Riu Palace Paradise Island: Ok resort

First day they gave us a room with a king size bed and there was my husband, daughter and me. They only offered to separate the beds. We went to a sunwing representive and between them and hotel manager they offered us a family suite but at a cost. Almost everyday they ran out of something everyday such as alcohol etc. Just a handful of staff were friendly. No comparison to the Riu in Aruba. They were a twelve out of ten!! We even tried room service one day and did not have the food item we [... read more] ordered but the next day they did but didn’t have another food item we ordered on the second day. The icing on the cake was when we went to line up 45 minutes earlier to get into the steakhouse for the 6:30 sitting we didn’t get in due to a prebooked party of 20. I went to the person in charge of the hotel to complain and told them I have paid to come to this resort, you should put your private parties in a separate room and not take away from the other guests at that resort. The hotel was clean and up to date.The beach and ocean was amazing!! So especially regarding the room situation they should of given us the family suite at no cost. We are very disappointed with all of this. Would I recommend this hotel, my true answer is depending on the day one day yes and on another day no

Riu Republica: Terrible Resort

I used to be a big fan of Cuban vacation in this resort. Visited this place countless number of times during last 15 years. Nowadays this resort managed to ruin all the previous positive impressions and this current vacation. The nature is fantastic: still beautiful sea and beach. The resort is at 2 stars maximum. It is in terrible conditions and the management is also terrible. Service in some cases is just substandard: ignoring, rude, unprofessional and even endangering behavior. Tourists are  [... read more]not welcome here. Do not want to come back. Many other old timers of this resort have the same opinion.

Riu Dunamar: Spectacular vacation retreat

This hotel is amazingly clean and the staff very helpful, from the first welcome to addressing any concerns that may arise during your stay. We walked the entire grounds and not once did we notice anything seemingly out of place or untidy. You definitely will not be hungry or thirsty at this resort, from the well stocked fridge in the room to the several bars and restaurants, there is always something available to keep you hydrated or full. Choices at the restaurants are wide, thus you can al [... read more]ways find something that will meet your desire.

Riu Santa Fe: So Disappointed - Never experienced a Riu like it

I never felt the urge to give a bad hotel review until my stay at the RIU Santa Fe, Los Cabos – Oct 14 - 21 Having stayed at many RIU hotels in the past, this RIU Santa Fe was far the WORST resort/hotel! First like to mention:  Property is beautiful!! The entertainment staff were very good and friendly – always had smiles on their faces!! Didn’t find the rest of the staff to be especially friendly or welcoming! Monday afternoon:  check-in was good and efficient.  After finding my lu [... read more]ggage in the pile of luggage’s left in the lobby, the wheeling/pulling of my luggage around the grounds (huge resort) to find our room in Block 7 (one of the furthest blocks) was on, in the heat. I asked a couple of staff members along the way where Block 7 was, they just pointed the direction.  When we finally got to Block 7, the elevator was broken, only went to 3rd floor, carried our luggage’s up the stair to 4th floor.  I informed the front desk, that the elevator was broken, it stayed broken for rest of the day.  Two days later floor indicator lights in elevator weren’t working. Our first room #7401 - smelled old and musty and had little ants crawling everywhere, safe didn’t work – they did have someone come right away to fix the safe. Tuesday morning:  woke up to a big dead COCKROACH in the bathroom - called reception they said they would send someone right away – we waited 45 minutes before deciding to go for breakfast, leaving money/chocolate bar on the bed for the maid. Went back to our room after breakfast, dead cockroach gone and so was the money/chocolate that was left for the maid – maid had not come in our room yet!!   I ended up leaving more money/chocolate on the bed for the maid!! Wednesday 2:30AM:  turned on light in the room to go the bathroom,  COCKROACHS running all over the floor and crawling the walls!!!!!   Called front desk,  a young guy came up with a can of RAID, started spraying RAID profusely in our room, directly on the COCKROACHS on the walls/floor, and continued spraying them once they dropped on the floor – after almost choking on the fumes, had to try telling him to stop straying for a second for me to get off the bed to open up the balcony doors - could barely breath!!!  He stopped once to put a dead cockroach in an empty pop bottle. Then took him a least 3 mins to kill the HUGE COCKROACH that was on the bathroom counter – the chase was on, hearing him smash the can of RAID all over the counter and floor trying to kill it.  I requested another room that night immediately was told they had no available rooms!!   Next morning again requested another room – was again told by Block 7 receptionist, Lupita no rooms were available, after 20 minutes of going back and forth with her even requesting another room in another Block –  she finally found a room for us in the same Block #7430 but was not going to be available till 3:00PM, again safe didn’t work, was told no one can come to fix safe till 6:30PM (3 ½ hours later).  This room also had little ants!!! Wednesday evening: realized I had left my phone charger/cord in the old room #7401 – phone reception was told they’d would have someone check the room and get back to me immediately - no call back!! Thursday morning: went down to reception to see if my charger/phone was returned, was told by Lupita it was not returned, I asked her if she can have someone go again and check the room, she said no one is available and if I wanted to go check the room myself, I can, I refused and again after going back and forth with her, she finally found a worker to go up and check the room, he came back and said it wasn’t there!  I knew it had to be there or stolen!!   Lupita said I could file a complaint report if I wanted - I did and took a copy of the report.   Later that day, my phone charger/cord appeared in my new room? For the rest of the stay:  it was the same food all week in all restaurants, no theme nights like other RIU’s. If you didn’t participate in the nightly “pool” parties (being with all the young kids in an overcrowded pool drinking (and no one getting out of pool for hours – go figure) getting so intoxicated and with loud music, some nights till 11:00PM) there was NO OTHER entertainment!! There was a constant pile of dirty dishes with leftover food on them and dirty cups in the restaurants and by the pools – not being picked up staff, just the flies and the birds! Some days the pool swim-up bars were closed!?  Specialty Restaurant weren't open when sign said they were to be? Saw a lady throw-up by pool one day and passed out, no one cleaned up the mess, all day - it was gross!! And have to note, this was the first RIU I’ve ever stayed at where the maids didn’t make any towel figures (animals) for the beds! I would NEVER again stay at the RIU Santa Fe or recommend it - being a RIU member!

