Riu Palace Paradise Island Adults Only - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

2740 reviews

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  We Would Stay Here Again - RIU Palace Paradise Island

  My wife and I stayed at the RIU Palace on Paradise Island for nine nights in April 2025. It is Adults only – although we saw a few that looked younger than 18 to us. We really liked this hotel. We have been to probably 10 RIU properties and we're really more used to the big configurations where there are more than two or three RIU properties together. This was one property and much more like a big hotel. There wasn't a lot of land width of the property but the hotel was about 15 stories high. On one side of the hotel was an Atlantis property that has been closed for five or six years and on the other side is a public access beach. The beaches on Paradise Island are public though so you will have vendors trying to sell you things all up and down the properties. Our room was nice but for a junior superior suite was smaller than we find at most RIU properties. We didn't have a sofa only a couple of chairs. We were on the 14th floor so had a decent view but we were looking toward the public beach (TIP: Our room was an even number and looked toward the public beach so if you get an odd number you're going to look down toward the pool and the rest of the property.) The refrigerator was well stocked. Our air conditioning was malfunctioning but we put in a maintenance call and they fixed that quickly. Typically, the room was too cold for us and we used an extra blanket. we felt very safe using tap water for brushing our teeth and usually drank the bottled water. There was an ice machine on our floor. It was VERY WINDY the whole time we were here. It was cold in the morning and heated up by about 10am. You are at the same latitude as Miami. There was the normal RIU pool and swim up bar pool configuration and a bar on the other side of the swim up bar. The beach did not have a bar although it was pretty nice to hang out on – you just had to walk to get a drink. With only this one bar outside it could get crowded and sometimes there weren't enough bartenders. There was really no way to create a line so some people would do the traditional line with 3 to 6 feet between them, and other people would walk up to the bar and immediately started ordering a drink. It was frustrating. This bar either needs some clearly delineated order lanes or the bartenders need to be more observant. Those annoying people that put 6 feet in between the next person caused very long lines and confusion and the bartenders could do something about that as well. Most Americans were pulling out their tips and so it sort of made you look cheap if you also didn't tip but we didn’t detect any service level difference form the bartenders whether you tipped or not. If you wanted something to drink, and you didn't want to go to this bar area, you had to put on your clothes and go back inside and there was the Calypso bar open 7x24 bar that you can go to. We definitely thought there should be another bar somewhere. There's a nice coffee bar inside the lobby from 10:00 AM to about 8:00 PM. (TIP: The Calypso bar can also make all the coffee drinks that coffer bar can – for those needing espresso, americanos or good coffee drinks before 10am). The buffet was actually one of the best buffets we have had at RIU. I think it was called “Atlantic.” The food was great. There is a “jerk chicken” place to eat out near the pool but we didn't try it (no gluten free). There are 4 restaurants you can book. (TIP: You have to book through the smartphone RIU app AND you can only book two days in advance as of MIDNIGHT – so the first two days you eat at the buffet unless you show up at a restaurant at 6pm and see if there cancellations). We would rank the restaurant in his order: 1. Tengoku (Japanese), 2. Kulinarium, 3. Krystal, 4. Steakhouse. We did NOT like the Steakhouse; the steak was tough. Stick with Seafood. My wife need gluten free and this was available everywhere and easy. Also show up AT your reserved time – they will not let you in even 5 minutes early typically. Some restaurants are not open each night so check and plan your reservations. Again – BOOK as soon as you wake up to get a reservation for 2 days out. Tengoku was our favorite, There was Nightly entertainment - it was OK and the music was good, but some of the games they did were sort of silly and it was hard to hear them because they opened an air wall between the stage area and the Calypso inside bar and it's very noisy back there. Again it's not as good as some of the other RIUs we have been to. Calypso had great drinks, and hot and cold snacks, but there was no pool table or other activities like you might see on their website. We thought that staff was pretty great everywhere in the hotel. We did not use the spa or the weight room but they both looked good. The only time we went off the property was to walk up the beach toward Atlantis and we took one day trip into town to do some shopping. It was about $22.00 US cab fare to Bay St. which is the first place you likely go with the straw markets and tourist shops. We thought the area was somewhat crowded with tourists, mainly cruise ship folks, since it is right by the cruise terminal. The straw market was what you would expect, with tons of small booths and vendors trying to get you to buy something from them. There were also many T-shirt and other shops up and down the street, typical tourist stuff. (TIP: Go a block off Bay St to Shirley St and there are better shops with better prices.) There is a pretty church called Christ Church Anglican Cathedral right off Bay St at George St. We really liked the Pirate Museum - it was worth it. We were disappointed that the Nasau Fort from the Pirate days no longer existed, the British Colonial Hotel sirs where it once was and there is statue of Woodes Rogers in front of it. There was a lot to see in Nassau but we opted just to do a long morning and return to the RIU because it was such a great place. We had heard about crime in Nassau but in the areas we went to felt safe - but we are wary travelers and have been around so we sort of know what to look for. All in all we would go back to this hotel. If you want to get away from things and hang, go here. If you want craziness and nightlife this is not your place.

