Riu Palace Las Americas

We arrived on Thursday and were extremely disappointed with the dining experience. At the buffet, there was virtually no food available—everything had already been cleared out by the time we arrived. Later, we dined at the Japanese restaurant and waited 45 minutes before our meals were served, which was unacceptable. I brought these concerns to the attention of Sebastian, the manager at the front office. Unfortunately, the only gesture offered was a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries, which did not adequately address the seriousness of the issues we experienced. As loyal guests who have stayed at Riu properties for many years, we expected the same high standards we have always enjoyed. This experience fell far short of those expectations. We could have chosen a standard Riu property at a lower cost and received better service. The level of quality and hospitality provided during this stay is definitely lacking.

I chose this resort mainly because of the beach with its calm turquoise water and it did not disappoint. The rest of it was because it was a Riu Palace. We had booked our first Riu Palace resort the year before in Puerto Vallarta and it was so beautiful that I questioned why I had not discovered Riu earlier. Sadly there were a few things about this Riu Palace in Cancun that were not so stellar. CANCUN AIRPORT OMG!! We landed at 917pm and did not get to the resort, about a 15 minute drive for another 2 1/2 hours. We sat on the runway for 45 minutes while the airport ignored our pilot before they guided the plane into the port. Then it took well over an hour to get through customs and retrieve our luggage. Then make sure you get through the gauntlet of scammers that lie between you and the exit. Be warned: Do not speak to anyone for any reason until you make it outside. Of all the airports we have been to internationally, this is the worst. It was not always this way, but Cancun has taken on way more flights than it can cope with. BEACH Most beaches in Cancun have insane waves that will face plant you into the sand and out to sea. This resort lies across from Isla Majeures which calms the waves. Water is a beautiful turquoise. Sand is like talcum powder. You can walk to some piers on the resort amid the pelicans. Umbrellas are abundant and can be located across from the towel stand. We were there in January and were fortunate to have no sargassum FRONT DESK Had really exceptional service. So helpful with anything. There was always enough staff that I never had to wait to talk to someone. BUFFET Food was great. Service is friendly. Unfortunately the buffet tables are located beside the Activity pool which is insanely loud all day long. The noise starts at 10am which is stupidly early and generally involves someone screeching into a microphone at the top of their lungs for about 20 minutes. They are clearly not professionally trained to use a microphone so all you hear is loud distorted noise. There are very few breaks with this and it goes on until 5pm and is just outright painful. This is sad as otherwise the view toward the ocean is beautiful. A few times we could get lunch without it being too bad. Otherwise we went to the Italian restaurant which is open for lunch- a beautiful zen-like retreat. And a relief from the main buffet restaurant. The Italian has a small, but very good buffet or you can order off the menu. The main buffet also has a separate glass-in, and essentially sound proof, hall that is nicely decorated where you can get away from the noise. The buffet restaurant at the Riu Palace in Puerto Vallarta is so much nicer. Tables are alongside the fountains. The design in Cancun is essentially flawed. The Steakhouse is located beside the quiet pool and the buffet tables are beside the loud pool. It should be the other way around as by the time the Steakhouse opens, the inebriated screamers have wound up for the day. A LA CARTE The only outright fail was the Steakhouse. Ironically the worst steak to be had is here. The best steaks are at Krystal and the Italian restaurant. The atmosphere at the Steakhouse is also bad. For some reason they have strong bright lights beaming down which would be useful if you were performing open heart surgery, but not so much if you want an atmospheric dinner. Best restaurants are Krystal and the Italian- Los Arcos. The Mexican is a bit meh. The Japanese- Sakura has some yummy small plates. It is Izakaya style. Was so grateful there is no Teppanaki. 24hr This is another fail. While the rest of the hotel has a vaguely Agatha Christie decor, the 24 hr snack bar, located off the lobby, is straight out of the Jetsons. It is like the designer got lost and wound up at the wrong hotel. When we got there around midnight, the food, which is self-serve, had been lying around for a long while and looked like a recipe for instant travelers diarrhea. The Puerto Vallarta Riu has a 24 hr sports bar with great food and a terrace overlooking the ocean. ENTERTAINMENT Many evenings there was no stage show in the theatre as the theater group was sent to the Riu next door for these RIU parties that are essentially designed for 20 somethings and 30 somethings who are willing to pretend to be a 20 something. The parties essentially involve jumping up and down and waving a balloon. Guests who were outside the target age group would sit in the lobby bar and do hilarious imitations of people at the Riu party. QUIET POOL Located at the centre of the horseshoe, it is so picturesque and has an infinity edge that looks out to the ocean. The only downside is that the pool is shaded for good part of the day. Perhaps that was due to being there in January. Unfortunately the pool with the best sun is the loud pool. It is unlikely that we will return to this resort. This Riu seems unable to figure out whether it wants to be an adult resort catering to actual adults or a party place for frat boys and eternal spring break types. They have not managed to do both successfully. The balance is off.

