Grand Memories Varadero: Excellent Resort

My family loved our vacation. Room was good and maid was excellent! 6 of the 7 nights we went to the buffet and each night the food was getting better and better. Pool had a great atmosphere, with party games and dancing. Didn't go to the quieter pools. The beach was unbelievable. Staff were very accommodating when needed. Would highly recommend it if you haven't been there already. P.S. It is no longer known as " Riu Hotel ", it's now called the "Grand Memories". Memories hotel group purchased [... read more] it the week before we got there.

Riu Palace Paradise Island: Perfect stay

The resort is simply superb ! Our room had the perfect view of the ocean with an amazing sunrise each morning! What a great way to start your day. Food was fabulous and always hot with an amazing selection. Staff was friendly and always ready to advise. Rooms were cleaned and bar fridge replenished each day. Made for one enjoyable vacation. Way to go RIU.

Sol Turquesa Beach: Beautiful Resort

Resort is beautiful, very nice garden areas. The staff is very friendly and helpful. Bartenders do a very good job at what they do, one of them working at the pool bar has some amazing bottle handling skills, very impressive to watch.

Riu Palace Costa Rica: disapointment

The rooms were not clean. Items that were to be there were not. the rest of the resort was well looked after. The bar staff was excellent. The front desk was excellent. The rest of the resort halls,romms and walk way were all dirty

Sol Turquesa Beach: Another Wonderful Blue Sky Holiday!

My husband and I recently returned from Memories Holguin.We were there for a too short 7 days.We stayed from April3-10/2015. Being our 5th time to this lovely resort, we knew what to expect, in terms of room location, food, the Many stairs, (87) , the lovely staff.But what we did not expect was the Great job, that Memories has been doing since taking over, a few short months ago!.This is a beautiful resort, that has so much to offer,from the lovely pools, the lush, tropical grounds, the lovely b [... read more]each.....(Those beaches are what I see, when I dream!).. We enjoyed all of the pools, and were happy to notice that they are all being used,cleaned daily, with shade provided and chairs, (our last visit, they were not using them all, some were left drained).The food quality has vastly improved, there was always fresh fruit, bacon, eggs, breads, child-friendly options, fish, shell-fish, various meats, salad options, condiments, the list goes on! The staff were exceptional, kind, and helpful, always with those glorious smiles!.The new manager, Jesus, is very present, and always willing to stop and talk, the staff all seem to be thriving under the new managemen .As repeat guests , we were treated to a lovely room, in bungalow #5, as I had requested.The room was kept clean, we always had fresh towels, and our fridge restocked, with water, pop and beer.The Repeat Guest Dinner, was an honor to attend .Best one, ever, in all of our trips to Cuba,( we have been 19 times!) Sitting in the pool, with white linen, red napkins, roses, being entertained, by a lovely quartet of singers, all while your feet are in the lovely water, was so awesome! The ladies were presented with single roses, the men with a cigar. Such a lovely evening! Such a lovely week! I will return to this Resort, without any hesitation , and I will certainly be returning to Lovely Cuba, That magical, slice of Heaven, that makes My soul sing, each and every time.I feel very honored and fortunate, to be able to travel, and I look forward to my next adventure! Gracious! Memories Holguin. Thank You! Nathan Donaldson, @ Trip Central.

Riu Palace Aruba: Disappointing Rooms

My husband and myself just returned from Aruba. The grounds of the Riu Palace were great, the pool was amazing. Resturants were good, even the buffet was good. Enjoyed our breakfast every morning. The staff were good. But we didn't know that as of April 13th The Riu Palace is closed for three months for renovactions . So for the last two days of our vacation they started emptying some rooms. But the day we were leaving they had both elevators packed with furniture. So you had a long wait for the [... read more] elevator. I was not happy! They should have waited till everyone had left. Everyone was out of there by 1pm to catch flights. The beach was beautiful. The rooms were NO 5 star, furniture was old ,broken. My friends sink in the room wasn't working. Enjoyed my time in Aruba ,the people were great, weather amazing. If I had know they were closing for three months I would have waited till renos were done. Travel agents should find out more about resorts.

Grand Memories Varadero: Amazing Resort

We have been 4 times at RIU Hotel in Varadero and we really like to go back. Ther food is good, the weather fantastic and the food is fine. For children is great as there are lots of activities during the day. I would strongly recommended this hotel, although lately they changed the name to Grant Memories.

Grand Memories Varadero: Disappointing for a five star.

