Sandals Emerald Bay Reviews

Not the normal standard expected from a Sandals resort!!

I am currently staying at Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma. It is my second day and have not been able to get a pool towel either day. All of the pool shelves where towels are stored are empty. When addressing this problem with the front desk/concierge they called down to their laundry services and they reported there were no clean towels available on the premises. They would not provide me with the reason for the lack of towels nor a status of when we can expect to find towels at any of the pools.<br/>My husband and I have enjoyed many Caribbean vacations with no worry about availability of pool towels. So if you find yourself considering booking at this resort, I would think again. Poor service and amenities. I will not be returning to this resort. <br/>For Exuma, we will absolutely return. The water is gorgeous with the perfect Bahamian breeze!

Beautiful water! Fun and friendly staff! good food!

Had a great time, the only reason I give it 4 stars Is. They tried really hard to fix the problem but the just couldn't do it. Our a/c blew out a mold smell.

Positives - Beautiful beach
Negatives - No servers at beach/pool, no staff during day to clean beach/pool, shortage of towels at pool, elevator not working, periodic no A/C in restaurants, terrible wifi, room service doesn't always show up, 4 pizzas took 2 hours at restaurant, overcharged then corrected at spa, etc. Overall property needs a lot of updating - save yourself the aggravation and try another hotel.

Bucket List Ticked! Wow, what a place. The staff, the location, the views, the rooms, the food!

We saved up a long time to visit this Sandals location and we weren t disappointed. We opted for the Club Suite room which wasn t much more than the base room.

On site you have multiple restaurants to choose from, a couple of pools including a quiet one and staff on hand to help out.

Island Routes should be your first stop to book a swimming pigs tour, which was unreal. Footage on YouTube.

Overall a proper 5 star experience and would love to go back.

For this travelling from the UK, be careful with flights. We booked through British Airways Holidays and flew in via Nassau. We had to pay for a night in Nassau, which isn t cheap, plus taxi to and from the airport.

Then you need to be wary about luggage allowances. We got 2x 23kg bags with BA each, but the internal flight we only got 1x 23kg bag. Luckily the staff were really helpful.

On the way back our flights took us via Miami, at check in they asked for a printed copy of our Esta which we didn t have. We managed to show the staff online but weren t expecting it. Some people didn t have an Esta and struggled.

My wife won a trip here on Wheel Of Fortune. Wow, did they hook us up. This resort is amazing! The room was perfect. The service here is top notch. I got to be good friends with the bartender, Trevor. This resort has 11 restaurants, all of which are phenomenal! The pool is spectacular, as well. I could write forever about this experience, but all I have left to say is...Go here! You won't be disappointed.
Thank you, Sandals, Pat, and Vanna!

Villa was not worth of 7k we paid for. I would rather stay in regular room instead. It was not like on the picture that i saw on their website! We had terrible experience with this resort! Food is tasteless, if you want to eat burger or fast food only, go to sandals resort. They had no seafood only conk. We had a butler who messed up everything at first (he forgot to make a reservation for a romantic dinner by the beach) we got ready and were waiting at front desk, they came up and said that they have no idea about private romantic dinner by the beach. We got really upset and the next day our butler made it up for us. He made a dinner table on the pool which was not bad. Overall we will never go back to that place ever.

We just returned from our 2nd trip to Sandals Emerald Bay. The beach is absolutely gorgeous! Lincoln and Gary from the Aqua Center are amazing. Leslie from the entertainment team is a lot of fun. Our butlers Gregg and Valdez truly helped make this trip memorable. I can't wait to go back again!

I Loved the All-inclusive part of Emerald Bay Sandals. I just wished there was more night life.

This is the most picture perfect vacation I have ever had. My boyfriend and I went here just last week and I couldn't have dreamed of anything better. It was picture perfect and over the top. The food was 5 star quality, presentation and delicious. The drinks were amazing and Max is the most amazing pool side bartender- he is very attentive, hilarious and personable. Cannot say enough good things about him! We ate at Bahama Bay for dinner one night, the Italian restaurant another night (which was BEYOND amazing) and we had the private candlelight dinner on the beach our last night there. The quality of food across the board topped all! The room was huge and beautiful- the views from our balcony were breathtaking. We loved spending our nights at the Drunken Duck and the bartenders Marvin and Dem were so amazing and made sure everyone was having the time of their lives. The beaches and layout were perfect for enjoying all the inclusive activities and soaking in the sun. My boyfriend scuba dived 3x and raved about the staff, the sights and the quality of the dives. We cannot stop raving about this trip and recommending this to everyone we know!

