Riu Guanacaste: Amazing Experience!!

Very clean, beautiful, beautiful grounds, lots of beautiful plants and trees. Well maintained. Beautiful views, very picturesque, great pool with lots of shade and no issues getting chairs by the beach and pool. Lots of amazing excursions to choose from. Great entertainment group! great friendly staff who are always willing to help out!

Riu Playa Blanca: Excellent Resort

Amazing and beautiful resort, dining great, Would like to see more English speaking staff. Staff are very helpful, very clean resort a great retirement location. Food and drinks was always available. would go again

Riu Republica: Amazing Resort

I have to say that I think the entire staff, no matter what position, were very friendly and eager to please.... no matter what!!! Food and drinks were good. I enjoyed the "all inclusive" part of my trip, as I've never gone on one before. I can't wait to go again. As for the swimming pool, I loved the table and stools in the pool itself. What a way to enjoy some drinks in the hot sun! As for the beach, I found there were plenty of chairs and huts, so very easy to find one. The beach  [... read more]was beautiful! I would definitely recommend this place to my friends and I will be definitely be returning. Thanks for such an awesome vacation. Dianne Rice

Riu Caribe Cancun: Overall great resort

Resort was great. The beach was amazing and the food was good. Pools got loud and rowdy some days but it is Cancun... Service was great and rooms were clean and spacious. Overall good resort and would go back again.

Riu Republica: Amazing Resort

Just returning from a weeks vacation in Punta Cana. We stayed at Riu Republica Adults only that just opened in June of this year. Cannot say enough as It was simply an amazing vacation. The hotel is beautiful. The beach was just great breathtaking. The rooms were huge, large bathroom, no tub In our unit. But they do have jacuzzi rooms. We had a courtyard view. We did ask for king bed but got 2 doubles. That was my only thing that disappointed me. Maids did a great job cleaning our rooms d [... read more]aily. We were treated from staff like family. They were such friendly hard working people. Grounds were always cleaned and gardens kept beautiful. They catered to us from morning to night, from the beach to the pools to dining to entertainment. We even had fruit daily delivered on the beach and by pool and some awesome pineapple drinks made by the pool. A Shout out to Evelyn in the the sports bar, and Wandy at the pool bar for your awesome drinks you made us. Also to Ramy at the morning Buffet. Such great workers with great hospitality. Just always made us feel so welcome and catered to our needs. We left them great tips as they worked so hard to make our stay awesome. The food was plentiful and Delicious. The entertainment was non stop around the pool daily, to daily exercise classes to night time shows and parties. I have 2 timeshares that are 5* in Mexico and in Orlando and this stay at Rui Republica was as comparable as to our stay there. We loved the Rui Sante Fe in Cabo and took a gamble on this new resort. Glad we did. Not a bad thing to say, I would highly recommend this place, we have made some amazing memories and we will definitely be returning. A special thank you to Debbie Macguire at trip central for her excellent care and work helping us with the booking, your patience in answering all our questions and finding us all the ins and the outs of this new resort before booking and making this vacation a memorable one.

Riu Palace Aruba: Great location and amenities

This was our first trip to Aruba and we will definitely go back. The Riu Palace all-inclusive is great, it's located within walking distance from shops and restaurants. It has great beach with clear and still water, nice swimming pool and great rooms. Food was overall good. No worries about tap water like other places. Aruba is nice and safe, people are friendly and happy; although is a small island, there are plenty of interesting places to visit. We rented a car for half a day and we drove to [... read more] California Lighthouse, Oranjestad and Baby Beach (highly recommended especially for snorkeling and children). We also took a horse back riding trip through the Arikok National Park and Natural Pool, on the other side of the island. The view from the top of the National Park hills is stunning as well as the sunset if you choose the afternoon tour. Overall, a great time and an amazing week to remember!

Riu Palace Aruba: Great resort and amenities!

