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Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort and Spa

Depends on what you like, but I won't be back
Reviewer: Bahamas visitor, chicago, IL

My fiancee and I went down there (with about 12 couples) for a wedding in April, and while I can see how some people could have fun there, and we did, I wouldn't go back. So here's the review, take what you want from it. Positives: 1. The grounds were impressive, two large pools were nice, it was nice to lounge around pools. 2. All-inclusive is nice for drinks around the pool, you can just grab something and try it and not worry about dropping 10 bucks each time. 3. Piano Bar was fun, although it closed fairly early, about 11:00, we aren't huge clubers and enjoy the sing along atmosphere. 4. Most the food we had in the a la carte restaurants was good. Not 5 star plus, but very good.

Neutrals 1. The room we had was better than average, no problems with service, having a wet bar was nice. 2. Weather is nice, but be aware, in april we still had some cool weather, mid-70's, nicer than Chicago, but not hot.

Negatives 1. It might just be the Island way, but service, especially at the bars was slow, they should allow tipping if it would lead to better service. 2. buffets, yuck. In my opinion, too many buffets gets old. 3. The pool is not heated and cold in the winter months. 4. Make sure you make reservations at the gourmet restaurants before you go. 5. Not a lot to do around the resort without$15 cab ride to town. I kinda felt trapped in the resort, if you like to explore, go to different places, this probably isn't for you. 6. They had the private island closed for the first 3 of our 4 days. On the first two days, the water was choppy, but on day 3 it was fine, and the other resort that shares the island, was running their people. It seemed as though the staff just didn't want to open it, not that there is really anything great over there anyway, but a better beach. 7. All-inclusives, it depends on what you are looking for, but we determined we probably wouldn't stay in one again, based on published airfare, and $200/night rooms (which would be about right, or too high for the room, the amount that went to the all-inclusive was over $1,000 (a couple) for our four days (which was actually 2 full days, one evening, and one morning). That's quite a bit, I know it's not outrageous, but I think we could have eaten at two great restaurants, one good one, and done the other stuff for probably less.


Fantastic Trip
Reviewer: kr_lvn@hotmail.com, Midland, TX

This was our first trip to any Sandals resort. No problems with transfers at the airport. We got to the hotel a little after 2:00pm. They sat us down in the reception area with champagne and cold towels and provided some info about the hotel and reservation restaurants. They nicely explained that check-in wasn't until 3:00pm and therefore our room would not be ready until after that time. We were then taken over to Spices for the buffet lunch and told to enjoy lunch and the grounds until our room was ready. The lunch was very good. We then took the opportunity to make reservations for all the restaurants that required one. No problem getting a reservation to any of the restaurants. Also made tour and spa reservations.We purchased a Honeymoon Oceanview Concierge room in the Manor block. We were given our ammenity kit and lock for the safe and taken to the 5th floor, room 510. The room was very nice, but did not have a balcony. Only a sliding window that faced directly towards Sandals Cay. Not acceptable. We understood that our room would have a balcony that faced the Manor pool with an oceanview. We nicely relayed our concerns to the front desk and was immediately taken to the 4th floor, room 406 without any problem. This room was perfect. It was on a corner and faced directly over the Manor pool and the beach/ocean area. The room was very nice and clean. The bar was a nice touch, but we really didn't need it. After all the alcohol we consumed down at the pools and restaurants, we didn't need to drink in our room also. Never touched any of the alcohol offered, and only drank 2 of the bottled waters and 2 cans of juice, which was promptly restocked the following day.We ate at all the restaurants for dinner except Cafe Goombay on Sandals Cay.

