We attended a family wedding here from November 8 to 11. The resort is very attractive and well maintained. When we arrived we and the group we were with were herded into the lobby for check in. Our room was not ready so we went for lunch at Spices. The meal was just okay. My wife is not big on Spicy food and she barely ate anything. We returned to the lobby at the appointed time and were informed that the previous guest was late checking out and our room was still not available. Finally at 4:30 we got into our room, this did not give a very good first impression of the resort. We had a villa room which was large and had a private patio the bathroom was clean but showing its age the tub surround needs to be replaced with new tiles.

After a day of traveling I wanted to go for a swim, I went to the pool and found that it was empty as the water was cold, even the hot tub by the beach was only warm. We were disappointed that at a "luxury resort" the pools were not heated, even the small ones were like ice. The only way to go into the pool was find the hottest hot tub get boiling and then go into the pool to cool down.

The staff at the resort were very friendly and helpful and made the stay pleasant if they were not so friendly this vacation would have been a disaster.

The beach is well maintained but only extends to the front of the Hotel, forget about going for long walks on the beach. If the beach and ocean are what you are looking for then don't go here.

The resort did an excellent job organizing the wedding which was on the beach. The minister was very friendly and put everyone at ease. The photographers were very good and took great pictures.

Meals were just average other than for the wedding dinners which were an extra charge.

Breakfasts at Spices had a good selection of eggs, pancakes, cereal and fruit but nothing extraordinary.

Dinner at the Crystal room was average resort type meals. The Prime Rib was tasty but not outstanding, the Scallops were served cool and the Grouper had a strong fishy flavour. Some people at our table sent it back and changed to the prime rib.

The big draw at Sandals seems to be the drinks. If your main objective is to have lots of booze this a good place to go. We don't drink a huge amount so we felt that we were subsidizing those that drank from the time they arrived until they left.

All in all the resort is good not great and given the price I think that you are overcharged and that there are better deals available

Our first Sandals visit and we generally thought it was a good hotel. Nice welcome and really excellent position overlooking the amazing turquoise sea. Good clean room and decent size. The food was very good most days&nights but we noticed that the earlier you ate, the better the food. Gym was good and great view! Staff overall were very attentive and kind. The hotel could do with some money spent on it to make it into a true 5 star experience, but we still had a fabulous break.

We stayed at the Royal from Nov 4th - 13th 2012. We had a wonderful time at the hotel overall. Service for the most part was fantastic and the people were Incredible. I'll break our review down into different areas to make it easier to read.

ROOM:
We had a Windsor Oceanview room with the concierge. Room #1522 was spacious and comfy and had an amazing view of the ocean. The room was cleaned daily and the bar was always freshly stocked. We had turndown service every night and ate breakfast in bed on a couple of occasions. There was a safe in the room and everything in the room worked well including the A/C.

FOOD:
We booked all of our reservations at the restaurants on the day of our arrival and had reservations for every night we stayed there. Food at all the restaurants was great. We found Gordon's on the pier to be AMAZING!!! We've been to quite a few all inclusives between the two of us and Gordon's was the best ever for us. The steak and lobster were amazing, my wife had been in Las Vegas a couple of weeks before and had eaten a Wolfgang Pucks place there and she felt the steak was way better at Gordon's so our compliments to the staff there! Besides Gordon's we really enjoyed Baccarat. The pizza was also great at the pizzeria and the ladies went out of their way to accommodate my special request for anchovies.

DIVING:
This was primarily a diving trip for my wife and I as the diving is somewhat included in the price. I say somewhat because the shark dive, blue hole and night dives are extra money. The diving in the Bahamas was simply fantastic. This was our first time diving on wrecks and the variety of the dives were great and there was lots of interesting things to see including boats, barges and airplanes. We primarily went for the shark dive which we did with Sandals and also did a more ramped up shark dive with Stuart's Cove off the resort. Both dives were GREAT, Stuart's cove was just another notch higher as they fed them and brought the sharks right to you. Both my wife and I were bumped by the sharks several times and watched out handler fighting with the sharks. All in all a really cool dive. We did want to give a special shout out to RAMON and WENZEL at the dive shop at Sandals. These guys were really great and went out of their way to help make out diving and amazing experience, thanks very much guys!

ENTERTAINMENT:
The entertainment during the day was a lot of fun. KENDAL, BULLET, ELAN, PO-PO and all the rest of the entertainment crew were Incredible! These guys really tried hardto make it a good time for everyone. Unfortunately for them their efforts mostly fell on deaf ears. I understand everyone has their own level of fun and excitement, not everyone wants to party the night away on vacation. That being said, I have never seen a more boring group of guests anywhere. No one seems the least bit inclined to have fun, people basically totally ignored the entertainment crew and other then a few people no one would even cheer on people involved in some of the games. Give the entertainment crew their due though, they didn't give up or let the apathy of the guests get them down. This brings us and to what was our one big let down about this resort:The nightlife.

NIGHTLIFE:
Where to start, everything up to about 10 or 11pm wasn't too bad as there were shows put on by the staff which were great. But as soon as the shows were over there's was a mass exodus out the doors. I mean it was unreal, the was a DJ starting up in the same building same room and people couldn't get out of there fast enough. I've never experienced a more boring nightlife then at this resort. EVER. In addition the demeanor of PRESCOTT, the bartender in the Royal Theatre, was insulting. This man never smiled once and was consistently rude to patrons. I don't often call someone out over the way they act but this guy was miserable. I mean why are you even there? You made it perfectly clear you didn't like the guests and that serving drinks was a chore. Maybe it's time for a career change? Every night, and we were there for 10 of them, 95% of the people seemed to have gone to bed by 11:00pm. I'm not talking just the old folks, but most of the 30-40 crowd were down for the count as well. We tend to make our own fun anyways but it's really a downer when it's like 12:00 and there's like 0 people out and about. By the way I'm not exaggerating that either lol. Oh well at least it made us get up earlier for diving!

