Riu Playa Blanca: Great resort

Great hotel and location, we had an amazing time the staff were all very helpful and friendly great pools and restaurants, very relaxing no one pushes you for anything. The beach and pools were always kept clean and tidy. Would go again.

Riu Playa Blanca: Truly Amazing Vacation!

My boyfriend Spencer and I went on a vacation to the Riu Playa Blanca resort in Panama, and ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!! The hotel was very very clean at all times, there were always staff members cleaning at all hours of the day. They worked very hard to maintain the 5 star quality, and their hard work shows- the hotel is beautifully kept up. The staff was very friendly and made us feel welcome, and always had a warm smile and an "ola" when greeting us. If we had any questions, they would assista [... read more]nt us in any way they could, even if the language barrier made it hard to communicate. They made us feel like they would do anything they could to help us, which we very much appreciated. The entertainment was wonderful, different shows every night, a beach party dance, contests and daily activities and dances by the pool made it hard to even try and be bored. The dancers + entertainment were VERY talented, you can tell they practice the routines and love to dance, it was amazing to watch (especially in the heat... great job everyone!!). Very friendly and modest after the show when we went to compliment them and get some photos, and seemed to just love what they do and were very happy. The bartenders were kind, funny, and entertaining. They had great drink recommendations, and were patient in dealing with the large (at times) amount of people gathered around the bar (and VERY humble with the rudeness they encountered from other guests). They smiled, joked, flipped the cups around, and were very quick in the service. We never had to wait longer then 10 minutes for a drink, and that was at the busiest of times. Drinks were always delicious, and well made. The food + restaurants were SO GOOD! Lots of variety in both food and drinks at the buffet, with a different theme dinner each day. The staples were always present (meats/cheeses/salad bar/breads/pasta), while also incorporating some of the local cuisine and delicious chef specials to try. Food was always somewhere to be found, we never went hungry. They also had a few on-site restaurants which we were able to sample (for no additional fee.. just sign up at breakfast time to reserve your dinner spot!). We went to the Italian one and the Steakhouse- both AMAZING! This is my first ever written review (seriously..this hotel is worth it!). I could go on all day about how amazing the hotel and staff are.. but you have to see it for yourself. Top quality, friendly, respectful, and humble. Not one bad experience with any staff or hotel workers, and we always had huge smiles on our faces from beginning to end. I loved this trip so much, I have been recommending to anyone looking to travel, and enjoy a tropical getaway! THANK YOU Riu Playa Blanca, THANK YOU hotel staff, THANK YOU entertainers + dancers, and THANK YOU to tripcentral.ca for helping to turn this amazing dream vacation into a reality!

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 Playa Blanca: Riu Playa Blanca, Panama

The hotel was beautiful, modern and clean. The reception staff were awesome. We booked with trip central but the trip was Signature Vacations. Our representative was not helpful at all with the problem in our room. When we showered, the water came out onto the floor. We ended up going to reception, telling them about the shower leaking. They upgraded us that day. The food and staff were great. The grounds were well kept. Having a choice of 4 pools to use was very nice. The only negative respon [... read more]se about the hotel was the house keeping staff. Everyday we would be left without bath towels, hand towels or face cloths. We had to ask everyday to have them brought to our room.

Grand Decameron Panama: Beautiful clean resort

I thought the hotel was amazing. My only complaint was we went off season so a lot of the buffets and restaurants where closed. Also I found a lot the employees don't speak English. The shows where not interesting at all.

Riu Playa Blanca: A very relaxing place

The rooms were very clean and of modern design. The food was very good at all the restaurants. The staff were very friendly! I enjoyed the cultural mix of people from North, Central and South America..The snorkelling is much better on the carribean side.

Riu Playa Blanca: Great Holiday! Just what the doctor ordered!

Had a great week with family at the Riu Playa Blanca. Food was plentiful and delicious. Staff was extremely pleasant and friendly. Everything was very clean. Entertainment crew was energetic and terrific. Sunwing reps were always there to assist and were very helpful. Great, memorable holiday all round!!

