My Boyfriend and I went to the Riu Palace Macao on 19th May for a 2 week stay. We travelled with Thomson. We went to the North of the Dominican 2 years ago and stayed at the Riu Merengue so we knew what great service we would receive again staying with Riu. The outbound flight was without doubt more comfortable since Thomson extended the legroom to 33". The only disappointing part of the flight would have to be the meals. The Aldo Zilli food is not great but is better than nothing.
When you arrive at Punta Cana airport some ladies dressed in Dominican costumes will get everyone to have their pictures taken with them. They will be available to buy in the departure lounge when you leave. I think they cost around $10. When you get your luggage and head for the coaches there are lots of men hanging around wanting to carry your cases for you. They will keep asking you for your cases but if you say no politely they will leave you alone. The coach takes about 40 minutes to the hotel. When we arrived at the hotel we were taken into the lounge and given a cocktail, told a bit about the hotel and given our room information. One of the bellboys brought our cases up to the room. They really appreciate a little tip.
The rooms are very spacious with two queen size beds, satellite tv, air conditioning, iron and board and a safe. There are full size optics in the room as they have in all Riu hotels. There is also a mini fridge with pepsi, 7 up, orange, soda, tonic and beers and water. The fridge is filled up every day and the optics every two. On your first night you have to go the restaraunt and tell them which dinner sitting you want to go to. Our choice were 6.30 and 8.30. There are speciality restaraunts to choose from. You have to book these in the morning. We stayed in the buffet restaraunt and we really enjoyed the food. There is plenty of choice and I can recommend the chocolate cakes! You have your own waiter at dinner. Our waiter was called Villi. He was really good and very friendly. They all work so hard - most from breakfast at 7am to after dinner at 10.30. The entertainment is mainly dancing and shows were the audience participate. You get waiter service day and night.
The pool area was lovely. You may need to reserve sunbeds before breakfast if you like a certain spot. We found we had to as many people had reserved their spots before 8am!
We mainly stayed by the pool during the day and went to the beach later in the afternoon. The beach is wonderful! Lovely white sands and clear water. It is paradise! Be careful in the sea, the waves can get quite strong and can push you over quite easily.
The hotel is a lovely place to stay. We really enjoyed our stay. The staff are very friendly and always check if you are ok and if you need a drink!
The people who were there when we stayed were from all over the world. America, Canada, Spain, Germany and the UK.
This is the ideal hotel for anyone who wants a relaxing break away from it all. Just lie in the sun and enjoy!

My boyfriend and I (early 20s) just returned from a 5-night vacation at the RIU Macao and had a fabulous time! This was my second trip to Punta Cana (previously staying at the Iberostar Punta Cana).

We had booked through Apple Vacations, which included a transfer from airport to hotel (word of warning - once you collect your baggage and head off to your buses, there will be many guys trying to grab your bags to carry 20 feet to your booking agency stand to get a tip - you don't need to give your bags to them, you can carry them the 20 feet yourself). Travel to the hotel was a bit bumpy and fast, but nothing worse than being in a NYC taxicab...

Arrived at the RIU Macao around 2:30 pm. Check-in was quick and easy and our room was ready for us. Also got a welcome drink..All front desk staff were all smiles and very friendly, and spoke enough English to get your questions adequately answered.

Room was nice, bedspread and shower showed some age, but everything was very clean. Maid service was great, room was always clean and stocked with fresh bath towels and new towel art everyday. Mini-fridge was also always stocked.

The entire staff was extremely friendly and nice. We did not pass anyone without getting an 'hola', and all the staff members we encountered really seemed to want to do everything possible to make your vacation experience great.

