Hello, Travel Bugs! Jhon and I stayed two nights at the Riu Palace Punta Cana all-inclusive resort, and this was our experience.
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First Impressions
We were impressed from the moment we laid eyes on the Riu Palace Punta Cana building. The architecture did justice to the hotel’s name, and our expectations of the resort went way up, for better or worse.
We don’t usually mention the lobby, but this one deserves the attention.
It is gorgeous and does a great job of keeping the palace illusion you get from the outside of the building going. This is one of the most beautiful lobbies we’ve seen in Punta Cana.
Since the lobby is air-conditioned, we decided to cool off here for a bit after checking in.
I did my piña colada taste test on the lobby bar, and the Riu Palace Punta Cana got an A.
Lunch Buffet
Since we arrived at 11:45 and our room wouldn’t be ready until 3 PM, we headed down to the beach buffet called La Altagracia.
The hotel has two buffet restaurants, but only La Altagracia, the smaller of the two, is open during lunch.
As it’s usually the case in small buffets, there was not much food variety. The flavor of the food was below average, which worried us a bit since food is such a big part of the all-inclusive experience.
The view from the restaurant is breathtaking, and having lunch with such a picture-perfect Caribbean background is priceless.
However, we’re really picky when it comes to poolside restaurants.
Many people enter the restaurant dripping water from their bathing suits, making the floor icky if not mopped regularly.
The Riu Palace Punta Cana needs to do a better job of keeping the floor dry to avoid the appearance of a grubby restaurant. Because of this, this was the only time we ate at La Altagracia during our stay.
At 2 PM, we got an e-mail from the super friendly and proactive woman who checked us in, letting us know our room was ready.
The room was ample, clean, well-maintained, and well-illuminated, but it felt somewhat dated. More on it later.
Main Pool
After leaving our belongings in the room, we went to the pool. The hotel has three pools, and we chose the biggest one.
It was mid-day, and we had no problem finding available lounge chairs with shade.
This is the second Riu property we’ve visited in Punta Cana, the other one being the Riu Republica, and seating and shade availability around the pools is something Riu does perfectly.
One thing to remember is that the pool water in Punta Cana is warm and sometimes the opposite of refreshing during the summer.
If you want cooler water, you should visit between October and May.
Snacking at the Coffee Shop
As you know by now, we love resort coffee shops. Capuchino Pattiserie is Riu Palace Punta Cana’s coffee shop, and it’s located in the lobby.
Here you can order coffee and sweet or savory snacks.
Pastries are not the hotel’s strong suit, but they’re better at the coffee shop than at the buffets. The tartlets were good, as was the chocolate cake; the cookies were not so much.
The Daiquiri Lobby Bar is right behind Capuchino, so we also ordered drinks with our snacks. I ordered another Piña Colada and Jhon a Cuba Libre, which were very tasty.
Smallest Pool
After snacking, we went to a different pool. This pool is small and has a volleyball net in the middle, so people mainly use it to play volleyball.
This pool is the least busy, so finding available lounge chairs was not a problem.
After a while, we headed back to our room to recharge our batteries for the Riu party we were going to that night. It would turn out to be the craziest party we’ve been to in Punta Cana.
The Room
Our room was the cheapest one available at Riu Palace Punta Cana. We booked a Standard Junior Suite with a balcony and paid $117 per person per night.
In general, we liked the room. It was clean, which is the most important thing; it had ample living space and was well-illuminated.
Bathroom
The bathroom was big and comfortable; it was separated from the bedroom by a door, which is crucial for us to feel comfortable in a hotel room.
Double vanities, enough towels, and a stand-up shower with a rain shower head made it an all-around comfortable bathroom.
The closet space was suitable for two people. We missed the bathrobes and slippers that many hotels provide as standard amenities.
Coffee Station & Minibar
The coffee station and the oversized water bottles were a nice addition to the room, and the minibar was well stocked, especially for the price.
There was an alcohol dispenser with bottles of gin, vodka, whisky, and Dominican rum.
We’ve only seen this feature in the Riu Republica out of the 20 resorts we’ve stayed in.
Bedroom
The bed was big and comfortable, but we got a stinky pillow out of the three we had. The TV was screwed to the wall at a 60 degrees angle to the bed, making it uncomfortable to watch.
The seating area had a two-seat sofa; it was clean but felt out of sync with the style of the room.
We were not fans of the rest of the furniture; we could see what they were trying to do with the palace theme, but the style felt dated instead of fancy.
The dresser in the seating area and the luggage bench in front of the bed should switch places for a more coherent room design.
The air conditioner worked great; the ceiling fan complemented the AC; there was excellent noise isolation, and the thick blackout curtains covered the entire balcony window.
These four things made the room very comfortable.
Balcony
The balcony was small, with simple furniture. You could almost see the beach from our room.
Dinner at La Isabela Buffet
For dinner, we went to the main buffet restaurant called La Isabela.
We breathed a sigh of relief after finding the food to be delicious. There was a lot of variety and surprising premium options for the price, like shrimp, octopus, salmon, and churrasco.
La Isabela restaurant felt clean and was beautifully decorated.
The Riu White Party
After dinner, we walked for five minutes to the Riu party area. The Riu complex has a dedicated space where they throw four parties weekly.
The Neon Party every Saturday, the Pink Party on Fridays, the Jungle Party on Mondays, and tonight’s party, the White Party, from 7:30 PM to 11:30 PM.
This was the most intense, fun, and entertaining party we’ve experienced in any Punta Cana resort.
