Summary: My husband and I just returned from a beautiful 8-night stay (July 20-28) at Sandals Emerald Bay. We had an absolutely wonderful time and are looking forward to returning in 2025 after the renovations have been completed! We loved getting to explore Exuma after having been to Jamaica 4 times (Secrets St. James and Sandals Montego Bay in 2015, Couples Swept Away in 2019, 2020, and 2021, and Couples Tower Isle in 2021). Having been to other resorts, including a different Sandals, we were excited to get to check out a new island and the unique style of Sandals Emerald Bay. Overall, we greatly enjoyed our trip! DETAILS: Check-In: Upon check-in, we were greeted by staff offering us cool towels and then they lead us to the Club Sandals Lounge for cocktails and check-in. We were given a quick orientation and then released to enjoy the resort while we waited for our room to be ready. Room: We stayed in an OL room. We arrived early and our room wasn't ready until the check-in time at 3:00 so we lounged around until then. Our first room was in building 6, 6207. We immediately noticed that the view was a sad excuse for an "ocean view" (see photo). We went to the receptionist to ask to be moved but they didn't have a room available for that night but the next day we moved to 1207 and the view was MUCH better. The room was clean and comfortable. In hindsight, we probably should have requested a mattress topper for the bed but it was comfortable enough without it. There was some staining in the corners and such just from the harshness of the tropical climate and there were dust bunnies under the bed because they clearly don't vacuum under it. The mini bar was fine, but we never felt a need to use it. The fridge was almost always stocked with water/beer/soda, there was only one day when it didn't get restocked. Housekeeping was also consistent, as was the nightly turn-down service. Our patio was comfortable and we appreciated the little drying rack they provided for wet swimsuits. The air conditioning worked well. I only noticed one quick moment of a power-outage but the electricity returned almost immediately. The decor in the room was simple. Disclaimer: We spend very little time in our room other than breakfast/evening and we are not picky at all when it comes to luxury features in a room, so if you are the type of person who is very particular about your room... take my opinion with a grain of salt. TIP: Request a room on the third floor. The floors/ceilings are thin and you can hear a lot of the movement in the room above you. Grounds: The grounds are absolutely beautiful. All of the landscaping staff are always working hard to keep everything looking pristine. Some of the buildings are in need of renovation, but nothing that really bothered us. It's a Caribbean climate so it's understandable that buildings get worn down a little more than normal. One complaint: the elevator in building 1 seems to be falling apart. There's a piece by where one of the doors opens that would come loose sometimes and the doors were grinding every time they opened/closed... we were always slightly concerned we'd end up stuck. - Around the resort, there are activities like croquet, shuffleboard, bocce ball, giant chess, connect 4, billiards, & ping pong. Beach: Unfortunately... for our ENTIRE 8-night stay, there were red flags every single day, so no water sports were allowed. The ocean was very rough and we were not able to enjoy it much. Both SEB repeating guests and the staff said that many consecutive days of rough seas was unusual. However, with the waves came a very pleasant breeze that kept the beach very cool and comfortable, especially in the shade. We were able to comfortably sit out and enjoy the view all day long. The waves brought in a lot of seaweed and trash every day. A couple of days we noticed that they'd raked and cleared it, but I don't think it happened every day. I understand that they can't control the weather or water currents... but they could put in a little more effort into keeping the beach clear. It seemed occupancy during our stay was fairly low, but we never had an issue finding a palapa on the beach, even as late as 9/10am. The best palapas like the ones close to the pool, not behind the hammocks, or overlooking a spot on the beach where the seaweed wasn't accumulating, were all snagged by about 7:30/8am... mostly by butlers. Main Pool: We didn't spend a ton of time around the pool, but it's very nice. There is plenty of seating everywhere. The cabanas are first-come-first-served and this is definitely a pool-centric resort, so those are snagged up early. There is always music around the pool, sometimes live music and sometimes with a DJ. They also facilitate plenty of activities around the pool during the day like games, dancing, trivia, BINGO, a foam party, etc. Overall, we found the pool to be too loud and busy for our liking so we spent most of our time on the beach. There are a couple of hot tubs, but they were never very hot. The pool was clean and well-maintained. The pool bar was comfortable. There are also a few little tables with umbrellas in the pool where you can stand and enjoy a drink or snack. There are a lot of seagulls that watch the pool so make sure you get rid of your food before you walk away from it or they'll swarm! Quiet Pool: Very enjoyable but warmer than the main pool, I believe because it's heated. There is also a separate hot tub that is not very popular so it's very quiet and private... it's also very hot. We enjoyed it, especially, in the evening. There is a bar outside of the pool where they serve just about everything the other bars serve, other than blended drinks in order to keep everything quiet. Entertainment: The afternoon activities always felt manufactured/forced to us, more like a cruise ship almost. Most evenings there was a show or the singer in the piano bar. We enjoyed the Cultural Explosion and the One Man Sax, the rest was