Riu Palace Aruba

10 Days at RIU Palace Aruba – Great Staff, but Disappointing When We Needed Help We recently spent 10 days at RIU Palace Aruba, and I wanted to share an honest review, especially for anyone considering the Elite upgrade. ARRIVAL & CHECK-IN Our first impression was excellent! We were greeted immediately, our luggage was handled, and check-in was quick and efficient. Since we arrived early, they held our bags while we enjoyed lunch. The wristbands were surprisingly comfortable, lightweight, and durable throughout our stay. ROOMS & ELITE EXPERIENCE We paid extra for Elite and booked a ground-floor room with a private pool. Our friends booked an Elite ocean-view room, which was significantly more spacious. Our room was private but felt somewhat like an enclosed cubby, without an ocean view. All five of us traveling together agreed that our rooms never cooled down enough, especially at night. FOOD & DRINKS The food was good overall, but The Steakhouse was by far our favorite! We ate there three times, and it was consistently good. The Elite restaurant was fine but nothing exceptional. The buffet was always well stocked and very clean. The upgraded alcohol selection included several brands, with Grey Goose vodka, Bulleit Rye bourbon, and Buffalo Trace bourbon being our favorites. On two of our three Steakhouse visits, a well-dressed individual approached us to ask about our resort experience. I appreciated the attention, although I wondered whether these conversations contributed to the resort's positive reviews. POOLS & ENTERTAINMENT Be prepared for a party atmosphere! Music and activities begin around 10 a.m. and continue until approximately 6 p.m. By noon, the music is LOUD. The staff works hard to keep everything clean and guests entertained. We also visited the adults-only RIU Palace Antillas next door. Its pool was extremely crowded, and the swim-up bar was too busy for my liking. The smaller Elite pool, with its own bar and plenty of shade, was a nice alternative. BEACH & TIPPING Beach palapas are first come, first served. If you want a front-row spot, be prepared to get there around 5 a.m.! Although RIU promotes an all-inclusive experience where tipping isn't necessary, I found that having small bills made a difference in beach service. On one occasion, an attendant arranged two of our five chairs but left the other three stacked for us to set up. Similar experiences happened more than once. I appreciated the policy against bringing restaurant plates onto the beach, which helps keep it clean and reduces birds gathering around guests. MEDICAL ASSISTANCE – MY BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT Unfortunately, I needed medical attention on a Sunday evening. When I approached the front desk, I was told a doctor would cost $250 and wouldn't be available until the next morning. What disappointed me most wasn't the cost but the complete lack of guidance. No one offered information about where I could seek medical assistance that evening. Fortunately, my husband was able to find the help I needed off the property. For a resort with approximately 932 rooms, I believe there should be better after-hours medical resources or, at minimum, information about where guests can go for assistance. CASINO & EXCURSIONS We enjoyed the small casino at RIU Palace Antillas, which had a mix of older and newer machines and gaming tables. Our favorite experience of the vacation was a three-hour UTV tour with De Palm Tours! Our guide, Reggie, was fantastic. The equipment was excellent, gas was included, and the quoted price covered a two-person UTV rather than being per person. Buy goggles before departure for $10 instead of paying $20 at the stops, especially if you wear contacts! FINAL THOUGHTS – WHY I'M GIVING 3 STARS RIU Palace Aruba is exceptionally clean, and the staff throughout our stay were friendly, hardworking, and wonderful. We genuinely enjoyed many aspects of our vacation. Would I pay extra for Elite status again? Absolutely not. While some amenities were nice, they simply didn't justify the additional cost for us. Even though construction is complete, there is still sharpie construction writing on the walls of our room. 🤣 However, the reason I'm giving this resort 3 stars instead of a higher rating is my experience when I needed medical attention. I understand that a hotel isn't a hospital, and I don't expect front desk employees to provide medical advice. But when a guest needs medical assistance, especially at a resort this large, I believe staff should at least be able to offer some direction about where to seek help. For me, hospitality isn't just about good food, clean rooms, and friendly service when everything is going well. It's also about how guests are treated when something unexpected happens. That experience is ultimately what brought my rating down to 3 stars. RIU Palace Aruba has many wonderful qualities, and I sincerely hope management considers improving the guidance and resources available to guests who need medical assistance, particularly after hours.

Food was horrible in all restaurants. Buffet was just ok. Room smells like septic. Staff hardly speaks English and they are not well trained. Asst Ming was helpful and understands the issue with Resteraunt. Steak n lobster was bad. Italian was un eatable. French was ok. Buffet was so so. Very disappointed and I will not return to any RIU property now

My wife and I booked a 5-day stay at this property. Hours after booking, we discovered an unexpected immigration rule: because our flight included a stopover in Panama exceeding 12 hours, Aruba required us to have yellow fever vaccinations at least 10 days prior to entry. Since we could no longer legally enter the country, we immediately contacted Expedia to cancel. We were informed that the hotel’s policy required a $900 charge for the first night. Given the unforeseen circumstances, we asked if the hotel would consider a partial refund or even a credit toward a future stay. Expedia attempted to contact RIU daily via phone and email to advocate for us but received no response for days. Ultimately, RIU denied the request and kept the $900. As past guests of RIU properties, we even reached out directly to management to ask for credit for a future stay, but six days have passed without the courtesy of a reply. The lack of flexibility and poor communication is incredibly disappointing for a major resort brand.   We continue to hope they do the right thing and contact us to discuss this unusual situation.

Horrible experience, we had a water leak from the ceiling of the hotel and wall was open with pipes. Second, our Air condition malfunctioned and couldn't stay in the room due to severe heat. Staff was unable to assist with changing rooms and now won't answer emails regarding compensation. Spend your hard working money somewhere else. Also, food was subpar with no real entertainment. Once they take your money know one cares that you're a client.

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.