a bit of use.

Around The Village

We noticed several changes from last year, including a very much improved (cleaned up) swimming pool. The facilities are in need of a renovation and we could see some indications that one might be coming soon. For example, some decorative exterior wood pieces had been removed.

The buildings have been likened to a college dormitory. Perhaps so, but I sure wish mine had been this nice when I was in college.

Our room was in good condition, with improved amenities such as soap, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, in-room coffee maker and iron/ironing board. There were none of the somewhat common missing tiles in the bathroom and the water temperature was pretty consistent in the shower. If you looked very hard/closely you might be able to find just a little mildew in the shower, but it was so little as to be no issue and of course it is very hard to prevent entirely in the Caribbean. The room was cleaned very well daily (including daily mopping) with fresh towels whenever requested (and sometimes when not requested).

Our room: not large or fancy but clean and comfortable.

Friends: GOs and GMs

We found several familiar faces, like Patrick and Casey on the GO sailing team who were both always cheerful and helpful. We met lots of new friends, such as Michelle, a sailing GO, and Brook, the costume creator. We also met numerous new GM friends, such as Thomas and Linda, as well and meeting up with long-time GM friends like Bruce and Helene.

Our friends, Helene and Bruce, with Susan in the middle.

The shows were generally good. The "dancing" shows got a little long and repetitive but they were obviously well rehearsed as all dancers were in step and all seemed to know what they were supposed to be doing. As usual, the circus shows, especially the one in the theater, were very good and entertaining.

No, the photo is not upside down; this was in the circus show.

The Chef of the Village, Remy, was very present around the village. He seemed pretty effective; early in our stay we mentioned one issue to him and it was soon corrected. We suspect he had a couple of words with some GOs, but never asked for details.

Chief de Village Remy hosting White Night activities.

Food

Overall, we thought the food not quite as good as the last couple of years. Certainly not bad (I still ate too much) but somehow lacking some of the "zip" of prior years. The wine was better than last year (could hardly be worse) but still not up to what I consider Club Med standards. There was still almost always something of interest or special to try and to enjoy.

The desert table one evening when the specialty was strawberries.

We did see something new this year that impressed us. Two of our GM friends are Jewish and Club Med made special efforts to allow (enable and support) them and several other Jewish GMs in the village to observe a special religious ceremony one evening. Certainly not a "big deal", but good to see.

Despite the less than perfect weather (and a misbehaving back on my part) we had a good time. We will certainly return to Turkoise again, although I think we may head to the Club Med Columbus Isle (San Salvador, Bahamas) for our next Club Med trip.

Sample Photos

Appitizers were served each evening before dinner.

The beach early in the morning before thge sailboats are rigged.

A little while later the GOs, including Casey by the sailboats, have rigged and readied the boats.