It´s autumn 2023 both my boyfriend Sam and me have a few days off of work together. Sam would like to catch some sun and warmth before the darkness of the winter truly sets in. being November a cruise on the Mediterranean would be a bit too chilly, in Greece most interesting hotels are closed. I was thinking about going to Thailand but flight prices where prohibitively expensive, after consulting a TUI travel agency they recommended us a trip to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic with an unbeatable price. This would be Sam´s first ever and mine first in a very long time package trip with an all-inclusive hotel.
As we booked through the upmarket VIP Selection brand of TUI, we received a private taxi transfer straight from the airport to the hotel instead of the usual bus tour stopping at all hotels. After a half hour drive we arrived at our hotel, the RIU Palace Punta Cana. It’s located at the far end of the huge RIU property along the Playa Arena Gorda. As it is a RIU Palace hotel it is one of the top locations of the RIU chain. Upon arrival we were impressed by the imposing drive up to the colonial palace style building.
The lobby hall was equally impressive with high ceilings adorned with a stained glass light piece. While the hotel was originally built in a colonial style, the 2018 renovation had it redecorated in a more contemporary modern style.
The reception was a bit cold and we felt like we entered a world of assembly line treatments. Nonetheless the process was quick and we received wristbands for the all-inn usage as well as some explanations of the resort and of course our room keys.
Our room was located on the top floor, at the inside of the big U-formed by the hotel. Usually this gives a wonderful view over the beautiful interior gardens, however as we were located close to the lobby we mostly had a view over the lobby building.
The room was big and spacious. Entrance was through a sort of antechamber which can be locked separately if 2 adjoining rooms are sold to a family before reaching your proper entry door.
Upon entering the room you had the bathroom to the left and the bedroom and sitting area to the right. In front there was a big wardrobe, while right next to the entry door there was the complementary minibar and spirits dispenser.
While usually (even in all-inn hotels) the minibar is still chargeable, RIU includes in the room rate. The minibar is well stocked with different kinds of soft drinks, water and beer. Above the minibar next to the coffeemaker there is a big bottle of water aswell, since you will need to use bottled water for even brushing your teeth or make a coffee as the water in the Dominican Republic is not deemed safe to drink for tourists.
Towering the minibar and coffeemaker setup is the spirits dispenser from which you can fill up your glass with gin, rum, whisky or wodka. This minibar setup was very welcome and I wish more hotels had it included in the room rate.
The bedroom was divided into 2 parts, the upper part with the huge king-size bed for sleeping, where you also had a wall-mounted flat screen television, unfortunately without casting possibility.
2 steps down and separated by a grated type of separation there was the living room part, with a bright green couch, a coffee table and a chest of drawers.
Opening up the sliding windows you arrive into the small balcony with a low table, 2 chairs and a little rack to dry your clothes on.
Turning back around you can walk into the bathroom at the opposite end of the room, still separated by a proper wall and door. On one hand it is rather spacious, but uses a rather strange design and thus doesn’t optimize the space used. The toilet is almost right by the door. The shower cubicle is in a little nook, and has a good rain shower head. At the far end you have his and her sinks.
The bathroom however has a distinct lack of places to store stuff and hang clothes, especially with the foot print provided this could be much better. Amenities where still provided in small bottles but the look and fragrance gave me a rather cheap impression.
The hotel is set into a large lush garden, in the central courtyard you have some beautiful fountains to help cool down the area on hot days.
Towards the sea front you have 3 pools, first there is a sports pool. Behind it is the smaller adult-only pool with integrated pool bar where you could have drinks in the pool. This is where we spent most of our time as there where sun loungers covered by pergola’s providing ample shade and of course frequent rounds by the staff for drink refills. Next to the adults only pool was the larger main pool, this was also deeper so more suited for a proper swim.
There was a also a dedicated children’s pool, located next to the kids club hidden away by the side of the hotel, near the entrance of the Caribbean alley with a number of shops.
Of course the pools are located right next to the beautiful palm tree filled beach and along the sea, it’s easy to walk to and from the beach and the resort, even including perfect WiFi covering on both the entire resort and even the beach.
The entertainment team provided a number of activities to keep you busy throughout the day. They also had a separate RIU Party area and pool located to the edge of the huge RIU resort where big parties for all guests of all the different RIU resorts where organised. The resort also had its own water park, located next to the entrance. However we forgot it was there so we didn’t end up trying it out.