  May 15, 2025
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  Excellent food, drink, view, accomodations

  Excellent food, drink, view, accommodations, service was great and friendly employees entire RIU team conducive to great vacation

  May 13, 2025
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  Nice but probably would not return.

  This was my first time at a Riu resort. I stayed with my daughter and her friend to celebrate her 25th birthday at Riu Palace, Paradise Island, Bahamas. We reserved two rooms which were right across the hall. Our first room faced Cabbage Beach. This room smelled terrible of mold and mildew. The second you walked in the door it smacked you in the face. The air condition was so cold and you could not adjust it. We resorted to leaving our balcony door open for warmth and fresh air. There was a coffee pot in our room but no coffee was provided. We had to call and request some but was then told they were out. The mini bar was not stocked daily as advertised albeit we were only drinking the water and diet coke in the room. We also had to call to request additional items which were then provided. My room key needed to be reprogrammed daily until they finally gave me a new key on our last day. Our second room faced the pool. That room did not have an odor of mold or mildew and the view was beautiful. Definitely would have preferred to be on that side of the hotel. On our day of check-in our rooms were not ready. We asked about reserving the restaurants for dinner and was told you had to do it on the app only and that all the restaurants were full for the night. Our first room became available and not the second. Once that room was finally available, the system went down and we still could not get our room key. We started making reservations for the week before they filled up only to not be able to add our third person because she was not checked in to her room and apparently you can only make reservations for the number of people staying in your room. We ended up going to our reservations each night and requesting to add a third person, which we were able to do but this process could be simplified. The elevators seemed to be an issue as well. Some days you could wait upwards of 20 minutes for the elevator to come to your floor and when it did, you had to hope it wasn't already full. We took the staircase multiple times. All in all, the food was very good at the restaurants and the buffet, we enjoyed the pools and the water is stunning. The service in the restaurants was also very good. At check-in you are greeted with a glass of champagne which was also very nice!

  May 13, 2025
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  Change the act

  Overall stay was nice for a get away. However, there was leak in the hall way of the room from the AC, just had to be careful when walking to the bathroom. The entertainment was fine until the act with the guy pretending not to know how to jungle and balancing himself. I was a little offended having this talented black man with cut off shorts and muscle shirt on begging for applause from a room of white guests excluding myself. Reminded me too much of slavery movies. Not something I want to see while vacationing. The band and ladies dancing reminded me of Mardi Gras and HBCU bands which was nice.

  May 12, 2025
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  Perfect vacation

  This is a beautiful hotel. The staff in every department is top notch. They are so accommodating and so friendly. Everyone works so hard to make your vacation a real vacation. The beach is beautiful and the food is so good. Lots of variety for everyone.. I have nothing bad to say about this hotel. We will be back!

  May 12, 2025