Sandals Reviews

November 2019. Having been to Ochi Jamaica last year, we decided Barbados would be a good 2nd Sandals visit. We went as a party of 6, 3 couples. The transfer from the airport to the resort was only 15-20 mins. We were greeted with cold towels smelling of lemongrass, a very strong rum drink and two Sandals Select T-Shirts since we were members. We used the iPad to sign in, the card machines were down so we never got to put a credit card on file – we just paid for all of our trips at the end easily enough. We were taken to our rooms and the holiday began.

The resort is huge, you can’t tell where Sandals Barbados ends and Royal begins. It is so unbelievably stunning. We stayed in the Bajan section in a Crystal Lagoon Luxury Honeymoon Room with Balcony Tranquility Soaking Tub LX. The room had a double sink, hair dryer, huge walk in shower, mini fridge, coffee machine, iron and board, two wall mirrors, one full length mirror and one light up mirror with magnify, safe, a UK plug socket in the wall, air con and a fan. There was nothing else we could think of that we would have required in the room. It was cleaned daily, and we had a turn down service nearly every evening. The fridge was stocked with the wine and beer of request and was topped up daily. There is no free rose wine, which is a shame, but you can pay for it if you wanted.

I had emailed Sandals beforehand, after reading reviews on how other guests had struggled to book tables for dinner, I wanted to ensure we had bookings for tables of 6. Barbara, the director of guest services, replied and booked us into every restaurant we required for a table of 6 at great times. There was only one occasion where the table booking was not there, but we sought a manager who apologised and got the table ready for us within half an hour.

I cannot tell you how incredible the food is here, especially compared to Ochi (which we thought was amazing at the time!). I would highly recommend going to Neptunes for lunch, the views are insane and the food is fab. Try the fried chicken and the burger. Chi is so beautifully designed inside, and the pad thai is to die for. I would also recommend Butches, although I would say to get an earlier booking as the wait time for service is a bit longer here. If you are looking for late night food, the Merry Monkey and Lovers Lane does some great plates to take back to your room.

We went on a snorkelling and catamaran trip – highly recommend this. Was $107pp, we got taken to Bridgetown and boarded the boat. Sailed for 10 mins then jumped in and swam with turtles!! Then we sailed for around an hour and snorkelled by some ship wrecks. We had unlimited drinks and a really lovely lunch. We stopped on the beach outside Sandy Lane and we could swim to shore for a look around then come back. The men played golf which they said was great, bring your own clubs if you can though. We also went on a shopping trip which was only $12pp and we got to see Bridgetown properly, even having a nice drink on the water.

The pools here are beautiful, we never had an issue getting 6 sunbeds together. I would recommend saving them as everyone else seems to, but if someone doesn’t return within 2 hours then the sunbeds yours. Staff are always around taking orders for drinks. The beach is stunning. It is public but it’s no issue at all. One man tried to sell us something, we said no thank you and that was the end of that. There was no seaweed when we were there. Sandals have also made two stone wave barriers in the sea which we found so helpful when swimming out.

Loved all of the bars, you got a drink pretty quickly. Some bars didn’t have menus though so we struggled to pick something different and played it safe on a few occasions. Nothing really to complain about but just would have been nice to have island favourites!

You can book lockers and showers to use when you leave, although the ladies lockers did not lock so all items went into the mens. We were picked up in a air con mini bus and back to the airport we went.

The only real issue we had was that we were not there for longer.

We went for Labor Day weekend 2019 and luckily just got out in time to miss hurricane Dorian. Thencheck in process was a breeze! We rented a car and didn't know they didn't have a separate parking lot for our car. Luckily there is a small parking lot in the front of the resort for the spa and they let us park there. We even had a bellman rush down the long driveway to help us with our luggage. It was very friendly and our check in process was quick and smooth. Because the storm was heading in we weren't able to take advantage of dining on the pier or going to the private island. But you can't predict Mother Nature and it was not the resorts fault. We did take plenty of advantage of the "quiet pool" with swim up bar. The entire staff was beyond welcoming and attentive. Plenty of choices in restaurants and good food to eat. Overall we had an amazing experience and I would highly recommend this resort to those visiting Nassau!