We stayed at the Riu-Cancun Feb 6 - 12th. It was our 1st all-inclusive and we were very satisfied. We were on the 5th floor. I had read just about all the reviews posted here and only a couple of them made me very nervous before we went. As soon as I hit the room, I was inspecting every inch of the bed/sheets, etc. - but I do that everywhere! The entire stay I didn't see a single bug anywhere inside or outside except for a single bee flying around the liquor bottles at the outside bar!

Anyway - the staff at the Riu was fantastic - always friendly, helpful and smiling. They are constantly cleaning everything. No one I spoke to that we met had any complaints.

Yes, I would have liked less rain, but the weather all over the country is pretty messed up this year, but it was at least 80 degree warmer than where I live so it was fine with me.

A lot of the comments I read were helpful. Yes, the beach and pools do get shaded early afternoon so we adjusted to the sun.
The liquors are not top shelf to us, but in the "beach drinks" who knows the difference. Try a "Blue Ocean" - very nice. They do have a couple top shelf brands not out in plain sight - my husband asked for Johnny Walker Red scotch and they did have it in a cabinet.

The food was plentiful and okay - not spectacular, but it was fine -our only complaint was the butter - it tasted soooo different from ours, that it ruined whatever you were eating. And it wasn't that it was bad because because one night we went to Outback Steakhouse and it tasted exactly the same.

The Japanese restaurant was very good. We weren't all that impressed with the Brazilian - some of it was good/some wasn't.

A very good excursion to take was the Romantic dinner cruise with the steak and lobster dinner. (the butter was normal!) Of course, it rained - but the dinner was worth every penny - $74.00 per person plus $5 r/t hotel pickup and return ride per person

The shows were sort of lame.

While you do not have to tip, they did appreciate that little extra but the service was always great extra tip or not.

Unfortunately, we did have a medical emergency, requiring the hotel doctor and a trip to the hospital (the emergency had nothing to do with the hotel/foodor anything), but the staff couldn't have been more accommodating and helpful in a very stressful situatin.

We met a lot of nice people from all over the world. For the price, we would definitely go back.

We just spent a week at the Riu Cancun and truthfully I could have stayed longer. This was our first trip to Cancun and it was a great experience for us. I had been on trip advisor for months before we left reading different reviews and opinions. I feel that alot of them were nit picking but some of them were true.

Rooms - Very clean and very well taking care of. Read reviews of rooms smelling musty but we never experienced this, but then again I left our sliders open all the time. As far as the beds being hard, If you have had a fun filled day at the swim up bar or anywhere on the resort by the time you go to bed how could you tell the difference between a hard bed and the floor?

Service - Upon our arrival to the Riu Cancun we had a hectic time at the airport so it was nice to finally arrive to the Riu Cancun and be served with cocktails as you are checking in. Had one problem with the fridge when we got into our room. After a long day a cold Corona sounded like heaven and I opened the fridge to two bottles of water and that was it, but all it took was a phone call to the front desk and within minutes the whole fridge was stocked up until the day we left.

We had the time of our lives and I want to thank all of the staff and animacion teams for making this trip unforgetable. I want to especially thank Juan at the theater bar. He is the best bartender that I know of and he will never let your glass get empty before he has another one for you. He never once in the seven days we were there forgot any of our names and we went with 3 other couples. Can't wait to come back next year.

Been reading these reviews since November and now that we are back, it's my turn to tell you our story. We stayed at the Riu Cancun from Feb 13th thru 20th for our wedding on the 17th. Apparently people who write bad reviews either were expecting way too much or are just crabby in general. This place was a great place to stay and play at.....

Upon check-in, we got upgraded due to our wedding...I also mentioned to the guy we are responsible for about 10 others staying there...kinda sneaky of me but hey, it was worth it. We were assigned a room in the annex building...you want to stay here as the elevators are less crowded and it's closer to the pools. Our fridge was restocked daily with Corona, 7up, and water....Corona is the only beer carried in the location, but the bars do so many other drinks....try to mix it up if possible.

