Hotel Riu Palace Aquarelle

Good stay, nice hotel, beautiful, picturesque view, solid buffet food, reasonable attempts to entertain you, decent variety of pool atmospheres/areas, very friendly staff. We stayed for 8 days. Staff The staff were incredibly friendly, kind, and joyous across the board. All of them had a smile on their face constantly, brought energy to the vacation, and were always happy to go the extra mile. They asked you about your day and wanted to help resolve any issues if there were any issues. Staff seemed to genuinely care that you had the best time of the year there. They all love Jamaica and the passion carries over into everything they did for us over the course of our stay. Caustant did a great job of welcoming us to the resort at the Sports bar on day 1. We had been traveling for 14 hours and were tired, hungry, and thirsty. Caustant rushed to make sure that we started our vacation with a bang by getting us food and drinks. Caustant is also a great singer. He sang Happy Birthday on 2 occasions for our group. The rooms Even the basic rooms here are superb, it helps they're so new but they really are finished exceptionally. You truly feel most like you are in a 5-star resort when settling down for the night in your room. The beds are enormous, comfy, and clean, the view from the balconies is spectacular, and the shower is plenty big enough for two. The separate toilet room is a nice touch as well. TV has an assortment of American channels showing sports and plenty of old reruns of shows. Relaxing options There is a pool for everyone here. The beach has plenty of space if that's your fancy with the sea breeze and soccer or volleyball played nearby, whilst the small adult pool is perfect for a serene relaxed mature vibe. It converts to a volleyball pool or aerobics pool at various times during the day but in general it's an adult focused area that's peaceful and chill. The main adult pool has a swim up bar and built in tables and chairs in it too which is noisy at times, loud and fun just how you want it if it's more of a party atmosphere that you want. Over 18s only and you can definitely tell, but if you're a bit prudish then you may want to steer clear. People treat it like an all-day nightclub. Some people bring their own speakers and play music loader than the music from the entertainment team. The biggest pool is the child centric pool, there's not too much for kids to do in it other than paddle, but this is where most families end up spending their day. Entertainment here was either a dance troupe or a quiz or scavenger hunt. Next to it is another small bar pool where parents kept an eye on their kids while drinking. Finally, there's the two water park pools, one aimed at adults and one which was a kids playground paradise. Both a little away from the main pools so the noise and splashes from them didn’t disturb you if you were just trying to relax in peace. The water was cool by comparison to the air temperature so you can definitely get cool in them if you wish. Plenty of loungers around every pool meant there was always an option for you somewhere to sit. Sunbeds were comfy enough, but I'd recommend using a towel on them. The retractable canopies are a nice touch too; there were sporadic downpours which are easy to underestimate at first so having a retractable canopy was great in making sure you could keep your seat and stay outside while it rained without having to sprint inside and huddle in the foyer waiting for the rain to stop. Beach The beach had soft sand across the property outside the water. the same sand went into the water. There were areas inside the swimming area that had large rocks on the bottom to be aware of. The waves early in the morning were calm, and as the day progressed, they increased in intensity. The few days when storms rolled through, they didn't last long but did cause the waves to be rougher. Proximity to airport The hotel is really conveniently located to the airport in Montego Bay, being just an easy 35-minute ride away. Entertainment team But I can safely say the entertainment team here are phenomenal. Their energy is mostly at 11/10 throughout the day, whether they're leading aqua aerobics classes, or mini competitions, or running the pool parties, they are full of dance moves, call outs, joy, and fun, and that rubs off on you too. Even the biggest grinches will grin whenever they hear "the rooster" doing his morning shout, or chuckle when the bartenders get involved in the choreographed dances. The happy birthday and good morning songs always put a smile on my face. Drinks selection It shouldn't be a surprise an all-inclusive has good drinks options with all types of liquor and types of drinks. Their slush machines and mocktails were fruity, and their alcoholic selection/cocktails were punchy and wide ranging. Anttonel and Cornel did their best to entertain us and provide great drinks at the Kingston swim up bar. Supervisors were always around supporting, and pitching in. Damar really played it up with both guests and staff. Buffet Food (Overall) The food on the whole was solid. Breakfast was the standout with gorgeous bacon, omelets, hash browns and beans and sausages making for an excellent way to start the day. The array of Jamaican options too was welcome. The buffet meals for lunch and the evening offered decent choices too. The humidity made it a challenge for some food options to stay good for the whole service but overall buffet food options were decent. Salt in salt shakers tend to clump up so check the shaker if planning on using it to salt your food. Aletia and Celeste did a great job of making sure that we were taken care of during breakfast and lunch in the main buffet. Staff would sing good by song to people leaving on that day and happy birthday song to people celebrating birthdays. Specialty restaurants Be sure to reserve your spaces in the specialty restaurants the day before for best selection of times and restaurants. The app was easy enough to use. Service overall was sometimes slow, no matter the dining time, but the restaurants almost always were full at the times we were there. Steakhouse – Steaks were great. We had a steak that underdone and a steak that was overdone but the steaks were very tender and easy to cut. Shrimp cocktail appetizer was excellent. We were able to eat here 2 nights. Krystal (Gourmet) - had good food, but having been to a Rui in another country we noticed it was the same menu. This put us off a bit, but the food was still delicious. Napoli (Italian) – Chicken parmigiana and lasagna were excellent. The appetizer buffet was well stocked with breads, pizza, and vegetables. We also ate here 2 nights. Kyoto (Asian) – Food had good flavor. Food could have been brought to the table as it was cooked until waiting to the end and bringing out 3 plates of food per person at the same time. Wi-Fi Wi-Fi was slow and unreliable at times. Did not matter if you were in your room, the lobby, around the pool or at the beach. Noise levels Again, you may say "you're at an all-inclusive of course they party late" but the rooms are not soundproof. Main entertainment doesn’t start until 9pm and ends around 10.30pm with an afterparty continuing until 11.30pm. Bring ear plugs if load noise levels will bother you.

