Sandals Royal Barbados Blog
Deana Harries, Senior Travel Consultant at Travel Club Elite, last visited Sandals Barbados around 15 years ago, and recently returned holidaying at the Sandals Royal Barbados Resort.
Listen to the podcast of her experience or continue to read the review of Sandals Royal Barbados Resort.
First Impressions
The first impressions of the resort did not disappoint. The Sandals Royal Barbados resort is very large and expansive which makes it feel less crowded because there’s so many facilities that you can access on both sides. They had only just begun building Sandals Royal Barbados when I last visited the resort around 15 years ago, so it was amazing to see what the resort looked like now!
Check-in experience
You follow the signs after landing in Barbados and these will take you to the Sandals check-in desk. The whole process was so straightforward from here! There was less than a 5 minute wait before we were picked up by a bus transfer and taken to the resort. All in all, within 30 minutes of arriving in Barbados we had already checked in to our hotel! It was such a smooth and easy start to our holiday.
Room
Unfortunately, we didn’t have a ‘swim up room’ on this occasion. We had the Club Level room which had outstanding views of the pool area and obviously the beautiful white sandy beach!
Our balcony was accompanied by a vanity pool which was great for relaxing and unwinding and really gave the feel of a luxury experience.
If you didn’t fancy taking loads of drinks up to your room from the bar, the Club Level rooms are stocked up with different selections of champagne, rum and whiskey which you can help yourself to. These drinks are of course included in the price and are automatically restocked at the start of every day.
Bars and restaurants
I would say the resort had something for everyone. You have access to 21 different restaurants and bars across both resorts which offers you a huge range of dining options.
If you want to be slightly healthier there are quite a few cafes which serve a selection of smoothies and soft drinks that type of thing. However, you of course have the specialist steak restaurants which provide excellent cuisines. What I really liked about the resort was the range of global cuisines. You could have French, Italian, Asian and many other types of dishes which was just fantastic. I would highly recommend the sushi restaurant as the food was absolutely amazing here and certainly was one of the highlights of the holiday.
Activities
I highly recommend going to ‘Famous Fish Friday’, if you’re looking for stuff to do outside the resort. A 40$ per person bus transfer will take you to an area around 20 minutes outside the resort, where locals will go to cook delicious fresh food and produce. It’s so easy to mingle and make new friends here and the atmosphere is just fantastic!
There are obviously a range of water sports activities like sailing and diving which you can book onto at the sports centre. This is perfect for more of the thrill seekers who are looking for something slightly different during their stay.
I would describe the resort as one which can be as quiet or as loud as you want it to be. You also have the steel bands playing on the beach, which just adds even more to your experience!
Differences between Sandals Barbados and Sandals Royal Barbados
After having visited both, I’d say the main differences between the two are the rooms, the check-in experience and the locations. The décor in the rooms is different and being in a Club Level room myself, this gave me access to the Club Level lounge area. With Sandals Royal you have full access to all the pools, restaurants and bars which just gives you more opportunities to try other dining options and explore more of the resort.
Customer service on the resort
The staff at the resort are very helpful when it comes to answering any queries you may have, and are available at any time for you. The staff provide you with all the information you may need about any activities or excursions both on and off the resort. With it also being a very safe area, they encourage you to venture out from the resort and explore your surroundings in more depth, which just allows you to see more of the region.
Key recommendations
It’s very easy to twin with Grenada so my main recommendation would be to book this if you would like to go away for longer. Sandals Grenada offers a much more boutique experience and accompanies the Barbados resort really well. That would be very easy for us to book for you if you wanted to do both resorts. All in all, we had an amazing time and I would highly recommend visiting here!
If you would like to book Sandals Royal Barbados with exclusive savings, or if you wish to ask Deana a question, call free: 0800 707 6229.
Be sure to listen to the full interview with Deana to hear more about her experiences at Sandals Royal Barbados, and listen to more travel podcasts from our travel experts on Spotify, Amazon Music, and Apple podcasts.
