Sandals Barbados

I went to Sandals Barbados for the first time in April 2024. It was amazing and I would recommend it to everyone. Resort was beautiful and location was perfect. We had great meals at Butches, Neptune, Kumoto and Merry Monkey. All were delicious while the Merry Monkey stood out from the rest. The host Jack was the best, making us feel like we were at home at our local pub. His humor was amazing as he made a simple meal seem as if it were the greatest of meals. His humor was spot on and he not only was our host, he was our waiter and bar tender. Nothing was beneath him as he made his way to all of the customers. Sandals has a gem in Jack and needs to realize what they have in him. He alone will be the reason we want to return. Anyone who sees this review please go enjoy everyone on the staff because they are warm and friendly. Enjoy!!! Read less

Let me start by saying that the location of this resort is beautiful and the resort itself is lovely. Most of the employees were friendly and helpful. Our vacation started out a bit bumpy with an extended wait at the airport for transportation to the resort. We were told that it the wait was due to an accident but were told by people who had been here before that it is always this way. We had expected that there would be a Sandals waiting room inside the airport that was air conditioned but this was not the case and we had to stand outside and wait for about 1/2 hour. If you decide to visit make sure you are dressed for the heat-I felt so bad for the people who had warmer clothes on. Thankfully, once we arrived at the resort we were taken to our room within a few minutes. The room had a beautiful view of the ocean and the pool, was clean and spacious, with a large closet and lots of hangers. We had a full refrigerator and plenty of towels. Sadly, things did not stay that way. Once we realized that there was only regular Coke in the refrigerator we went to the desk and asked that it be replaced with Coke Zero and asked for more water and beer. The refrigerator was filled the next day but never again. We requested that it be refilled 3 times (once at the front desk and 2 times by phone) and no one ever refilled it again. It is supposed to be refilled daily. After the first day we also had problems getting towels in our room. We came back to our room after it had been cleaned and had no hand towels, no wash clothes, 2 bath towels and a bath mat. When my husband asked the housekeeper outside our room she told him "You'll get your towels" in a very rude, loud voice. Needless to say we never got our towels. My husband went down to the front desk once again and asked if they had a shortage of towels and explained what happened. He came back with the towels we needed however after that it seemed that our room got cleaned later and later in the day and we never got more than 2 new bath towels and never got hand towels or wash clothes. I think I know the reason why but I will get into that later. Food is hit or miss. It took us a few days to have a meal we truly enjoyed and that was at the appreciation dinner for returning Sandals guests. Spices Buffet was truly terrible- we went for breakfast our first day as soon as they opened and the food was lukewarm at best. The omelet my husband got was good but the sausage and bacon were cold. The scrambled eggs were lukewarm and tasted strange. We tried again for lunch but everything looked so unappealing that we made ourselves salads and never went back in there the rest of our stay. In addition, the employees were standing in a group in a corner chatting and never moved the entire time we were there. We ate at the American Tavern and The Merry Monkey for dinners and were not impressed. The food was okay but nothing to rave about. Thankfully there were good places to eat -it just took us a bit to find them. Neptunes, Schooner's and Portofino's were open for breakfast and dinner and were very good and you don't need reservations. Butch's Steak House was good but you needed reservations and there is a dress code (that wasn't followed and men in shorts and basketball sneakers were allowed in which really ticks off a man who had to wear long pants because his wife told him he had to). If you have a dress code then follow it or don't bother having one. We didn't care for Chi, which needed reservations, but talked to others who loved it so it may just be that it was different than we are used to. Sweet and Salty has the best donuts and Cafe de Paris has snacks-desserts, icecream, crepes, etc. and is wonderful. They are both open early and stay open later. We stopped every day - sometimes twice! Be aware that the water here can be rough-red flags all week. This meant no kayaks, Hobie Cats, etc. Not Sandals fault but just a warning. Now to address an entirely different issue. One of the reasons we like Sandals is it is truly all inclusive - no tipping allowed, no reason to have to bring cash with you anywhere on the resort. All I ever read is how Sandals employees are not allowed to accept tips (with the exception of butlers). I saw several employees accept tips in this resort (both Sandals Barbados and Royal Barbados)-bartenders and waitstaff at the pools. The first time I saw this I thought I had been mistaken but then I saw it again. And again. It got me wondering if the reason our towels were not replaced was that we didn't leave a tip on the dresser? Or in the refrigerator? I have no way of knowing but I do know that we never had an issue with either in St. Lucia La Toc. I never saw an employee accept a tip there either. We still had a relaxing vacation and enjoyed ourselves. But we won't be going back and I wouldn't recommend this Sandals to anyone. Read less

We were here April 1-8. We had a fabulous time! We didn't experience any of the negative things we had read about. Our room was amazing. We were in an OJS room. Our view was great. It's above Spices, where we had breakfast almost every morning. The grounds were immaculate. So much greenery. The ocean was pretty rough the entire time we were there. We had plenty of towels. We were always able to find loungers with shade. Bar service is a little slow, but nothing too bad. We were flexible with reservation dates and times and were able to get all the reservations we desired. The reason I didn't give 5 stars is the lack of decent entertainment. I compare this to Sandals Montego Bay and Grande St Lucia, where the entertainment was phenomenal. Barbados in general is awesome. We did an island tour with Sanjay. It was the best. If you can book with Sanjay, DO IT! You won't regret it! The people are so friendly. Barbados is very walkable. It is super safe. In summary, we would absolutely recommend Sandals Barbados! I can't wait to return. Read less

This was our first time to a Sandals resort and we were quite disappointed for the lack of "5 star" service that Sandals claims to be. They mislead people by telling them a butler is better to have so you can have beach chairs available and reservations at any restaurant. The butlers do reserve your chair, but you have to "claim it" by 10:00am. Why would I go on vacation only to be told at what time I have to get to the beach by? How about having enough beach chairs for everyone? Also, the butlers had already made reservations upon our arrival without speaking to us. Most of the reservations made were at restaurants we didn't want to eat at. Ultimately the butlers made it right. Upon our arrival we waited over an hour outside at the airport for the bus. Bus driver admitted there was miscommunication. We arrived at the resort at 3:30 and we were told room wasn't ready. Our butler suggested we go grab a bite. We figured why not, we need to eat. Mind you we were in jeans and a t-shirt. Every half hour after we were told our room would be ready. Finally at 5:30, they said they are trying to repair the AC in our room. Didn't get into the room till 6:30. You could have let us in the room to change and then we would have been fine waiting, but instead were offered to cool down in the butler lounge after we were already sweating in hopes the room would be ready. Our room was in the Walcott building, near the entrance to the resort. All you can hear was the cars driving by, employees entering and leaving work, and construction that began at 6:00am. Several employees were flat out miserable or rude. Waitress at Schooners forgot our drink and when we kindly reminded her, she came back and slammed it on the table and walked away. No one ever asked if we wanted another cup of coffee. Several servers at Neptune's looked annoyed that we were ordering food. Not 5 star service. We were given a nice table at La Parisienne only to be forgotten about for 25 minutes. I had to remind the hostess that we were there. Bartender at the Merry Monkey looked annoyed and barely wanted to work. Jack, the manager, was making drinks while the bartender stood back and watched. I would like to thank our butlers Nicola, Aretha, and Denise for doing anything they could do to make our stay better. I know these issues were not their fault. Jack at the Merry Monkey is great. His positive attitude really makes the restaurant enjoyable. I was hoping for much better service for the price we paid. Sandals will apologize as they continue to do with bad reviews from a year ago, but will insist we had a good time. We are very easy going and didn't think some the reviews about service were very true. Read less