Guest reviews Sandals Emerald Bay Golf, Tennis & Spa Resort, Great Exuma

by SherryP736 Jacksonville, Florida

Best Sandals Property

We have been to many Sandals resorts and keep returning to this one. Without a doubt, best resort, best pools, best beach, best service and best rooms. The general manager, Jeremy Mutton leads an amazing staff. His great attitude flows into all areas of this resort. We were fortunate enough to go for 10 days 7-11-2020 to 7-21-2020. Yes, it was challenging to get the Bahamas with Covid, but so worth it !! Cheers to everyone there who made our trip so special. Can't wait to return next year !

by designkelly Bronxville, New York

Average property on a majestic, beautiful island

this was my first time in Exuma and on a Sandals resort. i have traveled extensively in the caribbean. Would I return? I'm not sure, i do like the island, i guess I could stay elsewhere but i like the all-inclusive concept mostly for a stressfree evening dinner.  i'll start with the food, it is not 5 star, it is merely average for the caribbean. the buffet breakfast was not so good, although they do have an omelet bar.  i have a gluten allergy, while the staff knew what it was, they did not accommodate it.  they don't have gluten free anything available at all. , if they did i was never told and I did tell the staff. i had brought my own oatmeal and bread.  I do think for the price and how this resort markets itself, they should have some gluten free items available. The portions are too small, i'm sure this is done for cost savings...So order more food than you can eat. The jerk chicken was delicious we enjoyed eating there.  We ate at Il Cielo, Barefoot and thought our meals were fine. Not 5 star but edible. steak and lobster were not that good, dry and overcooked, but at least they were available. the daily coffee was drinkable and not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be and I order premium coffee normally to drink at home.  some drinks are good, some were bad. you have to ask for premium liquor or else they give you well liquor and its terrible tasting.the robert mondavi wine is comparable to the $10 magnums at home. its drinkable but has no depth, if you really like wine, look elsewhere. Desserts: not good, the chocolate party is not good at all. The desserts are terrible and the chocolate fountain is cold hershey syrup type chocolate. Really disappointing. I do feel like the resort is cheap and couldn't just have more expensive options... Another thing, is that the gourmet restaurants that require reservations were booked and we couldn't get in. Again, i'm sure this is done for cost savings but that really wore on me over time. I'm paying a lot of money and I want a premium dinner at night. We could not get reservations at the French restaurant. We tried to walk in but were told no more reservations. The place was half empty. These "premium" restaurants have higher quality food so limiting the reservations saves them $. The service was hit or miss, some staff really cared and you could tell. Some did not and you could tell as well. We had a couple of incidents with the staff being surly., but nothing terrible. my coffee would be empty at the breakfast buffet but no one would ask if i wanted more,we had a great experience with the staff at barefoots, most of the bars and at drunken duck. the buildings...while the location and grounds are absolutely beautiful, the rooms and some buildings are worn.Our bed was really uncomfortable and so were the pillows. Our room was very very moist, the air conditioning was somewhat working as the room was cold but moist, alot of our clothes felt like they were damp. We were only there 3 nights, but i was excited to leave as I was missing my bed at home.The ice machine in our hallway was leaking and every day we had to walk around a huge puddle of water spilling onto the tile. Can't they just repair it? In my friends room, they were saying their safe was broken and there was sand everywhere in their room, so thats disappointing.I had read online not to leave 3 hours early, to be honest, you could even leave 1 hour before your departure. it took us 20 min from the resort to when we sat down to wait for our flight.  The grounds are beautiful and well manicured, and the resort has an overall romantic vibe which was so nice. . Overall it was the little things with the room and the staff, we only stayed 3 nights and i had had enough of the bed. The beach was incredible. The island is really beautiful and I enjoyed our excursions. 

by Traveladdict7717 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

SEB staff was AMAZING!

