Travelled to Barbados for Christmas 2021, and having left it quite late to book the availability was limited. We decided to opt for all inclusive for one week then move to another hotel for the next. We usually stay on the west coast but opted for the Sugar Bay Hotel as it had the room types for our group.
Good and not so good points about the hotel; Rooms are a good size, we were 2 adults and a teenager in one room and even with sofa bed down there was plenty of space to manoeuvre. Lots of hanging space and the smart TV was really useful as we managed to link up our netflix account which was handy when the oldest member of our group needed to escape the heat we popped him a film on! Tea and coffee making in room, fridge with water replenished daily. The beach is lovely, enough space, although sun loungers have seen better days, we preferred the quieter end of the beach which happened to be less shady so you have to wait for the beach team to set a shade up for you and some days was 11am by the time they made it from one end of the beach to the other so expect a wait. Watersports included but you have to stay within the ‘lagoon’, the kids did snorkelling a few times (recommend take your own kit or it’s a bit hit and miss as to the quality of facemask/snorkel).
Bars & restaurants; on a positive we never encountered any wait times for food or drink. Staff are incredibly friendly and accommodating. As we stayed for 7 nights we had 2 speciality dinners included in both UMI (Japanese/Asian) and Sizzler (Steakhouse), the food in both of these was noticeably better than in the main buffet and if you wanted to dine there on additional evenings then the cost was minimal as a hotel guest. The main buffet was inconsistent at dinner, and repetitive at breakfasts. We chose to eat lunch at Colin’s Rum Beach Bar which is waiter served which we prefer and the menu changed daily but had pasta/burgers/hot dogs each day.
Evening entertainment each night and fortunately neither too loud nor went on for too long, and plenty of people just chatting, playing cards, so was very relaxed.
We had a complimentary 15 minute spa voucher given to us at check in, however, by the time we’d decided when to book there was no availability for the rest of our stay – so recommend booking your slot soon as possible.
The hotel is in an ok location, you can walk to the race-course and via the beach during the day you can walk as far as Champers restaurant without shoes, it’s a combination of hard going beach and easy boardwalk!
Restaurants close by we’d recommend Baby Doll, and Tapas (one of the nicest on the island), for anyone want to keep up to speed with football back in the UK there Bubba’s sports bar just 5 mins in a taxi.
The hotel was good value all inclusive for the time of year, but we still prefer the West Coast for a different vibe.
