Sandals Barbados All Inclusive - Couples Only

Overall we found Sandals Barbados a great all inclusive holiday. Beautiful gardens, several pools very well managed and a gorgeous beach. Although it's a big resort it never felt crowded or impersonal, the staff were polite and welcoming. The food and drinks during the day were very good, the main buffet restaurant was excellent but come the evening we learnt the hard way that having 6 in our party made it difficult to get a table in any of the restaurants unless it was 6pm. Our first night we didn't sit down to eat until 9.30pm by which time we were very tired and stressed because every restaurant was fully subscribed. Once we realised 6pm was the only time to get a table then we stuck with that and it worked. I was very disappointed that Spices buffet wasn't open in the evening (evidently not enough customers in the evening) because the food and service was the best of all the restaurants and maybe they should reduce the amount of restaurants available in the resort and focus on the best. We found the Indian and Chinese the best, the english pub had good food but way to noisy. Why have 3 American outlets, you only need one and Butch's on the Royal side served the smallest chicken breast I've ever seen, the Sushi didn't appeal and Kimonos was pretentious. The other major factor for us is that we love swimming in the sea and although we knew it would be rough, the rip tide and force of the waves made it dangerous to swim apart from a very small roped off area. We were there for 10 days and in that time 1 person nearly drowned and two people trying to help her got into trouble too and another day a man got swept out but the lifeguards did a sterling job on both occasions to rescue them. Whether extending the reef may help with the rip tide and roughness I don't know. Great resort in so many ways but for me the sea conditions were a big negative for me personally.

First, Sandals Barbados and Sandals Royal Barbados is a connected resort. We spent 11 days in Barbados and split our stay. We have done this previously in Jamaica and when we purchased this vacation, we were under the impression that the two resorts were on different parts of the island. Once we realized the two resorts really function as one, we wished we would have just picked one room to stay in. Moving rooms mid trip didn't bother us, but if we had known what the real deal was, we wouldn't have chose that route. We were told that this was a marketing move that Sandals was doing. Since we purchased our trip 2 years ago, I believe they were into upselling both resorts back then. Not really an issue, just wanted to include that these are two resorts because we met many others that were under the same impression (2 resorts on 2 different parts of the island). Secondly, if you have been to other Sandals, Barbados may not meet your expectations, but if this is your first Sandals experience, you will most likely love it. Let me explain...The resort is lovely, the staff are pleasant (not overly friendly, but nice), the beach is beautiful, the rooms are clean. With all of that said, many (I would even go as far to say, majority) staff at this resort are just not as enthused or friendly as other Sandals resorts. Don't get me wrong, there are some that shine through (the bartenders at the Piano Bar, the Infinity Pool Bar and the Bowling alley) were all awesome, but other staff at some of the restaurants were either not happy to be waiting on us or just not good servers. We had 3 occasions at 3 different restaurants where we felt forgotten about. After a longer than usual wait, we actually got our food before our beer and diet coke at Neptunes on a lunch visit. We had a similar breakfast visit at La Parisienne. I was pretty sure the hostess may have forgotten to tell the waitress we were in her section, but food and drink were eventually ordered once someone realized we were there. And when we had reservations at The Greenhouse, our waitress came to our table and just said "are you ready to order?", no greeting, no offer to order a drink or wine first, just an awkward encounter, she did not seem in a good mood. We visited almost all the restaurants and many of them had good staff, so having a few negative restaurant experiences would not deter me from going back to Barbados, but I wanted to include them in this review because I have never had any experiences like this at any of the other Sandals (we have been to 8). Finally, the activity staff are around, but not super into the activities that they are supposed to be providing. The aqua aerobics guy clearly doesn't love leading this activity, not a big deal, I am sure it gets old, but I have never seen activity staff at any other Sandals be so aloof. Same with the girl who was going to lead a volleyball game. She called out "volleyball" faintly a couple of times. Can't complain because she did her

An all-around excellent resort with outstanding service. The employees here are the best we've seen at any Sandals...ALL of them are really friendly and take the time to say hi/good morning/etc. They are quick to respond, and they all seem ready to help out regardless of whether it's their specific job to do so. - There are plenty of restaurants willing to meet your schedule. The food is excellent at all of the restaurants with the exception of Chi Asian Fusion (nice people but lousy menu). The beach towels are removed from unused loungers on a fair schedule, and loungers are plentiful at the beach and the pools. Stand out employees during our visit included: - Janine at Spices (great hostess) - Miriam at Neptunes (met our needs before we knew we needed them) - Jerelyn at La Parisian (very kind; nice to speak with) - Kyla at Royal Side Quiet Pool swim-up bar (beautiful artwork on special drinks) - Crystal-C at Greenhouse (very attentive) - Shaquita at Soy (went way out of her way to accommodate our order) - Shachem at multiple bars (super excellent service and kindness) - Denisha and Dominique at Bombay (super attentive) - Andrew at Club Sandals (met our every need with a pleasant attitude) - Charles in management (always stopped to ask us how we were doing) - Finally, a special thanks to housekeeping (our room was kept nicely clean, and the fridge was well stocked with all of the items that we asked for). The only negative comment might be that the beach is not good for swimming or snorkeling. The view is absolutely beautiful, it's really nice to walk on, there are plenty of shade trees and umbrellas, and beach vendors are kept safely off property by security. It's just not a swimmer's beach.