Riu Palace Tropical Bay - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

8624 reviews

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  An Irie Experience! (google it)

  My wife and I just returned from our 8th visit to RPTB in February 2026. We are well-travelled Caribbean travelers, but have never stayed at the same property more than twice, except for RPTB. Transportation and check-in were seamless! This resort checks most of our boxes! 1. We like a beautiful beach. Check! This beach is amazing, walk right in to the ocean with no water-shoes, beautiful sandy bottom, protected by swim buoys. You can walk for a long distance in each direction. Plenty of sun-loungers. 2. Clean comfortable accommodations. Check. Our room was comfortable, bed was comfortable. Room was well-maintained daily. Mini bar was stocked as per my request. We were initially in building 5 but it was close to the road and a bit noisy, We moved to building 4 and it was much quieter. 3. Good food! Check. We especially liked the Crystal specialty restaurant with its new menu! The Italian restaurant was good. We had average meals at the Asian and steakhouse restaurants. Note: all of the specialty restaurants are inside and air-conditioned except the steakhouse. It gets hot and humid and uncomfortable if all dressed up. It would be appreciated if the steakhouse offered surf and turf consisting of steak and lobster instead of steak and shrimp. Steak is on the menu, as is lobster so why cant one order both? My request was denied. The buffet restaurant was good, better some nights than others, but always had something to our liking. The jerk chicken hut, run by Jarly, is awesome! I would get jerk chicken daily and bring it into the buffet restaurant and add to it! 4. Friendly staff! Check! The staff here are amazing! Had breakfast and lunch daily with Damion and Twain in the outdoor buffet area. Excellent servers! Shout out to Andrew and Judith at the pool bar and Marlene at the bar near the entertainment area. 5. Nice pools. Check. We were always able to get a lounger with an umbrella and table at one of the pools. 5. Things to do offsite. Check. The 15 minute walk between RPTB and RIU Negri is a must! It is an excellent opportunity to shop for souvenirs with the local blue tent vendors. Be sure to stop at the first one and visit a rasta-man named "Christmas" for some wood carvings! Tell him Tim sent you! Next to his tent is Kady's healing hands and spa. My wife and I each had a wonderful, very reasonably priced, hot stone massage from a young lady named Camoy, in massage gift shop #5. Remember, if you stay at RPTB, you have full privileges at Riu Negril which was recently renovated but the beach there fails in comparison to RPTB. A visit to Floyd's Pelican Bar and YS Falls is our favorite thing to do offsite. A catamaran trip to Rick's Cafe with snorkeling and drinks included is a must for first-timers! While tipping is not required as it is supposedly covered in the cost, we always tip this amazing, hard-working staff! While a few bucks won't make or break us, it means the world for them! Remember to join Riu Class!

  Mar 03, 2026
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  A wonderful trip at the Tropical Bay

  Just returned from a fantastic and memorable 2 week vacation at Tropical Bay. A relatively long review, as I truly appreciate a thorough summary when looking for a vacation! Firstly (and separate to the hotel itself) we found Montego Airport to be straight forward and not too time consuming - without the use of Mobay. We also used our tour operator provided transport and found this to be very comfortable and enjoyed seeing the surroundings between the airport and the hotel. Check in - We were more than happy with the service and time it took to check in, we were also provided with a lovely rum punch whilst waiting in line. Room - we were in block 2, found the room and balcony to be extremely spacious with lots of storage. I have read mixed reviews but we found the bed to be so comfortable. The cleaning team, and the mini bar team work so hard. A special shout out to Omar and Nicoy! The hairdryer was good, and the toiletries provided (shampoo,conditioner,shower gel) were great and refilled regularly. There was some road noise, it didn’t bother us, but if you are a light sleeper I would recommend ear plugs. Food - We found the breakfast buffet great, and the staff in there work extremely hard. Thank you Natalee who looked after us for our entire stay! For lunch, we used the Jerk station which was just outstanding. Jolly is a master, and we enjoyed speaking to him daily. Evening meals - we much preferred to eat in the speciality restaurants on an evening as the buffet did feel slightly canteen on an evening, the steakhouse and Japanese were our favourites, and the staff in here really enhanced our experience. Beach / Pools - we rarely used the 3 pools, due to how incredible the beach and sea was. We loved that you were always able to get a sunbed, there was no rush and there was more than enough, without feeling anywhere near overcrowded. The beach service was a lovely touch, and Andre more than looked after us! Drinks - Drinks were of a very high standard, the bar staff were some of our favourite staff to interact with and we truly hope to see some of the same faces again. A special thank you to Jelani & Geovann, Marlene, King Bevan, Roman - these guys really elevated our stay. Entertainment- this isn’t something we necessarily look for in a hotel, but we caught parts of various shows, and ‘crazy games’ and the amount of energy and effort put in from the animation staff is incredible - we were in awe of the Michael Jackson show! Scuba Caribe - the water sports hut on the beach, where you can use kayaks / pedal boats, paddle boards, sail boats free of charge. But also book excursions, we chose to do the sunset ricks cafe tour twice because it was that good. The staff here, again, were just an absolute credit to their jobs. We had so much fun with the guys on the boat, but also the service from the ladies who organise the bookings, I would highly recommend. Gym - I utilised the gym on my visit and for a hotel gym I was impressed, you can get a good workout in, and although it is small it never seemed to be overly populated (our room location meant that we walked past quite frequently). The only thing I would change about the resort, is the availability of toilets - as it is not always convenient to walk back to your hotel room. The amount and location of ‘public’ toilets did not seem to reflect the amount of guests and there was often a queue. Overall. Would happily give this hotel a 5* rating and we are already looking to return to this beautiful place, thank you for an amazing trip!