Some of the nicest people we have met. Well worth it! Will be going back for sure.

Well this is my first time at a Sandals resort and it was recommended by my son but he told me up front that my expectations were going to be too high. We were in a Beach Front Walk Out Suite with a Butler. Let me start by saying the Greg Norman Golf Course is AMAZING and the Resort has a lot of potential. But on arrival we were escorted to this large room with high top tables with no chairs, given these GREEN Drinks and asked to fill out a form on a tablet. As we entered there were several couples already there and more entering, except we seemed to be there FOREVER. with NO explanation. We were finally escorted towards the room where we were handed off to one of our two butlers. Entered room and my wife says that is NOT what she paid for, and in fact the welcome paperwork had someone else names on it. After a debate about the room we gave up. Went for a walk on the beach and shut sliding glass door and apparently it was broken and locked, once we returned called Butler who called Engineering to get us in. Had to go to Office and get MOD to get Engineering to get us in the room ( 1.5 hrs latter ). First Dinner was good but then found out that the wine ( Pinot Noir ) that my wife put on our paperwork was an up charge, not a very good first day. Second day lunch after an incredible round of golf Drunken Duck didn't have my Jameson Whisky, again to MOD to get corrected. Overall food was good but my experience at the French Restaurant was not good when a waitress spilled coffee all over my back and didn't say anything. Though the Golf Course was Amazing it is like it is disconnected from the Resort as far as the staff. Main complaint was with the Butler service, slow and NOT proactive, had to ask for everything and it took forever to get ice and keep the Room Bar supplied. So overall Amazing Golf Course, a Resort with great Potential, Butler Service was POOR and overall corrective action by multiple Resort MOD's NOT consistent .

BEWARE: DO NOT BOOK with Sandals resort during COVID pandemic or cancel reservations while you can still receive a full refund. We booked our trip in January, we were supposed to arrive July 30. Unfortunately, the Bahamas are closing their borders again to US residents this Wednesday. Spoke with a supervisor who told me due to policy (prior to the pandemic) our trip is now 100% nonrefundable even though this is beyond our control and nothing stated in their policy about COVID pandemic policy and refunds. This is very poor business. They assured us they will hold our money for a year to rebook as if they know the pandemic timeline and we will be able to travel in that timeline. People need their money esp during this difficult time. At any moment anything could happen with our jobs. This is HORRIBLE business. CANCEL RESERVATIONS NOW or you will never see your money again. So sad they will not be understanding during a pandemic.

The rooms were clean the property was amazing the service at almost every restaurant was lacking and slow

Food and serve was excellent in every resturant every time I went to Sandals in Exuma.

My wife and I booked our honeymoon trip to Emerald Bay. This was our first trip to the Bahamas and to a Sandals resort. Our expectations were very high. Prior to leaving for our trip, I did what many do and began reading reviews to get some insights. There were a few reviews (especially on TripAdvisor) that left me with some concern. References to unfriendly/robotic staff, property in need of maintenance/deep cleaning, unattentive bartenders and mediocre food. Let me say emphatically, that was FAR from our experience.
1. Location: Emerald Bay has to be Top 10 of most beautiful beaches in the world. It's absolutely spectacular and truly special. The water is crystal clear and as the pictures show, is a stunning blue/green with perfectly kept white sand beach.
2. Property: The grounds are meticulously maintained and are just beautiful. There are so many different types of flowers/bushes/trees and great effort is made to keep everything in top shape.
3. Lodging: We stayed in a club level 2nd floor room which was very well maintained. The room was very clean, bed super comfortable, and our mini bar was always restocked daily by mid-morning. Staff was in late morning for cleaning and again in the evening for turndown service. Never had an issue or need for anything. Fresh towels daily, air conditioning worked very well (although we preferred it off with the window open to hear to ocean). Overall, the standard room was well above our expectations.
4. Food: There are 11 different venues to dine at, 3 that require a reservation. We found the options diverse and the food VERY good. Highly recommend the Bombay (Indian) restaurant. Our server was wonderful! Very friendly, engaging, and prompt. The food was like perfume on your pallet. Kimono Hibachi was fantastic and highlighted by our server Randolph singing John Legend's All of Me acapella while we awaited dessert. It was truly amazing! Highly recommend Soy Sushi as well. Our server Destinique was also outstanding as was the restaurant manager who came to every table to describe specific dishes. He clearly had great passion and care for his craft. Italian was also a highlight with a fresh seafood pasta, unbelievable bread, and again a server who made the experience above expectation. Reuben sang Wind Beneath My Wings and literally stopped the room. Overall, food was outstanding!
5. Spa: My wife and I had 3 separate treatments at the spa during our stay. Manicure/Pedicure followed two days later by a couples massage and on our last day side by side facials. Michelle and Sanet highlighted our spa experience! They were both wonderful. As a testament, my wife's polish chipped and she returned on day 4 and they did a full touch up on the spot. Outstanding service!
6. Photography: Throughout our stay we had several of the onsite photographers greet us and take photos. They captured every aspect of our stay from day one. A stand out for us was Nathan, a truly charismatic young man, with great talent and even greater personality. He was a daily part of making our honeymoon trip truly special.
7. Entertainment: First off, if you're looking for the endless party and a really young crowd, this is NOT your destination. My wife and I were looking for relaxation, to disconnect from our daily grind and schedules, and just enjoy ourselves. There are several great excursions if that's your thing, but we found it completely satisfying to lay at the beach or by the pool, listen to music, have a drink. We sailed, snorkeled, and swan daily. There were live acts, scheduled activities but overall it was nice and low key; just what we were looking for in our trip.

