Amazing resort

This was truly a five star ⭐️ hotel. The hotel was open and spacious, the rooms were nice, the beach was spectacular with powder sand and well placed palm trees. The water was clear and warm with no seaweed on beach. The food was excellent in all restaurants including the buffet. The staff was attentive and overall everything was clean and beautiful.

Great hotel

The Riu Palace is a lovely hotel Believe only opened in the last 3 years .The rooms were large and the ocean view rooms were offering a great view . Swim up rooms looked interesting but likely not necessary. The public pools were great . Two swim up bars and other pools were very large. Lots of area for kids to play separate from the adults The beach and sand were beautiful love sailing although only one boat. Longs beach to walk and lounging chaise in amongst the palm trees were great The l [... read more]andscaping is amazing and excellently groomed All the staff were very friendly Only issue is the distance from Cancun expensive cab rides. They used fixed rates and charge by the person. 4 people to the middle of Cancun. $60 US . Could cost more coming back . Excursions were all typical of the Mayan region. Take a trip to Isla de Mujeres and rent golf carts for the day four people $100

Ya get what ya pay for

The fun team and staff there are great...the food, nit too bad at all. The osso buco is unreal good in the italian resto and Oscar in the buffet is a great person and wonderful "server" The king beds are good, the doubles are not, pretty damn hard for my taste. If you can take a spare sweet pillow then do it, you can get extras of course but theyre all a bit too soft for my liking. The hallways arent too attractive compared to the rest and floors are pretty slippery depending on which shoes your [... read more]e wearinf so be careful, The one thing that upset me was thr pcr test was 150 usd per person for us, yet others who did it said it was 80 usd, 120 usd and just other numbers that seemed somewhat made up at the time, not a big deal but ya...not the coolest look. I've never been to a Rui and wont likley go back considering what Ive been to in comparision prior bjt again, it was a cheap good enough trip. The entertainment was good and thr kahoot game was fun, I actually won which was odd lol but ya.

4 star experience

The resort is beautiful and very well maintained. Food is just okay. A la carte were disappointing. Service was good. Rooms well maintained. Service around the pool was not consistent. If you have been to a riu palace before it is identical therefore if your looking for something new then I would choose another resort.

