Review of the Riu Palace Antillas Hotel (Resrt for a day pass)

[dcbiker97]

Hello.  We were just in Aruba on the Celebrity Edge and I wanted to give a review of the Riu Palace Antillas Hotel, which we went to after purchasing a pass from resorts for a day. The cost of the pass was $130. I would not recommend going to this resort for this price. We have  been to numerous places like Nachi Cocum in Cozumel and Maya Chan in Costa Maya.  They Riu couldn’t be more different than these amazing places.  

 

First with the good. The staff generally were very pleasant and seemed to want to help you. The grounds were nice and the beach top notch. However, these were not overcome by 3 major failures. 

 

1. We we got to the resort at 9am and got our bracelets and headed out to the beach. We got the last few available beach chairs. (or so we thought). After sitting in them for 2 1/2 hours a lady and her husband appear stating that they put hotel towels down to reserve them at 6:30am (5 hours prior). I told them we would not move and she called an attendant.  He got their towels from us and found them another spot after I refused to move  This place makes Cruise ship chair hogs look like novices 🙂 

 

2. The bars all served liquor that were below well drink quality. For the price we paid, having at least well quality should have been standard.   In addition, a number of the mixes were in old liquor bottles with the name of the mix handwritten on the bottle on tape. That did not seem like a good idea given the recent attention to liquor issues in the Caribbean. 

 

3. The buffet was clean and well kept, but the quality of the food compared to what we paid for the day pass was significantly different.  

 

Had the hotel charged $50 instead of $130 my expectations would have been greatly reduced from what they were going in. Happy to answer any  questions.  

 

[canadarocks]

Thank you for your review. We had a similar experience with finding chairs at the beach and pool at the Barcelo last year.

[Mparis184]

On 11/21/2019 at 8:51 PM, dcbiker97 said:

Hello.  We were just in Aruba on the Celebrity Edge and I wanted to give a review of the Riu Palace Antillas Hotel, which we went to after purchasing a pass from resorts for a day. The cost of the pass was $130. I would not recommend going to this resort for this price. We have  been to numerous places like Nachi Cocum in Cozumel and Maya Chan in Costa Maya.  They Riu couldn’t be more different than these amazing places.  

 

First with the good. The staff generally were very pleasant and seemed to want to help you. The grounds were nice and the beach top notch. However, these were not overcome by 3 major failures. 

 

1. We we got to the resort at 9am and got our bracelets and headed out to the beach. We got the last few available beach chairs. (or so we thought). After sitting in them for 2 1/2 hours a lady and her husband appear stating that they put hotel towels down to reserve them at 6:30am (5 hours prior). I told them we would not move and she called an attendant.  He got their towels from us and found them another spot after I refused to move  This place makes Cruise ship chair hogs look like novices 🙂 

 

2. The bars all served liquor that were below well drink quality. For the price we paid, having at least well quality should have been standard.   In addition, a number of the mixes were in old liquor bottles with the name of the mix handwritten on the bottle on tape. That did not seem like a good idea given the recent attention to liquor issues in the Caribbean. 

 

3. The buffet was clean and well kept, but the quality of the food compared to what we paid for the day pass was significantly different.  

 

Had the hotel charged $50 instead of $130 my expectations would have been greatly reduced from what they were going in. Happy to answer any  questions.  

 

Thanks for your review.  We also went to Maya Chan in Costa Maya a few months ago and thought it was fabulous! 
 

[Littlebeachlover]

 I came here looking for a recent review on RIU Palace hoping it would help me make a decision....I believe I'll save my $260 and look at other options!    Thank you!

Edited December 30, 2019 by Littlebeachlover

[researchfreak90]

Were chairs hard to find in general or just ones on the beach? Obviously beach is desirable but pool is nice to.