A Detailed Review of the Sandals Royal Bahamian in Nassau, Bahamas

We stayed at the Sandals Royal Bahamian in Nassau from May 4 to 8, 2008. This review is broken down by everything there is to say about the place and hopefully will help you in planning your trip to the Bahamas. Every aspect is rated out of 5 stars.

Arrival (3 stars): Arrival at the airport on Sunday was slightly confusing because no one told us what to do. We just kind of wandered over to immigration and watched what the other people were doing. Then we wandered over to baggage and tried to guess at which one to wait at. We were wrong, and so was everyone else on our flight, then we finally saw the bags coming out of the other claim area. Again we wandered and found our way to the Sandals desk where they hardly talked to us. They just took our check in paper, stapled it to something and sent us on our way. Some guy took our bags over to the cars and told us to wait for a car. The whole thing was just confusing for us since we had no idea where to go from the second the plane landed. We are used to the strict guidelines of the US airports so it was strange being in this relaxed atmosphere.

Drive in (5 stars): We were put into some kind of limo car with 2 other couples and that part went fine. It's weird driving on the wrong side of the road though.

Check in (4 stars): They had us sit in the check in area and we didn't have to wait long before being given some paperwork to fill out with the same information they already had on us which was a little odd. Our room was ready so they took us right up to it and told us our bags would come soon.

Concierge (5 stars): We went straight back down to the concierge to make reservations for our restaurants. We could only make reservations for The Crystal Room because the policy is they only make them 48 hours in advance. They told us to come back tomorrow if we wanted the other reservation. We ended up deciding to pass on the Baccarat and never made the reservations. We don't know what level room we were in, but the concierge called us twice during the five days we were there to see if we needed anything. We didn't need anything either time.

Tour Desk (4 stars): We went to the tour desk to make our tour plans. We were disappointed when they told us both the sunset cruises that usually run on Monday were closed on this particular Monday. It was our anniversary and I was really hoping to do something like that. The girl's solution was for us to have a nice dinner instead, but no tours. I was hoping they could offer some alternative sunset tours but they couldn't. We did make our reservations for the Sea World Explorer for another day. For our anniversary we went back to the concierge and asked for a Private Dinner. She was able to set us up for the 9:00 pm slot the next day.

Room (5 stars): We were in room 1607 in the Windsor Building which was a nice big room. I have no idea what level room this was or if we were upgraded since we initially booked the Grande Regency Room. I had a feeling we were upgraded since the concierge called us throughout the week and the original room we booked was not concierge level. We had a nice bathroom with a big tub but since the tub had a few scratches on the bottom I was turned off from taking a bubble bath in it which was kind of disappointing. We also had a fully stocked bar and fridge which they refilled daily with anything that we took out.

The bed was nice and we had a large area to walk around, plus a table and 2 chairs and a couch. The balcony view was near perfect as we could see the ocean, the private island, and the pool. The only way it could have been better would be if we had rooms 1601-1603 which had a more direct view of the ocean. We could see the ocean, the island, and most of the resort. Looking at the Windsor building from the ground, I could tell I'd want to be at least floor 3 or higher in order to get a view. The ground floor and floor 2 both are blocked by plants and trees and they probably can't see very far.

Pool (4 stars): We hung out in the Windsor pool for a couple hours on each of 3 days. We enjoyed the pool bar because it was nice and easy to get something to drink without having to get out of the pool. While it was fun the first day, and still fun the second day, by the third day we were tired of the pool because of the direct sunlight was on it all day. We wished there was at least a little bit of shade on the pool during the day so we could go in the pool to cool off without having sun directly on us. I know many people there worship the sun all day, but we aren't sun tanners and we just got sick of the sun. The first day we were in the pool past 4 and we noticed more and more flying ant type bugs in the pool after that time. No one swims after 5 or 6 and you almost feel like you can't because of all the people walking around dressed up by that time. The pool is open all night, but it just didn't seem inviting after that time.

Weather (5 stars): Every day the temperature was a constant 84-87 degrees during the day and low 70s at night. By the beach was usually cooler due to the breeze coming of the ocean. The news warned of a "slight chance of rain" almost every day, but it never rained at all. We were thankful for the few minutes of cloud cover we got on some days because it gave us at least a little break from the sun. The AC blew constantly even though we set it to 76 degrees. I guess it never got below 76 in the hotel room.

