Sandals ResortsReviews of sandals.com

We just wrapped up a week at this place and we won’t be back to this place or any Sandals property. It was our second time at Emerald Bay and our fourth Sandal’s experience. With our experiences elsewhere over the years where we have seen what true “luxury” travel can be we now know Sandals comes well short of what they want you to think you’ll be getting. For what they charge and what they tell you will be ‘luxury” is irresponsible. When we arrived we had to get housekeeping to come and clean our room - dust in the corners, dust on the shelves, MAJOR dust under the bed and when we wiped one of the floor tiles with simple water and a tissue, it was filthy. There are a few good things about Emerald Bay for sure (most notably the golf however CAUTION - they post no warnings whatsoever regarding Poison Oak on the course) however not a lot of it is better than you would get at a 3-star+ or 4-star place for a lot less money. This is a classic case of a service provider promoting an image and then skirting the lowest boundary on delivery. Of all the restaurants the Indian and Sushi were by far the best however you don’t want to eat that all week and they are only open for dinner. The “French” restaurant is a joke. The bread basket that we asked about 3 times and were told “its coming” arrived just as we wrapped up our meals. The main buffet restaurant for breakfast and lunch is a high school cafeteria on steroids. The food is unimaginative and boring. Muffins are goop scooped from a mass-produced bucket of commercial slop. It takes 1/2 an hour to get a pizza. The service throughout the “resort” is, to be kind, poor. We learned they turn over about 40 employees a week which goes a long way to explain that. Apparently they engage in the paying their employees the least they can get away with rather than the most they can and in the end it is the patrons that pay the price for that. They tell you they will be having a Chocolate Desert Extravaganza one night - when you get there you find nothing special at all and what they do have includes such items as fruit to dip in what is no better than cold Hershey’s syrup and marshmallows, like you buy by the bag in a grocery store, with the bottoms dipped in chocolate!! Our grandchildren would like that however that is not "luxury". The sand flies or sand fleas or no-see-ums....whatever they were - they were brutal. Sandals offers to sell you spray at the gift shop. Most if not all mornings a loud tractor drives around the property hauling a machine that pumps out a fog of what I was told is a pesticide to try and reduce the number of these annoying biting flies or fleas or whatever they are. The first morning I walked into a cloud of this fog at the main entrance, unaware of what it was. The next day I encountered the fogger on the pathway - he kindly shut the fog off as he went around me however it still left me breathing this in as I made my way along the path. No way to avoid it. So the pleasure I get from early morning walks was sidelined. They don’t tell you they are doing this much less tell you what this fog is. They have a large main pool where the thump-thump music plays all day and they play silly games in which few people participate. The “quiet” pool area is nice however the lounge chairs are few and what are there are dirty and very uncomfortable and more often than not they do not have any fresh towels. There is no pool service at the quiet pool - you have to walk over to one of the restaurants and order a meal and if you don’t want to wait a long time for it and if you want to ensure the order is right (a good 70% of our meal orders came not as ordered) you have to wait for it and take it back to the pool yourself. They say they have a yoga and Pilates studio. There are, however no yoga sessions at all and only one yoga mat that was badly worn and filthy. This is luxury? No, this is a complete farce. I have to mention the water cooler at the quiet pool, the cooler that didn’t usually have ice in it. They put fruit in the tap water that goes in the dispenser - the oranges they put in still had the stickers on the rind so you know they DON’T WASH THE FRUIT BEFORE THEY SLICE IT AND PUT IT IN THE WATER!! The airport that services this resort, GGT, is Third World. There are many many places that are easier to get to and that provide far better value for true “luxury” experiences. Don’t waste your money and any of your life at Sandals Emerald Bay.

Vacances au sandal’s Royal barbados le top magnifique un service exceptionnel des butler d’une gentillesse inouïe bref 2 eme voyage chez Sandals et c est toujours parfait Merci à bientot

Cost: $800+ per night (not including airfare) I did a lot of research and chose this resort due to the "endless" water sports and activities it promoted on their website, including unlimited snorkeling and diving. I have stayed at Superclubs and other all-inclusive resorts in the past and was very happy with them, but had read good things about Sandals, so I thought I would try something new.

