TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

1 week stay at the Royal Sandals resort in Barbados. It was a relaxing break, the resort is clean, staff friendly and a nice location. The food is average which is disappointing for a 5 star resort, breakfast was good, lunch was ok and dinner was ok at best. We expected the food to be fantastic for the 5 star rating, we were disappointed. Had a chicken dish at the English pub on site, the chicken was raw in the middle - so be careful. There’s a few pools, a music pool full of party goers, no rest at this pool, then we found a pool towards the back of the resort near the Heart & Sol sandwich shop. The pool is nice and chilled but the pool is dirty most days. The pool needs to be properly cleaned each day. We wouldn’t comeback as it wasn’t good value for money, I think there’s probably much better hotels on the island. Score 5/10

My wife and I returned to Sandals Royal Barbados to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary. This was our 10th Sandals adventure and had previously visited this resort in both 2018 and 2019. As with the prior encounters, the total experience was wonderful, the food, plentiful and delicious ..... and the butler service, exceptional! We were lucky enough to have Jabari, Shae and Marquita as our primary butlers. They were not only responsive to our requests but extremely kind, friendly, efficient in service, thoughtful, informative and also, gave us with some fantastic surprises we discovered when venturing back to our room! On prior stays, we had already went on two separate , 4X4 total island tours and therefore, chose not to do so this time...BUT would highly recommend it because they are awesome and give one a good appreciation of the geographical dichotomy of this country. We did do the "Swimming/Snorkeling with the Turtles and Explore Shipwreck" excursion which was fun, great and the crew was very sensitive to maintaining safety as well. Additionally, the Catamaran cruise excursion was neat and informative as well. This time, our most enjoyable tour was when we chose to do a "3 hour individual, guided tour (cost~$215/per couple). Because we were familiar with Barbados, my wife definitely wanted to get back to the Earthwork Pottery place (about 1/2 hr. away from the resort) and purchase some more plates and bowls. If you are a fan of pottery, this should be "a must" visit when traveling to this country. After our shopping visit, our terrific driver (Cyril) took us to a college cricket match and explained the rules in detail (now, I understand!) and lastly finished by suggesting and taking us to the "Mount Gay Rum Tour" (tasting 5 different rums included). It was outstanding!! Overall, the workers at resort were kind and very professional. The "loud pool" was a lot of fun and the DJ's were great! The dinners at all of the restaurants (Butch's Chop House, Butch's Steak & Seafood, Bombay, Schooners, Portofino's, La Parisienne) were excellent. A special shout out to "Jamaan", the Kimono's Chef, who not only was very entertaining but served a tasty meal! "Kudos" to Sandals Barbados and Sandals Royal Barbados for making my wife and my 35th Wedding Anniversary such a memorable trip!

Sad and a little disappointed to report that whilst being the most expensive holiday we have ever been on, it was a long way from being the best. I’d say if this was your 1st time in the Caribbean or you had only ever been to a Sandals resort, then you would be happy enough. But on all but a handful of occasions the service was lacklustre and dare I say delivered with a hint of resentment. If you have been to a Secrets, TRS or Excellence brand in Mexico, then you will be disappointed, they are 40% cheaper and 50% better. Having said all that, I have just had an outstanding lunch at Heart and Sol and 6 of our 12 evening meals were really very good. Also, the drinks and cocktails are strong and well made, just a shame they are not served with a smile. Our 1 request to modify the mixers in our minibar was completed in good time, though not automatically repeated. Finally. The sun bed situation….. total disaster! And needs sorting. Plenty of other posts about that, so we will say no more. In search of perfection is a perilous and sometimes expensive path, but you have to try. We had always wanted to give Sandals a go, and now we have. No regrets, still had a lovely holiday, but there are better and cheaper options out there.

5* review from us every time! This was our 6th visit and have rebooked for January 2027! Superb location - less than 30 min transfer from airport! Beautiful clean room, the gardens are wonderful, excellent restaurants and great service! Love the Red Lane Spa - treatments with Melissa and Carla for couples outdoor massage are the best! Big thanks to all the staff - we love Stacey in the Parisiene, Rochelle, Kelly-Ann and what incredible service from Shianne in Butches - that girl works so hard!! Can’t wait to return - top marks from us every time!

Sandals royal barbados did not live upto our expectations. On arrival we ordered room service which arrived cold. The next day we went to the merry pub for food the steak was awful it was chewy and had a strange taste our mains came before we had finished our starter and they just took them away before we had even finished. Dessert didn’t even arrive. The next day we went to butch’s steak and seafood. The service was terrible the food arrived like warm and by the time we received out steak knife 5 minutes later it was cold. Really disappointing. Another day we went to parisienne for breakfast. We waited 30 mins to be seated whilst there were empty tables and also tables that needed cleaning. We ordered our food and it arrived an hour later and both our orders were wrong. The American tavern for breakfast was always slow getting seated and the fresh orange machine was always out of order clogged up waiting for it to be emptied. The service almost everywhere was terrible and it wasn’t the laid back Caribbean style it was like they didn’t want to be there and were doing as little as possible to please you some were rude. Entertainment was almost none existent and what they did have was terrible. There was basically nothing going on in the day either. Drinks service around the pool was non existent A couple of times we had got up at 6.30 to save our sunbeds we stayed with them until 7.30 went to get a drink from the room came back ten minutes later only to find that the butlers had taken our beds and put there box and sign on them. On the last day I told club sandals that there wasn’t a hairdryer in the departure area and I also told the receptionist too they both advised that they would arrange for one to be sent over right away. After having my shower and washing my hair I realised that this wasn’t the case there was no hairdryer so had to travel home with messy hair. We did have a lovely meal at butchs chop house and at Bombay The beach was beautiful The room was nice but I little dated Marlon at the swim up pool was lovely and Heidi at the pool was too when you went up to get a drink. All in all I was extremely disappointed in the Sandals resort and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone and it has also put me off visiting another sandals resort. I have had much better holidays at much cheaper places. I would say that you’re just paying for the brand name. It was the most expensive holiday that we have had and also the worst. Definitely not a 5 star and definitely not 5 star service. There were also lots of other people saying the same things too