Just got back from RIU Palace Tuesday(7/29). Once you saw the hotel from the bus ride it looks gorgeous. I went with my boyfriend and three of my friends ages 24 - 26 and our 47 year old friend. My friends commended me on picking such a luxorious place (having stayed at 3 star hotels before this trip). When you walk in the lobby is gorgeous. Very clean place. I will break everything down to the best of my ability.
Hotel Staff - Most of the staff were very friendly and made you feel at home. We tried to tip everyone a few dollars here and there because they all work so hard to keep this hotel running fabulously. They were always cleaning to keep the place spotless.
Restaurants - The Brazilian for dinner is ok. If you like to eat lots of meat for your dinner. The Japanese was our favorite by far, very delicious sushi. The Spanish restaurant was ok as well, but I got a little freaked out when there was a crawfish (eyes and everything) in my dinner. My boyfriend enjoyed the stuffed chicken with spinach. The buffet is pretty good, although it got repetitive day after day. But plenty of variety and good quality food for an all inclusive. They have leftover food for the drunk people (my group included) strolling in, but it was all nasty food that no one wanted to eat during the day, so go for the room service that runs 24hrs or get some pizza from the guys on the motorcycles.
Rooms - The room wasn't too extravegant considering how beautiful the lobby was. The floors are definitley slippery when you have your balcony door open and the humiditly spills in. The shower had a steady temperature for the most part, but there was times when it would get really hot and then really cold. No vent fan in the bathroom so you had to wait for the mirror to clear. We had a partial view of the ocean and the lagoon so it was like having the best of both worlds. The beds weren't that horribly hard, but I did have back pain after the first night so you might want to request the mattress pad, and one of my first pillows smelled really bad so I had to ask for a new one. There is a pungent musty smell throughout the upstairs floors. Some days the smell was worse then others, but at least our room didn't smell.
Elevators - Some times it took forever. I tried to take the stairs one day (we were on the 6th floor) and I almost passed out. Not only are there a million stairs, but you have to walk around the elevators on each floor to keep going up. I had to stop at the 4th floor to take the elevator up the last two flights. I would dread being on the 8th floor god forbid the power goes out.
Entertainment - My group generally stayed on the quiet side and went in the quiet pool and at night time we went out to the clubs so I couldn't really tell you too much about it.
Pools - Although there were a lot of children in it, the quiet pool was definitly nicer as far as the cleanliness goes. We went in to the activity pool once to go to the swim up bar, but the water was really murky and warm. It was really nasty. And yes, the pools really do close at 7pm.
As far as the noise in the hotel (ie the slamming of the doors) they are generally loud if you don't hold then until they close. So any people complaining that people were slamming the doors I don't think it was intentional. Our first night we got in fairly late and the people in the rooms next to us called security and complained that we were making too much noise and the guards threatened to kick us out. I'm sorry, but not everyone is going to go to bed at 10 pm. And as far as the guards telling us we were going to be kicked out on our first night without giving us a warning was totally uncalled for. We paid our $1000 just like everyone else and we can do whatever we want on our vacation.
I think the families that complained about us should stay at a more family oriented hotel because the RIU Palaces doesn't have much to offer children.
Overall the RIU Palace was really nice and I would stay there again, despite the few small negatives.
