We just returned from a 7 night stay at this hotel. We scheduled our trip there at the last minute - we had planned to go to Cancun, but changed our plans due to Hurricane Dean.

The hotel and grounds are very beautiful and well maintained. It looks like a castle from the outside. The rooms are very nicely decorated, with nice touches like dark woods, crown molding, etc.

However, this hotel could stand for improvment.

The couch in our room was stained, the door in need of some repair. The maid service was spotty - sometimes very good, sometimes lacking. We tipped every day - didn't seem to do us much good. We repeatedly ran out of things that were never replaced without a request - toilet paper, kleenex, washcloths... When we requested items such as toilet paper, it took hours for housekeeping to respond. The first night, we awoke to workers yellling and banging loudly in the hallway for about 1/2 hour at 5:30 AM. This only happened the first night we were there. The marble\tile floor should have been washed every day, due to the sand and sunscreen that made it slippery, but it was only washed twice during our stay.

The food was okay - we could always find something we liked at the buffets. Their room service was disappointing - a very limited menu (usually buffet items), and the items typically arrived room temperature. The dinners at the steakhouse and mexican restaurants were good. We were fortunate not to get sick - we knew of several people who did get sick. Stay away from the lunchmeat - it did not look very appealing.

The service was also inconsistent - one day we noticed vomit in the pool. We told an employee, who told us that the workers would clean it in the morning.

The beach was definitely not swimable - we took our 4 year old out to touch the edges of the waves and almost got swept away.

For those with kids, this is not the most child-friendly resort. The restaurants did not have separate kids menus, so they had to order off the adult menu. The 'kiddie pools' are converted hot tubs and are tiny. The kids club was cute, but somewhat inadequate. Our kids did have fun dancing on stage at night.

The entertainment besides the kids show was somewhat inconsistent. Some nights it was practically nonexistent, other nights it was fairly decent.

As far as watersports included, this hotel definitely does not compare to hotels in Cancun.

My wife & I, my brother & his wife stayed at the Riu Palace August 20th-24th. Let me begin by stating that many people that were going to stay in Cancun but couldn't stay due to Dean were trying to stay in Cabo this week, including us. Checkin took almost 2 hours as there were many people in line who had reservations but were told they had no rooms due to overbooking. We watched many people who had confirmation numbers get turned away to other resorts, including 2 couples on their honeymoons. As you can imagine, there was much screaming, pleading & threatening going on before we made our way to the desk. We were also told that we didn't have a room by one employee, only to be told the next minute by another one that our reservation had been found. Imagine our relief when we were given our key cards and imagine the looks we were given by those who were turned away. This was the most stressful way you could imagine to begin your vacation and we were not pleased.

Our room was in the "basement" as was my brothers room but we did not bother asking for a new room after the check-in experience. The beds were hard as expected but we all slept very well. The room was clean as was the bathroom and the resort in general. The resteraunts were all full so we did not get the chance to eat in one and the buffet was mediocre at best. Breakfast was the best neal of the day by far. We liked the lobby bar the best & spent a lot of time there. The pool area was very nice, but boring. The staff was friendly and nice and we had no problems communicating our needs to them. Tipping did not produce a difference in service or in the amount of towels or beverages in our rooms either.

The location of the hotel is very good in relation to everything going on. It provided a great view of Lands End & the Arch as well as the harbor. The beach sand is Very Course & Abrasive which made for a sometimes painful volleyball game. swimming in the ocean in front of the hotel was not an option when we were there as the surf was much too rough & waves way too high. We walked down the beach to the nearest bar but took a taxi back as my wife found the heat too much for her. I was fine but wouldn't recommend this to anyone who has no endurence for heat & rough\deep sand. Due to the construction, we did not walk anywhere from the front of the hotel (many trucks, contruction workers & heavy equipment traffic, dust, dirt) there was never a problem getting a taxi & it cost $15 to the marina, $12 to Cabo Wabo to give you an idea of prices from the hotel. We booked our excursions through the reps in the hotel & this worked just fine (especially the fishing with Benito)

Plan on heading downtown in the evening as there is no nightlife at the resort worth mentioning. The shows were good but after that, nothing to do at all, this is the biggest complaint we had about the resort. Pacha nightclub on the property was a joke, the strobe lights are enough to give you a siezure . The clubs down town were all great though.

