Sandals Royal Barbados All Inclusive - Couples Only

This was our fifth trip to Sandals. We had put off coming to Royal Barbados because of some of the negative early reviews. Now that we’ve wrapped up our holiday, I’m pleased to say that we had a wonderful experience. Our room was the nicest & newest one we’ve stayed at in any Sandals, which made things feel luxurious right away. The property is beautiful, and the seamless connection between the “two” resorts means you’re really enjoying yourself at one large one. I think the food has gotten better at Sandals overall since we started going in 2019. Bombay and Chi were huge standouts, but everything was good. Our butlers, Shakira, Donald, and Da-Quan went above and beyond to ensure we had a great time, including doing little extra things like leaving us snacks in the room or bringing our favorite cocktails to the beach. The only thing that wasn’t quite up to par was housekeeping. The staff skipped cleaning our room one day and skipped the turndown service another day, even though we had the little “light” on requesting cleaning. Mugs were never replaced despite my asking. But those were tiny details that did not detract from a great holiday. We’ll look forward to coming back!

We have just come back from 10 days at Sandals Royal Barbados and i cant rate this hotel more highly. The staff are very friendly and helpful and the rooms are lovely and clean spacious and cool (maybe a little too cool as the air con is very good!) They have lovely bathrooms and a fully stocked fridge which even had champagne believe it or not! The hotel is located on a beautiful stretch of sandy beach and there are plenty of loungers and umbrellas, although you do have to secure them pretty early in the morning if you want a particular spot. There’s always loads of clean towels you can use there as well. The sea is lovely and clean although there was a bit of sargasso seaweed coming in towards the end of our stay. This was however cleaned away early morning by an army of workers thankfully. I cant express how good the food is at the resort. The dining options are unbelievable. We went to a different place for our evening meal nearly every night. You have the use of the adjoining Sandals Barbados hotel as well and it’s impressive just how many places to eat there are as well as the amazing quality of the food. I had an issue while there and had to have an emergency dental appointment unfortunately. Nurse Kendra in the nurses station was amazing and arranged everything for me as i had to leave the resort to go to the Urgent Care centre a 15-20 minute taxi ride away. I’d like to thank her very much for her help. Some of the evening entertainment was superb and the live singers were really good. We have said we would definitely go to another Sandals resort as this was so impressive. There is also a PADI dive centre on the resort and they were great. Really nice people. All in all a fantastic holiday.

I was getting nervous leading up to this trip based on the negative reviews being left here, but this could not have been further from our experience! Huge shoutout to Donald, Dequan, and Shakira on the butler staff, they made sure we wanted for nothing all week and were excellent! Beyond that though, all of the staff at Sandals Royal Barbados were attentive and engaging, always saying hello as we walked by and willing to help. All of the restaurants we tried were great, but our favorites were probably the French restaurant and Bombay (Indian). This was our first stay at a Sandals but will not be our last, already booked for next year!

This was our second Sandals resort experience. We got married at Sandals Grande St. Lucian, which set a very high bar for us. While Sandals Royal Barbados didn’t quite match that experience, it wasn’t terrible either. Butler Service Our butlers were Shanice, Jennlika, and Reanna. We didn’t see Reanna much, but she was pleasant when we did. The butler experience here was very different from Grande St. Lucian. For the first one to two days, we hardly heard from them until they escorted us to our dinner reservation. When we arrived, our reservations had already been booked at restaurants they chose for us, and when we mentioned that two of the restaurants didn’t serve food we liked, we were told it would be difficult to change. Because Sandals Royal Barbados is right next to Sandals Barbados, it felt harder to secure reservations, and wait times for food delivery—whether to our room or the beach—could be up to an hour and a half. Sometimes, it felt easier just to get things ourselves. Service noticeably improved after we tipped one of the butlers on the second or third day. On our last night, they left envelopes with their names on them, presumably for tips, which we found a little tacky since gratuities are technically included in the price. Our friends, who were also staying at the resort, didn’t receive these envelopes, so we weren’t sure why we did. Another frustrating aspect was that calling the butlers often went straight to voicemail, and we had to wait around 30 minutes for a callback. The butler phone they provided also couldn’t send or receive text messages, which made communication more difficult. Room & Amenities We stayed in the Saint Lawrence building in a swim-up room (HSUP). The pool had some leaf and flower debris, but that was expected due to the landscaping. Since we didn’t see anyone else using it the entire week, we basically had it to ourselves, which was nice. Our room stayed fairly warm, and the humidity was intense. The sheets felt damp, and even the toilet paper had a flimsy, damp texture. We assumed this was normal for a tropical climate, but the only places that felt truly cool were the ones with split-unit ACs on the walls. The resort itself was somewhat confusing to navigate, especially with Sandals Barbados right next door. If you took a wrong turn, you could end up in the other resort by accident. By the time we learned the layout, it was already time to leave. Dining & Food Overall, the food was excellent. We didn’t have a single bad meal. One of our favorite spots was the Merry Monkey Pub, located on the Sandals Barbados side. The ribeye there was the best steak we had the entire trip, and the best part was that no reservation was required. We substituted the fries for mashed potatoes and gravy, which was a great decision. We had breakfast at the Greenhouse almost every morning. The Chophouse was a popular choice among guests, but we recommend not overlooking the Merry Monkey’s steak, as it was fantastic.