This was our first trip to Aruba and we will definitely come back. The Riu Palace all-inclusive is great, it's located within walking distance from shops and restaurants. It has great beach with clear and still water, nice swimming pool and great rooms. Food was overall good. No worries about tap water like other places. Aruba is nice and safe, people are friendly and happy; although is a small island, there are plenty of interesting places to visit. We rented a car for half a day and we drove  [... read more]to California Lighthouse, Oranjestad and Baby Beach (highly recommended especially for snorkeling and children). We also took a horse back riding trip through the Arikok National Park and Natural Pool, on the other side of the island. The view from the top of the National Park hills is stunning as well as the sunset if you choose the afternoon tour. Overall, a great time and an amazing week to remember!

Riu Guanacaste: Amazing Resort

The hotel's grounds are beautiful. The people are nice. The buffet & a la carte's were really good too. Lots of variety considering I gave to eat Gluten free. The resort is super clean. They are constantly mopping the resort grounds, and cleaning the washrooms. I've never seen people clean so much. I've been to Cuba, Mexico, punta Cana, and Jamaica, and i can say that this was one of the best. The only thing that wasn't amazing was the beach. It is a little rocky, so bring water shoes.

Riu Republica: Nice resort

Overall I enjoyed my stay. The resort was clean and well maintained. No surprise as it had been open less than a month. Great service with friendly staff and people. Great food at both the daily buffet and the 3 restaurants. Good design to have the restaurants all together so we didn't have to search. Room was nice with one exceptional element - poor design with the wall with the shower being a smoked glass. Anyone in the bedroom area could see the outlines of those taking a shower! The beach wa [... read more]s lovely as well as the two pools - one was quiet with the other having music and a sit down bar in the pool. The entertainment was somewhat lame - live band playing slow music most nights. Very generous with alcoholic drinks.

Riu Republica: Amazing trip!

My friend and I really enjoyed the activities the Riu Republica had to offer. This was the highlight for us! Of course the hotel was beautiful and clean. The food was ok but everything else was great. Can't wait to come back next year!

