I went back to Sandals Royal Curacao for the 3rd time since moving to the island, and this time I stayed in a Club Level room. The first two times I stayed here were in regular rooms, and now that I’ve experienced Club level, I may not be able to go back to those!

Now, I already have a blog post detailing everything there is to know about Sandals Royal Curacao. In that post I go over the restaurants, amenities, activities, pools, beach area, where the resort is, and all that fun stuff. In this blog post, I’m going to focus on the Club Level experience. That will include the room we stayed in, the Sandals Club Lounge, club level perks, and my thoughts on the Club experience and whether it’s worth it. Keep reading to find out if a Club room at Sandals Royal Curacao is right for you!

Table of Contents

• What Are the Different Levels at Sandals?
• Sandals Club Level Welcome
• Sandals Club Lounge at Royal Curacao
• Club Level Perks
• Subi Club Level Walkout Room (WSCL)
• Is Club Level Worth It?
• Kat’s Final Thoughts

What Are the Different Levels at Sandals?

For those of you who are new to Sandals, there are 3 distinct room levels at each property. There are more perks with each higher level. No matter which category you choose, the food and beverages are all-inclusive.

• Sandals Luxury: This is the standard entry level. No additional perks here. Soft drinks and beers in the mini fridge, but no liquors. Must make your dining reservations with the Culinary Desk.

• Club Level: Guests check in at the Club Lounge instead of the front desk. Club guests have 24/7 access to the Club Lounge. Room service is available from a set menu. There are invitation only events for Club level guests. Club Concierge can make your restaurant reservations. Rooms come stocked with liquor bottles.

• Butler Elite: This is the highest level and it comes with butler service. Check-in takes place in your room with your butler. Club Lounge access is included. Butler can reserve chairs at the beach/pools. Room service can be ordered from any restaurant. Guests get a phone to contact their butler for anything at any time. Butlers can make your restaurant reservations. Rooms come stocked with top shelf liquors.

Sandals Club Level Welcome

I didn’t arrive at Sandals Royal Curacao via their shared shuttle since I live on the island. It’s important to note, however, that Sandals does not have an airport lounge in Curacao like they do in Jamaica. At the Curacao Airport, which is quite a small airport, you exit through baggage claim and there’s a Sandals booth in the arrivals hall. The team there will lead you to the shared bus or private transfer.

Parking is free at Sandals Royal Curacao, so just like the previous two visits, we drove and had our car taken by the valet upon arrival. We were greeted with an ice cold towel smelling of lemongrass as we exited our car. When we provided our names, we were promptly told our check in would take place at the Club Lounge.

The main lobby has a certain wow factor. The ceilings are huge and the open doorways lead to a beautiful view of the ocean straight ahead. The lobby makes a great first impression, especially when you’re offered a blue Curacao welcome drink right away. When you check in at the Club Lounge, you miss that experience. Don’t get me wrong, the Club Lounge is beautiful and air conditioned, but it doesn’t have that same wow factor. We didn’t mind at all since this was our third visit and we checked in at the lobby the first two times.

Sandals Club Lounge at Royal Curacao

I absolutely loved the lounge. The lounge is only a 3 minute walk from the lobby under a covered walkway. You do need a key card to access the lounge, and it’s open 24/7. This lounge is huge! Compared to the lounge I’d been to at Sandals South Coast, this one was way bigger and beautiful. The air conditioning inside was a godsend, especially in the afternoons.

The lounge is set up to have comfortable seating, board games, magazines, a guest book, a counter with snacks, and a mini fridge with drinks. We would come into the lounge every night before going to bed to snag a few extra water bottles since we were always parched. The staff desks are on one side of the lounge, and they were always happy to help with any questions or requests.

Our check in at the Club Lounge was a piece of cake. We provided a credit card for incidentals, made our dining and spa reservations, and then went and got lunch while our room was being prepared. When it was time to go to our rooms, a member of the Club Sandals staff escorted us to our room. I have to note, the escort is done with other Club level couples who arrive at the same time as you. It can be a little awkward walking with strangers to drop them off at their rooms.

