TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

The views are absolutely amazing. Resort is very beautiful and has a great private island. We especially loved the piano man who was there Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Give it up for him! Make sure you stop in to say hi and sing with him. You don’t want to miss it.

Very Disappointing Experience at Sandals Royal Bahamian — Not Worth the Money Unfortunately, our experience at Sandals Royal Bahamian was extremely disappointing. We have traveled to Sandals before, and this resort was nowhere near the level of service and quality we experienced at Sandals South Coast. Our problems started when we were told there was an issue with our room. The front desk manager told us it was due to maintenance, while another employee told us the resort was overbooked. Regardless of the reason, we were moved to West Bay for one night, which disrupted our vacation. We had to have our luggage packed and out of our room by 11:00 a.m., essentially wasting much of the following day dealing with the situation. The room at West Bay smelled horribly of mildew. After spending one night there, I developed a terrible headache, sinus problems, and wheezing, and I felt sick for the remainder of our stay. This was an unacceptable experience, especially at a resort with Sandals' reputation and price point. We were told we would be in our new room by 1:30 p.m. That did not happen. We had to visit Guest Services three separate times to get updates. We were eventually told our room key would be brought to us at the pool within 30 minutes. An hour and a half later, we still had no key and had to return to Guest Services yet again. To make matters worse, our friends' luggage, which contained money and passports, was misplaced. Thankfully, when we questioned staff about it, they remembered where it was. The resort did provide us with a $150 resort credit as a gesture for the inconvenience. While we appreciated the gesture, we were unable to use it toward a spa service we had booked and paid for before arriving. This limited the usefulness of the credit. More importantly, a $150 credit does not make up for the disruption to our vacation, the experience of being moved to a room that smelled strongly of mildew, or the frustration of dealing with staff who seemed annoyed when we asked questions. While we appreciate the attempt to compensate us, this gesture did not address the larger issues we experienced with the resort's organization, communication, and customer service. The customer service throughout this process was incredibly frustrating. Sandra was very friendly when we first arrived, but her attitude changed once we began asking questions and expressing our frustration about the room situation. She became short and seemed annoyed with us for wanting answers. We should not have had to repeatedly follow up just to find out where we would be staying. The food was okay, but the wait times were ridiculous. Many of the staff members seemed annoyed, and we often had to ask repeatedly about entrees that had not arrived. At these prices, guests should not have to chase down their meals or feel like an inconvenience. Even the remotes in our new room did not work properly. The highlights of our trip were spending time with our friends and visiting the private island. However, even the island had its drawbacks. The food and bar close at 3:30 p.m., despite guests being able to stay until 5:50 p.m. This was disappointing, as it limited the time we could enjoy the island's amenities. Overall, this resort did not meet our expectations for a Sandals vacation. Between the room issues, conflicting explanations from management, poor communication, frustrating customer service, and the mildew-filled room that left me feeling sick, this was not the relaxing, enjoyable vacation we paid for. We have experienced what Sandals can offer at its best, and unfortunately, Royal Bahamian fell far short. The $150 resort credit was a nice gesture, but it did not resolve the underlying problems or make up for the stress and inconvenience we experienced. Guests paying this much for a vacation should be able to expect better accommodations, communication, and service without having to repeatedly ask for answers. We will not return to Sandals Royal Bahamian, and based on our experience, I would not recommend it to others.For the price, there are better options available.

The property is beautiful- the chop house that you needed reservations for was our worst meal. One night Gordon’s was great, and the next night not great. They do a poor job of publishing when restaurants are going to be closed.

My wife and I stayed at Sandals Royal Bahamian in Nassau from October 8–13, 2026, with a group of eight—four couples in our late 50s. At nearly $1,000 or more per night, we expected a more polished five-star experience. Although the resort did not fully justify the price, the exceptional staff, beautiful private island, and outstanding boat excursion made our vacation enjoyable. In room 522, the hot-water faucet was so difficult to turn that it was hard to operate with one hand. We reported the issue on October 9, but it remained unresolved when we checked out. Food service was frequently slow, with delays that appeared to come from the kitchens rather than the servers. Some of our friends waited approximately an hour for meals, and that estimate is conservative. The nightlife was also just okay; we have experienced more enjoyable evening entertainment at other resorts and on cruises, particularly for people in our age group. The private island was one of the resort’s strongest features. It offered a beautiful, relaxing escape with clean beaches, crystal-clear water, good drinks, excellent snorkeling, and outstanding staff. Unfortunately, the restaurant service there was also extremely slow, which detracted from an otherwise wonderful setting. Several staff members deserve special recognition. Ayesha at Tesoro was an outstanding server who demonstrated a genuine understanding of hospitality. She was attentive, professional, and welcoming. At Butch’s Steakhouse, we found the food average, but our server, Nelly, was wonderful. Although she told us it was her first day serving there, she was kind, well-spoken, and eager to make our evening enjoyable. The highlight of our vacation was the boat excursion we booked through Sandals. We snorkeled, swam with turtles, passed Gilligan’s Island and a shipwreck, and enjoyed lunch on Rose Island. Lunch included regular and buffalo wings and Caesar wraps, along with alcoholic beverages, water, and sodas. The entire boat crew was outstanding. Captain Tori was knowledgeable about the islands, reefs, and local fish, sharing interesting information and pointing out things to look for along the way. Our whole group loved the excursion. Captain Tori’s deckhand, Emmanuel—also known as “Pretty Eyes”—deserves special recognition. At just 21 years old, he helped with everything from getting the boat off the sand and docking to assisting guests with snorkeling gear. He also did an excellent job tending the bar. His hospitality, friendly attitude, and willingness to help made an already wonderful excursion even better. We also want to recognize the two ladies who worked mornings at the pink coffee cart near the pool. Unfortunately, we did not get their names, but they were friendly, helpful, and a pleasure to talk with every morning. We enjoyed our coffee, conversations, and laughs with them, and their enthusiasm suggested that they genuinely loved their work. Sandals Royal Bahamian did not consistently deliver the five-star value we expected at this price. The unresolved room issue, slow dining service, and underwhelming nightlife were disappointing, although the private island provided a beautiful escape. Still, the warmth and professionalism of the staff—especially Ayesha, Nelly, the coffee-cart attendants, Captain Tori, and Emmanuel—made a meaningful difference. The boat excursion was the clear highlight and the strongest value of our stay. Improving maintenance, dining efficiency, and entertainment would help the resort better match the quality of its exceptional staff.

