Check in was well organised and quick,Rooms very spacious and clean.The mini bar was only replenished every two days with 2 small bottles of beer 1 bottle of water and a small coke and orange.The pool areas and swim up bar were clean with plenty of sun loungers.The food in the main restaurant was very poor for the first ten days mainly because it was cold or under cooked.We complained several times to the manager about this and there was a 100% improvement for the last four days.We only used the pool /beach restaurant once because there was no dress code and it is not nice rubbing shoulders with sweaty people with no shirts on whilst dinning.The best restaurant was the Asian which was excellent closely followed by the Italian restaurant.The steak restaurant was a big let down as the hot starters were cold and the steak very fatty.
The hotel is well laid out with a very nice clean beach and friendly staff.
The highlight of our holiday was a day out on the jungle rally with George of the jungle as our guide.He was very informative pleasant a very funny.Thanks George.
A lesson for all of you,use the safe provided in your room,my sister-in-law had some jewellery taken from a drawer.
This is the worst Riu hotel we have stayed in just because the food was not up to the high standards Riu hotels mormally provide.

travelled to punta cana in june & stayed at riu bambu, went with family & friends for my daughters wedding, cant understand some of the bad reviews i have read as we could not fault in any way. from the moment we arrived to the day we left we were treated so well from all members of staff who made us so welcome & they all worked so hard lovely people.the beach is right on your doorstep gorgeous white sand & plenty of sun beds to go around.i would like to give a special mention to entertainment staff Pelluca,Obama,Ashleigh & all the others wonderfull people would go back in a mnute loved it.

Rooms at the Riu Bambu are good a spacious and have good balconies. It can be a bit of a walk to the pool/beach if you get the far away rooms, but given the lovely weather it's not too much of a drag. The hotel is very clean and reception reasonably helpful. In particular the Thomson rep was really good and very helpfull with calls back to the UK on your mobile (cheap calls). The main pool is not exactly huge but is ok. It could be cleaner but with all the activity in and out of the water I suppose it is an ongoing job. A midday netting of the pool would be really great. The beach is absolutely fabulous and you will never have to reserve a sunbed. There's hundreds of them!! The pool bar seems to get hogged by all day drinkers - but there are many other bars around (not pool bars). The food selection is very good and there is no way any body should ever go hungry - there is something for everybody. One downside is the booking for the speciality restaurants. Unless you are in the queue in reception at 7.00am you are not going to get a reservation - and you cannot book a restaurant other than on the day on which you queue. This hotel is definitely good value for money and I would go back again.

We have have just arrived home from the Dominican Republic after an 11 day Holiday. We have traveled to many places around the world and all i can say is that the Dominican Republic is the most relaxed place we have ever been to.
we stayed at the Riu Bambu in Punta Cana. on arrival we were greeted with cocktails in reception and then shown to our rooms. Check in was easy and straight forward. We had a family room which was spacious extremely clean plus the air conditioning was bliss also the beds were really comfy.
The hotel has three pools the pool with the swim up bar is where all the entertainment happens but if you want a quiet time there are two other pools plus the beach which is gorgeous!:) Sea is quite choppy at times but that brings more fun to it!!
Sun beds are easy to get so there is no rush to grab one like it has been in other hotels we have stayed in previously.
Food you cant complain about there is so much choice even for fussy people. we tried all 3 al'carte restaurants Asian, Italian and steak house. The Asian was the best by far the steak house was not very good. However there was a Mexican restaurant opening as we were leaving.
The entertainment team work extremely hard but if you don't want to join in with silly games they leave you alone and do not push you into doing anything you don't want too. Some of the shows were amazing such as the Africa show which was our favorite however the karaoke was so good -_- hahaaa. But please take what some of they say with a pinch of salt or some can seem kind of creepy but it brought laughter to us.
We went on 2 trips The outback safari and the treasures of the sea. The outback safari you get to see the real Dominican and how they really live be aware its a bumpy ride. The treasure of the sea was a half day trip which left at 12:30 and we didn't get back till gone 7. it was an amazing afternoon which involved swimming with sharks sting rays also snorkeling and a boat trip to the natural swimming pool.
All in all we had a fabulous holiday and we would definitely go back!

P.S Pelluca one the entertainment team is the Dominican version of Louis Spence!!!!!!!!!