Ok friends, we paid a little amount of money to stay in Riu Bambu. In the beginning I read lotta negative reviews and hesitated a bit. But then I told myself '' go and see there with your own eyes''...and definitely worth it! Whatever people say, do not take them seriously because they have their own ''different'' expectations just like us. If you are looking for good brands of alcohol...nope you cannot get anything! But look at the price! Great foodand everything! I have lot of photos for all of you!

Whatever negative you read about this place is either not true or something that is not a hotels fault (like the fact that a la carte restaurants are booked fast; they are booked fast because they are good ! And we never had any trouble booking! ) There is construction in the very back, but you never actually hear it. For bugs outside, take bug spray, like you would for any place. But there are not a lot of mosquitoes anyway.
The beach is beautiful! White soft sand. Very clean, no seaweed. Very close to the hotel, about 30 seconds walk from the lobby. Ocean is warm, see through clean water. The best beach location I've seen so far!
There are 3 pools and 1 more kid's pool. All of them very nice. One has a swim up bar. Plus there are like 10 or so more pools in other Riu hotels that the guests of Riu Bambu can use.
The food was great. The main buffet had a lot of selection and different nights, such as Mexican, International, Dominican, etc. Three a la carte restaurants - Steak House, Italian, and Asian. All very good. I liked the Italian one the most. Lots of different drinks at the bar. Beer, I actually loved! It's light, kind of like Stella or Corona, which are my favourite.
Entertainment was great. There are games going on from 10 am until 5 or 6. And if you win a game they give you a bottle of rum and a certificate, which was pretty cute. All entertainers are very nice and funny. The shows were great. I especially liked the circus show. Some of the things these guys did were unbelievable !
Overall, we had a great time. I would definitely go again! Awesome place!!!

If I compare to the Grand Sunset Princess 5 star resort in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, this Riu Bambu is at the maximum 3.5 star.
Good: the beach...clear water, calm, nice fine sand, no sea shell, no stones.
Bad: Food..too salty.
Room..the bathroom is small; no covered walkway to the restaurant/front desk; no umbrella available; old CRT TV
Safety..outside people can get inside the hotel compound from the beach.
Land excursion..went to this "small mall" which was arranged by the Sunwing rep and was really disappointed. It's a small store.
Service..just OK
Overall..with the price that I paid, it was an Ok trip.

I have just returned from a 2 week stay at the hotel and I knew I had to write a review on here.
I had booked the holiday and just before I came read some reviews and if i was totally honest I was really worried about coming, food bad, pool bad, stolen items, etc.
Well I must have stayed in a totally different hotel because it was excellent :)
Yes I agree its not a 5* and to be fair to Thomson they personally dont rate it a 5* star as well. You can see the price is cheaper compared to the the other riu hotels in that area.
We were very happy with our room, maid came everyday. food was great. always something there we liked, people complaining about food repeating are the ones most likely pilling their plates with every dish that they are serving that night. Just because its a buffet you dont need to try everything in one night.
We got to try the restaurants, asian, italian and steak all really good, but they did get booked up really early in the morning, before 8am sometimes the steak house was already full. I do believe that a mexican restaurant it also opening in november, they were just finishing that when we left.
pool areas were fab, a quieter one on one side and the the two main ones on the other, 1 they used for games. always could get a sun bed.
I did notice there was only 1 type of larger available however as i tend not to drink it, that wasnt a problem for us, loads of cocktail for choice are really quick to get served at the bars, even notcied branded vodka (smirnoff).
The best part about the holiday though was the entertainment and the guys doing it. They are working long hours and have always got a smile on their faces. games in the day/aerobics/dance lessons/water aerobics pool games- all great. even had the dancers sometimes doing a little show and then they would bring food and drinks by the pool. We were there for 2 weeks and we never saw a evening show repeat itself. dancing was great and you can see they have put effort into what they are doing. spoke to a few guests that were actually staying at the other hotels who were coming to ours as they said it was much better. we both thought the entertainment was great- african show was our favourite.
We were told to take paesos rather than dollars however I would recommend just taking dollars. Everything was in dollars.
As for the building work, it was right at the back and we only saw a bit of it when we were driving in and when we left, it did not affect our holiday at all.
If your younger I would say go the the nightclub, we were a little nervous about going to pacha but had a great time when we went. The club is a mix with hotel guests/entertainment and hotel workers but we had a great time there. you do have to pay between 2-4$ somenights as they would have a dance show on.
I have already told friends and family about our holiday and have no complaints. would recommend it to them all.
Had a great time and wish i was still there :)