My wife and I just returned from a week at the Riu and it was a terrible experience. The best way to review it is to itemize the points that we both felt were lacking here.
1)The food was not good at all, cold most of the time or empy at the buffet, not to mention flies landing all over the food. We had to travel downtown for dinner and lunch most of the time.
2) The couch in our room was so disgustingly filthy that I refused to sit on it and after we complained to the front desk they switched us to another room with a dirtier couch!
3) The bars serve you drinks in these 6oz plastic cups similar to water cups at Ponderosa, so if you were thirsty you needed to order two or three at a time. A pain in the rear and very cheap looking for an all inclusive resort.
4) The smaller pools or the 'Grotto' as we referred to them were disgusing and nasty. The water levels were low and not reaching the filters so there were oils and bugs filling the Grotto surface!
5) This place seemed like a huge party resort with some cheesy 1990 booty music blasting all day by the pools with people and their kids screaming all the time.
6) There are peddlers on the beach that constantly try to sell you crap and harass you while you are laying out. I felt like we were in NYC trying to avoid the bootleggers. And in the evenings the hotel allows them to come inside and set up shop so you feel like you are at a swap meet. They even came up to us in a restaurant once!
7) No rooms have internet access and there is a business center that posts hours 9am to 10pm but the person working there seems to come and go whenever they want. They charge $8 USD for an hour but the server constantly crashes so it is useless to use it.
8) We thought if we moved rooms, we might feel better about the hotel. They told us to leave our luggage and they would move it for us. (sounded good at the time) We decided to go check out another hotel in case our new room was terrible, so we rented an ATV from the hotel. I wanted to go back to the room to get my ATM card so we could stop while out, and when we went back to the room, our luggage was gone. We went to the front desk to find it, and they said they had no way of finding out where it was. WHAT? No radio? So our luggage with my ATM card are lost in the hotel somewhere... so fine, we rent the ATV anyways to go see this other hotel. Well, the damn thing broke down on us miles from the resort, now remember i have NO ATM card because the hotel can't find our luggage, so not only did we have to WALK back to the resort, but when we finally got there, nobody was around, so we waited 20 minutes, then finally left a note wth our key and left!!! We should have left then.
9) Which brings me to my next point... there is no ATM in the place so if you wanted cash for anything you better bring it.
10) If you wanted to go downtown which it seemed like everyone did, it will run you $10 USD each way for only a five minute cab ride. We live downtown Chicago and cabs aren't this expensive.
11) No snacks or vending machines anywhere for late night hungers. The room services close @ 11pm so you better not get hungry after that. There are only water and sodas in the rooms mini fridges.
12) There are 4 "restaurants" in the hotel, but you have to make reservations 2 days in advance, otherwise they sell out and you have to eat in the same buffet restaurant you had both breakfast and lunch at. Here's the kicker with that - you can't even call from your room to reserve, you have to stand in a line for 20 minutes and reserve your restaurant in person. You either get to sit at the 6pm seating or the 9pm seating. Its such a joke.
13) They overbooked the hotel, and we heard that several honeymooners were told they would have to stay somewhere else! Can you imagine going all the way to Mexico on your honeymoon to find out you have no room! They also put notices on our door 2 days in a row offering people to stay at another hotel in a different city in exchange for a free 5-night stay at any Riu later. Somebody screwed up their booking big time!
My wife and I are in our early 30's, eat out at different restaurants a lot, go to different locations for vacations frequently and spend a bit of time partying ourselves, however we both felt that the customer service was terrible, the hotel was dirty, the food was awful (and those flies makes me want to puke), the pools were gross, the vendors were annoying, the music sucked and all around we would never recommend anyone to stay there. I read the SAME reviews and we still went anyways thinking "it couldn't be THAT bad"... but it was. Do yourself a favor and stay somewhere else. I know the pictures "look" pretty... but its all smoke in mirrors. Don't do it man!!

We spent a week at the Riu Palace in June. Don't believe the negative reviews - the place was fantastic, in every respect. The physical plant is just gorgeous and large. The infinity pools are amazing. Even though the hotel was full when we went, nothing ever felt crowed. The food was good with plenty of variety. We were never bothered by the construction at the back of the hotel. The hotel staff were very nice and delivered a high level of service. There was a variety of guests, from families with small children to couples to family and friend reunions. We were glad that, despite the unlimited booze, there weren't hordes of 20 somethings being loud and raucous. I highly recommend this hotel to anyone looking for a gracious, relaxing holiday.