Sandals Royal Caribbean Resort and Private Island

So if your travel agent tries to tell you the building works are not a problem... that’s lies. Everything is covered in cement dust. Non stop construction noise from either building works or the cement trucks. It’s NOT “screened off” and they WONT put you in a room away from it! They will allow you a 10 hour flight, stick you with a view of the building works and fob you off that they will move you. There’s no escaping it, the resort is tiny!!!

Finally getting around to a long overdue review of Sandals Royal Caribbean. This was the first time we have stayed at a Sandals resort - and it had big shoes to fill because we really enjoyed the other resorts we have stayed at. Turns out we had nothing to worry about. Let me start by saying we did NOT stay in a Butler room, but never needed a Butler. We stayed in the Windsor Building with the balcony and the view was fantastic. We loved the Tranquility Soaking Tub, and the balcony had an added bonus of the lovely sound of waves crashing against the reef. My husband wanted to take the shower home with us - it was that good. The concierges were always helpful. The beach and poolside service spot on. We rented a cabana on the island and Mario did everything to make were our time there enjoyable. We loved the Playmakers. They were SO FUNNY, and we especially loved to watch Elmo every night dance along with whatever entertainment was performing. We had a great time at the wine tasting too - and learned something about wine! One of the favorite things to do after the nightly entertainment was gather around the various firepits and chat with the other guests. As for the food, each dinner was better than the night before (we didn't think it was possible). However, the big let downs in the food category were the breakfast buffet - really disappointing, and neither of us liked The Jerk Shack at all. Lunch at The Regency was mediocre, but fantastic at The Mariners and the pizza at Bella Napoli's was delicious. The Beach Party Buffet was disappointing - really limited in choice and not very good - we were surprised at how small the buffet was at a resort that size. (The entertainment at the Beach Party though was spot on - we really enjoyed all of it.) But everywhere we ate, the service was some of the best we have ever experienced. I will also repeat - we never needed a Butler. We got reservations for every restaurant we wanted for the night we wanted and the time we wanted. We never had a problem getting a shady spot on the beach, and always got a seat at the pools too. Even with Club Level service, staff left cake in our room as we celebrated our anniversary, left a fruit plate our first night as a "welcome to Sandals" gesture. Every staff member we passed smiled, said hello, asked how we were enjoying ourselves. We would return in a second.

I enjoyed every minute, from food to the entertainment, views, enjoying both resorts, to the service. To many wonderful staff members to name, but I enjoyed the friendly welcoming service I will return.

My husband and I visited SRC (for the 4th time) to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. Our stay was absolutely perfect from start to finish. We explored visiting a new property, but the welcoming staff at SRC keep us coming back time and time again. It seemed that the food choices were even better than in the past. We enjoyed all of the restaurants on site but especially loved our *two* trips to the Thai restaurant. Thanks so much for taking such good care of us, Alonso! (and also Aisha). We also thoroughly enjoyed our experience at the French restaurant (thank you, Nord and Ramon!). The morning breakfast (formerly the Regency) restaurant was fantastic. Despite the fact that we could've opted for breakfast in our room, we always went out to enjoy this great option. Ajkine is doing a fantastic job managing! He's a major reason we keep coming back to SRC time after time. We love you, Ajkine! Thanks, also, to Sadaika and Deidrane for taking such good care of us every day. For this visit, we chose to splurge on a Butler experience. The thought of having a Butler made us a bit uncomfortable, but Sherryann and Duane put us at ease right away. They were absolutely amazing, and we so enjoyed our week with them. Thank you, both, so much for making our anniversary so special! We also splurged on a cabana rental--it was worth it! Having the option to nap mid-day right on the beach was so so nice. Romario, thank you! You are so good at your job, and we loved getting to know you. Thank you for the extra special anniversary details! There were a few familiar faces from our previous trips that we so enjoyed seeing this time. To Nicholas and Nicole, thank you! We loved seeing you both, and you are excellent Butlers! Major thanks to Owen and Stacy--you make the island so great. Thanks, also, to Adkine, Malecia (Club Mobay), Odane, and Donovan. Our favorite part ot this resort is the private island. We spend much of our time there. I would like to offer a very special shout out to our friend, Simone, who is the best dragon boat pilot at SRC. We love you, Simone! You will not regret visiting this property. If you aren't happy at SRC, I'm convinced you can't be happy anywhere.

