Crystal Cove is an all-inclusive hotel located right on the beachfront on the platinum west coast of Barbados. This beautiful resort features lush gardens and three impressive freshwater swimming pools, complete with a spectacular waterfall and swim-up cave bar. Flowers cascade over walls and balconies, and everything leads down to a glorious beach with a generous array of water sports, including water-skiing, sailing and more, all complimentary of course! There is a fabulous kids’ club to keep the little ones out of your hair, allowing you to relax and enjoy the full range of facilities and entertainment (of which there are plenty!).
Amenities
Kayaking
Sailing
Snorkelling
Tennis
Water Skiing
Windsurfing
Babysitting service
Kids Club
Families
Honeymoon
Wedding
Bar
Where is it
In St James, on a delightful west coast beach. 15-minutes to Bridgetown. Transfer time from airport: 30 minutes.
Hotel information
88 rooms on 2 floors in various buildings with no lifts. All with a balcony or terrace, air-conditioning, satellite TV, mini fridge, complimentary WiFi access, safe, bathrobe, slippers, and hairdryer.
Pool/Garden View Rooms with 1 king-size bed or twin beds, sleep maximum 2 adults and 1 infant (up to age 2 years).
Please note: the majority of the Pool Garden View Rooms have a garden view and the pool views are limited. All rooms are non-smoking.
All Inclusive of: all meals including afternoon tea and all-day dining. Local and premium-brand drinks and house wine (fine wine and Champagne at extra charge). All activities and entertainment unless otherwise stated. Water taxi to select west coast sister properties. Dine Around programme with other select Elegant Hotels properties (drink and meal supplements may apply).
Oceanview Rooms - with beautiful sea views and 1 king-size bed or twin beds, sleeping maximum 2 adults.
Junior Suite Pool/Garden View - with a separate sitting area and sofa bed, lovely views of the pool or garden, and 1 king-size bed, sleeping maximum 3 people.
Junior Suite Oceanview - as Junior Suite Pool/Garden View but with beautiful sea views, sleeping maximum 3 people.
1-Bedroom Suite Pool/Garden View - bedroom with separate living room or loft suite with upstairs bedroom overlooking living room, living room includes sofa bed and second full bathroom, 1 king-size bed, sleeping maximum 4 adults or 2 adults, 2 children and 1 infant (up to 2 years of age).
1-Bedroom Suite Oceanview - bedroom with separate living room or loft suite with upstairs bedroom overlooking living room, living room includes sofa bed and second full bathroom. 1 king-size bed, sleeping maximum 4 adults or 2 adults, 2 children and 1 infant (up to 2 years of age).
Reflections (all day dining with buffet breakfast and a la carte dinner, as well as international buffet evening on Wednesdays). Drifters Restaurant and Bar (beachfront Caribbean restaurant, serving casual buffet lunch, afternoon tea, and a la carte dinner, as well as beach BBQ on Saturdays). Cave Bar (swim-up pool bar). Vista Coffee & Wine Bar (serving drinks and light bites). The Beach Bar. Taste of Elegance Dine Around Programme offers exchange dining with select sister hotels' restaurants* (meal and drinks supplements may apply).
Regular evening entertainment and weekly manager's cocktail party. Events hosted at Vista Coffee & Wine bar to include wine pairings and tapas nights.
3-tiered freshwater swimming pool. Spa services available*. Fitness centre. Wellness classes including yoga, pilates, and water aerobics. 2 floodlit tennis courts. Complimentary motorised and non-motorised water sports including snorkelling, stand up paddle boarding, tubing, sailing, kayaking, and water-skiing. Beach Olympics. Freddie's Island & Adventure tour*. Apes Hill Golf Club*. Complimentary Flying Fish Kids' Club for ages 3-12 years with latest game consoles, pool table, electric race track and more. Swimming with the turtles snorkel tour*. Mixology demos.
Room service* (meal times only). Complimentary WiFi available in the rooms and throughout the resort. Laundry service*. Complimentary daytime water taxi (subject to availability and weather conditions) to select West Coast Elegant Hotels. Gift shop*. Babysitting available*. Green Globe certified. Beach Ambassador service. Concierge services to assist with island excursions.