Riu Republica: Definitely a 5 star Resort

For a recently new resort it is amazing, the grounds are kept very well with new vegetation. They have a covered promenade from the main reception area along the front of the restaurants and buffet with a small tourist/souvenir store included. this promenade runs parallel to the walkway to the pool area. There are two main pools one with swim up bar the other more relaxing and peaceful has bar service. The huge buffet has been the best that we have experienced in our previous four times to [... read more] the Dominican. There will be something that one could find to prevent one from going hungry. As for the restaurants they are quite good but the menu never changes so multiple reservations at one particular restaurant will not provide choices. The reservations for the three restaurants is not the most convenient as bookings take place for all restaurants between the hours of 7 AM to 11 AM and only take place at the Japanese restaurant. The wine lists at the restaurants are limited and you must convert from the Dominican currency to American. Make sure you acquire a receipt for these beverages as they are an additional charge and keep the receipt for checkout time as you may find the price of your wine selection may have varied on your final billing. The beach is the nicest beach that we have experienced in the Caribbean and Mexico. The sand is clean very fine and soft. The water is somewhat a different issue it is quite clear light blue no rocks nor weeds but the waves are quite rough. Our entire week we never experienced calm water and the waves were rolling in on average 3 to 4 feet in height and as I am 5'8" there would be numerous times waves would be over my head and their force can knock you down and under. Being this was an adult only resort the people enjoyed the water and there was always good numbers enjoying the surf. The waves, I would not recommend for children, as they were consistent along the entire shore and as a precaution, for my loved ones, they would be wearing life jackets. Because of the waves there was very little use of floatation devices and there are no lifeguards on duty. The water was warm clean and had a sandy bottom. Seaweed washed up on the shore in the early morning which was raked up and disposed of by the resort grounds crew. The rooms are new and quite contemporary modern and just as pictured in the brochures and travel guides which are cleaned and freshened up every day. The mini fridge in the room is restocked every other day and there is a mini bar above the fridge stocked with liquor. A note, to be aware of, is that the only beer served on the resort is El Presidente but if you happen to meet up with the beverage person who restocks the fridge he does carry on his cart Heineken and that is where you can get a choice with a little persuasion and maybe a tip. Bottled water is available in the rooms in large bottles but not available outside your room so make sure you ask for extra water if it is a favourite beverage. You cannot get bottled water at the bars. If you are to want water when you are down at the beach you will be taking the bottle of water from your room. Suggestion: Why not bring a large thermos mug from home and fill it with bottle water from your room to keep it cooler? There are only two washrooms outside of your room. One near the sports bar at the main reception area the other down at the towel Hut near the pools. I learned the hard way that the symbols we use here in Canada of the male and female images does not represent washrooms in the Dominican but rather elevators. The Resort indicate their washroom facilities with the letters WC over the doors. The Sun Wing flight was standard you are served sandwich or wrap type meal. But from the onset of the flight and then again at your orientation meeting which is misnamed, you are bombarded with sales pitches for various excursions from your resort and you learn very little about the resort itself. Having visited the Dominican several times before we had previously done most of their activities and tours but there was an all day tour to a nearby island named Somo Island that was supposed to have crystal waters and white sand beaches. Because of the rough waves at our resort we decided to take this excursion which was $94 American per person. Upon boarding the bus and picking up numerous other resort passengers the bus ride was over four hours long then you boarded a so-called speedboat and stopped at what they called the world's largest pool which was shallow calm water and held starfish (for no longer than five seconds out of the water or else they would die and had your picture taken for an additional cost) then it was on to this island. This part of the trip took another hour and a half you reached a beach that looked like it had been ravaged by a hurricane with palm branches down and some of the hut buildings were dilapidated then you were guided to the REAL beach. This beach was not as good as our resort beach. The shore had shells and fragments before you entered the water and upon entering the water there were more rough pebbles and shells and a depression/dip and the rest of the waters floor was not smooth but would have scattered shells or stones throughout. The waves were some what calmer. They did feed you a buffet lunch, nowhere near the resort's excellence then on the return trip they stopped off at a small shoppers market which was basically for you to spend more money---- bottom line--- Don't Take This Excursion. There is evening entertainment at the open Theatre/stage not far from the main reception which includes the house band who open the evening. They are good but a whole week of their playing gets very repetitious then there is a middle performance usually dancing acts followed by the house band closing the evening. I was amazed at the amount of people who still smoke and this was permitted during the evening performances and also down at the beach in close proximity to others thus it made it unenjoyable for us non-smokers - obviously the smoking rules are not as strict as they are at home. To summarize: resort five, rooms five, dining five, beach five, water three, (due to rough waves), service five, (exception: front reception not understanding or caring probably due to the lack of understanding English- hard to communicate), cleanliness five. Some useful tips: Take a long two or more multi receptacles with a single three prong plug, these you can get at the dollar store that have three receptacles with a single three prong plug at the back, as in our room and I assume in all rooms there were a total of three single socket receptacles not double receptacles like we have in Canada. This will be useful if you need to charge electronic devices at the same time or just need extra AC . There are no clock radios in the room so it is best to take a battery alarm clock so as to tell time and to set an alarm if needed. (Battery so that you do not use up a receptacle using AC). Take a long a used up gift card say a two dollar Tim Horton's gift card (do not use credit cards or debit cards) to be placed in the card slot inside your room's door this is where you would normally place your room key card in, which controls the entire room's electricity and air conditioning. This way you do not have to leave your room key card in the slot when you leave the room. You just leave the gift card in the slot and your electricity in the room remains on which includes the air-conditioning and your room will remains cool throughout the day and you can use your room's key card for re-entering your room upon your return. You may find the cleaning staff may remove your gift card by just pulling it out of the slot but usually they will leave it alone. Maybe take to spare gift card(s). Great Place, Great Price, Great Vacation. Thanks Trip Central, Thanks Martine, we will definitely be vacationing with you again, Glen

Riu Republica: Amazing Resort, Amazing time!!

The hotel was very modern looking and very clean, hotel staff were all friendly and helpful! The beach was pristine as well. Couldn't have asked for a better vacation, I didn't want to leave! Riu Republica and Punta Cana will forever have a special place in my heart! I would love to go back.

