TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Annual trip with over 30 friends! This resort was a little dated but looks like they are working on some updates, overall we had a great trip! Some highlights - Great Service from Floyd @ Italian, Breakfast & our private party there were many others who also went above & beyond to make our trip successful! The private island was a highlight my ocean front massage by McQueen was absolutely relaxing and set the tone for a perfect island day with my own private beachfront hut, amazing lunch & drinks just absolutely perfect! I’m rested and relaxed and very thankful for the kindness and hospitality of Sandals Royal Bahamian ??????

My wife and I traveled to Nassau's Royal Bahamian. Our butlers, Os and Derrion, took care of all our needs. They surprised us with a spectacular room display for our 55th anniversary. We had so many people really seem to enjoy their work and taking care of us. Denzel outside at our swim up room made sure the pool and our patio were in perfect condition...and had a good time doing it! Robson, the sous chef, made a meal for us that we won't forget..along with his personal story that tells you why Sandals is a great place to experience as a traveler...and why it's a good place to work. Concern about their Jamaican families and friends was impressive on this island that Melissa missed. I see other reviews that sometimes are critical, but none of them represented what we experienced. Having butlers is great, but I saw positive treatment from many of the other Sandals employees. That's why we have been coming to many of the resorts over the last number of years. They all have good points that outweigh any criticisms! If you get the chance to go off resort, go to Sapodilla's for a fantastic dining experience. Food, piano playing, and waiters (especially Earl) made a most memorable evening and added to Sandals treatment!

To start off, The Bahamas are beautiful—you really can’t go wrong in that respect. However, we won’t be coming back here, and I’m sad to say I think I’m done with Sandals. Our trip as a whole was great, but the resort felt like a motel 6. Echoing much of what I read on TripAdvisor before we left, the service was terrible. I felt like I should have been apologizing every time I asked for something. Sometimes we were simply ignored. Believe everything you hear about the musty/moldy smell in the East Bay building. Our room wasn't bad but the hallways were gross, One of the nights we were there, the power went out. Hey, that’s life—it happens. But there was no communication about why it was out, how long it would last, or anything else. The resort was poorly lit at night along the pathways even when the power was on, but one poor lady completely smashed up her face because she couldn’t see where she was walking and fell. The power ended up being out for about three hours, though it wasn’t out in the rooms—just in the restaurants and entertainment areas. We did have one favorite bartender—“T Money,” I think they called him—who we really liked. Other than that, it was often hard to get a drink. There was a wonderful bartender in the piano bar, but there is no way on this Earth he should have been working alone. Reservations aren’t necessarily going to be honored. In another review I read, someone mentioned that they felt as though, because they didn’t have butler service, they weren’t treated as well—for example, not getting reservations, or suddenly being told there were none once staff realized they weren’t in a butler-level room. While we were at the resort, we ran into several couples complaining about their butlers: they weren’t listening to what guests wanted to do or where they wanted to go. I can’t speak to that personally, but it’s worth noting if that’s what you’re booking for. I’d love to tell you how the food was at Butch’s, but we sat at our table for 15 minutes (in a non-crowded restaurant, mind you) and no one came. This was after waiting 15 minutes past our reservation time to be seated, even though we had shown up five minutes early. Several couples who arrived after us with reservations at the same time were seated before us. Several days it seemed like they were out of literally everything we wanted. This was weird especially because we Honeymoon-ed in St. Lucia in 2021 when supply chain issues were still bad from Covid and they were never lacking anything. There was a WONDERFUL singer at one of the performances one night—I didn’t get his name. But shows didn’t start at the times listed and often weren’t in the locations listed (so don’t bother using the app they tell you to download; it’s inaccurate and you can’t make reservations with it either). I did send a long email to customer service. (BY THE WAY - customer service basically shrugged and said "oh well" to my email so that was cool.) One of my biggest complaints was that it felt to me (and everyone else we spoke with at the resort) like they made up the boat schedule to the private island as they wished. Some reviews I’ve seen blamed this on “island time.” Uhm, no. Not when people are paying island prices. My husband and I, having been to a Sandals resort before, brought our own snorkel gear. The couple we traveled with did not, and they had to wait an hour later than the schedule stated for snorkeling gear to be distributed on the private island. The island has odd hours, so losing that hour of snorkeling was a big disappointment. On a couple of days, half the menu at the restaurant wasn’t available, and the food wasn’t very good to begin with. My photo voucher wasn’t honored, and after a lot of back-and-forth with the front desk, I gave up because my shuttle to the airport had arrived. (They had accidentally given it to the couple we traveled with instead of us, so we never saw it.) All in all, I enjoyed spending time with my husband. But before anyone comes at me with “your trip is what you make it,” let me be clear: we didn’t spend thousands of dollars, arrange child care, arrange pet care, and take time off work just to have to “make” the resort ourselves. Either Sandals has really gone downhill in the last couple of years, or it’s just this particular resort—but we won’t be back.

First, the resort was very nice and was kept up. The spa was wonderful. The only spa thing that could be improved was the dressing area which was one person at a time and that caused a slight backlog, but generally there were not issues. Unfortunately, they fell short if quite a few areas of service, especially as it related to concierge who often had attitude. The first housekeeping day, we were left 1 towel (no hand towels or wash clothes--just a towel), We called and no one came. We called again, nothing. Then, we got a call as they needed a signature and we told them when we get towels we would sign...miracle towels and the missing coffee showed up in 5 minutes. We were unable from minute one to book any of the reservable restaurants and based on many comments from other guests, others got it after we tried so something was not fairly presented. In this we felt they had our money, so they had no further obligation. There were some minor restaurant issues where they delivered substitute meals without prior approval. The Queens Pearl had such bad service people got up and left. Please note that the bar service was well staffed and there never seemed to be an issue with getting a drink. They only stocked one local beer and honestly it was not good (Sands). They also indicated for later flights they had a courtesy room to shower, etc. This is also inaccurate. We were told we could pay $100 to stay in our room for 1 hour (checkout is at 11) or wait until 1 p.m. until a room was made into a courtesy room. Logic would just say let us check out at noon because basically the shuttle for later flights left at 1:30 (I'm sure there were later ones, but we had a 4:55 flight). When we checked out we were not even asked how our stay was--I guess they already knew the answer to the question. The other issue was they left a card in our door the last night we were there indicating they had been unable to reach us for a "special" celebration (I was celebrating a milestone birthday). They never left a message on the room phone or on my cell phone, so they really didn't try to hard. I have always heard good things about Sandals, but I would fully hesitate before paying to go to another one.

Feeling beyond grateful after the most incredible 50th birthday getaway my husband planned for me in the Bahamas. ??? From the moment we arrived, everything felt like a dream—starting with our private transfer from the airport and continuing with the extraordinary care from our butlers, Zhaly and Kaneisha, who truly went above and beyond. From booking every dinner, to anticipating our needs before we even said a word, to adding the sweetest personal touches to our room—they made us feel so cared for the entire stay. The water was the kind of blue you think only exists in photos… absolutely crystal clear. We soaked up every moment by the pool, explored the islands on unforgettable excursions, and got a real feel for the beautiful Bahamian culture.