Riu Guanacaste: Amazing Resort

Myself three other couples just spent two weeks in Costa Rica at the Riu not the Palace what a wonderful resort Rooms were lovely very clean and spacious The food was very very good tons of selection something for everybody of all ages Although rainy season the grounds were beautiful well maintained Amazing excursions lots to see and do there The santuarary next door has all kinds of things including one of the largest zip lines You will see different families of monkeys hilarious to watch PLEA [... read more]SE DO NOT FEED THEM people do anyways!!! They have a NEON night there is nothing like it best entertainment ever experienced on a resort The staff is marvelous like no other speak great English will go out of there way to get you what ever you need My friend celebrated his 60th birthday there we took decoration they decorated his room well we were on a excursion All the workers come to sing at dinner Cant say enough about this place the beach is clean so is the water Highly recommend for a holiday you wont forget

Riu Palace Jamaica: Gorgeous place

The hotel was gorgeous! The food was very good The weather was perfect Friendly staff Very clean I don’t really have too many negative things to report. The entertainment was lacking, they didn’t really have too many shows or events. The staff were young and catered to their generation. The resort mostly had an older crowd, and I felt as though they should of accommodated all age groups.

Riu Reggae: Nice and relaxing getaway!!

Flight going there got delayed 1.5 hrs and flight coming back delayed about 3 hrs. Hotel is super close from the airport, we arrived to the hotel a little after 10 pm and not restaurant was open or real food was available; the food option we had was sandwiches, popcorn and nachos- no nacho cheese left. Welcome drinks were served 10-20 minutes after we arrived. After a long day travelling we just wanted to relax, eat and drink, we got a bit disappointed. Other than that, room clean and timely [... read more], staff always cheerful and friendly, hotel was mostly clean, nice night entertainment and fun by the pool at noon. The resort its small, which makes it quick and easy to get from your room to the restaurant, bars, pool and beach. We spent most of our time at the beach, it was always clean in the mornings. We are used to having the drinks served to us while we are at the beach/pool, but they don't do it here. Enjoyed the no-motorized sports a lot and the staff always helpful. Best of the best, was jerk chicken on the beach for lunch everyday!