Riu Playa Blanca: Warning to Smokers and Women

Be warned fellow travelers, your privacy will be lacking. Within 10 minutes of our stay at this resort a male staff just walked right into our room with his keycard - NO KNOCKING. As two single women being in a foreign country my friend and I felt that our safety in this establishment had been inappropriately compromised. We had to double lock our doors every time we were in there in fear of someone else coming in. We also caught another lady (not the maid, but staff) coming out of our room whe [... read more]n we weren't there, and suddenly money was missing. If they take your money, all they make you do is fill out a complaint form and they WILL NOT give you your money back. The manager will just give you a blank stare like you`ve asked for the impossible. Smokers: There is only 1 designated location for smoking, and it is all the way down on the beach path, not remotely close to the hotel. Also, they charged us $250 USD for smoking on the balcony. No warning, and the only explanation was that the maid saw our lighters on the counter. Ya, we're smokers. But just because we have a lighter out, doesn't mean we were smoking there. Smoking aside, because I know not everyone is, fair warning for the service. The bartenders were great, but in the main buffet they were horrible. They refilled everyone's water except our table (walked right past us to get to the others), but more prominent was the fact we had to get our on utensils and napkins most of the time we were down there. Half the staff ignored you completely. All in all, Panama is a gorgeous country with lots of diverse things to experience. I definitely recommend Panama. But stay far away from the Riu Playa Blanca there.

Riu Playa Blanca: Resort worth the trip

My first impression was guarded , Airport was not impressive but okay' Took less than 7 minutes to get to Rui first impressions it looked amazing. Getting are room was very quick and room was very clean and was well kept all week . The pools were great , and food was exceptional , steak house was lovely meat melts in your mouth, also good for lunch , plenty of shade at the pool side and beach , must say more than enough lounge chairs , one of my beefs is resorts with not enough chairs. Beach is  [... read more]black sand but not bad and must say when sun hits it looks like glittering diamonds. I as an asthma sufferer really liked the fact that their was a no smoking policy and stiff fines if court they had two areas for smokers one down on the beach area and other out front of the hotel away from the people and hotel big plus for me and for all the children. over all this is a great resort and very kid friendly good food good drinks , they could have used a bit more entertainment and better music for the tourists . We found the trip to panama great and it was nice to see the panama canal The airport was good and bad depending on your view it is small and has no duty free and you have to walk over the tarmac to board the plain but and I say this with lots of experience in traveling didn't miss it we were the only ones in the airport as only one plane at a time it was quick wait time was less than an hr and I have to say getting threw immigration and ticketing was not as bad as other country's airports a great trip thank you

Riu Playa Blanca: Amazing

Our room - 6028- was fantastic. It had huge corner balcony with great views of the ocean and separate shower as requested by Eileen, our agent. There is not a lot of shade on the beach but we were able to find shade near one of the pools every day. The food was much better than I have had at most other resorts that I have visited. Overall, we were very pleased with our stay at Riu Playa Blanca.

Riu Playa Blanca: Good resort - needs improvements to be great.

A typical, beautiful, clean, well furnished Riu resort building, but with some annoying service problems. Several of the front desk staff were not conversant in English. I'm sure this will improve as more English speaking guests visit the resort. The nearest ATM was in a new supermarket, several kilometers from the resort. The front-desk could not provide change for $20.00 bills (in order to give tips to the staff) and sent people to the resort store that would only give change if you bought s [... read more]omething in the store. There are no coffee machines in the rooms and if you want a coffee in your room in the morning, you have to go to the Sports Bar, on the lowest level, and get a coffee in a paper cup. You get a proper cup if you drink it in the bar. There are four swimming pools, with a large swim-up bar in the largest pool. ( NOTE: The picture of the pool and bar in the Signature Vacations catalog is NOT the pool at Riu Playa Blanca ). There are no washrooms near the bar area. You can guess the result. Some of the noisy patrons even bragged that they didn't have to leave the bar for a bathroom break. Bearing in mind the beautiful clear skies and scorching sun, there are not enough shaded areas for the number of lounger/beds that are provided. Double the amount would stop people having to go and reserve shaded spaces before 6am every morning. HOWEVER, once we accommodated these inconveniences, we had a very good stay at the resort. Our room was PERFECT: Large, clean, very well furnished, with a grand view of the ocean. We were on the top floor, near the main elevators, and in our opinion, we had the best location in the resort. The restaurants were clean and well staffed and the food, which was mainly served buffet style ( there is no "Fine Dinning" as such ), was well prepared with a great selection of fresh and prepared dishes. It was very hard not to over-eat at every meal. The only improvement would be the addition of some shell-fish once in a while: crab or lobster. The resort is in a beautiful newly developed area and apart from walking along the beach, which has black sand which gets extremely hot, there are no local amenities within walking distance. However, rental cars are available and the road signage is good if you want to visit the local towns and beautiful mountainous countryside. The day trip to Panama City and the Canal, arranged through the Nexus rep at the resort, was very interesting and educational. It should not be missed by anyone visiting the resort. In conclusion, I am sure that Riu management will continue to fine tune the service at this fairly new resort, to accommodate the North American and European tourists ( I learned that until recently, most of the visitors have been Spanish speaking South Americans ), and provide the excellent service previously experienced at Riu resorts.

