Riu Palace Aruba

We have stayed at the Rio Palace Aruba for a total of three trips to Aruba. Except for a few glitches which one might expect at a large resort, we have enjoyed our stays. The exception was our last stay. When we checked out we were presented with a $1,338 bill for 8 local phone calls. They stated that we were charged international phone rates for the local phone calls. We had chosen an all inclusive plan. The staff stated that the local phone calls were not included. We checked the Web site for exclusions and phone calls were not listed. We also did a Google search for exclusions and phone calls were not listed. We were not informed when we checked in about phone calls and there was no information on or next to the phone concerning phone call charges. Eventually the charge was reduced to $168 or $21 per local phone call which we decided to pay since we did not want to miss our ride to the airport. This was not the way we wanted to end our vacation. We will not be staying at the Rio Palace Aruba when we visit Aruba in the future.

We just got back and absolutely loved our stay. From the service, to the room, to the property itself, everything was fantastic. Very close to the action of Palm Beach shopping and restaurants all walkable. Anthony was a phenomenal bartender!!! And Luis and the team for activities and exercise daily at the pool bar were amazing. My husband and I don't usually do group exercise class, not to mention in the water too, but Luis's infectious personality just makes you want to get up and move!! Great time, highly recommend!!

Beautiful hotel. The staff is extremely friendly and will help with anything you need with a smile. The buffet was phenomenal. Everything was kept spotless. I would highly recommend the riu palace. I know our family will definitely return

**My wife, our 22-month-old, and I visited the Riu Palace Aruba for a relaxing Labor Day weekend before the baby arrives.** My wife works in the travel industry, so we were able to get a discounted rate for the week. The last time we were in Aruba, we stayed at the St. Regis a few months after it opened. Based on what we paid, I’m actually amazed to say that I would choose the Riu over the St. Regis. The Riu Palace recently renovated the rooms, pools, common areas, and restaurants, and they did an excellent job. They also have an Elite Club option, but minors cannot be part of your party, so we weren’t able to take advantage of the upgrade. Elite Club includes perks such as swim-up rooms, exclusive liquor brands at the bars (Grey Goose and Patrón stood out, although there are still plenty of great options for non-Elite guests), a private section of the beach with a self-serve bar, restaurant reservations, and an exclusive Elite-only restaurant. We spoke with several Elite guests during our stay, and none of them seemed particularly impressed with the exclusive restaurant, so I don’t feel like we missed out too much. ### The Food The restaurant options include the Elite Club restaurant (I’m not sure of the schedule), the buffet (breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with themed dinners every night), Asian, French, Italian, and a steakhouse. The specialty restaurants are dinner only. There is also an American Sports Bar that is open 24 hours for drinks, with select hours for lunch, dinner, and late-night food. Room service is also available 24 hours a day, although we never tried it. The **buffet** was consistently decent. Some days had some genuinely delicious options, while other days were more of an “it’s okay” situation. The **Asian restaurant** was good and actually had the best house red wine of the trip. My biggest complaint was that the food was warm rather than hot. The Pad Thai was our favorite. It wasn’t traditional Pad Thai, but we thought it tasted great. The **French restaurant** was our favorite from starters through dessert. The lobster bisque was so good that we went back for a second round. My wife really liked the snapper, although she thought the skin could have been crispier. I really enjoyed the beef bourguignon. And the Ferrero Rocher dessert was delicious. The **Italian restaurant** was nice because they have an appetizer bar, so you can grab something to eat right away. Their build-your-own minestrone was pretty good. I liked the chicken Parmesan, although it was a little salty. My wife enjoyed the lasagna but pointed out that it didn’t have as many layers of noodles as most lasagna. She actually ended up preferring it that way. The zeppole, however, were a little short of acceptable. The **steakhouse** was good. The appetizers were okay, but I really enjoyed my surf and turf. If you order lobster by itself, I would ask for the smaller lobster that comes with the surf and turf. I go on a Caribbean lobster trip once a year, and in my experience, the larger lobsters tend to be a little tougher and less flavorful. The **sports bar** food was okay, but nothing that made us want to come back. Of course, Aruba has amazing food, so it’s hard not to want to leave the resort for dinner. We ate off-property once for dinner and three times for lunch. The pier restaurant next door is great for lunch. If we come back, we’ll probably eat out even more so we don’t miss out on some of the great food around the island. The food at the Riu was good, but it’s tough to compete with the rest of Aruba. ### The Good They did an **excellent job with the renovations**. The Riu is a great value, especially for a family, and I wasn’t expecting it to be the St. Regis. For what we paid, though, I had a memorable and relaxing trip. And perhaps most importantly, **I didn’t have to ask for a manager.** At the St. Regis, the elevator dropped three stories while my in-laws were in it, and then dropped another two stories while my wife, child, and I were in it another time. Needless to say, I had to ask for a manager there. ### The Bad **They hardly have any trash cans!** Management, get some darn trash cans. Seriously. Follow the Disneyland rule: **you should never be too far from a trash can.** Their **hot sauce game is also, plain and simple, terrible.** They have some Tabasco and a strange peppery hot sauce, but other than that, not much. Aruba has some amazing hot sauces! I suggest going to Super Food and picking up a small bottle of the I Heart Aruba Papaya or Mango hot sauce. You won’t regret it. The rooms will only allow you to set the thermostat down to **22°C (71.6°F)**. Sorry, fellow Americans—the thermostats are in Celsius.  Our room never actually got below 23°C. If you like a cooler room for sleeping, this was a little disappointing. ### The Ugly **The internet.** It is so inconsistent. Some days I felt like I was on Wi-Fi, and other days I felt like I was on AOL dial-up. *(For the younger readers, Google it.)* ### Would I Stay Here Again? **Definitely—but the price matters.** If the cost per night were right, I would absolutely stay here again. Once you get much above **$650 per night**, though, I’d have to think about it and compare it with the other resorts on the island. At that price, I would also want to eat off-property for several, if not many, of our meals. Overall, though, the Riu Palace Aruba delivered exactly what we wanted: a relaxing, easy family vacation with good food, great renovations, and a lot of value for the money. I’d happily come back.

