Riu Palace Aruba

...Days of leisure and nights of nonstop entertainment. Dining in both the buffet (don't miss the frog legs served on Mondays) and in the specialty restaurants (beef tenderloin served daily) are well above the standard you would find on a mainstream cruise line. Drinks served pool side tend to be of the frozen variety ; those at the indoor bars are made to order (try the b52...layered of course !). At least one bar (the sports bar) is open all night, The customer base would best be described as "international". And the cost...well it ain't cheap (about $300 per person daily after taxes). But as they say, you only go around once in life !

I have just returned from a 2 week holiday at the Riu Palace Aruba. We travelled from 26th July 2018 to 9th August 2018. We was greeted with a glass of champagne upon arrival to the hotel, the very friendly gentleman on the door to the hotel took our luggage and placed it with everybody's else as our room was still being cleaned. They took us immediately down to the Buffett to grab something to eat and after we had finished eating the wide variety of foods we were able to get into our room. The room was very spacious, very clean and the AC was a treat as it was so hot when we arrived. The view from our room was breath taking specially of am evening when the sun was setting over the sea. We had a pool view with a view of the beach also. Gorgeous! We had fresh towels twice a day, and our mini fridge was stocked up daily too. The maids were also very friendly. The pool area is perfect for all ages. There was hardly any children in our first week but the second week alot more children arrived which was no issue as they all had respect not to splash people or get on people's nerves. The bartenders at the swim up pool are great, they remember your drinks order, they have waitresses and waiters that come to your sunlounger so you don't need to move if you don't want to. The entertainment team are also great with everyone, they interact with the kids as well as the Adults. I would like to say a special about out to Jessica, Andrea & Wesley who had us in fits of laughter daily! Wesley and my other half " Dan from England" got on like a house on fire and the staff were always accommodating towards us. The room service is great after a heavy drunken night out and the staff do mind bringing you food at 3am which is what we done a few times. The alcohol is all local unless you ask for branded which again is not an issue. We ate at all the restaurants on the complex apart from Kystral as my other half did not like the menu. You cannot fault the food at any of the places! Their is so much to choose from at the Buffett and the restaurants all have such amazing and delicious choices also. The steakhouse is perfect and steaks are massive!! The only downside I would say to this holiday was our TUI travel agent who we booked the holiday with explained to us that the flamingos roamed freely on the beaches... This is NOT true! In order too see them you have to pay $125 per person as they are located at a private island owned by the renaissance hotel in the capital Orjanestad. We was informed by another family at the RIU to look at booking.com and stay over at the renaissance. I booked to stay for 1 night in our last week. We paid $278 including taxes and this gave us the opportunity to check in, take the 8 minute water taxi to the flamingo island, we spent a few hours there, went back on the water taxi, showered, took a walk into the town which is disappointing as all the shops shut at 7pm. But the next day even though you have chceked out they still allow you access to the flamingo island. So it is worth staying over as you get longer and more for your money. They do say you can't take food or drink on the island as they want you to buy from the bar on the beach. But we took the contents of our mini bar from the Riu in a beach bag and they didn't say anything. Honestly this holiday was a 15 out of 10! Stunning views, friendly staff, clean rooms, loads of food & drink! I cannot fault anything... apart from the disgusting $47 exit fee to leave the country... We paid £6300 for 2 weeks and then had to pay that on top which again TUI never informed us about!! Other than that it's paradise!

We wanted something special this year to celebrate a special anniversary. Our travel agent friend recommended Aruba, and we decided on the Riu. From the moment we arrived, greeted by happy staff with a glass if champagne to the moment we left, nothing was too much trouble, not much could have been improved upon. Seen some negative reviews and can honestly say that our experience was great. Food quality and service was excellent, the specialty restaurants offered a nice dining experience and I was pleased to see the long trousers rule being enforced. Perfect? Almost, but with stunning location and views, the minor flaws are quickly forgotten when you realise you are in paradise...