The food was good. The Japanese ala carte restaurant was, in my opinion, outstanding (our favorite - we went twice), and the breakfast buffet was also very good. Lunch was decent, we tried the caribe grill and the buffet by the pool (stuck mainly with the buffet by the pool because of the outstanding pizza!) - the food was a bit heavy and greasy to me (all the buffets), but I was fine with it - my boyfriend loved it all. We ate dinner at the buffet (El Patio) the first night we arrived and were extremely impressed with the atmosphere and service - very pleasing to the eye. Men do have to wear long pants here. Aside from Japanese, we also tried the Caribe Grill and the Mediterranean restaurant for dinner - these were ok. Caribe grill was nice because it was on the beach, therefore you get a nice breeze, and the food was decent. Didn't really care for Mediterranean - my chicken dinner was overly burnt and I wouldn't recommend the lobster bisque soup, but again, this didn't really bother us (we just decided not to go again). The service at every meal, buffet or ala carte, was outstanding. My drink would never even reach half empty - someone was always coming around to refill water, wine, or soda. Some waiters didn't understand much english, but truly worked hard to make your meal enjoyable, and were always available if you needed anything. Reservations for the ala carte restaurants (4 of them) are made in the morning (between 8 and 10:30 am) in the breakfast buffet - 2 separate seating times, usually 6:30 and 8:30 or 9 pm. We usually made reservations around 9:30 or 10 am and only once had a problem (Caribe grill was all booked for the later seating, but we were able to get a table for the earlier seating).

The drinks were outstanding and had a great selection and variety - from various martinis, to frozen drinks, to mixed drinks - all were very good and they definitely don't skimp on the alcohol, but if you want some more, just ask!

The entertainment staff works extremely hard, and I thought they were great - we saw 3 shows (10 pm) which I very much enjoyed. They also did a great job of entertaining at the pool.

We spent most of our time at the beach, and never had a problem finding beach chairs or space. Went to the pool once, in the middle of the day, and easily found two seats (although I would advise to get chairs early if you plan on staying at the pool all day).

Although you don't have to, we did tip..no one is ever pushy or makes you feel like you must tip, but we did because of the great service we were getting (and because of the meager wages and long hours these people put in). A few dollars goes a long way, and they are always very grateful...

There were a couple minor issues, but nothing that seriously bothered us. The entire resort was apparently having trouble with the AC in the rooms, but our room luckily wasn't so bad - not as cold as it should have been, but definitely tolerable (ceiling fans helped) as we really only were in the room to sleep (and by night time it was cold enough to sleep with a sheet or more). The first night we arrived we called the front desk about the AC not being up to par, and within 5 minutes a friendly maintenance man was up to look at it (whatever he did, it did cool the room off). Same thing the second night, and after that the room seemed cooler for the remainder of our trip. Again, this wasn't too serious for us as we didn't spend much time in the room and it wasn't that hot to begin with.

Other than the AC, the electric outlets are a bit different in the rooms - they fit American plugs, but if the plug has a fat base it won't fit. Some of my plugs fit, my hairdryer plug didn't, but I used the hairdryer in the room, which worked fine. I did go down to the front desk when my camera charger plug didn't fit to see about borrowing a power strip or something - the front desk knew what I was talking about but said that he didn't have one available - instead I left my charger with them to charge, which was fine.

Overall, we loved the RIU Macao, it is a great resort with great people and we would definitely return!

I stayed a the Riu Palace in Punta Cana, Dom Rep from June 20-24th, 2008. Do not be alarmed by the drive to a beautiful resort. The local scenery was very dirty and unattractive. However, the resort itself was very beautiful. My first impression of the room was clean but smelled like mildew because of the humid climate. Everything in the room was wet making a good nights rest uncomfortable. There was plenty to drink with alcohol in the rooms and a refrigerator to store additional items. The buffet was displayed very nicely but the flies sampled everything ruining the appearance. The staff was friendly at the resort until it was time to shop. They were very aggressive while tempting to sell overpriced and outdated merchandise making the shopping very uncomfortable and tiresome. Do not rely on off resort shopping. The experience was unfriendly and rude almost to the point where I felt as if they would physically harm me if I did not make a purchase. There was inconsistent pricing from guest to guest and the hospitality short-lived if you gave a sense of browsing. There were times when I was not given my change back and the taxi driver tried to charge my friend and I $20 for a ride to the next resort. With this, I would not advise leaving the resort without a male escort. There was plenty to do and much fun as you make it. I loved the pool area, the outdoor bar and the view. You may get hungry throughout the night because the 24 hour food in the Sports Bar was old and unsanitary. I would recommend the stay for the price but would probably reconsider because of some of the negative hospitality.