So, overall Emerald Bay was way beyond our expectations and we were so pleased we joined to members club and planned our 2nd trip to another Sandals resort next year. We're pretty low maintenance people, limited demands, and found this resort to be simply wonderful. I highly recommend this destination.

Love the sand and water here. It's a quiet property. We were well looks after and well feed.

Honeymoon in September 2018. My wife and I are Italians and we know English well enough, despite everything it was very difficult to communicate, sometimes we also used Google Translate to let them read what we were asking but often we could not make ourselves understood, for example we asked for sparkling water and they brought us the gaseous, we asked for a dish also indicating it on the menu and they brought us more but the greeting with the smile of all the staff every time we passed by it never failed. If we had spent hundreds of dollars they would have taken us to see the little piglet for a few hours but apart from that we stayed in the resort all the time because we couldn't visit anything, nothing could be done except drinking and eating good drinks and food when they guessed our request. The only purchases we could make were in the shops of the Resort, very clean and nice. The ocean water was full of little fish biting, the beach full of fleas and consequently the pool was always crowded. Dinner was around 6pm and by 8pm it was all dark, without animation. I was happy anyway because I was with my wife but I wouldn't go back even for free. Greetings.

Butler suites are great, and food and facility has significantly improved since 2011 visit.

We just got back from our honeymoon at Sandals- Emerald Bay. It was nothing less than AMAZING! Fortunately, we have been to many beaches, and this by far was the prettiest. The resort was absolutely amazing. Staff was so overly friendly, we never passed a staff member without them greeting us. There are 11 different restaurants to choose from, and they were all fabulous with great food. We loved that they offered a little pub which stayed open until 1:30 a.m. where we could socialize and have fun! This resort was a perfect mixture of people of all different ages, and was everything from the perfect zen to a fun pool party. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a mix of relax and fun at the same time! Rooms were great. No complaints!

The Beach was beautiful - but -
Most people got insect bites that were very itchy. The staff always asked how you were doing but most did not really seem to care. Don't expect cruise ship service. The effectiveness of the management seems questionable. The weather was unpredictable but pleasantly warm.

We went Aug 28th - Sept 7th the people are so nice and as long as you re respectful they treat you the same. People put in a lot of effort to give you a great experience and envious photos opps - from the groundskeepers to housekeeping. More