Food (4 stars): We ate at Spices for breakfast on most days because the buffet let us have a lot of different items all at once. The buffet was good and filling every time, but the scrambled eggs left something to be desired. One morning we did the breakfast card thing (which you leave on your door before bed) and it was nice to have our choice of foods brought to us before we even left the room. The only downside was that they didn't offer hot items such as eggs or sausage on this menu.

For lunch we ate at the Royal Café once and enjoyed the salad bar along with our yummy sandwiches. Another lunch was at Café Gombay which was really good and a good atmosphere with a lot of shade and a nice breeze. A third lunch was at Spices which was a buffet once again. We found plenty to fill us up for lunch and also enjoyed the dessert choices.

The first night we had dinner at Spices and I was happy the catch of the day was Salmon because otherwise I didn't have much choice. I don't eat meat and only a limited amount of seafood. My husband only found one thing on the menu he was willing to try. We both enjoyed the meals, but agreed that the menu was limited and knew we wouldn't eat dinner there again during our trip. Another dinner was at the Crystal Room which we enjoyed and I believe I got Salmon again. The final dinner we had at the Ristorante Casanova even though we could have made reservations at Baccarat. I already knew I loved Italian food and Casanova didn't disappoint. There was only one meat-free choice on the menu but I'm sure I could have asked for any of the pastas without meat. The salad/anti-pasta bar was good and I could have filled up on the yummy Caesar salad alone.

The only thing we felt was missing food-wise was some kind of snacking option. We could have passed on lunch a few of the days and had just an ice cream or small snack instead. They did sell chips and snacks in the gift shop, but we didn't want to pay for those considering how much we already paid for the trip. Luckily I brought plenty of snacks in my carryon to keep us from getting hungry in between meals. I highly suggest that Sandals adds an ice cream stand! With the heat, and the general need for a snack now-and-then, we would have loved it.

Private Dinner (5 stars): On our anniversary we had the private dinner. I thought the menu choices were a bit limiting because I was under the impression we could get whatever we wanted. I picked the only menu that had fish as a main course and my husband picked the chicken menu. We were seated on the second pier near the inside of the resort at 9 PM. Since it was later in the evening, the waves seemed to be pretty high by us which did make us a little sleepy and a little worried that our stuff would get wet. I would recommend the 7 PM seating, but we were unable to book that. Our waiter, Mark, was fun and nice and kept the food coming at just the right time. My husband's menu was wrong and he fixed it for us right away with no trouble. We enjoyed a four course meal of appetizer, sorbet, dinner, and dessert. It was worth it for this one special occasion but I wouldn't spend the $180 bucks again.

Evening Entertainment (4 stars): We are spectators, not participants, so we did not even go to a lot of the planned entertainment activities. We did make sure to hit up the Chocolate buffet on one night; we watched the Not So Newlywed Game and watched the Hot Latin Nights on another night. Other than that, we basically kept to relaxing.

Service (5 stars): All the employees were nice and said Hi every time we walked by. Everyone seemed to be in a great mood the whole time and you would have thought they were on vacation too! We didn't ask for a lot, but I could tell that they would do a lot for you if you asked for something specific.

Fitness Center (5 stars): We went to the fitness center 3 days during our trip in our effort not to let all the food pile up on us. The gym was nice and had lots of equipment. I never saw more than 6 other people in the gym at the same time as us. There are two TVs that you can turn to whatever channel you want, as well as an awesome view of the ocean and the island. It was easy for us to get 30-45 minutes of exercise each day. We only wished there was some kind of gym in our own building so we wouldn't have to walk across the entire grounds to get to it. Other than that, it was great.

Private Island (5 stars): We went to the private island on our last day there. At first I was slightly disappointed to find out that a lot of the areas on the front part of the island are privately owned by other people. However once hitting the back side of the island, I wasn't disappointed anymore. The back side is very private and has plenty of spots for photo ops and exploring. We easily found a nice shaded area to sit in since not many people were going after the shaded areas. The pool on the island was small and packed by 11. We didn't even bother getting in. Despite prior warnings about bugs, we found we didn't even need bug spray. Perhaps this is because the time of year, or because we went early in the day. Regardless, I didn't see any bugs at all.

Photographers (5 stars): We had photos taken with the photographers 3 times. Once was when we were in the pool, once at sunset for our anniversary, and once before dinner. I actually wished they were around more because I was hoping to get a variety of shots rather than just 3 times. I knew we could reserve time with the photographers but I felt like that would have been too planned and not as fun. It seemed like a few days there were weddings all day/night and the photographers were all tied up with that.