The resort was a huge disappointment, due to the misleading claims on their website: Rooms Promoted: Windsor Honeymoon Club Level Oversized Junior Suite with pool and tropical garden view promoted as 5-star Actual: 2-1/2 star at best. The room looked nothing like the photos! The “garden view” was a view of the pink apartment complex and parking lot next door, with bars on the windows and car alarms going off every morning. The balcony was barely big enough for 2 people; the curtains were tattered and torn; furniture was worn and scratched; the decor was non-existent and amenities were cheap quality. The mini bar was never re-stocked, and the room was not cleaned one day. The nightly turn-down was non-existent. I have stayed at Holiday Inn’s that were nicer, and it absolutely was not a “suite”. Exclusive Island Promoted: Exclusive offshore island, accessible by shuttle, sailboat or kayak in minutes, with one beach for exploring the Bahamas' best snorkeling, the other for high-energy water sports. Actual: 1/3 of an island shared with another resort. Snorkeling dod NOT include snorkel gear as promised (we had to find a store and buy our own) and there were no water sports. The island was accessible by shuttle boat only for limited hours (no sailboats or kayaks as stated); the Island was completely closed one day, and 2 other days required a 45 minute wait for a shuttle bus to bring us downtown to the main docks, and a long boat ride (all of which took over an hour—a far cry from the “minutes” you promoted) Diving Promoted: Your website clearly states that “If you are a certified diver, we let you dive every day (except departure day) - twice a day with one tank or once a day with two tanks...it’s all included Actual: We arrived late afternoon on a Sunday. After a long check-in, the dive center was closed. We arrived at the dive center first thing Monday morning with our PADI cards and medical releases, as requested on your website. We were told if we hadn’t dived in the last 90 days, we would have to take a pool test at a cost of $80pp, and we could not take it until Tuesday. We took the pool test on Tuesday, and after passing, were told the first day we could dive was Wednesday. Wednesday morning we arrived for our first dive, only to be told the dive was cancelled for the day. Again, we scheduled to dive every day for the remainder of our trip. Thursday we had one dive only; Friday was cancelled; Saturday and Sunday we were able to finally able to do 2 dives. So out of 8 days, we were only able to dive 2-1/2. Watersports & snorkeling Promoted: Largest watersports operation in the Caribbean with over 270 specialty boats; Unlimited watersports including canoes/kayaks, windsurfing, water trikes, snorkeling, hobie cats, sailboats, wakeboarding & paddleboarding; complimentary lessons. Actual: Where was this? We saw a dozen or so kayaks and paddleboards, and a couple of water trikes on the very small beach. We were not allowed in the water due to wind for the first 5 days of our 8 day vacation. Snorkeling had to be scheduled a day in advance, and was cancelled every day we scheduled it. We were not allowed to use the snorkel equipment, so we had to find a store to purchase our own equipment to snorkel on the island they promoted. We were finally able to take out a kayak on the last day. The glass bottom boat and unlimited water skiing was no where to be found. Tours Promoted: Optional tours & fishing available Actual: We had our heart set on a day of fishing. However, all tours had to be scheduled at least a day in advance, and all started at the same time as the diving and snorkeling trips, meaning we could only schedule one activity a day. We originally booked a fishing day, but when our diving and snorkeling trips were cancelled for 4 days, we had to cancel our fishing trip in order to schedule a dive trip that wasn’t cancelled. We are an active couple, and would never book a vacation to sit around a pool all day. We booked this resort based on the large number of activities they listed on their website. Instead, we spent 5 out of 8 days stuck around a pool drinking watered-down drinks. Land sports were limited to 1 shuffleboard court with a broken scorekeeper, 1 bocci ball court, 2 tennis courts and 2 pools tables for the whole resort. After 3 days of sitting by the pool we went to the front desk and requested to speak to the manager about a refund so we could leave early. After explaining why we wanted to leave, including the room and the reasons stated above, one employee rudely said “so you don’t like the weather?”.(We never mentioned the weather, and didn’t have a problem with it.) They then told us to have a seat. After 15 or so minutes, we were told we were welcome to leave anytime, and call Sandals when we arrived back in the states. In other words, you are free to leave, but we are interested in helping you. The manager never acknowledged us. Since we had paid a large sum for this vacation, we decided to stay and try and make the best of it, although I spent the next 2 days in tears over the inexcusable customer service we received from this “5-star” resort. After returning home, I contacted Sandals about the issues above multiple times requesting a partial refund or credit. The response I received was "they were sorry for my disappointment, It is our hope that the positive memories of your Sandals’ holiday will encourage you to revisit a Sandals Resort..." They also offered to gift me a few bonus points if I would like to join their frequent guest program. Their standard response seems to be to use it as an opportunity for a sales pitch to book another Sandals vacation. This is by far the worse customer experience I have ever encountered.

