Just returned yesterday from a 7 day stay at the Riu. First time we did the all inclusive and we found the hotel to be a wonderful first time experience. There were absolutely no problems. Food was excellent, service was first class, room was comfortable. We had read the reviews and did not experience any of the problems people were complaining about. The staff was great, very friendly and work extremely hard. Jose at the swim up bar was awesome and took excellent care of us. So don't worry, go and you will have a wonderful time.

We just returned from the Riu Palace with our two kids(ages8 and 18 months) on Jan 22/05. I have to tell you that we went not really knowing what we would find when we got there, after all the reviews we had read on this website. I am happy to report that the Riu Palace, in our opinion is a great all-inclusive resort with friendly, helpful service, a great property, good food and drink and rooms that we weren't at all dissapointed with. I specifically went looking to find some or all of the negative issues that had been reported here and was so happy to not run into anything bad at all. As for the specific things I read about, this is what I observed.
1.Bees- I think they were wasps actually and we did see them around the hotel. My husband got stung while on a moped he rented. I don't think they were targeting the Riu, so chances are, you'd see them at any hotel here.
2.Service-from the shuttle from the airport to service at the front desk, service at restaurants or at the bars, we did not find anyone who was anything other than helpful and polite. Specifically, Jorge in the buffet at breakfast, Carlos at the main desk or anyone we stopped to ask a question.
3.Food-We ate at the buffet for breakfast and dinner most days and the Steak house 1 night. We did line up for 10 minutes for the steak house and it was a nice meal. Not into french or japanese so didn't try the others. We had no trouble finding something good to eat, there was a good variety of food.
4.Rooms-the first room we were given was located quite a distance from the main part of the hotel and it didn't quite look out on the beach. I checked it out as recommended before dragging our luggage there. I was a little far for the kids to go back and forth so I went back to the front desk and asked Carlos for something a little closer to the middle. He gave us a great jnr suite(we paid for) looking over the quiet infinity pool that had a king and a pull out bed. Yes, the mattresses were a little hard, but THEY ARE NEW BEDS!!!!! The bathrooms were big, clean with marble and granite with lots of new towels and shampoo, soap etc. There was a fullsize ironing board and iron. Ask for the safe key at the front desk. Fridge was restocked with lots of water, beer and soft drinks.
5.Mini-club-Jenifer at the miniclub(ages 4-12) is amazing. She really is great with the kids, they have a nice new clubhouse with clean toys, and do lots of fun activites at the pool and beach. My 8 year old boy met some other kids that he had a blast with. At night they have the mini-disco with awards for the days activites, one night they had a pinata and mexican fair.
6.Overall-the pools were heated, the grounds well-kept. Couldn't swim at the beach but we knew that ahead of time. I really have nothing to complain about and believe me I was looking for all the things I read about.
I just think that you get what you give. It doesn't matter if you are in Canada, the Us or Mexico. If you are nice and polite to people and reward good service with a tip or a thank you, chances are you'll get the same back.
The Riu Los Cabos is great and if we can afford it, we'll go back next year.

Here we go!
-Food: 3 star (just o.k but nothing to worry about, no one got sick)
-Grounds and Hotel 5 star
-Staff 4 star (still learning but try very hard)
-Security 1 star (use safe for everything of value, I did get a camera and charger ripped off)
-Golf courses (Raven) 3 star (Cabo Del Sol Ocean) 5+++ Star
-Bee Problem (no problem, saw a couple all week)
-Drinks 3/4 star (not that bad, if they are waterdown drink more!)
-Beds 3 star (hard but clean)
-weather 4 star (at my time Jan 15 to 22)
-Town of Cabo 5 star (great nightlife and food)
-Overall, we did have a good time, give this resort 1 more year and it will be 5 stars
-Beach 3/4 star
P.S Remember to Use the Safe!

We went to riu palace from 1/17 to 1/23. We LOVED it. We have traveled a lot...im a flight attendant so we have been all over the world. We had a fabulous time. We were very sceptical after reading thesereviews, but gave it a shot anyway...well are we so glad we did. I truly believe people like to complain about anything and some people are imposible to please! That said.....we checked in early, got right into our room, which was beautiful, very clean, mini bar stocked....and restocked daily. since i stay in hotel rooms several days a week i think i have realistic expectations. the view was very nice and we were in room 4070 in the same wing as the disce....we slept with our door open every night and were never disturbed by the noise but we did go to the disco twice. its not webster hall but it is was you make of it....good music to dance to. the service was great and we never had to ask for anything twice. we had champagne brought to our room several times just call the front and ask for it. we had coffe and toast delivered to our room every morning with a full breakfast once and it was delivered at the time we asked. on to the food......no its not ruth chris, its an all inclusive. However we ate at the japanese resteraunt three times, the gormet resteraunt once and the buffett once for dinner. the gormet and japanese resteraunt were very nicely decorated and the food was well above par. i had filet mingon and my husband had lamb at the gormet resteraunt and it was cooked to order. the desserts there were so so, but anyone who has traveled knows foriegn desserts are not as sweet as american. At the japanese resteraunt we tried almosteverything since we ate there 3 times. as a joke my husband said he would have the beef and the chicken, and they ordered them both for him. So needless to say they never said no. The pools and the grounds are imaculate and clean. the drinks are available at all hours and are generally very good. order what you like and you should be fine. Go to lovers beach and go to the pacific side its so worth it. we did go into town to cabo wabo, squid row and some other tourist spots and it was fun to get out and see the sights and walk around. So to sum it up we had a great time and made the best of it and our expectations were met because we were silly enough to take some of these complainers seriously. So my suggestion is to look up on this site somewhere you have already been and liked and read the reviews, like the hotel i stayed at in paris got horrible reviews, so now i think of this site as kind of a complaint forum so i hope someone reads this and thinks twice about changing thier plans. If yu go thinking its going to be terrible, dont go. if you want to have a good time and not be super critical and enjoy a beautiful location then go and you will love it! any other specific questions ill be glad to respond amycdorris1@aol.com!