Sandals Royal Barbados:

On our most recent trip, we traveled to Barbados and stayed at Sandals Royal Barbados (no surprises there – unless you are not aware how obsessed we are with Sandals – and in that case, nice to meet you). We had an amazing trip together – because we always do! However, while this particular resort is beautiful, has a great staff, and top of the line everything, it was a slight letdown to us… all because of the beach.

The Bad:

I am going to start off with what we did not like about this trip/resort so that I am very upfront about it and get it out-of-the-way. Like I said, we had a fabulous time… we just had to spend our time differently than we normally do.

Problems with the Beach:

The beach at Sandals in Barbados is pretty rough; so it is not very clear. Plus, they have been dealing with a seaweed problem for a while now. You likely know that I LOVE the water, and especially the Caribbean Sea. Well, in the whole 7 days that we were there, we were not able to comfortably get in the ocean.

The Good:

There is definitely much more good than bad at Sandals Royal Barbados. However, in terms of recommendations for you all – I don’t know that I would recommend this one as your first Sandals destination. However, I would love to talk it out with you if you are unsure about which resort is best for you!

Alternatively,

If you are more of a pool person anyway… then I 10/10 recommend Sandals Royal Barbados. The pools at Sandals Royal Barbados are top of the line. The resort has a rooftop pool and an infinity pool that has a clear front and overlooks the beach (pictured above and below). Also, it turns out that they do provide shuttles to nearby beaches. However, we were not aware of this until the last day, so we did not try it.

Two Resorts in One:

Sandals Royal Barbados is a brand new Sandals Resort and it is located directly beside the older Sandals Barbados Resort. So you get two resorts for the price of one – which is great! And when I say right beside each other, I mean that quite literally. (See picture below).

The Food:

The food at EVERY Sandals Resort is phenomenal. However, Sandals Royal Barbados may have taken the cake! With the brand new rooftop French restaurant, the views are as good as the food! My personal favorite restaurants were La Parisienne, Butch’s Steak and Seafood, Schooner’s  and Portofino’s. I try to take as many food photos as I can, but more often than not I forget because the food looks so good I just start eating it. lol 🙂

Plus, just to be extra clear – ALL SANDALS RESORTS ARE ALL-INCLUSIVE! Meaning all of this delicious food you are about to see was 100% free with you stay!

Cafe de Paris

While I am on the topic of food, Sandals Royal Barbados has an amazing ice cream and coffee shop: Cafe de Paris (also included in the all-inclusiveness). We probably went there at least twice a day, everyday! James is a bit of an ice-cream snob (lol) and he says that they have the best ice cream that he has ever tried!

Room Service

Sandals Resorts typically offers 3 different room categories: Luxury, Club, and Butler. Luxury is just your typical room, Club offers extra concierge services and room service, and Butler level literally comes with a personal Butler.

However, Sandals Royal Barbados offers only Club and Butler level rooms – so room service is available for all guests staying at the resort. We took advantage of this for breakfast several times during our stay! We really enjoyed being able to relax and eat breakfast on our balcony before starting our day!

Soaking Tubs

The outdoor soaking tub on our balcony was definitely our favorite part of our room. Soaking tubs are offered with some rooms at other Sandals Resorts; but ALL of the rooms at Sandals Royal Barbados come with the Soaking Tub! It is such a unique place to relax and enjoy a chilled bottle of Champagne (that is free and updated in your mini fridge every day) at the end of the day!

Bowling Alley

Sandals Royal Barbados is the first (and probably not the last) Sandals Resort to have a Bowling Alley on site! And yes, it is also included with the all-inclusiveness! Before we went on this trip, we weren’t sure if we would actually bowl or not while we were there – but we actually really enjoyed it! We bowled several times during our stay at Sandals Royal Barbados. It was a nice place to go to cool off!

Trip Recap:

If you don’t already know, we are 100% beach people. I love the ocean, the sand, the wind, the sound, and everything else about it. So when we realized that we were not going to be able to utilize the beach like we normally do, we had to adapt. We spent pretty much all of our time in either the rooftop pool (which is heated and amazing) or the beach-front infinity pool. We usually don’t even bother saving ourselves chairs by the pool, because we don’t sit in them. I can’t stand to sit by the water for more than 10 minutes – I want to be in it!

Snorkeling:

Each Sandals Resort offers free snorkeling and diving trips several times each day! We always take advantage of this – sometimes two or three times per trip!

Barbados has some of the best snorkeling spots that I have seen yet, all because they have a large amount of shipwrecks that they have used to form a marine park! Also, they have several sea turtles that live in the ships – so we were able to see them, up-close and personal in their natural habitat!

Snuba:

Again, all Sandals Resorts offer free snorkeling and scuba diving trips each day. Anyone can snorkel, but to dive you have to pay to get certified (one time only) before you can dive. We have gone back and forth about getting certified for the last 3 years. So when we discoveredt snuba, we thought that it would be a great way for us to decide whether we wanted to get certified to scuba dive or not. This was probably our favorite part of our entire stay at Sandal Royal Barbados!

Snuba is literally what it sounds like – a mix between snorkeling and scuba diving. You breathe into an oxygen mask that is attached to a long cord/tube, which is connected to a oxygen tank that is floating on a raft on the surface of the water. We were able to stay underwater, 20 ft down for about 45 minutes. The slower you breathe, the longer the oxygen will last – so the longer you can stay underwater!

I 100000% recommend trying snuba if you ever get the chance! It is literally the coolest thing that I have ever experienced so far! And yes, we are definitely getting scuba certified when we go back to Sandals Negril, Jamaica for Christmas!

The Feel of Barbados:

For several timing issues, we didn’t get to go out and see quite as much of the island as we would have liked to. BUT, what we did see was pretty impressive. Their buildings and roads look extremely well-built. The island, as a whole, looked like it was in much less poverty compared to some of the other islands that we have been to. All of the people that we came into contact with were extremely friendly. I would have felt completely safe walking around Bridgetown, Barbados (the capital).

Conclusions:

We had a great time together – because we literally have fun together no matter what we are doing. Also, even though I travel a ton, we usually only take one week-long vacation together each year. So, it is extremely nice to have so much time together.

With everything that has been mentioned, I do recommend Sandals Royal Barbados – BUT ONLY with a clear disclaimer about the beach! I (personally) don’t think that I will return to this particular resort (only because of the beach). However, it is an extremely nice resort with excellent food and amenities!

As always, thank you for following along and thank you for reading my Barbados Trip Recap! I am celebrating my one-year-aniversary of Wine and Weekends and I couldn’t be more thrilled, proud, and humbled with where I have been able to take my blog in just one short year! And I have YOU to thank for that!

Never sell yourself short and always believe in yourself! Set Goals, Work hard, and be Thankful for each opportunity that you are given! I promise that anything is possible!

Please reach out with any questions about Sandals Resorts, Barbados, travel in-general, or anything else that you want to ask!

Next Stop? Wine Country VA

XO

*This post contains affiliate linking – meaning I may make a small commission if you book through my links. However, all opinions are honestly and organically my own*