We vacationed at Sam Lord's Castle March 2003. Unfortunately I must report the resort is definitely in the need of some repairs/touchups. It is very sad because you can easily see that at one point it had been a beautiful place.

The grounds are very large but very plain. There is so much potential being wasted. The rooms were okay, but again, needed some touchups. The food was very tasty and plentiful but the wait staff was at times less than attentive. The bartenders were never attentive or friendly which was quite a change from other resorts we have visited. The nightly entertainment was fantastic! The pools, all three, and the restrooms were kept clean. The activities/tour desk personnel were very friendly and helpful while the lobby personnel were not! The fitness room and tennis courts were a joke but better than nothing. One downfall was that you couldn't (or at least they strongly advised against it) swim at the beach as the current is to strong, which leads me to another disappointment. They advertise water sports included but fail to tell you that you have to take a van to a different beach 20 minutes away. On top of it, the van only goes 3 times a week and you leave in the a.m. & don't come back for 4 or 6 hours. A little to long for me to be stranded.

We booked through American Airlines which had the resort classified as a 3 star. I think that is fairly accurate, however, unless some money is put into the resort it will soon be a 2 star.

Just wanted to update you on Sam Lord's Castle in Barbados. First I would like to say I wish I had found your sit BEFORE I went to Barbados

My husband and I were at Sam Lords From November 15 - Nov 18, 2002 There were many things that happened while we were at Sam Lords (for only 3 days).

The rooms are run down but they advertise 3 pools with 3 poolside bars what they had in fact was one pool and no poolside bar or snacks
They advertise 4 restaurants and in fact only had one restaurant.
They had one bar. The air conditioner was working but not adequately enough to cool the room in either of the two rooms we were in. The second room we were moved to did not have hot water. My husband was hung up on when he called one time to inquire when we would receive hot water. They never offered to move us to a room with hot water and were obviously upset with us for reporting that we had no hot water and were expecting this to be resolved.

They advertise color cable TV. In fact they do have TV's in their rooms but they do not work. I did talk to one gentleman that reported that he did have a working TV and was able to view two stations.

They advertise alarm clocks and radios, there were none in either of the rooms we were in.

They one restaurant that was open did serve a nice dinner on Fri and Sun. Other than that everything was Buffet and was what Buffet is. Nothing to cheer about.

Some of the staff were rude most of that stemmed from the front office. Most of the rest of the staff were sociable as long as one was tipping.

The grounds were pretty if you overlooked things like the tennis courts that were not operational and had lawn furniture, etc., stacked all over them.

There were people begging for money at the on site gift shops. Off the resort I would have expected this but not on site. It was one of my reasons for choosing an all inclusive resort.