A Tourism Fee will be charged per bedroom, per night and will be collected at check out. The rate is subject to change by the Government, and varies by hotel room. Fees currently range from 8٫75 Barbadian dollar (approximately £3٫90) to 35 Barbadian dollar (approximately £16٫00) per bedroom, per night.
1 night between 5 Jan—31 Jan, and 1 Mar—21 Dec.
5 nights between 1 Feb—28 Feb.
7 nights between 22 Dec—2 Jan.
* Denotes local charge.
Please note: child ages are up to and including 16 years.
Please note: Drifters restaurant and bar is open subject to occupancy numbers.
Dress code: dining is elegantly casual after 6:00pm.
Please note: the Dine Around programme is only available at select properties and may be subject to an additional cost dependant on the board basis booked. A complimentary water taxi to select west coast Elegant properties is available during daytime only and subject to availability and weather conditions.
Based on 2675 reviews
Rating summary
Location
Sleep Quality
Rooms
Service
Value
Cleanliness
Traveller rating
Excellent (1587)
Very good (663)
Average (216)
Poor (108)
Terrible (101)
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Jan 18, 2025PmG2996LU
The staff are wonderful. The food is good. The rooms are are old and tired. The bathrooms are extremely old and in need of renovations. This hotel is not a quiet resort!! The windows on the units are so poor it sounds like the band is playing in your bedroom. Also, the resort has cruise ship passengers come to the resort to use all the amenities… Read more
The staff are wonderful. The food is good. The rooms are are old and tired. The bathrooms are extremely old and in need of renovations. This hotel is not a quiet resort!! The windows on the units are so poor it sounds like the band is playing in your bedroom. Also, the resort has cruise ship passengers come to the resort to use all the amenities for the day. That means beds and all public areas seating is full. So get your seat before they come and don't let it go or you will be seating on your balcony or bedroom. Read less
Crystal Cover well overdue for a refurb
Jan 15, 2025suze848London, United Kingdom
The standard and facilities of this hotel really let down the Marriot Group name. We booked a beach view room, this was dull, no sun ever hit the balcony. The curtains had moth holes in them. Not able to swim as the sea is full of rocks. My daughter cut her feet and legs. Sun beds were broken. You do not expect to queue for breakfast to check in. … Read more
The standard and facilities of this hotel really let down the Marriot Group name. We booked a beach view room, this was dull, no sun ever hit the balcony. The curtains had moth holes in them. Not able to swim as the sea is full of rocks. My daughter cut her feet and legs. Sun beds were broken. You do not expect to queue for breakfast to check in. The staff were wonderful. All in all a very poor experience and disappointing holiday that I may add cost a fortune. I have put in official complaint waiting for our travel agent to respond. We were advised that the hotel was due to refurbish in Feb this year, they should have brought this date forward. Read less
A lovely Christmas at Crystal Cove
Jan 5, 2025Sue MLondon, United Kingdom
We have been to Crystal Cove so many times over the years but had not been for 12 years. We were not aware when we booked that it had been taken over by Marriot and after reading so many poor reviews we were very close to changing hotels. However, as we were only staying 5 nights before going to the South Coast for another 6, we decided to stick… Read more
We have been to Crystal Cove so many times over the years but had not been for 12 years. We were not aware when we booked that it had been taken over by Marriot and after reading so many poor reviews we were very close to changing hotels. However, as we were only staying 5 nights before going to the South Coast for another 6, we decided to stick with our plans. The only regret we had was not staying there for longer! We arrived 21st December and had the warmest of welcomes and our first impressions, whilst sipping our rum punch that we were given on arrival, was that it looked amazing and pretty much as we remembered it from our last visit. Our ocean view room was very clean and comfortable, great bed too, and we always had fresh towels and the housekeepers done a great job. The food throughout our stay was really good and Christmas Day lunch and dinner were exceptional and far exceeded our expectations so well done to all the staff who worked incredibly hard to give us all a wonderful time. We also had the pleasure of meeting once again several staff members we got to know over the years and it was great seeing them all again. All the staff are so welcoming and friendly and just go that extra mile to make your holiday special. A big thankyou to Stephen for his wonderful beach service, always there with a drink or ice lolly and Darren in Reflections who made the best omelettes in the Caribbean! Also a special thanks to Hazel, Donna, Kathy, Tanya, Fabian, Sherri Ann and Juliet and apologies for those I may have missed out. It was really lovely seeing you all again. The whole team at Crystal Cove gave us a very memorable Christmas for all the right reasons and we hope to be able to return once again after the refurbishment. Read less
