Good Experience - first time at Sandals

Our first time to Sandals celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary. Weather and ocean are beautiful. Food is excellent ( I have to say its quality vs. quantity) not too many options at the buffet at breakfast and lunch (no buffet at dinner time) but everything that is offered is excellent. Staff very friendly and always greeting guests.

Nice resort

Resort was really nice. Food was excellent. Cleanliness was top notch. Wasn't too happy that when we arrived there was construction under way and our room was on the same side as construction so our view was a building site and noise started from 8am every morning. Staff very pleasant

Paradise but..........

Pros; 1. The food (quality) 2. The drinks (top shelf) 3. Resort and grounds 4. The beach 5. The pools 6. The no tipping policy Cons; 1. Service 2. Construction 3. Staff etiquette -Employees speak to themselves loudly and have no consideration for guests 4. Locals trying to sell stuff on the beach and take no for an answer 5. Long check in process

Disappointed with construction!

The food at Sandals, Barbados was very good. The room was okay but not as grand as I expected or was led to believe by the advertising. The noise level was high with an ocean view room which, unfortunately overlooked the pool. My main disappointment was the construction noise! I was not informed at any time prior to booking by Tripcentral that there was ongoing construction. There was constant hammering and drilling all day, for seven days. It was not until I received my itinerary that [... read more] in small print I read there was construction. By then it was too late to cancel. Had I known prior I would not have booked my vacation at Sandals, Barbados. I think it is very unfair of Tripcentral not to inform me of this ahead of time. Not sure I will book through Tripcentral again.

Perfect Trip

We have just returned from a one week stay at Sandals Barbados. We were there to get married and I must say that this was a perfect vacation. The resort is only a short 15 minute drive from the airport. Shuttle was clean and driver very professional. We were treated like royalty when we arrived. Check in was very quick and a arrival cocktail was very refreshing. Our luggage was taken to our room and we were pleasantly surprised with how nice our room was when we finally made our way there. King  [... read more]size four poster bed which was quite comfortable. In room fridge with soft drinks and water. Cable TV with lots of channel choices. The food there was amazing to say the least. Lots of options for dining. The only place we needed reservations was at Butch's which is a chop house with perfect steaks. We ate at all but one on the restaurants which was our own doing. Lots of top shelf liquors at all the bars. The staff are amazing they are truly proud of their island and also for working for such a great company. Many of the staff we spoke to were very passionate about their job and making people feeling relaxed and enjoying the resort. We went to the resort to get married and planned a beach wedding. Deidre who was our wedding planner was simply amazing. She looked after everything. Shout out to her as well as Patricia. There are so many people that made our stay so special. Kimberli at the swim up and beach bar. We will never forget your smiles and conversations. Paul at Snapshots who took our wedding photos. You worked magic my friend. Big Paul who provided white glove service to not only us but the other 5 couples who were married on the same day. Akeem and Nicholas at the Calypso bar and Alex from Snapshots and also Shernelle who was a ball of fire. I actually spoke to the Resort Manager Patrick and told him how impressed we were with the staff. All the restaurants we ate at were amazing. Top notch all the way from service to the food and presentation. The grounds were immaculate. They work very hard to keep the resort pristine and it really shows. This was the cleanest and best kept resort we have ever been to. This was our first trip to Sandals and certainly will not be the last. Yes there is construction going on next door for the new Sandals Grand Barbados and it did not bother us at all. Our room was centrally located which made it easy to get to all the services and restaurants. The beach is amazing with powdery sand. The resort has half moon cabanas on the beach which provides shade if you need it. Lots of lounge chairs and the resort was full and there were loungers to spare. Would we return to Sandals Barbados? Yes without a doubt. We were very happy with our choice of resorts. To those considering going, you will not disappointed.

Didn't want to leave!

This was our first vacation and we were not disappointed. Highlights were snorkeling with turtles, the perfect beach with palm trees, catamaran, volleyball, Butch's steakhouse. We went snorkeling with the turtles twice as it was free. We paid to go to the caves/animal sanctuary - not worth it at all as they package the boring caves with the animal sanctuary and we missed the 2pm feeding. We would recommend this Sandals and we would go to another Sandals next year for sure based on the q [... read more]uality.