Riu Palace Costa Mejures, almost a perfect recipe for the colors of tranquility

Our vacation took place from November 14 to November 21. We chose the Riu Palace based on the fact it is very new, the one-year anniversary of opening was November 17, 2018, and the mostly favorable reviews as seen on Tripadvisor and other vacation review sites. We went with an open mind as we always do, and this is what we saw, our observations and how we felt during our stay. Check in and arrival went quite smoothly after a roughly 45-minute trip from the airport. Let us get aside the minor  [... read more]quips, but need to be noted. We had requested an ocean view room, as it was our honeymoon, and, one checked in, we were surprised when the concierge bringing us to our room pressed the button for a floor a level down from the main lobby. We were given room 143, which was nice, but was anything but a true ocean view. Yes, it did face the ocean, but to see it, we had to really stretch our necks to see over the shades, and other pool equipment between the room and the ocean. Not a room where one could simply sit and see the views. The air conditioning was not working, I saw at once a sensor was missing on the sliding door, this was rectified in short order. The fellow who had checked us in, Francesco, did what he could do to help us out, we found we needed to go directly to the front desk, rather than telephone for help with things; otherwise the calls for assist were never done. I had asked for a couple of things, several times, for the celebration of our honeymoon, to be delivered to our room. That too, never happened. We had asked Francesco, our Sun Wing rep Giovanni who wrote this down so he would not forget. Somewhere things were getting mixed up because we would have room service calling upon us with things such as towels, Tequila that we never ordered! To note, we did ask for a true ocean view room, but this never happened. We left it alone as we wanted to concentrate on the colors and shapes of the resort, we were really only in our room to sleep, enjoying everything the place had to offer sunrise to sunset. Enough of this, now let us get to the resort itself that more than made up for the above! In a few short words, we loved it! Roughly broken down: Lobby area: very nice and bright, the décor and colors will catch the eye. Like every spot in this resort, it was always being cleaned and kept spotless. Just about everything you need is at hand in the lobby. There is a neat little 24-hour snack bar in a separate room in the lobby area as well. It would have a reasonably wide variety of foods and drinks to satisfy most hungry cravings, ranging from hotdogs and hamburgers, guacamole, even smoked salmon from time to time just to give bit of mentioned choices there. Grounds: Immaculately kept! The gardeners and landscapers were always busy doing things there, and were always giving a cheerful Hola! To you when you would walk by. Cutting the grass, trimming or planting more plants, always something being improved upon in the garden. Even for being only a year old, there is already a pretty nice variety of plants with beautiful flowers for the senses. Give this a couple more years to mature, and it will be even more colorful and lush. There are many small water features and ponds around the resort to accent the flora and one can also see lizards basking in the sun on the grassy sections. There is a path you can take close by the beach, this will meander on a colorful way to the sister resort next door, the Dunbar. All paths are baby stroller and wheelchair accessible. One path, later on to be mentioned, not so much. In between the Palace and Dunbar is a water park with a children and adults section. It was fairly popular amongst the guests. Pool areas: Very nice, kept clean, and the waiter service for drinks was top notch. There was always service with a smile. There are five swimming pools, each one having a slightly different flair from the others. Children are allowed in all the pools, even the pool bars. Some have complained about this, but we never seemed to be bothered by the kids, they add some spice and laughter to the scene. One memorable event is the pool foam party! Much, much laughter and entertainment! One never had to scramble or play the before sunrise towel game to snag a recliner at a choice spot by the pools, there was always plenty of room. The Beach: A very pretty one indeed, every day, depending upon cloud cover, would be wonderful colors of aqua, green, many combinations. A few days had yellow caution flags flying, there are lifeguards, and the slope of the beach being gradual means that even with some waves, it is quite safe with prudence to enjoy yourself a bit in the ocean. There is a long row of palm trees planted along beach to provide plenty of shade for folks seeking a respite from the sun during the day. The sand is very, very soft, not too hot on your feet. As with the pools, there is never a problem finding loungers on the beach. A tractor comes by a couple of times a day to clear away any sargassum which may have washed up upon the beach. There is volleyball nets on the beach area between hotel and loungers and games are organized every day for willing participants. In between the palace and Dunbar, the beach has an area where water sports equipment such as wave runners and small catamarans can be rented if ocean conditions permit. The beach is quite free of any vendors, and if any do come near you, a simple “No Gracias” will suffice to send them on their way. Waiter service can’t be beat on the Riu beach. Service was frequent enough, and the folks doing this did not have an easy trek going back and forth between bar and beach serving guests during the day. Part of the problem is no paved or hard surface leads reasonably close to the beach, making this particular path a hard or impossible one with mobility issues. One gets a pretty decent workout especially going up to the hotel from the beach with the deep soft sand. Imagine the waiters doing this all day! Compounding this, there are no beach washrooms, the closest ones being up that slope in front of Pepe’s Restaurant, a popular eatery at lunchtime. Supposedly this problem of beach access is being looked into, and if it is, the beach would truly be a perfect ‘10’. Restaurants and food: Always a very subjective subject! We will honestly say that the Riu Palace had the best and most tasty selection of food we have experienced in our travels of AI resorts. We are referring to the Buffet, we only did one A-la-Carte, more further down. We are real foodies and are quite fussy about such. Yes, the buffet is that, a buffet, but the offerings were never anything but satisfying. Each night has a different theme, but there are always staples offered every night for those who wish to stick with the same thing. Thursday evenings is lobster night at the buffet, and that is a very nice evening in itself. For seafood lovers such as ourselves, it was so nice to see all types of seafood offered every night. Shrimp, squid, octopus, baked salmon, smoked salmon, sushi, Mahi-mahi, swordfish, you name it! Meat lovers are not left out of the deal either, there is a large variety of meat and chicken dishes as well. We were never disappointed with that selection either. Vegetarians need not fear, you are also quite decently accommodated too with a big variety of salads, individual fruits and vegetables and also for the baked goods folks, many selections of rolls and breads. Breakfasts in the buffet were amongst the best we have had, and the selection is large. Marinated salmon and other things we don’t usually see every morning at other places were aplenty at this place! Omelet station was nice, pick your ingredients, and the folks at the cooks would make the omelet any way you asked. Breakfast was always held at the buffet, and it was wonderful eating outside if you wished watching the sunrise if you are an early bird. & AM is when the breakfast buffet opens. Again, for those going on excursions which leave early, remember there is the small cafeteria just off the main lobby! 24 hours folks! As for the A-la-Cartes, we did the Italian. Meh, we were not thrilled, pure and simple. We had lunch at Pepe’s a couple of times, the food was good, but many guests were being disorderly with regards to manners, such as using hands instead of tongs to handle food from the trays, ETC. We chose to go to the calm of the buffet after a couple of tries. In all fairness, the food at Pepe’s was great as well! Very nice selection given the space they had to work with at the counters there. We can’t offer any other reports on the others, as we did not go to them, please see other reviews from other folks about them. In all honesty, the buffet was so enjoyable and full of variety, we kept going there. Bars and entertainment: Very nice! The bartenders were at your service, quick courteous the ambiance especially in the lounge was just right, the views from the windows could be paintings, so relaxing was the view. We were able to get cappuccinos, pastries, cakes, and light snacks in the lounge to accent the beauty of the large and airy room. The other bars had quick service, clean and orderly. The drinks themselves, no matter which bar, were always potent! Beware folks who are light drinkers! Logistics, etc: The Riu Palace is quite isolated, but this is changing rapidly. One can see many construction cranes all along this relatively unspoiled strip of beach, many new resorts are going up. With this, in the future there will be local entertainment. For now, however, folks need to take a taxi or rent a car to get to the much more lively Cancun district. If you simply want to stay on the hotel grounds, there is enough activity on sunny days at least to keep you occupied. Excursions and related: Even though the hotel is relatively isolated, there are many excursions folks can partake in for extra cost. These can be arranged through vendors on the hotel grounds or through your travel rep on the grounds. Do your research, see what the deals are, and what suits your own tastes. There is a very large selection ranging from simple transportation to get from the hotel and back, scuba diving, trips to Chichen Itza and beyond. We chose an excursion to Isla Mejures on a catamaran, included was a nice box lunch, drinks, and a stop along the way to snorkel. The time we were allowed to explore the island was very short, next time we will fix to get a taxi to the ferry (Ultramar is one which sails every half hour or so) and be able to explore the island at our leisure with a rented golf cart. Many other forums can be found on Trip Advisor, etc, to discuss these sort of things. By the way, the sunsets seen from Isla Mejures are absolutely spectacular! Summary, would we go back to Riu Palace?: Yes, we most certainly will, but we will be more cautious with the front desk and hope to have a better experience then we did with a few things. Paltry in the sense, but when paying a decent amount of savings this should not be. We have enough Spanish to get by and Google Translate is your friend at certain times so it was not a language barrier, it could honesty be the front desk folks getting their legs working at this beautiful resort. Everything else was absolutely great, we would recommend the resort to our friends and family for sure. The 4-stars from us are only because of the front desk encounters, the rest is definitely a 5-star, and will get better as things develop and get sorted out! Thank you for reading our long-winded report!

