A Review Of Sandals Royal Caribbean

We just got home not too long ago from our second trip from Sandals Royal Caribbean in Montego Bay Jamaica. There were some things that were a first on this trip, as well as being able to have more formed opinions due to it being a repeat trip. So I thought it was time to share my opinions with you all! Plus we have had a lot of theme park content in the last few posts. So excited to share some island content. I am CoastersToIslands after all.

• A bit about the resort itself

Sandals Royal Caribbean is located in Montego Bay Jamaica approximately 10 minutes from Sangster international airport. It won Jamaica's leading resort by the World Travel Awards in 2021 and have the Caribbean's first over the water bungalows and villas in the iconic heart shape. Sandals Royal Caribbean is also home to Sandals Barefoot Cay off shore private island. This resort is much smaller and compact compared to our favorite Sandals in Ocho Rios. But the benefit of this is it is much more mobility friendly and less than a 5 minute walk from end to end! This is also one of the Sandals that participates in the stay and play program. What this means is there is another Sandals very close by and you can take a free shuttle to play and dine at the other one! I love this feature!

This was our fifth trip to Sandals and our first trip traveling with another couple! My in-laws joined us for this trip. I am happy to say traveling with another couple/family did not impact the romantic vibe that we love so much at Sandals!

We stayed March 3-7 2023 and flew American. We flew Dulles to Charlotte to Montego Bay. Overall a good flight but make sure if you have a layover in Charlotte to do at least two hours. We almost missed the plane both ways because it is such a busy airport!

• Club Mobay

When flying to Montego Bay I always recommend the Club Mobay service. Sometimes the airport won't be super busy so you don't get a ton of value, however on days like we arrived where the line for customs is 3 hours long, it is priceless! Club Mobay is a VIP express line experience and you can purchase for arrival, departure, or both. There is a lounge with food and drinks to enjoy as well!

• Transfer to resort

This time around we were lucky to have a BMW private transfer to the resort based on room category. It was in the 80's everyday and stepping into a A/C BMW for the short ride was very nice! We did all take the standard shuttle bus on the way back and that was great as well! Honestly better in my opinion.

• Arrival to the resort

We arrived to the resort around 1pm and were offered a cool towel while they took our luggage. During this trip they were remodeling the lobby so I cannot comment on that this time, but on our previous trip it was a beautiful lobby with a ton of couches to sit on while everyone gets checked in.

Because we were staying in the Club Sandals room tier we did our check in at the Club Sandals lounge. It was comfy and air conditioned. As soon as we sat down we were offered a welcome drink and were shortly after greeted by the resort general manager Dawn. Check in is at 3pm so we did have a bit of time to wait until the rooms were ready, but not a big deal! We were also given our return guest welcome packet and welcomed back home from the loyalty and travel team.

• Rooms

Onto the fun stuff!

My wife Mary and I did our first swim-up suite this time around. It was wonderful. These rooms were being built on our previous stay two years prior.

The room category is HSUP or Crystal Lagoon Hideaway Swim- Up Club Level Jr. Suite with Tranquility Soaking Tub. We were specifically in room 10104. The room was quite large and had a king size bed, dual vanity, patio and tranquility soaking tub, shower with rain shower head, and of course the beautiful swim up pool. Because this was a club level room, in addition to the usual Blue Mountain coffee, tea, water, juices, sodas, Red Stripe beer, and wine, we also had full size bottles of liquor!

The room was overall very clean and in good condition. The only negatives I could find were the rain shower head had a drip, and I had to hold my foot on the stopper of the tranquility soaking tub while using. No big deal to us. After all in Jamaica there are no problems only situations!

My in-laws stayed in room 7101. This was the WBT category or Windsor Beachfront Walkout Club Elite Room with tranquility soaking tub. Wow talk about a view and location. I loved the location of there room so close to everything. This room had most of the same amenities as ours. The differences being no swim-up of course, and no rain shower head. It was also a bit smaller, but still bigger than your average hotel room. They absolutely loved the room and the view!

• The beaches

The waters were beautiful turquoise blue and almost sapphire further out. The sand was soft and you could see all the way down so far out! There was some areas of sea grass, but not to bad at all. The staff keeps all the seaweed off the beach, and there was no visible sargassum. I'll talk about the private island in a bit. It was also not too difficult to find a chair if you needed one. The one at Sandals Montego Bay is larger and greener, however due to lack of ability to get a beach chair I like the ones at Royal Caribbean.