Upon arriving at GGT we were greeted by Sandals staff (although missed the friendly smile of Airport employee Michelle who always greets the Air Canada passengers). From the airport, it is just a short drive to SEB where we were welcomed by Ricardo, the duty manager and Ekron, one of our butler team. Check in was the fastest we have ever experienced...Ekron was efficient and given we had arrived late into the evening had made arrangements for us for dinner at Barefoot. Credit needs to be given to the service of Ruthanne at Barefoot...the meal was delicious - calamari, beefsteak tomatoes and vegetable Alfredo.
We were in a magnificent two room beachfront butler suite with a stunning view of the immaculate beach and crystal blue ocean. Sunrises were spectacular! The room was well stocked and we particularly enjoyed the snacks and little touches that butler Nakeisha provided to us. It was a pleasure to get to know her.
During this visit Bahama Bay was closed for dinner; however beyond our meal at Barefoot (which was probably our favourite this time) we particularly enjoyed dining at Bombay, the Pub, Soy and the French restaurant, and highly recommend Chicken cordon bleu at the latter. Credit needs to be given to Joel the manager of Soy and Chef Gabriel. We initially stopped in to Soy for a quick appetizer (spicy tuna) before eating at the pub one evening and then returned a few days later. At that time Gabriel showed how talented he is in making sushi, literally surprising us with items that were not on the menu but rather of his own impromptu creation.
Recognition should be given to Shantell at the Pub, long term Sandals employee and someone who remembers us every visit; Tyrowanda at Bahama Bay, pays exceptional attention to guests; and Demetra, at the omelette station, greeting every guest with a gracious smile. If you have the opportunity to sit in Dianne's section at Bahama Bay for breakfast or lunch, you are lucky! It was also great to see Lakeisha at the quiet pool, a resident of Exuma, and someone who pays special attention to guest preferences as well as what time they like certain items. She is extremely dedicated.
We were also happy to see Henry and Samson while they were not our butler team this visit, we do recommend them and while Elean from housekeeping was off while we were at SEB, she took the time to phone us and say hello. It is these type of relationships and the friendliness of staff that keep us returning to SEB. Clearly indicative of the leadership and overall management of the resort....Sharlaine, Director of Guest Services and GM, Jeremy Mutton.
In the last few months, Sandals has discontinued the use of plastic straws and replaced them with paper ones. Replacing the single use plastic containers such as the ones used for salsa, as well as setting up a recycling program for bottle and cans would also be in keeping with Sandals' commitment to the environment so hopefully something that can be planned for the future!
Sadly many of the staff have been impacted by the tragedy of Hurricane Dorian, either directly through loss of their own homes or indirectly as they have a relative or friend impacted. Every one has a story! Probably the highlight of our stay was taking supplies to children who have been relocated from Abaco to Exuma to attend school and who are staying with either family or people they in fact do not know. The staff at SEB are dedicated to helping these children and their family and the amount of caring was evident. Great work Sno who coordinated the gathering of all the supplies and the visits to the schools.
SEB has a wide variety of activities even if you do not golf, take the opportunity to walk the back nine of the course you will not be disappointed. The gym is well equipped and there is opportunity to paddle board and sail right off the beach. We also always enjoy walking over to the marina.
If however all you want to do is rejuvenate and relax, this is the place to do so. It is quiet, remote and perfect.

Although our stay is a year back, we still have the memories of Sandals Emerals Bay.
We spent a week in Advent at this gorgeous hotel, having been to the Sandals Royal Bahamian before.
In our opinion, the Royal Bahamian, which was already excellent, is still a bit superior. The park-like area is much more spacious and very well maintained.
Because we arrived in the morning from Nassau, we had to wait a few hours for our room, for which we were led into a separate waiting area and were well looked after. We were able to use all the facilities until our spacious room was ready.
Trips, as to the floating pigs, could be booked directly in the hotel.
Unfortunately, the bath towels for the beach chairs were scarce on some days.
You could also better remove the seagrass on the beach. After a walk I had some problems with sandflies.

My wife and I went for a 30 year anniversary/and a 55th and 60th Bday trip. We ve been to Mexico resorts, and cruises that were mediocre, so we thought we would splurge on this trip. The Sandals ads made it seem amazing, and the property location truly WAS amazing. The beach sand was fine and white, the water was turquoise and warm. The resort tries to keep the occupancy to about 500. No crowds anywhere we went- beach, pool, restaurants, activities. The staff was very accommodating to my wife's dietary needs of gluten free. I will say that she did in fact get a stomach bug from either food or drink on our 4th day so the remainder of the trip was not what we had anticipated.
We paid for the higher end accommodation so we had a butler assigned to us (2 actually-but not at the same time).
We truly had a great time and we were trying NOT to be picky...but you are paying 8K for a week to get away and it should be amazingly special.
Upon arrival, the head butler went to see if he approved of our room. We waited for him to come back then he went with us to the room. When we went to the elevator my wife and I gave each other a sideways glance as it looked like it was the service elevator. Turns out it was as the other was broken the whole week (we found this out after we unpacked so did not ask for another room). Half way through the week, the service elevator was broken as well and we needed to walk upstairs, down a hallway, through several doors to get to our room. In the room, the glass on the slider that looks out a million $ view was so stained inside the glass that you could only see from one slider. The room was mediocre at best-dated pictures and walls that needed a paint job and trim that was scuffed all over. The front door had a grease stain that was there all week. The makeup mirror in the bathroom was loose so it could not be used. We reported it the 1st day to the butler (who should have reported it to maintenance but didn t), so with no response I had to tape it to the level my wife wanted it. Butlers were good guys, but they made plenty of promises to do things and then they didn t, i.e. making arrangements for the tour, making dinner arrangements, bringing us snacks, etc. It was a constant thing, where we had to keep reminding them to do things. The premium beers requested were not stocked in the mini bar-only a local beer that was not very good. The hard liquor was already opened before we arrived so I never had a drink from the mini bar as I was not sure of the integrity of the bottle. (this was during the time that tourists were dying at Dominican Republic resorts from supposedly drinking from the mini bar)
I think someone else mentioned the golf. Great course, but the 1st time I played, my wife rode along-and we were charged $50 for the cart. If you were to rent clubs it was 55$ each time.
Overall, I would agree with another review that it is a 3 - star at best, with a 5 - star price tag. We will keep looking for a resort that is worth the dollars that you spend and not fall for the hype and slick advertising that Sandals puts out on their site.

