We are recently married (second marriage for both) couple in our 50's. We travel a fair bit to the Caribbean to escape the Canadian winters.Other SANDALS we have been to are the Royal Caribbean, Jamaica and Beaches Turks and Caicos.We have also stayed at DIVI SOUTHWINDS and ALMOND in Barbados. CLUB ST LUCIA in ST Lucia, JOLLY HARBOUR in Antigua, BREEZES in Curacao and LA CABANA in Aruba. We enjoy relaxing on the beach, sightseeing and dressing up for dinner. For us SANDALS is a cut above the other resorts we have stayed at.
Your Arrival
Our arrival at the airport was handled well and customs,immigration and baggage were all handled efficiently.A shuttle transported us to the resort, a quick 20 minute drive or so. I was a bit surprised a cold drink of any sort was not offered at the SANDALS desk at the airport as had been done in Jamaica. Cold face cloths and Champagne were offered once we got to the resort.We had booked an OCEAN VIEW Concierge Honeymoon room and check in was not up to what we had expected or received in Jamaica. The Concierge staff were informative and friendly but our room was not ready and our check in took much longer than necessary and certainly longer than every other concierge guest. We waited in concierge approximately 1 hour before being taken to our room, really way to long for concierge service!
Rooms
The room we were taken to after our wait although advertised as OCEAN VIEW was certainly not and our view was the top of Cassanova's restaurant. We expressed our displeasure to Antonio in the Concierge Dept and while he looked to sort out the problem we had lunch and toured the resort in our travelling clothes as we had no luggage. We were given another room, 1623 and it was much better with a panaromic view of the OCEAN. Others I have talked to including travel agents here in Ottawa tell me they to have experienced problems with what is being advertised as "OCEAN VIEW" Perhaps the key is "OCEAN FRONT" but you may want to look into this at time of booking and ensure what you are getting. Our room was quite large with a nice sitting area and balcony. Coffee,bottled water,juice,Champagne, beer and your choice of liquor was refilled daily. A nice assortment of bath products were also available.
Restaurants and Bars
DINING at SANDALS restaurants is one of the reasons we choose SANDALS,and dining here at the Royal Bahamas is no exception.We had wonderful food and excpetional dining experiences in Baccarat and the Crystal Room. Armand the manager at Baccarat was very knowledgable and friendly. Kimonos was fun and Tiny the chef made us feel welcome! Never trust a skinny chef as he would say!
One night we had dinner at Gordons on the Pier and this also was a wonderful meal but a little breezy that particular night.
Cassanova's was not as good, a bit more hurried, the food quality not as good and the servers were not as attentive, caring or knowledgable. Resrvations were not required at all restaurants so experiencing them all was not a problem. The returning guest Managers dinner on Thursday night was fabulous, we had steak and lobster and is not to be missed. We are not snobs but the dress at the returning guest dinner was advertised as casual elegant yet some people wore jean shorts, cutoffs, tank tops and ball caps. If there are rules they should be enforced and we mentioned it to the General Manager, Mr Mutton this was unacceptable, He said they would reinforce the standard expected.
Lunch at SANDALS CAY on the island was also good.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
The grounds are well maintained and very pretty with lots of vegetation.We enjoyed the Roman columns at the quiet pool. The hot tubs were great and were situated throughout the property. There is a heated pool and hot tub in the Royal village that is open to everybody, very nice, private and relaxing.The best view is from the Fitness Room on the 6 th floor of the Manor building. SANDALS CAY was delightful, a nice beach, wonderful pool and hot tub and nice restaurant. Our preference was the beach on the far side of the island and although not clothing optional like the one at the Royal Caribbean you certainly could do that discreetly most days if you wanted as it was very quiet and private. Delightful.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
The spa on the island was wonderful and we experienced a magical couples massage from Tycine and Tamara.Listening to the ocean and hearing the birds while getting a massage was unbelievable.
The best man competition was fun and Theo the playmaker was great.
