Sandals Royal Barbados

paul sambrooks

We visited this resort in Feb 2024 We had excellent weather and the overall presentation of the resort was very good however the room décor and furniture is somewhat dated even in the newer Sandals Royal section. Whilst all staff were very friendly and helpful. The service in restaurants was barely acceptable. We were kept waiting (10mins) at the greeting point on multiple occasions and the lack of even acknowledgment comes across as rude. On a number of occasions there was long periods of no attention either for drinks or clearing tables between courses. The quality of food was hit or miss. We had excellent meals at Portofino, La Parisian, Butch's only for these to be let down by the service level. Kimonos was just about acceptable on both counts. The daytime service at the beech bar, Dinos and Mariner along with Neptunes was excellent on each occasion visited. Spices breakfast was barely acceptable for both quality of food or service. A line of 20 guests at the greeting station is unacceptable for a buffet restaurant. The maître-d should not have to take each guest to their table and keep the remainder of the line waiting. They should pass this duty to other staff. Pastries throughout the resort did not seem like they were fresh that morning. American Tavern was barely acceptable for quality of food or service. Steaks on two occasions were poor quality cuts and poorly prepared. Cafe-de-Paris is very poorly staffed and needs attention. It is not acceptable for the server taking the orders to make coffees, provide pastries and make crepes. this is bound to create delays. All restaurants need more staff. They were rarely full yet getting a reservation or good service was always a problem. Room service needs to be extended to a least midnight to offer an alternative for guests arriving late or who have had a poor dining experience. Sandals has a reputation of being a high class resort. It appears to be living off this past reputation rather than improving its brand.

Matt R

We found the resort to be very gay-friendly, so would encourage any members of the LGBTQ+ community to visit. We had such a wonderful stay and have to give a huge thank you to our Butlers - Latoya, Nadia and Shameka - for making our stay extra special. They sorted all our dinner reservations for us, walked us to the restaurants at night, reserved our favourite spot by the pool, brought us over surprise drinks throughout the day and delivered lunch to our sun loungers. They would often leave little surprises for us to go back to the room to - such as a cheese plate and a drawn bath with champagne on ice. The resort is huge and the number of food options is incredible - every meal we had was delicious, but I would particular shout out to Bombay (the Indian restaurant) and Chi (the pan-Asian restaurant). The spa was lovely too and we had very relaxing massages and facials. The rooms were spotless and the layout was great because the bathroom felt private (unlike other hotels we’ve stayed at that can feel too exposed). Our room had a tranquility soak tub on the balcony too, which was the epitome of luxury! Next time we will pay extra for private transfers because we didn’t like the mini-buses that shuttled people to and from the airport. The only part I wouldn’t recommend is doing the Rum Historical Tour through “Island Routes” - it was boring and far too much time was spent in the car. We felt like it was a waste of money. We have already booked to come again next year at their on-site Travel and Loyalty section where you can bag yourself a really good deal!

Terrence Callender

The staff was professional and courteous with everyone. Food was delicious as I expected it to be. Nightly entertainment was creative. Daily pool side activities like volleyball and aerobics in the pool. Room refrigerator was replenished everyday at 10 am. Red lane spa gave the best facial and massage.

Kaylee

This was our first time in Barbados but not our first time with Sandals. There were a few trade offs with this resort that I noticed that isn’t consistent with other Sandals locations. For example, the food was great but wait times would often be a few hours to receive the food or be incorrect. The only restaurant that did not have this problem was Soy. Soy consistently had fast and friendly service with amazing food! There were a few facilities issues on our trip as well. For example, some of the fixtures in the room didnt fit correctly and so there was a visible hole in the wall as pictured. Also, our room was across from a service closet but workers would consistently leave bags of trash in the hallway and even let it sit all day and overnight so the smell was not pleasant. The service was hit or miss. We had a few very happy, kind, and helpful workers but also there were times when it was difficult to get any assistance. One person in our party went to the help desk 4 separate times for the same issue because it had not been resolved and she was told that the worker who had been assigned that task was out for the next few days but that they would do it when the worker was back. It did not make sense to me that they wouldnt just reassign this to another person since it wasnt a specialized task. Next, we booked fishing through the resort and we were up at 5 in the morning for our taxi that Sandals arranged. After waiting 20 minutes past the arranged time, our taxi driver found us and stated that Sandals told him to arrive at the Sandals Barbados entrance, not the Sandals Royal Barbados entrance, which was frustrating. We also booked snorkeling through Sandals, which is included. The snorkeling team was very kind and knowledgeable and made that experience awesome! I highly recommend booking the included snorkeling ahead of time. The views of the resort were fantastic and we were very excited about the private beach because that was supposed to mean that no one would be trying to sell us things. This was not the case. The first time we stepped on the beach there were a group of men who asked us if we wanted to buy weed/edibles. This was an uncomfortable experience and the only other time we went to the beach after was to watch the sunset. We also visited the spa and that was quite relaxing. The spa was clean and had a calm atmosphere. The surrounding area of the resort felt safe and we went to the fish market one night per a recommendation from someone at the resort. The fish market had long lines so if you plan to go make sure you go early. We spent most of our time at the infinity pool, which seemed to have the most activities. We went to a quieter pool a different day and the pool had algae around the perimeter so we did not go back to that one after. When we were a day out from leaving, our flight information had been updated/changed 2 days prior. No one at the desk let us know and its a good thing that we took it upon ourselves to check because our flight got moved up! Sandals is supposed to have the flight information and taxis arranged and have them be accurate. If we did not bring this up to them, we would have missed our flight by a few hours. Lastly, we had a few issues with our rooms. We had 8 people total so we had 4 rooms. In some of the rooms the shades were broken or missing. My room had both the blackout shades and the white gauzy shades but other people in my party only had 1 type. It felt a little deceptive because if we didnt have those multiple rooms we wouldnt have noticed this so there are guests who are paying for the same room as someone else but not receiving the same things as other guests in the same room type. Two people in our party stayed on the lowest level and their room had many problems. The room smelled musty/moldy the entire stay, one of the doors didnt open (it was stuck and warped from moisture i think), and the battery on the door needed to be replaced. Overall, this vacation was enjoyable based on location but perhaps did not meet Sandals resort expectations in my opinion.

Candace Gauthier

We just got back from our honey moon and this was our first sandals experience and stayed at royal. We are already planing our trip to our next sandals and back to Barbados ! The staff was beyond friendly and so were the guests ! Next time we Want to explore Barbados more off the resort with some activities . I highly suggest doing the candle light dinner and sunset photos with their photo team ! Also suggest a swim up pool room , it was the best !! Now I said 4 as we had issues with American airline canceling our flight before out early morning flight last minute , so we called the resort and they rebooked us on a better flight same time frame with Delta . This was at about midnight and we had to leave for the airport at 2am. I go to do the mobile check in and it won’t let us so we tried calling the resort back as we found out the resort did not ticket delta so they couldn’t get the boarding pass. So I tried to call back the resort and they close all lines at midnight and there is no emergency contact which is a big isssue Sandals needs to add as an option . We went to the airport anyways 4 hours early and still nothing and delta then said because of sandals mistake we either had to pay an additional 2800 dollars or miss our honeymoon essentially . Last minute I after nonstop trying I got the check in and we by a few minutes made our flight . After speaking to sandals when we arrived they did mess up and didn’t ticket the correction flight properly causing us much stress . So I would suggest this process be fixed and a emergency line added. I was told though they would issue me some refund in the flight side so I will be watching for this and appreciated them owning and resolving the problem ! On a side note I will NEVER fly with American Airlines again lol! Overall though 4/5 we will be back!