Riu Playa Blanca: Lovely resort

Hotel is highly recommended The only major problem we could see was the need for more bathrooms by the swim up pool Food was amazing in all restaurants and the buffet was excellent. Wonderful holiday and definitely enjoyed the weather

Grand Decameron Panama: Decent resort

Well designed, not crowded, clean rooms, A/C technicians could use some more training in the field, excellent entertainers on the beach during the day not so great activities at night. Too bad the fridge is not refilled with anything. Good food.

Grand Decameron Panama: Landscape beautiful

Bed great, housekeeping poor, grounds nice, beach too rough, food ok, but menu was limited and excursions pricey. Staff spoke very little English and nite shows in Spanish only. The staff were not very friendly and most locations were closed as they said it was there low season.

Bijao Beach Resort: Amazing hotel

Public areas very nice. Excellent location. Friendly people . Some drinks too sweet . Spanish coffee first world class. Beautiful sunrise. Weather , beaches, black send everything makes unforgettable vacations.

Grand Decameron Panama: Hot!

This hotel is huge and built on the side of a very large hill. There are three lobbies uptop along with several restaurants, a casino, bars, and pool. This is where the oceanview and standard rooms are located along with the golf villas. This is also where there s free wifi and where you make dinner reservations. It s almost 90 steps up the staircase from the lower level to the lobby. It is possible to arrange a shuttle but we are not sure how. We stayed in the beach front rooms (1212) on the lo [... read more]wer level. It was on the 3rd floor, corner room. No elevators but that was okay with us. Great views of the ocean, beach, and pools. We would definitely stay in the lower section again. Only real complaint is that there were not enough staff at the pool bars. You had to stand in line to get a beer, maybe as long as 10 minutes. Be sure to bring flipflops as the sand and decks are very hot by 11 in the morning.

Riu Playa Blanca: Great vacation

We were there for Easter. Always a place open for snacks which is good when you are travelling with kids. The food is good at the buffet and at the restaurant. Very clean hotel. Alot of chairs around the pools and on the beach. My children had a blast in the kids pool with the slides. If you don't like to party, make sure your room is far from the disco.

Grand Decameron Panama: very nice resort.

This resort is very nice and laid out quite nice. I was in building 31 on the 3rd floor. Perfect location & great beach front view. all areas were kept clean at all times. most staff only know Spanish but we made out ok. they were all very friendly. all buffets and ala carts & washrooms very clean at all times the flight with Air Transat was the worst I've ever been on.1 1/2 hour late due to there catering company a bag with a sandwich, water & snack. they had nothing else to offer on the plane. [... read more] Coming home plane late due to catering issues from Toronto. they ran out of hot food coming home and offered what they had till they ran out. the movie only played in French for some of the plane & the channels for the radio would change on there own or the volume would blast in your ear.

Grand Decameron Panama: Good Time

Rooms were comfortable and clean. Bring facecloths and facial tissues. Food was OK but the booking system for restaurants was confusing and stressful. The restaurants were never full and we had a hard time getting reservations over the dinner hours. We ate either early or very late. You even have to book the buffets.There is also the language issue. Some staff are very fluent in 2-3 languages, others had no English especially the serving staff. The pools, beach and hotel grounds were immaculate  [... read more]and there was always someone tending the gardens, sweeping and cleaning. The resort is very diligent about security, they even checked the ground level rooms sliding doors every night to make sure they were locked. The check in and out was very organized as was baggage handling. The trip to and from the airport in Rio Hato was a dream. All in all we had a wonderful time there, all our needs were taken of and we enjoyed the resort.

Bijao Beach Resort: Good resort

Grounds were clean and delicious abundance of food! Maid service forgot our stocking of daily coffee and water but once complained they did remember, grille house restaurant could of changed their dinner menus daily same food every night al la carte , Japanese was very good and the Mediterranean was not open so that was disappointing and when it did at the end of the week no communication was given to us to book a reservation , evening entertainment was good but disco too loud at night so it is  [... read more]a noisy place at night as music could be herd until 2 am