The pools are beautiful and plenty of space, except the swim up bars I thought those would be in bigger pools.

food was great (at the buffets and snack bars - food at steakhouse was also good

Next, I tried the coffee bar and the pastries.

Pool bar had good drinks and great bartenders,

The pools close at 8pm and the swim up bar closed at 7:30pm.

Angel by the Infinity pool bar is awesome.

Drinks at the pool and in the bars were what was expected.

but could usually find something decent at buffet(ie Salad bar).

The Santa Fe is also where the sports bar, most of the shops and the money exchange are (bring your passport for the money exchange).

We loved staying at the All Inclusive Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas and the close proximity to the shopping and all the hot tourist bars and attractions.

We loved the tables in the pools where you could hang out, stay cool, and get drinks from the swim up bar.

They dominate pools, specialty dining (tables combined, all served together etc) and bar service.

It is only about a 30min walk to the marina from the hotel as well, where there are a vast amount of fun bars and restaurants to enjoy.

but it was easy enough to walk to one of the bars to refill our bottles).

Alfredo in the pool bar was too much fun, Astrid who served us at the shows was so sweet.

Cappuccino bar staff is another positive and gets  thumbs up.

Don’t get me wrong, the swim up bar and serving guys were lots of fun!!

but staff is so awesome we did not care spa was super but the beach massage for 40 usd was great too I tipped here - usually don’t at all inclusives- but staff so good they totally deserved it

The resort was beautiful and it's location along the beach was amazing.

Rui Palace was beautiful and right on the beach.

Good note: staff are really nice and attentive, I guess they can do just so much - the pools are really nice and a clean nice beach that is hard to get in as the currents were strong.

We were introduced to a wonderful local named Alfredo White Gloves on the beach where we bought 2 silver chains that are still in perfect shape, a beautiful silver ring and he was so great to deal with.

We asked for a partial sea view and ended up with a perfect view of the sea and Lover’s Beach.

The food, room, grounds, beach, ocean view and pools were perfect!

My husband got a GREAT massage on the beach 30 minutes for $20.

We are currently here at the hotel and I felt a need to write this review while all was fresh in my mind
First beach vacation since March 2020 and I relied on reviews and others recommendations to pick this property 
As an avid traveller with a blog following here I go 
Good

Beach front is great, lots of activities, the views of the city from the resort is spectacular

but it is beautiful to stare at while sitting in the beach infinity pool with a drink in your hand.

The views are amazing , the beach not swimable red flags everywhere ….

Enough beach chairs

Loved the coffee bar and crepe station at buffet 

Cons:
Food was not very good,

The pools were great, the views amazing, and the beach was great!

Pools were very clean..the beaches were immaculate.

However, the resort has no control over the weather and unlike 2017, we never lost electricity for a full day and night and none of the restaurants had to close due to flooding.

but red flag warnings during our stay due to strong currents.

My flight was delayed due to weather so I was unable to make my reservation for the evening of Jan 18.

but I don’t see us ever returning due to the dangerous food situation and lack of service from the management team.

Waves are too strong and there’s been reported serious injuries due  to the waves.

They gave them the wrong room, and due to a booking error which showed only the Two adults and not the 1 child, they were charged $1800+ at the front desk at check-in (or told to get lost to another resort if not).

The beach is very well maintained and there is a lifeguard on duty to politely remind people not to swim in the ocean on rough days due to a strong current.

but I’m being literal
- The service provided by the “faces” of customer service was awful
- Due to ATC delays, our flight that was originally scheduled to arrive at 10am local time did not arrive until after 7pm local time.

I am sad to say that due to this very disappointing and consistently bitter experience, I do not believe I will be utilizing nor recommending the RIU chain in the future.

Can’t swim in the ocean due to under tow..but I believe you can go to a marina to swim…I don’t know about that yet

Secondly, our arrival was delayed by a day due to weather and cancelled flights.

but most likely due to water and humidity.

Facing the ocean the pool on the left is noisier due to pool activities and a DJ.