Every meal was a poor selection of food, the food was cold, ie potatoes, French fries, the chicken tasted like rubber and the pork was served pink. One day there were not clean plates for lunch. We had one order of fries in the snack bar that were hot, items offered on the menu were not available, ie chicken wraps and pizza. There was a lot of cups, straws and cigarettes left on the ground. The public washrooms often had no locks on the doors, some with no paper towel to dry your hands and soap  [... read more]was not always available. Our experience has been pleasant staff, but only two workers were pleasant. The staff appeared very solemn and frustrated. Our room was well kept, except for one day, we returned around 4:30 pm and our room was not refreshed. This experience should be rated at 2-3. We were at this resort three years ago and had a wonderful experience. We told the person upon our check-out how disappointed we were and he did not even respond. We spoke with lots of people at the resort and everyone had the same disappointments and frustrations as us. Several pieces of the pool guards were missing, indeed a safety issue and there was a fair amount of sand in the pools.

Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas: Outstanding

8th visit to RIU/RIU Palace-consistent and excellent value. Service was excellent, staff are top notch, and weather in Costa Rica is hot hot hot! We highly recommend RIU Palace and can say with confidence that you will not be displeased with this All Inclusive

Riu Tequila: great time

Hotel was nice. Pool could be better but use if other facilities is a plus. The beach was amazing. The food was great lots of variety buy could use more variety in the drink menus. Entertainment and music very good to.

Riu Palace Antillas: Excellent Service!

We found the Riu Antillas to be a well run, welcoming resort. The staff are friendly and accommodating. Our room was clean and well stocked. The pool grounds and beach are well maintained and clean. As with most resorts the process for A La Carte dinning reservations is annoying and the A La Carte restaurant's food quality was disappointing, not elevated above the buffet quality,(the food over cooked and coming a long distance from the central kitchens arriving cold (except the Steak House where [... read more] the grill is in the same location as the dinning area). The buffet and bar services were good quality with variety & daily changes. I did not personally like the high rise aspect of the hotel and does not have a tropical feel. Aruba in general is very generic but easy to get around. I would recommend renting a UTV to off road to see the sights, can be done in a 4hr rental. The beaches are lovely but the wind is very strong and blows all day long. This hotel's building location does not afford any relief from the wind like some of the other properties on Palm Beach.

Sol Turquesa Beach: Lovely resort!

This was our first time in Holguin and we really enjoyed the resort, the beach and of course the Cuban people. For anyone with mobility issues, there are a lot of stairs, the resort is built on a hill with beach at the bottom and lobby/restaurants at the top. In between there are 5 pools you can stop at and a few bars on the way up. There are golf carts to take you from one place to another, however if you are planning on using a pool you will have to navigate at least some stairs. The staff her [... read more]e at Memories went above and beyond again and again, and always the managers and general managers of the resort were around and available if you had questions or just to say hello. We will defiantly be going back!

Riu Palace Costa Rica: very enjoyable stay.

The hotel was very clean....staff was cleaning the lobby, the grounds and even the walk ways daily. The staff was friendly the food the great except I did find the Asian restaurant was not very good compared to the other places to eat. Had no issues get chairs at the pool or beach durning the day. I would gladly return for another vacation.

Riu Palace Costa Rica: Wonderful holiday!

The Riu Palace was a great place to stay for a relaxing holiday. Drinks delivered pool-side, a nice selection of tasty, fresh food well-prepared, hotel staff very service oriented. The grounds were beautiful, the pools great, the pool side activities just right, evening entertainment was entertaining, beach was super! Not too crowded - there were maybe 25 people at the beach at its most crowded. There are several pools, each seemingly for a slightly different crowd - there was the one with all t [... read more]he boisterous young people having lots of fun in the pool, and the one we liked which was more for swimming and sunning in the lounges built right into the water, and aquafit every day at 11.30. Always easy to find well-located lounge chairs to lie in pool-side. The staff come around frequently to get your drink order and deliver it right to where you're lying in the sun! whether at the beach or at the pool. Poor guys, having to traverse all that in blazing sun all day! There is as much to do there as you want - you can keep yourself really busy with day trips, snorkeling and other going-out-on-the-water type excursions. Or you can take it nice and easy! There were lots of day trips available, we only went on the Congo Trail ziplining outing, which was very nice. There are a couple of other ziplining outings but they are 2 and 3 hours away by bus. We did not want to spend 4 to 6 hours in a bus to do a day trip. A few people we spoke with flew into San Jose first to do some of those rainforest, volcano, whitewater rafting and other activities, and then spent 5 nights at the Palace to relax after all that strenuous activity. Flying into Liberia you don't run the risk of the airport being closed due to volcanic eruption which is what seems to happen at San Jose from time to time (it happened around the day we were flying out, March 21). I felt really comfortable at the Riu Palace and would highly recommend it. The staff, the service, the location, activities, etc were all great. Just realized I haven't mentioned the room - very nice as well. The hotel is more or less U-shaped, with the lobby at the bottom of the U and the rooms on each arm of the U. Each room has a balcony that looks out either on the gardens, so outward facing, or the courtyard, which is more or less facing onto the inside of the U, which is where all the evening entertainment is staged so at night it is quite noisy. We had a room that faced outward into the wilderness, so it was nice and quiet. Nice balcony and great to sit there in the evening with a glass of wine. The beds were very comfortable, curtains room-darkening, shower and bathroom all clean and modern and fresh. There was also a Jacuzzi-type bath tub between the rest of the bathroom and the beds etc. You can draw a curtain for privacy if you want it. Wifi everywhere.

