This Sandals Royal Barbados travel recap post is sponsored by Sandals. As always, all opinions are my own 🙂
My husband and I visited Sandals in Barbados in mid-September for 3 days. We came back relaxed, rejuvenated and really wanting to back again soon! In this post, I’m going to share with you all about where we stayed, what we did, and most importantly what we ate. After all, it was an all-inclusive resort, so you know we ate well!
Sandals Royal Barbados is a quick 15 minutes from the airport. And the resort takes care of the transit to and from – all included 🙂
Where we stayed
There are two Sandals Resorts in Barbados right next to each other. We stayed at the Royal property, which is all-new and all-suites in the St. Lawrence Gap area. It’s an adult-only resort in Barbados with all types of suites like Swim-up Suites that literally have a small private pool attached to the patio.
While we were on property, we got to enjoy Butler Elite service with a cell phone to call our butler anytime we needed anything, like anything! Mostly in the beginning we just needed our Butler to help us find where we were going because of how large the property is!
We were in the Royal Seaside Crystal Lagoon Penthouse Butler Suite. We loved how spacious it was. We had a king size bed, Smart TV, fully stocked bar with a separate living room area (and a second Smart TV!) The bathroom had a spa-like feel to it, and the tranquility soaking bathtub made me swoon!
We even enjoyed exclusive exchange privileges with the nearby Sandals Barbados. We loved that because it opened it up to more property and more restaurants to enjoy!
Sandals Royal Barbados has almost 300 suites on this property. But there’s something about the way it’s laid out and the size of the property that made us feel like it was so tranquil and peaceful – almost like we were alone in an exclusive place.
The property was so cute to walk around. I mean it was literally all studded with local Caribbean flowers and turquoise buildings.
The buildings were full of shopping, cute stores, a 15,000 square ft spa and a fitness center – where I started two of my mornings…not too shabby for vacation!
My favorite part of the Sandals Royal Barbados property is one of the 31 pools on the property, which is the zero-entry glass infinity pool on the rooftop! It literally overlooks the ocean. It’s a perfect place to sunbathe, grab a drink and just relax with the incredible ocean views!
As beautiful as the Sky Terrace rooftop was during the daytime, it was even more stunning at sunset and in the evening.
The pool’s surrounding lounge area was our favorite place to watch the sun set and take in the breathtaking views.
And also just be silly 😉
What we did at Sandals Royal Barbados
Well, it’s fall in Michigan, so you can bet that we enjoyed the pool at Sandals as much as possible! The weather is perfect for swimming nearly all year long, so you can’t beat that relaxation with those views.
The ocean was also perfect this time of year filled with beautiful white sand and open for all-inclusive any kind of water sport you can think of! I mean seriously, there’s kayaks, canoes, boogie boards, snorkeling, paddle boarding, glass bottom boats, and even volleyball. We kept it chill with some kayaking 🙂
In the evenings, we enjoyed the live entertainment. I had a feeling it would be tacky, but it actually wasn’t! Because it’s an adult-only resort, the shows were catered to older people so they were funny, cutting-edge and all around entertaining!
And we even went bowling! Sandals has a modern and chic 4-lane bowling alley with an ultra hip cocktail lounge, where they have Karaoke on Wednesdays. And you know we definitely took part in that! We would never see any of those people again anyways haha!
But seriously, wherever you wander in the evening, it seems like there’s a party going on at Sandals Royal Barbados. There’s everything from piano bar live, talent night, cocktail parties, chocolate buffet parties and live bands on the regular! There’s really no way you can get bored on the property.
What we ate at Sandals Royal Barbados
All inclusive, all the time! And that includes world-class international cuisine at 18 restaurants, including unlimited breakfast and lunch buffets, in-room dining and customized menu offerings for any type of dietary preferences or restrictions.
During my trip to Sandals Royal Barbados, I met with the culinary concierge and talked about food for an hour. So yeah, we pretty much became bffs after that. But I learned so much about what it means to be a 5-Star Global Gourmet destination. I really gained an appreciation for how they cater to every palette and every preference.
When I heard this, I said, “well I’m not vegan, but I want to try the vegan menu for breakfast and lunch.” And I was wowed by chickpea pancakes, kale and strawberry salad and stuffed zucchini boats, to name a few dishes. These meals were so unique, modern and healthy. It really opened my eyes to the type of customization, service and creativity that was available at Sandals!
But I still wondered…what makes this Sandals Royal Barbados a 5-Star Global Gourmet dining experience. And it was really all about their 6 pillars that they uphold throughout the resort.
- Variety
- Authenticity
- Quality
- Value
- Consistency
- Modernization
The one I was most impressed by was authenticity. The sous chefs on property were generally cooking their native cuisines. The chef at Soy is actually a fisherman from Japan. The chef at Bombay Club used to live in India and cooks dishes authentically from this home town.
And the chef at Chi Asian is a trained chef from Malaysia. He brings street food type of dishes from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore in one menu. I had a chance to interview chef Nelson and watch him in action on the wok station. He said “good cooking is about passion”, and the best type of street food comes from the smoky flavor of cooking food at high temperatures really fast.
His favorite dishes are the Lo Mein and Pad Thai. So, we definitely ordered both of those (in addition to like half the menu because everything sounded so good when he described it to us!). I tasted the authenticity in the Asian fusion meal we had, and there truly was passion in the way he cooked!
Aside from the authentic Asian and Indian cuisines we had, we also dined at Butch’s Steakhouse and Seafood. We experienced their signature high quality seafood, some side dishes and shared a sweet dessert! Everything comes beautifully made with a luxury ambiance and outstanding service!
We also enjoyed the buffet options for breakfast. I usually keep it simple with oatmeal and coffee. But I couldn’t pass up the freshly squeezed orange juice!
The very trendy and modern American Tavern also offers a buffet for lunch that changes daily to feature different themes. There is literally something here for everyone. And usually there are two different customized stations, for example, custom-order pasta station and custom order sandwich station.
And we can’t forget Sandals’ first gourmet donut shop! Yup, we ordered 5 donuts to share and taste. We did it from ‘gram!! And we did not regret it 🙂
It’s pretty impressive the amount of variety you can enjoy between the 7 restaurants at Sandals Royal Barbados, the 11 restaurants at the adjacent Sandals resort and all the buffet options available on the property. There’s basically a global team of master chefs just ready to indulge whatever cravings you’re having in whatever setting you’re looking for.
And speaking of settings, the best views were at the Parisienne French rooftop restaurant. We didn’t get a chance to have dinner there, but we enjoyed breakfast with views!
What we thought of Sandals Royal Barbados
We were so excited for our first visit to Barbados and to spend it at the exquisite Sandals Royal Barbados full of luxury rooms, great entertainment and global gourmet dining. This is such a great getaway for couples for a couple days to enjoy sunshine, ocean views and a care-free #5StarStay. Plus we stayed on Eastern time zone, so no jet lag there! Woot!
Check out my other travel guides:
I hope you consider a trip to Sandals someday. If you’ve visited Sandal Royal Barbados before or plan to visit, I’d love to hear about some of your favorite places or things! And if you snapped some shots of your trip and tried something I recommended, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!
Thank you Sandals for sponsoring my trip 🙂
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