Least favorite was the Italian due to selection and flavor.

The only downfall was that they didn’t have any room service due to covid at the time.

The beach is difficult to walk on due to steepness and the fact that the sand doesn’t pack.

First of all, due to “COViD” the hotel is operating at 50% capacity, or so they say.

We went to dinner about 7 all specialty restaurants were closed so we went to buffet and got met by I'm assuming a manager and official looking people telling us they were closing at 715 due to hurricane coming in 2 hours.

even though we had a transfer, we had to change the day due to flight cancellation and we’re told too bad not their problem.

Also they are still advertising for all these pool parties and disco’s which are not taking place due to Covid.

Pools were in excellent shape and cleaned every day.

There is enough space around both of the main pools where you never feel crowded, in fact, there were days I practically had an entire row to myself with a great view of the pool and Lands End.

They are party goers everywhere and the pool is filled with drunken guest.

There are two large pools, one with music and activities put together by their RiuFit team and the other a relaxing pool for you or kids to do as please.

There were plenty of pool options for just relaxing or getting in a good swim.

The neighboring Rui had amazing pool parties!

This was especially true of the drink servers near the pool, and our waitress at the upper buffet.

We discovered pretty early that the large pool on the Right side of the resort was the quieter pool, which we liked.

Huge shout outs to Berta, who cleaned our room every day, Gustavo, who served us at the pool, and Raul and Maricela, who served us at the restaurants.

so therefore the swim up pool room is encouraged if you can afford it.

Also would like pools to be open past 8 pm.

they have a entire production team, and the pool does not close early!

When we arrived at the hotel their wi-fi was not working and told us they would charge us $500 plus tax for changing our fourth person's name.

If you wanted transportation you had to pay.

Overall for what you pay and the high rating of this resort the food and beverages were not available.

Location- good
Food and drinks-good
Room (specifically towels)- sketchy towels including stained towels; hard to find face cloth

Front desk- We stayed for 14 nights and paid for the stay on day 1.

The hotel was going to take the money we paid for a junior suite and then put us in a less expensive room.

My transportation fee should of been refunded since it was all together with Jetski rentals.

They used cheap alcohol and either watered down or in small amounts.

After staying ther two days,  we just paid to just move to the Riu Cabo San Lucas and lose money on the other vacation and this one was much better.

The front desk did not mention anything about testing, we had to ask and then we were asked to pay for our tests, and then the day of the test we were shuffled in like cattle.

The price which we paid for all-inclusive was much less than we would have paid at comparable hotel resorts in the Cabo area.

Food/alcohol (2.5 out of 5)
The food was average and the wine they served at each of the restaurants are really cheap wine and not good :(.

There are no swimmable beaches - waves are rough with rip tides.

Overall I would not rate this resort higher than what I have.

I found the excursions to go anywhere or do anything very expensive.

Sometime it is accounted for in the booking price -- sometimes it is not!

When at the hotel you can get them to order something from the pharmacy it only costs $5.

So make sure you bring enough - buying them on-site is expensive ($5 each).

We arrived Sunday and they gaves us a coupon for the covid test we lost them and now eventhought they keep a copy they will not give us one and we'll have to pay for it.

I also played a round of golf at Quivira Golf Club .

I asked the front desk and it just never came Would stay here again and drink more tequila Room service was a little off at times didn’t bring what we ordered probably language barrier

Asked for late checkout when i booked  and when got there  was told had to be out of room at 12 asked to see the manager 

I requested to see the Manager and they told me it will be $84 USD extra night to make that change .

I refused to accept this on principle alone and asked the agency to follow-up.

Check out time is 11 and when we asked to delay our check out to 2:00 so we can recover from our food poisoning, we were passed along from one person to the next until finally someone from guest relations authorized us to stay without apology.

however they only stocked the fridge when you asked for it.

as we were getting ready to go to reception to request a new room, we got an email advising that construction needed to be done in our room and we would get a room upgrade.

- [ ] Check in: you get what is available at time of check in vs what is requested when booking is done.