Riu Palace Antillas: What a perfect place for vacation

Everything was fantastic from the beautiful white sand to the great food at the buffets and restaurants. The people at the resort and in town couldnt be more friendly and helpful and what a breath of fresh air to be able to go anywhere at anytime and feel completly safe

Grand Memories Varadero: No accountability with change in owners

Unfortunately we stayed at the Riu Varadero from March 26, 2015 to April 2, 2015. This was the last week before it was sold to Memories on April 1st. We were warned upon our arrival by other visitors that there were a lot of problems with the hotel. Here is a run down of what we encountered. - Check in at 4:00 p.m. and not 3:00 p.m. that was printed on our documents (late check in on both counts) - no towels - given stained used towel that was the best of 5 that was shown to me - no plates in di [... read more]ning room, chipped and cracked plates - no cups (coffee in glasses) - dirty table cloths - dirt on the buffet walls - poor service - not enough staff working - hot food was not kept hot at the buffet - beach towel exchange impossible - kept same towels all week - no water for 12 hours (husband all soaped up, had to use bottled cold water to rinse - power out - air conditioning had to be reset - getting up by 7:00 a.m. to reserve chairs for the two of us - too few chairs and very crowded - heard 3 different fights over towels and chairs - people from the upgrade section could take our chairs - the grounds were dirty with cups, cigarette buts and gum - grass not maintained - no one to listen to your complaints - staff made promises that were not kept We have travelled to Cuba 4 times, Dominican 8 times, Jamaica 3 times and Mexico 3 times. This had to be the worst hotel we have ever stayed at. We normally travel with two other couples. They were sorry to hear about our problems with the hotel but were glad that they had not booked with us. I realize the hotel was changing hands but a warning would have been appreciated since I had direct contact with a Trip Central person about the trip. This was definitely not a 5 star hotel. THE BEACH AND WEATHER WERE SPECTACULAR and the hotel itself was quite nice but needs major improvements beginning with managers that are accountable for the day to day operation of the hotel. Looking out the window from our room that was suppose to be at least a pool view, was a building with scaffolding set up. I had a few concerns before I booked this trip, but felt that with the Riu name, there would be no problems. Please consider this review from a person that is not difficult to please. Hopefully things will change for the better in the future. Not sure about the Riu name anymore. Regards, Margaret Piccolo

Riu Negril: Beautiful hotel,wonderful helping staff

I loved Negril,the hotel is just beautiful,clean ,and the staff are always asking if we need anything, so helpful.The Food is the best I've tasted,so much and so many choices. The entertainment was great,

Riu Santa Fe: Fun in the sun!

The resort is large, and for this reason has something for everybody. Whether you are looking for a quiet stay or a party scene this resort has both. Went with a friend at the end of March and stayed in building 7 - closest building to the beach. There is lots to do - beach volleyball courts, tennis courts, pool tables in the sports bar, multiple pools are all on site. Food and service were acceptable (not great) likely because our stay coincided with US spring break. Bartenders were generous wi [... read more]th the alcohol. If you are looking for a quiet resort, definitely not the place to go in February or March. Overall, a good stay.

Riu Palace Tropical Bay: Awesome resort!

This resort is definitely the best one on Bloody Bay. The staff were friendly and very helpful and it wasn't too large or too small. The beach is a beautiful soft sand and is the same out in the water. I would definitely stay here again!

Grand Memories Varadero: Beautiful resort but under staffed

The hotel is only 4 years old but management has allowed it to get run down. We arrived in April 1 St and Memories took over th resort that day. this was our third trip to Cuba and have always enjoyed the safety of Varadero. We had a nice room and maid but towels were not plentiful at this resort and was told on more than one occasion that there was no clean ones left. The resort is very large and the staff cannot keep up to the amount of people that are booked. By day 5 we noticed more staff ar [... read more]ound and more management. I think k the experience at this resort 6 months from now will be different with the memories chain.