Sandals Royal Barbados

Val L

Beautiful Resort with Minor Issues - First Visit to Sandals Royal Barbados My husband and I recently stayed at Sandals Royal Barbados for our first Sandals experience, and overall, we had a wonderful time. From the moment we checked in until departure, the service was excellent and the resort itself is absolutely stunning. The property is beautifully maintained with gorgeous grounds, excellent amenities, and a welcoming atmosphere. The staff were attentive and friendly throughout our stay, which really enhanced our experience. However, there were a couple of issues worth noting. The phone in our room was not working for our entire stay, which made it difficult to contact the front desk or have means to communication (especially if we had an emergency) without leaving the room. For a resort of this caliber, having functioning in-room communication is important. Additionally, we were disappointed with the photography package. For the cost of the photos, we expected at least some basic editing, but the images we received appeared to have zero edits or retouching applied, which didn't seem to justify the price point. Despite these concerns, we still had a great experience overall. The beauty of the resort and the quality of service in most areas made for a memorable first visit to Sandals. With a few improvements in these areas, it would be absolutely perfect. Would we return? Yes, but we'd hope these issues are addressed for future guests.

Jake Benedix

Wow, what an absolutely incredible All Inclusive Experience at Sandals Royal Barbados and basically Sandals Barbados (they are basically connected). Where do I even start? The rooms were the best! So big, with a balcony and a nice soaking tub on that balcony fitting for both a wife and husband, so perfect. Such a nice spot to enjoy Room Service as well which was great. All of the restaurants (21 in total) were very very good. I don’t have one single complaint. You can tell that real chefs crafted the meals and perfected each one down to each key ingredient. I was super impressed with all of the allergen awareness foods they could accommodate guests for. My wife is Gluten Free so to be able to eat lots of meals that could be prepared to her allergen sensitivity made me a happy man. Thank you so much Sandals for caring for each guest in that way. Before they even ask you what you want to eat, they ask you if you have any food allergies. More places in the world need to care as much as Sandals does. Our favorite spots to eat during our stay was Cafe De Paris (lots of Gluten free goodies), Bombay (Indian food, some of the best we ever had), Portofino’s (Italian), and La Parisienne (French, we had their breakfast, they were able to make pancakes and french toast Gluten Free, the wife LOVED the pancakes). If I can tell you to try one dish, try the Lamb Chops from Bombay. They were PERFECTION. The pools and the beach were just so great. The concert we got to see one night was a lot of fun and so was the Silent Karaoke night, the day before that. The overall staff were super delightful and I didn’t get any negative vibes from anyone, at all. Overall, my wife and I had a lovely honeymoon in Sandals Royal Barbados. We will miss being spoiled everyday and eating all the food and drinking all the drinks our bodies could handle, lol. We can’t wait to go to another Sandals in the future. ❤️ P.S. if I could give you just one piece of advice, try and RSVP for certain restaurants that ask for it at the beginning of your stay and try not to wait last minute. People sometimes don’t show up or even cancel their reservations, so you might get lucky like my wife and I did and got a spot at Kimonos (hibachi style dinner) which was ofcourse a wonderful time and a highlight of our trip for sure.

Larry Berg

Hurricane forced move from Jamaica (high-end Butler Suites w/top amenities) to Barbados. Sandals promised similar accommodations, but problems began at the airport. Sandals rep didn't recognize us. When I asked about our Rolls Royce, the rep told us to join the shuttle queue. We booked the highest-end experience and were promised a private Rolls-Royce, so we argued for 20 minutes until they finally confirmed our booking. This was pathetic! ​A few nights later, our butler staff was changed, the first set of three failed. Guests should receive welcome packet with property map, restaurant times, and other information, but we received none for the entire trip. On day 4, they finally gave us a list of restaurants and hours. The app should have this information, but was completely blank. ​We canceled a snorkel trip booked through Sandals after a family with a crying baby and toddler intended to board with us. Our trip was guaranteed child-free. We immediately demanded a full refund, but the manager would only issue a half refund. ​This trip was meant to be a full-service, romantic getaway, but our experience was the opposite. The first butler phone failed, and the second had terrible range. We constantly received "mailbox full" when trying to call or text. Contacting butlers was worthless for the first 4 days, issue was finally resolved. ​Twice, employees falsely accused us of causing problems by lying to one other. They claimed we complained about the room wait time, which never happened; we only answered a butler's question about their delay while enjoying the beach. 2nd, they claimed we initiated a butler staff switch. It was the Butler Manager's idea, which we agreed to; but the butlers were told we requested the change. ​Pools were visibly green; slime covered the edge of the shallow end of one where water splashed. Pools appeared green-tinted from the green tiles, an attempt to conceal the green color of the water? ​Due to the short-notice booking, we stayed in two different rooms (no problem). But, the A/C in both operated wrong: the unit would not cycle off; running constantly. The only way to keep us from freezing was to switch the A/C off, then back on when it got hot. Although a heater is unnecessary in this climate, it would've been nice to warm up! Opening doors or waiting a long time were the only undesirable remedies. ​We requested a 3rd room due to lack of promised privacy in our Rondoval backyard pool area. After seeing two others, we stayed put, as they were the same. ​Sans the butlers, employees seemed trained only for their specific jobs, lacking training in customer service or interacting with other areas. ​One robe in our room was used, smelled of nasty body odor, and had makeup on it; my wife does not use makeup! ​Positive Aspects: All drinks were very good, and most bartenders were friendly. Most food was excellent, particularly at the nice restaurants. The butler beach service was great: setting up our area, filling our cooler, and keeping us supplied with food and drinks. ​Final Negative Aspect: At the bowling alley, I picked up a ball to size it. The bartender gave us a dirty look and immediately told me, "No you can't bowl!" She then explained that bowling shoes, which they provide, were required. She could have been friendlier. After six frames, the lane shut down, and we left. ​We did not get the value expected for our money. While some good butlers, excellent food, and the fantastic beach were positive, the overall experience was severely lacking. The two rooms were nice, but not enough to overcome the shortcomings. We'll never consider a Sandals again. We spent 1,000s of dollars to make this the biggest, best, most fantastic vacation of our lives, but it didn't happen.

Ricci Powell

We went and enjoyed our honeymoon at the royal side at sandles resort . My husband and I had an amazing time. The resort was absolutely gorgeous. they did so many things for us the spa was amazing. Our three butlers that we had were absolutely amazing

Carol T

What an amazing resort! We have just returned from a 10 day holiday and have to say it was one on the best holidays my husband and I have had. We did book a Butler Elite room and wasn't too sure if it would've been worth. So glad we did!! Our butlers were amazing. Ron, Kev and Shak looked after us so well. From reserving our sunbeds, keeping us supplied with cocktails, brining us lunch on the beach and reserving our restaurants. They were amazing! We've left with wonderful memories and will definitely return 🌴😎☀️🥂