However, when I asked the Front Desk manager (VANYA) about the ordeal, why they were promised an 11 AM room change

Anyway I had requested a king size bed, and I did get that!

but again, they are strict about handing out 1 bottle per person and you must walk to the shack with everyone requesting a water.

On our last night, I made sure to make dinner reservations offsite because I did not want yet another meal, especially on my birthday, to be ruined by the hotel staff
- We received contradictory information from staff depending on who we asked.

Music from night performances were loud and sometimes lasted past 11pm (bring ear plugs)

Not enough room towels (got more from maid cart)

Golf bag got lost from airline, arrived at 9pm, when asked at front desk, they checked and said they didn’t have it and no golf bags were delivered.

When I asked at the front desk the worker so utterly RUDE.

If you asked they would give you smirnoff or absolute.

I asked them to leave us some of the larger ones and they wouldn't.

Haven’t heard back from anyone about a refund or anything as I requested.

We had some trepidations staying at the RIU Palace since there were more than a few negative reviews about the staff being surly, requests being ignored, all-inclusive food being bland to terrible, watered-down drinks, and the safety of one's personal property.

When we asked to switch rooms,  they said some cold air is coming so basically it is just up to us to decide if we wanna downgrade further into another room.

Food selections and restaurants were terrific.

Good food and drinks staff is outstanding!

Jazmin was our server for all of our breakfast and lunches.

The food and cocktails were top notch, delicious, fresh, and gourmet.

My children witness two girls having alcohol poising.

Food was good, nothing special, typical resort food.

I’ll start with the food review and go from there.

And the restaurants on property offered great variety for nightly dinners.

The food at Rui was good, lots of variety,  Entertainment was very good every night.

When sitting outside, it is hard to enjoy your meal fighting off flies every 2 seconds .

The food was only ok at the upper buffet,

but did not enjoy the Kristal restaurant as the rice was very undercooked) - staff amazing and there were lots of things to see and do!

My assessment, clean rooms at the Riu, decent food,

The food was great - we enjoyed the steakhouse and the Italian a la cartes.

The upstairs bar was so nice and the pool food was amazing.

Staff was great, variety of food is great, the parties that they have are off the chain!

The food was good, and the drinks were plentiful.

Hotel Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas

request

price

restaurant

beach

Want to give a special shout out to Rene and Alan from the cabanas those two almost every day knew our names and took special care to make sure our time on the beach was one to remember.

The service at the beach cabanas was incredible!

Walking and hiking on the beach, water aerobics, pool volleyball, he was great!

The hotel hosted our wedding on the beach - the music, food, and photographers were great.

Also the beach wall to see the baby turtles was a bucket list of ours for sure!

We had lunch one day during our time on Medona beach.

All 5 days of our stay here we’ve visited the pool nearest the beach and have been served by Alan.

Jorge at the beach beds was excellent, friendly and attentive!

The beach cabana is free if you have a suite, otherwise it’s $40 a day which is reasonable.

Manuel at the beach beds is always a great face to see.

but we knew this and enjoyed the beach more than ever.

Amanda, the beach concierge was FABULOUS, as was wait staff on the beach.

Carlos made the romantic dinner magical on the beach.

Alan kept our drinks full, was incredibly attentive and was a lot of fun, the beach beds really allowed us to unwind in the ocean air.

Amazing time at the Pacifica at the beach.

We left right away and cancelled any plans to make a day of the beach the following day.

We had a beach cabana at Pacifica on one of our last days at Pueblo Bonito.

He made everything more fun, with cool hikes, water aerobics and great trivia in the pool.

Outstanding stall members were Amanda who seemed to be the pool supervisor.

Alan in activities and Martin at the pool made our trip.

Martin was awesome service at the pool as well!

The entire staff around the pool was so welcoming and did everything they could to make us comfortable.

Especially Alan, the activity director at the pool!!

butler was Itamar and he checked in on us in the morning, at the pool and throughout the day to make sure we were covered.

If you are at the pool and have Oscar, you will have a great day!!!