impressions
Jan 4, 2025Lisa M
I am a Marriott Bonyoy gold member so I try as much as possible to patronize its properties. I have been visiting Crystal cove hotel since covid when hotels were promoting staycations for locals. I have done several day passes there (almost 1 a year in November since 2020 ) and bought them as gifts for family members and we also spent a weekend… Read more
I am a Marriott Bonyoy gold member so I try as much as possible to patronize its properties. I have been visiting Crystal cove hotel since covid when hotels were promoting staycations for locals. I have done several day passes there (almost 1 a year in November since 2020 ) and bought them as gifts for family members and we also spent a weekend there. I did a day pass today and my review is based on this Areas for improvement when I arrived today there were several people waiting to be checked in so I sat and waited patiently in the lobby with them ; what I noticed however was that the young man welcoming the guests went to everyone except me - offering them a welcome drink while they were waiting to be checked in - this included going to the people who were sitting next to me. I don't want to fathom a guess about why he didn't think it fit to offer me a drink or even to tell me welcome to Crystal Cove Hotel when I entered as was done with the others . I found during covid when they needed locals to patronize them to keep their business alive they were more friendly when you arrived. Eventually I asked another staff member if I could go and book my sailing with the hobbie while I waited to be checked in as I was doing a day pass so my time was limited. She said "oh that is why you were seated here? you don't need to check in at the front desk for the day pass and she assisted me to get checked in. This time around there seemed to be some disconnect among the front desk people about the cost of a day pass with a room; I bought one in October 2024 for a relative as a birthday gift but when I called today to do the same a young man told us that you have to pay for the room separately and for the day pass separately and gave us a cost which would have totaled of 690 BDS; I told him this was strange as I had bought one for my son just a couple months ago and this was not the case; he said this was the hotel new policy as of a few days ago; upon leaving I asked someone at the front desk about this policy - in summary she said she didn't know about it but told me they had no fixed price for a day pass with a room today's options for protein at lunch were fish, pork, burgers- Note that some people may not eat pork and maybe allergic to seafood; No chicken; no vegetarian options (chickpeas, hummus etc) The positives The restaurant and bar staff are very friendly food is very tasty property is clean you have pool and beach options for swimming water sports staff are very friendly and helpful Read less
Shocking room
Dec 30, 2024Steve HNottingham, United Kingdom
We were originally booked into Waves Hotel with British Airways but discovered that Shisho restaurant was still not open after refurb.BA offered Cristal Cove as a replacement.This is not a pop at the staff there who were fantastic for the 2 hours we stayed.This place is scheduled for a refit soon and it is shocking. Room 206 was like a tired… Read more
We were originally booked into Waves Hotel with British Airways but discovered that Shisho restaurant was still not open after refurb.BA offered Cristal Cove as a replacement.This is not a pop at the staff there who were fantastic for the 2 hours we stayed.This place is scheduled for a refit soon and it is shocking. Room 206 was like a tired American seedy 1* Hotel.No power to the safe,beach towels with holes in,stained floors,filthy beige curtains,broken tiles around the sink and floor,mastic bodged everywhere in the bathroom,,i could go on.Its embarresing for the staff to have to try an appease customers as they know too well what an awful place this is.Marriott Hotel management need to hang their heads in shame putting the workforce through this.We accept that the Carribean can be shabby chic at times but there is no excuse for this.We luckily got back into Waves which has had a refurb and Shisho is now open and this place is AMAZING by comparison.Take my advise,i cant state strongly enough,DO NOT stay at Crystal Cove get a move asap.Again i feel soo much for the staff there having to try and be upbeat although to their credit they do. Read less
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