I took my 14 year old and three friends to stay at a villa for the weekend. It was well turned out, clean, had a jacuzzi and enough room for the weekend. However, the two bedrooms/two baths would be a bit crowded for a week.. The Resort has a main complex with a beautiful view of the Bay, a small (very) lagoon where kids can kayak or ride a board ($20 and $10 for 1/2 hour) ; get their hair braided, tie dye t-shirts ($30)or even next to the lagoon, play or swim with the dolphins ($155 for less than one hour with like 10 minutes of swim time or $60 to be dockside). The main pool is just a lovely regular pool, but the fun thing is that they employ really nice people to work with the kids (including adult kids) to put on relay races or treasure hunts. My 4 teens had a lot of fun playing by themselves or participating in the competitions. In addition, there is the Indies Club which has again really nice people employed to supervise and play with the kids. There is a basketball court outside, a Pirate's Kiddie Pool for the under 12 crowd (although my crew were allowed to play at the end of the day when the little ones had departed) , another warmer pool and lots of games inside. They have a market to buy very overpriced food if you want to cook in the villas which you might want to do as the restaurants are pricey although we ordered two pizzas which at $13 apiece were good and not unreasonable as well as sufficient for the table with an appetizer. There is a lot of walking to do if you stay in the villas, but transportation is there if you call. I think that there are 6 pools in total with a great gym, tennis courts and a spa.

Altogether, it was a nice weekend, but not too inexpensive. I have stayed regularly at Disney Resort hotels which are probably comparable pricewise and do not have as much to do at the resorts in so far as activities outside of Disney parks.

Stay in the Sunset Village at Hawks Cay. There are some other options that are "upgrades" in terms of cost, but the views, water access is best at the Sunset Villages. Plus, pool right outside. Clean, well cared for, full kitchen with granite, 3 tv's, 4 porches,etc... I have been everywhere and this is by far my favorite place. Make sure to rent through the resort or you won't get access to the spa, fitness area, kids area, pools, etc...The resort is absolutely top of the line.

We stayed in the Marina Villas July 2-5th. The resort is very nice. The good was that we arrived at 7am and our villa was available. The villa was very nice overlookjng the marina, which was nice. The villa was very spacious w/2 bedrooms and a upper and lower deck and 2.5 baths. The problem was that everytime you set any kind of food or drinks out , there were swarms of little nat like bugs that appeared probably from little cracks. We didn't eat anything in the villa after that. The main pool was very nice. The saltwater lagoon was great. The one problem was that they use a cashless system so everything gets charged to your room. They put a large hold on your credit card on top of the 200 per night I knews about. We were only there 2 nights and still had a week of vacation in Orlando and the money wasn't released until we came home. Just be aware of this. There is not much to do outside of the resort unless you visit a beach or go to key west. Everything is very expensive. The place is nice, but I am not sure I would stay again.

We booked our stay 3 months ago along with another family. Both of us requested to be near each other so our boys could play and fish and hang out. Turns out they don't honor those requests. We arrived but our villa was not ready so the check-in clerk said she would call when it was. No call. Hubby finally got us a villa. First thing I noticed - very shabby. Not what I expected with the "million dollar rehab" a few years ago. (Glad I paid 1/2 price or I would have popped a cork.) Cracked tiles, scuffed walls, old electronics, dirty sofa and a broken spa pool on the patio. The bed ruffle was filthy in the master and the bed creaked so badly my hubby and I woke each other up when we rolled over. There were red fingerprint smudges on the bathroom door and something icky brown splattered on the wall behind the toilet you saw when you brushed your teeth. (Yes, I have pictures.) Then our friends arrived. They were put in a villa 10 buildings away. Not close to us. (theirs was much nicer than ours - and clean.) I went to the desk and complained about the location and the dirty villa/broken spa/noisy bed. Told they were at 99% occupancy and could do nothing for us. He said he would send housekeeping - 3 days later we checked out with no one showing up. He said - since each villa is individually owned he could do nothing about the bed and spa. If you are booked for villa #7029 Harbourside, make sure they clean it. The lagoon is smaller than it appears in the pictures. Kayaks are $10 per half hour to rent which is absolutely ridiculous. The staff will NOT allow you to bring food or beverages to the pool or lagoon but don't worry. You won't be able to get a lounge chair as the guests arriving early throw towels on a chair for each family member and never return to the chairs. The staff does nothing about it. (A staff member told me to go move the towels and take the chairs. I told that was their job - not mine.) People circle around for a chair, can't find one and leave. It would be far smarter to let the kids use the kayaks for free and charge $10 for lounge chairs for the day. That way people would actually use the chairs. Overall, HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT! If you want to stay at this resort (good for younger kids - my teen was bored as the "teen center" was a TOTAL BUST), book through homeaway.com or vrbo.com so you know what your villa will look like and you have someone to complain to who will make things right. It is not a bad place - just not anything like the pictures, overpriced unless you get a great deal and the staff is poor - except the doormen who were always there to smile, say hi and open the door. So I'm not totally "negative Nelly," the pools were nice (crowded) and the fitness center was well-appointed. Bring rafts and floats as they are allowed in the lagoon. Lots to do in the Keys so don't limit your stay to the resort.