Wyndham Grand Barbados Sam Lord’s Castle Resort just opened in late 2023
By Eileen Ogintz
I got lost trying to find our room. “It is like a maze,” a guest suggests on the elevator. There are five large buildings, four pools and 422 rooms, including 37 suites, at the Wyndham Grand Barbados Sam Lord’s Castle Resort.
There’s also a big spa, tennis and pickleball, 15,000 square feet of outdoor and indoor meeting space, a small kids’ club, fitness center. And it’s just 15 minutes from Grantley Adams Airport.
Apparently not all the food venues are open yet, though the resort isn’t crowded — no fighting over beach chairs! The one drawback, guests say, is the ocean is very rough and there are no water sports here. That’s why there are complimentary shuttles to the calmer Carlisle Bay as well as to the popular Oistins Fish Fry on Fridays and the Brighton Farmers Market on Saturdays.
We’ve spent most of this past week touring Barbados’ top attractions including Harrison’s Cave and St. Nicholas Abbey, where the great house dates back to the 17th Century, there is a historic rum distillery, and the property boasts a popular steam train that is currently being expanded.
The current owners, the Warren family, have pledged to preserve the house and property for future generations.
It’s nice to discover restaurants as popular with locals as with visitors. Tapas Barbados is just such a place, adjacent to a boardwalk and crashing ocean waves. Loved the Bruschetta, the lobster linguine, and the seared tuna with stir fried vegetables. And chocolate lovers wouldn’t want to miss the lava cake with ice cream.
Mimosa, strawberry-pineapple smoothie, or iced latte? We start our morning at the Wyndham Grand Barbados Sam Lord’s Castle Resort at the bountiful Mediterranean buffet. There’s everything from Fruit Loops for the kids, melons (even dragon fruit) French toast and pancakes, eggs and omelets made to order, all varieties of pastries, bacon, and chicken sausage. You get the picture.
Did I mention this resort is all-inclusive? We park ourselves at one of the pools after breakfast. I opt for aqua aerobics though it wasn’t very aerobic. Each day there are activities all day. There’s everything from a couples game show to beach volleyball, movie trivia, “sip and paint” in the early evening, Karaoke, and dance parties.
Our suite is so lovely it is pleasant to hang out here when we need to get out of the sun. There’s a fridge with beer, juice and soft drinks, a set up for coffee and tea, and two huge terraces overlooking the ocean. This was especially nice when we’ve learned Denver, where we live, has just gotten two feet of snow.
The resort just opened last fall and though not all of the food venues have opened, there is plenty to satisfy us. We had fish tacos and burgers for lunch at Sam Lord’s Grill adjacent to the pool and dinner at Castle View Restaurant overlooking the ruins of the castle.
Samuel Hall Lord, who built the castle, was one of the most famous Barbados buccaneers who made his money by plundering ships he lured onto the coral reef with lights in the trees. Passing ships thought the lights were from the port city of Bridgetown, only to get wrecked, their riches stolen by Lord.
Now our biggest decision for the afternoon- should we try a different pool or head to the beach?