Barbados Beauty (Barbados)

Member Name: manunas22

Product:	Barbados
Date:	18/12/02 (436 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great for relaxing, Service is Excellent

Disadvantages: Not much fun for the kids

Having travelled to barbados, I would like to share my now fond memories of a really beautiful place, Sam Lords Castle.

We travelled with virgin so the transfer from the airpot to the hotel was free (not sure if this goes for all bookings).

Arrived for the start of what was to be a wonderful week of pure heaven, After checking in (an easy no hassle task), you are taken in one of their buggies (used for travel around the complex), to your room. A bottle of champane and a hugh bowl of fruit was waiting for us. The rooms I found, clean and very nice. Large comfortable beds, good storage space and very comfortable chairs, both inside and out (not that we spent much time in our rooms).

Spent 7 lazy days around one of 3 pools (one was adults only for those of you who would rather be without the screeming kids), drinking rum (lots of it). The pools were clean and quite large with plenty of sun loungers around so no need to pop down with your towel early to save one. The staff at the hotel were very friendly and could not do enough to make sure our stay was a dream (even the maids given enough free rum when they cleaned our room meant exellent service). As we were all enclusive (which the maids knew), we didn't mind but I did wonder just how many rums they managed to sneak a day.

Lots of history about the place too talk of hidden treasures (which I must admit had a little look on the beach), but the locals seem to think its under the castle itself never to be found. The castle is like a hugh house with lots of grand dark wood furniture and pictures everywhere. Here you can take a tour and in the great hall read about the pirate (Sam Lord) and his adventures. The grounds are lush and green and great for taking lazy strolls.

There are no shops outside the complex but shopping is meant to be good in bridetown (lots of local taxi's around). The taxi's wait in the hotel all day and will take you anywhere on the island.
You can get a price then suggest a price, they dont mind.

Food at the hotel was great with lots of choice (only just managed to get the stone off I put on). There are 3 main restaurants, The Wanderer, where you can enjoy breakfast lunch and dinner. Breakfast (served from 7 am), has a vast buffet that includes your normal bacon, eggs, sausages and beans but you could also opt for a on the spot made omelet or one of the local dishes, changed daily. No stones left unturned for lunch either, another huge selection of food like you need it after the large breakfasts. Dinner (served from 7pm), is also changed daily and found they had different themes for each night i.e Monday was Cajan night. The Seagrill restaurant is for fine dining and Emma's Italian is another choice here in the complex. Dress code: Seagrill and Emma's, long trousers and a collared shirt. Wanderer, smart casual and no swimwear. You can also enjoy light meals at Oceanus Cafe (by Oceanus pool), open 11am - 8pm, here swimwear is permitted. Light meals include, pizza, chips, burgers, and hotdogs. The Oceanus Cafe also provides a range of soft drinks, some local beer and yes, rum.

Tea and coffee are available 24 hours a day from a machine situated outside the Wanderer restaurant. The main bar (also next to the Wanderer), is clean, tidy and offers almost any drink you can think of. The waiters are very friendly and welcome all nationalities.

Along the side of the main building are little stools where you can buy local arts and crafts and even that bright orange and red flowered shirt you always wanted.

The beach is just like what you would expect to see on a postcard. A long stretch of fine white soft sand with palm trees everywhere. It was very windy when we went (May time), but this was welcome as the temperature was in the high eighties every day.

Tours can be booked on site and range from shopping trips to sea trips.

The only downside I
would say, is that there is not much for children to do and no activities (silly adult games), during the day around the hotel. they did have a kids club but this was only in one of the rooms and although the staff were very good with the children, the activites were limited and my daughter found it boring. The evening entertainment was good. This changed daily anything from a steal band to a local dance group.

The hotel has 248 rooms around the complex on a two and four floor level basis and is all inclusive. Rooms have air conditioning (a must in the heat), tv, safety deposit box (key obtained at reception), bath, a nice shower and balcony or terrace. The balcony is large enough for a large padded chair and padded sun lounger. It is set in 72 acres of grounds and built around the 17th century home, Sam Lords Castle. It is adjacent to a private beach (it has very strong currents so for strong swimmers only), and 23km from bridgetown (you can get a shuttle 3 days a week from the hotel). The hotel also has a small fitness room but this has very little equipment in and as I am not the fittest person at the best of times, decided to give this a miss. There are also 6 floodlit tennis courts and a croquet lawn. There is a coin operated laundry on site for your dirty washing, a barbers shop and a couple of little gift shops where you can also buy small items such as sweets, cigarettes and ice cream. The hotel does cater for the disabled as I did see two people in wheelchairs around the complex. Transfer time is only 15mins from the airport.

Prices vary but we found virgin to be the cheapest at the time.

At the time we went prices were: £989pp for a 7 night stay, £1479pp for 14 nights £299 1st
child, £73 for an extra night and £43 single supp.

Overall, a real must if you want that lazy put on a few pounds sort of holiday but not a family fun packed trip.

I am sorry if this is in the wrong place but I could not find a sectio
n for Sam Lords Castle so thought the best place would be under Barbados.

Thanks for reading

Michelle
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