I was a little nervous because reading some other reviews I expected some downsides, but I actually do not know how anyone did a negative review of this place!! This is our 12th (?) RIU stay, first time at this location. Location-If you are looking for a place to be able to leave the resort on foot, this is not it. There is a very small bar across the street if you needed to get a break from the resort. It is called Lisas. I think they have food too, but we went late one day. They have beers and other drinks you can grab from a cooler and other small snacks you can buy. Despite them seeming to be closed when we walked in, they immediately turned on music and told us to feel at home. There are a couple of very small shops down the street, however, we didn't get a chance to check them out. There is a sign in front of the hotel for prices if you wanted to take a trip to town or do other activities. Check in was flawless and quick! The woman who checked us in was SO amazing and was more than accommodating making sure my MIL's room was next to ours. Her name started with an "S" and I wish I remembered to give her a shout out because she truly started the trip on such a good note. Firstly, the service. EVERYONE at the resort was so nice and always seemed to have such a good attitude. Even when the bartenders were slammed or things were busy, they always seemed to be in a positive mood. This really made a big impact. GREAT customer service at all times. I don't remember it being like this at other Riu resorts, but they actually come to you on the beach for drinks. On the days we sat on the beach, they were checking on us every 20-30 minutes, it was SO nice! The beach was very clean, sand was beautiful. There were plenty of chair options. There is a non-smoking side and a smoking side. The smoking side had plenty of shade. The non-smoking side, not so much-however, we found un umbrella or palm tree every day. If you walk East a bit, there is a part of the beach with little shops and the water is crystal clear there. The pools were nice and appeared clean. The first one is quieter (I think this is where they do water aerobics and such), 2nd one is a party pool with a bar (always something crazy going on throughout the day-DJs, dancing, etc.) and 3rd one is a pool with a bar but it is quieter-there is technically another pool right next to it (I think for kids). The water slides are no joke. I rode each one, forgot I am almost 40 and took a nap after. Those things shoot you out so fast! Food was very good in my opinion. The buffet always had SO many options; I would find it hard to believe someone couldn't find something to enjoy. The breakfast hashbrowns were the best I ever had. They had eggs cooked every way you can imagine. Lunch and Dinner were the same; so many options. I love the meat carving stations. You have to book specialty restaurants through the app. I had a bit of a hard time booking 3 people but I went to the front desk and Selena took care of it in less than a minute. We went to the Italian restaurant one night and it was really good. The buffet had plenty of seating, inside with air and "outside" with open air. It was nice when you got a spot right on the window and could just stare out at the ocean. The sports bar was good; got wings and a burger there and each was good. The resort was always so clean. They were very prompt cleaning the rooms. They were very prompt refilling the fridge beer and water. If you ever wanted an extra bottled water you just have to ask at the front desk. The nightly shows were really fun. I remember seeing a review about it becoming "not family friendly later in the night" and I did seem some "stripper like" dancing, but we were kid free and I wasn't offended. The only "complaint" I can think of: The coffee shop made sandwiches everyday at 2:00 p.m., they are first come first serve and they don't refill until the next day. We were either off doing something, forgot or the line was too long but we never got a sandwich! I am only half joking, they seemed like just your average sandwich and you can make your own sandwich in the buffet. They had everything you can imagine at this coffee stop though, including delicious pistachio ice cream and milkshakes. My MIL got a piece of carrot cake from here every day. OH! So, as a smoker, I get that different countries all have rules on smoking and smoking areas and we are always respectful to that. At most previous Rius we have been to, it is an uncomfortable rocky area, sometimes with an umbrella, sometimes under a tree and always felt like an after thought-which I get and is fine. Beach was always an okay to smoke zone. However, this resort had two smoking pavilions that they regularly cleaned and tended to and I found this to be really nice! Plenty of tables and chairs at one and standing at the other (it is between two pools). Okay, I'm starting to feel like I should get paid for this review. Maybe some perks on my next Riu stay? 😊 We love the Riu chain. This is one of the nicest properties of theirs that we have stayed at. I am just trying to help future travelers-reviews are what help me pick my trip locations! Thanks Riu Aquarelle for a great vacation!