Coral Reef Club

There’s plenty of space around the site so it never seems crowded although the beach area was very popular and looked a bit cramped. Dining was a bit of a mixed bag. Lunch was very good with a range of options. Breakfast was average with a limited choice compared with similar hotels we have stayed in and the evening meals would be best described as “good hotel food” – absolutely nothing wrong with it, well cooked and presented but nothing memorable. We were also surprise by the number of children during our time there – again nothing wrong with kids enjoying themselves but it does disrupt the peaceful setting. I can see why this place is so popular and has many repeat customers but I doubt we would return although it is a wonderful oasis and the owners should be proud of what they have achieved.

The room is very nice and spacious. As other have mentioned you do occasionally hear other guests if busy, but we only really had the guests above on 2 mornings be of any slight annoyance.

The beach is really nice but we mainly stayed by the pool. It has a water dispenser which is great for the heat and is kept very cool. The beach butlers do also come up to the pool and offer drinks. The chocolate milkshakes and rum punch’s were our favourites. Anthony was very friendly and attentive.

We went out for dinner most nights (booked by the concierge) and was assigned a driver for the entirety of our stay which was great. The drivers name was Ralph and he was a real credit to the hotel. A really nice guy. I’d recommend asking for him if needed!

The breakfast buffet was fine, but I personally would always prefer more of a semi buffet, where you can have the cooked items made to order from your seat. I never really enjoy the slight chaos that can occur at buffets if a large amount of guests arrive at the cooking station at the same time. The staff did cope well with it but I always think it’s nicer to not stand waiting and for the chef to be able to focus on your dish and put all parts together at the same time, making it more special than what I could make at home. It would be nice to have items such as eggs florentine, royal Benedict etc as an option to be ordered as well. The smashed avocado lunch option would be a good addition to breakfast also, because that as delicious! Just to mention you can order breakfast to your room and I think it was free of charge, but we didn’t do this.

Lunch was nice with plenty of options. As mentioned some staff aren’t the warmest, where as some are really nice, funny and more chatty. A young barman who was very friendly also gave us his rum punch recipe as they were so good!

We had dinner twice and it was very nice with good singers making it quite a romantic and relaxing dinner.

We aren’t guests that ever ask for a lot, but we did get the feeling if you asked for anything, they really would do their best to try and help. We asked for a late check out and were able to keep the room until we left for the airport.

We love Barbados and my partner stayed at this hotel 20 years ago. Having stayed at Sandy lane as well, we do feel we would most likely return to Coral reef when we come back!