Riu Palace Aruba - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

9444 reviews

• 

  Heaven for kids, average quality, great buffet.

  Good location, great beach. The hotel is huge, yet you do not feel it overcrowded. The best food is at the Buffet, contrary to other resorts we have stays at. The variety, quality, and abundance is remarkable. On the other hand, the acoustics of the dining room are in the Buffet is horrendous, extremely loud, to the point the you have to shout for the person across the table to be able to hear you. The specialty restaurants have a very limited menu, the food is not that great, the dished are served lukewarm. the Italian restaurant had one pasta option - Lasagna, and the carpaccio appetizer was frozen. I ordered the filet mignon medium rare at and lobster the Grill restaurant, the beef was rare (uncooked), and the Lobster overcooked (rubbery). the grounds are kept very clean as are the pool areas. The entertainment is limited to a few activities, and there is not much advertising. The cornhole boards are damaged, there is no ping pong table at the Riu Palace Aruba, and there is a table at the Adults next door RIU, with paddles that are at best for children learning how to hit a ping pong ball. There is enterteinment every night, which is a good thing, but.... the music level is so loud beyong health safety levels, to an extreme. you can litterally not talk nor hear any conversation, and even if you go inside the lobby to have a cup of coffee at the coffee place, you nead to should in order to be heard. It is so loud, that when we went to our room on the 8th floor on the other side of the building, we could still hear the loud music coming from the 1st floor level in the theater area. The drinks at the bar are very well made, with a variety of quality alcohol. For some reason, they limit the type of ingredients at the bar next to the pool, and when I ordered a mud slide there was no chocolate. When I asked, I was told that they do not put the chocolate at the pool bar, so only a "slide without the mud".... Also, they DO NOT serve any drinks at the restaurants, just limited red / white wine or champagne. Many people go to the bar then bring the drinks into the restaurants for their meal, (something the servers could have done, which is common in other resorts). Rooms are OK. When we got the room we found an ashtray with a half smoked cigar in the balcony. It was still there on the day we checked out. I called and asked for an additional pillow, and was told one would be sent to the room, but it was never delivered. The bathroom is very basic, compared to other resorts we stayed at. The building #1 we were staying at has been remodeled, so it it the upgraded section., The elevators do not have the display on the floors showing where the elevator is (except for the 0 and 1 floors), so you are waiting withput knowing if or when it is coming. One of the elevators inside display shows 9th floor constantly. The resort sits on the public beach, and there are venues for activities, as well as a shopping center in the back opposite the entrance to the hotel, where you can find vendors promoting activities.

  Dec 01, 2025
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  Beautiful Resort

  What an amazing all inclusive resort . The grounds were beautiful. Wonderful pool area with poolside and swim up bar. Water Zumba every day at noon. Walk down to a beautiful beach. The Don Nicolas restaurant has the best buffet 3 times a day and no matter how picky you may be there was something for everyone.

  Dec 01, 2025
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  Unsafe Room Conditions and Poor Service

  This was our third stay at this hotel, but unfortunately this time we did not feel the level of service expected from a 5-star resort. Our family of four was placed on the ground floor in a section that was said to be newly renovated. However, the cleanliness was shockingly poor — something I would never expect from Riu Palace. The floors were never properly cleaned; my children wore white socks inside the room because the floor felt so dirty, and after one walk around, their socks turned completely brown. Safety was also a concern. Our ground-floor room had a main door lock that kept sliding loose and wouldn’t stay secured. We called staff to fix it, but it kept happening again. With construction happening right outside and people able to walk past our door, this felt very unsafe — especially with children. Service was nonexistent. Not a single smile, no greeting, nothing welcoming — especially from the lobby staff and the café area. It simply did not feel like we were staying at a 5-star resort. If you are looking for an all-inclusive experience, I strongly recommend reconsidering. For the price we paid, the service and cleanliness were far from worth it.

  Nov 24, 2025
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  False Advertisement for cruisers; a complete waste of money

  CRUISERS: If you purchase a Day-Pass via the hotel, which they advertise as Adult-Only, you will be disappointed to find out, not only is there a small children's play area (little plastic slide type thing) set up by the main pool, but there were kids in the pools. Some kids weren't following the rules and the workers had to blow whistles to correct their behavior. This is the type of non-adult events we were trying to avoid when purchasing the day pass. We feel like we were completely lied to, purchasing an "Adult-Only" day pass and not getting what we paid for, which was quite expensive for only roughly 3 hours at the pool. Another negative was at the buffet, eating lunch. Half-way through our meal we began smelling a strong smell of bleach or ammonia. After a couple of minutes of trying to figure out where the smell was coming from, we noticed a small stream of something running under our table, which we traced to doors, which workers were cleaning something right outside of a double door in the backside of the restaurant. The cleaner was steadily running through the threshold of the door frame. We abruptly ended our meal, and got up to leave. The workers begun laying down towels at the base of the door to stop the cleaner from coming in the restaurant. By that time, the damage was done (cut our meal short). At checkout (exchanging our wrist bands for our driver's licenses), we were asked how our time was at their property. We voiced both of these issues without any response and no intent to address these issues. There was literally silence. No "sorry to hear that", or "let's try to make things right", just silence. My advice, Aruba is a beautiful island, spend your hard-earned money elsewhere. This was a complete disappointment and definitely the lowest point of our trip. Also, I did email the hotel with these concerns, and just like the front desk worker, nothing but crickets. They don't care.

  Nov 24, 2025
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  Disappointed and taken advantage of

  Extremely Disappointed – Felt Taken Advantage Of at RIU Palace Aruba I rarely leave negative reviews, but I feel obligated to share my experience so other travelers are aware. What was supposed to be a beautiful and memorable vacation at the RIU Palace Aruba turned into one of the most stressful and upsetting hotel experiences I’ve ever had. I booked an all-inclusive stay for myself, and during my trip my husband surprised me by flying to Aruba to join me — something that should have been exciting and joyful. Instead, the way the hotel handled the situation completely ruined that moment. When I approached the front desk to add him, I was met with rigidity, poor communication, and absolutely zero empathy. Instead of trying to help us or offer reasonable solutions, the staff made me feel cornered, pressured, and taken advantage of. The way everything was presented felt inconsistent and confusing, and it seemed like the hotel was more focused on squeezing out extra money than treating us fairly as guests. The interaction was handled so poorly that it overshadowing my entire vacation. I fell embarrassed, stressed, and honestly shocked by how dismissive and unhelpful the staff were. A resort with RIU’s reputation should understand hospitality and compassion — especially when a guest is clearly trying to do the right thing by being honest and upfront. What should have been a happy surprise turned into a deeply disappointing experience. Instead of enjoying my time with my husband, I’m spending my vacation dealing with uncertainty, frustration, and the feeling of being taken advantage of. I truly hope RIU management takes this seriously, because no guest should ever feel the way I felt during this trip. Aruba is a beautiful destination, but unfortunately, the service and treatment I received at the RIU Palace left a lasting negative impression that I will never forget.

  Nov 20, 2025