Riu Palace Aruba - All Inclusive

Customer ratings & reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

9155 reviews

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  Riu palace

  Was my first time was amazing! Me and my wife celebrated our ten year anniversary! The spa was just perfect and everyone we interacted with was amazing! Definitely coming back

  Feb 03, 2025
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  RIU Disaster

  I thought this RIU would be different by it being in Aruba and how expensive it was. The pictures on line were not exactly as the resort looked.. the rooms were out dated patched ceilings furnishings were in poor condition there was a slight smell in the rooms it needs a total renovation. We were there 8 days with poor working elevators or NO working elevators. There was one very important issue it is NOT AT ALL HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE no ramps and lots of stairs. I have a bad knee and had to use a cane so having no working elevators at times was bad. The food was mediocre. Out of 4 restaurants plus a buffet only one ranked good and that was the steakhouse. I can’t wait to show our bathroom🤦🏽‍♀️. The pool was nice as well as the beach. We had our room cleaned took our towels but didn’t leave any took the entire day after 4 phone calls to get towels. One more thing our door had to be SLAMMED in order for it to be closed. This RIU I would not recommend.

  Feb 02, 2025
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  If you're reading reviews about the Riu Palace... then hopefully this one will help you say YES!!

  If you're reading reviews to see if you should stay at the Riu Palace... then hopefully this one will help you say YES!! My husband & I, along with our 4 adult children stayed at the Riu Palace January 3-10, 2025. Weather was 86F everyday & only brief spouts of showers the first 3 days! This was our first time there & we were super impressed!! I should prefice this by saying that we rented a timeshare at the Riu Palace from a Timeshare owner...so we did not stay in one of the actual hotel rooms (although the timeshare was still pretty much every part of the hotel!) Starting this review with the absolute best part of the hotel... Staff... -Ok.. this is one exceptional area that I just cannot RAVE enough about. From the moment we walked in to the time we left... Every...Single...Staff member was incredible, friendly & extremely helpful! A couple of shout outs to Luis (in buffet dining), Eve (hotess) & absolute best for last Karina (timeshare)....of course + many others that I should've written down their names!! -Something to keep in mind is that many of the staff works 6+days a week at the Palace...providing this same exceptional service whether on the first day of their shift or last! If you find that someone isn't providing you with "what you expect" just know it may be because they're on their 10th hour of their 6th+ day in a row.. Give grace & kindness to everyone! -Karina was an absolute saving grace on our last (was supposed to be our last day).. Our flight was cancelled (due to snowstorm Cora) & we had no place to stay for the 6 of us. I was in the lobby (for 3 hours) freaking out, on my computer & phone with Delta & our Travel insurance trying to find new flights & a place to stay, when Karina approached me with a last minute availabilty for just 1 night (mind you the hotel, was 100% booked originally). I literally cried with happiness & was incredibly grateful!! She personally made sure we were taken care of! Pool... -We had access to both the Palace pool & Antilles as part of our all inclusive access (being all over 18 in our group). Both pools were very well maintained & a very comfortable. -The downside to this resort is that people can reserve their poolside chairs very early (4-6am), which makes it difficult to find seating if you're not an early riser. Albeit the way it was, there were days that there were still open chairs at 8am.. just depended on the day & amount of people. -The poolside bars were very well staffed with extremely friendly bartenders that had a vast knowledge of mixology! (you name it, they could probably make it!) Food... (No reservations taken ahead of time) 5 (6 if you counts the 24Hr one) different places to eat! All very good & fresh!! -Buffet - massive variety of food served Breakfast, lunch & dinner! -Italian, French & Japanese - Open for dinner. Easy to get into right at 6pm! -American Steakhouse - Open for dinner. Typically a line before opening. You might wan to go early to try this one, otherwise the wait can be long. -Sports bar - Open 24hrs - Had refrigerator style packaged deli sandwiches + roller grilled hotdogs & nachos. +a Coffee bar with a few snacks! Onsite Amenities -6 eateries (see above) -Onsite boutique - had a great variety of items, although priced as expected for a resort ;) Although, great in a pinch for items you may have forgotten to bring with you! -Water