Sandals Barbados

This resort is not the place to go for a good time. No kind of shows or entertainment planned for people to have a good time besides singing by the piano. The workers did not show good hospitality. Every request was met with a rebuttal. Very unprofessional. They told us several times they didn’t have anymore of s couple of different things like jerk chicken or Armaretta to make an Armaretta Sour drink. It was crazy. My whole faucet came off the wall in the tub. Restaurants closed at certain times to prepare for dinner. If you didn’t have a reservation for the good restaurants you most likely will be at the Pub. We literally had to make our own fun and entertainment. If you are looking for a fun and exciting good time Sandals Barbados is not it. We thought that we would receive an experience of a lifetime at a Sandals resort and this was not what all the hype was about. Let me say that Jack the host in the Pub, bar restaurant was the absolute best! Read less

Apologies in advance, this is a long one. If you aren’t a diver, please know that my rating is heavily influenced by our scuba experience. My husband and I just returned from an 8 night stay at Sandals Barbados. When we arrived, the check in process wasn’t great. We arrived around midnight, so they were on a shoestring staff (one person to check us all in, he did his best!). It took us over an hour to get to our room. We never received our welcome packet. The resort itself is beautiful. We stayed in the OBT Beachfront Club level room with balcony soaking tub. The ocean view is amazing. There were a couple nights where the room was very loud earlier in the evening due to entertainment, so if you go to bed early, pick a room near the back of the resort. Otherwise it was quiet by 10. The room itself is small compared to other club rooms we have stayed in, but it was clean and there was ample storage. We were very happy with it! The food was consistently very good. I loved the pre-made smoothies for breakfast at Spices, and Butch’s was great. David at Schooners went well out of his way to get our friend a special drink called a “Bloody Brain” (on Halloween) which we appreciated. The restaurants are on island time, you won’t get food quickly, even at the fast locations. Most restaurants and room service took about an hour to serve our entrees. The exception to that is the Paris sweet shop, they were very quick even when they had long lines. The spa was a highlight of our trip. I had a pedicure with Carla. We had great conversation and she helped recommend excursions on the island. She also went out of her way to show me the spa amenities and to see the monkeys that travel through the trees near the spa! The couples massage later in the week was amazing as well. Highly recommend a spa service if you go, the staff there is wonderful! We didn’t have butler service but our friends did. They asked me to highlight how exceptional Princess was, she went above and beyond to offer them a great vacation. Unfortunately, the diving experience, a priority for us, fell short. We are frequent Sandals travelers due to the inclusive diving; that alone is what keeps us coming back. So far we’ve been to Negril, St. Vincent, Grenada, Curaçao, and St. Lucia, most of these multiple times, and have had all good experiences. We also have paid Sandals quite a lot for the certifications and registration fees required for their Elite diver program, which at its baseline guarantees a spot on the dive boat. Anyone who frequently dives at Sandals knows that in the morning there are usually two tank dives, and a single tank dive in the afternoon that is usually shallow and used for training. For a typical week at Sandals, we usually dive about 12 tanks, but with the issues we experienced, we only had 5 total dives this trip. On our very first dive, several guests noticed that our air was contaminated (it tasted like exhaust). The team appropriately called off the second dive in order to clear and clean the tanks. That by itself was handled correctly, and they initially were able to clean enough tanks for a single tank dive each morning, but by the end of our week stay, they still hadn’t cleaned enough tanks to support a two tank morning dive. A few days delay might be understandable… a full week is long. Several of our friends arrived later in the week, all of whom also had also paid for the elite diver program. Despite the guarantee for a spot on the boat, they were told that there was “no way” they could get on the boat despite providing a couple of days notice. They were advised to call the water sports manager to try to work something out. At other resorts, when the boat is full, they either take a second boat or they work out another option to honor their commitment. Nobody tried to find a creative solution or set up another boat. Additionally, the onus to solve the problem was placed on us - we had to call the manager ourselves and had to jump through hoops to even get face time with him. At one point, we were advised to have our friend’s butler call their butler manager, to call the water sports manager to set up time to meet. What would they do for non-butler guests? It very much felt like they wanted us to just give up so they didn’t have to deal with us. In the end, our friends were only offered a morning waitlist spot and a spot on the shallow afternoon dive. The water sports manager tried to sell the afternoon training dive with the snorkelers as a reasonable solution (it’s not). Definitely not what we paid for with the Elite program. We travel a lot and have had minor issues come up at other Sandals resorts. We get that things happen, but the way this was handled in Barbados versus other Sandals locations is a night and day difference. At other places, the staff would be empowered to work with management behind the scenes to find a solution. Additionally, water sports managers at other Sandals are very visible to guests; they make appearances at the dive shop and interact with the divers to see how their week is going. That’s not the case here, we never saw him outside of the meeting we requested with him. To cite the positives, the few reef dives we had were very nice. The dive instructors were all amazing and they did what they could within their power to make our experience great. The vibe on the boat is positive. We primarily dove with Ryan, but also had great experiences with Robert and Seth. Ryan took great care of us, we can tell he is passionate about diving. We were able to store some of our gear in the shop, it was rinsed for us, and the crew had boat spots designated and set up for us each day, which was great! Unfortunately, we suspect that the dive instructors are more limited in their ability to be flexible with dive sites to accommodate their divers abilities and preferences than we’ve experienced at other locations (they seem to go to Carlisle Bay A LOT), but they made the best of it. Overall, there is so much potential for Sandals Barbados to be a solid dive destination, but the management of dive operations has room to improve. Diving is not prioritized to the same level as other Sandals locations, and I suspect the manager either doesn’t dive or hasn’t taken the time to understand the typical guest experience of diving at Sandals. I’d love to come back to dive in Barbados, but as it is today, we’d likely stay elsewhere and dive with a local shop, which is a shame because we really like the crew. We have had many great experiences with Sandals at other locations, but unfortunately Barbados didn’t live up to our expectations. Had this been our first Sandals trip, I’m not sure we’d be back. Read less

Great resort, staff, food and facilities! Stayed for 5 nights at the Sandals Barbados to celebrate a birthday. The resort was not crowded and we were able to enjoy the beach and pools. The room had a great view of the ocean and pool. A shout out to Richardo (the shuttle driver) and Tasha and Jasmina (who provided butler service for our cabana and a birthday dessert). Sandals Barbados and Royal Barbados function as a single property, so we enjoyed the restaurants, pools, and entertainment at both resorts. Some specifics: 1) the Barbados property had better food options during the day, 2) the roof top pool on the Royal Barbados property has a wonderful view and upscale bar with premium liquors that are not available at other bars, 3) the French restaurant is a great breakfast spot with excellent food and 4) the spa was great, too. We wish the Infinity Pool had a swim-up bar and that all bars had the same premium liquor choices. This was our third visit to a Sandals resort and we have always had a great experience. Read less

Our 3rd time to Sandals Barbados, like to stay on this side of resort for room views. Had great time even though hurricane season, rains on and off. Food is great, Butch’s one of our favorite restaurants. Any issues while on resort go through the Gina app, they respond and act right away to help you. We also want to recognize one of the employees who went above and beyond, Ingrid Robinson was working in Butchs one night, my husband wasn’t feeling well, he’s disabled and she walked him all the way back to his room and made sure he got into the room, such a caring person. She also offered to send his meal up to the room. We met several employees that were very helpful and sincere. Larkan near main pool assisted my husband when he cut his foot, no need to call nurse he bandaged him up and when he saw him the next day asked how he was doing. GM and Resort manager has good staff working for them. You will enjoy your stay. Read less