We visited the Ochi Rios Resort in Jamaica We stayed in a Butler Suite in the Gardens and couldn’t have asked for a better size villa. We had 2 butlers that served all of our needs and nothing was too much trouble. Everywhere was clean and tidy Food was great quality and the choice was amazing. We could visit the beach resort as well as our own which meant double the pools, bars and restaurants. I have no issues with our resort... clean, friendly staff, amazing choice of food, good choice of add on tours available, nice pools, fantastic accommodation!!

Simple, don't go here. If there could be zero stars - that what they deserve. I tried for 6 months to get compensation.. then gave up. They ruined our honeymoon and any memory of what should have been a wonderful (and was expensive!!) time. If you’ve ever experience poor or disappointing customer service, the most infuriating element of it is when you don’t think the company and its staff care – this is what creates the upset, bad press and emotion. That is why I'm writing this review. Every single touch point we’ve had regarding this 'holiday' from start to present day has been disappointing – which flies in the face of, to quote their marketing slogan, “when perfection isn’t enough”! From the initial holiday booking (no reply to emails, no one answering calls, or returning calls. No confirmation of butler preferences, then them being wrong), to arriving in Jamaica (awful reception desk area, no toilets working, travelling in an old unsafe taxi on a 2+ hour journey, waiting 30 minutes to be taken to our room) to the ‘holiday’ itself – not only has there been no luxury, 5* service, basic courtesy and standard customer service have been missed too. We contacted their customer services department 12+ weeks ago to raise our complaint of a disaster of a honeymoon here – no compensation or resolution so far. The details: My husband and I honeymooned at Ocho Rios resort in Jamaica – our honeymoon was the gift from all our wedding guests, so had extra special significance. We were profoundly disappointed with our stay, primarily due to the poor attitude of the staff. There were some food and accommodation issues, which we could have forgiven had the customer-service element been better. Our butlers were frosty some days and fine others, this put us a bit on edge before our meetings, wondering what mood we would find them in. Tipping them made some difference, but I stopped this towards the end, as I felt we were not rewarding great service, but instead paying not to receive poor service. The main upset we experienced was the rudeness of one female receptionist, Jeamae Jamoyer, whilst trying to sort out the bill. She seemed to delight in being rude and unhelpful, despite the errors and inconvenience we'd been caused was the fault of reception - and she refused to accept the poor service or offer any apology. Her manager got involved, and was equally unhelpful. It's almost as if they'd been trained not to empathise or take any responsibility when anything went wrong, and customers were left disappointed. Following the 20 minute incident at reception, our butlers seemed to get worse. We didn’t really see or hear from in them in the penultimate days. We were so disappointed we remained in our apartment for the last two days, having room service on the last night, as we could not deal with anymore staff attitude. We will never return to this resort. The food and accommodation elements; - On arrival we were put into a room on the perimeter of the complex, the air conditioning in the room was dripping onto the sitting room desk, the room smelt of damp, the toilet didn’t flush and the shower and towel rail were hanging off the wall (we have attached some photos). We spoke to someone about this the next morning and spent the next few hours unpacking and moving rooms once one became available. - The food was really sub-standard. We enjoyed a few meals, but predominantly, it was really disappointing. Needless to say, we have no positive memories of what was sold to us as a honeymoon paradise, and didn’t enjoy the countless conversations with family and friends on arrival back to the UK on how it had gone. If it was my business I would want to know what was going on here so our recommendation is to send in a few ‘mystery guests’ or an ‘undercover boss’ to the resort as we believe it is irreparably tarnishing the Sandals name.