Incredible Vacation

The Riu Palace Costa Mujeres is sheer perfection! Check-in, service, rooms, cleanliness, food, beach and pools were amazing. We loved every minute. The staff were so friendly and helpful and we were very impressed by the extreme cleanliness of the resort. We have never seen or eaten such delicious food on vacation, there were so many choices, something for everyone. The entertainment staff were so energetic and never stopped. We really enjoyed the piano player in the evenings in Capuchino.  [... read more]We would go again in a heartbeat! And thank you to our wonderful travel agent Melanie who had such great information on the resort. Melanie made sure that all of our requests were fulfilled. Thank you!

Amazing time at the RIU Palace Costa Mujeres

This is our second time that we visit a RIU Palace and I must say that they are fantastic. The staff are so attentive and they are constantly working with a smile on their face to keep their guests feeling so special. The food so flavorful, the buffet has so many selections that anyone is bound to find something that you like. The beach and pools were great, and the bar staff made sure that your drink was always fresh. Great time at the Palace

Outstanding!!!

This Hotel has it all. Location, beach, perfect hotel layout configuration from the lobby, to the rooms, to the pools and the beach. Restaurants are centrally located as well. Lots of area for walking on the beach and around the complex. The ultimate with this hotel is the service!...great entertainment as well.

Great Resort!

It's a new resort - so fresh/clean with plenty of space. Wonderful beach - great variety of food - steak house our fav. Probably going back. A lot of big families tho, which can be a little noisy/disruptive - this resort should be all adults and the other beside it, families perhaps.