just OK. Service: Overall, the service we received was just OK. We sometimes had to wait a bit to be served at the bar. Most of the employees seemed very reserved and quiet. They weren't as friendly as what we're used to in Jamaica, but they also weren't rude. Most employees would greet us and ask how we were doing as we walked around the resort. We noticed pretty consistently that butler level guests received more expeditious and friendly service in general. The best service we received came from Trayvon (spelling?) who was our server for our private candlelight dinner. He was super friendly, conscientious, and efficient. Drinks: The drinks were very delicious. We noticed that they were much sweeter than what we're used to at Couples resorts... I think they just use more syrup at Sandals. I started ordering drinks that didn't have syrup like Ranch Water, rum & coke, caribbean mule, etc. They did offer some higher shelf options, including 12-year Appleton Rum, so we often requested that. After the first couple times requesting it, bartenders often remembered and used it without us having to ask for it. I recommend you try ALL the signature drinks at the restaurants. Every single one we had was delicious, but my personal favorite was the Aphrodisiac at La Parisienne. Restaurant Ambience: We felt some of the decor/themes of the restaurants were slightly cheesy. The themes were very in-your-face and reminded us a bit of restaurants on a cruise ship. Il Cielo was always uncomfortably warm... maybe the A/C was out. Food: All of our food was at least good, some was very good, not much was great. We definitely found the food at Couples resorts to be higher quality and just better overall. That being said... we never had a bad meal at SEB. - For breakfast: We typically ate breakfast at the buffet. We enjoyed room service a couple of times, but most of the time we didn't want to have to wait for it to be delivered. I'm not sure if there was a way to schedule a room service delivery the night before... we never tried, but we definitely should have. We ate breakfast at the a la carte option, Il Cielo, one morning. However, it took a long time and we felt the options at the buffet were perfectly fine. I did enjoy the steak and eggs that I ordered at Il Cielo, but it wasn't worth the amount of time it took. The breakfast buffet food was OK. If you're planning on ordering eggs off the menu, order as soon as you're seated... they take a while to be delivered. The buffet usually had pancakes, french toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and then other items that rotated like baked beans, escovitch fish, etc. There was also cereal, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, smoked fish, breads, pastries, etc. The food usually didn't seem particularly fresh, but it was decent enough. - For lunch: We often rotated between the pizzeria, jerk shack, and Barefoot. I got the fish tacos and quesadilla from Barefoot and wasn't impressed by either. My husband loved their burgers and usually ordered them with two patties, though one time they forgot the second patty. I loved the greek salad. Also, one day we were lucky enough to have the "bread lady" on resort and she was set up right outside of barefoot so we stopped and grabbed a piece of everything she had to offer... it was SOOOOO good. Other than that, the pizzeria was always good and my husband loved the hellfire sauce they offered at the Jerk Shack. I'm a wimp for spicy and usually found the chicken to be too spicy, but I still enjoyed it. The festival is also delicious. - For dinner: Our favorite restaurant was probably Barefoot by the Sea and we both greatly enjoyed both our appetizer and entree. I ordered the Seafood Rillettes as an appetizer and the Caribbean Grouper as my entree, my husband ordered the Fish & Seafood Ceviche as an appetizer and the Shrimp Surf & Turf for his entree, all of it was very good. My husband ordered the "rum cake" for dessert and it was definitely nothing like rum cake. haha We also enjoyed Il Cielo. My appetizer there was disappointing... it was supposed to be Caprese, but they used romaine lettuce instead of the arugula that was listed and it didn't have basil as described... so it was essentially just a slice of tomato with a slice of mozzarella cheese... it didn't even have balsamic on it or anything. My husband ordered the seafood stew and I ordered the salmon and we both enjoyed our entrees quite a bit, though I scraped off the tomato topping because it was too sweet. Our last night, we ate dinner at La Parisienne and it was very good. I enjoyed the lamb chops and my husband got the beef tenderloin and enjoyed his meal, as well. We also ate at Bombay and Kimonos and thought the food there was good. Kimonos was both dinner and a show, as our chef was funny and entertaining. The only restaurant we didn't have a chance to try was the sushi restaurant, Soy. We had intended to a couple of times... but it's only open from 6-9 and with our other dinner plans, there just wasn't time. *If you're a steak eater... we noticed there was definitely inconsistency when it came to temperature on our meat. We usually order beef medium and like it to be a little pink in the middle. In most restaurants, "medium" was more like well-done and there was no pink at all. The only restaurant that got the "medium" temperature correct was La Parisienne.