Sandals Barbados - Avoid for at least a Year

Stayed Dec 2 to Dec 9, 2016 Air Canada flight Two funny moments. First we were told to leave our seats belts on during the flight, just in case! (Never heard that one before) Second, they sprayed pesticides in the plane just before we landed. Very odd, they said it was safe... Arrival Arrival at the airport we were greeted and offered a bottle of water. Then we were picked up by a taxi that was a Mercedes, nice touch, since we were late leaving the airport. Once we arrived at the hote [... read more]l, a cold towel was brought to us immediately, a song that greeted us to the island and hotel and we checked in. At check in, which was by iPad, we were offered a glass of champagne. We were given a tour of the hotel, it's small so it didn't take long, and then shown to our room. Smoking There are designated smoking areas and no smoking on balconies or a $250 fee will be applied to your room. We were also told not to buy smokes at duty free at Pearson as we would be subject to duty in Barbados. There is a market just outside the hotel you can walk to if you don't want to pay $12USD for Marlboros at the hotel shop. When it rains there is no covered space so just don't smoke. Room There is construction at the hotel either sandals or next door so the view we had was of construction. We booked a honeymoon premium room, the front desk said that doesn't exist and that they upgraded our room.....it was with a view of construction this isn't an upgrade for me. Annette said she would follow up but she never did, very disappointing and she almost seemed to be avoiding us. Room 2401, our room was close to everything as the hotel is small. The room has all the amenities you would want including USB ports for your devices. Unlike the Sandals in Exuma, they do not provide robes, slippers or even the nice pen to make notes with. You can have a robe upon request, but that's it! Room service is non existent. No beach towels in our room upon arrival. Maid service is decent however we had to call for things like tissues, even though it was apparent that the box was empty. Also, you can tell mirrors were not being cleaned daily, as at one point I had to wipe the mirror as it was dusty. Since we were on the 4th floor, when it rained, there is no roof, so we couldn't go outside and there are not too many inside options, like lounges. Noise There was a constant noise at night not sure if it's birds or crickets. It gets very loud and annoying. Since the hotel is so close to the airport, the sound of planes is what you can expect to hear on the beach. At least 8 per day. Also on the beach and in our room, was the constant construction noise, hammering, drilling, banging and not just during the week, weekends too....Since they are still putting up walls, this looks like it will only be done in a year, save your sanity and book a year from now, I certainly would not have booked had I known this was going on. The front desk apologized but said the travel agents should state if there is construction. I do not recall our booking agent letting us know, so here's a warning. Food There are many choices for food and variety. At the beach restaurant you have to get your own drink, at least we were told we did and the food came cold. The second time trying it was better, food was decent and cooked to serve. The restaurants all provide great meals. However, service is very slow, more then once food came cold or undercooked. Service is spotty at some places. At breakfast, my husband asked for ketchup and the server just left before he finished speaking, he was also trying to ask for more water for my tea. There are two restaurants to book, Butch's if you like steak, they cook it wonderfully and we found the best service there. The other is Japanese and they make a huge production out of it which is a fun night out. Beach The beach is public so expect people to come to you offering tours, $200 USD for a couple for 4 hours to tour the island, maybe book before you get here like on Expedia. There are also peddlers for other smoking varieties....not comfortable but if you say no they leave you alone right away. The beach itself in front of sandals is the largest of all the resorts around, wide and spacious. A few other hotels near us had very limited beach space, one was Elegant hotels and I don't know the other. If it's not beach, it's huge rock walls that form the coastline. There are plenty of chairs but you do have people setting up their towels early morning for the covered spots. Towels are available at different spots around the hotel. There is no good snorkelling at the beach unless you head for the rocks just out in front of the beach but not that much to see, a few schools of fish. There is spotty service on the beach for drinks but they also leave coolers out with sodas, water and beer for everyone, by the volleyball court. There are daily activities, volleyball, pool volleyball, billards and other group games, they staff get really into it, makes it fun. Overall, not the greatest impression of a Sandals, just based on the last one we stayed at in Exuma. It has made me reconsider the sandals chain. I'd appreciate not being contacted by sandals barbados as we made our concerns known at the beginning of our trip and since no effort was made to make any reparations while we were there, it would not be helpful at this point. Safe travels.