Perfection

They nailed everything. The room, the food, the service, the pools and water park. The beach is beautiful and the weather was fantastic. This is a true 5-star resort in every way. We will be going back!

Fantastic resort!

We really loved the way the resort was layed out. All of the extra amenities such as pools and restaurants were kept to the beach end of the resort, so where ever you decided to go there wasnt a ton of walking to do. Yet it was in no way crowded. There was always loungers at the pool no matter what time of day you got there.

Our Vacation

What a great overall trip. Loved the rooms, Food & atmosphere of the resort. The amount of pools allowed the guests to be spread out and not overcrowded. Wished there were more rooms with ocean views though. The stay was great and was sad to have to leave.

Great Holiday

The resort, staff, food, and activities good and the whole family enjoyed our vacation. The only downside with the resort was that most excursions and shopping was an expensive trip into town. Some free shuttles several times a week would have been nice!

Beautiful resort

Beach,and resort were beautiful,staff always helpful and friendly. Loved the beach bar service. The buffet food was full of variety and very good ,lots of seafood choices. We were disappointed in the speciality restaurants that we tried Roma and Japanese nothing special however steak house was good. We would go back again ,even though my hubby got sick ,tested positive for salmonella...but that could happen anywhere in tropics. Just really slowed us down ,glad we brought lots of Imodium, store [... read more] on resort was very expensive.

Best Resort Ever

This resort was a 7 star!!! Excellent beach. The sand is like powder and you can walk for miles. Food was excellent and I loved that you did not have to make reservations for any restaurants. Room was large and had its own bar. Only downsides: don't think our floor was washed or swept when we checked it. Bed was a little hard. Air conditioning in main bar was turned up too high - not comfortable to stay for long.

Good time at Riu Palace

This was our second trip to Riu Palace. We were there in Nov 2019 and liked it so much that we returned again on Jan 29th 2020. I must admit that the weather was a lot better in Nov but we still enjoyed all that you offer as a site. -will be back again! Ed .

Beautiful Resort!

This is a beautiful resort. Well laid out and accessible for all, so if that's on your list of needs, this is the place for you. Check in was quick and painless and our room was ready right away. The room was excellent. We were just in a standard junior suite and it was perfect for the two of us. The open concept washroom is odd, but wasn't an issue. Staff is the best we have ever experienced. So fast, friendly, accommodating and good at what they do. Food was also excellent. Great variety and  [... read more]hot and fresh. Beach and pools were clean and tons of chairs available. There was no seaweed the week we were there.

Beautiful resort!

Beautiful , new hotel. However, they should have an adults only section. Children were even allowed in the swim up pool bars. The food was good especially at the buffet. We were not impressed with the other restaurants because of the lack of choices and some were not opened every day. The best part of this place was the excellent beach which you could walk for miles. It's an upcoming area with lots of new resorts being built. I would not go back here unless I took my grandchildren.

Amazing resort ,awesome beach and staff that were always willing to please.

The Riu palace Costa Mujeres was amazing , the resort was very modern ,and clean ,food was good ,something to suit everyone’s taste. The liquor was all top shell and bar staff always willing to please. The added bonus of having service on the beach was a nice surprise. Speaking of beach ,it was spectacular, beautiful soft white sand and level grounds, sand was firm enough at the waters edge to walk easily .Water was warm and little to no seaweed. We typically ate the buffets most of time ,en [... read more]joyed the steak house one night and lunch was usually by the pool barb q . The only downfall some may find is the distance from excursions, but for us it wasn’t an issue since we were content staying put and enjoying the resort. For us the big issue is the flight times out of Ottawa heading south, typically always late arrivals and brutal return departures....having to be out of your room early then not flying out until late evening and landing in Ottawa at 3 in the morning . Feels like you really only have 5 days at 5he resort and came home exhausted. Hope Sunwing will look into better times for us flying from Ottawa.

Fabulous experience

Just returned from a fabulous week spent at the Riu Palace Isla Mujeres in Cancun...it was a trip that we will never forget, the hotel was fabulous, ultra modern, so clean... The staff work tirelessly keeping it spotless, hotel amenities all wonderful, food was spectacular, staff friendly, a very relaxing wonderful resort for young and old....highly recommend this resort, beaches were fabulous and the bar service at the pools and beach were wonderful