Riu Palace Riviera Maya

This was the 2nd time we stayed at the Riviera Maya Palace and the first since its beautiful renovation. The check in was both quick and professional with a nice cocktail to mark our arrival. One of the reasons for our return is because we enjoyed the holiday in 2018 when we had our wedding vows renewed under the Gazebo which is no longer there and replaced by beach weddings. Removing the original Gazebo is a shame as it was beautiful and rather romantic compared in our opinion to the beach weddings nowadays. We were first were asked at the time about the beach wedding but this carried a 250 dollar environmental charge which is the direction we were being guided in but felt it was unreasonable given people used the beach for all sorts of things so did not feel the cost was justified. Hats the only negative we have found at this hotel but was personal preference in terms of location of our wedding. Anyway on the first morning we walked towards a fountain where we had lots of photos taken by the wedding photographer in 2018 and started to take some photos of what we have come to call "our fountain" and a rather personable chap asked us if he could take a photo for us after we showed him some wedding photos from 2018. It turned out that he was Omar one of the directors who then asked our room number. We did not think about his question at the time but upon our return to our room we were pleasantly surprised to see a bottle of champagne two glasses and his business card!!. What a lovely touch that was and every employee we came across had the same smile and the same greeting "Hola" what a lovely hotel this really is and absolutely spotless in terms of cleanliness. The food was both varied and plentiful and we particularly enjoyed the Asian and Italian but all were very good in their own way. We had some extra special service from Freddy in the steakhouse with some lovely photos as he was our waiter in 2018 for our wedding in a private part of what is the steakhouse today. A very personable chap who spotted us both on our first night and we will remember him always. This hotel group has got the balance right in terms of luxury hotel facilities against cost and doubt there is better value in Cancun/Playa Del Carmen, and will return once again in the near future. Thank you OMAR for the lovely gesture and god bless "Our Freddy" the waiter

Myself and my partner stayed here from Monday 11th - Friday 22nd May and absolutely loved it. A breakdown of everything: Check in:- We arrived at around 5:30pm and were swiftly checked in. Upon check in we had a nice surprise mentioning we had a room upgrade so the holiday was already off to a good start for us Room:- The room we had was 1059 and it overlooked the hotel gardens which was nice first thing in the morning and also had the morning sun. The room was very spacious for the both of us. The room is set up different to most hotels with a bath being in the middle of the room but it’s kind of different which is always nice Food & Drink:- You will never ever go hungry here with there being 6 restaurants which include Don Rafael (Buffet for breakfast and tea), Chilis (buffet for lunch), Pepes (snack over lunch) and then the following à la carte restaurants which include Yashima (Asian), II Portico (Italian), Krystal (Gourmet), Agave (Mexian) and finally Steak House. There is also Lounge 24 which is open 24/7 if you need a light snack or drink. Capuchino where you can get your morning brew and also a selection of sandwiches and treats There is also the main bar in the lobby and a swim up bar in the pool area Facilities:- To burn away those all inclusive calories, the hotel is also equipped with a gym which I did only use the once but it comes with running/bike machines, free weights etc Staff:- We found all staff to be lovely and always greeting us in the morning and evening. All staff work hard, especially the bar team during the busy pool days. Our housekeepers were also lovely and we enjoyed their towel animals every day Overall:- After our experiences, I would definitely come here again. Thank you for a great experience

The rui palace is good. Destination shuttle is bad, not accomidatiing on a return trip to the air port

This was as beautiful as the pictures! We had good food, service, drinks! We had a blast in the pool for water aerobics! The flip flop game on Saturday was fun to watch! It was great to walk to sister resorts at night! Highly recommend this area!

The Riu tequila throws a great white party but what you aren’t allowed to have after 8pm (if u r from another resort) is food. If you are from a neighboring riu you can go from 8-8 to check out the resort. All riu guests from neighboring rius are allowed to go to the white party at the tequila and drink as much as you want even after 8pm but you aren’t allowed to have food. We were in the buffet not knowing this and 2 staff members came and kicked us out saying we couldn’t eat since we were from a different Riu which was quite embarrassing. If you are going to allow people to drink to excess and party you should probably offer them some food or allow them in the buffet. Doesn’t make sense to me how people can come drink and there are no issues but they aren’t allowed to eat.