I stayed in the Centara Grand at Karon last August during the off season. We loved it. Even though it's a Thai company the clientele was completely foreign, and there were a good number of families. But it being the offseason, I'm sure fewer guests meant fewer services than normal. I guess it would depend on when you go.

The resort is tucked away on a private stretch of Karon beach. There may be some places to walk to a little further down the beach, but we ended up just taking taxis to Patong and Rawai. (And taxis, like in the rest of Phuket, are expensive.) Karon seems like a really quiet town with not all that much available. The resort itself is quite picturesque though. We stayed in a regular room with a small balcony and outdoor seating. It felt very refreshing and clean. The bathroom was spacious with a tub and shower stall, and two sliding door entrances. All of the resort's facilities feel very new, and the service is pretty top notch. There is a breakfast buffet every morning which is pretty solid (perhaps not the best I've ever had, but still rather good), and the dinner buffet has a rotating schedule of themes (if memory serves me correctly, Asian nights and Mediterranean nights were part of the rotation). The dinners were good as well, but quite pricy. We also ate at a bar which was fairly average.

I think the food is generally expensive on the resort grounds, but that shouldn't be surprising. Also, while you do get free water in the room, no other water is free. That part bugged us a little bit as we had previously stayed at the JW Marriott where free water seemed available to us left and right. At Centara Grand you have to pay for water you order poolside or in the restaurants, and I don't imagine that has changed since we last stayed there. Also the wifi was not free.

Speaking of the pools, they had a good assortment. Families will spend a lot of time in the main pool area which also includes a mini lazy river and slide. There's also an adult pool a good distance away from the main pools. We spent all our time there and it was quite peaceful.

If at some point you get bored of the resort you do have Patong within a 10 minute drive and Phuket town not that much farther away. It's a good location for a quiet retreat. The service generally may not match that of JW Marriott but it's still professional and the resort facilities are excellent.

I hope that's at least somewhat helpful.