We just came back from a 6 day, 6 night vacation at the Riu Palace Las Americas (RPLA). It was our best family vacation so far. I traveled with my husband and 4.5 month old son.

Location/Atmosphere: This is definetely the place to be for a relaxing vacation. It's not party central, but not boring either. The beach alone is enough... I'll get to that. The hotel itself is amazing; the architecture is incredible. There is marble/granite everywhere: lobby, guest rooms, bathrooms, restuarants, etc. The RPLA is located right in the center of the hotel zone, about 15 min from the airport. We went for a walk a couple days and it was just minutes away from a mall (right across the street, actually), a flea market (remember to haggle...), Starbucks, and tons of other hotels. We stopped into the Riu Cancun resort next door and it was definetly a big different: much louder, a lot more smoking, less classy, much younger croud.

Rooms: All the rooms are gorgeous. We asked at the front desk and they upgraded us to a waterfront room (almost all the rooms are waterfront anyways). There is a seperate living area removed by a couple steps. The beds were actually incredibly comfortable. They were a little harder than here, but the extra support was very nice.

Beach/Pool: One word: Gorgeous. The water is crystal clear and the sand is soft and white. You have to see it to believe it. It looks just like it does in the pictures.

Food: The food was amazing. Almost everything we tried was excellent. For an all inclusive in Mexico, this place has way above average food. We tried all the restaurants except the Japanese. We greatly enjoyed every one, expect the Krystal (Sir Arthur) restuarant (gormet, French). The food quality was excellent, but it just wasn't our thing. A lot of people didn't know that you could do the buffet or the Los Arcos for lunch (no reservations required).

Overall, it was an excellent vacation and an excellent place to stay.

we just returned from 6 days at rpla, it was our first trip to cancun. we have defiantly found a wonderful destination:) check in was great, we received a lovely (free) upgraded room after asking for an ocean view with balcony. the food was plentiful and delicious; we especially liked the japanese and new krystal restaurant. the hotel itself was beautiful and spotless as other people have mentioned. i am not sure what smell people are complaining about, the islands are very humid and i guess it could be a smell some people are not use to. the only foul odor that i did notice was near the bar by the entertainment pool and one evening at the lounge bar....seems like someone had too much to drink and couldn't handle it. we are not ones to hang out at the actual bar so it didn't really bother us. the ocean was gorgeous with water as crystal clear as trunks bay in the virgin islands. we didn't have any problems with sea lice but did wear the sea safe. check out was just as smooth and the hotel let us use the restaurants and amenities till 4pm as we had a late flight. we will defiantly go back to rpla again, it was the most relaxing vacation we have had yet. enjoy your trip:)

Just got back from a six day stay with my husband, 18 yr old daughter and her friend. This was my first time staying in Mexico so I really didn't know what to expect, but we absolutely loved it. Having been to Hawaii several times and the Caribbean, I would recommend this hotel over anywhere we've stayed in the Caribbean. We are pretty picky and we were very happy with the oceanview junior suites that overlooked the pool. The rooms are quite spacious and the bathroom is nice and roomy with double sinks. The mini bar in the room is replenished every day and there are also four bottles of alcohol in the room. This was our first time at an all-inclusive and we ate and drank anytime we wanted, and the food was very good. I also have never seen such attentive, friendly hotel staff. The service was absolutely incredible whether in the restaurants or at the pool or the front desk. It was such a pleasure to be in a place where you were really treated as a first class guest. The only thing I would warn people about is the rather backward system they have for getting a reservation in one of the restaurants (rather than eating at the buffet). You have to stand in a rather long line when you get there to make a reservation, and there is one person with a book and a pen checking to see where you can get a table for each night that you are there. We couldn't even get a reservation for our first two nights because everything was booked. However, the buffet is really just as good as any of the restaurants, so we really didn't mind. Overall this was one of the best vacations we've had and the cheapest--only $2,500 for the six night stay with everything included. Our teenagers were a little bored at our hotel, but you have privileges at the Riu Cancun right next store which is a little more happening, so they went over there during the day and at night and had a great time. The hotel also sponsors trips to all the clubs, and we felt very safe having the girls go out with this escorted group. There were plenty of pool and beach chairs to go around, but if you want primo spots by the pool, you do need to go down at around 7 a.m. with your towels and claim your chairs. Then you can go back to bed or to breakfast and have your spot reserved for you. Since the towel desk may not be open at that time, simply get fresh towels when you go up to your room each afternoon and use them in the morning--I like to also bring a personal item so that I can easily recognize my chairs. The pools are wonderful, and the pool bars keep the drinks coming, even serving you while you're swimming. The location is also great because you are in walking distance (5 minutes or less) of all the big clubs (Coco Bongo, Hard Rock, Dady O's), and there is a shopping mall right across the street. I've read some of the negative reviews and it's hard to believe they're talking about the same hotel. I would highly recommend the Riu Palace to anyone.