We took the combination tour and that was very good. It combined shopping in downtown Nassau with a tour of some of the local spots. We liked Fort Fincastle, the " marching" flamingoes at the zoo and a local lunch at Cafe Montague. The straw market is a lot of fun and there are some good deals to be had on knock off purses and straw bags. The number 10 bus at the front of SANDALS will get you downtown quickly and you get to see some of the sights as
well.
Other Comments
Overall an excellent property and we would recommend it highly.The staff were great, very friendly and helpful. Sandra in concierge, Kenja in entertainment and Terry the Operations Manager were excellent. A particular mention must go to Jayson the environmental manager who was outgoing and friendly, he made both my wife and I feel very welcome.Its well worth the money!!
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Sandals Tricks Military Families Out of Discount at Last Minute- Worst Honeymoon!
Sandals Royal Bahamian Spa Resort & Offshore Island
User Rating:
Trish Heath >
1 contribution(s) United States of America
Jan, 2010 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
1 people found this review helpful
My husband and I recently returned from our honeymoon at the Royal Bahamian Sandals Resort and I am very disappointed with the customer service. Not only did we pay a lot of money for a honeymoon ocean-view concierge room, we were on our honeymoon, a once in a lifetime event. We definitely did not get what we expected, or paid for, and my complaints to the Director of Guest Services were not addressed in a way that I had hoped.
Service
Our room, although beautiful, was not clean or stocked with basics such as a bathmat or face towels. There was a dirty ice bucket with smelly water that was left for us. We hoped that these were minor oversights that would not continue, but unfortunately this was not the case. One of the days while we were there, our room was never cleaned at all! I requested extra face towels three different times, to three different people, and never received them. When calling the concierge or for restaurant reservations, the phones would ring and ring, and no one would answer! I have never been to a resort that prides itself on service where they simply do not answer the phones! Although we had a concierge room that was supposed to be stocked with champagne, bottled water, soda, etc, some days it was stocked and some days it simply was not. When we called in the evening for bottled water on New Year's Day (after someone failed to stock our fridge), we had to wait 2 hours for them to bring us water that they should have already stocked. The following day, when they did not stock any champagne for the second time, we called the concierge and it took almost three hours and three phone calls to get the champagne. We were unable to watch the sunset on our balcony while drinking champagne because the service was so poor and unreliable.
In addition, and most upsetting of all, we never received any part of the included honeymoon package. Towards the end of our stay, I called the concierge to ask when they would be leaving flower petals and champagne and was told that the person that does that was not in, and that they would "see what they could do." I called back on our last night at the resort to see if they could provide us with at least our honeymoon champagne and flowers (we were leaving too early for the breakfast at that point) and was told that she would let her manager know. NOTHING happened. We booked a honeymoon concierge room for our honeymoon and never received any of the romantic honeymoon package details that Sandals boasts about. I was devastated.
We went to Guest Services, and we spoke with the Director of Guest Services and he told us that he would look into our complaints and get back to us. I checked our voicemail several times that day and did not receive a message from him. The following day, as we were getting ready to leave, we again spoke with him. He said that he had looked into things, had a meeting about it, and would "compensate us" for our poor service. We also had a problem receiving the military discount
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It is a beautiful place to have a wedding
Sandals Royal Bahamian Spa Resort & Offshore Island
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JennA+Travel >
1 contribution(s)
Nov, 2009 | Leisure | Solo
1 people found this review helpful
I was recently at the Sandals Resort in Nassau, Bahamas. I absolutely loved it. The people, both working at the resort and off, were very friendly and helpful. The rooms were very nice. There are two large swim up pool bars as well as a nice beach, so it didn't seem very crowded at all. There was never a wait for a drink. It is a beautiful place to have a wedding. They had several each day that I was there. The wedding gazebo is right on the beach. The public bus was stops right in front of the resort and is only $1.00 per person, each way. I was in the Bahamas 14 years ago, and I was very pleasantly surprised with everything this time. It is very expensive. All-inclusive is the only way to go!
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Overall, it was a great honeymoon.