OVERALL:
Great resort! As I've already said entertainment staff are great fun and extremely talented. Diving was amazing. Staff and hotel are super nice and the food is delicious. We had a great time and would definitely return to the Bahamas sometime. The people in the Bahamas are great and it's a lovely country. We might return here, but the nightlife would definitely have to improve. In the mean time there's other places to check off our bucket list so safe travels to you all.

Like many others this is a mixed review.

Lets start with the positive reviews.....

We had paid for for the Butler service at the Royal Village. We were picked up from the airport in a vintage Rolls Royce and the driver was extremely knowledgeable about the Island, especially James Bond!

When we arrived we were offered an upgrade to the Windsor Building with a terrace overlooking the entertainment pool. However, this was our 'WeddingMoon' and we wanted a quiet relaxing holiday and so declined and went along with our original choice in the royal village area. We were pleased we did as we had a small pool right outside our suite and were mostly alone everyday there.

Our Butler team, Reynard, Corey and Diana were fantastic unlike a previous reviewers opinion on theirs. Although it isnt a 'personal' service, whenever we wanted or needed anything it was brought for us. maybe not in seconds but as the 'Bahaminan' way within half an hour. Every morning not only were our seats reserved with towels and 'towel art' we had a cooler brought to us with beers, sodas and water which was topped up throughout the day, we were also bought snacks, nachos, cheese and crackers and fruit and a plate left in the room for the evening along with a bubble and rose bud bath (twice!!) and amazing towel art every night.

We had asked for several premium brands of spirits in our room which we got!

The Buitlers organised the entire 10 days reservations and we did change these around and asked for different times, all of this was done.

We did not use the Butlers for our every whim although we did see one chap being run ragged by a group of visitors on the beach fetching drinks every few minutes!

The food in all the restaurants was excellent with the exception of Gordons ( which had been reloated to the Royal Cafe due to Hurricane damage). We asked for a table at 9.30 and we were the only guests in there. Baccarat was definatly the best restuarant also for breakfast which was a welcome change from the mainly chaoitic service in Spices! The Crystal Room runs a close second and the Alaskan Spider Crab legs are just simply amazing!

We got married on our third day at the Resort and chose the Garden Gazebo which was more private ( and less windy) than the beach locations. We opted for the Beautiful Beginnings which was free and it was fantastic, there was no need to upgrade as everything was perfect. Our photograher, Kamone was brilliant and athough we did not purchase a pre-paid package and just chose a few of the hundreds she had taken we were not given any hard sell at all to buy more. Overall, we would not have changed a thing about that day.

The Firepits are a great place to be sociable in the evenings, we met lots of people and every evening was different. However there is not much to do at night, does everyone go to bed early? one evening we were alone in the Cricketers at 11pm!!

The gym is excellent with fantastic views from the treadmills to the island. The equipment is modern with lots of machines, free weights etc, it was never busy when we went there, this may have something to do with how early we got there!

The Cricketers pub does decent snacks and the service is really good even when busy. You should really consider putting on a Traditional English Sunday Roast there it would give the pub a more traditional English feel!

On our last day we asked the Butler to arrange a late checkout which we got for no extra cost. We had a private transfer to the airport in a new 4 x 4 and surprisingly got upgraded to the First Class Lounge on arrival (I dont think this had anything to do with Sandals as we flew Premier Economy both ways).

The not so positive reviews of the Resort......It was smaller than we thought it would be (however this could also be a positive thing too), the Piano Bar does smell strangely and there was a definate whiff of sewage on the beach depending on the wind direction! The Resort really does need an update to make you feel you are in a 5* resort and not one that was 5* years ago.

Spices for breakfast was always chaotic. The buffet was limited and pot luck! Somedays there were no glasses for the juice or spoons for cereals. When asking for tea be prepared not to get it even when asking several times and when it does arrive you get a large pot of hot water and one teabag! Baccarat is a better option and less busy. Lunchtime is better at Spices with more choice of food and more attentive waiters with drinks. We tried the Pizzaria and the Royal Cafe for burgers but neither were that great (unless you like to eat fast food).

The rooms in the Royal Village need some overhauling as they were dated.The accommodation (especially the bathrooms) could do with being a lot bigger, however, it would be difficult to do this without either losing some of the smaller rooms or adding onto the buildings. We have been to other resorts in the Caribbean (not Sandals) and these had better standard accommodation.

There is not enough attention to detail, the little things that we all appreciate. The mini bar was topped up every day but after the first bottle of bubby was drunk this was not replaced, neither was the wine. The toiletries in the bathroom were not topped up at all, I left a note for the maid on 2 days to ask for more which we got but we were left with no shampoo for the last 2 days of our holidat despite asking the evening maid who said she would have to go and get some. A few days we did not get enough towels and resorted in using the pool towels.

We did go to the 'Back Soon' desk as we were tempted by the 65% discount. We would have definatly booked another holiday with Sandals if we had been 'wowed' by this vacation. However, like other reviewers we have been to 5* hotels in the Middle and Far East and the service at Sandals is not up to what we would consider to be 5* especially for the prices that Sandals charge.

However, overall we had a lovely time but we are unlikely to return. :(