Riu Palace Aruba

I really enjoyed my stay at the Riu. From the moment you walked through the door the staff were friendly and more than accommodating! The welcome drink was appreciated especially after a day of traveling. Here are my thoughts on the room, restaurants, the pool/beach, & my overall experience. The Room: The room was spacious, had plenty of closet space. I loved the bathroom the shower was perfect, and I liked the clothes rack to dry your swimsuit. The mini bar was also good and restocked daily I really liked the beer( I’m not even a beer drinker but I enjoyed it). My only con about the room was that the bed was very hard. The Restaurants: The a la carte restaurants were nicely decorated and the food was really good. My favorites were the Asian fusion and the steakhouse. If you don’t want to wait for the a la cartes the buffet was to die for. There was so many options for whatever your palate required. They had gluten free and vegetarian dishes. Everything was delicious and they changed the menu often . The pool/beach The pool was amazing, during our week long stay the hotel was sold out and the pool was so big that we weren’t on top of each other. The swim up bar had pretty decent drinks and the staff were really upbeat and fun. The beach was equally amazing the seaweed was at a minimum and the water was so clear and warm. It’s really windy in Aruba so please bring your towel clips or else it will blow away. We never had a problem getting a lounger so that was a relief. Also brings lots of sunscreen the rays are pretty dangerous out there and it’s very easy to get burnt. My overall experience is that I would come back to the Riu this is my second Riu property and I’m a fan. The shows were cute and my only minor quirks would be to add a gift shop on the family side and to offer mattress toppers for those of us who like a softer bed.

This is an excellent hotel with top quality service and food. The buffet is outstanding at all times of the day and the infrastructure and views are extraordinary. The rooms need to be modernized. The furniture is too old and the mattresses and pillows are not appropriate for this excellent hotel which is rated 5 stars and not inexpensive. Management needs to work soon in modernizing their infrastructure so that us travelers keep preferring you.

Would have given a 4 star review except for the fact that my cell phone was not working on the hotel WiFi so I had to make 2 local calls on the phone in the room. No rates were posted. At checkout I was charged $60 for the 2 brief local calls. They would not remove or adjust the charge, even though I said no posted rates and no WiFi.