This will be a pretty long one (sorry)... but I utilize Trip Advisor so much and appreciate details details details... so here we go.

We stayed at the RIU Palace Macao 05/08/08 through 05/14/08. I booked a package through Spirit Airlines in January '08. In March '08 my parents decided to go with us. When I saw the package price had gone down by $300, I called Spirit Airlines. They couldn't give me a refund, but they used the $300 as a credit to secure a room upgrade and a ATV Excursion for us. (AWESOME!!). When we arrived at the RIU Macao, I did ask if our rooms could be fairly close together for convenience and they ended up upgrading my folks at no charge so we could room right next door to each other. What a wonderful start to our trip and example of their level of customer service.

Our rooms were really nice in my opinion. The "King Size Bed" was 2 fullsize pushed together with one big headboard..but so what?? It made for one giganic / enormous bed!. Yes, it was fairly hard, but I prefer a really hard matress so it worked out great. The woodwork is very pretty and there was a substantial size closet all trimmed out in the same mahogany. The stocked mini-bar and liquor dispensers were an awesome amenity. I removed the things out of the mini-fridge that we knew we wouldn't drink and just lined them up at the side of the dresser. The maids never removed them (I think it helped them remember that we didn't want them...and not think we had just drank them), but from that point forward, they only restocked the refrigerator with the what we actually did drink. It had a great balcony overlooking the pool with a couple chairs and a pull out towel rack where we hung wet swimsuits and shorts. We really enjoyed the balcony early in the morning with a cup of coffee waiting for everyone to get up and around... and then at the end of the day with a cocktail from our mini-bar, just enjoying chatting about our day.

The pool was small, but really nice. Since it is so small, I think people with children pretty much steer towards staying at the other resorts....all in all I think I saw about 6 kids total while we stayed there.

The beach was just beautiful. It truly looked like the ocean was illuminated from the bottom...it was that bright of an aqua. Even with full on surf / waves...it was still so clear that you could always see at least down to your knees or feet. In your first couple days, make sure you get up at least once early enough to run down to the beach to see the sunrise...I did not do it until our last day and really regret it...it was the most beautiful thing I had seen and I wished I could have started each day that way. Probably my favorite thing about the beach is that the RIU complex has done a wonderful job of making the beach look very "underdeveloped". With the groves and groves of palms, you can walk the beaches and never really notice the other resorts. Almost like you were on an very exclusive island. I love that... I hate walking the beach an only seeing nothing but high rise after high rise, and developement after developement.

I have to say the entire staff at the RIU Macao made the trip what it was - but a special note for:
Antonito:
A waiter at the poolside bar, was hugely entertaining. Very enthusiastic (I LOVE MY JOB!!!) and laughed and sang and danced his way through the day, making sure you were not in need of a single thing.
Leonarda:
A beautiful lady who seemed to oversee every detail. On day 1 she asked our room number so she could make note of our preferred dinner seating time. From that day forward, when I might come make a reservation or something, she would just look at me for a minute and then say: Rooms 3316 and 3317, correct? I was blown away. She was super efficient and yet, took time to visit with different tables as if we were the only ones she cared about. What a treat she was and such an asset to the RIU Macao - Bless you Leonarda!
Edwardo -
Bless our waiter, Edwardo....he was such a good sport, putting up with constant teasing from my husband and father... but he always had our table set up with our drinks almost before we even got to it.

A seemingly controversial topic: Yes, we tipped. We gladly tipped. The extra $15 a day is (in reality) a fairly minor expense during a vacation, but means alot to the staff financially. Note: If you take an excursion like the Bavaro Runners or ATV where you might see local children, it is so worth it to pack small snack ziplocks with candy to pass out (treats are obviously few and far between in their culture where money is spent on necessities and essentials of life). They were so appreciative and once you gave one out, they would hollar and I have never seen kids run so fast in my life. What a humbling reward to see such grateful enthusiasm in this world where most of our kids just act "entitled".