Riu Republica: somewhat disappointed

staff not very organized. Not very clean. Only 1 a la carte restaurant, and hardly any selection. Two other restaurants were actually buffet style, and it was the same food you could get in the main dining room. Would not go back

Riu Palace Paradise Island: Bahamas Stay

We stayed at the Riu Palace Paradise Island for 4 nights. The first I'm press ion of the hotel was okay. There was a long check in line and a leak in the ceiling right on top of it. The staff was checking people in pretty fast but they were not as friendly as I would have imagined. Our room was clean and we had a great view of the ocean. The beach at the Riu is like nothing I have ever seen. Clear water, turquoise in colour and warm but refreshing. There were lots of chair to use but not enough  [... read more]umbrellas to accommodate all the guests. The pool area had a bar but the pool was not very clean. Bartenders were awesome. The food at the Riu was amazing. The buffet had a great selection and the sit down restaurants were good. We spent our nights at the Atlantis in the casino due to the fact there wasn't much else to do at the hotel. Everything seemed to close early. Overall, we found the staff to be okay. Not very friendly and at times annoyed when you made a request. The beach is this hotels' biggest selling point.

Riu Vallarta: RIU VALLATRA RESORT

I book this resort through TRIPCENTRAL.CA on July 18th for seven days I was debating while booking this resort, but it worth it, the resort fabulous, the foods was great and very tasty, the place very clean the pool was very nice and relaxing . The customer service excellent, employee very helpful and friendly . the room very clean the Ac was working perfectly. the beach was on Pacific ocean , lots of waves but good and lots of breezes. the surrounding was very clean and lots to drink [... read more] and if you are drinker that the perfect resort for you. I will recommend anyone to going to that resort if you are planning a vacation in Mexico, is good for Family and if you have kids.

Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas: Amazing service and location!

The service is amazing. The pools are great and the view is superb. The excursions are easy to find and safe. There is so much to do. The people and the architecture really does its best to make your stay perfect. The night theater is incredible. They all work so hard in the heat.

Riu Playacar: Great resort!!!!!

The resort was very clean, The entertainment was amazing. The day crew was very interactive got people involved. However the air conditioning in our room would not go lower than 23 degrees. In the summer that is not cold enough. Our kids rooms air conditioner was working better. Called for service they never came, called again the man showed but did nothing. The Japanese ala cart was nothing special. Did not enjoy the Italian. Mexican and steak house were very good. Very close to playa del Carm [... read more]en, actually ended up eating out a few nights. Beach was INCREDIBLE!!!! Beautiful with palms all over, plenty of chairs.

Riu Palace Pacifico: Amazing Family Vacation

We had an amazing time at the Riu Palace, The resort was clean, staff were friendly, hard working and great entertainment. Great food with constant snacks and food available at the pool. The beach, the waves were incredible. We would definitely go back.. We also took advantage of the free Access to other hotels such as Riu Jalisco and Riu Vallarta. spent the morning in each resort and enjoyed lunch. The one things that parents should be aware of is at the Riu Palace the pool was a little d [... read more]eeper than my kids were used to and didn't really have a shallow area. We ended up buying floaters and they were fine, It also encouraged them to swim and practice..

Riu Lupita: Very good resort

This resort is quite nice. Don't get fooled by the photo as the beach is at RIU Palace. The shuttle runs every half hour until 6pm. The staff is so professional. RIU Lupita is exceptionally clean. The only problem: the main pool - water way too hot. The rooms are super clean. The beds are comfortable and the linens are crisp white. Please note that there is no radio clock, no coffee machine and no iron and board in the room. It was quite challenging to get an iron. No washing machine o [... read more]n premises. We had requested a room on the main level but gave us a room on the second level. They apologized but was too late. The food was excellent so was the service. Daily activities around the pool are basic. Music somewhat boring. We took the free shuttle to 5Th Avenue every evening and came back by taxi. This resort is very safe as you have to show ID bracelet before entering RIU Lupita. Remember - you get what you pay for but this was a nice getaway for 6 days.

Riu Tequila: riu tequila

Fantastic beach with perfect balance of shallow and deep water. Clear water and clean beach. Great for a long walk on white soft sand. Excellent , huge restaurant on the beach . Enough beach chairs and natural shade. Riu Tequila is definitely outdated , but still good compare to the price. 800m walk to the beach. The only complaints , there is only one beach shuttle which doesn't even goes the whole day.