We enjoyed the food very much. Never had a bad dining experience. We were disappointed though in the seafood selection, as they only offered conch, grouper or shrimp. No lobster or crab. Also, the desserts are not as sweet tasting as I am used to. We enjoyed Spices mainly for breakfast and lunch. Nice wide variety of selections with daily grilled to order specials. We tried Baccarat and Casanova for breakfast once and Royal Cafe for lunch twice. The service in Baccarat for breakfast was too slow, though very good. DH really enjoyed Kimonos and we ate there twice. We were really impressed with the food and service. Much better than any AI we've been to in the Mexico-Caribbean.We are mainly beer drinkers and usually only drink Corona and Bud Light. We tried the Kalik beer and really liked it. I drank the regular with lime and DH drank the Gold. All bartenders were friendly and we did not have to wait long to get a drink. We saw lots of name brand liquors at every bar. We just told them what we wanted and they gladly served it to us. We sat at the Manor swim-up pool bar one afternoon and tried 1 of every drink on the menu hanging above to see if we could find something we like and have never had before.The Royal Theater had something going on every night at 9:30pm.

We saw the fire limbo, the Las Vegas type show Oh La La, participated in the Mr. and Mrs. Royal Bahamian Contest (we came in 3rd), the VIP band played a couple of nights and we just danced the night away most every night. We had late night snacks at Cricketers Pub. The chicken wings were excellent. Also enjoyed the Billiard Room. Played pool and chess a few times. Had late night dips at the Windsor's hot tub, and went to the piano bar twice for sing-alongs.Spa- I had the body polish scrub, the moor mud masque (the mixture is painted on with a paint brush), aromatherapy hydrobath (the mud mixture was rinsed off in the hydro bath instead of the shower) and 35 minute Swedish massage. (The massage is the back part of the body only) Though the services were nice, I wouldn't say they were the best I've ever had especially for the price. I've had the same treatments in Las Vegas and Mexico-Caribbean for less than 1/2 the price and felt the treatments were slightly better and more personal.We took the charter over to Sandals Cay. We had lunch at Cafe Goombay. Basically the same menu of selections as the Royal Cafe.

The pool was very small compared to the hotels main pools. Also had a lot of debris and sand in it. Not very clean. The beach area was nice. Saw a few fish as we waded in the water. We stayed 2 hours and then went back to the Manor pool. We could have skipped going there altogether, but wanted to try it. We had dinner reservations for Cafe Goombay, but after seeing the area we canceled it.We are definitely pool people and loved the massive size of the 2 pools. The water was clean and just the right temperature. The 2 hot tubs at the Manor pool were not as warm as I would have liked. The Windsor hot tub's water temp. was perfect, but it didn't have any jets. The 2 hot tubs by the spa were dirty with lots of debris. One was cold and the other scalding hot. No problems in getting towels or loungers. The towels were beach size, but kinda thin. We were able to replace them as needed throughout the day. The beach was nice with white sand. No rocky entrance to the ocean and warm crystal clear water. It was a small beach area, but didn't feel overcrowded. Did not have anybody bug us to buy things or use the motorized and non-motorized water equipment. There were a very limited number of umbrellas for the loungers at the beach and the pools. We saw 3-4 per area.This was a fantastic trip. The weather was perfect. Overcast and cloudy which took away some of the heat, but just perfect to use the pools and beach. It rained once, which was on the day the left. We really enjoyed the hotel, the service, the food and entertainment. In all of our trips, we have never found more nice, friendly, polite, accommodating people.


Hated it!
Reviewer: Bahamas visitor, Charlotte, NC

This was one of the worst places I have ever been. The quality of everything was poor. In all their advertisements, Sandals says they use top quality liquor, etc. Well, I am here to tell you it was even less than average quality. The drinks are served to you in little plastic Dixie cups (the kind you wash your mouth out with at the dentists office). As soon as you get your drink and take a sip or two, you have to get right back in line to get another one! And the quality of the liquorthat was a joke! The vodka was Aristocrat, or something similar. And they didnt even have Jose Cuervo for doing tequila shots. The swim up pool bar the brag about had plastic cups, bugs, and cigarette butts floating around in it. The AC in our room never worked correctly. We had two options, freeze your butt off, or turn the AC off and sweat to death. We were there for 5 days, and even though someone came to fix it every day, it never got fixed. My husband ended up with a cold on our honeymoon! I am here to tell you, DONT WAIST YOUR MONEY ON SANDALS. It is over priced garbage. But if you decide to try it out, certainly dont waist your money on a suite like we did. It wasnt worth it!


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