Some misc. details:
Per some of the suggestions on the forum, we took insulated mugs: 52 oz Bubba Kegs, and everywhere we went, someone wanted to buy them off of us. The bartenders were happy to fill them up for us instead of the small cups they usually make drinks in. One bartender said "more fun for you...less work for me!". You can get insulated mugs anywhere.. but the Bubba Kegs were just a hoot and conversation starter. We got ours at Sports Authority, but I have also seen them at Dicks, Gander Mtn, WalMart and Garts Sports. Walmart had the ones with a beer bottle opener built right into the handle. My husband enjoyed his 52 oz beer and I usually filled mine with ice out of the icemachine at the hotel and water. They worked great..even after all day on the beach, I still had plenty of ice water at night. To note a personal preference; If you drink cocktails with Rum - you might ask the bartender to use the White Rum (Blanco). The dark "house" rum tended to make several people in our party kinda naseaus by the end of the day...when we switched up to requesting only white rum...the problems disappeared. I think it is just more pure.

Dress Code:
Men were definitely required to wear long pants at dinner(we bought my husband linen slacks - lightweight and very "resort'ish"..he loves them) I did see them turn a ton of guys away over the course of the week because they tried to wear shorts to dinner.. My husband took casual loafers to wear. For the most part I can't say I noticed what people wore on their feet...We didn't take any chances on the sandals... but I don't know if they turned anyone away over shoes... and it was only Dinner, you can get away with pretty much anything for Breakfast and Lunch

Food:
The buffet was phenomenal... Next time we won't even mess with the ala cartes. They had about 12 buffet tables in the main room: each one dedicated to a specific "item": desserts (my moms favorite), icecream, salads, cold cuts, breads (which was awesome!), cheeses (my second favorite!!), a carving station, pasta station, seafood station, additional hot meat and vegetable dishes etc.....As for the Ala Cartes: The steakhouse.. well, we are from Kansas and are used to 1"+ thick steaks...we could have stacked all 4 steak on top of each other and still wouldn't have hit 1" . We didn't try the Japanese place, but several people we knew that did said it was awful.. one even got food poisoning. I didn't try the Caribbean Grill because I don't like seafood..but if you like calamari and such, others thought it was pretty good... but the buffet was awesome. For a more casual lunch - the buffet right off of the pool opens at 11:30 (I think) and it was a nice change of pace with pizza, salads, hamburgers and desserts. They had awesome (AWESOME!!)Bruschetta (toasted bread with marinated tomatos). We did that 3 different days

Souvenirs:
Caribbean Street is close for shopping...but very $$$$$ and the shops at the RIU Palace is neat but very $$$$. About a mile up the beach (to the right if you are facing the ocean) are tons of local shops - Bargain bargain bargain...you should get them down to about half what the original cost is. If you buy a bottle of Mamajuana... (you will hear all about Mamajauna from your reps...or ask the bartenders.. it is the Dominican Viagra ;-)) .. make sure you order a round from Anonito!! .. you can get a bottle in an engraved leather case that makes a pretty cool, authentic looking souvenir..BUT DO NOT FILL IT!. The local store owner told me I wouldn't get it through customs without filling it with the rum/wine/honey mixture.... well that makes a "open container" so I decided to risk it and didn't do it. Worth a note is at the PC airport... they didn't search the bag I had the bottle in (since it didn't contain liquid, I put it in my carryon bag so if someone tried to take it - I could argue with them about why). When I went through customs in the US, he stopped me and then let me go on "because it didn't have liquor in it"... I told him what the local sales guy said and he just shook his head. Note: there were several people getting their souvenirs confiscated at the Punta Cana Airport: Anything woven with "fresh" banana leaves (hats, purses etc)... because they contain mites (my dad bought one and they took it from him...and we laughed that they were just going to sell it again). Any open liquor bottles....etc.

All in all we had an awesome trip - was the most beautiful place I have ever been. Thank you RIU Macao and staff... you made our stay unforgetable!