I'm so excited to share a recap of our wonderful honeymoon! Ryan and I went to Barbados the week after our wedding for five nights. Neither of us had been to Barbados or stayed at a Sandals Resort before. We ended up really enjoying both the resort and the island, and I have the most fond memories from this special trip.
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Ryan and I initially didn't know where we wanted to honeymoon. We each made a list of 3-5 Caribbean islands and regions in Mexico that interested us. We knew we wanted an all-inclusive resort, but we were originally open to both Adults Only (meaning that groups of friends could travel here too, not just couples), or Couples Only resorts. All Sandals Resorts are Couples Only, so they definitely are attractive for honeymoons or anniversaries. Barbados actually wasn't on either of our lists originally as a destination!
We started working last winter with a wonderful travel agent, Briana Hughes of Vacations by Bri. I actually first found her on TikTok of all places! She is completely free to use (she works on commission). After finding out some info from us regarding our budget and trip preferences, she began recommending resorts. Bri originally recommended the Sandals properties in Antigua or Curacao to us. We loved how the beach looked in Antigua, and the newer rooms and pools in Curacao. I emailed her back and asked if there was any Sandals property that had a great beach like Antigua, but also newer pools and rooms like Curacao. That's when she suggested Sandals Royal Barbados!
There are two Sandals all-inclusive resorts in Barbados, and they are actually next-door to one another. If you are a guest at one, you get full resort privileges for the pool and restaurants at the other resort. So essentially you're getting to experience 2-for-1 when it comes to the resort! Ryan and I were sold. We decided to stay at Sandals Royal Barbados since it is the newer resort of the two.
It was a bit of a long haul to get to Barbados. There aren't a ton of US cities that fly here direct, so it's different from destinations like the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico in that regard. We ended up taking a later evening flight from Norfolk, VA to Miami, FL. We spent the night in an affordably priced TownePlace Suites by Marriott near the airport. (Side note: for a budget hotel it was wonderful!! Would highly recommend to anyone who needs budget lodging near the Miami airport.) We then headed back to the airport the next morning to fly from Miami to Barbados. Unfortunately our flight got pretty delayed for a maintenance issue on the plane, and once we were in the air it wasn't the most enjoyable flight due to the flight completely running out of snacks to purchase. But we finally made it! Sandals provides free shuttle service to and from the airport, so after clearing customs we went outside to the find the Sandals transportation booth. We had to wait a bit for the shuttle bus, but once we were on it was only a 15 minute drive to the two Sandals resorts.
Our room was a Club Level room at Sandals. Club Level has the mid-tier rooms. The highest caliber of luxury rooms at Sandals are Butler Rooms, where you have your own private butler who assists with every detail of your stay each day. There is a ginormous price different from staying in a Club Level room to a Butler Room, and we have no regrets for going Club Level and saving a ton of money on our trip. Club Level rooms still have access to their own private concierge lounge, and that's where check-ins take place! We were greeted with delicious passionfruit mimosas while we checked in.
We then got to head over to our room. We stayed in the
South Seas Swim-up Club Level room, and we loved it! It was a bit more expensive to do a swim-up room vs. one on a higher floor, but with it being our honeymoon we were so glad that we splurged! We definitely got our money's worth out of getting to swim just steps away from our balcony/terrace area. We would swim in this pool multiple times a day, and especially at night (
when the main pools at Sandals were closed)! We found our room to be very spacious. All Sandals rooms also include well-stocked mini bars, and all the alcohol is included for your to enjoy since it's an all-inclusive property. The only two (
minor) complaints I had about our room: there were no snacks in the mini bar (just beverages), and while the website description for this room says that the TVs are Smart TVs... the one in our room appeared to be just a regular TV. If it was a Smart TV, we couldn't figure it out!
I absolutely loved the resort grounds. Sandals clearly takes a lot of pride in the landscaping and grounds care for their resorts. Whenever we'd walk around, it often felt like like were walking through a tropical botanical garden, thanks to all of the beautiful plants and flowers growing on the resort! Both Sandals Royal Barbados and Sandals Barbados have stunning grounds. It is also so easy to walk between the two resorts! It really all feels like one massive resort complex, rather than two separate ones.
Something unique about Sandals Royal Barbados is that it's home to the only rooftop restaurant, pool and bar at any Sandals resort! The highlight of the entire trip for me was checking out the beautiful views from the rooftop at sunset. Another unique thing about Sandals Royal Barbados is that it's currently home to the only Sandals bowling alley.
The beach and pools were both such highlights for us. Both Sandals properties are located in the southern part of Barbados, on a lovely stretch of beach. All beaches are technically public in Barbados, but the beach that these resorts are on is fairly secluded. The ocean is very swimmable and beautiful, and the sand is so soft and white. There are also so many great pools between the two resorts! I think my favorite was the main infinity pool at Sandals Royal Barbados, but we enjoyed pools between both resorts, and would try different ones each day. Most of the pools also have bars alongside them, so it's very easy to keep enjoying cocktails while swimming and lounging out!