Food and beverage was clearly the week spot of the hotel. Despite advertising as a 5 star Palace resort, we felt more like being in a 3 to 4 star resort on the food front. There were basically 3 options to choose from, beef, pork and lobster. There wasn’t much variation and food was mostly barely tepid. The quality of the wines could also be improved, it was drinkable at best. But considering most guests here come to get drunk I guess the quality is less important but the generous pours by the staff appreciated more so.
The main restaurant La Isabela was located on the ground floor under the lobby and had both an inside and exterior seating area. The outside area was far cosier to sit as inside it felt like a high school cafeteria.
The restaurant was opened for breakfast (the only place open for breakfast) and dinner. Food was served in a buffet style. The buffet was huge but the offer was mostly the same every day and quality only mediocre. They also used a rather slippery tile and you always had to look out to not slip while walking.
Next door where 4 of the 5 speciality restaurants. The first one up was Krystal, which aims to be the most upscale dining establishment and offered a fusion inspired menu. Only opened for dinner. The food here was amongst the best in the resort and it truly is a recommendation to eat here. Don’t expect the quality of a true fancy restaurant here though, it still is assembly line food.
In between the restaurants was a small souvenir shop, selling all kinds of stuff opened from early to late.
At the other side was the Italian inspired Luigi restaurant, it’s the only speciality restaurant opened for both lunch and dinner. We also went here several times as it offered very tasty and high quality food. The appetizers here you could just fetch from a buffet, offering all kinds of different Italian dishes like pasta, salads, soup and pizza. The main you had to order from a menu and was brought to your table, just like the dessert.
In the far corner there was both the Japanese style restaurant Yokohama and the Spanish style La Bodega, both opened only for dinner.
Yokohama was decorated in a modern style and offered Japanese inspired food with an appetizer, main and dessert of choice from the menu. Food was only mediocre and drowned in soy sauce, but it was a nice variation on the otherwise dull food offering in the resort.
La Bodega was decorated in a more classical Spanish style and offered an appetizer buffet with Spanish delicacies. The main was to be ordered from a menu while the dessert was a fixed 4 plates to share affair.
At the seaside you had the grill restaurant La Altagracia. During the day this was the lunch and afternoon buffet restaurant, with a smaller but similar buffet offering to the main restaurant.
In the evening it turned into a table service steakhouse restaurant.
They were very stringent in the way it operated as they had a number of fixed times you could arrive to start dinner, very much assembly line work. Everyone got the same appetizers (a caesar salad and crab cakes) at the same time. The main and dessert could be ordered from a menu. While usually a steakhouse is very expensive and upscale, the quality of food was a serious let down here and wasn’t what I would expect of a steakhouse.
Of course the hotel also offered a number of bars. The first was the aforementioned pool bar, with both a bar in the pool as on the landside. Open during most of the day. Alongside of it was also a grill during lunch time, this served the best hamburgers and hot dogs of the resort as well as some fried chicken.
The other bars where located near the lobby. With the both the daiquiri bar (for cocktails in the evening) and the Capuchino bar (for coffee, tea and delicious cakes throughout the day) both located and sharing tables in the lobby.
Right next to the lobby there was the sports bar, offering a number of games and large televisions as well as a 24/7 fast-food buffet where you could get food at all times of the day.
The hotel also offered complimentary room service, but with its limited menu we decided to not try it out.
All in all we had a nice relaxing holiday at the RIU Palace resort, which was what we were aiming for. However we were not impressed by RIU at all, if this is one of their top line resorts I don’t want to know the state of their normal resorts.
The food was bland and mediocre. With the exception of some staff members that went above and beyond and clearly loved their jobs most just went through the motions, counting down the hours until they got to go home.
Everything was clean and maintained but the resort did start to look a bit tired and old fashioned around the edges, maybe it’s time for a big thorough refurb to bring it up to standard again. If a next time we decided to go balc to an All-Inn resort the chances that it will be another RIU are slim, we were just not impressed by them.
Considering I stayed in ‘better’ 3 and 4 stars resorts in the past I’m sure we will find a better offer a next time. RIU is not bad and not good, just mediocre. If you know the brand you know what you will get and for some people that might actually be good, just don’t expect anything special.
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