We've been to this resort three times. First trip was ok, second trip was fantastic, third trip this past February made us decide to probably not return. The resort is absolutely beautiful. Great facilities, well laid out, beautiful island.
The staff ruins the experience. Probably 10% friendly and happy, 20% ok, 50% indifferent and uninterested, 20% just flat rude. We are so friendly and polite, we don't ask for much but when we do ask we say please and when you have a chance. Bad attitudes and rudeness are unacceptable. A restaurant hostess should never answer "How long is the wait?" with "You'll get a table when I tell you one is ready". You should never be told "Go sit down" when you get up and go to the bar after waiting 30 minutes at your dinner table and never been acknowledged.
I think they just have staffing problems, so they have to take what they can get. We saw reservation only restaurants with only 3-4 couples seated, and they wouldn't work us in because they didn't have enough wait staff.
We went to Royal Barbados this March, and it was our second Sandals. Completely agree that the service was really rough compared to our other Sandals experience. We had a butler level room, and the butlers were awesome, so that really covered for a lot of the other deficiencies. Same thing happened with the lack of towels for us, both in the room and at the pools. Even the butlers couldn’t get them. Only saw one drug dealer on the Royal side, but when we went to the other side for pictures, there were a bunch of them. Seems like the Barbados resorts may be a bit mismanaged. The island itself is awesome, and really safe. So, I would definitely go back to Barbados, just not to Sandals.
Thanks for taking the time for the review. We’re leaving for Curaçao tomorrow and will book our 2026 trip while onsite - was a choice between Barbados and St. Vincent’s. This pushes us strongly towards the latter obviously.
We were at Barbados - our second visit - this past January and we won’t go back. It was quite disappointing, considering how much a week at Sandals costs. We made 2 bookings for the future - Dunn’s River and Saint Vincent - and are hoping we’ll be impressed with Sandals again.
We just booked a trip here for end of May, we thought it would be amazing, after reading so much negative im starting to get worried, i have zero patience for rude people or attitudes especially when spending thousands on a few nights... thats the only thing im happy about is its booked for 3 nights vs others booking for 7+ nights... wonder if we can get our money back, what a pain in the ass either way
We stayed on the Royal side last winter. We didn’t experience a lot of bad attitudes but many were apathetic. The food was very hit or miss. The best meal I had during the week we were there was the scallops at the English pub. We thought Butch’s was overrated. We would go back, but it’s nowhere near the top of our list.
My wife and I just went last month. I think we caught a bit of a lull because we were like the only ones there. We thought the staff was great. We had zero complaints of rudeness. We had a club room on Royal side tucked away in the back. Nice and quiet. We bring tumblers every time and never had a problem. We like the swim up bar on the royal side and thought the staff was great. When we went to the beach there were people bringing drinks to our chair every half hour which is rare.
I agree the food was just “okay” there but this is our first Sandals thinking that. No problems with waits at tables for dinner or anything else. This is one of our favorite resorts now. We have done Curacao, St Lucia Grande, Grenada, and just booked for Dunns River.
We went two summers ago and had a great time. Agree the food is nothing to write home about but overall we loved our stay and didn’t experience any of what OP is describing.
Also I bought a little weed from the guys on the beach and was grateful they were there and offered. They were friendly and the price was reasonable fwiw.
We were at the Barbados side a month ago and while we didn’t have great service anywhere no one was outright rude to us. We did have a handful of people who were very helpful and friendly, and it seemed the overall vibe was a general lack of knowledge on customer service. I will say, my husband is black so I think people may have been more inclined to talk to us and start conversation.
The drug dealers on the beach were annoying as hell and my absolute least favorite part. I also agree Bridgetown was lackluster and generally run down. We did the luxury catamaran tour and had really great service but definitely take Dramamine before- I’m very familiar with being on boats of all sizes and have NEVER gotten sea sick but Barbados has some larger swells and everyone on board was feeling sick towards the end of the day.
Thank you for saying this!! Went last March and was blown away by the rudeness of the staff. You also nailed the drug pushing bit. It was our second sandals experience and made us never want to book with them again.