On Friday March 27th 2026, my husband attended the RIU Pink Party at RIU Caribe. On the way back from the party, he asked a RIU staff (wearing white shirt) at RIU Caribe which bus goes to RIU Palace Las Americas and he was directed to a wrong bus ending up in RIU Dunamar. At RIU Dunamar the staff was unhelpful in sending another bus back to the resort and he was stuck there for a while. My husband mentioned that at RIU Dunamar there was a bus driving to RIU Cancun and the staff at RIU Dunamar did not allow him to take that bus. I confronted the RIU Palace Las Americas lobby staff (Pablo and Neri) around 7:30pm on March 27th and they received a call from RIU Dunamar stating that my husband was there. My husband was forced to take a taxi on his own without any cooperation from any RIU Dunamar staff to rectify this issue. After he returned to the resort he was forced to pay $1,550 pesos/$85 USD when he was initially told it would only cost him $66 USD. When he arrived at RIU Palace Las Americas we asked the lobby staff at RIU Palace Las Americas how to rectify the situation and we were advised to speak to the manager on Saturday March 28th after 12 o'clock. We spoke with Jocelyn on March 28th at 12 o'clock in the afternoon and she was very rude, unprofessional and uncooperative. She was putting the blame on my husband and refused to take ownership for the mistake that was made by the RIU Caribe staff. We asked if there was any way to rectify this issue and she did not provide any constructive solution. We also asked to speak to her boss and she refused to refer us to him/them. This is unacceptable service and we expected to be treated with dignity and respect from a well-reputed resort like RIU. What a shame...

Unhappy Clients: Where not happy with this property. Didn't feel like it was a good value for what they paid. The drinks were in very small cups and watered down. At the Seafood restaurant they had to wait 2 hours inline to get in. They do not take reservations. The building next door aimed their speakers at their building and music blasted until 11pm every night. Was too loud. Not quiet. They will not return to this hotel. And would not recommend it. Disappointment in their stay at Riu Palace Aruba- Adults only. 1/27/26 - 2/01/26.

