Updating required

Recently came back from staying at this location for a week, for the money paid I think some attention in updating the rooms are required, original room was dark and musty smelling, upgraded (for a fee) to ocean view, very large balcony but only two plastic chairs, would have loved lounger chairs or even a hammock would have made a huge difference. Pool was very large and clean, food in the specialty restaurants were average, great selection in the buffet, employees were fabulous. Good hotel [... read more] location if your looking to venture out to visit the shops outside the resort.

Family Trip - 2018

Took the family on vacation to the RIU Montego Bay. There were four of us, my hubby and I, and our 2 daughters. We arrived on Friday evening and check in was super quick and easy. we were given 2 rooms side by side, in building 4. Initially we thought "Wow, what a long walk, but it wasnt'.. not at all." and the walk is what you need after a big meal at the buffet or restaurants. Rooms were clean..dated, but the only thing that really matters is that it is clean and it was. My girls had great bed [... read more]s, but my hubby and I didn't.. they were older, and not really comfortable. Spoke to front desk, and they offered to move us, and showed us a number of different room options but in the end, we just stayed where we were, and they "padded" our beds.. which was fine, and definitely made it more comfortable. But they were certainly willing to accommodate us. Food was good. Chop Chop serving up the Jerk chicken on the beach was SOOO GOOD! Steak house was good, Italian and Asian okay. Buffet was good, but with most all inclusives, it is often the sames choices nightly, that can get boring. The grounds are beautiful.. beach is small, but I think big enough for everyone to enjoy. Water is calm, so nice for families with smaller children. The pools are gorgeous, with lots of awesome seating in the pool bar area. This resort is close to the airport, bonus when you are travelling to and from, but when you are relaxing by the pool, the planes are loud, like really loud. Not much you can do about it, but it can be distracting. Smoking is only allowed in certain areas, so not sure if you are a smoker if this is for you.. (I am not, so I was quite fine with it!) There were a couple days where chairs around the pool were difficult to come by.. but it always worked out, even if you had to drag them from another spot. The staff are awesome.. all of them, the grounds staff, wait staff, bartenders, front desk, everyone is welcoming and kind and helpful. And the entertainment team.. they work hard, and do a good job. Nothing to do with the resort, but we had spectacular weather.. EVERY DAY! That is a definite first for me on a vacation.. that was delightful! All in all, I can't say I was over the top about it, but I can't say I was disappointed either. Many people we met at this resort were return visitors, and that tells me that they must be pretty consistent in how they do things there.

Great service

Thank you very much to Sally! She took it to the next level booking an “impossible” to possible vacation with my friends. Thank you once again for the follow up call. Jamaica was beautiful, I highly recommend the Riu Palace

Just what we wanted!

My daughter and I were very pleased with this resort. Top 3 priorities for us (1) cleanliness (2) respectful staff (3) good nightly entertainment. All were excellent. The resort is small but we enjoyed it much more than we have some other larger resorts we have stayed at. Small on size but big on customer service and entertainment. Buffet was good, as good as buffets can be. What we enjoyed about the buffet was they actually changed the menu up each night. Some staples stayed the same but sectio [... read more]ns were changed to offer variety. Staff were so pleasant and not pushy or touchy at all. Grounds and room were spotless. Room cleanliness is very important to me. Nice added feature was how the entrance to rooms were laid out. Each room entrance had a hallway with their own corridor with a second door. This really created for a quiet room. Very old Zenith tube TV in room but we didn't care. Watched Olympics late at night so it served its purpose. Overall very nice resort. Would go back.

Great resort

We just returned from this resort,had a great time,very clean lots to do staff friendly,food good ,sunshine what more can you ask for,the beach is kept clean lots of lounges for relaxing around the pool and on the beach

Amazing

Clean hotel, great food and best entertainment staff of any resort. Only issue is the amount of people offering weed, hash and cocaine, it’s everywhere and many locals and cab drivers offering it. They don’t understand no.

Pretty good

This is our 8th visit to Jamaica. We have stayed in 3 different all inclusive hotels in Montego Bay and many small hotels throughout. This was our first stay at Riu MoBay (January) and really found the resort to be very nice, the rooms are very clean and fairly well maintained. They need to change their A/C filters because it does create a musty smell. Although once we opened the patio doors it was gone. The food at the buffet was great found lots of fish and shrimp and great deserts. We lov [... read more]ed the Steak House!! The bars have awesome service with plenty of staff. The entertainment is good too. The young staff members do a great job of keeping everyone happy during the day and at night performed beautifully. Sunshine was my favourite. The beach is nice and warm and a fair size. Plenty of beautiful trees for shade and we didn’t have a hard time finding loungers. Unfortunately this hotel is about a kilometre from the airport so planes are a real nuisance and fly directly over the beach. It would be nice it they had service on the beach for drinks since you have to walk a distance to the pool bar. A few locals on small boats provide Ganja and this was very convenient and helpful to many guests. The beach party was fun too! The pool is huge and beautiful. I didn’t get in but it looked warm and lots of chairs and shade. Don’t miss the weekly Pool Party because it was hilarious and lots of fun!