Getting a good spot is key as well by the pool or on the beach...we managed to get 1st pick by getting up and out to the pool by 7am. Best spot is the edge near the beach as the sun hides behind the buildings around 2 or 3pm. If you stay on the beach, don't setup around the volleyball court b/c you'll get a stray shot in your vicinity quite often. I played almost everyday and you can tell some people didn't like their choice of being so close...oh well, the court is there all the time. Playing volleyball was a blast, met lots of fun people like Jeff, Romo and their spouses from the Baltimore area, Becky and her husband from the St Louis area (Becky ruled the court too!) and of course my boy Johnny from the Bronx...great kid. There was a group of 17 to 19 year olds from England there being a bit loud and sometimes rude, but we showed them that volleyball is an American sport....everyone was friendly by the end of the day.

The animation team was awesome, Alex from Argentina looks like Scott Stapp from Creed and is just one cool dude. These people had so much energy from 9am til 9pm and they remembered who you were....i was dubbed "crazy chad" after my dance routine by the pool. They had games for kids, young and older adults alike....never a boring time around there. Even when it was rainy, they had a plan for fun. If you do the target shooting, watch out, the pellets ricochet back and can hit you....just ask the woman from England I hit accidentally in the shoulder.

Foodwise, the buffets were great, the desserts were pretty good too. The ice cream and pizzas were the best!

Our wedding went well, we purchased the basic package and it was a lot of fun and we were blessed with good weather. We saw others that were getting married too. If considering this option, do it!

I must say overall, the Riu was a great place and it's fun for groups, couples or honeymooners alike. Hopefully we can return again.

We stayed at the Riu Cancun for a week (w/c 13th Feb) and flew with Thomson from Manchester, England... A bit of background about ourselves: We are three professional 20 something girls who have never done all inclusive before and usually go 3/4* self catering to Europe.

We were initially very impressed with the outside of the building and also the close proximity to downtown Cancun (5 min walk to Coco Bongos - perfect!). The beach and sea were amazing to say the least, the sand like flour and the sea clear turquiose. The grounds of the hotel were very appealing and well kept, the pools were also very clean (apart from the 'sesspool' which I will come back to!).

The rooms were more like 3*, no compliants on the view or cleanliness but they are very basic and dont seem to fit with the rest of the hotel but fine for what we wanted. We were given two 3/4 size beds between 3 of us which was awkward however after 4 phonecalls and 2 visits to reception they put another single bed in the room, I feel that this should of been done before we arrived as we had to sleep 3 in two beds on the first night.

The 2 main pools at the front of the building were rowdy to say the least... now we aren't shy retiring girls by any means but the white trash round these pools was too much to take even for us. Even the 40/50 somethings were extremely annoying, loud and brash which forced us to use the 'quiet' infinity pool round the side of the building. This was much more pleasant but we were disappointed that we felt we didnt want to use the swim-up bar due to the behaviour of clientele that dominated it each day (no nationalities mentioned!). The afformentioned swim-up bar or 'sesspool' as we liked to call it was absolutely disgusting, full of plasters, fag ends and even vomit... the stench of chlorine was heavy but I guess this was needed! So we were disappointed that this was not a more pleasant experience but again this was due to the clientele and not a fault of the hotel or staff!

The food was good but we got bored after 5 days. Breakfast was amazing, the choice incredible but lunch was mainly burgers, pasta and salads and the choice was not really varied each day. Dinner in the main Don Juan buffet room was a different theme every night but get there early otherwise you will get the dregs! We dined at 9:30 on the Asian night (supposed to serve until10:30) but I couldnt physically eat the remains I had been subjected to scraping off the bottom of the dishes. I think if we had gone there at 7pm it would have been a different story. The Japanese restaurant was exceptional, we went twice. The sushi was fresh and the meals tasty. The Brazilian restaurant is ok if you like meat meat and more meat but again was buffet style starters and desserts which got tedious...

The weather was not the greatest, we only had 2 full days of sun in a week, I think that better weather would have made the experience better!

The animacion (or entertainment) team were fab, they seemed to keep the people happy who wanted to be entertained! If you didnt want to join in they didnt bug you which is good. They also go to a different club each night. It is worth going with them as it is the same price to get in but you get a VIP area and waiter service and also a free bus there. We went to Dady Rock ($20 open bar) and Coco Bongo ($40 open bar) which were both fab, Coco Bongo is an experience and a half, a must do for over 18s! Although we went during Canadian spring break... like being on the set of American Pie, like nothing I have ever experienced!!!!!

Overall I would recommend this hotel to families with children and teenagers due to the good entertainment but it is good for all ages. If you dont like massive las vegas style hotels, queuing for food or 24 hour boozing then stay away, otherwise it is perfect!!!

Cancun in 3 words... Benidorm on speed!