re: All inclusive beach resorts in Caribbean VS Florida Keys

We just took our 1st trip to the Keys over Thanksgiving
(family of 6 - me/wife/19yo/16yo/13yo/9yo)Tuesday-Saturday

We stayed halfway on Duck Island in a VRBO next to Hawks Kay resort(no use of resort with our unit)

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale and rented a car and drove down from there.

Some of the things we did:
Haulover Inlet
South Beach
Quick Everglades boardwalk trail
Key West
Small family pontoon fishing/riding charter in Marathon


Overall Impression:
Rent a boat or have a friend with a boat there(rentals are cheap)
Other than Key West your options are basically fishing, snorkeling or eating fish!
Key West was great - kids enjoyed it the most. Its a very clean and safe version of the French Quarter. We werent there late into the night so not sure how rowdy it gets...most we saw were the novelty shops that kids saw a few words passing by(once again - similar to walking on Bourbon st. so not a huge surprise)

The atmosphere down there is great...like living in a jimmy buffet song everywhere you go.

We are not dying to go back, but said if we did we would definitely have to rent a boat to make it more fun and enjoyable. It was an easy drive from Ft. Lauderdale airport and puts us in some islands in 5 hours from New Orleans!