Sandals Halcyon Beach

We loved our week at Sandals Halcyon. The resort and the room were beautiful, the restaurants were very good, and most importantly the service was exceptional. Our three butlers were excellent, but Princess was special. She was proactive, friendly and the kind of person who really cares about her clients. One notch above.

We were guests in early February and booked the Honeymoon Butler Room with a private pool. Upon arrival, we were disappointed as we had stayed in the Honeymoon Butler with Private Pool Sanctuary in Barbados. NO PROBLEM! Loni, head of butlers, worked with our team of butlers, Shevon, Rea and Princess to upgrade us to Shorehouse Butler Suite with Private Pool. AT NO ADDDITIONAL CHARGE!!!! For our remaining 4 nights! Great outcome delivered in a first class way! All of the staff went out of their way to make sure we were having a lovely time.

Very disappointed after waiting a number of years to stay at a Sandals resort. Restaurant service very hit and miss with no check backs on meals, slow drink service and no wine top up without requesting, Drink service was also poor, often slow like in the restaurant, and cocktail presentation drab with no theatre on preparing. If you like your cocktail presentation to be just a slice of pineapple your on a winner here. There are premium brands as advertised but these must be requested and are not used in cocktails. Some meals very poor, overcooked and missing actual part of the dish. A mixed grill arrived without the lamb which was served on a side plate 10 mins later. The Japanese and Italian restaurants were the better meal experiences. The staff were either great or just not interested. I felt there were too many staff which meant they felt chatting rather than looking after guests more important. On a positive the resort is stunning and the rooms lovely albeit old probably requiring a refurbishment in the near future. I would however not look under your bed on departure like I did, yuck! The management were not obviously present when required during service resulting in unsupervised and poorly trained staff left to fire fight. It certainly wasn’t 5* more 3* in my opinion. It wasn’t for us but clearing suits many.

Read so much about "the Sandals experience" so considering the price point expected great things. Unfortunately there were too many negatives. We were here for 10 nights and tried the other two Sandles resorts during our stay, I won't rate these as we didn't spend too much time there. I would just mention that the free shuttle takes much, much longer than 15 minutes. Whilst the issue is with traffic congestion, therefore outside of hotels control, having to wait at the entrance for an hour or more (on multiple occasions) without any specific information is unacceptable. Pros Room was of good size (Crystal Lagoon Walkout Swim-up Club Level) Comfortable bed Shower power good Majority of staff were very helpful and work extremely hard Cons Not enough staff especially in restaurants. One of the biggest selling points of Sandles for me was "unique dinning experiences and level of quality and choice unmatched by other all-inclusive resorts" I cannot adequately express my disappointment with the quality and choice of the food served. We have stayed in many 4 and 5 star all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean and Africa most knock spots off Sandals poor offerings. Where was the grilled whole fresh fish (a Caribbean speciality), no lobster, prawns seemed to be rationed. Steak was a bit hit miss and on some dishes was minute. There was no buffet restaurant for dinner and only Bayside (hugely understaffed) that didn't need a reservation we did get reservations at all except Marios (4 offsite) nothing stood out enough to have a second visit. The Beach Bistro closes at 7pm and reopens at 9pm when it offers a very limited menu and no drinks. Night-time entertainment was mixed, held in the area around the Irie bar. Resort map incorrectly shows this near Crystal Lagoon, it faces Kelly's dockside. It was always very, very busy had limited seating and was ear splittingly noisy. Resorts website states 7 bars, 2 are pool bars and are closed by 6pm, the beach bar (Bistro) closed by 7pm. Mirage bar was never opened while we were there, seemed to be used for conferences. Two further "bars' are located within restaurants (Kelly's and Kimonos) which means only Irie available for night time drinks (see above) As clubroom guests we should have been able to have a drink in the clubroom (used to be the piano bar) however, evening staff were quick to tell us we could only have a coffee even though drinks were clearly on display. When asked why no alcohol we were told we could go to the Irie !! I did express my concerns in resort and received the usual platitudes, however, much was made of a trial opening until 10pm of the pool bar near Crystal Lagoon but opening times/days were not prominently displayed and on 2 days when it should have opened it was closed. In summary, at best a 3.5 star holiday at 5+ prices If you're considering booking don't pay extra for club level.

Fabulous holiday. Small complex with extremely friendly, polite and helpful staff. Food was of high standard and not one bad meal whether breakfast , pizza or evening meal. Kelly’s dockside rib eye steak is a must. Kimonos is fun and different. Can shuttle to other 2 nearby sandals which added variety. Sunset party cruise is excellent. Room was modern, cleaned every day and in a quiet location. Bar in room restocked every day, even got white wine instead of red on asking. Two pools , main being lively and paradise pool for those wanting a quieter holiday. Lovely lazy river to float/walk up and down and some sunbeds available around this area. Only negative I had was that the cabanas around pool needed refurbishing and not enough parasols around paradise pool. Also the Americans get up early to secure best beds and with butlers reserving beds as well makes it difficult to get beds after 9am.