The Bahamas and Sandals Emerald Bay exceeded our expectations. The beach was beautiful and the service provided by the staff was incredible.

We knew the staff would be excellent, and they were way, way better than excellent. I had no idea the food would be as good as it is. This place is the total package when it comes to all-inclusive resorts. Beaches were great. You MUST do the swimming pigs island tour. It s a couple hundred bucks per person and well worth it.

How could you not love this place! Good drinks great food awesome staff beautiful water soft sand and plenty of stuff to do. I don't wanna leave!

Beautiful resort, yummy food, staff who is always friendly. Everything is amazing here.

All told, it's fine, but not as good as we expected. Too many areas are in need of updates. For instance...



The bathroom near the dive shop constantly was either clogged or closed. And once, when I flushed, water immediately started coming up through the floor drain. I reported it immediately to resort staff, and it was then closed for the next day or so. The next nearest bathroom...the Drunken Duck. It would also be nice if a bathroom was closer to Il Cielo, the Italian restaurant.

The rooms were fine, if a bit dated. The room bathroom needed attention, and we did have to call for maintenance twice as the sink stopper constantly clogged on one sink, and was broken on the other.

We had to postpone our trip because our flight was canceled due to a hurricane and Sandals would not let us reschedule. The hotel room is nonrefundable, even in the event of a natural disaster. We never got a penny of our $4000 back from the hotel, but our flights were fully refunded. Please avoid Sandals like the plague.

Magical place .. It leaves you breathless!
When you get here it's like being in paradise .. Served and revered .. All inclusive. And the beach a real show .. Crystal clear water!

I went here with my honey moon with my wife. Wasn't really shown around or told how things work when we go there. Place was very beautiful but I don't think I would go there again. Swimming with the pigs was very awesome but that does cost extra. If I had to so it again I would go to the sandals in Nassau instead.

Its a beautiful property with a lot of plus. beaches, water, pools restaurants. here's the bad.
Bad:Don t waste your money on the club level. this wasn t the best Sandals to stay at because every room is either a Club or Butler room, no regular rooms. Speaking with other guests some were frequent Sandals visitor s it was a little better at other resorts but not by much. While it s true that the Sandals employee s won t take a tip so you do save some money. For $35-$40 in singles for a week compared to the high price of Sandals club rooms with nothing special, Do the math. After experiencing 3 great Club Level rooms at the Excellence Resorts, Sandals Club room was a joke. We re used to a fully stocked bar with a bartender and light food fare for every meal with deserts in the evening. The Sandals club didn t even have anything to drink other then coffee. It was large room with no atmosphere and very little traffic because there was no draw. We went to Martini night & my wife ordered a martini & I asked if they had a glass of red wine (Cabernet), had 2 bottles of something I wouldn t drink. Other resorts that were more guest oriented they would have sent someone to the bar to get me a glass of wine. We were told to check out at the club room & no one was there at 10:30 in the morning (have to be out of room by 11). We waited 20 minutes & my wife finally went to the front desk & dragged someone over to check us out. Weird: one late afternoon we got back to our room and ordered a cheese platter as we were having another couple over for drinks. I also ordered 2 bottles of chilled champagne, first room service said that they didn t handle the alcohol so I said connect me with who does, then she said do you really need 2 bottles we can spare you one, I said we were having people over and she said I ll send up 1 and you ll have to call the club room if you want another one. So I had her transfer me over and got a run around from the club person who said are you sure you need 2 bottles. I finally got disgusted and told her If 2 bottles of champagne is going to break this place then I m staying at the wrong resort. She said I ll send another bottle up. After 40 minutes I called back and asked where my champagne was, I must have gotten a different person because she said that she didn t know, so she checked. She then told me that they were chilling my champagne (don t know how long it takes to chill but other resorts would go to one of the 6-7 bars and get 2 bottles already chilled). You can t make this stuff up. I think some resort workers need better training. In some resorts, club members have a private pool but not Sandals, they don t even have waiter or waitresses walk the pool area taking drink orders. There are only 2 restaurants open for Breakfast and the buffet is the same every day with 2-3 exceptions (also a small offering of food). If you don t drink champagne or Mimosas and want to order a bloody Mary you re out of luck because I was told the the bars don t open until 10:30-11. Other resorts we stayed at had a bloody mary station at breakfast and could order other drinks. Lunch was a little better. We were also spoiled at other resorts with major shows such as a Michael Jackson Review or an Oldies Review. There s not much entertainment going on here, they have a very small open air stage and room enough for about 50 chairs in the open air. Don t know what they do if it rains. Turn Down service was a hit and miss we missed 3 times (don t know when they start) but it must be early because we were out of our room about 6-6:15 pm every night.