Missing the little things

Having stayed a a few RIUs it wasn't hard to book a RIU again. The resort was lovely and the people friendly. Very clean surroundings and the food okay. I was surprised there was no room service for early morning coffee in our room but was even more surprised when I wasn't allowed to take a pot of coffee to our room. I get up early so enjoying a coffee on the balcony is a real treat. So to be able to do that US$26.00 later I bought 2 travel mugs and walked to get 2 coffees to take back to the ro [... read more]om each morning. And what happened to supplying little lotions? As small as those things are, I look forward to those little things on my vacation. According to staff these are part of cost cutting measures. It's too bad. I'm not saying that if I don't book my vacations at a RIU they will shut down but, I'm definitely going to try some place different next time.

Nice beach &pool area

Overall in good condition, but lack of room service and drink servers turned it into a self serve vacation. Poor weather meant a lot of time spent in lobby and restaurant/bar areas. Bartenders are friendly and quick to serve. Pool and beach had plenty of lounges so early “staking claim” to spots wasn’t necessary.

Amazing Resort

The hotel was excellent, the rooms and grounds are maintained in a pristine condition. There were some very noisy guests in the next suite and the security team handled that immediately as there are noise restrictions. The staff were extremely kind and friendly. They were interested and excited about our wedding even though it was not at the resort. I found the food to have an superb variety. My partner is a master chef and a bit of a perfectionist so he was a little more discerning about  [... read more]the local food. all in all it was very enjoyable. The weather did not co-operate as it rained almost everyday.

Montego Bay Riu

I happily recommend this property. The staff were FANTASTIC. The food was GREAT! The Grounds were kept in amazing condition. The beach is well kept, but the swimming is a little off, in the water it is a little slimy on the bottom due to what appears to be a break wall that minimizes the natural flow of the ocean. Complex #1 was also musty/mouldy smelling. When told of this, the front desk immediately moved me to another room, which was perfect. All in all, I would go back to the RIU  [... read more]Montego bay, in a heart beat.

Nothing but amazing

This hotel is such in a perfect area. The beach is a walk away, BBQ chicken on the beach every day. The staff is awesome and always friendly. We did the Bob Marley tour and I still can’t get enough of how good our tour guide was. The pool is always clean and I loved the fact that they had build in laying chairs. The food was really good as well and a fantastic selection. We took some tours into downtown Montego Bay and we had such a great experience. The beach is so beautiful and the wat [... read more]er is so clear. I would absolutely recommend this hotel. I would go back in heart beat. I paid the extra for the ocean front view room and believe me it’s worth it!

Amazing vacation!

My boyfriend & I were there from Oct 12 - Oct 19 and we had a blast! Don't let the negative reviews of people with high expectations fool you. If you've ever stayed at any Riu hotels, you'll know they have a standard to uphold and Riu Montego Bay did not disappoint! Room: we were in room 1118 and had two double beds pushed together to create a "king" bed. There were 4 bottles for liquor as their "mini bar" and a fridge that was replenished with water and pop every other day. The bathroom was  [... read more]clean. We had a huge balcony albeit we were facing the garden. But who goes on vacation and stays in the room anyways!?! Food: Beyond amazing. Let's just say they know how to use their spices. Mostly everything we ate was delicious and there were many different choices at the buffet for breakfast and dinner. We didn't bother going to the buffet for lunch cause there was jerk chicken with rice and peas served at the beach by Chop Chop! Make sure to check him out cause his jerk chicken and jerk sausage were really good! WiFi: Available at common areas like the lobby and the main stage area. If you're lucky, you can even get it near the beach. Surprisingly, the connection was good. Service: The servers were exceptional. They were constant when it came to empty glasses on tables and at the beach. If you're at the dinner buffet, look for Superman on the patio. His service was amazing and he's always giving you riddles while you dine! Bartenders are really friendly and have an attitude that makes you want to smile. Smoking: They have a policy of no smoking in public areas and if caught, you can be fined $300USD. Honestly, there are designated smoking areas which is nice so to not bothers those who don't smoke, but during the evening when there aren't much people around, you can smoke anywhere. We loved it there and would definitely go back in the future!!

