Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort & Spa - Luxury Included (All Inclusive) - Nassau, Review

My husband and I stayed at Sandals Royal Bahamian resort in Nassau, Bahamas from May 4th - May 8th, 2008 for our first anniversary.  Overall, the trip was great, and I would recommend Sandals.  However it isn't a place that I'm excited about re-visiting soon.  Read on for more details!

What it is
Sandals is an all inclusive resort meaning that you pay a larger price per night but that covers food, drinks, tips and some planned entertainment.  What it doesn't include is special requests, private dinners, and tours outside of the resort.  Sandals has 7 resorts, but this is the only one in the Bahamas.  Located right on the ocean with a great view, I enjoyed this resort atmosphere for the most part.

What I liked
Food all the time: I liked that we could eat almost anytime we wanted just by walking into a restaurant.  Everything was paid for already, and there was never a wait.  Some of the restaurants require reservations, and we only made reservations for one of them with no problem.  You can also go to any bar any time you are thirsty.

Pools and Ocean: The pools were nice and we enjoyed relaxing in the large pool by our room with a raft for a few hours on each of 3 days that we were there.  With the weather being so hot, the pool is very relaxing and cools you down.  The ocean water was clean and clear and felt very nice as well.  The only reason we didn't hang out in the ocean more was because there were no rafts that you could use in the ocean.

Views: The views were amazing.  We traveled into town for a sea tour and the views we saw on the tour were nowhere near as beautiful as the views from our hotel room.  The ocean water looked different almost every day with various shades of blue and purple coming out.  The palm trees were lovely, the flowers around the resort were very nice to look at and take pictures of, and the statues left a nice atmosphere.  The resort is pretty nice to look at overall.  Sunset on the pier is amazing.  The private island is not entirely Sandals, but the backside is owned by Sandals and is a beautiful spot to take pictures at and just relax.

Room: We had a huge concierge level room (I think we were upgraded but we weren't told) which means we had a fully stocked bar and fridge, and the concierge called us various times throughout our trip to see if we needed anything.  We didn't need anything, but it was nice to know they were there and willing to help.  The service throughout the resort was equally as helpful.  I was worried that the service would be bad since they don't accept tips, but everyone working at the resort was always so nice and in a good mood.

Photographers: Photographers throughout the resort will take photos of you randomly or you can schedule time with them.  We took advantage of this for our First Anniversary since we didn't think we'd be coming back anytime soon.  I bought 15 pictures on CD for a whopping $140 with a free frame.  It was worth it though as I feel like the pictures are going to be with me forever.

Couples Only: The final great thing about this resort is that it is couples only.  There are no children running around splashing in the pool, and no spring breakers being loud and obnoxious.  At night the resort turns to a more dressy/adult resort and all the guests seemed to respect this more mature atmosphere.

What I didn't like
Private Functions: The reason I can't rate this 5 stars is because of the following.  First off, I was most annoyed by the "private functions" that closed the pool area down on two separate evenings.  If this had been a wedding reception, I would have been totally fine with that.  However, it was not a wedding, but a business function.  The resort had filled their rooms with employees from Kraft who had these 2 private functions.  It just seemed to take away from the couples and the romantic atmosphere for a bit.

Evening Events: The scheduled evening events just weren't for us.  A lot of things at the resort had to do with socializing with other couples and we weren't interested in that.  While we did chit-chat with some people here and there, we weren't looking to talk more beyond general conversation.  Other events were just a little cheesy for us like they were trying to force fun and activity on us.  We watched the Hot Latin Nights and expected more than them just teaching guests to dance, got tired and went to bed early.  Although watching the Not So Newlywed Game was fun, not all the activities were for us.

No Snacks: We felt the resort was missing a "snack" or ice-cream area.  We didn't want to eat 3 huge meals a day, but without any snacking options we had no choice but to go to a restaurant for all 3 meals.  I would have loved if they had an ice cream shack!

Not much shade: Finally, the resort just got too hot and sunny by the end that we were glad we only booked 4 nights.  We wished the pool had at least a little area that was in the shade, but since it didn't, we stopped going in the pool after day 3.  That was semi-disappointing since there were times we wanted to cool off in the pool but we didn't want the sun.  Sun worshipers were loving it, we weren't. Although you are allowed to swim all night, no one ever went in the pool past 5 or 6, and we didn't want to with everyone else walking around in dresses because it just felt like we would be out of place.

Overall
I would return, but probably not for a long time after I've had a chance to see more vacation spots.  I feel like the resort was great for what it was made for - chilling in the sun and the pool - however that is not necessarily an ideal vacation for us.  We like to have a little bit more adventure and sight seeing.  I still recommend this place for couples, especially honeymooners or for your anniversary.  Ask for a room in the Windsor Building, top floor 1601-1612 or so is the best.  We were in 1607.  If you are going to the Bahamas anyway, this resort was worth it for at least once.

I used my GorillaPod to take pictures of my husband and I without needing to ask a stranger!

I visited Cheryl's Travel Message Board to ask all my questions about my Sandals Vacation.