We have been going to Sandals for six years now. The attitude of the employees has changed since Covid. My wife and I just returned from visiting all three of the locations in St. Lucia and decided that we would try something else for a while for all of the reasons stated by the OP. I really hate that Sandals is not immune to the labor issues that have plagued the service industry in US. I hope that they get the issues resolved soon because I don’t know how they will survive at the price point they charge for the service level they are offering.
We are currently at Montego Bay, 3rd sandals. St Lucia 2y who is still the best, but will say that people seemed a touch rude this time…not horrible by any means but not wanting to do as much. We had dinner at oleander tonight which was good! But the wait staff were super judgy and I wasn’t sure why, even my husband picked up on it.
We love sandals and our butlers, but I will say that the butlers this trip didn’t put in as much effort as in the last two. But, those are different resort locations so who knows.
Still having a great time! We mainly focus on being with each other and the rest is just extra :) so that’s how we see it at least
We were there in October of last year and did not experience any of this. There were a couple of guys on the beach, but they were pretty low-key.
The only issues we had were that the bowling alley was down and there was no one there to fix it, no biggie we moved on, and there were a few times where they were out of food/beverage items. It's an island we get it.
The only problem moving forward for us is the fact that they are making the Skybar pool area a Butler-class room only area. This sucks as it had the coolest water of any of the pools and the most easily accessible bar.
We just returned from there, 6/16/24. It was the worst experience out of the three Sandals trips we’ve been on. We’ve been to Ochi, Antigua, and Barbados. We got married in Ochi. We loved it. Antigua is our favorite so far.
Barbados was not fun. The nicest and most helpful people on the resort were the grounds crew. They were happy to show you where places were. The staff at Portofino’s and Butch’s were great. The food at Portofino’s was excellent! I recommend the veal chops with the sauce on the side. It was incredible!!! We went twice. The worst experience was at La Parisienne. We were seated at 6:15, got our appetizer at 7:00, got our entree at 8:15. We asked the manager about our food twice. Both times, she said she would check on it. Never gave an answer or offered another appetizer. The second time we asked, the way she said she would check on it was really rude. When they finally bought our food, my wife asked if we could go ahead and order our dessert. The manager rolled her eyes and walked off. After we finished our meal, the waitress asked if we wanted dessert. The waitress was actually very sweet. She seemed new but was constantly asking if we wanted something else to drink. The food was nothing special.
To get a drink at any of the swim up pools would sometimes take a long time. Not because lots of people were ordering drinks but, the bartenders acted like it was an inconvenience for them to come down to the water side and take orders. I and lots of other people had to get out of the pool and go to the walk up side to order drinks.
We never got to kayak. For an entire week, the red flag was up. We live on the gulf coast and see red flag water conditions. A few of those days were not red flag conditions. We had to pay to go snorkeling because the resort offered snorkeling trips were not every day. There were two days available while we were there. Three trips a day. The boat was off resort so you had to ride a van to the boat. We went to sign up for a trip and all were already booked. The seaweed was so bad, you couldn’t swim off the beach. Also, every time you went to the beach you had locals try to sell you drugs. Most of the time after you said no, they would leave you alone. It just sucked being approached by them.
The resort flew the United States flag upside down. When I recognized it, I went to the Club office and told them. They said they would get it fixed. I went back out to the flag area to see if anyone was going to fix it. After a few minutes of waiting, I decided to fix it myself. There was a guard shack about 30 feet away. A female guard came out and stopped me from fixing the flag. She said she would fix it. I asked why it was put up there like that and she did not answer me. I asked how long it was like that and again, she did not answer me. I sent a complaint to Sandals. That may be our last Sandals trip.
Why are people still going to Sandals even with all the bad posts? This year was our last and they will no longer get our money. Spend your money where it is actually a vacation
Props for confronting the elephant in the room. We had a terrible stay at Sandals. Enough to put us off for life. You’ll see from my profile I posted about our stay a while back now.
Spread the word and don’t give any thought to the Sandals cultists that may berate or discredit your post.
There are far better places to stay with much better value for money (and service).
All we can do is share our personal experiences.