The only downside of the beach and pools is that it can be tough to find good chair spots. We would wake up quite early and be at our desired beach spot or pool spot for the day to try to reserve chairs before 8am. A friend who had been multiple Sandals properties before encouraged us to bring
beach towel clips, and I'm so glad we did! Most days we could find a spot at the place we wanted if we were out there early enough to reserve (only one day we weren't able to get beach chairs or chairs at the pool we wanted, and we had to do a different pool). If you do pay extra for a Butler Room at Sandals, your personal butler will take care of reserving your chairs for you each day. But for the amount of money we saved to do a Club Level room, I didn't mind going out early to try and reserve our own spots!
There are over 20+ dining options between both of the Sandals resorts in Barbados. And since the resorts are next-door to each other, all guests can enjoy dining between both properties! Ryan and I both agreed that we found the food at Sandals to be good, but not great. Hopefully that makes sense? We didn't really have any bad meals that we hated. But there also weren't any meals that were so incredibly good that we had to have it a second time either. I hope that makes sense?! We were pleased enough with the meals, but both agreed we have had better food on other trips we have taken together.
There were a few restaurants serving breakfast with a menu, but we always opted to do one of the breakfast buffets. We did find lunch options to be a bit lacking between the two resorts. I wish there had been a lunch buffet, similar to breakfast! Our two favorite lunch spots were Neptunes (Mediterranean inspired) and Dinos (poolside pizzeria). We tried different dinner restaurants every night. Our favorites were the two Butch's Steakhouse restaurants (there's one at each Sandals property). Those are two of the more upscale restaurants, and everything we tried at both Butch's locations was great. I also really enjoyed our dinner at the French restaurant La Parisienne, which surprised me since I can be quite picky when it comes to French food.
We left our resort twice for excursions during our stay. We booked both of them through the excursions desk at Sandals. They offered all sorts of of excursions for guests to book for an additional fee. Everything from snorkeling trips to visiting rum distilleries to touring historical sites, and so much more! The first excursion we did was a three-hour private guided tour of the west side of the island with a taxi driver. Our driver was really nice, and he customized our itinerary based on things we were interested in! We wanted to see more beaches beyond our resort, do a little souvenir shopping in the capital city of Bridgetown, see Rihanna's childhood home, and visit a Starbucks so I could purchase a Barbados mug for my Starbucks mug collection. 😊 We got to do all of those things and more! Three hours felt like a great amount of time for an island tour like this.
One the last full day of our honeymoon, we went golfing at Barbados Country Club! Sandals offers a golf excursion on weekdays that provides shuttle service a nearby golf course. We got paired up for golf with another couple on their honeymoon, which worked out so well.
The other fun thing I did during our stay that was an extra cost was getting a massage at the spa. The spa at Sandals Royal Barbados is absolutely stunning! As beautiful as the resort was, I think the spa is 100% the prettiest place on the grounds. I always love treating myself to a spa treatment of some sort when traveling, and I'm so glad I did on the honeymoon. (I would've loved to do a couples massage!! But Ryan isn't a big spa guy.)
We are so glad that we spent our honeymoon at Sandals Royal Barbados! We absolutely loved our swim-up room, and loved the beach and pools all over the resort. We also loved getting to see some of Barbados beyond the resort. We loved how many dining options there were, and the views from the rooftop bar! The whole concept of a Sandals couples only all-inclusive is truly so romantic and perfect for a honeymoon.
There were a few negatives with our stay, although they were so minor in the scheme of things. The resort did seem to have some sort of a towel shortage while we were there? The pools and beach would frequently run out of towels during the day, and our housekeeper also forget to bring us new bath towels in the room the majority of days we were there. It just seemed odd for a resort as nice as Sandals to have problems with access to clean towels. Ryan and I also wished that the TV in our room was a smart TV, so we could've enjoyed Netflix or other streaming services. (The room listing online for our room said it had a Smart TV, but I swear it was just a regular TV!) My last complaint is that the in-room mini bar only had drinks, and no snacks! While all of your main meals are included at Sandals, snacks are not. (You can purchase snacks in the resort shop, but they aren't cheap.)
We loved our Sandals honeymoon so much, but I think we might try all-inclusive resorts from other brands the next time we do a warm weather trip. Sandals Resorts are
not cheap, and I do think better all-inclusive deals can be found with other resort chains. (Such as Royalton Resorts,
where I stayed with my dad in 2023!) But that's not to say we will never try another Sandals! I'm sure we will someday down the road, maybe for a notable anniversary.
Our phenomenal travel agent for our honeymoon was
Bri from Vacations by Bri! I can't recommend her enough! She's the one who put Barbados and this resort on our radar. 😊 Bri books for all sorts of Caribbean resorts (not just Sandals). We will definitely use her again for a future warm-weather trip! She is totally free to use as well.
Past Caribbean Travel Posts:
God Bless,
xoxo Annaliese
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