Grand Hyatt Baha Mar Kid's Club and Affordable Food Choices
In early October 2017, we visited the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar using Hyatt points and found it to be a new, beautiful, points-friendly, oceanside resort located in the Bahamas about 15 minutes from the airport in Nassau. My mom, my daughters, and I loved our long weekend there and have enjoyed sharing our experience in a number of posts and even a video linked below. In the final post in this series, we'll talk about the Kid's Club and look at some of the food costs and menus at on-site Baha Mar restaurants.
Planning a Trip to the Bahamas on Miles and Points
- Inside Grand Hyatt Baha Mar Oceanview Rooms
- Grand Hyatt Baha Mar Pools and Beach
- Grand Hyatt Baha Mar Grand Club Lounge
Free Kid's Club at Grand Hyatt Baha Mar
Updated: As of April 1, 2018, the hotel unfortunately now charges a $55 fee for each kid's club session.
Parents will be happy to know that the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar does offer a complimentary kid's club that they call the Chickcharnie Explorers for children 3 - 12 years old, though their hours and scheduling are a little unique.
There was no charge to use the kid's club, but the hours were a little choppy as they were open from 10AM - 11AM for marine encounters for 3 - 5 year olds, with parents encouraged to attend. Then from 11AM - 12PM marine encounters is offered for 6 - 12 year olds with parents not necessary assuming you trust your kid to not fall into a non-secure pool with sharks. From 3 - 4PM they are open again with the schedule saying they offer a fitness and wellness activity for 6 - 12 year olds with arts and crafts offered for that same age group from 4 - 5PM. Of course, this schedule may be subject to change and may be more robust during their peak season.
My 7-year-old went to the kid's club for the 11AM - 12PM activity for two different days and she says that in that hour they fed the fish and animals in both the shark encounter and the smaller ponds in addition to playing together in the kid's club cottage. She had a good time at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar Kid's Club and they encouraged her to come back in the afternoons for that session, but we were never available at that time.
Menus and Food Costs at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar
Food in the Bahamas is expensive in general, and this is especially true at the big resorts. We avoided having to spend money on most meals by relying heavily on the offerings in the Grand Club at the hotel, but we did still have to purchase lunch. Thankfully, eating a relatively affordable lunch at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar is completely doable.
My favorite spot for good and affordable food at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar is El Jefe, which is the pink trailer by the ocean. They have an $8 breakfast burrito that I didn't try, but that I heard from others was huge and delicious. For lunch, I can personally vouch for the $4 sopes as shown below.
The chips and guacamole were pretty standard, but a good way to fill up a little more if the sopes alone weren't quite enough. Two sopes + some chips and guacamole were enough for me to make it from breakfast to dinner without being too hungry. My husband probably would have needed three sopes and my mom only needed one, along with a table order of chips.
As for the kids, they preferred standard issue kid offerings like hot dogs and chicken fingers. One day we resorted to room service chicken fingers and fries that came to $13 + all the fees per order.
However, it is a much better deal if you order a kid's meal by the pool as it is just $7 for an order of kid's chicken fingers, hot dog, or white fish meal.
Adult mixed drinks by the pool were $10 - $14 each and adult entrees by the pool like burgers or salads were in the $12 - $17 range.
The only meal we ate from an actual restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar was from the Stix Noodle Bar which is located just off the main casino floor near Starbucks. The girls were in desperate need of a nap that first afternoon, so I went to the first place I saw and ordered fried rice and Singapore noodles.
The Stix Noodle Bar was very bright and pretty, but I got my order to go so we could picnic in the room and then promptly take a nap without bothering anyone. I enjoyed the food, though I do remember it being a little pricey at about $50 all-in for the two noodle dishes. Since two kids and two adults made a lunch out of those dishes, it wasn't a terrible deal as far as food in the Bahamas goes, but it would add up if everyone ordered their own entree.
While we didn't make it to most of the nicer restaurants on this visit, Grand Hyatt Baha Mar also has an upscale sushi restaurant called Katsuya open select evenings, the Swimming Pig Pub, 3 Tides, an outdoor Palms Cafe, and a variety of other bars.
I think there are enough restaurants at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar to keep you entertained at least for a long weekend, though if you aren't careful with your selections a family could easily end up spending a good amount of money on food. Since we primarily had breakfasts and dinners in the Grand Club, our crew of four only spent about $30 - $35 most days on food, not including the few drinks we had by the pool.
Overall, I loved our time at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar and absolutely hope to return there again for a long weekend in the future. If you have any questions about the resort I'm happy to do my best to answer!
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