This was our 3rd visit to SEB and our 11th overall Sandals trip. We received our free week on this trip. I have both positives and areas of improvement but I honestly can't say anything negative about the staff and the island of the Bahamas. The people were just amazing! If you are worried about them not wanting us in their country - do not worry for a second. They were so happy to be back at work and everyone was above and beyond friendly. They also went above and beyond cleaning for those of you worried about that. Hand sanitizer is available everywhere. They wash off every menu and every door handle that is touched after each use. I also saw employees in sanitizing team shirts who walked around spraying and wiping all of the couches, chairs, and other common resort areas being used regularly by staff. As far as staff and cleanliness, 5 star for sure! Shout out to some AMAZING staff! Butlers - Nicole, Henry, and Ailyn. All very great! But we just connected so well with Nicole and loved her personality. She is outstanding and always bubbly! Chantel and Ruthlyn at Bahama Bay every morning. So warm and kind! Demi and Bianca at Cafe de Paris. They are so sweet! Rodney in the golf shop always took care of us and our golf clubs Jackie W in the spa! Love her. Danielle (Gigi), James, and Zoey were awesome in the Entertainment department As far as a resort, the water and beach can not be beat. It's just beautiful. The beach and the golf course are the reason we go back. The staff amazed us so much on this trip we would love to go back and visit them again soon. If you can splurge to go beach front, do it! It is amazing. I could sit on the balcony all day an be mesmerized by that amazing water. Entertainment - Much improved this trip. Enjoyed the shows and musicians playing more nights than usual. Returning Guest Dinner - YIKES. It was bad... really really bad. The menu was embarrassing. No lobster. Couldn't get lobster anywhere on resort which was disappointing. The food was awful. Couldn't even enjoy the meal with the heat and flies outside. Everyone left and went to the pub to eat. Restaurants - Disappointed Bahama Bay was not open at all for dinner. Barefoot was supposed to be but never saw it open. The French, IL Cielo and the Pub were all good but for people who don't like Soy, Kimonos, and Bombay it was boring rotating back and forth between 3 restaurants. I would love to see some restaurant variety at Sandals resorts. There is one mexican restaurant at Antigua, one American Tavern at Barbados, I would just like to see more of that stuff instead of every resort having Soy, Kimonos, and Bombay. Other area of improvement needed --- Breakfast - While I understand no buffets at this point, room service and sit down breakfast are the only options. As someone who is not a breakfast eater, I do not enjoy waiting an hour each morning to get breakfast. It just takes way too long. I want to get out on the golf course, go on an excursion, go to the beach, breakfast needs to open up earlier and take a lot less time. Often we were late for our 8 am tee time because we ordered breakfast or went to a restaurant right when they opened up at 7 am but it just took too long. However, Sandals as a resort chain has been disappointing. Absolutely nothing against SEB and this lovely place, but Sandals has not been handling this situation very well at all. Just worth mentioning as we now have earned our free week we will take that trip and begin to look elsewhere if Sandals does not improve. Originally our trip was not supposed to be at Emerald Bay. We were supposed to go to St. Lucia and Sandals is just not flexible with rescheduling during a pandemic. Other resort chains (Secrets and others) are allowing same rates up to a year and throwing in incentives like a free night while Sandals is charging more to reschedule. It left a very salty taste in my mouth as my St. Lucia trip for next summer is now $2,000 more than what I would have paid had I been able to go this summer. Yet they didn't reopen June 4th like they insisted they were. It's just things like this I won't forget and Sandals is losing lots of loyal guests due to this situation. Would just love to see Sandals in general come up with new activities and restaurants and overall spice things up a bit. Would love to see a mini golf course or another bowling alley and more entertainment and activities that are not focused on drinking. Overall, I absolutely love Emerald Bay and the staff. It's an amazing vacation. Just would like to see Sandals as a brand improve in order for me to keep spending my money there. Sandals is not cheap. And they are starting to not be worth the money. Oh, and I heard so many guests got upgraded rooms because the resort was at low capacity. All hit or miss. Lots did and lots didn't. But not very good for your loyal customer of 70 nights to hear everyone get upgraded when they didn't.

