I had to wait a couple of weeks after I returned from Beaches Sandy Bay to write this review in order to "settle down" and let my anger subside. The only thing this resort has going for it is the beautiful beach and some excellent staff but at the end of the day, the resort is run down and we just didn't get good value for our dollar.
We arrived at the resort at 10pm on our first night. I had done my research and knew to expect a "dated" room. I did not expect the ants crawling up the wall, and a giant bug to make its way across the floor (not sure what kind it was). I expressed my concern to the person who checked us in and he called the front desk to see if another room was available for us. I didn't ask for an upgrade, just a room with no bugs. We were told that there was no other room available for us, the bug was stepped on and wiped up, and that was our room!
The next day, upon hearing from the bartender that the hotel was only at 60% capacity, I went back to the front desk to request a different room due to the bugs. We were given one, and happily moved our stuff, but I'm still surprised I had to make a second request and wasn't granted a new room before we had unpacked our stuff the first night! The second room was bug-free for the entire week, which was great, but it didn't have hot water when we showered too late in the afternoon!! 4:30 seemed to be the cut-off - if we showered before then we were fine but after that and we had cold water.
It took us 3 days to figure out the Kids Club schedule. There is a schedule posted outside the cafeteria, a schedule posted in the "daily newsletter", and a schedule posted just outside the Kids Club door. They are all different!! Apparently one is just for the Sesame Street characters, one is old and not updated, and the correct one is the one in the newsletter, but some activities are cancelled at random with no notice. Weird!! So finally on day 3, we took the kids to try an activity (ages 5&7). The two ladies at the kids club were unfriendly, and unwelcoming. Our kids stayed for a half hour activity, but the activity after that was going to cost us $10/kid to participate, which I was not expecting. They had several activities throughout the week that cost extra $$, just so you know.
Anyway, we picked up the kids after the half hour activity, and they did NOT want to go back for the rest of the week. We tried to get them to go one more time, the next evening, so my husband and I could have a drink at the bar. The schedule said there was a "dance party" at the kids club. They reluctanctly went, but there were only 2 other kids there so they were playing bingo instead.
My mother's intuition told me to go check on them 15 mins later. Well, sure enough, my 5yr old was crying, and I noticed another girl (not mine) crying as well. I removed my kids from the kids club and they never went back. When I asked my 5yr old why he had been crying he said he had to go to the bathroom and was scared to ask the lady. My child is NOT shy! My daughter said the ladies at the kids club weren't very nice and scared them.
So now we have a resort with bugs, cold-water showers, and a kids club my kids wouldn't use. So much for the "Beaches" experience I looked so forward to having! lol. And let me point out that I'm not one of those parents that needs a kids club to take care of the kids all week. But we've been to resorts where they've gone and not wanted to leave the kids club and, quite frankly, that gives me an hour or two to sit on the beach and read a book which I find a win-win situation!
We paid $60 for the character breakfast. We were told we couldn't take pictures at it because it was a "private photo shoot". Which brings me to the issue of the photographers on site. There were about 4-5 photographers EVERYWHERE we went. We could not shake them. They take pictures to sell in the photo shop - 5 pics for $150!! Now I don't mind the concept of the photographers, and some people may want to pay $30 for a special picture, BUT, I found it offensive when the photographers would not leave my kids alone. If I turned my back for a second, they were talking to my kids, making my kids think they were "playing" with them, then they'd grab their camera and take a picture. One photographer was even in the pool taking pictures of the kids.
Is it just me, or is it creepy for guys to be walking around snapping pictures of little kids in bathing suits all day when their parents aren't looking? I was really upset with this and often asked them to NOT take pictures of my kids. But I must be a crazy paranoid parent because I didn't hear from any other parents that this bothered them. Some even commented that their kids liked being in the "photo shoots" and feeling glamorous. So maybe its just me, but I didn't like it.
The food at this resort is fine. Nothing special, but you won't go hungry. There is one buffet, some al a carte restaurants, and a grill by the beach. The buffet often had empty dishes, and it had some ants on the tables around the food, but no one in our family got sick and we felt the food was what we expected for a 3.5 star resort. If we had paid for the 5-star Beaches Negril, we would have expected (and received) more, of course.
Speaking of Beaches Negril, we took the shuttle there twice and the resorts are like night and day. There is such a step up in terms of quality at Beaches Negril. I felt like they were the "haves" and we were the "have nots". lol! Sure, people can say they prefer the smallness of Beaches Sandy Bay but the bottom line is that Beaches Negril is nicer! But you pay more for it, of course. Quite frankly, it looked like the people staying at Beaches Negril actually got value for their money (they have little things like colouring pages and crayons at the tables for the kids, and floaty things in the pool). I think Beaches Sandy Bay is the forgotten resort in the Beaches/Sandals chain of resorts and they think of it as their "budget" hotel. For the minimal extra cost of Beaches Negril you get so much more - more and better food, a water park, nicer rooms, etc. Beaches Negril seemed to have the "Beaches" experience I was expecting to find at Beaches Sandy Bay.
Back to Beaches Sandy Bay, I'll just mention a couple more things. The swimming pool is fine, but it is located between the stage and the buffet. So there's no evening swimming unless you want an audience of people having dinner. Someone recently posted a picture of the dining tables right next to the swimming pool. I found it odd that they didn't have a row of lounge chairs around the pool - there were about 8 on the one end but that was it.
The other thing to note with the swimming pool is that it doesn't have zero-entry, so if you're travelling with babies, you'll want to bring a floaty device (or you can buy one from the store at the resort - the prices ranged from $26-73!!). I believe it was 3.5 ft at the shallow end and closer to 6ft at the deep end. The hot tub was really nice!
We absolutely LOVED the beach at this resort and spent a lot of time on it. The waves are very, very light, and it is absolutely safe for the littlest of kids. We went on the glass-bottom boat twice as our kids loved it. We also took out the water trike which was fun.
There is only one bar at this resort and there was rarely a wait for a drink. The bartenders were fantastic and the drinks were great!
At the end of the day, my frustration came from the fact that I felt ripped-off for the money we spent on this resort. We paid the premium to stay at a Beaches resort to get a family-friendly place that our kids would love. I had done my research and knew to expect a dated hotel, and I'm ok with dated. What I'm not ok with are bugs and cold-water showers, and the fact that the kids club staff was so unwelcoming and unfriendly that my kids wouldn't use it. And if that makes me a "diva", so be it, call me crazy. To me, it all came down to not getting value for my money.
So my recommendation would be to either spend the extra money and stay at Beaches Negril, or stay at a non-Beaches/Sandals resort. 7-mile beach in Negril is just fabulous, and if you're a beach lover, do find a place on this beach because you won't be disappointed!
- Beaches Sandy Bay Negril
- Beaches Sandy Bay Hotel Negril
