Sandals ResortsReviews of sandals.com

Unfortunately it has been disappointing for my partner and I. The resort sent us an app to use for our stay, which despite advertising daily entertainment and allowing you to make restaurant bookings-the app is not accurate. I queried this with the Reception team as an activity did not go ahead. I was told it has not been updated with the activities or restaurant live booking info! So no reservations were made at the restaurants we wanted. The room was not changed daily, the bar in the room not restocked and the toiletries not provided for our room. There are better resorts to use for your trip.

My wife and I recently enjoyed a vacation at Sandals South Coast in Jamaica. The hotel itself was wonderful, located in a beautiful setting with stunning beaches, and the food was delicious. While the overall experience was good, I’m not entirely convinced that it meets the five-star standards they claim. The staff was friendly, and the cuisine was great, but the service didn’t always feel top-tier. However, a significant downside was the journey to the hotel. The road conditions are quite poor and the drive, which takes about two hours, felt risky and challenging. The roads are mountainous and not well-maintained, making the trip stressful. Although the drivers were kind, the journey itself was not what we expected from a luxury experience. We genuinely worried about safety during the ride. In conclusion, while Sandals South Coast offers a beautiful and relaxing environment, the transportation aspect needs serious improvement. It’s important for the resort to ensure safer and more reliable travel conditions for their guests. Until then, we would hesitate to recommend this destination to others.

Recently visited Sandals Barbados. The good things - beautiful tropical gardens, immaculate and full of birds including humming birds and even some monkeys. Lovely beach although the sea can be quite rough at times. Nice room with good service. Some good restaurants and cafes.Nice choice of swimming pools and bars. The not so good - several restaurants inconsistent, some good some poor. eg Bombay Indian restaurant, service terrible. Only go there if you think one hour between each course is acceptable and food average at best. However the main issue is having to book most restaurants in advance.They will typically turn you away even if 90% empty if you haven't booked. We stayed for one week and only on the penultimate day did we find out how to book restaurants at the so called 'Culinary Centre' which turned out to be a woman at a small portable desk in one of the pool bar areas (of which there are many) and she's only there for certain hours.The reception staff were particularly unhelpful in directions on where to find this desk and when it opened. Sandals really need to sort this out. We met one party of Americans who had given up and were regularly having dinner outside the resort and another family who had previously stayed at Sandals but now use a different hotel for this very reason. The swimming pool entertainment was a bit 'Benidorm'. The outdoor stage entertainment seemed to mainly involve the master of ceremonies continually shouting and screaming in a faux American accent, either drowning out the musicians or encouraging Americans couples to talk about their sex lives while the audience of similar nationality whooped and screamed in appreciation. All quite naff and generally best avoided. In summary, nice gardens, generally nice staff, nice beach and warm sea, nice pools but some restaurants iffy and difficult to book. Entertainment poor.

Sandals Negril We first visited Sandals at Royal Plantation Jamaica in 2022 we had such a fantastic experience that we returned in Jan 2023 and again thoroughly enjoyed it. As a result of these two experiences, we decided to return again to Sandals. This time we picked Sandals Negril as it was recommended by our travel agent. We looked at the website and were impressed by what we saw so we booked our holiday. I wrongly assumed that we would have butler service at the hotel but this is something that we didn’t check so it was our fault that we didn’t have it. When we arrived at the resort, we had a very brief meeting with a Concierge and then we went to the room. The room was very nice and the view excellent. There was a letter in our room stating that there would be a meeting with our Concierge at 11am the following day to find out everything about the resort. The first thing that we noticed was the sink in the bathroom was cracked right down the centre – not something that you would expect at this level. Going down for our evening meal some of the lights on the stairs were out and as the steps were dark which we felt was dangerous. I reported this to reception, but nothing happened. The following day we went for our meeting with the Concierge but they were ‘surprised’ to see us. There was no-one else there and when we were asked what we had seen so far we told them that we had walked from one end of the resort to the other, they said they didn’t need to show us anything else then. During the following days we saw quite a few people being shown round the resort – a luxury we weren’t offered. The resort itself was very well kept and most of our dining experiences were good. The Brava restaurant was excellent and the Sundowner, Kimonos and Barefoot restaurants were very good as well. Perla was good for lunch or an afternoon snack and Bella Napoli was excellent for Pizzas. The main restaurant, Bayside, was hit and miss at breakfast as sometimes the food containers were empty and there was a queue for eggs due to there being only one person serving. There wasn’t a huge selection of lunchtime food and again sometimes the containers were empty. Evening meal was good. One issue that we thought was very bad was the sunbeds. There were a lot of beds on the beach but the majority of the sheltered beds were covered in towels from early morning until late afternoon. People were putting the towels on and not using them for most of the day, some were not used at all. The small pool by the piano bar was almost impossible to get a sunbed as they had towels on all day. The shaded sunbeds around the main pool were accessible most of the time but being in our seventies the music was far too loud for us. To finish, I have to say, that the majority of the staff were extremely helpful and pleasant and I hope that you accept our views on the good and bad points of the resort. As I have said we are both in our seventies but that did not stop us enjoying the Royal Plantation and Ochi Rios resorts – we just felt that Sandals Negril did not live up to the Sandals reputation and did not give us good value for the money that we paid.