Riu Palace Paradise Island: Amazing view and food!

Our experience started out not so great- the check-in process at this particular hotel is not good to say the least- took us two hours to get our room- I should mention we got to the hotel at 10:20pm- but once we got checked into our room the experience was very good. Excellent food, polite and courteous staff, always saying hello and eager to answer questions. The entertainment was not so good- hopefully they are working on this- but Calypso bar was always hopping with people. The jerk sh [... read more]ack by the pool was excellent, and the food on the buffet was so good we didn’t even try one of the a la cartes. We always found a lounger whenever we looked for one by the beach or the pool... no matter the time of the day. We did some excursions and we were impressed with the experience of both excursions, however the Sunwing rep could have offered more information to us about the trips off property so we would not have to research this ourselves. The room view was amazing with a view of the ocean, Atlantas and Nassau! Beautiful! Checkout went smoothly, with the exception of being told once we were on the bus and our bands had been cut off by the hotel that we were delayed by two hours- everything at the airport was closed as far as food was concerned- it would have been nice for the Riu to allow us to partake in a buffet before carting us off to the airport. Over all I would say our trip was awesome- with a few hiccups- not sure if this was Sunwing or Riu, but once we got past the issues we had a great vacation.

Riu Palace Paradise Island: Fourth and LAST time

My husband and I have visited the Riu Paradise Island now 4 times and this time we went with a group of 14 people. Although the group made our time in Bahamas amazing, I was thoroughly disappointed with the resort this time around. Check-in was smooth however I paid for an "Oceanview Room" and I got one, if i went to the furthest corner of my balcony and turned my head all the way left. Had a great view of the fans and A/C units though. I complained to the Manager Terry who was super nice an [... read more]d tried to accommodate me by putting me up a few floors. It was better but still nothing to write home about. Terry was one of the nicer people we encountered on our vacation. We found in the past there were a few not so pleasant staff members of the Riu but this time we found that there were a only few nice, polite, happy people only. Keeping in mind that we were a group of 14, we had large drink orders at times with 2 or 3 of us going to the bar to grab everyone a drink. Kellon in the Calypso bar was super annoyed with a friend of mine (rolled eyes) and even said "Ok, is that it, i have a whole bar of people waiting". The pool bar was no different but we were spared the rude comment. At the buffet at lunch, a few servers were standing in the corner chatting, I literally had to pick up my own plates and as I started carrying them away someone came to take the off of me. We were never asked if we wanted top ups on our drinks, we asked for napkins which never came and ended up having to grab them ourselves. Only once they saw the tip on the table as we were leaving did 2 of them rush the table to clean up.....too late! In the past, we have also seen a greater entertainment team presence....there was none this time. Saw the same 2 girls a few times asking to play volleyball or water aerobics but that was it. We've also encountered theme nights at the buffet for dinner and this time there were none. It is way too frustrating to stand in line at an a la carte at 6:30 and not be guaranteed to eat at that time, often having to wait until 7:30/8:00 so theme nights would've been appreciated. Overall good time due to the company but I think I've officially retired from the Riu Paradise Island

Riu Palace Paradise Island: Good hotel

Hotel was very clean and food was good. For adults only though, I found the disco, Calypso, closed pretty early. You would think music would be pumping longer and get the crowd going but that was not the case. I went with a big group, 14 of us, so we grabbed drinks at the bar, as it was 24 hours, and we hung out in the front and played our own music. For adults only, I just would expect more entertainment and fun but that is not the case. If you want to just relax, this is the place for you. [... read more] Also, a couple of the bartenders were a little annoyed with our drink order but buddy, this is a 24 hour bar, what do you expect? Are we not supposed to order anything??? Don't get me wrong, most of them were great such as Marco and some others which I can't remember their names, but there were a couple that were not as friendly. All in all, we had a great time due to the company we were with.

Riu Palace Paradise Island: Great for a long weekend adults getaway

Great beach, clean grounds, pools are warm. Food is hot and fresh the way it should be! good food. Steak house is good quality. wines off the menu are very reasonably priced if you wish to have a nice bottle above the house wine. Rooms are clean, good mattresses, not the best pillows, as with most hotels. Washrooms are clean and large with good layouts.

