Hotel Riu Palace Aquarelle

The room service assigned to my room was excellent and did a wonderful job and very pleasant and personable, I cannot remember her name but I was in Room 103 from the dates Feb 19- 23. I also want to make special mention of Pearson and Darren who are bar tenders for the swim up bar. They made sure to remember your name and addressed you by it. Acknowledging you and ensuring you were okay and being helped and receiving excellent customer service . We spent quite some time by the swim up bar because of their drinks and excellent service

We travelled as a family group of 8 and had a very good time. For a large resort - everything went smoothly. Our room was on the 10th floor, ocean view. Housekeeping was perfect - including a nightly turn down. We never had to wait very long for an elevator (there were 4) and the floor we were on was relatively quiet. Food was fantastic at the buffet. Good variety and quality. Lots of a la carte dining as well. Best - wonderful staff, 100% cleanliness everywhere, restaurant and bars. Not so much - the beach is pretty but there are large rocks underwater not too far from shore and lots of sea ****. Really bad - noisy, smelly water craft for rent that the vendors blast up and down the shore continuously. Because it's a new property the palms are too small for shade so beach umbrellas are at a premium. Very little shade throughout the property.

I loved everything about this resort from the people to the food the beach etc. I’m most definitely coming back I even have some friends booking now after I told them how much I enjoyed myself

Best 10 days at Riu palace aquarelle! Came here to celebrate my 30th birthday and I did exactly that! From the reception staff being so accommodating to the food 😍! And a massive thank you to the entertainment team. Raheem, Lily, Tiana, Rooster, loyd, Shavoy, Miguel and the rest! You all deserve a pay rise from the pool parties, games, fitness classes and evening entertainment. God bless you all. Such a beautiful experience from start to finish thank you!

The building is nice, it's new and they are maintaining it - decorators and gardeners are hard at work. Gardens are pretty and the beach is picturesque but It's very very busy here! the size of the space can accommodate it but if you are looking for any kind of tranquility this hotel is not for you (it follows the Jamaican way and is a bit of a party place). There is a lack of lifts in the building, there are 11 floors in the hotel and the queues were often long / lifts were over crowded at peak times. There are three pools and a kids splash park......all pools get busy and loud, there are lots of sunbeds but it felt very packed in. In the morning the place is clean and tidy but by lunch time it's pretty chaotic and they can't really keep on top of it from a cleanliness perspective. There aren't enough toilets to serve all pools, there were often queues and a not so pleasant smell surrounding the toilet block. The floors around the pool get really dirty by midday and the tables are not cleared away, it feels quite unhygienic by the end of the day but it is down to the sheer volume of people here (hundreds!). Doesn't help that the gardeners walk mud around the pool edge when emptying their wheel barrows (which I found odd) and use the pool showers to clean off their gardening equipment. There is a pool snack bar but it doesn't open until lunch time and is very limited. There is a lack of ice cream or chips etc near the pool (there is a shop that charges $12 for a tub of pringles, best avoided!). You can't take any drinks into the kids splash park, not even soft drinks which I found odd as there were sunbeds and tables surrounding the splash pool. Main pools were supposed to open at 8am but this could have been 8.15, 8.30 or closer to 9am some days in typical laid back Jamaican fashion, not a concern because if you were desperate for a dip the beach is available. The entertainment team here are fun & friendly and there is always a lot going on. Evening entertainment is brilliant too. Reggae bands and shows etc. Food overall is just ok. The buffet restaurant has a lot of choice but the food is just ok (it's not five star Dubai but it's alright). The themed restaurants definitely aren't a la carte quality but you can at least sit down and order from a menu, drinks and menu are limited to just a few options and there are no kids menus but the food is better than the buffet. Sports bar, wouldn't bother eating there the food is pre prepared and is not good. There is a coffee and cake stand in the lobby which is basic but handy. Room service is terrible, limited menu and poor quality food (stale left overs). Service is ok, generally most workers are polite and helpful but some were rude and unaccommodating. Tipping goes a long way here to get good service (which is frustrating because it goes against the rationale for tipping but I get it, poor salaries, long hours etc). You don't tend to queue for drinks as there are loads of bar staff. The

I was impressed by the staff at this hotel, everyone from the front desk, the housekeeping staff to the entertainment staff was friendly, attentive, caring, fun, hard working! The hotel itself is great with a beach, several pools, waterslides, scheduled activities all day and night, but it was the staff that was over the top awesome and made our stay incredible. Five Stars!