Good and bad

I was impressed with a very friendly staff. The food was good. The jurk chicken hut was my favorite. The pool was nice and always kept clean. My problem was the beds were the most uncomfortable beds I've ever stayed on . The beach has 90% seaweed,very disappointed with the beach. And I noticed on the day I was leaving there was a cockroach in the bathroom. I've been to Jamaica 3 times at different resorts. Jamaica is still my favorite place to visit.But I won't return to The Riu Montego B [... read more]ay.

Needs Work

The staff was friendly, the grounds were well kept and the food was decent. However, this resort has a lot of maintenance issues and needs to be refurbished. The pool was green around the edges and cloudy. Not really a kids area, so they play in the shallower lounge area of the pool, which tended to get quite noisy. The beach is obviouly manmade, so once you get out into the water more than ten feet the bottom feels mucky. Frequent jets flying overhead gets annoying. Usually enjoy Riu Hotels,  [... read more]however this one was not up to par.

Riu Montego Bay

I love the resort because it's the first time I went to a resort. I can't believe there were so many varieties of food and the dishes were very tasty. I really enjoyed the food. Unlimited alcohol beverages and I drank a lot as well. I really had a good time. I wish I knew how to swim so I could have enjoyed the pool and the beach a little more. The tourist were all very friendly. The resort workers are very mannerly, very courteous and polite. I did enjoyed my stay at Riu, I will surely [... read more] go back to Riu again. I would like to emphasize that all the workers at Riu are very respectable and they all value their job seriously. None were disrespectful!

Good resort

The hotel was nice and pool area was very nice...i just fid not like the beach found it not very clean and water not that clear...the entertainment staff were fantastic. Overall was a very nice hotel

Overall a good resort

The grounds and resort layout are great. Food is excellent. Rooms need a refresh and room keys are a problem. Staff very friendly and engaging. Nice beach. Front desk very responsive as was housekeeping.

Better than Expected!

Our Booking with trip Central agent Jack Gentile was spot on, he delivered every thing as promised. Sunwing check in was swift and uncomplicated. We did have one issue however, with the ability to book excursions onboard flight. I would not recommend it if attending this destination Riu Montego Bay. Although it was designed to save us money from $122. USD at the resort we paid $107CND on the plain. The Sunwing Nexus agent at the resort was not happy with us. We found the same excursion and bette [... read more]r for $59. through the Scuba caribe company on the beach. So be advised. Hotel checkin was fine our room, Garden view was very clean 2313, our cleaning staff Shanique was very attentive with any extras we asked for and always a Towel design left each day, very professional. Any staff we met where always quick with a smile and everything ERIE Mon? Staff, at the bars were very attentive, Obrian stood out aswell as many others, Chop Chop at the jerk Chicken hut was Great. Entertainment staff always stopped and visited on the beach, Damion was Great to give his perspective on Jamaican life and history, Fyar and Sunshine always funny to chat with and again full of information through their life experiences in Jamaica. The Beach was very nice and neatly kept although small and bordered by non accessible adjoining hotels. The Ocean was a disappointment the bottom was clay/ mucky or sea grass covered and usually murky. The buffet was very good with plenty of variety Lance and Teveca always with coffee , water and wine. The entire Jamaica experience for us was better than Expected, will definitely return.

Mediocre Hotel

I stayed at this resort with my family (family of 4), children included for 7 days and we found this resort mediocre compared to other ones we have been to. The washrooms were disgusting- toilets always clogged. It was hard to flush the toilet, my daughter often complained that she could not flush it. We were not able to visit any of the A la carte's because you can no longer book reservations, it is on a first come first serve basis with ridiculous lines--try standing in line with two c [... read more]hildren a 2 and 5 year old. There wasn't a huge selection at the buffet and very little authentic Jamaican food. However the Jerk Hut is amazing we went every single day. Our room was cleaned only two times out of seven days! That is ridiculous especially with kids. The beds were not the greatest but overall the room was okay, spacious. They also did not restock the minibar and fridge had to call the front desk for it to be done. We found the beach very rough only spent time there twice out of the whole trip other than when we went down to the Jerk Hut to get our lunch. The pools were alright, the side with the swim up bar is very busy. The entertainment staff (we love Zoey and Foxxi!) were very friendly and interactive. My family enjoyed the shows every evening. We received great service from all staff overall. For how expensive it was to stay at this resort we definitely didn't expect it to be mediocre.