* -Private candlelight dinner: This was by far our favorite meal. It was the only one that really wowed us. We both ordered the Surf & Turf, though in hindsight I wish I'd ordered the lamb chops. At Couples, they offer Lamb Chops at almost every restaurant and that's usually all I ever order for dinner. When I chose my menu for the candlelight dinner that was scheduled for the 25th, we'd only been on the resort 3 nights and I assumed I'd be eating lamb chops for other dinners, so I decided to skip the lamb chops and do surf & turf instead. However... I was only able to find lamb chops at La Parisienne on our last night. Having said that, we both thought our meal was fantastic. The Surf & Turf came with a lobster tail and filet mignon and both were perfectly cooked and seasoned. - For Snacks: One of our favorite features of this resort was the little coffee shop, Cafe de Paris. In the mornings, they had some of the pastries, smoked fish, and cold cuts that were also available in the buffet. The coffees were delicious and they had a variety of options, including some boozy coffee options. In the afternoon/evening, they changed to a variety of small bite desserts like cheesecakes, brownies, tarts, cupcakes, mousse, cookies, etc. There is also ice cream and crepes. The crepes were wonderful and the ice cream tasted homemade. My favorite item to order there was the "cookie crumble" which was essentially a milkshake with ice cream, coffee, Bailey's cream, and a chocolate cookie. SO delicious. Excursions: We rented a car for a day and explored and had a wonderful time. We had a difficult time getting a car... we'd reserved a Jeep of months ago, but I guess the company (Airport Car Rental that contracts with Island Routes) never finalized it so when we went to check with the IR desk, the company didn't have a car available. We had to scramble to find another company that had one available and fortunately, we did! We had to meet them at the little plaza across from the resort and then we were able to park it on resort overnight. - We did the Moriah Sea Park excursion through Island Routes. Back in March, we booked the morning tour so that we would be able to spend the afternoon on the resort and hit the sand bars at low tide... however, when we went to confirm with IR they said the captain was "no longer doing morning tours" so they had to move us to the afternoon. However... when we were on the boat, the captain made mention about the group he'd taken out that morning, so clearly he IS doing morning tours. MAYBE he just isn't doing them with Sandals... but I have a hunch that we just got bumped from our original reservation to make room for another couple. This was a bummer because it ended up eating up the part of the day that we prefer to be on resort and the tide was coming in by the time we got to the sand bar so there wasn't much left. However, the excursion was still amazing and I highly recommend it! COMPLAINTS: We have very few complaints about this resort... but I do think they're important to mention. - We had a few times where our food was never brought to us. This only happened at the casual dining options like the pizzeria, jerk shack, and late-night dining at the Drunken Duck. On three separate occasions, we ordered pizza and were told by the woman who took our order to either wait at the counter nearby or inside Bahama Bay at the bar and they'd bring the pizza to us when it was done... well, we'd wait for 30-45 minutes and then finally go check on it and they'd be like "oh, yes. Here it is." and by that time it'd been sitting out for a while and was no longer hot. We finally started checking the time and going back to check after about 15-20 minutes and it was almost always ready. Only one time was it actually brought to us like it was supposed to be. We also had this issue when ordering food late-night at the Drunken Duck. We usually like to eat late at night when on vacation, but we only did a couple of times at SEB for a couple of reasons... the first night my husband went by himself and said the staff were really weird about him asking to oder food. He said he felt like he was inconveniencing them or something. The second time, I was with him, and they made him take a shot of tequila before they'd give him a menu. I'm sure the employee was somewhat joking, but it still felt uncomfortable. Like the pizzeria, we were told to have a seat and they'd bring it to us... We waited for about 30 minutes before checking and they had it sitting behind the counter for who knows how long and it wasn't hot anymore. We didn't bother going back again after that. -Our second room (1207) was the closest room to the elevator, which plays a chime every time it moves or the doors open/close. We could hear it very clearly from our room. The first night, it was malfunctioning and was chiming constantly... I mentioned the issue in the Loop and it was taken care of. We were also very close to the ice machine so we always heard people filling their ice buckets and it was very loud. -This complaint is small, but it still bothered me. In our first room, we had robes. When they moved our room, I didn't want to take the robe with me and risk being charged for it so I left it in the room. Well... we didn't have robes in our new room. I sent a message through the Loop to request one and was told that one would be delivered in "short order" but it never was. I gave it a couple days and then replied to the message again explaining that I never received a robe, but that message wasn't replied to. At that point we only had a couple days left so I didn't bother requesting one again. - Our biggest complaint was the common delay in service. Some of the restaurants were quick with their service, and others were not. We frequently had to wait a few minutes at the bar before someone would take our order, even when there were more than enough staff... we were often skipped over in order for the bartenders to give drinks to butlers to deliver. Our biggest frustration came our last night at La Parisienne. We arrived for our 7:30 reservation and it took a few minutes to be seated... then it took about 5-10 more minutes for our server to even approach to take our drink orders, and a little while longer for her to take our food order. Then there was a long delay between the appetizers being served and the entree. We'd been at the restaurant for almost an hour by the time we finally received our entrees. Then, at the end when we ordered dessert I asked for a second cocktail, which