What a great vacation! This resort looks exactly like it does in the brochure, better in person in fact. Gazing out over the infinity pool when you enter the lobby is almost breathtaking!

I want to say this early -- I honestly, not for a minute, can believe any complaints about this hotel. It has a light aroma like most tropical resorts in humid climates and you don't even notice it after about 2 minutes. I didn't smell any cleaning chemicals or anything else mentioned on previous profiles -- maybe their management has made some improvements. The beds were totally acceptable and the service was beyond fantastic. We got fresh towels and a mini-bar reload within minutes of making our request.

Entertainment for the Single 30's Crowd
Here is some info that might be helpful. I was there with a girlfriend from college. We timed our trip after Spring Break, hoping to find someone in our general age range to flirt with and share a drink before dinner. This is very much a "couples" resort and the pool bars close at 6:00 (I kid you not!). One outside bar stayed open, but I never saw more than 5 or six seats taken in the evenings. The disco at the neighboring Riu Cancun was full of 14-17 year olds. Senior Frogs (and other simlar clubs) catered to the under-25 crowd and we honestly could not find a fun, casual beach bar with other 30/40 year old singles. We're beyond the "upside-down tequila shooter" stage of our lives, but it would have been nice to find SOMETHING to do after 9:00 at night. Margaritaville is a short bus ride away (65 cents), but was extremely quiet when we were there.

That said, if anyone from Andrew's "birthday" party reads this, ask his dad for our contact info. Thank goodness you arrived when you did or we would have been bored to death!!! You guys were all great!!!

Sun
No shortage of sun the week we were there -- cloudless skies and warm breezes. There was plenty of sun on the beach until well after 5:00 pm, and you could still find sunny patches as late as 6:00. I am a seasoned beach veteran, but this was HOT even for me. We alternated between beach (early morning), pool-side lounges (late am/afternoon), then back to the beach in the later part of the day. We did put down our towels around 7:15 each morning, but that's cuz I was fixated on getting a front-row view of the ocean. There were always loungers to be found all during the day (but some were further back). The beach had tons of loungers available all day. We never had a problem.

Food
I agree -- the guacamole was to die for! I even ate it on my scrambled eggs in the morning. The fresh juices are delicious, cool and detoxifying! Neither of us got sick, but we were careful to avoid drinking/brushing teeth from the sink due to the warning stickers in the bathroom. (One guy took an aspirin with tap water and ended up in the hospital from dysentary dehydration -- probably not a coincidence.) The menu changed in the buffett every night, and some of the stuff was the same, but it was all good and there were plenty of choices. No, it's not Manhattan cuisine, but it is MUCH better than average from an all-inclusive. The lamb at the steakhouse was excellent, actually. The wine is surprisingly good as well. No worries about the ice they use for drinks as it's all made from bottled or filtered water. Of course, this only occurred to me after my second pina colada.

Tipping
I read the other online comments, but no one gave details. Here's what we found out. Don't tip big at the beginning of the day. We did that twice and the servers changed on us about two hours later. We just gave them a dollar for each round, so they got immediate rewards for their efforts, but we didn't feel taken advantage of. And considering the number of rounds we drank, they faired pretty well at the end of the day. We tipped the maids $1-$2 every day, but didn't get anything special and only one towel animal :-(

All in all, this was an amazing vacation. The location near shopping was great, the weather was perfect, and the food/drinks were above expectations. We took the one-day excursion to Chichen Itza and Victor, our tour guide, was passionate about his career. As the song "Mexico" goes, "The sun was so hot, I forgot to go home." And now I get it!