Sandals Barbados

This was our 7th visit to Sandals Barbados and it only gets better. I cannot understand any of the negative reviews of this fabulous resort. All the negative reviews about staff being unresponsive and rude can only in my view caused by the people being rude to them in the 1st place as we found them extremely friendly and caring. Sandals layer off neigh on 250 people in 2024 many of our friends included in them unfortunately, but still we had a fabulous 2 weeks there with having a special mention to friends we were reconnected with, these are Shanique from the Heart & Sol( although very briefly has she went on leave), Claire from her new job in banqueting, the bar staff in the courtyard bar, Jack in the merry monkey, Marlon who has gone from barman to supervisor, Eugine in Butches chop house bar. But our most thanks go to Gilbert & Elso the Sushi chefs in the Soy, they made the most delightful meals for us and the tasted divine. But our favourite has to be Sherwin the matre de of the Soy & Kamonoes, he has been our friend for many years and sadly is leaving this great resort and will be very sadly missed. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours and will be keeping in touch.

Pros: 95 percent of the staff were lovely and a few maybe need a new job:) We avoided the ones who did... The food was amazing. The locals were friendly. 2 resorts in one but feels like one big resort with lots of options. cons : The restaurant system needs to work out the kinks of seating/reservations. When asking for a reservation they were sold out, but upon walking up they had tons of open seats. The beach is rough/red flag most of the time and couldn't get in past ankle deep. A local said this was typical and a calm sea there is unusual. We took a tour up the northwest side to get a calm beach. We love the water, so this was a huge decision for us to book somewhere else next time.

Stayed at Royal Barbados. We were extremely happy- diamond level having stayed at multiple Sandals. We loved the ability to walk between two resorts rather than take the bus. We had “double” restaurants. Staff was always attentive. Special thanks to Basinet and Rita for top notch attentive service and drinks!

Sandals Barbados is average at best. Not sure what the hype about this place is? First night we discovered a leak under the sink, water all over the floor. Was fixed the same day, but the leak reappeared 2 days later. The lift stopped letting people off on the 1st floor on our second to last day, had to get off on level 2 and walk down the stairs. Grass was being cut everyday of our visit! Take antihistamines if you suffer with hay fever. Staff at cafe de Paris were rude. I asked for a “chocolate chaud” I must’ve mispronounced it as I was met with sniggering and comments under their breath about me whilst making the drink. Some days they were more concerned with putting cakes out than helping anyone, one morning there were 8 of us waiting whilst 2 of them decided something else was more important. My biggest pet peeve of an all inclusive holiday is the reserving of sunbeds. You DO have to get up at around 6am to reserve a lounger with a parasol. Even though there are signs saying no reserving loungers before 7am. Even the butlers were reserving them! Food was good most nights. Went to chi one night and had a bad stomach the next day, not saying it was the food but I had my suspicions. Would I stay here again? If there wasn’t anywhere else. Much preferred the Tamarind further up the island where they bought drinks over to you by the pool. I spent over £4000 on this holiday and expected much more.

We have just returned from an 11 night stay at Sandals Barbados . We had a lovely time however a few negatives so this is an honest review. Room : we were in a beachfront penthouse suite in the building called The Royal House . Top floor , we had a fantastic view of the ocean and main pool . The room had a large bed , great air conditioning, bath tub on balcony . Room could do with a bit of updating but nothing major . Beach Beautiful beach , the sand is like flour ,however the sea can be very rough and whilst we were there there were days where we couldn’t swim due to the current . Also a lot of seaweed started to come on which was unsightly . Plenty of sunloungers although butlers would secure the best spots which was very frustrating as we saw on several days many were unused so very selfish for other guests . Food : great selection of restaurants, you can use the ones at Sandals Royal too so a large variety . There were only a few you had to book, most you didn’t have too . Our favourites were La Parasienne ( French restaurant) which was on royal side , Indian restaurant Bombay . The Italian restaurant was initially our favourite , however the second time we went the food was completely different from the first time we had been there and very disappointing, hence we never went back . Entertainment : ok mostly on royal side, we tended to go for quiet drinks in one of the bars . The last day we were there we got caught up with the Heathrow airport closure and the staff at sandals were not helpful at all , and we nearly missed our flight due to their incompetence as they had said our flight was cancelled when in fact it wasn’t !!! They didn’t help us at all and if it hadn’t been for us finding out we would have missed the flight . But all in all we had a fab holiday .