Riu Palace Antillas Adults Only - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

6359 reviews

• 

  Poor room experience

  Overall, my stay was just okay—and unfortunately, the biggest letdown was the room. I had booked an ocean view room, but upon arrival I was told that the room type I reserved was unavailable. Instead, I was shown to an “upgrade” that was anything but—an outdated room on the first floor of the villa side with no real view at all. After raising my concerns, I was moved to a higher floor with a partial view. However, this still wasn’t the room I paid for, and the cleanliness left much to be desired. I found hair in several areas, the floor was dirty, and the bathroom looked like only the vanity had been wiped down. When I complained again, I made it clear that if they couldn’t honor my reservation, I wanted a refund. I was then told that the correct room would be available the next day. By that point, I was frustrated and exhausted, but I agreed to wait. The new room finally had the view I expected and was somewhat cleaner, but even with daily housekeeping, it never felt properly maintained—beyond the bed being made, nothing seemed refreshed. For the price I paid, I expected an immaculate room and the exact ocean view I booked from the start. Instead, it took multiple complaints and two room changes just to receive what I had already paid for. That’s simply unacceptable. On the positive side, the resort grounds, food, staff, and entertainment were excellent. Unfortunately, my room experience overshadowed those positives and left me disappointed. Because of this, I would not choose to stay here again.

  Sep 09, 2025
• 

  Terrible service, bartenders rude at pool bar. Asked for a coke at pool bar after it closed and was told no, you cannot even get

  Let me start by saying we have been to lots of AI hotels in Mexico, DR, Bahamas, Jamaica. Rooms ok. Drinks at pool bar stink. Only serve 8oz cups with cheap booze. They are too strong when filled with ice and taste terrible. Pool was filthy the first day, but then looked ok afterwards. Guess that may be normal with all the sunscreen after a long day. Service .. sucks. We rented a jeep for the day to drive around. I pulled up to lobby and had my buddy ask the bellman to fill cooler with ice. Well he asked if he was staying in the hotel, he said yes, then asked what room, then he said well go up to your room on the 8th floor and there is an ice machine there. Full service at it's finest there. Then the day before we were leaving, my same friend walked to pool bar that was closing up, and asked for a coke. We were waiting for the steakhouse restaurant to open at 6. The bartender said no we are closed and you can't even get a water. Then the workers just laughed out loud. I mean WTH!!?? I would never recommend this hotel to anyone... RIUs are ok in Mexico and the Bahamas but this one these people are rude and expect tips. Not very pleasant and really disappointed in this place. Oh, no TV the entire week. None of the rooms had any English speaking channels. We were told they were working on it on day 1. At day 7 no tv and no one cares. Stay away... Much nicer hotels here... All inclusive is not worth it. Just glad I didn't fall into the elite club upgrade. 1 week was far too long here.

  Sep 05, 2025
• 

  Not Worth The Money

  We’ve been to a few destination resorts, but never been to a Riu, most friends have said Riu was incredible anytime they stay there no matter where they are, so we thought we’d give it a shot. For what it cost, it was highly disappointing. If it hadn’t been in Aruba, and the incredible staff our trip probably would have been a bust. The young kids that run the entertainment crew were the highlight! It’s the first time we’ve ever stayed at an all inclusive resort and had these experiences. I know it sounds like first world problems but when you pay top dollar, we like a little production value! It was all mostly food related. We just always assume we pay high prices because it’s all inclusive and the food options are unlimited. This is not the case with this Riu experience and will set the tone for us to ever consider going to any other Riu. - Not a single person from the hotel staff serving drinks on the beach. We had to get up and go to the pool bar and back every time. - We’re told that we could only order 1 appetizer per person at the Aruban restaurant. Like, what? We’ve never had an all inclusive resort limit the food we could have. It was crazy enough that we were not welcome at the adjoined resort next doors restaurants even though we were told we could go between the 2, but, Like to then have the audacity to have limited places on resort to eat and then tell us we can’t order more than one appetizer!? Like, it wasn’t even an option if we didn’t want to get an entree! - No option to make ANY dinner reservations at any of the restaurants on resort. Aside of the buffet, every night there was a rush to go get in line for first come first serve service. We basically ate at the buffet every day and night or went off resort to eat because you had to wait in line at any other place on resort. - Minimal food options. Lunch was a buffet or a fast food joint serving burgers and fries. Dinner was a buffet, an Arubian restaurant, a steak house, an Italian spot and that’s it!! Oh, and the only restaurant you could go to at the other adjoining resort was….. a buffet, but with kids. So, you can only guess how sanitary that must have been! We didn’t pay top dollar to go to a Golden Coral. - The swim up bar pool was like a swamp. Literally no one gets up to go to the bathroom, there were floating band aids, floating cigarettes and a layer of sun tan lotion on the top. This is where the highlighted entertainment is, so you gotta look past all that to go get into it and watch or be apart of the games. Key take aways, Don’t pay for Riu all inclusive adults only, Aruba can easily and safely be an air bnb type vacation where you buy food and make it at the house and rent a car to drive around and go places or pick a different resort.

