Here is my trip report for our stay at the Riu Palace in Playa Del Carmen during the week of 6/17/2000 – 6/24/2000. I know this is a little dated but there is still some good info in this article.
Flight down was uneventful. Left a bit late but arrived on time as scheduled. We traveled on America Trans Air through Funjet. Arrived to Cancun at the same time as 4 other planes. That was rough. Customs took nearly 1 ½ hours to get through. We had birth certificates and Dl’s. Passport line moved slower than ours. The wait is not pleasant, very crowded and rather hot. I would definitely wear shorts and other cool and comfortable clothing for this stage. Something that no one has mentioned but they made us do was to fill out a short form before we could go through the red light green light area. They said we should have been told but we were not. ALSO, PENS ARE A MUST BRING ITEM FROM HOME. Airline will not give you one to fill out your customs form going or coming as well as this other short form that was necessary. Lomas travel met us just past the exit to customs. They took the luggage and went to a van that had to be jammed into the biggest cluster bomb I have seen in a while. Ah!!! welcome to Mexico.
Arrival and room.
Arrived at the Palace just in time to meet Michelle in Indiana. Check in wasn’t much trouble, gave us an outside room. We made our reservations for La Bodega (more on this later), and our seating time at Don Julian. We went to our room and found a drawer sitting in the floor from the dresser which looked to be broken. Room was warm but we figured it was from not being occupied. Called the front desk regarding the drawer and they had someone to repair it within minutes. No big deal. Room has the 2 double bed arrangement, sunken sitting area, TV (with a surprising number of English channels) plenty of storage space. Bathroom is standard fare, nothing special except that there is no air conditioning into the bathroom. (more on this). Bathtub is a bit narrow and a pretty tall step into and out of going over the ledge. Be careful. The shower soup/shampoo was ok. My wife definitely recommends you take your own. Towels were large and comfortable. They did have a Hair dryer in the bathroom and I heard no complaints about it from my wife. I think it was 1500 watts. Room cleaning during the week was good and they made several swans out of towels and left little flowers in the bathroom that made for a nice touch. (Yes, we left a tip almost daily just because we wanted to) Now for the air conditioner. It never seemed to get real cool, so we called to get them to check it. I assume maintenance checked it because we would get calls to see if it was better. Did this 3 times then we decided to just live with it. Talked to others at the resort and they all said to have very cool rooms, some even said they had to raise the thermostat because it was to cool. Must have been just our room so don’t get room 0101. We called to get a courtyard room and they told us we could get one but not until Tuesday. Problem was we had already scheduled a snorkeling trip for that day. Also, Becca decided she didn’t want to repack and she liked the location of the room. We probably should have moved and tried to get a better A/C unit. The next item I knew about ahead of time and didn’t think it mattered. As for the 2 double bed arrangement, we hated. Yes I knew ahead of time it was like that but in actually sleeping on it we hated it. People we met all had opinions on it. Some liked it(slept in separate beds) some didn’t care, some hated it. Make up your own mind about it. A king bed for us would have been 100% better but they do not have them. I didn’t think it would be such an issue as it was and will be one of the reasons we will probably stay elsewhere next time. Wet bar was ok. I didn’t drink the Liquor in the room because it looked like really off brands. Maybe it wasn’t, I don’t know. Just never heard of the brands. Fridge was well stocked until our last 2 days when they let it run very low on bottled water until we ran out. Called for more and it took them almost 6 hours to get it there. That surprised me. No iron or ironing board available in hotel. Ok, lets move on, if anyone has anymore questions about the room email me.
Restaurants.