We are on the fifth night of a seven-night stay and in so many ways this hotel is a true disappointment. The grounds are fine and the room itself is fine, but starting from our first moments after arrival until this very moment, there has been a complete lack of service and rampant incompetence, including multiple occasions where we were just plainly lied to. The woman who showed us to our room actually tried to talk us out of getting her to explain the features of the room so she didn't have to spend the time. And it was not uphill from then. Tonight is our fifth night in the hotel and for the last 3 days, housekeeping simply didn't come to clean the room. On two of those occasions we complained and, finally in the evening, they came. Today we were promised that they would come three different times and we spoke to the concierge as we went to dinner, but we returned to the room and it hadn't been cleaned. We were just visited by the night duty supervisor of housekeeping, but that took an extra 45 minutes and just now they are cleaning our room and we are forced to sit outside when what we really wanted was a quiet evening together in the room. They say you can make dinner reservations on the app, but you can't. And for the restaurants that don't require dinner reservations, they often make you wait quite a long time even though it looks like there are available tables. The table service is, for the most part, terrible because the waiters have no incentive to do a good job. Tipping is not allowed. You will often find that you just can't get a waiter to move with even a modicum of efficiency. And you will also see in a number of the restaurants a bunch of waiters congregating in the kitchen seemingly shooting the breeze. We are not big drinkers but tonight we ordered cocktails that we see people ordering with regularity. We were told that they were not available because they are out of mint. When we pressed, the other bartender said that he would go get some. The first was content to lie and say that there wasn't any so he wouldn't have to. That is a good example of the experience here. I should say that the two exceptions in terms of food service are the two Japanese restaurants and Butch's, where the staff seems efficient and motivated to please. On the other hand, the breakfast here, which is available at two or three of the restaurants, has almost no variety (it doesn't change over 5 days thus far). We went to the private island, which is actually very nice. However, when we came to the snorkeling booth at 11:05 a.m. (the sign said it opened at 11:00 a.m.) there was no one there and the other staff said that he was off doing 'something'. When he showed up a number of minutes later, he told us we would have to wait while he prepared the equipment. He was in fact talking to colleagues (and would have gone on had we not interrupted) and, few minutes later he disappeared and came back about 10 minutes later. He immediately opened up the cupboard and gave us the equipment without any preparation. That was some 20 minutes after the scheduled opening. The gym is pretty good, but the music blares at a very high volume and the phone to call for help is out of order! Similarly, when we call the front desk by pressing the relevant button on the phone in our room, which we have done at least nine times at different times over the 4 days, only once was it ever answered. Mostly it just rings and rings and then goes dead. And we are not making those calls in the off hours. Tonight I went to the main reception because we found out that three of the restaurants were closed and we didn't know that they would be. Two of the others required reservations which we did not have. The woman at the front desk didn't know that restaurants were closed. She then had to go into the back to talk to someone and came out and told us that there was the beach party, which was the reason for the closure. We hadn't seen any signs suggesting that, so I asked her where the beach party was. She said she didn't know and had to go back into the back to check. She came back to tell me its location, which is in the dead center of the complex. In other words, the woman at the front desk didn't know anything about what's going on in the hotel. When we went to the pub restaurant on the first night, we could not get a waiter for the first 45 minutes and then it took an angry request to see the manager before we finally ate, about 90 minutes after our arrival at the restaurant. It wasn't even full. It is important to understand that this is not just an issue of the main staff being unmotivated. Many of them are very friendly and will engage with you conversationally. However, it seems totally obvious that they have no incentive to try harder and do better. But perhaps more disappointing is the management level at each restaurant and service point. We spoke to lots of the managers, which is something we don't usually feel the need to do, and most of them accepted the complaints and criticisms, but effectively told us that they were powerless to change the situation. Indeed, in a number of cases, they expressed exasperation with the incompetence of the staff. If you think you can have problems corrected by appealing to upper management, thus far we have found them to be totally non-responsive when we have asked to see them. If frequenting the bars is important to you, you need to understand that the staffing decisions made here are not conducive to good service. At some of the busiest bars you will find the fewest number of bartenders and at some of the quietest ones you will find surplus bar tenders. I could go on but suffice it to say that this is one of the most poorly run places in the Caribbean vicinity that we have ever been to. And we have been to lots of them on many islands, including other places in the Bahamas. The property itself is fine. The food is okay but not wonderful, except at the two Japanese restaurants and the Butch's restaurant. The staff are mostly friendly but their level of competence and service is not close to worthy of what we are paying and what we should be entitled to expect. There is one exception.. the front desk manager of the sushi restaurant is wonderful; efficient, friendly, helpful and proactive! What a breath of fresh air! I wouldn't have taken the time to write this much if I weren't so thoroughly frustrated and disappointed by the level of service at this otherwise decent property.