• The pools/whirlpools

This resort boasts 8 pools and 6 whirlpools. The main pool also has a swim up bar! The pools were clean and warm once you got in. There would always be something going on in the main pool such as games ran by the playmakers, people playing pool volley ball or pool basketball. But it was never too loud or crowded. The hot tub by our room was always very quiet as well.

• Food and Drink

My favorite part of any Sandals vacation is always the food and drink. It really sets itself apart from other hotels/resorts in the variety and quality of the food. Sandals Royal Caribbean boasts 9 restaurants and 5 bars. You are never more than a few steps from a bite to eat or a drink.

• Breakfast

There are two options for breakfast (not counting room service if staying in a club or butler elite room). One is the ala carte at Bombay Club and the other is the buffet at Spices. We did the ala carte all but our last day and choose to eat outside on the dock and enjoy the beautiful view of the water and private island. Everything was great and I finally tried ackee and saltfish (not for me but I encourage you to try it, after all it is all included!) Only negative I have for the ala carte breakfast locations is I hope they add a rotating dish of the day or the week at some pointe as the menu is basically the same at all locations, so as a frequent guest you end up eating the same thing a lot. However the food on the menu is still very good. The buffet does thankfully change a bit daily. And I will say of all the breakfast buffets we've done across the portfolio this one was definitely the best! Not sure if it was because we went when they first opened, but it was all very good with great variety!

Also the orange juice is the best you will ever have!

• Lunch

My favorite lunch location was the Mariner and the Bella Napoli pizza spot. Here you can get jerk burgers, quesadillas, beef patties, and some delicious made fresh to order pizza.

My next favorite spot was the Jerk shack on the private island. The fish in foil was great, and I can never get enough of the fried festival dough. We enjoy the jerk chicken and sausage as well. I hope they eventually put rice and peas on the menu at the jerk shack.

• Dinner

Dinner is where you will find the most choices. My favorite of which is Bombay Club Indian restaurant. Also be sure to try the signature drinks at each restaurant! We are pleasantly surprised 95% of the time!

Here we had shrimp pakora, vegetable bullets, lamb chops, and the best tomato soup of my life for our appetizers. This restaurant is served family style which we really loved!

For our entrees we had butter chicken, masala fish, curried mutton, goan shrimp curry, two types of rice, and two types of naan. All of which was delicious! The signature cocktail was a mango lassi and the signature beer was King Fisher. The mango lassi was the perfect cool down for the curried mutton which was a bit spicy.

Our next favorite was Spices Pan-Caribbean Restaurant. We ate here twice and loved it. They have surf and turf with delicious Caribbean lobster tails and a delicious grilled pineapple martini. The roots, fruits, and leaves salad was a work of art.

In the 3rd favorite spot I would give to Le Jardinière French restaurant.

I will admit the food here was the least best it has been of all of the French restaurants we have been to across the Sandals portfolio, it was still tasty and if you haven't been to the others you would probably think it was incredible. Mary and I both had the chateaubriand it it was tender and the asparagus was wonderful. What I will say though was this French restaurant had the best setting. It is outdoors under beautiful flowering trees and makes you feel like you were in a café in Paris. All of the other ones we have been to were in-doors. This restaurant also had my new favorite signature cocktail called a Brandy Truffle. It was so good and served with a chocolate rimmed glass.

In the fourth spot we have the Cricketer's Pub. We went here for second dinner one night and it is always one of my favorites. The chicken wings and mozzarella sticks are always so good! The fish and chips was much better compared to last time I was here. Only complaint was the mushy peas were cold. Another fun thing about the pub is you can get some beers here that you can't get anywhere else such as Guinness. If dining here I do recommend going earlier rather than later as it does tend to get loud in the pubs in the evening.

We did not dine at La Tavola Italian this trip or Royal Thai on this visit. And we were always too stuffed to have anything from room service this time around. We left on Tuesday so we did not get to go to the returning guest dinner this time around. But thank you to Loyalty and Travel for our returning guest bottle of rum and tee shirts

We did take the free shuttle over to Sandals Montego Bay one day to spend a few hours over there. Our lunch at Bayside was okay but not great like the food at Sandals usually is. Café de Paris was awesome as always and the rum raisin ice cream was delicious! The red velvet cupcake was too dry that day. The blueberry cheesecake tasted just like my grandmothers!