Food at the hotel was generally good. I was disappointed because I was led to believe that there was shrimp or lobster available at every meal by our travel agent. (I will take up the issue with her.) I have been in the restaurant business for 18 years with experience in everything from quick service, cafeteria style, full service, catering and executive fine dining. The travel agent highly recommended the Palace because of my food background and she said I wouldn’t be happy with some other resorts. The always had something for vegetarians at all meals including vegetarian entrees for dinner. Breakfast was good, nice number of choices and lots of fresh fruit. They had 6-8 different fresh fruit juices, lots of assorted breads and sweetbreads. Eggs prepared several ways as well as omlets. Only thing with the omlets is they didn’t cook them with cheese. I assume that you could get cheese if you asked. A variety of sliced cheese is available in another area. Also, they had pancakes and french toast (a favorite) and fresh fried donuts and flour tortillas. I didn’t see any oatmeal or hot cereal but they had a lot of varieties of cold cereal and yogurts. Coffee was good and a good cappuccino is available at every meal. We rarely made it to lunch (only one time) but instead ate at the snack time at El Patio. They had the same stuff everyday with maybe one different hot item. Burgers and hot dogs, fries, pizza and a couple other items. Had lots of finger sandwiches and always a pretty extensive salad bar. Iwasnt crazy about the dressings but I am not a big salad person so it wasn’t a problem for me. Burgers are good made from fresh meat, if you want cheese you have to ask for it. Fries were always good. Dinner at Don Julian was nice. Make sure to go early once and watch the guy open up the restaurant by announcing a welcome greeting in I don’t know how many different languages. Pretty neat. Lots of choices except no Lobster or Shrimp. That was disappointing because our travel agent said it would be available at each meal. Service was sketchy at our table and we should have asked to be moved but did not. Our waiter just didn’t seem to have it all together. On our last night we had to change our dining time and we were placed at another table and Eduardo our waiter there was outstanding. Very top notch, ask for him when you go. Most of the nights we were there they had a small menu which you could order off of. Usually about 3-4 choices and you can still eat all the buffet food you want. Everything we ordered was pretty small in portions but pretty good. Wine at dinner was good, light and sweet for the most part. La Bodega, the Brazilian restaurant, was not what I had expected. Dinner is seated primarily with the waitstaff bringing skewers of meat to your table and carving or placing it on your plate. This was the least favorite meal that we had during the entire stay. Generally the meat was overcooked or sliced incorrectly so as to make it tough and chewy. However there was one bright spot to La Bodega, you have to ask for it, is the Mayan Coffee. I believe only one person does this and he was a Maitra’d (I need spell check on this one) but he places 2 liqueur’s in a glass and lights it. Adds coffee and another liqueur and coconut ice cream. All this is done at your table. VERY GOOD. Wish this was available in the other restaurants. Ate one night at the La Traviata. It is al carte but the choices are not very extensive, and change daily depending on what the chef has prepared. We had steak (good flavor) and Becca had a seafood skewer. She said it tasted fishy and didn’t eat it. Looked good though. Deserts at all the restaurants were pretty standard. Nothing great except for the coconut Ice cream. Very good. Also, they had bread pudding and flan on different nights. Both were good. Various assortment of roulades and petit fours. Now for the Gala. This is a meal served in La Bodega only on Thursday. Seating was very limited. I tried to get reservations at 8 AM Wednesday and they had booked up by 7:45AM. Better get there early and reservations are made at the front desk. Everything that is available in the Gala in La Bodega is available in Don Julian on the buffet. That is what I was told. Good luck to you guys in getting in.
Bars:
Generally the bars were good. Drinks varied from bartender to bartender. Lobby bar is nice yet it was my least favorite. They are a bit slower there in filling the orders and not as consistent. Pool bar is nice and Andres makes great Pina Coladas. Look for him he is a blast. Only bad thing about the pool bar is it closes to early and there is no music. To quiet for me. We still had a blast. Beach bar is on the sand but a pretty good walk from the water. Tino was another great bartender. Made great drinks and always happy. I tipped him pretty generously throughout the week because I kept asking for 4 of each drink. To much time walking back and forth. Here is another must bring. Get a large insulated mug and bring to the beach bar. Tino was more than happy to make a blender full of something and give it all to you if you had a large mug. I didn’t bring one and regretted it all week. Oh well, got good at carrying 4 drinks though. There isn’t service to your lounge chair for those that are interested. Great drinks to try: Riviera Maya (not in there little drink menu but a must try), Miami Vice, Bahama Mama, Caiprinia (will send you over the edge), Strawberry Margarita (better than the regular margarita) and mermaid (another good one from tino). Try all of these and I don’t think you will be disappointed. By far I thought Tino and Andres were the 2 best bartenders on the site.
Service.
Service went from the really outstanding to average. One thing I found annoying was that you could ask several different people a question and get several different answers. After awhile you get an idea of who to ask and know that you will get the answer you are looking for. I know this is a major operation and this isn’t uncommon, just a bit annoying. I found the front desk people to be the most confusing with different answers. Most of the captains at dinner could tell you more about what you wanted to know. No big deal and easy to overlook. Definitly not a big problem. Generally, staff on the property is all very friendly and willing to help if they can. Want a picture, they are all very happy to take one of you or join you in getting their picture taken.
Beach and activities.
Word can’t describe it, pictures don’t do it justice. VERY NICE beach. Lots of chairs for the Palace. Never had any trouble getting a group together. Plenty of shade if you need to get out of the sun for a while. Water was great, had no jelly fish issues all week. Surf was green flagged all week until our last day when it went to red. Still wasn’t bad. I had expected it to be really rough and I didn’t think it was. They had the assorted water sports stuff there, you just had to go to the dive shop and sign a release to do most of it. For the catamaran you had to take the 1 hour lesson before you could use it. (cost 18 USD) I assume if you know how to sail it isn’t necessary. Snorkeling equipment was free for 1 hour. After that they wanted 5 USD for the day. Our buds used it and said the masks leaked to much and would have rather had their own. I would definitely bring your own. Fins were available but the people that used them mostly got blisters. I would recommend getting some you really like at home, try them out and get used to them before you go. Yes, it was heavy carrying them around but worth it. I never had to try to find anything that fit, wait in line etc. I think our friends will do the same next time. Jet skis were $50 USD for a half hour. Banana bout ride was $10.00 USD for I don’t know how long a ride. Parasailing was $50 USD.
Activities.