Sandals Royal Bahamian Spa Resort & Offshore Island
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DianeDenverColorado >
1 contribution(s)
Sep, 2009 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
1 people found this review helpful
Arrival: September 21 - 28, 2009
We arrived late on a Friday night and were greeted by our Butler, he transported us to the hotel via a Rolls Royce, this was a wonderful treat. He had our keys, charge card, etc. already in our room...which was so pleasant.
Rooms:
We stayed in the Royal Villas, what a wonderful room. There was a suite which provided extra room to relax and a nice secluded patio.
Restaurants and Bars:
The food was good. It was also easy to change reservations that our butler (Melissa/Shenequaw) made for us. There was a great variety to choose from as well. The only drawback was the breakfast, I wish there were a few more breakfast choices.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
The beach was beautiful and clean. There were plenty of umbrellas as well. The pool was very clean and the staff walked around and asked if we needed anything to drink. They were so friendly and outgoing.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
We did not go on any tours, but my husband went diving everyday. The only drawback here was that there was no diving on Sunday's.
Other Comments:
Overall, it was a great honeymoon. The all inclusive vacation makes things so easy and relaxing.
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I think they put it in someone else's room by accident.
Sandals Royal Bahamian Spa Resort & Offshore Island
First and foremost, I have red some other reviews. I have no idea where these people stayed, but it wasn't the Sandals Royal Bahamian. Everything was excellent. This isn't our first rodeo to a Sandals. This Sandals was just as good as the first one we have been to. We did have a couple of minor incedent's, but it is nothing to get upset about. We travel with another couple and since we go there early, our rooms were not ready. No a big deal, so we walked around and ate lunch. When we went back to get our keys, only one room was ready, but after a couple of minutes, the other room was ready. When we got to our room, we had our luggage and our friends were with out. So after an hour or two, our friends luggage arrived. I think they put it in someone else's room by accident. We had an ocean view room in the Manor Building. I happened to notice our ceiling was leaking. We notified management and came and took care of it.
Arrival
First and foremost, I have red some other reviews. I have no idea where these people stayed, but it wasn't the Sandals Royal Bahamian. Everything was excellent. This isn't our first rodeo to a Sandals. This Sandals was just as good as the first one we have been to. We did have a couple of minor incedent's, but it is nothing to get upset about. We travel with another couple and since we go there early, our rooms were not ready. No a big deal, so we walked around and ate lunch. When we went back to get our keys, only one room was ready, but after a couple of minutes, the other room was ready. When we got to our room, we had our luggage and our friends were with out. So after an hour or two, our friends luggage arrived. I think they put it in someone else's room by accident. We had an ocean view room in the Manor Building. I happened to notice our ceiling was leaking. We notified management and came and took care of it.
Rooms
The rooms are nice. A little bit out of date, but with an ocean view who cares's. It beats staying at a Super 8. We had a fully stocked bar, which was nice. Since I am in plumbing sales, I always like to look at the plumbing fixtures. I think the bathroom faucets, need to be replaced. The shower head was pretty big.
Restaurants and Bars
All these complaints about the food and bar service, is completely false. Everywhere we ate was excellent. Kimonos, The Crystal Room, and Cafe Goombay are good choices for dinner. Since we were returning guest to Sandals, they had a welcome back dinner for about 70 guest. You want to talk about getting treated like royalty. This was the best meal all week. They served you a 5 course meal, which included steak and lobster. During dinner they gave us gifts. I got a bottle of rum. The bar service was great. They always made my drink strong. I know people are complaining about how slow service is, well lets remember one thing, you are on their time and they have no time. At the pool bars there are about 2-3 bartenders pumping out drinks left and right. Now at night time, there are fewer bars open, so it might take a few minutes to get a drink, but who cares do you have somewhere to be.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
Everything on the resort was beautiful and well maintained. I heard people complaining about cigarette butts on the beach, not true either, Now we did find some cups in the water at the beach from the bar. I guess people are to drunk or lazy to return them. At the Windsor Pool, that is the activity pool. All of day time activties. For each activity you participate in or win, you will receive tokens. You can cash the tokens in for gifts.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
We took a tour of some historical sites and Atlantis. I would recommend to go on this tour, because you get to see some neat things. Especially Atlantis. Another thing that is cool about it, is you get to ask your tour guide all the questions about the island.
