I stayed at the Rui Palace.
Great beach, mold in room my clothes still smell. I room where not what a five star should be. I was only there for 3 nights and am glad that was all. When you got into bed at night your sheets were damp. the service was terrible. The food was not great. I was glad to see a Wendy's at the airport when we were leaving. Would not recommend this hotel to anyone. The rating should be a 2 star not a 3 star.

We just returned from a week at the Riu Palace Macao. I used this site alot when planning my trip, so I thought I would share some info!
We had an amazing week in Dominican! The staff were all so friendly and always had smiles on there faces. The staff were right there to take your drink order as soon as you sat down, and on the beach they came by constantly for drinks. Our waitress for supper was also really good!
The food was actually really quite good. The only A la carte we went to was the Caribe Grill and it was great! The location of this restaurant on the beach was beautiful. We usually ate lunch at the Internacional restaurant because it was close to the beach.
The BEACH was amazing! Lots of great palms to find shade under, but also lots of good hot spots in the sun. I would suggest "reserving" a spot if there is somewhere specific that you want to be. But if we didn't feel like putting our towels down at 7am, there were always spots anytime of the day. The water was so nice and clear, with hardly any seaweed. This resort seemed to have the nicest beach we saw when we were walking along the shore.
The entertainment/shows were all right, not the greatest, but still enjoyable! The Caribbean street festival was alot of fun!
Didn't go in the casino at all.
The room was decent, we had a horrible view of a roof, but you don't spend much time there anyway. Bed was comfy, but the bottom sheet was not stretch/fitted and always slid off.
We had no hot water for a few days, but there was a problem with the heater, and it was so hot out a cold shower was refreshing. We heard people complaining about this like you wouldn't believe ... get over it!
Pool was also really nice, very refreshing on those hot afternoons! Pool bar had VERY good service!
As for the watersports, we only went kayaking. It was fun, but the lifejackets always smelled really bad :S

Overall I definitly recommend this resort to anyone. There was no disco, so maybe not it your a young group of guys/girls. But for couples, honeymooners, families the Riu Palace Macao is wonderful.

We stayed at the Rio Palace Macao from April 21st - April 28th.
We had a wonderful time and I cannot say enough good about the service and the staff. They were amazing. We do not speak any Spanish but found most of them could speak some English and all could manage to communicate with us.
The room was perfect - I could not believe how quiet it was. The room was kept very clean and we had lots of towels, facecloths, pillows, and blankets. The air conditioning worked well.
The food was always good - the buffet was so good that we only tried the Japanese food once - it was good but with so much selection in the buffet we didn't try any of the others.
We never had any problem getting a chair on the beach or in the shade it we chose. The bar service on the beach was fine - I never had to get up to go to the bar someone always came and asked if I wanted a drink.
We did the Monster Truck Safari and that was worth the money. It gave us a good view of the country - It was nice to meet someone so knowledgeable about his country and so proud of it. We learned a lot - Thank you Sam.
The beach was wonderful and we enjoyed long walks on the sand.
Caribbean Street shopping was really good and although we didn't require the services of a Doctor I felt secure knowing one was so close.
The Animation group were a lot of fun and we enjoyed the entertainment nightly. They were certainly very energetic.
We will definitely stay at the Rio Palace Macao when we visit the Dominican again. Linda

This was our 6th trip to Punta Cana, so obviously we LOVE it there. We had stayed at the Riu Bambu (next door) 4 times and at another Riu in Cancun a few years ago. Riu hotels have always been wonderful places to stay. However, at this particular hotel we encountered some problems. First of all, ocean view does not exist. It should be called "pool view". The palm trees block the view of the ocean. This is not all that bad, but still I think they should clarify what you are getting. The main issue that we had was the air conditioning. There were six of us in our group and we all had the same issues. The room never seemed to cool down below 85, but a good ceiling fan helped. Our fan barely turned, so I reported it to be fixed or replaced. I was promised that it would be done in 2 hours, but when it was still not fixed by the next day at 4 pm, they simply moved us to another room. Somewhat of a hassle, but at least that fan worked well which was a good thing because the air conditioning in that room was not any better than the other.
The next main issue that I had was with the elevators. They did not seem safe at all! There were 2 and one would actually drop several inches on the way up from the first floor, especially with 4 people in them. I was very uncomfortable on them and would only ride with my husband. If it stopped for other people, I would get off and go down the steps.
The buffet was excellent, but I don't think the specialy restaurants were anything special.
Now for the good review..........
the beach, my favorite in all the Caribbean, is heavenly!! No where have I found the number of palm trees on a beach like at the Riu hotels in Punta Cana!! (not all hotels are in the palm tree grove, but the Riu Palace Macao, Riu Bambu and Riu Punta Cana Palace are) You can be in the sun or under a palm tree with that beautiful white sand, gorgeous aquamarine water, and a wonderful breeze. Paradise!!!!
We did have beach bar service and the servers came around every 15 minutes or so. We brought insulated mugs from home that they would fill with whatever we wanted---coca lite (diet coke), beer, Miami vice, etc.
We are already planning our next trip to Punta Cana, but we plan to stay at the Riu Punta Cana Palace. It looks like the Taj Majal!!