While I cherished the time spent with my family at the Sandals resort, I must admit that it fell short of our expectations when compared to other resorts we have previously visited, especially considering the higher cost. Let me share the positives first: the resort itself is visually stunning and well-maintained, and the majority of the staff members were friendly and accommodating. The 24/7 access to the pool was a convenient feature, and we felt safe and at ease while strolling along the connected 7-mile beach. Additionally, the food served was fresh and delicious. However, there were a few downsides to our experience. It was quite peculiar that the only available dinner option for those without reservations at the other restaurants was French cuisine, which felt out of place in Jamaica. Unfortunately, there was no buffet option for dinner at the Sandals Negril location. On several occasions, we were disappointed to find that popular cocktails like Bob Marley and Ziggy Marley were unavailable, which was particularly disheartening since not all of us are avid drinkers. When I mention "big drinkers," I simply mean enjoying two cocktails in succession. Furthermore, my son and his new wife were celebrating their honeymoon, but they had to request the perks that were supposed to be included with their room. Additionally, my aunt, who has a mobility impairment and cannot climb stairs, was assigned a room on the third floor with no elevator access. The entertainment provided at the resort was below par compared to other Jamaican resorts we have visited. One evening, the entertainment manager excessively spoke during a show, and it was evident that some guests were even dozing off. In our group of 14 family members, none of us have plans to return to the Negril location. Lastly, we were required to vacate our room at 6 am with no breakfast, six hours before our scheduled flight departure to the airport, even though the journey was only a 1 hour and 5-minute drive. The resort staff informed us that if we desired a later shuttle, we would need to sign a document acknowledging that the resort would not be held responsible if we missed our flight. To sum up, although the presence of my family made the Sandals resort enjoyable, we found it to be overrated in comparison to other resorts we have stayed at in the past, particularly considering the cost. The resort's beauty and maintenance, friendly staff, 24/7 pool access, and safe beach were positives. However, the limited dinner options, cocktail shortages, challenges with honeymoon perks and room assignments, lackluster entertainment, and overall experience have led us to decide against returning to the Negril location.

Just got back from Sandals Montego Bay. Before I get going, we've been to only one other Sandals and that was the Royal Bahamian in the Bahamas. That resort was fabulous. don't be in a hurry, you need to be on Island time. Money well spent. Service, food selection during all times of the day. Private Island was very nice with the 5 min ride to it form the main resort. Sandals Montego Bay was a little bit of a disappointment. Pretty much for lunch you eat on the beach or at the pool. Hamberger's, Hotdogs, Pizza and Jerk Patties. They do have a lunch buffet, but frankly, for me Golden Corral has a better selection. I could stand at the bar for 10 minutes and not get helped. The pool bar didn't even have a wine opener for the wine. With a stir spoon they would push it down into the bottles. Butches didn't offer T-bones or ribeye's but did offer a surf and turf with a filet, but not lobster, it was shrimp. we ate at all the restaurants except Soy. None of them knock your socks off. But maybe that's just me. Bars are centrally located for convenience. Pools were smaller than expected. We made reservations for the next two years, but after reviewing the cost for return. We cancelled both reservations. yeah, you lose your deposit. So, if you're not sure about booking the next one at the resort. the discounts aren't bad for booking at the resort and you do earn loyalty points. But, we had about 4500 points from our last stay = $125 So, there you go. The way I look at it, paying over a thousand dollars a day just didn't add up for us. We can go to many nice hotels and resorts in the US for less than $500 a night. That leaves you with $700 or so dollars left (per day) over for food, drinks and excursions. You should have plenty left over. Anyway, as it turns out it's just not cost effective for the return on investment we paid. Yeah, I lost my deposits (ie $500) and I didn't even get flowers. :0) They are trying to make it special, but they lost us in Montego Bay. Good luck to you out there vacationing. :0)

This is regarding Grand St. Lucian. There were four of us on this trip. We travel twice a year and typically stay at resorts like Sandals. The other couple has stayed at Sandals repeatedly and I speak for them in saying this trip was disappointing. They are reconsidering future trips with Sandals. Overall at St. Lucian we all got the impression that service staff are extremely friendly but either don’t like or disrespect tourists behind their backs, playing some weird game, or simply have no capacity to remember orders. Either way it is an unsettling experience which begs the question of whether St. Lucia is a safe island? On a very positive note, two employees stood out. The hospitality director, a young lady, was super helpful. Beyond the call of duty. And one of the concierges diligently bailed us out of a mishap with our return travel to the airport. We weren’t on the list for some reason. He hustled to get us on a bus and we thank him greatly for that!

WE ARE VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH OUR TRIP IN DEC TO SANDALS GRAND IN ST LUCIA NO COFFEE FOR 3 DAYS IN ROOM COFFEE MACINE DIDNT WLORK COULD NOT GET IN OR OUT OF SAFE FOOD WAS JUST SO SO DIDNT CHANG OUR SHEETS ALL WEEK WERE TOLD WE HAD TO ASK TO HAVE THEM CHANGED SERVICE WAS SO SO ONLY GOOD PART WAS HUBBYS CELEBRATION FOR HIS BIRTHDAY WE HAVE BEEN THERE 12 TIMES AND NOT THE SANDALS WE LOVE AND KNOW WILL NOT BE GOING BACK SANDALS YOU HAVE LOST A GREAT CUSTOMER