It was an o.k. holiday Barbados the country is lovely but not Crystal
Cove it has great resaurants and bars out of the hotel so we spent most of our time away from the 'dump'. It has thousands of crabs too.
EWWWW!!

I hate anythink like that its horrid they are everywhere at night and
they tap on your windows. It makes me cringe! We looked around Sandy Lane hotel and also Hilton they seem nice. So go to something like that. It is a disgrace to a beautiful country

I stayed at the Crystal Cove hotel for one week last summer. The view and accommodations were adequate, but the service was abysmal. While dining at Reflections restaurant, it often took the wait staff over 30 minutes to return with drink orders. The one time I ordered room service it took more than two hours to arrive. When I called to check on it and complain, the staff didn't seem to think that two hours was a particularly long time to wait for room service. Also, the jet ski "entrepreneurs" offered drugs to my grandmother. They were constantly trying to sell you everything from aloe vera to illegal drugs. They made sexually suggestive comments to myself and my mother, and the hotel did nothing about it. I went water skiing one day, which consisted of 10 minutes of skiing without any lesson. The boat driver dropped me off in the water and then began dragging me behind the boat while yelling at me to stand up. He got very frustrated when I was unable to do so, and after my ten minutes were up, I was promptly dropped off at the beach and told that I should stand up next time. I have never stayed at another hotel with so much disregard for the comfort of the guests. I would never stay at Crystal Cove again.

All in all my wife and I had a great time at the Crystal Cove mainly due to the fantastic group of people we met who were staying there. Please don't misunderstand me the hotel accomodation, location, restaurant etc were great but the general standard of service was lacking and one often wondered who was on holiday the guests or the staff. The so called Cave Bar was an abysmal place to have a relaxing drink with friends and we were therefore forced to sit around the pool in the evening for a drink, this was a very pleasant environment the problem being the cushions were not changed and chairs not cleaned from the day useage to the evening, therefore you were sitting in nice cloths on oily, greasy, sticky cushions and chairs. All drinks were obtained from the bar, there was no drinks service to the pool area, staff basically stood around talking to each other and took far too long to clear dirty glasses from the tables, the bar staff were not properly trained in cocktail mixing or presentation which meant each cocktail you had seemed to be a slightly different version of the first. I also agree with other comments made regarding Jet Ski sellers on the beach and in shallow water flying up and down just offshore, this made swimming in the sea a rather dangerous experience at this hotel and certainly not recommended for children. In summary - Did we enjoy this vacation? = Yes, Would we return to Barbados? = Yes, would we return to the Crystal Cove? = Probably not, Main Reason = I believe there are other
hotels offering better value for money, which are better managed and more focused on customer service and comfort. For the money we paid it did not achieve our expectations.

I was going to write a review shortly after I stayed but observed that most of what I had to say had been covered. Today, I read a posting from another reviewer saying ignore the negative comments from other reviewers and I felt I had a duty to say something. Crystal Cove is indeed an idyllic, mostly well-run paradise but there is a real problem with the jet-ski vendors, It is not simply that they are rude and annoying. I am a New Yorker and am used to rude and annoying. The vendors consitute a safety hazard. They view the hotel's beach as their place of business (all beaches in Barbados are public), speed into and off the beach and pressure all who use it into becoming their clients. If you refuse, some of them will buzz you with their jetskis and splash you. If they err and you get hurt they are teenagers with no insurance and you will have no recourse.

If the hotel wasn't nice, I wouldn't bother to write this but it is a nice hotel that tries hard in a lot of little ways to please. I am hoping they can get local government to do something about this problem if enough tourists complain. If you decide to book, mention the jetski vendors.and ask what the hotel is doing about the situation.