Traveled to the Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas July 4, 2009-July 11, 2009. Had a great time! Not really sure where the people who wrote bad reviews were staying because that was not at all our experience! The service was great, we constantly had people asking if we needed drinks or anything else. The rooms were very clean, housekeeping was constantly cleaning everything, even the hallway walls. We tried out all the restaurants and the food was great at all of them. Yes, you have to get up about 7:30 am to make a reservation, but suck it up and do it then go back to bed if you have to. If you choose to stick with the buffets they were just as good. There was a huge variety and the fruit was especially fresh and delicious! Also took advantage of the gym and the spa. The gym had quite a bit of equipment for a hotel and the massage at the spa was wonderful. There were 4 pools with 2 swim up bars and they were beautiful and refreshing. I expected to walk over to the pool bars to get drinks, but was pleasantly surprised to find out they have people walking around constantly making sure you have a drink if you want one. The entertainment group was also awesome. (ROBBY!) The hotel is within a 10 minute cab ride to the main marina and other wonderful things (cabo dolphins) and the hotel staff got us a cab within minutes each time. Overall, we had pretty much the best travel experience EVER and would love to go back, and would ONLY stay at the Riu Palace again!

My fiance and I were married here at the Riu on July 3 2009. I must say we went through an awful lot to get here having our flights cancelled twice earlier in May due to H1N1 but it was I feel well worth the wait.

The resort is so well maintained and absolutely spotless in cleanliness.
Staff are extremely friendly and always smiling ...the only staff we had an issue with was the front desk who semed not to understand too much English especially the day of the wedding when it was 5 mins befoe the wedding and 6 phone calls to front desk and a visit by my dad and complaints x2 by the groom and my 2 sons because we had no flowers yet...no bridal bouquet or corsages or boutonnieres. NOT a good way to begin the ceremony and I was nonetheless quite upset by the time the flowers came and i was to walk down the aisle...a hug from Daniela (wedding co-ordinator) helped but at the same time I almost lost it and broke down from the stress.

Food....pretty good most of the time...buffet was getting a litlle boring near the end of our stay but there definitely was a lot to choose from.
STEAKHOUSE----steak was really yummy and our waiter...whom I forget his name...was the BEST! ................................................Always smiling and doing tricks for us.
KRYSTAL.................................................Again steak was really good and the sauce they put on the steak is very tasty but be careful it does have a little after effect...LOL
Nice relaxing music and very elegant

Rooms.....our biggest complaint really....most of the rooms are musty smelling...some more than others...our sons stayed in Room 2175 and it was horrible as I believe most of them are on that side of the building....they had gigantic wasps outside their balcony door the size of a bird.

The first couple of days there were pretty good as far as the flies go but after the third day the flies were really annoying and made staying down at the pool almost impossible if you werent in the water
And try to eat dinner outside with flies around...thyey literally stuck to you like glue.

We all took a trip to Lovers Beach via water taxi....very tricky and scary trying to get in and off the boat before the waves come and carry the boat out again....you literally have seconds to board.
But if you mamage to get to the Lovers Beach...well worth it to see the rock formations and the seals and of course the famous ARCH

We did the Dolphin Swim.....a definite must...so relaxing and its right by the marina so you can check out the flea markets and other restaurants along the harbor
The guys did the ATV TOUR and had a blast although they said even with the bandanas and goggloes it gets pretty dusty and they give you water but it looked like bottles that were just refilled so better take your own
The guys went to Cabo Wabo and had a great time...said it was very nice and a lot of fun

Took a taxi in to check out the Wal Mart centre...sounds pretty silly to go visit a Wal Mart when you are visiting Cabo but there are some little shops there as well...not cheap and although Wal Mart prices are good there was not a lot to choose from...better to buy at the flea market where you can at least barter with them a little bit

The Renova Spa...the lady that did everyone's hair for my wedding was incredible and did a fantastic job!

The entertainment I thought was pretty good other than the last night...

My younger son was a participant in most of the shows ...such a ham! Also known as Archie to those at the resort.


I can honestly say we could not have picked a better location for our wedding...the background for our pictures,,,the ceremony...the fantastic minister...a most beautiful memory!
Everything was worth the wait and Iwe will return to the Riu again sson.....maybe our first anniversary!

For an all inclusive I though the hotel was good , better food than the Riu Palace Cancun ( except for the room service and after hours food ). My only major complaint was that we were unable to go in the ocean because of the surf. The beach is also difficult to walk on because of the incline and loose sand. We had several in our party hurt (cuts, scrapes and bruises)when the water taxi to Lovers Beach tried to load our entire group into the boat in waist high water in very rough conditions. Make sure you charter the boat with a ladder or make them take you out on the Seadoos when conditions are rough. Several members of our party were loaded by being dragged over the side because they would have been sucked out by the undertow otherwise .There was also a member of our group hurled against the rocks by huge waves at Lovers beach. Re other excursions-The pirate cruise was also not great ,,lots of booze alright but claimed to be a dinner cruise and patrons only recieved cut up wieners on a stick and had to share one nacho bowl for 125 persons.
So in summary- nice hotel , great ocean views but not for beach lovers.

We have been to Cancun and stayed at the Riu Caribe for the last 10 years. I read all of the reviews about this hotel prior to going and thought perhaps peoples expectations were to high since it is the "Palace", but I found out different. Yes the hotel is beautiful and so are the views, the drinks were typical of a all inclusive but the food was far from what we expected out of a 5 star resort and we are just not that picky. Since we have stayed at a 4 star "Riu" in cancun and had the opportunity to eat at the Riu Cancun as well while there we had something to compare it too and it just did not measure up. The food and my favorite the deserts were very limited and it was the same thing over and over every day and night. We had the opportunity to eat at all of the restaraunts that require a reservation and guess what it was the same food as what was on the buffet, the only difference was they brought it to you and the presentation was a little more fancy. Here was my favorite part of the Riu Palace (kidding), every day from 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM they have the "crazy hour", which consisted of a paper airplane throwing contest and bingo...woo hoo... I could barely contain myself. If you like cold as ice water, then this place is for you! The ocean is like knives going through you and the pools are not much better. The wind never stops blowing and when you get out of the cold water, it's cold again. Sylvia a server by the pool was wonderful, but why in the heck did they not attach the swim up bar to the main pool instead of the little pool? Oh well, all I can say if you are someone that likes ho hum vacations then your going to love it, but if you like fun, laughs, and plane old good times, you probably will not enjoy this hotel.