Background
When planning a recent family trip to Club Med, I was surprised at the number of friends and family that had never heard of this all-inclusive resort. Club Med was established in the 1950s with its headquarters in Paris, France. The goal of Club Med was to create low-cost vacation villages for guests that included food and a wide variety of activities to participate in. To keep the village feel, the employees (known as Gentils Organisateurs or GOs) live on-site and participate in the activities and share meals at the village buffet.
Today, Club Med has locations all over the globe and remains one of the most cost-effective all-inclusive vacation destinations.
The location that we visited is located in Port St. Lucie, Florida. It is about 2 hours from Orlando and an hour from West Palm Beach. We chose to fly in through Orlando International due to better flight options and we rented a vehicle to drive to the resort. It is an easy drive and we would definitely do this again.
Welcome to Club Med
Upon our arrival at Club Med, we were greeted by a security guard at the main gate. He instructed us on the check in process and directed us to the main lobby. We visited while Covid-19 precautions were in place, so we were instructed that one adult should enter the building and the remaining party members should stay in the vehicle. A GO took our temperatures and explained where our room was located and how to locate the restaurant for dinner. Check in time is 4 p.m., we arrived at 7:30 p.m. so our room was ready and dinner was being served.
One of our favorite things about staying at Club Med was the electronic bracelet we were each issued. The bracelet works just like a Disney World MagicBand. It was our room key as well as a way to charge any extras to our room. This meant we didn’t have to worry about carrying around money or IDs since all of our information was located on the band for easy access.
What’s Included with a Club Med Stay?
The benefit of an all-inclusive resort is that once you arrive, most things are already taken care of. All-inclusives do offer add-ons and premium options that are an extra cost, but it’s very easy to spend an entire trip without adding anything extra. Here’s what is included with a stay at Club Med:
- All meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks throughout the day are included) at no additional cost from the buffet (More info on dining can be found here!)
- Non-motorized water sports are included
- Alcoholic Beverages
- Kids Clubs (there are different clubs for different age groups so kids are always with other kids their age) – the kids’ clubs go up to age 17 and are open from 10 a.m until 9 p.m.
- Gym access
- Daily GO led workouts (there are Yoga sessions, boot camps, group runs, and group walks each day)
- Daily activities that change each day such as family bingo, regatta races, nighttime kayaks
- Special guest classes (while we were at Sandpiper Bay they had a professional belly dancer there for the week who was giving belly dance classes)
- For more information about the Club Med activities, visit our post about activities!
The Accommodations
The most difficult part of staying at Club Med is selecting what room type you want! I opted to go with a Deluxe Family Room. I liked the idea of having a lounge area off our room and letting the kids have their own space. It worked perfect for our stay. The room had 1 and a half baths, a mini-fridge that was stocked with juice, water, and soda (and restocked daily), 2 bedrooms – a master with a King bed and a kids room with 2 twin beds, and that fantastic outside lounge area that overlooked the beach area. There was a cut through behind our room for easy access to the restaurant and the activity areas. We were located in building 1, which is the closest building to the main lobby and all of the activities. However, it is the farthest from the adult only pool area.
Departing
Checking out of Club Med was very simple. They give guests the option to put all room charges to the credit card on file or you can visit the desk on check out day to use an alternative method of payment. They do take back the cute little wrist band (which the kids were sad about, so be prepared to hand those back over).
Overall, we truly enjoyed our stay at Club Med. They offer amazing discounts throughout the year making this an extremely affordable vacation for families and the all-inclusive aspect makes for a worry-free trip.
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