by exumasfave Midlothian, Virginia

What an AMAZING ReOpen after COVID

We were one of the lucky ones to experience the reopening of Sandals Emerald Bay for our stay July 7-15. We were also extremely blessed to be the very first couple to celebrate our 20 year anniversary by renewing our vows while there. Before I begin my review, there are a few things to share regarding the process of getting into the Bahamas. Keep in mind, this process will most likely change. But I will include websites/pages that were extremely helpful in the months prior to us arriving. In order to visit the Beautiful islands of the Bahamas, a negative RT- PCR Covid test must be taken prior to arrival and a travel health card submitted with the test results. Check for timeframe as this has changed a few times. You will want to follow The Office of The Prime Minister Bahamas on social media as they post daily updates and also will let you know of press conferences as well. In addition to following that page, I would suggest following The Ministry of Health Bahamas and Ministry of Tourism Bahamas. The website to submit for your travel health card is travel.gov.bs These pages above as well as their websites helped me and many others to follow the correct protocol to enter. Please make sure to follow all protocols or you will be turned away....respectfully so. Now...on to my review...and get ready because this ones extensive...BUT well worth the read. When we arrived on July 7, it was Sandals Emerald Bay’s reopening day and they did not disappoint. The welcoming from the entire staff was so genuine and heartfelt. You could feel the relief from them as they were eagerly excited to be back at work after months of nothing. I had prepared myself for them to be reserved due the circumstances....and didn’t blame them one bit. They have been Covid free and are now opening up their home to us...pretty scary in my opinion. We were happily surprised that the fear was not there. In fact it was complete opposite....with masks being a requirement for staff, we could see the smile and joy in their eyes as we were all welcomed back home. Sandals Emerald Bay is beautiful. It’s hard to put into words the sheer beauty of this resort. The view from the lobby out to the ocean is the view that is forever etched in my memories. It never gets old...to see the pool and the ocean and it almost looks as if the pool runs into the ocean. The island of the Exumas that this resort sits on is a true island feel. Crystal clear, turquoise waters, soft white sand...almost like powder. No need to travel to Tahiti...you can find that same beauty here. In the world we live in today, if you want to have some sort of normalcy to your life...to have that feeling back again, Sandals Emerald Bay is where you need to be. And the food was just as I remembered from our last trip....but even better! Absolutely delicious.....my mouth is watering thinking about it now. Due to this being our 20th anniversary, we chose to splurge a little and upgraded to the Beachfront Walkout Butler Suite. And it was worth every single penny! The view, the little walkway right to our cabana not too far from our room. Hammock right outside our patio. And it was spotless! Housekeeping cleaned every day and we could smell the clean when we walked in our room every day. We all know that clean smell...of bleach...sanitizer...you name it, they used it. Followed every single protocol. We never felt unsafe or unsure. Every time we turned around, throughout the resort, there were staff with their cleaning supplies wiping everything down. It did not go un noticed. Our butlers, Mark, Arielle and Hilton...our friends....our family. They knew what we wanted before we even asked. Constantly checked in on us and every request honored....with those beautiful smiles. They made our vacation stress free given the hoops we had to jump through to get there. We couldn’t have wanted for a single thing because they took care of it all. I can only hope one day they can make it to our home and we can show them our appreciation by catering to them and giving them the same warm, welcoming feeling they gave us. For our vow renewal, we had the FABULOUS Tanagra, Shalise, Delvina and Joval (Joey). We are bowing down to you for such a beautiful experience. They made it special. They made it perfect. Tanagra’s zest for life and celebration of love don’t stop. She made sure every box was checked in preparation for our day. She taught us a spin on the elbow bump....I hope to use is next time we arrive. Delvina was in charge of our reception and she was so lighthearted and led the way with giving us directions on what was next....even down to how to cut the perfect slice of cake. Shalise is the wedding department manager and because of her, everything ran smoothly. She’s a great leader. They all work very well together. Joey was our photographer....and I’m leaving pictures attached to show you how AMAZING he is!! You want Joey for your wedding or vow renewal. He was personal and got to know us...didn’t rush, took his time and ended up capturing some beautiful moments. Visit Island Routes and make sure to ask for Ashwanna. She used