Returning to Sandals Royal Caribbean 14 Years After Our Honeymoon

Dated resort but the service makes up for it

We visited Sandals Royal Caribbean for the first time since our honeymoon 14 years earlier.

We visited Sandals Royal Caribbean in late 2024 with some friends for five nights. It actually was the same resort we visited for our honeymoon in 2010. Our honeymoon was the first time either of us had visited an all inclusive resort and we had a great time. 

Since, we have visited more than a dozen AIs across the Caribbean. Our expectations as a result have expanded a bit. So we were excited to return to see how Royal Caribbean stacked up today. 

Private BMW transfers were included in our room category.

The resort is small for the Sandals brand. It sits about 10 minutes from the airport which is an ideal location. Since we had a butler, we were given a private BMW transfer. Note that Sandals is no longer offering this for all butler guests in Jamaica. You must have a room booked in the top category rooms to receive it. But we booked before that policy changed, so you can see the ride we had. 

The beach isn’t great here. Not the crystal blue waters you can find in Exuma or Antigua or Cancun. There are actually two options if you are a beach person. One is near the rooms and the main pool. The beach is not very wide, and I do worry how much is left after the big hurricane in 2025. And the other is on a private island, with Sandals providing a quick five minute boat transfer. You can see how close the island is from the main resort. 

The private island is a nice change of pace. The island has its own restaurant and pool, as well as cabanas you can access for the day (for a fee -- even if you have a butler). We did have a butler on this trip, so we asked him to set us up on a spot one day on the private island. He brought us lunch so we didn’t really feel we needed to pay for the cabana. 

Pools are very small for Sandals standards here. Because this is one of their older resorts. There was a swim up bar at the main pool and a bunch of smaller pools throughout the property. Our room was above one in fact -- the rooms below us were the swim up suites. If you are looking for the massive pools on the commercials, this place isn’t for you. 

We stayed in a “renovated” room and as you can see, “renovated” is a loose term. The bathroom had some new lighting and mirrors. But the majority of the space looked like it had been a few decades since it had been remodeled. There was some new wallpaper as well, but pretty basic for a renovated room. We do like the full bar that is included for butler guests, allowing guests to make liquor preferences before arrival so that their room is full stocked when you get there. The fridge had a mix of sodas, juices, champagne, beers and waters. 

Food was average. Typical for a Sandals. We really liked their Indian restaurant Bombay. It was probably the best restaurant on property. The other options are Thai, Italian, French and Caribbean. There is also a buffet for breakfasts and grills for lunch and late night snacks. Room service is also included and since we had a butler, we could order off any menu. We usually take them up on that offer for breakfast each morning. The butler would set up the breakfast on our balcony at a designated time we told him the night before and not need to wake us. That was a nice feature of this room where the butler could access the balcony without entry to the room. 

There is also a pub that serves dinner and snacks. We have never had dinner there, but it was a nice place to get a drink before and after dinners. It had a pool table as well. But it is pretty small and many folks may prefer to grab a drink from the pub and make their way to the outdoor firepits or other seating to enjoy the island. 

Small pub was a nice place to meet friends for drinks before and after dinner

Overall, we had a great time. But I will say that the value is not there for this resort any longer. Given the dated nature of the rooms, the small beach and pools, we plan to pick a different resort operator next time we visit Jamaica.