My husband and I spent our honeymoon at the Riu Palace October 2003. It was absolutely Amazing. We loved it. The staff was so polite. Everything from our room to the beach was perfect. SOOOOO..........for our one year wedding anniversary i decided to suprise my husband and take him back, for another week in paradise. BIG MISTAKE. As soon as we arrived, the staff just wasnt as pleasant as the first time. We arrived at the hotel late and we were both starving. They told us sorry the only restaurant opened you have to make reservations and your too late. I told them that last year when we arrived late as well, you allowed us to go eat even though we hadnt made reservations. Well he had to go check, and then he said its ok to go have dinner. Very disappointing. In 2003, they made all these cute towel arrangements and left fruit in our room after returning from the beach, well not this time. And my point is, its the little things that mean so much. Also we did make dinner reservations daily, and a few times our name wasnt on the reservation, so we had to ---- alittle more and argue that we DID make them, and they were argumentative as well. My husband and I wont go back again, only because we didnt get the treatment as we did the first time. Hate to waste money on hospitality that declines.

My girlfriends and I, there were six of us total, went the first weekk of April. To call this a five star hotel is absurd. Two out of the three rooms we had smelled like mildew. Dinner is at scheduled seating times and in order to get them get up early and be prepared to stand in line. One night we had reservations at sir edwards and they were very, very slow (and that we didnt mind to much) but it was when we asked for coffee after dinner they told us they ran out and we needed to go beacause the next seating was about to arrive. Not to mention only beer and wine for dinner no cocktails. I felt there were too many time restrictions and or windows in which you had to eat. You didnt eat when you wanted but when they wanted.
The place was very clean, the staff was very nice and it was beautiful.
Would I go back? NO!
My girlfriends and I are all in our early thirties with 16 children between us.

We spent a week in early March at the RIU. We traveled with another couple and all left our kids at home. We love our children (ages 3-11) but were so glad that we didn't attempt to bring them along to this resort which is definitely adult-oriented. The RIU is the perfect location for luxury and relaxation. We range in age from 38-42 and weren't in search of a "party" vacation. We had rooms 1121 and 1123, good beach proximity and both lovely but we did hear the music from the disco at the neighboring property at night. We read MANY reviews prior to our trip and agree, the beds are hard! Two nights prior to our return home, we saw some fluffy mattress toppers by a housekeeping cart and figured that if you request them, they will add them to the top of the beds. Ask for it on night #1, you'll sleep better! We thought the beach and the water were truly wonderful!!! Nice soft sand, great fun to jump the waves too! We hit the beach by 8 to reserve primo lounge chairs at the ocean's edge, left our towels, etc. there, then went for breakfast. As the week got busier (likely families on Spring Break), it was necessary to stake out a chair or it was quite a hunt! Loved the reviews that advised to take insulated tumblers along. We used ours every day! The wonderful beach bar staff filled them with their yummy frozen margaritas. Then, while we lounged on the beach, they stayed cold and delicious. Scuba Caribe (on the property) worked well for two afternoon scuba dives, one to a reef and one with giant sea turtles. One of their excellent Dutch staff did a thorough refresher course with us prior to our first dive too. We were tickled to be able to buy a DVD of our dive with the turtles to bring home and show our children! The weather was perfect during our week, high temperatures in the upper seventies. It was a bit cool in the evenings, upper sixties, a light jacket is a must. We took $100 in one dollar bills and used them throughout our week for tipping. The staff is so pleasant and we wanted to tip even though it's not expected. The food at the Palace was good, but not great. (I've been on 5 cruises and would say that the ship's food is superior.) RIU definitely caters to the European palate. There was delicious fresh fruit, salad fixings, soups and fresh-squeezed juices. The desserts were fair. The theme nights that we felt were great were the Italian night, the chef special night and the Mexican night. One delicious after-dinner coffee drink from the bar that we enjoyed every night was the Cafe Palace, gotta try it!! We ate at the Japanese and the steak house specialty restaurants. In our view, the effort of making a reservation for them (at 7 AM) was not worth it. Both meals were good but not outstanding enough to warrant waking up early to make a reservation for! All four of us stayed well during our trip but we did use bottled water even for brushing our teeth.
OUTINGS: We went to the downtown area by cab twice and greatly enjoyed shopping and strolling. We spent 9-10 hours one day at Xcaret (the eco park) and all loved the place! It was well worth the time and money and floating down the underground river was fabulous!!! Wish I'd have had a disposable underwater camera with a flash! Though we hated to be gone from the Palace for a whole day, we all agreed that it was a day well spent.
This is a long review, but this was a special vacation, greatly researched by myself and my mother (a travel agent who also loved the Riu Palace & spent a week there in Feb.) and I wanted to share my positive thoughts about this beautiful part of Mexico and this wonderful resort. If you plan to go there, you will love your time in paradise too!