activities/gear... They had floating mats, Snorkel gear, Kayaks & Paddle Boards available as part of being All-Inclusive (& maybe a few other items). Which is a vast variety, however you had to use the Kayaks & Paddle Boards in a roped off swimming area (for safety reasons... with boat traffic just outside the roped areas). I was hoping for some more designated areas for use with these items. -Excursion booking company onsite, which we used for a snorkeling excursion. The booking company was super friendly & answered all of our questions & made sure we were well informed about our excursion (when, where, how long, what to expect...etc). -Beach had a vast amount of Palapas that were first come first serve (all included with resort, you did not need to rent)... so rise & shine early to claim yours! There were absolutely plenty of chairs available, although shade was a little hard to come by from time to time ;) Beach... -See above.. although adding is that the beach was one of the softest & by far cleanest that I have ever stepped foot on! The Riu took great care to always make sure the beach was clean & free of debris! -I'm a "water shoe" type of gal & actually never used them once as there were no sharp rocks or tons of shells to step on (or other "ick", if you know what I mean)! -The Riu uses reusable cups from the bar & there were plenty of "cup returns" on the beach so cleaning up your own cups was a breeze! -If you are looking to do "Shelling" there really weren't any & you can't take them with you anyway. It's a no no in Aruba! Our Rooms.. -Remember I can only speak to the building & rooms in the timeshare portion of the hotel. -We had adjoining rooms.. My husband & I had a typical hotel room style with a king sized bed & mini fridge. Our 4 adult kids shared the adjoining room which had a separate bedroom (with king sized bed), living room area (with queen sized sofa sleeper) & kitchenette (which we didn't need to utilize as we had full All-Inclusive in our package). -The rooms were very clean especially the towels & linens. However you can tell that the rooms run at about 100% occupancy as some of the items seemed quite "used" & slightly dated. -The only other drawback is that if you are an "early to bed" person, then the music from the nightly entertainment might be a bit disturbing (until ..I think 11pm). -So if you need your room to be a 5+ star in every way, then this might not be the best fit, HOWEVER... if you used it for the purpose to just have a place to relax & sleep... then this 3.5-4Star room is for you. Our family was ok with our rooms as everything else at the resort made up for it in every way! Resort Grounds.. -Very, very clean (inside & out) & constantly being improved (painted, washed/cleaned, mopped...even outside..etc)!!! All-Inclusive -As renting the timeshare we had to pay for the All-Inclusive package separately, which seemed expensive ($960/person), however it really did make the most sense for our family. -The only drawback for this option is that when we originally booked it was $600/person & the resort raised it by $360/person a week before our trip (at the end of 2024...for their new 2025 prices). Since we didn't (couldn't) pay for the All-inclusive fee ahead of time then they didn't have to honor the prior fee....Which it was still all ok in the end! If you got to the end of this, then hopefully this helped with your thoughts about going! To sum up this review... I was already looking up pricing & booking details for 2026 prior to leaving the resort! Would I go back... in an absolute heartbeat!!!

  Feb 02, 2025
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  Great Vacation, fantastic resort! Delicious Food!

  Great place, food was good! Will be back for sure! Snuba is a lot of fun! Rooms refinished in adults only!

  Feb 02, 2025
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  Don’t go!

  Just came back from a week at the RIU Palace. We are a group of 10 in our 70’s. We went to the Divi AI last year which was wonderful, but some of the group wanted to try a new place. Big mistake. Room seemed fine but both out let’s by the bed sparked when we plugged in our chargers. It was reported, never fixed. The room keys sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t. Friend were locked out of their room for over an hour waiting for it to be fixed. And, when they got back from dinner,they were locked out. Some of the hotel workers were very nice but by and large most were indifferent. Food - no one should go to an AI for the food. I’d say. The buffet gave the most choices. The pool was great, but the music was blaring. My Apple Watch kept going off because of the sound decimals of 90 - 95. One friend came home with an eye infection. The Dr said it was likely from the 10 person jacuzzi that we used. The jets didn’t fully function. The balconies were nice but the bolts holding them on were totally rusted. We didn’t trust leaning on them. Back to the Divi next year.

  Jan 31, 2025