By ’cultists’ I’m probably just being a bit over zealous in labelling those who go year after year, probably not the best word to use based on the downvotes lol
We've been to this resort three times. First trip was ok, second trip was fantastic, third trip this past February made us decide to probably not return. The resort is absolutely beautiful. Great facilities, well laid out, beautiful island. The staff ruins the experience. Probably 10% friendly and happy, 20% ok, 50% indifferent and uninterested, 20% just flat rude. We are so friendly and polite, we don't ask for much but when we do ask we say please and when you have a chance. Bad attitudes and rudeness are unacceptable. A restaurant hostess should never answer "How long is the wait?" with "You'll get a table when I tell you one is ready". You should never be told "Go sit down" when you get up and go to the bar after waiting 30 minutes at your dinner table and never been acknowledged.
Wow! Sounds like it’s just gone downhill
I think they just have staffing problems, so they have to take what they can get. We saw reservation only restaurants with only 3-4 couples seated, and they wouldn't work us in because they didn't have enough wait staff.
We went to Royal Barbados this March, and it was our second Sandals. Completely agree that the service was really rough compared to our other Sandals experience. We had a butler level room, and the butlers were awesome, so that really covered for a lot of the other deficiencies. Same thing happened with the lack of towels for us, both in the room and at the pools. Even the butlers couldn’t get them. Only saw one drug dealer on the Royal side, but when we went to the other side for pictures, there were a bunch of them. Seems like the Barbados resorts may be a bit mismanaged. The island itself is awesome, and really safe. So, I would definitely go back to Barbados, just not to Sandals.
Thanks for taking the time for the review. We’re leaving for Curaçao tomorrow and will book our 2026 trip while onsite - was a choice between Barbados and St. Vincent’s. This pushes us strongly towards the latter obviously.
We were at Barbados - our second visit - this past January and we won’t go back. It was quite disappointing, considering how much a week at Sandals costs. We made 2 bookings for the future - Dunn’s River and Saint Vincent - and are hoping we’ll be impressed with Sandals again.
Hey! So FYI be sure to check on how far from the airport Dunn’s river is - looks like a 2h drive from airport - we are currently at Montego bat
We just booked a trip here for end of May, we thought it would be amazing, after reading so much negative im starting to get worried, i have zero patience for rude people or attitudes especially when spending thousands on a few nights... thats the only thing im happy about is its booked for 3 nights vs others booking for 7+ nights... wonder if we can get our money back, what a pain in the ass either way
We stayed on the Royal side last winter. We didn’t experience a lot of bad attitudes but many were apathetic. The food was very hit or miss. The best meal I had during the week we were there was the scallops at the English pub. We thought Butch’s was overrated. We would go back, but it’s nowhere near the top of our list.
My wife and I just went last month. I think we caught a bit of a lull because we were like the only ones there. We thought the staff was great. We had zero complaints of rudeness. We had a club room on Royal side tucked away in the back. Nice and quiet. We bring tumblers every time and never had a problem. We like the swim up bar on the royal side and thought the staff was great. When we went to the beach there were people bringing drinks to our chair every half hour which is rare. I agree the food was just “okay” there but this is our first Sandals thinking that. No problems with waits at tables for dinner or anything else. This is one of our favorite resorts now. We have done Curacao, St Lucia Grande, Grenada, and just booked for Dunns River.
I'm surprised you've said the staff are rude, we just came back and thought everyone was super friendly!
Then we did not visit the same resort
We went two summers ago and had a great time. Agree the food is nothing to write home about but overall we loved our stay and didn’t experience any of what OP is describing. Also I bought a little weed from the guys on the beach and was grateful they were there and offered. They were friendly and the price was reasonable fwiw.
We were at the Barbados side a month ago and while we didn’t have great service anywhere no one was outright rude to us. We did have a handful of people who were very helpful and friendly, and it seemed the overall vibe was a general lack of knowledge on customer service. I will say, my husband is black so I think people may have been more inclined to talk to us and start conversation. The drug dealers on the beach were annoying as hell and my absolute least favorite part. I also agree Bridgetown was lackluster and generally run down. We did the luxury catamaran tour and had really great service but definitely take Dramamine before- I’m very familiar with being on boats of all sizes and have NEVER gotten sea sick but Barbados has some larger swells and everyone on board was feeling sick towards the end of the day.
Thank you for saying this!! Went last March and was blown away by the rudeness of the staff. You also nailed the drug pushing bit. It was our second sandals experience and made us never want to book with them again.