Riu Guanacaste: exellent resort lots to due

good resort pool could use some clean up and a beach bar. maids were very good rooms clean. food very tasty and servers were efficient. lots of bartenders and quick service. excursion a little pricy but excellent. you can get a better price on the beach for excursion (cash only) see Luis Solution and his dog Mikey near the Riu Palace he is a great guide .

Riu Guanacaste: Riu

The Riu was great the hotel was great the people there were also I'm the only thing the day trip the VIP service sucked it was bad whoever gave it to us told us to we're going to go shopping we didn't get to go shopping and yeah it was a waste of money for us it wasn't our trap and they sent us on the wrong one for sure okay thank you we missed our trip the next trip because we were so exhausted from this VIP service there was no air conditioning on the bus there was no time for shopping we got  [... read more]a whole 40 minutes and my heart has been got swollen ankles and my daughter's boyfriend almost passed out so that was not a good experience for us and I'm not very happy with that okay just letting you know

Riu Guanacaste: Great and a little bad!

The hotel was beautiful. The landscape and the rooms were exquisite! The entertainment staff catered to all the guests that we spoke with and from what we witnessed and experienced. We thought the food at the buffet was excellent but never got a chance to experience the a la carte restaurants because we never wanted to wait in a line. Now the bad....we arrived at the resort at approximately lunch time. I went to check in, we were told to come back in a bit. We came back an hour later, only to  [... read more]be told to come back later. We came back at 2pm, knowing that other guests from our plane already got their rooms, but were told to come back at 3pm...a little frustrating! Anyways, we waited there in the lobby from 2-2:55 because we never wanted to leave our luggage unattended, when we were waived over to get the key to our room. For some reason, some guests got their rooms at 2pm and we had to wait till 3pm. We never saw anyone bring keys to the front desk while we were waiting for the hour. The staff at the front desk decided to give some people their keys early and others not....So a big thumbs down to the welcoming staff and some of the front end male staff at the resort! This is the first Riu where we had anything negative to say. Overall I would give the resort a 8.5 out of 10. It would have been a 10....

Riu Santa Fe: Wouldn’t stay again.

We had stayed at this hotel two and a half years ago and it was pretty good. This time the food was absolutely horrible. Only the Asian a la carte was decent. The others were horrible. Steakhouse was barely edible. We wasted almost everything on the plate. Reservations are no longer needed however that means if you want to eat at an al a carte you need to go when they open at 6 pm. We went at 7 once and were seated at 830!! We didn’t get food until 930. The buffet has the same food everyday. S [... read more]ame roasted potatoes for breakfast lunch and dinner. I saw mashed potatoes twice and never any shredded or different hash browns. Bacon was raw or so well done it broke when you went to pick it up. The talk on the plane home was how excited everyone was for normal food as the food was that bad. Rooms are old and outdated. Ours leaked the first night we arrived and it was a huge puddle in our foyer and all the way to our nightstand and it took us two hours to convince them to let us switch rooms. They new the upstairs was leaking yet still assigned us the room. They sent a lady up with a squeegee and towel. Then the maintenance guy. The staff are very friendly which was a plus. As well the grounds and pools are quite nice. A little dated as well but palm trees all over. It is a loud resort so expect pool parties if you wander towards that side of the hotel. We stayed in a quiet building so no issues. The bars and restaurants open late. Never when it says so expect to wait as they aren’t ready. Def would stay at the new Riu California next time and just use Santa Fe’s pools.