Close to a 5/5, had a great stay with family! There were a few things for me that held this back from being a 5/5. I'll mainly detail the criticisms since for the most part everything was great. Most of my criticisms for the stay in general are related to the room so I'll start there. Although we don't spend much time in there considering this resort is 5 star rated we expected more. The rooms are pretty dated. The 'king bed' was just two double beds pushed together. This was annoying to us since there was a noticeable gap in the middle. There wasn't anything like a comforter over the bed either it is literally 2 beds and 2 sets of bedding. Outlets were lacking as well, there is only 1 usable outlet in the room that is easily accessible, right next to the bed. The other outlet is in the washroom. We didn't bother checking behind the TV, etc. to look for more. AC - Our AC couldn't go below 20. We asked someone to check it out they asked us to wait a bit and see it run but I knew it was toast after a couple minutes feeling the air temp coming through and was proven right since the temp couldnt get below 20 (set to 18). It wasn't a big enough issue for me to follow up on, 20 deg is fine. Just know if you request a fix in a similar situation you will probably have to follow up a few times. Bathroom - For some reason there are no vent fans in the bathroom, so it can get pretty stuffy. Also the shower in the room we were in (Jr. Suite) had a glass door and let quite a bit of water out onto the floor consistently. Kind of a nitpick but again I expect a little more from a 5 star. Noise - rooms are definitely not that soundproof. The room next to us had a visible air gap in the door, I imagine their experience with the noise was even worse. Could hear pretty clearly sounds in the halls, and from other rooms. Especially in the bathroom you can hear full conversations through the vents. Room power - room power is enabled with a room key card. This seems to me like a relic of the past but I can also understand it saves a lot of power and money for the hotel so I'm pretty neutral on this. You can also request extra room keys pretty easily at reception. Room Mini bar - mini bar was awesome. They stock every day and you have the 4 full bottles of liquor in the room which was a new thing to us. Key cards were surprisingly annoying. We would need to get them replaced/fixed every day. I was pretty careful to keep separate from my phone, etc. to avoid any magnetization issues but would still get the card failing. Like I mentioned before its easy to get a new key/fix it but it is an annoyance. I'm not sure why Riu cant adopt the wristband keys like other high end resorts. Another thing to mention is that Riu uses towel cards for towels. Initially I didn't like the idea but sometimes it is convenient to hang onto the keys instead of bringing towels around while you're out of the room. Staff was great. Friendly and helpful, no complaints! Beach - Beach is awesome! The main criticism of the beach we had is there is not much beachfront. However, we were able to get spots at the beach through most times of the day. Another weird thing is there is no beach bar. The closest bars are either the one at the theater or the pool bar depending what side you're on. For us not a huge issue. The beach servers do their best but I think at peak times there is only 2 of them so it can be quite a while before you get a server to come by (maybe 20-30 mins). Water was great, not much sargassum (went in late March). Also if you like snorkeling there are tons of fish so definitely a plus. If you don't like fish just hang towards the middle of the beachfront they won't bother you. Pools - There are 2 main pools, and 1 smaller wading pool. 1 main pool is just a plain pool, the other is the party pool that has a swim up bar and also a regular bar right next to it. We stuck to the plain pool for the most part. The party pool looked pretty cool but it was super crowded all the time. For that reason I don't have much to say about the party pool. The plain pool was nice, a little colder than the ocean. It was sometimes a little annoying that the pool only gets sun from about 10-4 since the hotel building is quite tall and this pool is in the center of it. The other party pool gets full sun all day. Food - The food was great. Sometimes when I read reviews it seems that people are expecting gourmet Michelin star food or something since the resorts are 5 star rated. I went in with the usual 'resort food' expectation, and was pleasantly surprised. There is a large variety of food, and they replaced the food often so it was fresh. There is also a good selection of restaurants. We tried the black and white steakhouse that reviews were raving about and honestly, it was fine. I don't understand the hype. We generally preferred the buffet there was a lot more variety there, plus no wait. Food options are pretty great too. There is a 24/7 snack bar that has a pretty good selection + alcohol, and self serve coffee/tea. I had recently stayed at a resort that only had food/drinks till 12am so this was an awesome option to have. Drinks - I loved the drinks here. I could see some people thinking they are overly sweet though. Pretty subjective for sure. The latest time the bars were open to was 12am and that was the lobby bar and the theater bar. However, the 24/7 snack bar also has alcohol (self serve), plus the room minibar bottles so if you want to party late you definitely have options. Gym - The gym is pretty dated. If I remember correctly there are 3 stationary bikes, 2 ellipticals, and 3 treadmills. There is a weight area which has 2 FID benches and a set of dumbbells. I think max. weight of dumbbells was 25 or 30 kg. There was a cable tower machine, and some other selectorized machines (chest press, lat pulldown, ab machine, leg ext). Overall pretty small gym and the machines definitely need updating. One of the stationary bikes could not change resistance levels. Unless I missed it, there is no separate space if you wanted to do yoga or something similar. You'd just have to find a spot between the cardio equip and the weights area. Overall floor space is very limited. Spa - we didn't use the spa, but we did use the hot tub inside. The hot tub was OK, there are two tubs, probably can hold 10 people each comfortably. One of them was cold, the other was warm/hot (didnt feel hot tub hot). The jets were kind of annoying, they were just letting big bubbles of air out. Definitely not as relaxing as a real hot tub. Overall I had a great time. I would rate probably 85-90/100. Im not a huge fan of the 5 scale it removes some nuance. Its definitely above a 4 star for me, but not quite 5 star for those room issues + beach. I would give it 4.5/5