RIU Yucatan - All Inclusive

Riu Yucatan provides a good value to the vacationer. Location is excellent, so close to Playa Del Carmen but removed from the yahoos in town. Having said that, we did encounter loud/drunk individuals at the resort (singing and yelling at 3, 4 and 5am!) and the staff appeared indifferent to the noise. The food was o.k. with the Mexican restaurant being the best. Mixed crowd from Mexico/Europe provided great people watching opportunities. Beach is wonderful. Be careful at the buffet . . . food-crazed humans appeared to forget manners as they stampeded through the food lines running into others without regard or recognition. With these few criticisms aside, we had a wonderful week at the resort. Definitely a great value for your money! Next year, however, we will look for a more quiet and remote resort.

Great scenery, beautiful beach, friendly staff. Food was ok, nightly entertainment was ok. All inclusive, so you don't have to worry about extra cash anywhere in the resort.

We chose this hotel b/c of the low price and did not have high expectations. Saw some good and bad reviews. Overall nice place that is in walking distance to downtown Playa. Good: Nice pool and beach and the place is very clean. Drinks were good and you got quick service. Overall the food was fine. Nothing great. Tried the Steakhouse and Asian reservation places. Steakhouse was good. Asian ok. Staff was very friendly. So/So: Get to the pool early. If not there by 8am, you won't get a chair. Buffet food was fine but not great. Not a ton of choices. Rooms are dated and need to be refreshed. "Kink" Bed is 2 bed pushed together. Would go again for same price. Better than Bahia Tulum hotel.

this was our honeymoon (18 days honeymoon/vacation package), when had a late checked in but even at that, the room was not ready, the restaurants were closed and we had to wait for an 1-11/2 hours before the restaurant opened for dinner. that special honeymoon gift that they promise was never given to us. When we asked to be moved or upgraded to their Riu Riviera, they gave us the run around and finally we decided to cancelled our vacation package with them and rebook a new reservation at Viva Wyndham Azteca, a smaller hotel but clean, room did not had that filty, moldy smell and staff was very helpful in accomodating our needs. Riu Yucatan, does not feel like a hotel in paradise its more like a jungle or an apt complex...they got big rats running around and monkeys on their jungle. I have been to other RIU but by far this is the worst experience ever...The Palace and Riviera RIU are the best at this location. Unfortunately Riu Yucatan was not willing to work with us to upgrade to their sister Riu Riviera, so we had to rebook somewhere else while we where on our honeymoon. That sucks!!!

beautiful beachfront hotel. Nice pool. Wish the food was better, it reminded me of a Golden Corral. somethings were good, some bad, even the 3 specialty restaurants. The Japanese food was the best, we ate there the most. The steak house was okay, but I'd almost rather eat sand than the mexican restaurant again(and I do like mexican food.)

The weather was terrible, cold and rainy, but we tried to make the best of it. The food was good. Staff very friendly. Grounds were kept up very well. I loved the wild monkeys!!

I read all the reviews, so I knew what we were getting. The resort is beautiful and the staff is great. The rooms are typical Mexico Resort rooms- dirty with bugs with old and dirty hard beds. The pool was beautiful. The beach was AMAZING! Very well kept. The food was average, nothing amazing. There wasn't a lot of kids there when we went, which was good for us as a couple. The hotel was great for what we wanted. We used Best Day Travel to get to and from the airport. They were good. If you land in Cancun- DO NOT TALK TO ANYONE IN THE AIRPORT! Near the exit, there are guys there that act like they are helping you find your ride, but they are really salesmen trying to get you to go to a 90 min presentation for a time share at the Mayan Palace. We finally said yes, because we were to get a good gift at the end. The 90 min presentation was horrible and they try to slam you into a $60,000 investment in vacations. We were lucky, because it only did last 90 mins and we got out of there with our vouchers, mostly because my husband is also a salesman and threw everything back in there face. Once we got home, we researched, and others weren't so lucky where it would last 8 hours and didn't get their voucher or they would cave and buy. Plus the reviews of the Mayan Palace Timeshares are nightmarish. So, if you think you'll cave (they are very good at the sales pitch), it's better not to go. Cozumel is always a good day trip. Our gift from the Timeshare nightmare was a day trip to Cozumel. It's easy to get there yourself, but this trip included the ferry, snorkeling with unlimited drinks, and lunch. It was my first time snorkeling and it was great. 5th Ave is 2 miles away. That is were the ferry to Cozumel is, plus the area has great food a shopping. Go to MADRE TIERRA for dinner- UNBELIEVEABLE FOOD AND SERVICE.

We only ate dinner at one restaurant at the resort once. It was their Steak House. They have a lot to learn about a steak house. They tried to make if look and feel like a five star restaurant. The steak was good but the rest of the meal was poor. The buffet for all meals was very good. Lot of variety and very good quality. We ate all our meals there. No wait staff at the pools or the beach. I know that sounds lazy but other resorts in Mexico provide that service. The Solaris for one. The alcohol quality was very poor. Mixed drinks were bad. Stick with the beer. The staff spoke almost no English at all. I was quite surprised. We have been in Mexico several times and most staff members spoke some English. I did not find the staff members unpleasant but they did not go out of their way to be real friendly. On the good side. The beach is huge and beautiful. Plenty of beach chairs and lots of beautiful blue water. Plenty of bars. Two swim up bars. Pools were nice and clean but got really hot in the afternoon. The one thing I did not like was the open air check-in/lounge. There was nowhere to go to have a drink and converse in an airconditioned environment. No lounge entertainment at all. There was a bad at nite by the pool. But again, no place to get really comfortable. My final assessment is that I would not go back to this resort. Lots of Europeans, mostly Germans and they are not a friendly lot. The English people were great. Very friendly. Don't know what bug crawled up the German's butt, but they are down right rude. The resort was OK but not great. Next time back to the Solaris.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay here. Service was good and the place is well maintained. This hotel is equivalent to a 2 star hotel in the United States. As a true 2 star hotel, it deserves an overall rating of 3 out of 5. The furniture and the bathrooms could use an upgrade and a remodeling. We enjoyed watching the monkeys on the trees around the hotel. Hotel layout is unattractive and somewhat similar to old Soviet style apartment blocks.

Just got back, first time in riviera maya and playa del carmen. Hotel was in a great location in what almost seemed like a gated community and had security checkpoints at all exits out of the community. Food was decent for all inclusive though they could do a lot better w lunch and missing a real post lunch pre dinner snack bar. Staff was great and although didn't always have the answers always tried to help. Rooms were pretty decent but the safe was very old school (steel box a the sort of lock that comes w the key to open). Maids were great and any room request was fulfilled almost immediately. Nightly shows were a very pleasant surprise as the entertainers always dif a great job. Overall good experience.