Hotel Riu Cancun

I gave this hotel a 4 rating because the rooms may be dated but where we spent the most of our days was quite enjoyable. The beach, pools, restaurants and drinks were all very satisfactory. This was a mother-son group of 6 from Wisconsin that had our original trip postponed because of COVID, celebrating graduation a year late. We arrived the Saturday before Easter Sunday and left on Wednesday. It did not feel crowded; did not wait for elevators, always got a table immediately at buffet, no wait for check-in or check- out but I saw lines on other days and earlier than we checked in. We always had lounge chairs on the beach but we got out there early. You can save your chairs by putting towel on them. My tip is to go to far right "quiet" side of beach...plenty of chairs, nice pool, no loud partying, nice clean bathrooms which I never waited for, and wonderful quick service at bar. On Saturday a waiter took your drink orders on the beach but had to go to bar yourself on other days. The employees were all extremely attentive and nice...can not complain about service. We did have loud neighbors in room next to us but i took care of that myself. Rooms- they are dated with furniture that has rusting hardware and our safe wasn't working. The rooms were musty smelling but clean. The bathrooms seemed like they were renovated and we had plenty of hot water and pressure every day. The water does leak out of shower stall because just half a glass door, I needed extra towels to soak up water from floor. We were on 12 floor with gorgeous views of ocean. We left door open at night for hearing surf and then put on fan above beds. ***need a key to put in slot by door to turn on electricity*** so can't charge anything if you leave with both keys. I am an early riser and lots of staff cleaning inside out outside in the early hours. The whirlpool/ jacuzzi is nNOT heated, which explains why I felt so lucky no one was in it! I suggest watching a sunrise if you can, if your room isn't facing East, just walk to end of hallway and the end is all glass where you can watch the sunrise COVID testing: I thought it would be a rapid test but it was a full nasopharyngeal double swab, we received results the same day even though we were told results may not be till next day ** a couple of us discovered our results email went to our Spam folder, so check there if you haven't received it** Restaurants: loved eating outside (but covered) area by beach for buffet. There was an excellent variety of food!!. You'll like the coffee, but decaf is only instant coffee. We ate at the Japanese restaurant twice and once at the steakhouse, which both were good. We went down and got in line around 6:20 for an opening at 6:30 and got seated right away. They are very serious about wearing masks and always having you use hand sanitizer at restaurants which made us feel safer, glad they are strict about that, do not need to wear masks on beach or pool area but will need one if getting drinks at the outside bars. If you want to walk the beach to lighthouse, you will come to a low wall by the public beach area which you have to climb up. You can walk the beach as long as you aren't on resort properties just like the locals are not allowed to do. People will try to sell you stuff on the beach but just politely say no. There was security always to keep only guests on the property and we never felt uncomfortable while on the beach. The water is gorgeous and waves were big enough to be fun but can easily swim past them to enjoy the warm water. Sand is shell and rock free by the Riu but if you go west it will have some shells and rocks, but it also gets shallower and less waves which is nice for younger kids. You will lose sun on the quiet end of resort in mid-afternoon but can move down the beach if needed. Overall, the money spent on this hotel is where we spent most of our time, the lobby, beach, pools, bars, restaurants, etc....if your picky about the rooms then you may want to choose another resort.

I have been to a few all inclusives in Cancun and this was the worst one. Food was horrible and service wasn't great either. Halls and elevators were hot. Rooms were ok. Entertainment was lacking. Rooms have great views. Wasn't horrible but Wouldn't come back!

I was a little skeptical about staying at the Riu Cancun since we have primarily been staying in Playa Del Carmen the past 3 visits. I expected it to be a party resort during the spring break timeframe. We were traveling with our two girls age 18 and 16 at peak season. I was pleasantly surprised and would like to share my experience traveling during Covid. Airport: I fell for the tourist trap at the airport. I normally breeze right through the exit to our prepaid transportation. However the airport "greeters" convinced me that we needed to stop at their booth to go over transportation changes due to Covid. Unfortunately, 10 minutes into it I realized it was a trick and I was being offered excursion discounts. Covid: The resort displayed and enforced precautions for Covid. Hand sanitzer everywhere and temperature testing. This is a good thing and not something we have experienced in the states. The covid testing at the Riu was very well organized. The only thing is the results are emailed to you in Spanish so it took me a minute to figure out how to view them so I can upload the results to Verifly. P.s. You need to check your spam folder since they will be auto routed there. Accommodations: As some reviewers mentioned, the rooms are a little basic, maybe in need of freshening up, but definitely not a deal breaker for us since we spend most of our time outside. The rooms had a gorgeous ocean view that was part of the normal cost we paid and not an extra fee for ocean view. Entertainment and Amenities: It was nice to have access to 4 separate pools that were not too busy. We did not spend time in the bar pool since my assumption was it was filled with people peeing. The other pools were good sized so my kids could swim without running into other people. They were clean and well taken care of. The entertainment was ok, but some of the games did not follow the schedule posted on the Riu app (i.e sand volleyball). Food: The food we like to eat (fish) was decent. The buffet does not offer too much variation like I have seen at other resorts with theme nights, etc. It can get kind of monotonous eating the same food every day, but once you find out what is good to eat it is always a safe option to fall back on. One thing to note is they don't offer food in the pool area, persay. There is a sports bar where you can microwave burgers and hot dogs and bring them out to the pool area, but not many options. I get why they do that since the birds are ruthless and swoop in when there is any food left open. We did not eat at the restaurants because the wait to get in was too long and by the time we wanted to eat dinner, no one wants to wait more that 15 minutes. Gym: My husband and I are gym rats and the Riu has a basic gym that most resorts have. Nothing to write home about and at least they were quick to repair broken equipment. Misc: Here is my biggest complaint about the Riu. Smoking. There are no designated areas for smokers so guests are allowed to smoke anywhere and everywhere. I just don't care to inhale tons of smoke when I am eating or laying by the beach or pool. Maybe it was just me, but any spot we picked we would be close to a smoker. I was really surprised they allowed it in the buffet restaurant. I thought the staff there were great! I would say most of them were on the friendlier side and no complaints there. There were also plenty of spots at the pool and beach where you don't have to worry about reserving a spot at the crack of dawn. I am guessing this is because they were at limited capacity. However, overall it was a very pleasant experience and we would consider going to a Riu resort again.

So I was very concerned after reading the reviews as I normally stay at an AmResort and am partial to the brand! We knew we wanted to stay in the hotel zone and I had heard great things about Riu. This was a spring break trip. All in all is was not bad BUT we did get a lil tired of the Buffett’s and the food was not 4 or 5 star material. The app to order towels and access other services was very helpful. The beach is beautiful. I didn’t find that there were a lot of activities to keep my 13 and 10 year old busy, hell not even enough for myself and my husband. We made the best of it. The rooms could be updated a bit. I found lots of rust in the showers (I had two rooms). The rooms were average at best. Nothing luxurious at all. Riu Cancun in my opinion is not worth the cost but I did enjoy getting away post Covid. I don’t know that I would return here I’d rather stick with the brand that I am accustomed to

I was a little concerned with reading some negative reviews but we were so pleased with this resort. The staff could not be any friendlier. They were always cleaning and keeping the resort looking nice. We had a few maintenance issues but was fixed immediately through their app that you use. We thought the food was good for a buffet. We ate at the buffet every day. Who can complain about sitting at the pool looking out at the beach with a beverage in hand. The views were beautiful. The only little negative is the beds, 2 double bed put together and there were 3 of us, me and my 2 boys. We made it work. I would come back to this resort in a minute.