After our lengthy Aer Lingus flight from Dublin direct to Barbados, we quickly made our way to our accommodation for the week, The Club Barbados, located about a 40-minute drive from the airport and on the west coast of the island.
Selecting a property to stay at for our trip was actually incredibly difficult; Easter holidays and the general cost of Barbados hotels combined to narrow down our options for us, and it seemed ill-advised to try and do somewhere as exotic on the cheap – so all-inclusive and ideally an ocean view room felt like two things we needed to just take the plunge on.
Ultimately, after much review reading, price comparing, and investigating, we settled on The Club Barbados – which appeared to have the best of everything; all-inclusive, ocean view rooms available, on the calmer side of the island in terms of the ocean currents and tides, not a million miles away from the airport, or Bridgetown, or other popular spots like Oistins.
Upon arrival, we were quickly checked in, with only a credit card deposit required for each of the two rooms, while a round of rum punches were quickly presented.
One thing that was never mentioned clearly, and I wish it had been right at check-in, was that a $24 USD per room per night ‘resort fee’ applies. I know this is a very US-style additional charge of highly questionable utility, and given the volume of non-US tourists, I think this absolutely should’ve been called out from the outset especially on a travel agency booking; because $24 per room over two rooms and seven nights was a not inconsequential charge at check-out that we didn’t fully expect.
We had selected Ocean Loft rooms, which are exactly as described; right up in the eaves of the ocean-facing accommodation block. While the rooms don’t come with a balcony, they do have sliding windows you can fully retract to enjoy the fresh sea air and the views, as you wish.
The one obvious con to these rooms, not that it was an issue for us, is that they are located on the top floor of the accommodation block with only stairs for access – and the last set of stairs are particularly windy.
Our room however, while average in terms of size, did offer tremendous views out over the ocean.
There was tea/coffee-making facilities in the room, as well as a TV, a chaise longue, and what we spent the week believing to be a dearth of electrical sockets – ultimately, I ended up propping a cushion up against the one socket I could find to keep my phone charger in place. Only to then discover at check-out time that there was a multi-socket adaptor tucked behind one of the bedside tables; quite why the housekeeping staff couldn’t have fished that out and left it somewhere obvious, I’ll never know, although lacklustre service was generally one of the core themes of the stay.
The bathroom meanwhile was a generous size, with toiletries, a single sink, towels, and a shower with an unusual lip into it, the purpose of which only became obvious once we saw how slowly the water drained out and how likely it was that you’d wind up standing in a puddle by the end of every shower.
One thing that was not especially obvious, nor mentioned at check-in, was that pool towels in the room could only be replaced at the watersports centre, quite unexpectedly. This meant at least three days in reality with the same damp towels being left in the room hoping they'd be changed during housekeeping service.
Despite the later evening hour, there was still time for dinner and so we high-tailed it to the Sunset Restaurant, the main eatery for the resort, located on the ground floor not too far back from the ocean edge.
Sadly this is where the borderline surly level of service we’d come to frequently experience first came to the fore; after being shown inside by the friendly lady at reception, our waitress brought us to a table, passed out the menu’s, and disappeared.
When she returned, a not insigifnicant amount of time later, we inquired about where to get drinks and were told we could order from her and asked what did we want. Asking for a drinks list proved borderline offensive, apparently – she took the food orders, told us there wasn’t one and to think about what we wanted, and came back so much later we ended up walking back out to the bar to get our own (spurred on by the fact that two neighbouring tables did the same).
Oddly, these interactions were frequent and often throughout the week with a few exceptions that I could name; the lady at breakfast at the egg station was always cheerful enough, one lady at the actual Sunset Bar (others were a mixed bag) and, the guys at the watersports station. The rest were very often bordering on impolite and quite surly.
In particular, we wound up with the same waitress on our final two days, who seemed to absolutely hate the sight of us. The two examples that spring to mind; one afternoon I asked for a glass of wine, and before anyone else could ask for something to drink at the table she walked off. Next day, after pouring two glasses of water, she began to walk off again and so we asked her to fill up the third glass – to which she turned around, turned the jug upside down to illustrate it was empty, before marching off. A simple ‘I’ll be back in a minute’ would’ve done the trick instead of this sarcastic, rude effort.
So yes, staff attitude was definitely The Club’s biggest issue during our stay, it would be safe to say.
Anyway, Sunset Restaurant is also where breakfast is served each morning – which was a buffet affair, with a live egg station, and a selection of Western breakfast favourites. In fact, coming across ‘local’ food was one of the tougher parts of the dining experience.
After a few nights, we managed to snag a reservations for Enid’s, the slightly more upmarket but much smaller restaurant upstairs over the Sunset Restaurant, and I have to say the food there was both much more locally-oriented, and really delicious. Ultimately, we went back a second time a night later.
If you are visiting The Club Barbados though, make sure to reserve at Enid’s as soon as you can – even multiple reservations if possible – as it fills up fast.
One thing I will give The Club Barbados kudos for though, is the level of evening entertainment every evening; I don’t think there was one evening we finished up dinner and something wasn’t going out at or near the stage by the Sunset Bar. You certainly wouldn’t be left bored in the evenings – and I more than saw my fair share of fellow guests up dancing most evenings, for better or worse!
Likewise, there were activities galore every day, with a whiteboard updated daily up on the stage showing what was happening that day, and the next day. I’ll be honest, I gave nearly all a skip, except orientation, and lounging in the back of the pool during the water aerobics while Vannesha gave it a go. I decided that the cocktail calories were there to stay at that stage.
While The Club Barbados doesn’t feature an actual beach as such, it does however have steps down into a small sandy area where you can get into the beautiful blue waters – with floating hammocks nearby to vie for.
There is also a beautiful beach down a very short walk to the left of the property on the seaside, down a few steps – just make sure you don’t try to go there (or return) during high tide, and watch out for the crabs.
There’s also three different pools to choose from on slightly different levels; each with something different to offer as well. One was used most frequently for the activities and classes, one had a beach volleyball net, and one seemed to be there primarily for extensive lounging.
We also made good use of the relatively under-utilised tennis court (book at reception, or chance it which is what we did every day!), and I also frequented the gym several times in poor advance preparation for a long-distance cycle a few weeks later.
The gym, for its size, was well resourced with plenty of different types of equipment and – as you’d probably expect when everyone was mostly busy eating, swimming and drinking – very few, if any, guests ever in attendance.
Before long, our 7 night stay was up, very enjoyable as it was (notwithstanding the, at times, extremely surly service).
Overall, The Club Barbados was an enjoyable, though not necessarily a high luxury, stay. The property feels dated, the wifi is borderline unusable – although both issues are easily written off by the beautiful setting, the stunning views, and the non-stop entertainment. The service on the other hand was harder to overlook, and the Sunset Restaurant food certainly would begin to get somewhat repeatable after several days – though Enid’s offered a great, welcome, break from the main restaurant.
We’d be unlikely to return, but that’s also because we’d want to try different resorts and likely islands in the Caribbean – but for a week total relax, The Club Barbados was a largely enjoyable, scenic stay at such a busy time of year.
