The Royal Pavilion is a lovely hotel. The views from the beachfront suites are extraordinary! The rooms are large, beds comfortable and the air conditioner is excellent. The bathroom was clean and the water pressure just right. Stepping out onto your own patio overlooking the water is dreamy. All of the staff members are extremely friendly and check-in to make sure that everything is going well.
The hotel is about an hour away from the airport in traffic or about 45 minutes without traffic and is located on a beach that has lots of sea glass to collect and calm, warm water to enjoy.
There was only one restaurant open on the property at the time we travelled. Breakfast was very good. The food for lunch and dinner was just OK. A bit bland, limited options and not to the standard of other Fairmont properties we have stayed at. There is an excellent option for dinner located a 3 minute walk away, called Lone Star. Get the lamb-- you won't regret it!
The wine offerings at the hotel were good if you wanted to buy a bottle. They are expensive, but that is to be expected when purchasing from a hotel. It would be a similar price if I bought a bottle of wine at a restaurant in Canada.
We were offered an all-inclusive add-on package priced at $240.00 USD per person, per day $480 USD total or about $670 CAD. This did not include any prosecco or champagnes by the glass, room service and only two lower-end wines by the glass and basic cocktails. The plan included 4 meals a day, which is a lot of food (too much fo us)! Apparently, there were some items on the menu that would be excluded from the AI plan, but I am not sure what they were as we did not go with that option.
Since breakfast was included in our stay, we opted out and then calculated our expenses to see if we made the right choice. A typical lunch where we bought 1 sparkling water and 2 sandwiches would be about $80 CDN dollars with taxes and tip.
A typical dinner, with a bottle of wine and 2 entrees would be about 250 CDN dollars.
Extra drinks are about 15 CDN dollars per drink (beer is cheaper). We usually had a cocktail or beer before dinner. We spent about $350 CDN per day if we ate all our meals at the resort, so the all-inclusive option would not have given us any cost-savings. We found it much more affordable and enjoyed the variety of options available just to pay for the meals and drinks we wanted, plus we were able to have room service this way and eat on our beautiful deck overlooking the water. Also, Barbados has tons of great restaurants and this allowed us to get out and explore these options.
We had a couples massage in our room that was both excellent and strange all at once. The actual massage itself was the perfect pressure and the therapists were very friendly. That being said, the therapists did not leave the room or even turn away when we were undressing to get on to the massage table. Since we were only in our underwear, that was a bit uncomfortable. Also, they did not have sheets to cover us, only towels, which is not to the standards of practise that we are used to in Canada.
The so-called "butler service" was non-existent, for us at least. I tried to find a butler to help us book a massage the second day of our trip but there was no one to be found. I finally called and was told he would look into it but he never got back to me. The next day, a different butler came to say hello and we asked if the massage had been booked. He was not aware of the request but came back about an hour later to tell us it had been booked for 11:30. Although the "butlers" were friendly and liked to ask you about your day, we found no added value for this service that comes with the beachfront suites.
The service at the restaurant was attentive and a good pace but if you wanted a drink at the bar or at the beach , be prepared to wait! We waited between 30 and 75 minutes for every drink we ordered throughout our stay, which seems like a long wait for a 5 star hotel. Even if we were the only ones at the bar, and actually sitting right at the bar, we still had to wait and wait and wait for a simple beer or glass of wine. The beer and wine were right there so I am not entirely sure why service was painfully slow. Everyone we spoke to felt that the wait times were very long for drinks, and many guests were annoyed. The plus side is, you are never going to have the problem of having "one too many" with the long wait times!!!
2 bottles of water per day are included with our room (one during the day and one at turn-down). Otherwise, you have to pay an outrageous amount for them. Some cocktails that I ordered were less expensive than a bottle of water. If I could have chosen, I would have found unlimited access to water bottles more valuable than butler service. While the tap water is safe to drink in Barbados, it did not agree with me and so I found that the only way to avoid feeling "off" was to purchase bottled water. For the price of the beachfront suite, I think including access to bottled water, free of charge, would be reasonable.
If one wants to secure sun beds on the beach- they get taken quite quickly, I am an early riser and went for a walk everyday at 7am. I was encouraged to place some sunscreen or personal item on 2 loungers to secure my spot. When I came back before 8am, all the loungers had personal items on them. Anyone that came out at 9am or 10am would have difficulty getting a lounger on the beach-- and this is in the quiet season!
In terms of entertainment, they have a singer during dinner and all of the singers were excellent. You can do non-motorized water sports for free but anything motorized you need to pay for.
There were a lot of older people and people with young families. This is a quiet resort with no night scene, so if you are looking for lots of evening entertainment or a vibrant bar scene after dinner, this is not the place for you.
Overall , the warmth and kindness of the people we encountered is what would bring us back. Every hostess, server, housekeeper, beach attendant was extremely attentive, kind and engaging. The rooms are beautiful, the beach is one of the best on the island and the proximity to other restaurants is excellent.
Despite some issues, we would come back-- but next time we will stop at the duty free and get our own drinks so we don't have to wait at the bar.