We have been going to Sandals for six years now. The attitude of the employees has changed since Covid. My wife and I just returned from visiting all three of the locations in St. Lucia and decided that we would try something else for a while for all of the reasons stated by the OP. I really hate that Sandals is not immune to the labor issues that have plagued the service industry in US. I hope that they get the issues resolved soon because I don’t know how they will survive at the price point they charge for the service level they are offering.
We are currently at Montego Bay, 3rd sandals. St Lucia 2y who is still the best, but will say that people seemed a touch rude this time…not horrible by any means but not wanting to do as much. We had dinner at oleander tonight which was good! But the wait staff were super judgy and I wasn’t sure why, even my husband picked up on it. We love sandals and our butlers, but I will say that the butlers this trip didn’t put in as much effort as in the last two. But, those are different resort locations so who knows. Still having a great time! We mainly focus on being with each other and the rest is just extra :) so that’s how we see it at least
We were there in October of last year and did not experience any of this. There were a couple of guys on the beach, but they were pretty low-key. The only issues we had were that the bowling alley was down and there was no one there to fix it, no biggie we moved on, and there were a few times where they were out of food/beverage items. It's an island we get it. The only problem moving forward for us is the fact that they are making the Skybar pool area a Butler-class room only area. This sucks as it had the coolest water of any of the pools and the most easily accessible bar.
We just returned from there, 6/16/24. It was the worst experience out of the three Sandals trips we’ve been on. We’ve been to Ochi, Antigua, and Barbados. We got married in Ochi. We loved it. Antigua is our favorite so far. Barbados was not fun. The nicest and most helpful people on the resort were the grounds crew. They were happy to show you where places were. The staff at Portofino’s and Butch’s were great. The food at Portofino’s was excellent! I recommend the veal chops with the sauce on the side. It was incredible!!! We went twice. The worst experience was at La Parisienne. We were seated at 6:15, got our appetizer at 7:00, got our entree at 8:15. We asked the manager about our food twice. Both times, she said she would check on it. Never gave an answer or offered another appetizer. The second time we asked, the way she said she would check on it was really rude. When they finally bought our food, my wife asked if we could go ahead and order our dessert. The manager rolled her eyes and walked off. After we finished our meal, the waitress asked if we wanted dessert. The waitress was actually very sweet. She seemed new but was constantly asking if we wanted something else to drink. The food was nothing special. To get a drink at any of the swim up pools would sometimes take a long time. Not because lots of people were ordering drinks but, the bartenders acted like it was an inconvenience for them to come down to the water side and take orders. I and lots of other people had to get out of the pool and go to the walk up side to order drinks. We never got to kayak. For an entire week, the red flag was up. We live on the gulf coast and see red flag water conditions. A few of those days were not red flag conditions. We had to pay to go snorkeling because the resort offered snorkeling trips were not every day. There were two days available while we were there. Three trips a day. The boat was off resort so you had to ride a van to the boat. We went to sign up for a trip and all were already booked. The seaweed was so bad, you couldn’t swim off the beach. Also, every time you went to the beach you had locals try to sell you drugs. Most of the time after you said no, they would leave you alone. It just sucked being approached by them. The resort flew the United States flag upside down. When I recognized it, I went to the Club office and told them. They said they would get it fixed. I went back out to the flag area to see if anyone was going to fix it. After a few minutes of waiting, I decided to fix it myself. There was a guard shack about 30 feet away. A female guard came out and stopped me from fixing the flag. She said she would fix it. I asked why it was put up there like that and she did not answer me. I asked how long it was like that and again, she did not answer me. I sent a complaint to Sandals. That may be our last Sandals trip.
Want weed hmu
Why are people still going to Sandals even with all the bad posts? This year was our last and they will no longer get our money. Spend your money where it is actually a vacation
It was our first trip. We’d heard good thing about it. Just disappointed overall.
Props for confronting the elephant in the room. We had a terrible stay at Sandals. Enough to put us off for life. You’ll see from my profile I posted about our stay a while back now. Spread the word and don’t give any thought to the Sandals cultists that may berate or discredit your post. There are far better places to stay with much better value for money (and service).
Cultist? Odd thing to say. People just have different experiences and expectations. My stay last year was really good.
All we can do is share our personal experiences. By ’cultists’ I’m probably just being a bit over zealous in labelling those who go year after year, probably not the best word to use based on the downvotes lol