I never received. My husband became very frustrated about halfway through our meal because we saw other couples come in after us and they received almost immediate service. I am almost entirely sure that they were probably guests with butlers. I understand that those guests pay a premium to have a butler, but that shouldn't also equal extra perks in the restaurants where we're all equal guests... it's ridiculous that we received less-than-acceptable service in order for staff to provide them exceptional service. We were left feeling like second-class citizens that weren't as important as the more elite butler guests. -The last complaint is that the hours that the restaurants are open are pretty restrictive. The Jerk Shack doesn't open until noon, and even though the app says it's supposed to be open until 6, we went there at 5:30 and they told us they were already closed. The pizzeria closes at 5, so no pizza for dinner. The sushi garden is only open from 6-9, so if you want to eat sushi as an appetizer before dinner or after dinner as a snack, it's very hard to work that around the hours of the other dinner restaurants... especially when dinner usually takes over an hour. We usually made reservations at 7:30... next time, we'll probably do 8:00 and maybe that'll leave enough time to get sushi beforehand. Bahama Bay is only open for lunch from 12:30-2:30, and they're the only restaurant that offers much of the traditional Caribbean food so if you want that, you have to go during that small 2-hour window. We would've loved to see more traditional Caribbean/Bahamian food offered at the other restaurants. OVERALL: We had a beautiful vacation and are planning on returning in July of 2025. I really hope we are blessed with better seas! We are looking forward to seeing what they do with the resort with all the planned renovations coming up in the next couple of years. *One last thing... I will be posting a video on YouTube with walkthroughs of various locations on the resort in the next couple of weeks.*

As I sit here, (one day removed from sitting by the beautiful pool at Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma, Bahamas) watching the snow fall, I am reminded of how much my wife and I love the Sandals experience. We have been to 7 different Sandals resorts (Emerald Bay twice) and have always had and excellent experience. The team at SEB was professional, outgoing,and always willing to help. Our room was well appointed and the staff always had it looking good and even left cute towel images on the bed and we didn't even have a Butler type room. I realize that reviews are very subjective and before going to Emerald Bay I did read a few of the recent negative reviews and now after spending a week there I am not sure what could have caused the comments I read. We had nothing but an excellent experience and the staff was always friendly and outgoing. Sure, there were times when some of the staff may not have been as bubbly as others but they were always respectful and wanted to make sure we were having a good time. Let's face it, we as travelers, aren't always at our best either and sometimes we have things going on that causes us not to be as bubbly as we would like. A couple of the negative reviews I read totally dished the Sandals Emerald Bay claim of being a 5 Star service which, to that I say, you need to check yourself as I suspect your expectations and the way you treated the staff causes you to receive your kind of treatment. As I said this was our 8th time at a Sandals and have always been very satisfied. The accommodations are nice and the food is always very good and we feel that what we get for what we pay always meets or exceeds our expectations. Having said that, we have travelled extensively both domestic and internationally (over 40 Countries) where we paid 2 to 4 times more per day average vs.Sandals and yes the additional cost did translate to a more upscale room and higher level of food service, we couldn't be happier with our experience at Sandals. We hope we get the opportunity to visit Sandals for many years to come. If your on the fence about deciding to go to Sandals I would Highly Recommend you give it a chance and decide for yourself, I don't think you'll be disappointed, especially if you have reasonable expectations.

We recently returned from a week stay at Emerald Bay with some friends. The room was great, butlers were fantastic, and the beach was clean. Both quiet pool and main pool were good. Unfortunately, our first day at the main pool we found the ladies bathroom with only one stall, as the other one was full to the brim with toilet paper and smell. (This was a Sunday). Smell continued all week with us having to report whenever they ran out of toilet paper. Even McDonalds check their bathrooms once an hour. By Thursday the second stall in the ladies bathroom by the main pool was clogged with paper, feces, and smell. It was reported to several staff members. Finally I went to the lobby and informed the clerk there. After an hour or so, there was a sign put on the ladies bathroom door that said "Under Renovation". Friday they finally got people out to work on it, but after a full day by the pool it was still "under renovation". Bottom line is anyone with bathroom issues can't be traipsing all over trying to find a toilet with toilet paper. The bathroom in the lobby was also "under renovation" the entire time of our stay. Besides that, the waiter at the pub was less than accommodating when my husband asked if he could have his salad as an appetizer. The answer was "NO. If you ask the chef, he will tell you the same thing"!!!!! We could not understand why the salad could not be brought out ahead of the entree. The last night of our stay, I went to bed early and my husband and friends went to have a cigar. I woke up at 10:00 to a maid standing in the middle of the room, and when I screamed, she asked me if I needed any towels. ?????????