Riu Reggae

Just returned from a fortnight holiday here which I can safely say is the best holiday I have ever had and after numerous cruises my expectations are high Restaurant all excellent Rooms are spotless Staff are so friendly and helpful nothing too much off a problem. Entertainment team are the best cater for everyone no matter your age, shampoo, short boss, barbie, ace, super sonic, t-Rex, jaguar and off course string bean especially good to me and my family Will definitely return

Because I depend and appreciate reviews so much in picking hotels, I write this review with hope it will help others in making their decision. First, this trip was very last minute for us due to Hurricane Michael. I booked one night and we left 3 days later so the choice I had was limited but Riu Reggae seemed to be liked by many. For anyone looking for a very party atmosphere, this hotel is for you! More people stayed at the pool bars than the beach! PROS: 1. Small in area so walks to restaurants, beach, stage, rooms, lobby were easy. 2. The hotel is new so things were very clean, white and bright. 3. The Kulinarium Restaurant was very good. We had lobster. Pants for men and no shorts for women were required. 4. Rooms were very clean and well stocked. 5. There is an elevator that works quickly and well; although we tried to use stairs mostly. 6. The workers are truly some of the nicest, friendliest we have encountered in our travels. Shout out to: Jemeka, Davon, Damian, Stringbean, Ace the Place, Barbie Doll, Super Sonic, Georgia! 7. There is jerk chicken served on beach every day for lunch. Delicious!!!!! 8. The Reggae music was awesome and very beachy! We enjoyed this music a lot! 9. Some of the games and activities were fun to watch and do! Dance lessons, exercise in pool and beach, horse racing, bocce ball, volley ball, etc. 10. The 2 pool bars are spacious and right up front. Easy to find. While we went a few times, we prefer the beach. But other all-inclusives we've been to had their pool bars almost hidden. CONS: 1. The hotel is small (which is a pro also) so when pools areas got loud with rap music there was no where to find peace and quiet. 2. There is NO palapas or umbrellas at the beach. The only shade was under the very few young palm trees. So we were constantly moving our chairs as sun moved. Still got sunburned. There is shaded spots and umbrellas at the pools but not beach. 3. There is no drink service at the beach. When one wants another drink, you have to go to the bar areas to get it yourself. I don't mean to sound spoiled but other all-inclusives we've been to had this service which we liked. 4. Some of the games played at the pool didn't appeal to me. Rap music playing while soap bubbles were pumped into very crowded pool did not appeal to me in any kind of way. Seemed raunchy and vulgar. The other game of man doing push ups with girl on top of him was not our thing. 5. The design of the room we were in (gulf view) had a large floor to ceiling opaque glass in wall separating shower from bedroom. The problem with this was at night when one turned light on in bathroom it totally lit up the bedroom. Not sure who thought this was a good idea. 6. This complaint we heard from others: The halls are extremely NOISY! All through the night we could hear people talking as they walked to their rooms. Also the sound the carts the workers were pushing down the hall was extremely LOUD!!! 7. The restaurants are not open every night. So one needs to plan a bit to try all of them. The steak restaurant was okay but due to its location was extremely hot the night we ate there. 8. The beach is man made I think. Very soft powdery sand but with lots of small pea sized rocks. A little rough on feet. Not sure if this is a con but an observation. The water was very nice and clear and a pretty blue green. The Riu Reggae overall was very nice!

