Sandals Royal Barbados All Inclusive - Couples Only

I was getting nervous leading up to this trip based on the negative reviews being left here, but this could not have been further from our experience! Huge shoutout to Donald, Dequan, and Shakira on the butler staff, they made sure we wanted for nothing all week and were excellent! Beyond that though, all of the staff at Sandals Royal Barbados were attentive and engaging, always saying hello as we walked by and willing to help. All of the restaurants we tried were great, but our favorites were probably the French restaurant and Bombay (Indian). This was our first stay at a Sandals but will not be our last, already booked for next year!

This was our second Sandals resort experience. We got married at Sandals Grande St. Lucian, which set a very high bar for us. While Sandals Royal Barbados didn’t quite match that experience, it wasn’t terrible either. Butler Service Our butlers were Shanice, Jennlika, and Reanna. We didn’t see Reanna much, but she was pleasant when we did. The butler experience here was very different from Grande St. Lucian. For the first one to two days, we hardly heard from them until they escorted us to our dinner reservation. When we arrived, our reservations had already been booked at restaurants they chose for us, and when we mentioned that two of the restaurants didn’t serve food we liked, we were told it would be difficult to change. Because Sandals Royal Barbados is right next to Sandals Barbados, it felt harder to secure reservations, and wait times for food delivery—whether to our room or the beach—could be up to an hour and a half. Sometimes, it felt easier just to get things ourselves. Service noticeably improved after we tipped one of the butlers on the second or third day. On our last night, they left envelopes with their names on them, presumably for tips, which we found a little tacky since gratuities are technically included in the price. Our friends, who were also staying at the resort, didn’t receive these envelopes, so we weren’t sure why we did. Another frustrating aspect was that calling the butlers often went straight to voicemail, and we had to wait around 30 minutes for a callback. The butler phone they provided also couldn’t send or receive text messages, which made communication more difficult. Room & Amenities We stayed in the Saint Lawrence building in a swim-up room (HSUP). The pool had some leaf and flower debris, but that was expected due to the landscaping. Since we didn’t see anyone else using it the entire week, we basically had it to ourselves, which was nice. Our room stayed fairly warm, and the humidity was intense. The sheets felt damp, and even the toilet paper had a flimsy, damp texture. We assumed this was normal for a tropical climate, but the only places that felt truly cool were the ones with split-unit ACs on the walls. The resort itself was somewhat confusing to navigate, especially with Sandals Barbados right next door. If you took a wrong turn, you could end up in the other resort by accident. By the time we learned the layout, it was already time to leave. Dining & Food Overall, the food was excellent. We didn’t have a single bad meal. One of our favorite spots was the Merry Monkey Pub, located on the Sandals Barbados side. The ribeye there was the best steak we had the entire trip, and the best part was that no reservation was required. We substituted the fries for mashed potatoes and gravy, which was a great decision. We had breakfast at the Greenhouse almost every morning. The Chophouse was a popular choice among guests, but we recommend not overlooking the Merry Monkey’s steak, as it was fantastic.

Stayed 11/10-11/17/24 Room category BSKY - Stargazer Building Honeymoon Arrival: We arrived in Barbados on Saturday 11/9 and stayed in a nearby hotel, we had Rolls Royce pickup with our room, and we were delighted that Sandals agreed to pick us up in our ride from the other hotel since we were not arriving from the airport on our first day at Sandals. We are glad we did this because it allowed us the entire day at Sandals on our first day. At the airport we had filled out immigration forms online ahead of time but that line did not move much quicker than those who filled out there. Overall it was not a very long wait, maybe 15 minutes. By the time we made it through, our bags were already off the belt, very quick and efficient. Checkin: I did not checkin online but did it at the resort and it took me maybe 5 minutes. Super quick. We went to the Butler Elite lounge where we met one of our butlers Shak, and he had given us our butler phone. It was nice because we were able to go to the pool bar and hangout until our room was ready and Shak gave us a call and escorted us to the room when it was. Room: BSKY room 7520 Let me just say, this room is INCREDIBLE! My husband never wants to stay in a room of any lesser category than BSKY (not good for our wallets ). We were greeted with champagne and meats and cheese which was such a nice touch. Fully stocked bar area, where we requested Tito’s vodka and Tequila which were brought to our room. The room itself is huge, I would say more like an apartment! We hit the jackpot being on the top floor as the view was just stunning. We used our skypool every single day, and the water was warm! It was awesome to unwind in there after the beach with a cocktail every day. Butlers: Our butler team was Shak, Kevan, and Ron and let me just say, they made our trip! This was our first time at Sandals and they truly went above and beyond, in our eyes, to make our honeymoon perfect. They were friendly, prompt, and overall, just great people and we are so sad we didn’t at least get a picture with them :( Upon our arrival, they had already made all of our dinner reservations so we had spots and didn’t need to worry. We were able to make adjustments where we needed to. For us, having a butler was key. We ordered desserts from a different restaurant than we ate at that night to be In our room after dinner and it was so fun to just try different things every day. When we had a late dinner we would get a small meal in the room from a different restaurant to hold us over. We loved that we had a front row spot on the beach everyday. We are beach people since we live in Buffalo, NY with no ocean access. We had our butlers bring us breakfast from one of the restaurants with iced coffees every morning so we could start our days right away. Ron had drawn us a bath one day when we returned from the beach which was lovely and much appreciated. They would bring us lunch and drinks to our beach chairs for us, again not necessary but

This was my favorite Sandals resort so far. The service was excellent (as always), the food was delicious (as always!), the white sand beach was amazing. Even though it's a public beach, it never seemed too crowded and felt private when you were in the water. The 2 artificial reefs/breakwater were relatively shallow and with a mask and snorkel I was able to see a lot of fish. There were usually pool towels to be found, which hasn't always been our experience! The bartenders were excellent. I had the best massage at Red Lane Spa, and didn't feel pressured to buy additional products. Our room was upgraded as the one we picked wasn't available; the room was AMAZING. Our butlers Princess, Shameka and Latrell were awesome, they made our dinner reservations and got us into the restaurants we picked. They were responsive but not intrusive. They kept our coolers stocked by the beach and had our favorite snacks waiting in our room in the afternoon. The New Years Eve party was great and had amazing fireworks over the beach. I felt very safe going on runs alone outside the resort into St. Lawrence Gap and along the road to Rockley Beach. Overall, just a fantastic island, resort and people. We definitely plan to go back!