This was an awesome all-inclusive vacation! The butlers were there for us whenever we called and came to us at the pool or beach and brought us whatever we wanted. So nice to not have to worry about tipping. You only tip the butlers on the day you are leaving and you tip them for the entire vacation. The food was awesome and I highly recommend splurging extra for the raindrop message. We did that with a couples package and it was heaven! One word of caution, please use the bug spray they provide. If you are susceptible to bug bites then beware of the no-see-ums! I did not use the spray and before I knew it, I was covered in bites and let me tell you, they can take 6 months or more to go away. These little tiny black bugs are common in the Bahamas. You can Google no-see-ums to read about them if you wish.

Great service with few hiccups. Perfect chill and total relaxation spot. If you're looking for party hearty this is NOT your resort. It's fun and casual and quiet. We loved it after a very stressful year. Our 40th!! Many Honeymooners at the main pool but we skip the pools and enjoy the gorgeous beach. A resort we would return in a heart beat. Mind you it's time to refurbish their buildings interiors and rooms!!! Way past time. Stuck in the 90 s room decor. That's our only complaint. Food was good to very good. Choices are plenty. Thank you Valerie at barefoot by the sea and Tyrwonda at Bahama Bay. Great managers!! See you again someday!

I've been to many Sandals/Beaches properties and this one tops it all. I love the Quiet Pool, very peaceful and low key. We took a tour with Robert's Island Adventures on an all-day excursion. It was by far the highlight for me. We went to Thunderball Grotto, Iguana Island, Swimming with the pigs, The sandbars at Musha Cay, celebrity homes situated on their own private cays, and a stop at the Staniel Bay Yacht Club for the most delicious lunch and to swim with the nurse sharks. Tip: even if you are a strong swimmer, I suggest wearing a life jacket inside Thunderball Grotto. The current is quick and you can just float and relax and snorkel. Sandals was great, the beach was private, quiet, and pristine. The service was great. I am definately going back!

Wonderful resort to relax and enjoy the island life.

Here's what you need to know: Everything you expect in the location, food, atmosphere, etc. is exactly how it is - phenomenal (almost beyond words).
The only reason this is a 4 star rating is because of the Sandals call center; I won't bore you with the details but in short, Sandals had to relocate us 5 days before our trip (originally to Nassau) and provided terrible customer service over the phone. It took me 5 hours + Capital One + 3 weeks of waiting in order to get my promised refunded portion. At the location, service was completely different - polar opposite and great

Everything was fantastic. The beach was beautiful but very windy all week. Golf course was beyond good. The room was clean, fully stocked and has a beautiful view of the beach. Staff were great and all seemed very concerned with us enjoying our stay. The food was great (we loved Bombay, the drunken duck, the pizza and the jerk shack). We would both love to go back.
The only downside was you need to get up early to get a good seat near the pool and checkout through aircanada could have been smoother

Great place and great staff here! Food was always really good!! Highly recommend you go do the pig excursion while you visit!

They do a horrible job cleaning their beach otherwise this would be a nice spot.

Amazing all inclusive resort. We really enjoyed the atmosphere, the beaches, the food, and the excursions!!

Literally all-inclusive! Food, drinks, watersports, scuba diving, transport from/to airport, gratuities. Amazing place, amazing staff, amazing service!

The service here was second to none. Our butlers were very personable and we had a blast with them. They were Theon and Presley in case you want to request great butlers. All the workers here were very friendly and helpful with any questions we may have had. A wide variety of restaurants here as well with all sorts of different foods of different nationalities. We spent a lot of time at the quiet pool. Only issue on the pool was a lot of leaves and bugs in it. Wasn't skimmed enough. The grounds were kept very nicely. I recommend if you do the beach, wear the bug spray. I was eaten alive by sand fleas. I highly recommend to visit this place!

