Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas

We just got home from a week at the RIU Palace and had a great time. The resort is clean and the wait staff is extremely friendly and on top of making sure you always have a beverage in your hand when out by the pool. Bring cash for tips for your servers, they deserve it! Especially the best poolside server, Marteen. He was wonderful. ☺️ Rooms were comfy and freezing cold which was a nice break from the smoldering, humid August temps! The 2 queen beds are butted up to eachother like one giant bed…not sure if it’s like this in all the rooms or just the 2 rooms we had..? Weird, but not a big deal for us as it was a family trip. Just something to keep in mind. Overall the food is pretty good, although the steak house was sadly a disappointment. Maybe just an off night? Our favorite was the Mexican restaurant…it was delicious!! The buffets were also surprisingly good with many options. Be prepared, they don’t take reservations so we did have to get a buzzer and wait 30-45 mins for a table at times (at the restaurants, not buffets), but there are several different bars to go sit at for a drink and gorgeous views, while you wait. We loved the rooftop bar near the reception desk where the views were gorgeous and our favorite server, Diana, greeted us nightly with her smile and great service. She is the sweetest!! Staying at the Palace, we had access to both the Santa Fe and Baja as well. We did visit both but the Palace is definitely the prettiest, cleanest and nicest and after a short visit to both, we did not feel the need to return and we just spent our time enjoying the Palace. A few of the nights had live entertainment which was wonderful. Unfortunately, our stay ended on a bit of a sour note when we didn’t return our room keys or towel cards to the desk at check out, as we left them all neatly stacked in the room (something we in the USA have become accustomed to). I think probably we were supposed to be told at check in about this rule, but our check in host was “in training” and it must have slipped his mind. Anyways, the checkout staff was incredibly and unnecessarily rude and they would not assist us with getting back into our rooms to retrieve them and we were charged a fee for not returning them (yes, the little plastic cards 🥴). I’m not so much upset about the charge as I am about the way we were treated by the 2 people at the checkout desk. Fortunately they were the only rude people we encountered during our entire week in Mexico (on and off the resort). Put a bit of a bad taste in my mouth at the end of a wonderful week, unfortunately. You’d think the checkout staff could be friendly so you’d want to return? So…just don’t forget your key and towel cards and avoid this negative interaction at checkout which made us late to the airport. Overall we were happy with our stay at the RIU Palace, but hope they will consider customer service training for their checkout staff!

Great family holiday for a party of 6 including 4 adults and two kids. We booked direct and therefore got the free return shuttle included from the airport which was efficient. Hotel is huge, with multiple swimming pools, bars and restaurants. Staff were friendly and provided a great service. A couple of dollars tip goes a long way. We were blown away by the food. It was exceptional from breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. There was so much choice and the quality was top notch, some of the best tacos I’ve ever had! If anyone complains about the food on here then I wouldn’t pay any attention to their review! Kids loved the pools and also the water park in the sister hotel. Animation team were great and also the kids club. Everything was kept clean and you saw staff always cleaning around the resort. Our room was cleaned daily and fridge and minibar well stocked. The beach was fantastic and we saw turtles swimming in the sea and then later on in the night come to shore to lay their eggs. The next day the military were on the beach protecting volunteers who were digging out the eggs to take them somewhere safe to be released. Overall this is a great place to come, weather was amazing, people and guests friendly and the resort was amazing

We had a good experience. The resort views are amazing. The grounds are beautiful. This is my homestead opinion. We had six different rooms. The resort did an awesome job of keeping us all in close proximity. The rooms are a tad older, but clean and nice and roomy. The air was cold, which is a big plus because it is hot in July in Cabo. The majority of the resort is open air. A couple of cons were the restaurants. We do not like to go up and get dressed for dinner early. If you wait until 7:00 or 7:30 pm, the waiting lists are full. We only ate at two restaurants the entire seven nights because we could not get tables. The buffet is decent. Plenty of options. We had two excellent servers at the pool. Gustavo and Martin. They made us feel extra special and took great care of us. The beer at the swim up bars is not cold. Drinks are not strong, but overall it was nice. The place to grab a quick bite by the pool is really good. There is only one towel station, which is annoying. I hate a towel card. I also prefer a wristband that opens your room rather than keeping up with a key card. The staff overall was very helpful. The Michael Jackson show was super fun. It is just very hot in July and the theater is outside.

