Very Good However Not Perfect
May 16, 2024 Duststorm Sandbach, United Kingdom
Myself and my wife visited for a week to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.
We had a club level room which was nice however I agree with some of the other reviewers that the rooms are a little dated. In hindsight I don't really believe club level is really necessary however it made booking reservations at the restaurants a little…
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Myself and my wife visited for a week to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.
We had a club level room which was nice however I agree with some of the other reviewers that the rooms are a little dated. In hindsight I don't really believe club level is really necessary however it made booking reservations at the restaurants a little easier.
Firstly, it is fantastic that the resort is only 20 minutes from the airport, however first impressions were not great as our concierge was quite dismissive and rude, when we booked the snorkelling tour and asked where the dive shop was, we were told to do the property tour to find out. Not really an acceptable response for a high - end resort in my opinion. We did have an issue with the room where once we came back to find the air conditioning unit had leaked with water cascading down the wall and pooling on the floor, however maintenance came out to resolve.
The resort itself is the perfect size, very well manicured and maintained and everything within close proximity without having to walk too far to reach anywhere. In reality there is only a small road dividing this resort with the Sandals Royal, they may as well be the same resort as you still have access to all the restaurants, pools etc on both resorts.
We shared the frustrations of many other travellers of having to get up at 06:00 every morning to get loungers by the pool before the butlers took them all for the premium guests, which did take away from the experience, only for the premium guests to mostly saunter down to the pool hours later at their leisure, which was very frustrating and not really what you want on holiday and it did definitely feel as though there was a class system.
The beach was lovely and was usually very clean. The sea was quite rough when we were there however there is an area with wave breakers which could be used. The sea was very warm and there are complimentary catamarans you can take out at no extra cost with a member of staff however unfortunately the sea was too rough through our duration so we couldn't go out.
The restaurants were superb, a personal favourite of mine was Neptunes with the views over the beach (also the lunches there were fabulous), also Chi (Asian food), and a huge thank you to our servers Avery and Deenesha (I hope the spelling is correct) who were wonderfully accommodating. We were disappointed with the Merry Monkey due to the lack of service, and after waiting 25 minutes for our desserts, we ended up leaving.
Also we recommend visiting Heart And Soul, the sandwiches were delicious!
We absolutely loved the craft beer bar at Lovers Lane, it was nice coming to a resort to find nice craft beer rather than the usually ghastly local beer resorts usually have on draft. Also the views from the Sky Bar were breathtaking, especially at night and were perfect for photos.
There are photographers you can book to take photos of you around the resort and beach for your special occasion, you are under no obligation to buy and we were thankful to them for working with us until we got the photos we wanted.
In addition to Avery and Deenesha, I would like to give a shoutout to Stacey at La Parisienne, Larken at the Infinity pool bar and also Brandon and Mario at Epix (photography), they are a credit to the resort!
We also took a short walk off the property (perfectly safe) to some nice little shops and Dover market which are well worth a visit.
In reality, it doesn't matter which resort you stay at, be it Sandals or Sandals Royal, just pick the room that feels right for you.
Before leaving for our trip, we were concerned with the increasing quantity of negative reviews appearing on Tripadvisor, whilst also considering people may have set expectations too high, however I do agree with some concerns raised by other reviewers however our experiences on the whole were by no means negative.
At the right price we would definitely consider staying here again.
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