  Sep 05, 2025
• 

  Rooms not cleaned well & Customer Service needs improvement

  We stayed at this location for our anniversary and were truly disappointed by a few things. Front desk worker Evandra put us in a room that was not ready, required the beds to be put together when our reservation requested a king bed, and had our room next to the service doors. When we ask for a change, she stated we would have to wait until the next day. Unacceptable. She was rude to us even when we were leaving the hotel, not acknowledging us or providing excellent customer service, that we were told the RIU brand offers. When we ask if we could leave our luggage with concierge, so that we could have breakfast before our departure, the one thing she did say to us was to leave it unattended at the luggage counter, when we stated we were concerned about theft, she just laughed at us, so we took our luggage with us to the dining room and they accommodated us. This made our experience very unpleasant. After speaking with the manger Genoveva Gonzales upon check-in, she was able to put us in a real king bedroom, however the room was filthy (I have photos if needed). After a 10-hour flight from California and spending 7,000 USD on this trip we were very disappointed and had to wait 2 hours for housekeeping to come and I had to clean the room myself while housekeeping changed our bed just so we could go to sleep. This resulted in us losing a day of our anniversary vacation. Manager Genoveva was able to make a reservation at 2 of the restaurants offered at the resort for us, however your policy on not allowing guest to make a reservation in advance and if we arrive and they are out of space on the waiting list, then we would not be able to eat there is unacceptable. Last, I felt my safety was in questioned. My husband and I went to the casino to play the slot machines and a European man walk up and put his hand on my back and made me very uncomfortable and my husband extremely upset. We have never experienced this treatment in our lives at any hotel non-the less a hotel that should be 5 stars. Unfortunately, we were not happy with our experience at the RIU and unsure if we will ever come back. We expected so much more from a 5 Star Hotel on our Anniversary. On a positive note there are a few staff members that were excellent and should be noted on their great customer service below; Andreas – Great pool drink server Lobo- Great pool drink server Benjamin – Great pool drink server Paola – Great pool towel organizer Owen- Excellent Server at the Steak House Nelli – Excellent Server for our private Romantic night dinner we did for our anniversary

  Sep 04, 2025
• 

  This hotel and staff exceeded our expectations!!

  We have stayed at other Riu hotels in Cancun and were a little skeptical due to our previous experiences...This hotel and staff exceeded our expectations!! Food was excellent, the staff were excellent, especially Luis at the front desk!! Location was perfect! We ate at the steakhouse twice because we enjoyed Owen the waiter there, we all appreciate the sunset photos he took of us and others while waiting for our dinner!! We never had to ask for anything, drinks always refilled and the food choices at the buffet were excellent. We needed a cab- no problem, they called for one and was there in 2 minutes. Hotel room clean, A/C worked and room re-stocked as needed. I enjoyed a mimosa every morning at breakfast! Everyone had a smile on their face. Could not have asked for a better experience. We definitely will be back!!

  Sep 04, 2025