  Feb 28, 2026
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  Lovely week at the Riu Palace Tropical Bay, February 2026.

  Travelled as a couple first week of February. Arrived from Toronto around 1:30 pm at the hotel. Greeted with the usual rum punch and lovely smiles. Check-in was a breeze with the help of a lovely person named Beverly. This lady was absolutely one of the best front desk receptionist we have ever come across. Her greeting along with a smile and willingness to help with wifi, booking restaurants etc, made this a very comfortable check-in. We booked an ocean front room and previously requested a ground floor. This was available to us no problem ! There was a room upgrade to a suite available at an extra cost, after checking it out we decided to take it. The room was very spacious with a king bed , and huge balcony along with a great view of the resort. Housekeeping had our room made up by 11am each day, and the cleaning was excellent, thank you !! This was our forth visit to this hotel, so we knew exactly what to expect. It did not disappoint in anyway or form. Considering this hotel survived a hurricane, the staff did an amazing job getting it back up and running ! All the staff were lovely, we were never ignored or made to feel that we were not important as guests. As for the restaurants you will not go hungry here. The buffet had a large selection which I would think would appease the majority of patrons. Tried three other restaurants , Krystal Italian and the Steakhouse which were all fine. The jerk chicken from the beach was outstanding ! The beach here is always lovely, with lots of chairs available any time of the day. Take a walk down the beach to the local vendors, no pressure sales with "no thank you" being suffice. Unfortunately a cold front came through the week we were there, so some days a sweater was the order of the day, but you could still walk the beach or stay by the pool. Cannot comment on the pools as we are not pool vacationers, but those who did were well entertained. Did not use the Dive shop too much as the weather did not co-operate. Drinks were plentiful, with all the bar staff working pretty hard to keep up with demands. Beach service was always around to take care of you also. Overall we had a lovely week at this resort and would return in a heartbeat. There were not too many children when we were there, but maybe the Riu Negril would be the better option for young families. This resort was once an Adults only and would like to see it return to that status. Overall we had a lovely week at this hotel and would return in a heartbeat. Big shout out to Michael front desk manager, I have known him since 2002 and he is a perfect gentleman. Last but not least the aforementioned Beverly. Thank you so much for taking good care of us, your customer service is second to none :). Hope to return in the not to distant future...........

  Feb 28, 2026
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  Outstanding experience!

  I just got home from a girls trip at Riu Palace last night and I can honestly say it has been my favourite all inclusive resort to date. The beach is absolutely stunning, the staff is so polite, personal and fun. There are spaces for quiet relaxation and areas for people looking for a bit more of a party and entertainment. Additionally, it is in close proximity to many excursion options without having to travel too far to get there. The cleanliness is next level- the rooms are well maintained and even the beach is cleaned every morning. I must mention Judith who offered bar service on the beach- she is an outstanding employee and I hope that she is recognized for her exceptional service. I would highly recommend this resort and can’t wait to go back!

  Feb 27, 2026
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  I would not recommend

  Everything seemed great, my first impression was I was excited to be there. Where they placed us i did not like they didn't even put us close to our friends. To book a la carte restaurant u had to open an app and try to reserve for the 2nd day. We never got a reservation! We were bombarded with sales pitches from the vendors daily walking up and down the beach. I'm not a complainer in general but when I go on vacation I want to relax and not be guilted in purchasing cheap items. The staff and entertainment and excursions and beaches were over the top... Way too expensive for what u got to recomend... I've been at much better places for alot less!

  Feb 25, 2026