We stayed at the Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma. This is an all inclusive adults only resort. After arriving at the airport and going through customs (which did not take that long) there was a Sandals representative waiting for us outside the airport. They got our names and put tags on our luggage with our room numbers. Our van arrived and it wasn’t a long trip to the resort, maybe 5-10 minutes. We were greeted at the resort with a cold towel and a welcome drink. It was so good!! I’m not sure we ever figured out what it was, but it was green and delicious. Once your room is ready somebody will take you and give you a short tour of where restaurants are and then show you where your room is.
The Rooms
There are a lot of different rooms to choose from. We stayed in the Beach House Luxury Club Level room. It was on the third floor and the room was very nice!! Our friends that went with us stayed in the Beach House Grand Luxe Walkout Club Level room. The only difference between our room and theirs was their room was on the first floor and you can open your outside door and just walk out and leave. I don’t think we ever used their front door from the inside! It was very convenient to just walk up to your room from the outside like that, so I might would have to get the walkout room next time! Our room on the third floor had a great view, though! All rooms have your own private balcony with chairs and a table. You could see a lot of the resort, pool, and the ocean. The room you choose will depend on if you want a view of the ocean and grounds, or if you want the convenience of being able to walk straight outside from your room.
The rooms are very spacious with a good size bathroom and bathtub. I love a good bath. I take one almost every night so I was very glad to have a good bathtub!! The bathroom had double vanity sinks and a separate room with the toilet. They supply a hair dryer, ironing board, and iron. All rooms have a stocked mini fridge and bar. The room has his-and-her closets with a safe for your valuables in one of them. Bath robes are hanging in the closet, and let me tell you there is nothing better than being in the sun all day then coming in and taking a shower, putting on that bath robe, grabbing a drink from the fridge, and sitting on your balcony!!
The Grounds
The grounds at the resort are absolutely beautiful!! Everything is clean and well kept. There are 11 restaurants and 6 bars here. The main pool is huge and beautiful and there is a hot tub attached to the main pool as well. They have fire pits lit up everywhere around the main pool at night. There is a swim up bar at the main pool that we loved and that is where we hung out the most and met lots of people! There are lots of chairs and also cabanas to choose from. Of course you have to get there early if you want one of the cabanas because they get taken pretty quickly. Most of the chairs by the pool do have umbrellas you can open if you need shade. There is a game room beside one of the restaurants with pool tables, ping pong, darts, and things like that. There is also corn hole outside you can play. One day the guy that led the water aerobics class was walking by and we told him we wanted to play volleyball in the water. He was happy to set up the net for us and we played volleyball in the pool for what seemed like forever! The resort has its own private beach with chairs and umbrellas set up. They also have hammocks you can lay in on the beach and those famous swings right by the water. The beach is gorgeous!!! The most beautiful turquoise water and white sand I have ever seen.
They do have a spa at the resort and a gym I’m told but who goes to the gym on vacation?! My husband got a massage one morning when it was raining and he said it was a very good spa and the massage was amazing! They have a little shop with things like food, souvenirs, sunscreen, medicines, cigars, and things like that. You can charge anything to your room…but beware! I had to buy Benadryl for my husband because I thought he was going to die one night from eating sushi….long story….but the prices are very high!!
Water sports and Diving
Sandals does have a lot of things for you to do right at the beach. They have volleyball nets set up on the beach. They have kayaks, Hobie cats (the small catamaran things), paddle boards, those big bicycles you ride in the water (sorry don’t know what they are called), snorkel gear, and a beautiful golf course. My husband went snorkeling while I was a vegetable on the beach. He said the snorkeling was great right there at the resort. We rented a kayak and decided to give it a go. That was a big mistake because my husband decided he was going to pretend like he was on the Olympic rowing team and I just wanted to calmly kayak out a little ways. Other than that, it would have been fun!
You can also sign up for scuba diving. My husband and I both are divers so of course we signed up. There was some confusion though with the dive books and how long in between your last dive had to be. The guy who signed us up at the resort didn’t act like it was a problem. We had 8 months in between our last dive and he said that as long as it hasn’t been a year that we wouldn’t have to do a refresher. When we got to the people who we actually were diving through, the lady was pretty rude and she said it had to be at least 6 months since your last dive so we actually had to do the refresher. All we had to do, though, was get in the pool with our gear, swim down to the deep end, take our mask off and clear it, and take our regulator out and retrieve it. It took maybe 5 minutes then we were off diving. The dive site we went to was decent. We saw barracudas, a sting ray, and lobsters. We decided not to do the second dive because I was stupid and didn’t get a wet suit so I was pretty cold.
The Food
The restaurants were all pretty good. They have a French theme, an Italian theme, a buffet, the Drunken Duck Pub, Barefoot by the Sea (which is located outside on the beach), sushi, Japanese, Indian theme, a Parisian style cafe, a pizza place, and a jerk shack. We liked almost all of the food; however, none of us enjoyed the French themed restaurant. Everybody talked about how good it was so we couldn’t wait to try it, but it was a let down to all of us. Our favorite was definitely the Indian theme restaurant called Bombay. Let me tell you I do not like Indian food, but maybe I do because this food was delicious!! You have to make reservations at Bombay, the French, and the Japanese restaurant called Kimonos. The cafe was right across from our building and that was probably not good because we went in there a lot. It was so good with every kind of treat you can think of and the best ice cream! They make specialty coffee in there too. At some point during our stay the resort has something called white night. It’s where everybody wears white and they have chocolate galore!! Anything you can think of that is chocolate covered, dipped in chocolate, chocolate fountain, chocolate martinis…you name it they have it! Although why in the world they want you to wear white around all that chocolate is beyond me…but it was fun and delicious! They had a wonderful saxophone player there that night!
Final Say
All in all, Sandals Emerald Bay Resort was a wonderful experience! This was our first all inclusive resort, so I really have nothing to compare it to! We were talking to another couple that had been to almost every Sandals Resort and they said this location is more of a laid back, relaxing spot. So if you are looking to party all the time this one is probably not for you. The service was spotty at times but for the most part it was good service! You can get a butler service with certain rooms you book but if you don’t get one don’t worry it is not really necessary. If you do get one please be nice to them! We heard people being very mean to their butler and I felt so sorry for them. The resort’s stretch of beach and the water is amazingly beautiful!! Go ahead and start packing!!