Riu Palace Aruba — Stay Review (August 23–29, 2026) We stayed in a Jr. Suite, Room 703 (ocean view) from August 23–29, 2026. I want to give direct, honest feedback because there's real potential here, but several things need attention. What worked well: The property itself, post-renovation, was genuinely impressive — clean, spacious, and well maintained. Our room matched that standard. The pool area was also spacious and well kept. On the physical property alone, you're doing a good job. Check-in and orientation: Check-in was quick, but that was the extent of the positive. Staff couldn't confirm whether the king bed I'd requested was actually available in my room. More concerning, we received zero orientation on how the resort operates — no information on restaurant hours, reservation policies, bar locations, or pool service. We had to figure everything out ourselves using the RIU app after arriving at our room. A basic verbal or printed orientation at check-in would fix this immediately and shouldn't be optional. Food quality — this was the biggest problem: I've stayed at numerous all-inclusive resorts (Iberostar properties in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica), and this was by far the worst food I've experienced at this tier of resort. • The buffet was repetitive all week — the same breakfast, lunch, and dinner selections day after day. • Live cooking stations were understaffed, leading to crowding, long waits, and food that came out undercooked. • Buffet seating was chaotic and poorly managed. • The à la carte restaurants were worse, not better. None of them had air conditioning, which made an already underwhelming dining experience genuinely uncomfortable. At the Italian restaurant, my girlfriend and I ordered the chicken parmigiana, took one bite each, and sent it back — it was inedible. We watched other couples do the same thing that night. • We gave the resort a second chance at the Asian restaurant the next night. The food was subpar, and our server poured wine so sparingly it was barely a taste per pour. • After two restaurant disappointments, we gave up and started eating off-property for the rest of the trip — not something a guest should have to do on an all-inclusive stay. Drink pours: This wasn't limited to wine. Alcohol pours at the restaurants, pool bars, and main bars were consistently weak and small across the board. I'm not a heavy drinker, but I'd like to actually taste the drink I ordered. Beach palapas and pool chairs — a real problem: There aren't enough beach palapas, and the ones available were being claimed as early as 5 a.m. — both by guests camping out before sunrise and by staff reserving them on guests' behalf. As a direct result, we never once got a day to actually sit and relax on the beach under a palapa during our entire stay. For a week-long trip, that's a significant failure. The same issue existed at the pool. Lounge chairs were in short supply, and we personally watched one group hold the same six chairs for the entire week — clearly unused for large stretches of each day but never freed up. With no available seating, we had nowhere to put our belongings and ended up stashing them on the floor next to the bar. This needs a real policy: enforced time limits, staff actively clearing unattended chairs and palapas, or some system that doesn't let a handful of guests lock down shared space for a full week while others go without. Summary: The property and rooms are excellent and clearly a real investment. But food quality, beverage pours, guest orientation, and beach/pool seating management all need serious attention. Right now the operational side is significantly behind the physical renovation, and it undercut what should have been a great week — to the point that we never got a single relaxed day at the beach, which is a basic expectation of an oceanfront resort stay. Moving forward, I believe I would not recommend Riu Palace to anyone for the above reasons and if I ever consider returning to Aruba, I will most likely take my stay to another property on the island. I hope this review is helpful in improving future guest’s experiences. Also I am open to fully discussing any of this information in more depth if need be. Cheers