Sugar Cane Club Hotel & Spa

We enjoyed our third visit to Sugar Cane, this time we stayed for 3 weeks and were able to totally relax and soak up the atmosphere. The food is still of a very good standard except for the buffets which we did not enjoy. As we were there for such a long time we ate at some local restaurants on buffet nights. We had some good meals at both La Salsa and Sandys and particularly enjoyed Sandys when the tables were set up on the small veranda. It totally loses the nice atmosphere when you are forced to eat in the bigger tiled area. We had a fantastic evening there when Ryan was in charge, the service was exemplary and we always love his great sense of humour. Lunches were very good in La Salsa restaurant even though the service was a little slow, it was nice to have the special lunch on Sundays with live music. The shuttle service run by Tremayne was efficient as always and we enjoyed the extra trip to Haymans Market which had a lovely pre-Christmas atmosphere. There are 2 main reasons we love visiting this resort, firstly the amazing gardens and wildlife which never fails to impress us. The gardeners do a fantastic job. Secondly the staff are so friendly and willing to please. A special mention to Kim who always has a smile and does a great job organising everyone, Ryan and Juliette in the restaurant, Sharon, Rashidi and also Karine, Yvette and Michelle on reception. Unfortunately the new girl on reception does not have the right attitude (an occasional smile or greeting would be appreciated). I have a feeling that we will be back before too long.

A stay at the Sugar Cane Club was a curate's egg – good in parts and poor in others. If you want a taste of the real Barbados rather than an anonymous multinational hotel chain then the hotel will appeal to you. The staff were pleasant and everybody, from the charming ladies at reception to the overworked dining room workers, often multi tasked. The gardens were well maintained and the shuttle service during the day to Speightstown was efficient. Evening entertainment and Independence Day dancers were good especially as the hotel is situated a good distance from the local town if you wish to seek out alternatives. However, breakfast service rarely started at the late start time of 7.30am while lunch and evening meal service varied from slow to glacial. We walked out after a 90 minute wait having been forgotten about. Given the number of guests the restaurants often felt understaffed. No division of labour meant that even senior management were drafted in to help out. Our room never had hot water in the sink meaning I had to boil a kettle every morning to shave in spite of mentioning this to the management. When we first arrived there was no water in the shower either but this was repaired until the last day when the system was drained. The meant that after sunbathing we had to wander across the grounds in our dressing gowns to near the pool to have a final shower rather than being sweaty on the flight back home.

Probably the most important thing you need to know when going to this hotel, is that everything is done on Bajan time. There's no rushing around in Barbados. Service is slow, no-one charges around in the restaurants or bars. The hotel itself is in a beautiful location, with the grounds well tended. The rooms are large and comfortable and we had an excellent balcony, with a tree line just 20 yards away which had Green Monkeys climbing through it every morning at 6:15am to get to a tree with Seed pods that they eat. It was simply amazing. We were in room 119 and I have zero complaints about it. The hotel is small, so there's not a lot of walking regardless of where your room is. The staff were generally friendly and if you keep in mind that they all work to a more relaxed pace, then you will get on fine with all of them - a bit of courtesy from some guests would certainly improve the mood of some of the staff. The food was generally very good. We felt the communication on arriving at the hotel a bit poor about the facilities, there's no guest information book in the rooms, so we had to just figure bits out. But I would recommend Sandy's Chattel Bar for your evening meal, its a better environment than the main restaurant and the food and drink was exceptionally good and drinks were never empty. The shuttle down into Speightstown is really useful and can drop you straight at the bus station where you can get a Reggae Reggae bus (yellow, loud and lots of fun) or a blue Transport service bus - not quite as fun, but both are 3.5BBD to go anywhere on the island, exceptional value. Would recommend the Reggae reggae bus at least once - its a real fun experience. Important to remember, there is nothing open on a Sunday in Barbados and that seems to have quite a knock-on into Monday opening times etc. Again remember, Bajan time comes into effect, if somewhere says its an 11am opening, don't be surprised if its 11:30 when it does. Would recommend the Caboose beach bar and the Fish Cutters in Speightstown and the Little Bristol bar has live music in the evenings - Weds and Sunday I think. It was good fun. We visited Holetown on the bus and Bridgetown - so easy and simple. Would recommend visiting both.