They tell you how to pose which seems cheesy at first but the pictures mostly came out looking great. When picking out photos, I was annoyed that we couldn't just scroll through them ourselves and the employee had to scroll through them because she got called away on a phone call a few times. I know how to work a computer so I wish they would just let us sc roll through them. To make things easy, we just eliminated any and all close-ups automatically because we really wanted the view. We ended up buying 15 photos on CD for $140 with a free frame. I probably could have narrowed it down more had I been given time to flip through them on my own. It seemed pointless to get prints at the resort since they are just using a Kodak machine that I can use at any drugstore. I felt like the photos on CD was a better value and they are very high resolution so you could print very large prints if you wanted.

Going Downtown (5 stars): We were hoping we would be picked up for our sea tour, but found out we had to take a bus. It turned out to be really easy as the #10 bus comes right up to the resort entrance often and drops you off right in downtown. It's just a short 5 minute walk to the pier. A lot of people were interested in shopping in the Straw Market but to me this just looked like a lot of random stuff I didn't really need. Coming back was just as easy as going downtown because there were plenty of #10 buses waiting for us. It only cost $1 per person each way, not too shabby!

Private Functions (0 stars): There was some kind of business event going on for the time we were there and I got pretty annoyed by the Private Functions that closed down the whole pool area. It felt like we paid all this money for "all-inclusive" just to be told "well you can't go there". I didn't mind when things were closed off for weddings and wedding receptions, which also happened, because the resort is supposed to be about love and romance. However when areas were closed for the business function that was going on, I was annoyed. I thought this was a couples resort meant for relaxing and time together, not for business people to have parties.

Guests (4 stars): The other guests at Sandals were all very friendly and would offer to take pictures for us or chit-chat with us throughout the trip. We enjoyed chatting with the more relaxed guests that were just wanting generic chit-chat, however we heard a few guests that were practically quizzing others "where are you from, did you eat here yet, what do you do, are you going on tours, when did you get married". The funny part was that the other couple looked like they were just trying to eat but they were getting quizzed through all of dinner.

As for tanning, some of those guests need to get out of the sun! I couldn't believe how much some people tanned and how dark they got, it's not natural. Others were burned but didn't seem to learn from it. I saw many very very red people going back in the pool or back on the tanning chair. Come on people, burning makes you more prone to skin cancer - hello! I know this doesn't detract from our trip, but I just need to throw that out there for all these people turning into lobsters at this resort. My husband and I brought spray sunscreen and we went through a bottle almost every day. He got a little red and after that we stayed out of the sun whenever we could.

Check Out (5 stars): Checking out was very easy. They slipped an envelope under our door while we were out that contained a letter explaining exactly what we needed to do the next day. It included the checkout time, time to leave our bags out for pickup, and time the bus would come to get us. This made it virtually worry-free for us.

Departure (5 stars): I had been told that the Bahamas was the easiest place to depart from as far as Customs goes, and I think it was! You do the Customs form and checking at the Nassau airport so that once you land in the US you do not need to go through Customs there. They do check your passport A LOT of times, but they never did check our luggage, just told us to put it on the conveyor belt. We saw one couple get a random check before getting on the plane and they had to take everything out of their carryon. This is why I recommend packing your carry-on light so it's easy to go through. The Nassau airport is tiny and doesn't have all the restaurants that the US airports have, so don't go hungry. There was a bar which may have served food but we didn't try it out.

Overall (4 stars): This was a very relaxing trip but I don't see Sandals as a place we'll be going over and over. As a comparison, when we left Las Vegas last year we couldn't wait to go back. When we left Sandals, we said "maybe someday we will return". We aren't motivated to check out any of the other Sandals at this point. We saw the view, we took tons of pictures of the same views, we ate at most the restaurants, and we sat back and watched some of the shows. Now we are ready to explore different places. I'm glad we only stayed 4 nights because by the 4th day we were getting tired of the constant sun.

I would still recommend Sandals to any couples traveling to Nassau and I'd still plan to stay there if we ever do return to Nassau. It has a great view, it's mostly private, and it's nice to be able to get food or drinks almost anytime you wanted it without having to pay for it or wait for it. This resort is for adult couples of all ages. The lack of teeny-boppers and spring-breakers was nice. Leave the kids at home and enjoy some time with your sweetie!!

See my pictures here