Hotel Riu Palace Aquarelle

Good afternoon, I recently came back to NYC from Jamaica where my family and I stayed at the RIU Aquarelle. Overall it was clean, and the entertainment was very nice I must say being my family is 100% Jamaican. However on the 3rd night there I ate something and got a terrible stomach virus which lasted up until the morning my family was heading back to NYC. We stayed at the RIU for 7 nights. I witnessed a female behind the counter who was cooking, picking up the pasta/noodles with her bare hands and putting it in another container. You guys have to make sure the fruits/food is thoroughly cooked and proper infection control practices are followed when it comes to preparing food.

Overall we really enjoyed our stay. The hotel is spotlessly clean. The beach is absolutely beautiful. The staff are really friendly. The pools are lovely, clean and drinks are brought to you on order. All the bars are great and selection is limitless. The restaurant is spotlessly clean, food is varied but very repetitive and a lot is spicy. We stayed for 2 weeks couldn’t always find something. Rooms are nice and spacious. The double beds are a small double and only really fit one. The entertainment staff work really hard and are friendly. However, most didn’t even bother speaking to us, not sure why. The evening entertainment is quite repetitive, it’s on a rolling schedule which is the same each week, if you’re here more than that you see the same thing over again. Most entertainment is the staff dancing to different music and with different costumes. I would say this is a good example of a riu 4/5* hotel. When we arrived and checked in there was no bell boy to take us to our room and we weren’t really given any information about the hotel. We had to go back and ask for directions to our room. There are 2 shops, one is a boutique which we didn’t go in and the other sells lovely souvenirs. However it isn’t cheap $50 for 2 T-shirts. !!Beware of the prices of snacks!! It cost us £28 for 2 bags of crisps and a can of monster!! It’s also very expensive for like toiletries so don’t forget anything important. The hotel is on the middle of nowhere so nothing surrounding like restaurants or bars if that’s what you like. You’re an 1-3 hours away from most tourist spots. However, if you are happy to travel there is a wealth of options, and some really fantastic trips. We did some great trips out of the hotel. Not 24 hour all inclusive, which for the price of this hotel is disappointing. No food around the pool at all until 12. There is only 1 outlet for food catering to all 3 pools. The selection is very limited to burger, chips, hotdogs, jerk chicken, wedges and nachos. Ok for a day or 2 but very monotonous if you are here for a couple of weeks. The jerk chicken is really nice though. No ice cream around the pool. Pool bars 10-6. All pools 10-6 opening times, pools close at 6 and you have to get out. The main restaurant is 7-10:30, 12 -3:30 and 6-10:30. In comparison to other 5* resorts we have visited the food options, for us were a bit limited. A lot of the food is spicy and for my mum who has Ibs this made it difficult. The food is varied, like there are lot of different options available each day, pasta, pizza, Jamaican, curry, chinese, meat & veg, fish…but very repetitive, it’s the same thing in these stations every day. The coffee shop in the reception is lovley, good selection of sandwiches, cake, pastries, coffees and ice coffees. However, it doesn’t open until 10 so if you’re waiting to go out on a trip or waiting to go you can’t get a drink, even water or coffee while you wait. The spa is very expensive, some of the staff, not all, are a little standoffish. Had a French pedicure that was $50 and the Polish had come off within 24 hours, when I went back they said it was normal Polish what did I expect of course it will chip, it was reluctantly fixed, only to chip again the next day. Waste of money.