The Riu Palace is very quiet. Not much going on at the resort itself. No music at the beach or the pools. They do have some activities, I think one a day, but they do little to advertise it. The place I found out what was going on was at the beach towel checkout area. They had a stand with 2 laminated sheets that had activities listed for each day. Check it out if you want to know what is lined up. I didn’t find this until about our 4th day there. Someone said they had a tour of the kitchen facility and I thought that would be cool but I missed it. That is how I found out about this activity sheet. Bummer. Saw the workout facility and it looked ok. Was busy inside. Hammocks are right behind the workout room. Nice shady area to relax in. Went to the Riu Tequila to dance. Disco was hopping there. Had a great time but I would rather have had it on site. (Another one of those things I knew ahead of time and didn’t think it mattered)
Town.
Playa was nice yet you get a bit annoyed with the vendors constantly trying to get you to go into their shop. Most are willing to negotiate. I usually paid about half of their normal asking price. Looked at all the stores for Kahlua and thought I had found the least expensive place to but it. Paid $10 USD. Found it at the Cancun Airport for $9. Who would have thought that. Oh well. Ate one night at the Blue Lobster. Wasn’t impressed. Portions were pretty small. I would have rather found a place off the tourist path that has a better value. I know they are there, just have to ask around. 5th street is better seen in the evening, Cooler and more going on in all the little street cafes and bars. Some pretty good entertainers. Went to Senor Frogs several nights but it was dead each night. Went to Carlos N Charlies on a Tuesday in Cozumel and the place was rocking. Had a blast there and would have stayed longer except for having to take the ferry back. They had 2 different ferries. A fast ferry and the slow ferry. Fast ferry is $8 USD and takes about 25 minutes, is air-conditioned and nice. Slow ferry is old and slow cost was $4 USD no AC and takes about 1 hour to cross. Taxi fare between Playa and the Riu Palace was $4 USD. We never walked it but it is doable. Checked out the swing bar at the Hotel Colibri. That was pretty cool. (it is a bar that has swings for the barstools right on the beach)
Tours:
Took a tour to Chichen Itza booked through Lomas Travel. $74 USD per person. Not a bad trip but it took all day. My only fault in the tour was I didn’t get enough time to spend actually at Chichen Itza. Had to rush around to see the place and then I still didn’t get to see everything. You definitely need more than 3 hours. Oh well, maybe next time. Also, took a snorkeling tour in Cozumel called the Arricefes. Great tour!!!! Hit 5 reefs by boat and had a great time. Found it and booked it over the internet. Well worth the money. Email me for more details on these trips.
Don’t leave home without.
Pens for the airplane to fill out the forms.
Large insulated drink mug for the beach.
Soap and shampoo of your choice.
Sunscreen, you will get burned even if you are tanned.
A sunscreen lipbalm, Becca found out the hard way that your lips get sunburned.
Backpack. We used this regularly.
Flip flops for walking around the Palace, tile gets hot. The Sand wasn’t.
Lots of ones and fives. We ran out and took $50 of each.
Hat for the beach and running around town. I had a Texas Tech baseball cap and more people wanted to
trade me the hat for whatever they had.Bought it at Walmart for 5 bucks. Next time I am going to take several.
Take a couple of disposable waterproof cameras for snorkeling and around the pool. I was surprised at the
people who didn’t think of this.
Portable CD player for some music (Riu Palace is very quiet)
Extras and the flight home.
Walked down to Mr. Cancuns reef and it was nice. Would have been better but it was a red flag day and the ocean was very rough Visibility was limited and we were worried about being washed onto the coral. Got some nice pics of the rocks and stuff. Never felt worried the entire time we were there about safety in Playa or around the resorts. Flight home was a mess, America Trans Air plane broke in Houston and we ended up staying another night in Cancun. Would have been ok except having to sit in the Airport all day while they kept telling us the plane was on the way or a new plane was being flown in. No one knew anything. They put us up in the Hilton in Cancun which was very nice. However, the allowance for meals there wasn’t enough to cover the cost of a meal at the Hilton. Aslo, they gave you 1 phine call that could last for 3 minutes. After that it was 5 Dollars a minute. Yikes. Had to call and get stuff changed for the following day. Don’t know what that has cost me. Oh well, that was the worst thing to happen so it wasn’t that bad.
Final comment:
The Riu Palace is a beautiful resort and we had a great time there. I wouldn’t think it would be much fun for kids. (saw some, not many and heard a few say they were so bored they would rather stayed at home) I would like to have some music around the pool at least. Too bad the Tequila isn’t on the beach. I wouldn’t like that shuttle deal. Would we go back? We will probably stay somewhere that has more activities at the resort itself. We didn’t like going to other resorts even though it was just across the street. Also, our next trip will be with a 16 and 10 year old kiddos and I want them to have stuff to do. So, no we probably wont return to the Palace.I hope this has been beneficial to all of you as previous posts were for me. Any questions just shoot me an email and I will answer if I can.
PS. Was watching E last night and they had a special that was in 99 on the best beaches and Playa Del Carmen was #1. Pretty cool and I agree completely.