'Now I've had the time of my life. . . and I owe it all to you"

Went here with my husband on a little get away. We absolutely fell in love. That staff was wonderful the food was great the scenery was to die for. We will definitely be back! Thank you guys

Elegant and cozy hotel. Pools are not completely clean. Service and food very good. Staff very friendly.

What a fun vacation we had and the butlers are over the top!!

We had our wedding here, it was a great experience. The food was great, the drinks were great. You feel like you're at home. It sucked having to come back home. Anything we needed someone was there to help. We went mid June 2017. Perfect time.

This Resort is beautiful, however I feel that the Bohemians that are native to this Resort do not really understand what customer service is. The Jamaicans that work for sandals seem to be a lot more hospitable, and better understand what real good customer service is.

We have been to several all inclusive .. including several Sandals. This was our most expensive Sandals trip and not one we'd recommend. We had read reviews for weeks and that to have a favorable experience it was highly recommend to go for the butler level which is expensive. We had never found this mandatory but glad we did. We found this to be true ... I feel that unless you pay for a butler level you are treated poorly. This is unexceptable because even the basic rooms here aren't cheap.
This was our first experience with the butler .. first of all they aren't just taking care of you .. they have several couples and they work long and hard. Our room was off the hook amazing. Our back doors opened to the beach .. the front to the quiet pool. The room was huge and amazing. Unfortunately the butlers tried hard but we found it intrusive ... they came in our room when we were in bed . They have a key and did not knock. another morning I snuck out before sunrise to take pics and let my husband sleep in ... I was trying to be quiet. I snuck the door open only to find the butler right there decorating our walk mat with flowers. I screamed. .. he screamed .. my husband awoke in panic .. not ideal. They ran a bath with flower petals at some point ... we can to our room to a cold bath with soggy flowers so had to clean the bath before using it. The flowers they put on our bed had tiny ants ... they gave us phones if we needed them .. we never called but they showed up alot. I know they were trying hard but we wanted to relax and found it intrusive.
when we tried to do anything without the butlers .. the service was awful. My husband walked over and ordered pizza ... they obviously forgot the order .. all of a sudden they don't speak English. I booked a massage on our last day ... they claimed no record and they didn't care until I said I'll take it up with the butler. then it was taken care of. They were very dismissive and rude until they found out we had a butler. Sandals writes platitudes in response be we have read enough reviews to know they don't ring true.
The bay this is one is lovely .. some days the water was emerald green .. some days blue. It's a bay so perfect for water sports and trying to to take our a hobie cat. The resort is small much smaller than we are accustomed to .. I gather it used to be a Four Seasons. I can see why they sold it.
This is the only sandals that didn't have good food. As with all the Sandals and most all Inclusive ..the restaurants menu doesn't vary from day to day. With so few restaurants we found the dining lacking. What food we got was Meh ... nothing great .. good at best. We both were disappointed with the service and food ... when we tally the cost of butler room this Sandals was a mistake. the beach and the ocean were great ... our room was impressive but we gave it a low rating because for the cost it did not live up to the Sandals brand standard. the expensive all day excursion with the swimming pigs was the highlight.
all and all this was our least fav all inclusive trip and definitely least fav Sandals ... try royal Barbados, St Lucia Grande, Jamaica, Granada. or try a Secrets or Excellence.

Incredible service, clean rooms, great bar staff. Beautiful beach, tons of food options, great food.

Nice resort. The property was beautiful. Service was good. Food was mediocre. The scenery and turquoise blue water made it worthwhile!

Stay away from Island Routes Exuma. Do not book with this company. They will not take you to the tour and they will keep your money.

I paid the them for a tour that we did not enjoy because they were not there to provide the tour.

I booked for my family the tour Exuma Swimming Pigs Adventure for 11/10/19.

The day of the tour we were at the meeting place at the lobby of Sandals Emerald Bay at 8:15 AM as it is indicated in the invoice.

We waited there for 1 hour. There was nobody from the company there to perform the tour or to give us any information.

The hotel reception personnel called the tour company and they told me over the phone that there will be no tour because the bad seas conditions and that the money charged will be refunded. They failed to refund the money paid.

Do not book with this company.

The greatest experience in Bahamas. Amazing hotel, beaches and experience.

Top notch all inclusive, great staffing, quick to respond to any needs

We just returned from getting married at this resort and we are already planning our return trip next year for our anniversary. Hands down, the best trip we have ever taken. The level of service we received, the exceptional staff, and the way every detail is handled are just a few of the reasons we will make this our go-to vacation for years to come. Everything they promise is delivered upon, and then some. We can't wait to be back again!