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Our dive experience was a pleasure.
Sandals Royal Bahamian Spa Resort & Offshore Island
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WayneUnitedStates >
1 contribution(s) United States of America
Sep, 2009
1 people found this review helpful
My wife and I stayed at Sandals Royal Bahamian from 9-19-09 to 9-26-09. Before you read on, some information about us so you can judge the validity of this review. First, we travel a lot and are always unbiased when we do decide to write a review. Secondly, we are in our early 40's and have done enough traveling to recognize the good from the bad. Lastly, we're experienced divers who can accurately assess the scenery and the dive operation.
Arrival
My wife and I stayed at Sandals Royal Bahamian from 9-19-09 to 9-26-09. Before you read on, some information about us so you can judge the validity of this review. First, we travel a lot and are always unbiased when we do decide to write a review. Secondly, we are in our early 40's and have done enough traveling to recognize the good from the bad. Lastly, we're experienced divers who can accurately assess the scenery and the dive operation.
Our experience
Up front, I'll say that our 8 night stay Royal Bahamian was fantastic! This was our second trip to The Bahamas (first to Sandals RB) in the last few years. Our experience has been that the Bahamians are some of the nicest in the Caribbean and this trip was no exception. We upgraded our room to receive butler service and highly recommend you do the same if possible. Melissa and Shanequewa were wonderful! They were never overbearing, but always there if we needed or wanted anything.
Food & service
In general, the service at the resort was very high on the grounds and in the restaurants. Not once did we walk by any employee during our stay who failed to say 'Hello' with a big smile as they passed. The service in the restaurants was very good during our stay as was the service at the pools and on the beach. There were always servers asking us if we needed anything from a drink to fresh towels. I've read many reviews on Sandals Resorts and the one common thread across all is the food. We've found that Sandals will always give you a great vacation (we've been to 5 of their properties) but the food is probably 4 out 5 stars. Again, it's good, but if you want 5 Star, be prepared to add $$$ to your vacation destination wherever it is you choose to go.
The grounds
The grounds were maintained very well I'd put the resort condition up against just about any other Caribbean property we've seen. The gardens, lawns and beaches were in impeccable condition. This resort is probably 12 years old, but maintained very well.
Scuba diving
Our dive experience was a pleasure. I did 12 dives during my stay and every one was handled professionally (and I watch the operators carefully). Ryan and Donathan on the dive boat took great care to make sure the less experienced divers were safe and had a nice time. They were also quick to realize the more experienced divers and although had control of the group, allowed the experienced divers a little latitude to explore. Some who read this may not understand, but if you're those guys and have a group of 12 to 15 divers (half I would consider inexperienced) you almost have to tailor to the diver with the lowest skill level. If you've got a lot of dives and years under your belt and are used to heading out on your own, be forewarned of the situation.
Conclusion
Again, we had a great time at Royal Bahamian and certainly got our money's worth out of it! We would rate them a solid A- based on our travel experience and plan to return sometime in the future!
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The Sandals Royal Bahamian should be ashamed
Sandals Royal Bahamian Spa Resort & Offshore Island
When we arrived at the airport in the Bahamas we were greeted by very friendly staff and they pointed us in the right direction. Our transportation to the hotel was great and air conditioned. When we arrived we were greeted by the Sandals staff and received a refreshing cocktail. Because of our arrival time our room would not be ready until around 3:00 pm so after the orientation and a credit card impression to hold $500.00 of my money hostage for incidentals (quite shocked about this) we decided to get a bite to eat and look around the resort. At 3:00pm we went back to the front desk got our key and was directed to our room.