to be a part of the entertainment staff but has moved to tours and excursions. If you need a Jeep to rent for the day to travel the island and explore its other secret hidden treasures or want to go swimming with the pigs, make sure to see her! Ashwanna was one of the few who made us fall in love with Sandals when we made our first visit to Royal Bahamian and we were thrilled when we visited Emerald Bay our first visit back in 2017 and she had transferred over. I hope next time we return that she’s back in entertainment and with James, GiGi and Zoey. Which brings me to these special 3...they continued to involve guests with trivia at the pool, water balloon tosses (we lost quickly...lol), dancing, singing. Their smiles and laughter are contagious. What a way to start and end your day with them. The bar staff, Markia, Daria and Justin...aka Foxy....drinks were on point and delicious. We’re not ones to drink all day....but they make you want to! So so good!!! The food at all of the restaurants was delicious. My all time favorite dish there is ceviche from Barefoot. And every day for lunch or as an afternoon snack, Mark, Arielle or Hilton had some made for me. My absolute favorite dish there and I couldn’t get enough. For breakfast you have got to try the Banana crunch French toast from IL Cielo. I’m not a banana person but this is a must. Doesn’t taste like bananas. Bombay....the Rogan Josh which is a lamb stew is something you have got to try. I have never really like Indian food and we usually skip Bombay but my husband wanted to try it out as he loves to try new foods. The night we had reservations, I was a little under the weather due to a taxi ride downtown and car sickness. So I didn’t get a chance to try the food that night. But Kenuelle, our server, and Shakar, the manager, both said that when I was better to go back and they’d fix something for me to try. 2 nights later...our last night, we went to Soy...we weren’t that hungry and wanted something light. As we were walking in, both Kenuelle and Shakar asked me to stop by after Soy and they’d fix a little something for me. Again, I wasn’t that hungry but told them absolutely. Their service and smile....can’t say no to that. And I’m so glad we stopped in after Soy. They’ve converted me now to an Indian food eater. And they were so excited to share their foods with me and excited to see my response. Audrey and Vinnette at the spa were wonderful. My husband is not a massage person so it was a hard sell to get him to do one. Not only did he cave and do it, but instead of a 60 minute massage, I got him to try the 90 minute raindrop massage. Let’s just put it this way....he didn’t even realize 90 minutes had passed when they were done! Don’t forget to rebook at the Loyalty and Travel desk before you leave. Emma, the L & T manager and her team will take very good care of you. She checked on us through out the week when it wasn’t even her job to do so. She had enough on her plate, but always found the time for us....from the moment we arrived until the moment we left. Mr Mutton, the GM...he knows how to take care of his family. This wonderful man, took care of us all while we were there. There wasn’t a day that didn’t go by that we didn’t see him out passing drinks by the pool, meeting with guests to see how they’re feeling and making sure we’re all comfortable. My last piece of info....You can have a beautiful resort and beautiful ocean, beautiful beach and beautiful view....but without the beautiful people, it’s only a resort, an ocean, a beach...a view. These people of this island are what make it beautiful. Thank you all and we will see you soon!

by Pinki2510 Amherst, Massachusetts

Aqua marine laradiae

This was our fifth 10 days trip to a Sandals resort. We love the Caribbean Islands and go there every July to celebrate our anniversary. As usual, Sandals did not disappoint and proven us again why we choose to continue and visit their wonderful resorts. Even though, this time we were not overly optimistic that we will make the vacation, we got very lucky to get in all 10 days out of the 15 days window of opportunity when the boarders were open. I would first like to say that the staff at this resort was SUPER FRIENDLY!!! They seemed so happy to see people back and made every minute of every day special. The staff also wore masks and kept social distancing everywhere which in this heat, is something to be proud of. The food was terrific and we especially enjoyed the special "Fish in a foil" from Chef Wesley at the jerk shack. Soy (as usual) did not fail and the manager Joel made sure that ew were treated like royalty. Italian and French restaurants were delicious and the service excellent. Since the resort was at 50% capacity, we were also upgraded which was very nice which continues to impress us as Sandals staff was doing everything in their power to thank us for making it there. Emma at the return/travel lounge was fabulous and helped us book next years Grande Saint Lucias trip. The pools were very nice and fairly chill/quiet and the ocean colors and water were as perfect as it gets!!! Overall, fantastic place that we will be going back to!!!!!!