Riu Palace Costa Rica: Great Holiday but would not go back

This was our 45 Wedding Anniversary and we were looking for adventure and to travel outside our comfort zone. Background we love staying at the RIU Mayan Riviera Palace Mexico, so much that we have been there 18 times. Our flights with Sunwing were great no problems, our experience with the Nexius team was great and they need to be commended for their hospitality and their expert advice. The RIU hotel was beautiful, the view from our room was excellent. The pools were awesome. The beach how [... read more]ever was extremely disappointing and certainly not welcoming. If you wanted to sit down at the Ocean be prepared to drag your own lounge chair down to the beach. At any day I only counted maybe 10 people who ventured down to spend time in the Ocean, We did travel in the rainy season and we were there from September 30 until October 07. It rained every day from 12:30 until dark. The rain came with lightening and very heavy downpours and you could not do anything but try and get something to eat or go to your room. There was minimal activities provided to the guests during the afternoons or evenings. If you were lucky to get into lunch earlier you had a great selection of food to eat but if you did go after 1pm good luck as your selection became limited and the staff were blocking areas so you could not sit with the view of the ocean.. I would have to say that I was very disappointed with the food selection and it was often luke warm or cold at night. The variety of food that we were use to in Mexico was not the same in Costa Rica. The service in the restaurants and in the buffet was also very selective and you really were on your own. We did try the steak house one night and arrived at 8pm to be told that we are very late. We chose lobster and asked if we could share a serving of steak between us but was told NO not until we ate our first meal. I felt like I had just been scolded. Our lobster was cold and dry and we left shortly after. We did however have a wonderful meal in the Italian Restaurant and the management team at this restaurant were amazing. There is a considerable amount of walking and if you have any mobility issues please know that the pools are accessible but the bathrooms are very far away from the pools and there is considerable amount of walking to and from the pools. Also if you are a smoker there is no smoking in the buildings or on the premises however there is a couple spots where you can walk to. . I thought that we were being too judgmental but learned very quickly when meeting just causally with other residents how disappointed they all were with the service and the food and the fact no one was really caring if you were okay.. I think however the worst complaint was during an evening of sitting in the lobby bar on a Saturday night where there would be about 25-30 people chatting and some were playing cards, some were playing scrabble. The lights suddenly were shut off and the lobby bar became pitch black and the hotel lobby was also pitch black. It was 12 midnight and the bar closed so they shut off all the lights. There had been in our group one older woman that had had a few drinks and we had to help her back to her room to make sure she could see and get back to her room safe. Thank God for cell phones and their lights. I use this as an example as this appeared to be the general consensus with the staff They were there to do a job and only a job and it had nothing to do with ensuring that the people who were paying to be there were enjoying themselves. We never received any acknowledgement that were were celebrating our 45 Wedding Anniversary and we even showed them a copy of our Marriage Certificate We did however enjoy the 2 excursions we took and the staff who provided these trips were so informative and very entertaining throughout these trips. The first trip was the double decker bus called the city tour and the group on the bus were fun and we learned so much about the Coffee Plantation, Sugar Cane and the history of Costa Rica. We also took a boat tour through the jungle and this was also fun and learned more about the different species in the jungle, the monkeys, etc. Both tours we would highly recommend. All in all we had a great holiday, met many people from all over the world, made new friends and learned something new. So it was a great holiday but we prefer Mexico. Sandra and David Best

Riu Montego Bay: People were awesome , Sunwing and food ok

The servers and entertainers were very sweet and entertaining. But the food and amenities were ok. The shows were very good, the bartenders were awesome, the waiters were amazing, the food was ok. Our room was musty. We had to fight for three beds even though we were paying for three adults. The cleaners were good. But room was musty. And decor was out of date and food had a lot of msg. We had trouble with Sunwing: I pre booked extra legroom seats after paying extra for the privilege and paying  [... read more]extra for the seats when I booked them, only to find out that Sunwing switched our flight home to a tiny Swiss plane and bumped us back to crappy seats but kept our money! I'm currently fighting with Sunwing for a refund.

Riu Dunamar: Great resort...!!!

The resort is fairly new 2017?) and this is reflected in the room décor and layout that we had. The grounds, pool and beach amenities were comparable or better than some other beach resorts that we have stayed at in the past. The staff were friendly and accommodating. The few requests that we had were promptly attended to and followed up for satisfactory resolution. The food was quite good although appearing a little repetitive to us at times.

Riu Dunamar: Beautiful resort amazing service

Very clean, excellent service, beautiful beach. Restaurants were really good, and rooms were amazing. Public bathrooms always clean. Pools were always clean as well during the day people were constantly cleaning them. Beach was clean and very beautiful.

Riu Palace Tropical Bay: Great location!!

The grounds were kept beautifully. Housekeeping very good. Overall hospitality was very good.Jamaica is a beautiful island with beautiful culture..As for the value...For a single traveller I did not find great value in this package. Had it been 7nghts my rating would of been different .