Arrival
May 18 - 25, 2009
When we arrived at the airport in the Bahamas we were greeted by very friendly staff and they pointed us in the right direction. Our transportation to the hotel was great and air conditioned. When we arrived we were greeted by the Sandals staff and received a refreshing cocktail. Because of our arrival time our room would not be ready until around 3:00 pm so after the orientation and a credit card impression to hold $500.00 of my money hostage for incidentals (quite shocked about this) we decided to get a bite to eat and look around the resort. At 3:00pm we went back to the front desk got our key and was directed to our room.
Rooms
When we opened the door to the room I could not believe the smell. Why they have rooms carpeted in resorts is beyond me. The room felt damp and stuffy it actually smelt like mold. The carpet was quite stained, the windows did not open and there was no water pressure. We immediately went to the front desk and asked for a room change. They had nothing available until the following day.
The next day we had to be out of the room by 11:00am we did not receive our new room key until 5:00pm. Interesting considering that usually rooms are received by 3:00pm. We finally got into the new room it was on the first floor with a patio. It did not smell and the floors were tiled. Great
Restaurants and Bars
The food at all of the restaurants was great the service on the other hand was poor. You would ask for tea as soon as you sat down ten minutes later your server would come with tea bags and no hot water. The hot water finally got to the table ten minutes later. My husband waited for an hour an a half for pizza.
Sandals is an all-inclusive resort how do you run out of alcohol. I don't know how many times my husband asked for a drink and they would say they ran out or can't make that drink because the blender broke. They only have one blender. REALLY? We felt like we were a burden to the staff especially when asked a question and received an eye roll or a sigh. Very rude.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
Beach was beautiful.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
What activities? Entertainment. What entertainment? We went with a group and we were all in bed by 11:00pm because there was absolutely nothing to do. YAWN. How much Celine Dion can one person take.
Other Comments
My husband and I were looking forward to this vacation we went to celebrate my cousin's marriage. Our expectations were high because of Sandals great reputation.
Our first Sandals experience will be our last because the Sandals Royal Bahamian has left a bad taste in our mouths. I especially feel sorry for cousin and her new husband they are embarrassed that so many of us came down to celebrate with them and all of our experience with customer service at the Sandals Royal Bahamian sucked.
The Sandals Royal Bahamian should be ashamed because they are bringing Sandals reputation down.
WE PAID 5 STAR PRICES FOR 1 STAR SERVICE
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Champagne whenever you want it
Sandals Royal Bahamian Spa Resort & Offshore Island
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WishmasterstarMichigan >
1 contribution(s)
Mar, 2009 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
1 people found this review helpful
Arrival: March 1 - 5
It's only 15 minutes from the airport to the resort. Your 1st check-in as at the airport where they tag your bags and show you where the transport to the resort is.
Rooms
King beds and marble bathrooms. I've had ocean front rooms here which are great, but how much time do you spend in your room (I don't watch much tv)?
Restaurants and Bars
The food is excellent. Lots of choices. Champagne whenever you want it. One bar/restaurant stays open until 7am!
Beach/Pools/Grounds
Nassau is beautiful: the beach, the water--be sure to go snorkelling--it's free. Classic grounds, understated, unpretentious, un-glitzy.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
I took advantage of the free steam room, sauna, though I paid for spa services (WORTH IT!), went to the private island, snorkelled. I don't like to shop. I just want to park it somewhere and RELAX!
Other Comments
I've been to this resort 3 years in a row now and highly recommend it. It is just so beautiful and the environs enhance the experience.
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The piano bar was awesome - had lots of fun.
Sandals Royal Bahamian Spa Resort & Offshore Island
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KarenNewJersey >
1 contribution(s) United States of America
Dec, 2008 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
1 people found this review helpful
Rooms:
We stayed in the windsor in a concierge room - we wanted a balcony and this was the cheapest room w/ a balcony. It was quite large with a sitting area and a full bar - bottles of several liquors.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
The beach was quite small but very pleasant. the water was warm adn very clean.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
The piano bar was awesome - had lots of fun. the offshore island was a bust. pool was under renovation - (closed) and it seemed that many people were bitten by sand fleas. Luckily - we take B vitamins, which make sand fleas NOT want to bite you.
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