Club Level Perks

There are a lot of perks that come with booking a club level room at Sandals. I listed them above, but here are a few stand outs that took our trip to the next level. Firstly, the room service was a game changer. At the Sandals Luxury level, room service is not offered so you have to go out for every meal. This time, we found ourselves ordering room service for lunch when we wanted to rest in the room after a hot morning in the sun. We got to eat lunch on our walkout patio surrounded by lush foliage and the songs of the birds. Room service was super easy too! No more need to call as you can order online now.

Making restaurant reservations was significantly easier this time around. You can make one reservation in advance through the Sandals app, and then the rest we made with the Club Sandals staff in the lounge. The lounge is staffed from 8 AM to 10 PM so you can make your reservations with them all day. At the Sandals Luxury level, you have to use the Culinary desk which is only staffed until 5 PM, and they’re also gone for lunch and rarely pick up the phone.

We didn’t end up making it to any of the special Club Sandals events that we received invitations to. There’s just so much to enjoy at the resort that I didn’t want to cut into any of my relaxation time to mingle. I mentioned that the Club Lounge was a game changer for us. People don’t realize how hot Curacao is, and being in the sun all day can really take a toll on you. Recharging in the cool Club Lounge and grabbing some ice cold drinks was great. Finally, my husband enjoyed the liquor bottles in the room and made himself a gin and juice every night.

Subi Club Level Walkout Room (WSCL)

For this visit, we stayed in a Subi Club Level Walkout Room. We were in one of the Subi buildings facing the palm gardens, and it was a great location for us. On the Sandals website, our building was labeled as Carisia Building 10 which is confusing, but I’m glad for this change as we were closer to the restaurants.

The room itself is almost the same layout as a regular room. It’s about 400 sq ft. of space with a king bed, bathroom with walk-in shower and a single vanity, ample closet space, a mini fridge, and lounge seating. The difference is, our room had a spacious patio furnished with padded loungers and a bistro table set. Our patio also came with a Tranquility Soaking Tub which was thoughtfully placed behind white curtains that could be drawn closed for privacy.

The website shows this room with a hint of a sea view. I did ask for a room like this, which is in Subi Building 15, but they weren’t able to accommodate the request. Our room was at the very corner of Carisia Building 10 which felt nicely tucked away. The patio was surrounded by beautiful flower bushes and tropical foliage. We had a view of the Palm Garden, which is great for people watching, and we could see the start of the main pool in the distance. I would choose this room again since it was quiet yet close enough to the action.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kat Galoski | Farahilde Luxury Travel (@farahildeblog)

Is Club Level Worth It?

Yes, for us it was worth it. Hear me out though! This room category was featured in the rotating 7-7-7 sale that Sandals refreshes weekly. Because of this sale, the cost of this room ended up being almost the same as the regular room we had last year. We found Club Level to be a much better experience because we made use of the additional perks. If these perks don’t appeal to you and you won’t be in your room much then it probably won’t be worth it for you.

Knowing when Sandals pricing is the best combined with finding extra value from their promotions is one of the reasons why it’s important to use a travel agent to book your trip. Travel agents, like myself, don’t charge anything to book hotels only. If you’d like to use me to book your next Sandals or Beaches trip, feel free to reach out!

Kat’s Final Thoughts

Looking back at 3 stays at Sandals Royal Curacao, this most recent stay was the most memorable. Sure, it didn’t carry the same novelty that experiencing a resort the first time has, but having access to Club perks elevated the experience for us. Months later, we’re still talking about how much fun we had.

Speaking of fun at Sandals, I noticed there have been a bunch of improvements and changes made to the resort since our last visit. There was more variety in the activities offered, for example. The beach boardwalk had new lights installed, there were cool new chairs at the Palm Garden, there’s now a pool table, and so much more. I’m going to do a separate blog post about what’s new at Sandals Royal Curacao. Stay tuned for that!