Alan in Activities made our time at the pool so much fun!

The pool area and the hot tubs are wonderful and the swim up bar was a highlight for all.

Ozell takes good care of you at the pool bar!

Highly recommend him, find him at the smaller pool at Pueblo Bonito Pacifica.

The communication between the hotel staffs and Bonito tour/activity staffs were poor.

Gave poor introduction on things to do at the hotel and around the area.

We tip after each drink & every meal, so our poor service wasn't because we weren't tipping.

Kind of intrusive and gives a poor impression that the resort is not truly all inclusive.

2. while at the pool bar we asked for Grey Goose, so the bartender pulls down an open bottle and proceeds to poor us a drink.

If you read posts that contain complaints, just assume they are the following  type of person: doesn’t believe in climate change, not vaccinated, voted for trump two times, and have poor relationships with family and friends.

That coupled with poor food( a rubbery quesadilla, guacamole that looked and tasted like it came from a can), poor drinks, and poor service.

It is very frustrating to receive a poor level of service when we go out of our way to be respectful and considerate of the staff.

Other than the poor experience at the steakhouse, our only other complaint is the wine selection for the all inclusive package.

We specifically wanted to make sure we had a reservation for the Steak House at Quivira golf club.

It is set within the larger Quivira Golf Club and you have access to multiple Pueblo Bonito resorts.

Quivira Golf Club Steakhouse is also a must!

Highly recommend visiting the Sunset property and eating at The Market.

The hotel was clean and safe, food was excellent and service was amazing.

The service was outstanding, Marlen was our waitress at Siempre restaurant she provided an amazing service, she was kind, helpful and easy to talk to.

The food is so so good, am all inclusive, adults only resort was the best option.

The views were great, the food was very good, and all in all, it's a really nice resort.

The food was great, accommodations were clean and beautiful.

The food at the 3 Restaurants was all outstanding.

The food was delicious and property impeccably maintained.

Once settled in, from the food, drinks and overall staff nothing has been short of incredible.

Martin and Gonzalo at the Aire Aquanar were in getting us taken care of with food and drinks #teamredsnapper

Alan + Rene took care of us our entire trip and made sure that we always had a drink and reminded us to eat something!

Angel makes the best Cadillac margaritas in the resort.

Recommend the jalapeño margaritas and fish tacos.

Food was excellent and better than most all inclusive.

Service is outstanding  we requested Martin (works outdoor restaurant poolside) since he was so friendly and helpful selecting food and drinks since day one.

We’ve had great food and drinks, and there’s been awesome activities.

Pacifica has great food and drink options.

The service is extremely slow and you must sign for everything even if you have an all inclusive plan so you cannot move about the resort freely.

The food and beverage service was slow - really really slow- we think because we had wrist bands on -

The room service was very slow and the bar up top by the pool was not good service so maybe hire more help to address these issues in the future! !

but I just wonder if they have enough people working the restaurants because of slow service - even for a laid back resort.

Shuttles are slow to transfer between resorts for dinner options, we have heard the word “no” more times in these few days than all other vacations combined.

Also, the service is pretty slow. Positives:

1.

The only negatives were slow play and lots of construction going on

They were very slow and not accommodating.

Shuttles are slow and waited 45 minutes to be shuttled from the Sunset back to the Pacifica.

Make sure you ask for face wash cloths and hand towels up front or you won’t get them. 6.

Towels were replaced in the room with no wash clothes.

but they didn't always have access to towels.

Housekeeping does not do anything special, no towels in the shape of animals, chocolates, flowers or special notes.

The towels are falling apart and are very rough (old).

Try to get to the pool early or claim a chair with a towel and a book or some magazines before you head to breakfast.

As a result had to go to the pool to get towels for a shower.

When we first arrived our room was missing towels and robes

Day after day he greeted us with towels and made sure to offer us chairs and umbrellas in our preferred seating area.

Maid service- for some reason they would NEVER refill all the towels and only provide us 1-2 towels upon the refresh- no hand or face towels .

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