Riu Palace Aruba - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

9303 reviews

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  Riu Palace Rocks

  We have forged some relationships with your employees, and they make us feel like a family rather than a visitor...Junior could not have been more welcoming, and the coffee bar young lady Deanna made the best cappuccinos ever ...we will forever be Riu Palace visitors

  May 16, 2025
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  Stay Away from the Rui palace Aruba

  The resort is old and under construction, with loud construction noise day and night. The old room has furniture that is damp and moldy. The staff are like unhappy zombies that are not there to provide hospitality. The food is poor and room service food is spoiled. I would avoid staying here. It also was expensive.

  May 14, 2025
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  Beautiful memories

  This hotel was clean and unimaginable. From the moment you walk in you get greeted with champagne and friendliness at the desk. The food was delicious no matter where we ate and the coffee at the coffee shop was great!! Only downsides were 1 bathroom near the pool which at some points were closed for construction so you had to go all the way into the lobby. Also the WiFi cut out a lot but “letting go” of the outside world was fine by me (kids were wishy washy with it. Also the “playground” was just a slide near the pool so for kids obsessed with playgrounds you might want to say something different (for the parents).We can’t wait to go back!

  May 13, 2025
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  Worst Hotel in Aruba

  STAY AWAY! Literally any hotel besides this one. I had the worst experience of my life at this hotel. I will keep it shorter than my whole story of what happened to me and my family while staying at RIU Palace Aruba for 9 days. I had my wedding here, wedding was a blast (definitely not planned well & disorganized, but we still made it fun), but my issue was with our rooms. VERY outdated, multiple rooms had ACs leaking (one room flooded, one room caused injury), and my room had an AC system that did not work, took days to "fix" then never fully got fixed. Had to switch rooms (with 6 pieces of luggage to repack and move up 4 flights) to then have another room with an AC that did not work properly. I made many complaints to try to get these issues fixed, customer service was terrible, and kept telling me "after travel care will take care of you".. LIES. I am still fighting with this hotel and they are not receptive, caring, or trying to make things right. On my last day at the hotel, my jewelry got stolen from my travel jewelry case in our room. Again, customer service could care less. Aruba is amazing, don't let this hotel ruin your experience like it did mine!!!!

  May 12, 2025
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  Great vacation. Some noise but it did not bother me.

  We traveled to Aruba at the end of April and chose the Riu since it is a hotel I stay at most of the time. This is the 22nd Riu I have visited. I contemplated whether to stay at an Airbnb or an all inclusive. I went with the all inclusive and of course the Riu. The ride from the airport is about 20 minutes with no traffice. Be sure to fill out your ED card. It cost $20pp. The hotel although it is one of the older ones is really nice. The rooms are not the new styles rooms like the newer or remodels Riu's but still not too bad. The lobby is very large and looks newer. The hotel is under construction. You will hear jack hammering and it can be a bit noisy at times. This is a phases construction and will probably last for about a year. You do have access to the Riu Antillas next door which is a newer hotel and very nice. (more on this shortly) Rooms - We had a balcony room facing the pool and beach. It was more on the corner but still had a decent view. The bed was a king size and very comfortable. You have a seating area and two chairs on the balcony. We were in the main building. The side building have a balcony but not all have chairs where you can sit on the balcony. You also have a bar with Rum, Vodka, Tequila and a fridge with beer, soda and water. The room was extremely clean and I had absolutley no issues with the AC. The hallways are a little dated and the windows could use a massive cleaning but that did not bother me so much. But for calling yourself a palace, clean the windows. Property- The property is very clean. You see the team working hard every day cleaning the space and they do a really good job at it. I found the care for the area by the pool and restaurants to be treated very well. Restaurants - They have 3 restaurants plus the buffett. We did the Italian one night and the wait was very long. It wasnt bad and probably worth trying if you can get in. They have steak nights at this restaurant every other day but we did not get to it. We also tried the asian and it was good but its not my favorite food. The third restaurant Krystal they said was pretty good but never go to eat there. The buffett was pretty good. Breakfast was good you know the regular breakfast. Lunch was also pretty good and they have so much Shrimp. If your a shrimp lover you will be happy here. Overall lunch was pretty good althoug kind of the same thing everyday except in the first location where they always had something special. Dinner at the buffet was also pretty good. But we did go to the sister hotel Antillas to eat at their buffet which had entertainment which was a nice touch. Pool and Beach - The pool area is very nice and large. You can do pretty well getting seats at the pool area and it may be due to construction as it gets a little loud sitting there. The bartenders are really good especially Johnson his drinks are on point. The beach is also very nice and super busy. You have to get there early if you want a hut. It is first come first serve. The water I found not to be as clear as I wanted it to be but if you walk down to the left a few hotels down right after the barge you can jump off the water gets clearer. There is a beach that we went to and took a bus there that was amazing. Take the bus one day and go to Arashi Beach. The bus costs $2.30 and they give you change. What an amazing beach the water is crystal clear and just an amazing place to go. Do not skip out on this. And hey you can take a bus to it. It is about a 20 minute bus ride. Issue I did not like at the pool area is there are no bathrooms near by. You have to go to the hotel to go to the restroom next to the restaurants. This is due to the construction and the restroom probably under construction on that side of the building. You can also take a bus going the other way to eagle beach. But it wasnt any better than the Riu beach and for some reason there is a weird odor in that area that is not pleasent. We were able to walk there about 20 minutes from the hotel. If you need a supermarket you can either take a bus towards eagle beach or from eagle beach walk to Super foods. They have everything there. Apparently there is an asian market that is cheaper but we did not try going there. Riu Antilas is a beautiful hotel and all adult. We spent a lot of time there and it actually felt a little classier. The space and property is really amazing and you can see a great sunset there. They have some really cool bars and a casino on site. They also have specialty drinks and a good Margarita bar. At the pool and the beach the restrooms are very close at this resort. There is a small boardwalk that you can walk on an evening and it is very nice. You get to take a look at the different hotels from their pool areas to the beach area and different places to eat if you feel like it. You can see more of this when you are facing the beach to your right then to your left. You should take this walk and enjoy the scene. Entertainment - The shows were not bad. The only one I did not like was the Pirate show. Not my favorite and would skip that and do something else. Sorry guys but this show was not great. Nighlife - It is safe to walk around and plenty to do at night. There are so many restaurants and bars. A lot of fun at night. Apparently there is a speak easy but I did not get to it. Airport - Arrival was great and easy. Departure what a freakin mess this airport. They need to fix this and I suggest the all the resorts get together and have the government fix this. No one should have to leave and get to the airport 4 hours before their flight. This could be a damper to an amazing vacation. Work on this or it can hurt tourism to Aruba. Overall we loved our trip and everything was great. I would go back with a few things in mind. Honestly the departure being one of them. The construction can drive you crazy so if you cannot handle the noise, I would book Antillas although you can still hear it there. The Riu will be done in about a year and then it will be untouchable. Thanks to the team for an incredible stay and look forward to seeing you again.

  May 12, 2025