Paradise. No need goes unmet. Great food, great beach, great water. Impeccable service.

**This is actually a copy of an email I sent to management while I was STILL AT THE RESORT. Never got a response from anyone. That's just sad.**

My wife and I have been to Sandals 5 times now. This trip was for our 5 year anniversary. We came to your resort for our honeymoon exactly 5 years ago and wanted to make it special and return to the site of our honeymoon. I will be honest with you. We will be looking for another location to try next time. There are a sea of issues which you should probably be aware of.

Building 7 is a dump. I'm sorry but there is no nice way to put it. We are literally in the second to last room on the resort (which in itself isn't a problem) but it looks like maintenance has been ignored. The elevator broke twice in our building. There are two holes at the bottom of our room door that look like a small animal made them. The door jam is falling apart into our wing. The door to the stairwell is literally coming off the hinges. Our sliding door is so old its permanently foggy. Our toilet paper holder was looks like it was ripped off the wall and forcefully jammed back on. My wife woke up the morning covered in welts. I'm sincerely hoping there aren't bed bugs. Those are just the issues with our room.

The resort needs to use a different fertilizer. The stench when the gardens were fertilized on Thursday was repulsive. And it lasted for 24 hours. It was hard to even go outside or on the balcony. People were walking around the resort covering their faces.

Food levels are an issue to. At the bars and restaurant. We got to the breakfast buffet at 10am yesterday (with an hour left for breakfast) and the omelette station was out of everything but tomatoes and peppers. If the kitchen was completely out of that food, it's one issue. If it was back there and the chef just didnt want to refill her station, that's completely another. The bars have a similar problem. Olives were out at every bar but the Bahama yesterday. Mint leaves for our mojitos are out at 3 of the bars I tried today. Mint had been 86'd 3 times since we have been here. We haven't been able to get a dirty banana since we've been here for lack of bananas at the bars.

Staffing also upsets me. It's pretty obvious that the best staff go to the busier restaurants. Bartenders at the quiet pool and bahama aren't sociable. At all. You need social bartenders. The same for the restaurants. Breakfast and lunch suffer from relatively poor service while dinners are often stellar. The contrast is so stark it's difficult to ignore.

I'm so sorry that this sounds like a terrible rant, but after 4 trips to Sandals that have each reset the bar for luxury vacations, this was simply not good. As the manager, I felt you should know.

The place is a real paradise, tricolor sea, white beach, palm trees, swimming pools with built-in bar, 11 structures used for international cuisines, excellent food and friendliness. Maybe a point about room cleaning, not always perfect and precise and maybe missing a bit of fun in the evening on the beach. But without a doubt 5 stars

You can never go wrong with a Sandals but Emerald Bay is the best! We will continue to visit on a regular basis.

Everyone was nice and friendly. The food was delicious.

Horrid service, lack of towels daily by the pool, only one bar with limited bartenders, no wait service at the pool or beach. Woke up everyday to a dirty pool and beach with glasses plates etc from previous day.Staff always acted put out to help you or wait on you. Lack of daily activities! All inclusive with poor service. Property in general needs upkeep and updating! Looks and feels old! First and last Sandals. Going back to Secrets!

Beautiful crystal water, clean white sand and great sunrises. It was very difficult to leave this setting behind after a get away filled with great service from our butlers Henry and Sampson.

My husband and I chose this Sandals in Emerald Bay and not the one in Nassau and we love it. Staff here is super nice. Especially Finlandia she make us feel super welcome accommodating base of what we want for my husband birthday set up bottle of champagne in the room, setup the jacuzzi with beautiful flowers and decorate the bed, when we came back was very nice surprise. Love the Sandals at Emerald Bay

What an amazing place, the service was excellent and the staff is some of the best. The food was great and do not miss Soy. The butler service was amazing and thank you Kevin out butler. Large pool was a bit cool but small was perfect. Beachfront Villa was very nice and renovated. The grounds we're perfectly maintained. Riverside Tours and Travel is the go to for booking it. The video was laid back and age was mixed but balanced. Also love the beach. You could walk far right and be almost by yourself. The golf course was in excellent shape. Room service was fast and food hot. Water pressure was good water hot and room large we were in far right Villa. The pup was great and game room fun at night. We rented a car one day and drove all over. One lady stopped we she saw us at a gas station that was closed just to tell us where one was open. Excellent, safe island. We will go back.

Amazing!!!! Super service. Just relax and float. Dive Shop is excellent. Awesome dives.