I booked a 9 night holiday hotel only £3200 I changed the holiday to 7 nights they fined me £700!!! Although in terms an amendment fee of £50 each was due they decided to treat it as a cancellation, although no where does it mention fines in terms only that if other suppliers are affected they ‘may’ have to recoup the money, as I’d only booked with them this wasn’t the case, the customer service tried to tell me on the day of the change the rates changed so much that this also contributed to loss, I am now taking the case to civil court in the UK . I wanted to cancel whole holiday but they wanted another £900 for that!!! Will never use this company again and I would advise you to do likewise to charge £700 to amend a holiday is criminal and I hope the courts see it the same way

My wife slipped on a wet tiled slope in the main hotel, sustained a serious fracture and needed to have an emergency operation on her wrist at the cost USD$18,000. I told Sandals that she needed to go to hospital on first contact with the resort nurse and the representative, however Sandals arranged a taxi to get x-rays and a doctor's second opinion on the injury before taking us to a private hospital 80km away. The delay (6 hours) we now know caused additional damage to my wife's nerves and has extended her recovery time considerably. The wet area of the hotel did not have any warning signs and we were both wearing good quality high grip footwear. But Sandals have not accepted any responsibility for the incident, the safety of the area, lack of warning signs, the delays & lack of an ambulance. Sandals have offered a gesture of goodwill but it was also accompanied by a legal gagging order. This gesture however does not cover the current medical and other associated costs, loss of earnings due to her injury, long term physiotherapy now needed and the impact on her qualify of life during this period. BE WARNED, if you need medical assistance, you will need to pay for everything yourself and in my opinion Sandals tried to limit their own liability before doing the right thing for the patient.

I thought I would share the good and bad of my recent visit to Sandals Antigua. If like myself you are about to invest 10K dollars on a holiday, maybe worth considering The Good Staff and the service were second to none, nothing was too much trouble and we were always greeted with a smile. Room was always clean, tidy and well stocked. Food and drink. The Bad Sandals advertise this ‘As one of the worlds most romantic resorts’ - day one at the pool we were greeted by a beer chugging competition. More in the style of 18-30 than what we expect from Sandals. Little respect for folk wanting a quiet holiday. Resort entertainment is over powering and really only entertains very few people, with constant narration and music at unbearable levels. Even when we visited the quiet pool which is generally frequented by older couples we were invaded daily by the entertainment team, removed from the pool so as little as 6 people could play volley ball. Resort constantly touting for extra revenue - photo’s, spa, cabana’s - never stops!! Beach was very small, you cannot sit on it without being bombarded by folk trying to sell something for more than 3 minutes. Resort not enforcing its own policy regards to sun bed reservation. 2 days during our stay we could not get sun beds even though we were at the pool no later than 0900hrs daily. Cleanliness of outside areas - one day we found half a chicken in the pool, patrons allowed to smoke and eat in the pool!! Cabanas not cleaned with broken glass and bottles. Smoking - the non-smoking rules largely ignored upsetting many patrons. ALL IN ALL, not a terrible holiday but it certainly does not warrant the hefty price tag. Visited far superior resorts for less than half the cost. Sorry Sandals we would certainly not be visiting again.