Sandals Royal Bahamian Spa Resort & Offshore Island reviews
12995 TripAdvisor reviews
Big Disappointment!
Ruth G on Mar 21, 2024
My husband and I chose the Sandals Royal Bohemian to celebrate our 50th anniversary. This was our third trip to this Sandals resort, the last being 13 years ago. We have been to other Sandals. Let’s just say that things have changed. The view, the beautiful waters, swimming in the sea, that was all very relaxing in spite of all the problems. Let me start by giving a shout out for the awesome meals we had. Kanoo provided excellent breakfast options as well as appetizing lunches ; the food and Service at Calico and Aralia House was very good with both having the best views; La Plume we had a wonderful breakfast with excellent service!! The only two dinner meals that rate high marks are Kimonos and Tesoro ( 5 star experiences) on our last two nights. Highly recommend both especially Tesoro’s antipasti bar!! The other dinners amounted to very thickly coated fried-fried fish and chicken, tough strip steak including the med-rare, lobster tail with very tough meat that had to be sawed out. We could hardly eat it, actually never finished. Side note: the first time either of us had lobster meat on the tail was at this very resort and it was wonderful! Another disappointment was over-seared and cooked salmon which should have been med-rare. It was dry and had no flavor. That was a big thing for these dishes…no flavor, just boring. Not like years past that’s for sure! There were other parts to the meals that worked, appetizers and salads were always good. The concierge service in the West bldg (the East was closed for renovations) had serious communication issues. Seems like no one was on the ball. Our requests were not passed on properly. Right after we arrived we asked three times for an extra TP as ours was low with no second roll on the shelf. This was when we arrived Hated to get stuck without any on the first day! It took forever! Housekeeping never followed through and twice didn’t service our room. The concierge service to replace water and wine (our requested drink) wasn’t any better. We had to call the desk numerous times for both. It was all very frustrating!! We are not ones to complain lightly, but with the price we paid, if a service is expected then we should not have to ask continually. We talked to many folks that complained about the same things. By far the biggest screwup and disappointment was Our 50th anniversary candlelight dinner on the beach. We scheduled/paid way in advance for 8:00pm. They set up early each day, 5:30-6 or so, and we often watched from our balcony as we were in our room relaxing before dinners. We received no confirmation of time from concierge so we called just to check and were told, ”just show up on the beach at your time.” So we headed down around 7:45 and as yet no one was there (most often they are there 15 min ahead). No torches were lit, no photographer was there, no waiter. That’s fine, we sat down and waited. At 8:00 we started walking back to concierge while texting them, “what’s happening?” Now all panicky, they called and rushed to get everyone there (seems due to time change they thought it was the new time of 8:30). Photographer got there rushing around. It was hard to smile. When he asked my husband to hand me the rose…uh, what rose?? Not the best time, plus the main course of our meals was not good, salmon and surf turf, described above. Our server, who was very apologetic, tried to make it pleasant and did a wonderful job considering! No one really knew how to handle this kind of mistake. We were genuinely upset but they should have graciously asked us to please wait on the pier and give them a chance to set up. I think that would have gone a long way. Instead they got very frazzled and set up was all off. And for the money we spent for a special time we were instead upset and disappointed and no compensation was offered!! We will not be returning to this Sandals and maybe not any Sandals at all.
Great Time at the Royal Bahamian!
Edward Y on Mar 20, 2024
My wife and I had a great time staying at the Sandals Royal Bahamian. If you stay, I would highly recommend getting the butler service. My butlers, Kevinson and Sterling, went over and beyond in everything. They were so friendly, very hard workers and eager to assist in anyway possible. I was impressed with the rest of the resort staff (the waiters, housekeepers, etc.) Even when you would walk by an employee, they would smile and ask how you were doing. It's a small touch but it makes a big difference. The only complaint would be that the food is a little lackluster but it is all inclusive.