Review of RIU Palace, near Playa Del Carmen, stayed a week in March 2005. Members of our budget-conscious group of have been fortunate over the years to have stayed at beach resorts in Mexico before (Ixtapa, Cancun, Manzanillo, Cabo, Cozumel, etc.) as well as numerous Caribbean islands and Europe. We do not go to all-inclusives to eat and drink ourselves into a stupor. Overall, we were pleased with the RIU Palace and it is run much better than the standard Mexican beach resort, we’d stay again

At the resort, the RIU staff gatekeeper for the guest internet-access computers was typing away all day, everyday, and we began to wonder if she is posting bogus reports on travel boards like this one. Who knows? I can promise you this review is a legitimate review from a legitimate guest. Here are a few miscellaneous notes:

Pool and Beach: Pool was never crowded and temperature fine. Ocean is great for swimming, body-surfing, etc., the Beach is long but has narrowed and has visibly eroded somewhat since the storms in fall 2004. Just north 100 yards up the beach from the RIU Palace a crew was cutting out the stumps of palm trees that had been covered at high tide and securing other trees with ropes so they would not topple into the ocean. Walking south from the Palace about 300 yards the beach widens considerably to almost 50-75 yards of exposed beach. The RIU Palace has plenty of beach (50-75 yards deep), mostly covered with palm trees as all but about 10 yards of exposed, unshaded beach has been washed away. This was not a big deal to us as we lounged by the pool but walked down to the beach to walk and swim.

Rooms: the suites are spacious, high ceilings. Furniture, tiles, etc. were all in great shape. The A/C would not turn on in our first room so they moved us quickly to another room where A/C worked great. No musty odors at all. Water pressure in showers was great though temperature sometimes got lukewarm at peak demand times like before dinner. The beds are very firm as reported. If you are 30 yrs old you can deal with it for a week, but when you are 60 it can make sleep difficult if you are not used to a really firm bed. The other Mexican and European hotels we’ve stayed at never had such firm beds. We tipped the maid $20 on the first day for the whole week and we got towels folded to look like swans and rabbits as well as fresh flowers three times during our stay.

Dining: A surprisingly rewarding experience. Anyone who complains about the quality or choice of foods here is too picky (you know someone like this, we all do). The quality of the food at the Don Julian main dining buffet was excellent, but if you are accustomed to dining at 5-star restaurants in NYC, Chicago, etc., and expect the same at RIU Palace resort, you will be disappointed. It has loads of fresh fruits, juices, etc. At least 40-50 different types of cold selections at the salad bar areas. 5 or more meats, from grilled to fried. 10 or more vegetables, from steamed to sautéed. 8 or more dessert selections including 6 ice cream flavors. We also ate at the Brazilian and the Japanese restaurants which were very good quality but in hindsight we would have been happy at the Don Julian every night.

Other Notes: Estimate 60% of the guests were European which is not surprising given the RIU chain is based out of Spain and the value of the Euro right now. The Palace has a low-key adult atmosphere, quiet as a mouse after 11pm. No partying college spring breakers at all. Also, the RIU Palace is not a resort designed for unsupervised young children. There are no activities for kids at the Palace. So parents, do us all a favor and leave the kids at home or stay at a different resort. We brought many $1 bills with us and tipped $100 over the week. The staff never asked for nor expected tips, though they were very appreciative, and we noticed sometimes the liquor quality from the bar was better with a tip. There is a guy on staff who sells cigars that you can watch him hand-roll from tobacco leaves. It is a $6 taxi ride to Playa Del Carmen and the ferry there to Cozumel ($16 RT) takes 45 minutes and we went scuba diving in Cozumel with Blue Sea XT diving there (the diving in Cozumel is world-class and so close don’t miss that opportunity if you staying at the Palace.)

The resort’s most noteworthy attribute is service and positive attitudes of the staff. In our experience the Mexican staff at other Mexican resorts were generally friendly, but the RIU Palace staff from top to bottom was exceptionally hospitable. Checkout was simple at the Palace, unlike at every other Mexican resort we’ve every stayed at where there were always strange charges to dispute. Keep your expectations realistic--if you select the “5-star” RIU Palace expecting the Ritz Carlton you will be disappointed; if you expect a high-quality Mexican resort, as we did, then you will be very happy with RIU Palace.