Lots of fun, great food, but not much local cuisine

We were on our honeymoon and stayed in one of the more affordable rooms. I was pleased that our room was close to the front of the resort (near the beach) although there is some construction going on still so we couldn't enjoy our ocean view balcony. Still, we had a blast. The guys at the boat rental place were fantastic - gave excellent sailing lessons on their hobiecats. The food was also fantastic (we had so many lobster tails... And the Indian resto is excellent), though I wish Sandals would [... read more] add more local delicacies (like flying fish!!) You have to go off resort to get the authentic stuff, which is a bit disappointing. That said, I'm splitting hairs here... We had a wonderful time and would go back any day. Barbados in particular is a beautiful country where the locals are very friendly and it is very safe to go out exploring on your own. And sea turtles! And green monkeys! Need I say more?

Overall, amazing experiance.

We booked very last minute with Tom @ Tripcentral. This was a very simple and pain free experience, which is what you always want. He recommended Sandals Barbados, and it was amazing. The food was perfect, not one bad meal. Ocean was so beautiful, bright light blue and very warm, oh and no sea weeds! I know that matters to some people. Our room was ...just ok, but it was one of the cheaper ones. I don't mean it wasn't nice, it was just ok. Room service was great, they left us bottle of sparklin [... read more]g wine with rose petals on our bed; and they always made sure the bar fridge was stocked. The pools are kind of small, but that's not really a big deal to me, who cares about a pool, If you are so close to the ocean. Plus the swim up bar helps! Try the Caribbean Blue if you go. The staff was amazing, so many nice and amazing people work there. At the resort there was a great mix of young and mature people from all over the world. There was a good night life, but also quiet spots as well. We enjoyed both. Also keep in mind there is construction being done next door to them. You can hear it in the room, well the room I/we were in. From 8am to 5pm. Now you cannot hear it from anywhere else, I just noticed it from our room. If I can do anyone a service before you book, make sure you don't wear any camouflage clothing at all. The military are the only ones who can wear clothes like that. All they do is make you change in the airport bathroom, no big deal. Just a little warning. We had a great time at Sandals Barbados, we'd like to thank Trip Central for setting this up, it was a trip of a life time, we will book through them in the future!

Great Resort! highly recommend

Everything here was exceptional including food, pools, staff and room. The club sandals experience made a big difference compared to other we talked to who were not club members. The snorkeling which was included with our package was great with turtle swim and shipwrecks

Great place to visit

Honeymoon at Sandals Barbados: Great weather (occ. rain), beautiful clean place, food was phenomenal (but long wait!!), great beach, great staff, lots of UK folks. great concierge service, kind of cold pools!

Amazing Resort

Amazing all of it from grounds , rooms pools, and restaurants.The staff amazing from the front desk to our maids nothing bad to say about this place kudos to all. I did write a report on this resort and I am telling everyone I know to go there no regrets just sad we did not go earlier.

Bridgetown Barbados

Rooms where. beautiful ,grounds ,restaurant ,pool ,beach area..didn't matter where we went on the resort the staff from Sandals Bridgetown Barbados where funny , polite, professional and very helpful.

Amazing resort, horrible beach

The new Sandals resort is unbelievably awesome, but loses points on the location. The resort food is a one, the restaurant choice is excellent, the staff is great. Unfortunately, the waves are so rough I was unable to swim in the ocean! For this reason I will not be returning unless some work is done on the beach to settle this issue.

Luxury Plus

First time at a Sandals resort. People were so friendly. Room location could not have been any better. We tried every restaurant and they were all fantastic. I can't wait to try another Sandals resort.

Great vacation!

We are Sandals repeat customers and stayed at Sandals in Barbados last December. The resort was just taken over by Sandals a few weeks before we got there and they were putting their Sandals touches on everything. The food was great, the staff were great and the weather was great. I still prefer Sandals Royal Bahamian to Sandals in Barbados but if you have never been to Barbados I would recommend this hotel.