Wonderful experience
vmottola2021 (Westchester County, New York) on Mar 19, 2024
The resort and Island were spectacular and we have stayed at multiple Caribbean resorts over the years. The accommodations and Service were first rate while the food and drink was really good,especially for an all inclusive. The butler team was one of the best we have had and made us anxious to return … so we booked ‘25 and’26
A must stay!
Saddling9176 (Richmond, Virginia) on Mar 18, 2024
This was my first stay at a resort property and, I'm certainly glad I chose Sandals. The entire experience from booking through the stay itself was wonderful. Among the many things that impressed me was the cleanliness of the property! Everything was in order and exceptionally well maintained! Often you see photos of hotels and resorts online and think, "It's just staged to look that nice," well in this case it is just like the photos! For our stay we opted for a butler suite. We were assisted by Haci, Anil, and Dom. All three were very personable and attentive, and we enjoyed good conversation with all of them! Our only issue during the stay was a shower with no water pressure. The maintenance staff worked on the issue immediately, and when a fix wasn't available arrangements were made to move us to another suite without issue. In general, all of the other staff we interacted with were very pleasant and attentive.
Fourth stay and counting
Mo3gb (Calgary, Canada) on Mar 18, 2024
This was our fourth trip to the Royal Bahamian, and our ninth Sandals’ resort over 15 years We stayed in the Royal Village in an Island Village Club Level Junior Suite (VJS). The room was large and opened onto a covered patio with needless soaking tub (not a fan of them in general). Enjoyed the privacy for a quiet glass of wine listening to the birds – however, could have used another chair. Our villa held five suites, three suites of varying sizes on the main level and two rooms upstairs. We had all the amenities, including bar, room service, and turn down service (and the best housekeeper on the resort – Pauline!). Restaurants: O.M.G. Had the BEST filet mignon at Butch’s. We’re from cattle country and the steak at Butch’s was the best I’ve ever had. Hats off to Chef Nafi! Perfection! As were the lamb chops! And she so successfully worked around my allergies. I have many food allergies. I registered them on site with the food concierge, but I’m not sure how they were communicated. In each restaurant, including the food trucks, the chefs spoke to me personally about what items could be modified to fit my needs. I had NO reactions all week! We ate at every restaurant on site. Gordon’s and Tesoro don’t require reservations and are very good. Loved the veal at Tesoro, plus it has a great anti-pasto bar. Gordon’s is on the pier and lovely el fresco dinning. Love the addition of the food trucks. Try the conch (pronounced conk) food at CoCo Queen - so nice to have local foods on site. We used to go into town for conch fritters, but no more. And for that morning cappuccino or Bailey’s and hot chocolate around a fire in the evening, stop by Sweets ‘N’ Tings. Private Island/water Still love the private island to do some snorkelling in the cove at the back, along the breakers. They have snorkel equipment in a gazebo back there. Four years ago I saw sea turtles, about four of them; this year no turtles We always go in January and the water is cool when first getting in, but we acclimatize quickly. But we're Canadian and anything is better than the usual -30C we leave behind. I do like to wear a rash guard/swim tee and swim shorts as I'm mostly in the water to snorkel. The rash guard means I don't have to wear as much sunscreen in the water either. Entertainment While the entertainment the week we there was not what we are used to – no playmaker shows for example (or like at Curacao, no aerialists). There was lovely jazz or a singer and band most nights in Coconut Grove. We liked that they moved the evening shows outside, but a stage would still be great, and again an upping of the calibre. They really need to keep the app up to date with what is scheduled for the day/week or not bother with it and just post events around the resort. We missed the fire show and weren’t aware of other events until we stumbled upon them or saw the pictures on a Facebook group. Like when will the vendors be in? When is the steel band playing? When are the playmaker silly adult games (so we can avoid them and make other plans)? Conclusion Overall, we enjoyed our stay. The food was great, even excellent. The sand like powder. The weather perfect. The staff beyond fantastic – from housekeeping to management. We will be back.