Incredible first time!!! RIU Palace had the best food and the most amazing staff. The rooms were clean and comfy, the staff was super friendly and helpful, and I can not rave about the housekeeping team enough. Every time we left the room, we saw an army of them hard at work keeping the location glowing. Wanting a girls trip away from kids, I was a little nervous about staying at a family friendly resort but they did such an amazing job having adult only areas it didn’t feel family friendly if that’s what you wanted to get away from. The hotel security team made sure we felt safe the entire time monitoring everything both on the resort and on the beach. They also have a taxi service if you’re wanting to check out downtown that has very identifiable cars for ease of access and safety. 10/10 recommend staying at RIU if you’re looking for an unforgettable Mexican vacation!!!

We’re just coming to the end of our time at the Riu and it’s been very lovely! The rooms are well appointed with everything you need. The resort is spread out, so you’re not waiting on elevators all day. It’s very clean and well-maintained. You see the grounds crews working all day long to make sure it stays top-notch. We were here for a vacation that happened to overlap with a birthday and they were so kind to leave cake in the room for the birthday guest! Overall the food is great. The drinks are plentiful. 2/3 guests in our party had multi-day gastro issues, which weren’t amazing (assuming food related, but obviously difficult to confirm.). Special shout outs to the following staff who went out of their way to make the trip awesome: Esteban (from the entertainment crew…made sure to greet us by name every time he saw us), Blanca at the breakfast and lunch buffet (truly went out of her way) and Christian at the poolside.

This is our 3rd time staying at the RIU Palace in Cabo San Lucas. We find everyone there kind and helpful. At check in, we were immediately asked to move to a different desk so as not to wait in line. We were a little earlier than the 3:00 check in time, however our room was ready and we were given the keys. An attendance delivered our luggage directly to our room. Our room was clean. Housekeeping came daily to clean, make, the bid, & refresh towels. They even made a special trip to bring extra pillows our first night. We also forgot to lock our safe one day, so the housekeeper locked it for us to make sure our valuables were safe and left instructions on how to get it opened. When I called the front desk, they sent assistance immediately, I think she was in our room within 5 minutes of my phone call. We have always been very happy with the food at the RIU Palace. I wouldn’t say it’s equal to a 5-star restaurant, but the food is good. The buffets (breakfast, lunch, & dinner, have a variety of different options & there are always stations cooking ready to order food…omelets, tacos, quesadillas, steak. We tried to sit in the same sections for breakfast and dinner, and our waiters (Irma for breakfast & Daniel for dinner) remembered us. They knew what we wanted to drink and had it ready for us at the table when we returned from the buffet line. Excellent service from both of them! The specialty restaurants also all have delicious food options. There is less choice with these, as they are nota buffet, but rather sit down and order how of service. Also get there right when they open at 6, or expect tot wait an hour or more for a table. The entertainment was mediocre. We have stayed at this hotel 3 times, and the other two the entertainment was much better. The Crazy Show & The Mexican Show were both pretty good, but the circus show was just ok. A little bit like a small town or high school talent show. We miss the Micheal Jackson show! I received the specialty 80 minute massage at the spa. All of the attendants were very accommodating. My therapist seemed very knowledgeable about her practice. She checked in with me through to make sure I was doing ok and liked the pressure. She used a variety of techniques throughout the massage. I get regular massages back at home and I can honestly say this was probably the best massage of my life. The pools were fun and clean. Good music was playing. The waiters & bar staff were fast serving drinks. Security was watching closely and didn’t hesitate to kick someone out if they were doing g something rude/obnoxious, or was not over 18. Overall a fantastic vacation!