I have never written a negative TripAdvisor review, but I feel compelled to factually disclose our experience at the Sandals Royal Caribbean so that future travelers can have all the facts prior to choosing this resort. My wife and I are experienced “all inclusive” travelers but we have only stayed at one Sandals in the past (our honeymoon...and it was delightful). We kept seeing the commercials for the Sandals Royal Caribbean and decided we would give them our two most valuable commodities, our time and our money. We decided to use the Concierge Club Level (not because our budget didn’t allow for the butler service, but because the Club Level advertisement fit our needs (and we were told our view would be better from a Club Level Room). Little did we know that not having the butler service relegated us to third class citizens. On arrival to the hotel, we were taken to the Concierge Club Lounge. The people who greeted us were rude, barely offered us some water, and immediately shoved an iPad in our faces asking my wife and me to each sign individually (3 separate times each) a notification of their rules/regulations/policies. After we signed, we sat there with no communication (the Concierges were laughing with each other, but not communicating with us) so I asked if our room was available. A VERY rude employee picked up ur keys that had been sitting on the desk the whole time and told us to follow her. As we followed her through the resort, she pointed out a couple of things on our way to the room (with her back to us not talking loud enough for us to hear). We actually stopped following her at one point to see if she even noticed (she didn’t). We got to the room and there was NOTHING about the room that we paid for. We went back online to look at photos of the the room we thought we booked and there were little similarities. The room was aged, our shower was IN the “hot tub” (and the in room “hot tub” had scratches on the bottom that looked like it was not clean), the toilet didn’t have a real door (just a shutter like door) so when you used it, the acoustics made it sound like you were peeing in the middle of the room, and the balcony was so small it only accommodated 2 lawn chairs and a side table. After we caught our breath on the terrible arrival, we called the Concierge and mentioned the room was not as expected and we were told that is what we would have that week with no offer of compassion or solutions. Then, we looked at our in room bar (which was barely stocked) and asked if we could have a couple of bottles of red wine sent up. In a horribly mean and impolite way, we were told there was a ONE BOTTLE per day rule and that we had to fill out a piece of paper every day and physically walk it to the Concierge Lounge to “turn it in”. When we suggested to the “Concierge” that the paper actually simply says “contact the Concierge” (not physically turn in the paper) and that the paper said we could have 3 bottles at a time the Sandals employee told us they have other guests that “steal” wine and try to “smuggle it back” which is why we can’t have more than one bottle of red at a time (you would find this to be laughable if you knew us as we are a little spoiled when it comes to red wine). We were exhausted from travel and thought all the Concierges were having a bad day, so we tried to play by their RULES. Which was a nightmare for the rest of the week (oh and they NEVER delivered the wine when we requested it on the paper and physically walked it to their office...we had to call and inform them we never got our requested bottle...which resulted in more disappointing treatment from the Concierge). We woke up the next morning and tried to make the best of the now very negative introduction to the resort (and I started getting upset I didn’t believe the negative reviews I read before we left). We went to the “beach” (which is about 10 yards from shore to concrete) and all of the chairs in the shade were “reserved” for the butler service guests (which I wouldn’t have had a problem with if a) the other chairs might have had a little shade and a little less bird feces and b) the butler service guests ever showed up). If you like the beach, be prepared to stare at reserved chairs all day that very few of the butler guests actually use. Maybe we are spoiled, but at the Sandals competitors, we have wonderful staff that ask us if we want a fresh drink while at the beach/pool...not here...the butlers will blatantly ask their assigned guests if they want anything and then walk past you with no eye contact. We had to get our own drinks and bus our own tables to ensure the birds didn’t flock to our finished plates. And if it is the peaceful sounds of the gentle ocean waves you are seeking...you are out of luck here. The construction project is ON THE BEACH so you will only hear saws, chainsaws, and will need to relocate after an hour or so as you are breathing exhaust and gasoline. Some of our best friends are Sandals experts so I reached out to them and asked if they would give us some advice. They told us to go back to the Concierge Club and let them know we were having trouble. We did as she suggested and the attitude was even WORSE. In fact, we sort of felt “targeted” as the service went on a downward slide as the week progressed. We decided to do our best to just not have any contact with the Concierge Club the rest of the week (which is sad because that is what we paid for). The worst part about this post is that several other couples we met at the resort were having the same problems as us (one couple even left a day early). This property has potential, but I feel the Sandals brand is so damaged from this experience that I will never stay at the Royal Caribbean again and will likely never stay at another Sandals property. Like with all experiences, we did have a few Sandals employees who were nice to us (and for that we will be forever grateful) but be sure to do your research when choosing this property and believe the reviews that you will likely be met with rude staff members who are completely unaware of what true customer service looks like.