I have stayed at a few RIU hotels other than Jamaica and I can honestly say this is the only one that I experienced the rudest, most unpleasant, unfriendly hotel staff I have ever seen in my traveling experience and I travel a lot. Except for the entertainment staff who were nice, friendly, and fun but of course they were the “entertainment staff” so that kind of goes without saying. The restaurant/buffet staff and front desk staff were not that friendly or pleasant to deal with at all and it felt like we were bothering them if we asked for anything (except for the staff at the omelet station who were great). I’m not sure if they were just having a bad day…like every day we were there, they didn't like me and my friend for whatever reason... or if it was a cultural thing or what but I do know that Kerry at the front desk was the absolute worse to deal with. She was not friendly or pleasant at all; not only did she have a bad attitude (she did not smile at me or my friend one time during our interaction with her standing at the front desk), she completely messed up our room that she put us in originally. So...Kerry checked us in, gave us our stickers with room number on it to put on our bags for the porter to bring our bags to the room and the second the porter (Devin or Gavin; he was great) saw our room number, he immediately pointed out that our room was a ONE bed room instead of TWO bed for my friend and I. We immediately walked back over to front desk and asked Kerry for a room with 2 beds and she took a minute to look and we had wait about 10 minutes, thankfully we finally got a room with 2 beds but I feel that if the porter knew that was a one bed by just looking at room number written on a piece of paper, surely the front desk staff (Kerry) checking us in and looking at the computer screen would know that as well (she saw 2 females standing in front of her), so I feel that was intentionally and again I’ve stayed in many hotels and on most occasions the front desk checking you in ask “is a king or double bed okay?” and I can then say yes or no. Kerry did not say anything. Anyhow, I did not have to deal with Kerry anymore after that. Now the RIU Reggae itself was okay, really nice resort & pool area, plenty of lounge chairs available (could just be time of year we went) and rooms were spacious and clean. Beach was not that big but it was still nice with a lot of chairs. There were plenty of bars on property and a lot of activities to do in and out of water. The food was okay, we didn’t starve and it was typical AI hotel food. Wifi was great. The shows were great and entertaining. We did not eat any of the restaurants so I cannot say how they were except its first come first serve. The drinks were the weakest most sugary drinks I have had at any AI resort anywhere I’ve been; you had to order wine, shots or request floater to supplement drinks and actually taste ok/great OR make your own drink from liquor in bar located in your room. We were highly disappointed with drinks being served at bar but the service from Daro was great he really took care of us and was very attentive. I’m a friendly out going person and can strike up a conversation with anyone and smile and say hi so I know it was not me being the rude one at this resort; I also tip generously when warranted for various services provided throughout my stay and from this experience and the rudeness and subpar service we received, I just stopped speaking and did not tip as much as I usually do or would have but I did tip a little bit!! Oh! Just remembered, we bought gifts in the gift shop last day there and when we walked in shop; there were no other customers in there and the sales clerk was not busy checking anyone out and just standing at the register, so I specifically walked in front of the register said “Good morning” very clearly and she did not say a word back NOR greet us as we walked in. I wanted to be sure I included her in this review as well because she was so rude and I thought to myself, I hope her name is on receipt so that I can be sure to name her in this review and ta-da, I just dug receipt out garbage can, her name was Collette C. and she was very rude and unpleasant in gift shop. I don’t want to get anyone in serious trouble but I do think RIU can have some customer service/greeting skills training for their staff at this location. I have been to Jamaica on a cruise in 2015 and we did an all-inclusive excursion and we had the most fun ever and the food and drinks were wonderful so I thought that would be my experience coming back to Jamaica a 2nd time and staying 4 days, it was not the case and I was highly disappointed. We booked an excursion through the hotel for next day and we waited 45 minutes for bus only to find out our excursion was cancelled and we were refunded our money. We could not re-book because we were leaving the next day (not 100% the hotels fault but we did book with agency that is on site at hotel). So honestly based our experience at this hotel, we have absolutely no desire to go back to Jamaica ever. I’m sure some people may not have had any issues because I always hear how much they love Jamaica and/or how fun Jamaica is (again, my 1st time here on cruise was a blast) but sorry we did not have the best time at this resort and I love the RIU resort chain, just not this location and it was my friend’s first time to Caribbean destination and AI adults only, 1st time using passport and she does not want to go back to Jamaica made me feel bad because I travel a lot and had great experiences and she came with me and was not impressed with our stay here.