Sandals Royal Barbados

Barbados

Last week we escaped the cold temperatures with a trip to the all-inclusive Sandals Royal Barbados. This was the second time we have stayed at a Sandals, but our first time visiting Barbados. We had a direct flight from Charlotte to Christ Church, Barbados, and were blessed that no one occupied the seat between us. Entering the country was quite easy, and we had a short 15 minute drive on the Sandals bus to our resort.

The Barbados property actually contains two Sandals resorts side by side, giving us access to 21 dining options and multiple bars and swimming pools. We stayed on the Royal side, which is newer, and had an end room on the top floor (5th) of building 7. This afforded us a partial ocean view, which was great to enjoy from the large balcony. Our location also enabled us to listen to the live music each evening from the privacy of our balcony if we so desired.

Some of the online reviews of the resort were fairly negative, but I tried to keep an open mind going into the trip. I'm glad I did, because one thing I have learned is that people like to complain. We found the staff to be almost overwhelmingly helpful and friendly, most of the food was very good, the drinks were tasty and for the most part not watered down, and housekeeping took great care of our room.

Was service sometimes slow? Yes, but you are on island time so just accept it. Our one try at room service was dismal. The food took over two hours to get to us (we were told 40 minutes), my sandwich was nearly inedible due to being soggy and they forgot to include a spoon for my soup. But that was just one meal, so no big deal. The food at the specialty restaurants exceeded our expectations, and we particularly enjoyed our experience at the Japanese restaurant.

Kimonos

We took advantage of the snorkeling trip offered by Sandals. Unfortunately the boat was not located at the resort, and it took way longer to get to the boat and back than the actual time we spent snorkeling. That is one area I might mark them down a little. At other resorts we have typically been taken to a couple different areas to snorkel. In this case they took us to one, and it was fairly crowded with other excursion boats. Nevertheless, it was cool to see the sunken ship, the fish, and especially the sea turtle!

snorkeling

We hired a private driver to give us a tour of the island. Barbados is only 166 square miles, but the road system and traffic make it impossible to get anywhere fast. So in our four hours we traveled from our location in the south up the west coast to the north coast and back. We saw a little bit of Christ Church, then visited St. Nicholas Abbey and its rum distillery. The tour of the house and the rum operations was very interesting.

St. Nicholas Abbey

Overall we had a wonderful time in Barbados. We met some nice people from Great Britain, Canada and the United States, enjoyed the resort grounds with its wildlife, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and made some great memories.

Sandals sunset

Lighting the Christmas Spirit

We do very little exterior Christmas lighting ourselves, but we love to look at what other's have done. While we haven't had an opportunity to go see any large light installations yet, we did go to see a house that is in Mount Holly.

This guy does extreme Halloween decorations as well, apparently. We haven't seen those, but this is our second year of driving to his neighborhood to see the Christmas display. It is so large that you really need to park and get out of the car to truly appreciate the extent of the decorations. It really put me in the Christmas spirit for sure!

the Christmas house

My Christmas cards were put in the mail the beginning of the month. All of my shopping is done, and my last two gifts should arrive in the mail today. Once I get those wrapped, I will definitely be ready for Christmas! 

Thankful for Friends

fall is hanging on

We had a non-traditional Thanksgiving this year. Our kids were not coming into town, and we were not traveling anywhere. We could have attended the Thanksgiving gathering here in the neighborhood, which is comprised of other people like us who do not have family living in the area. We have gone to that in the past, and it was very enjoyable.

But we found out that another couple in our community were not spending the day with their kids either. They are neighbors who have turned into good friends. So we decided to just have them over for the meal. We made the turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing and gravy. They provided two side dishes, rolls and a couple of pies. I made a cute pumpkin cheese ball, which was served with crackers, to tide us over until all the food items were cooked. Everything turned out great, and after stuffing ourselves (pardon the pun) we played a rousing game of Mexican Train.

Thanksgiving 2024

When we moved here five years ago, knowing that we had no family or friends in the area, we could only hope that we would make new friends in our community. We never imagined that we would find people that would become closer to us than our own family members, or that we would share holidays and vacations with them. We have a lot to be thankful for, that is for sure!