I am happy to report that in terms of drinks they were normal Sandals quality and consistently better than most of the drinks we had at Sandals Royal Bahamian.

• Entertainment

We finally stayed out long enough each night to enjoy the entertainment!

One night there was a Broadway Live show where the Sandals entertainment team sung songs from Broadway shows. They are all very talented and we enjoyed it a lot!

That same night there was a live violinist who was also very talented. I do recommend sitting in the back for that as it is a long set, as well as it was quite loud with the speakers when sitting in the front row.

There was a live saxophonist two nights which we always enjoy. I only was able to catch part of one song because our dining reservations were at the same time.

Our favorite night was when they did Sandals Live. The entertainment time blew us away again with the dancing and there was singing as well. Earlier that evening was battle of the sexes and my father in law and I both participated. It was so much fun and our favorite night of the trip.

While we were at Sandals Montego Bay they did play name that tune while we were by the beach. It was much harder than last time but still fun to play!

• Private Island Experience

We did spend one day at the private island and it was a ton of fun. I love to snorkel and I was able to snorkel just feet off the beach. They also had a pool and hot tub as well as a bar and two restaurants. There is a parrot named Diana you can meet as well. There is a small clothing optional section as well if that is your kind of thing. Only complaint about the private island is they could use some more chairs.

• Glass Bottom Boat

We did do the included glass bottom boat tour and I recommend it for anyone. We spent about 30 minutes and the water is so clear you can see the bottom of the sea the whole time!

• Photo Shoot

You can always do a free photo shoot with a professional photographer. I always recommend this as it is always such a fun time and they take such good photos! They are pricy, but we always love them and buy a couple.

• Housekeeping and other staff

Housekeeping and the beverage team were always on top of it and even did towel art for us one night. Very appreciated. Across the board the staff was very friendly. And every time we met someone who wasn't friendly the first time, they were always much better the next time we saw them. Try to keep in mind that they are dealing with the public and working very hard. They love to be friends with you and if you are friendly and kind to them, they will be to you as well!

A few staff that I felt deserve a shoutout for there great personality's and service are

Daley at Spices

Shawayne and the swim up bar.

Dre at the private island bar.

Princess at breakfast at Spices.

Jessica at Bombay Club.

The entire entertainment team.

KerryAnn in housekeeping.

And Mauvlette, Kimonia, and Fallon at Spices.

"Kevin Hart" our photo shoot photographer.

Ajkine literally everywhere. We always see him working hard all over the resort.

• Vendors

There were vendors riding on there kayaks offering there wares as well as the non souvenir type ware that if often thought of when you think of Jamaica. They are very nice and if you are not interested just let them know and be respectful.

We did get some souvenirs from the vendors that Sandals allows on the property for a short time each day. They were all very beautiful and you can tell they worked hard to make them.

• Final Thoughts

To wrap things up it was an absolutely wonderful trip. It was a blast having the in-laws with us as well. Rooms were clean, food and drink was delicious, and the staff are always wonderful. Jamaica is truly a special place and that is due not just to the beautiful water and flora, but really the Jamaican people.

I would still consider Sandals Royal Caribbean my third favorite of the properties that I have been to. However I did enjoy it much more the second time around. I thought it was a perfect resort for anyone older or with mobility issues as well. Of the two Sandals in the Montego Bay area however we do like Royal Caribbean more. But in Sandals Montego Bays defense, we have not stayed there yet, only visited twice for a few hours each time.

Catch you on the next blog post. Ya Mon!

If you are interested in a Sandals or Beaches vacation please feel free to send me a message on Facebook Messenger! I have stayed at Sandals Regency La Toc St. Lucia, Sandals Ochi Jamaica, and Sandals Royal Caribbean Jamaica. I have also visited Sandals Grande St Lucia, Sandals Halcyon St. Lucia, and Sandals Montego Bay Jamaica through the Sandals Stay and Play program. It costs nothing extra to book your trip with me vs booking direct, but you get the expertise of someone who has stayed multiple times and who is always staying up to date with any changes to the resorts.

This blog post is not sponsored, approved, or solicited from any of the above mentioned companies/services and all thoughts/opinions are my own.