We stayed at the Riu Cancun from 29.7.08 - 12.8.08 2 couples in their late thirties.

Flight – with Thomson no delays and no problems paid the £5 to upgrade this enabled us to watch extra films and was worth it, long flight but it’s a means to an end, on way back as it was a night flight got given blanket, neck rest and eye pads needed it plane very cold.

Hotel – Had no complaints with Hotel at all, everything was excellent we had lovely rooms 720/721 sea view and pool view. Managed to flood bathroom, break TV, block toilet all in first 24 hours and they where fixed instantly by smiling staff, they really couldn’t do enough for you.
Go to the Thomson welcome meeting just to meet the Entertainment guy, okayyyyyyyy, extra charge never laughed so much.

Food – I thought food was excellent you would need to be a fussy eater not to find something to suit, Breakfast was great lovley smoothies freshly made and they have themed evenings – Mexican, Asian, French, Italian etc, also try out the restaurant by the beach at night it becomes “The Mission” where they cook steak, chicken and other meats for you and you sit in the restaurant overlooking the sea very romantic, nice and peaceful.
We went to the Brazilian we didn’t like it 7 courses of meat dishes, we walked out half way as I really couldn’t face another peace of meat, couldn’t get a reservation for the Japanese but heard others say that was very good.

Bars – Lobby bar had loads of different cocktails to try and every drink you could imagine, the waiters where so quick as soon as you put glass down they where getting you another drink, we where so impressed with all the staff they where excellent.
Sports Bar only went in there once but seemed ok, has the internet access, TV’s for sports games and arcade games for the kids, but no windows.
Bars in entertainment areas very good, quick service you also have waiters constantly going around asking you what you want.

Entertainment – Each night they have different shows on in the Theatre bar these are put on by entertainment staff who work realy hard, they also have Karaoke before the shows start and entertainment for the children, we went a few evenings and it was good fun.
We also tried the disco Pacha but left after 12 as we seemed to be the oldest in their, but ok for an hour if you want a little dance!!!
Loads of clubs about 5 mins walk away if you want to go out for the night, Coco-Bongs, Carlos & Charlie’s, Daddy O’s, Hard rock Café, Senior Frogs,etc. Just be careful if you are walking around at night with children we where offered hard drugs every time we went for a walk, and hassled but a firm No does the trick, l just personally didn’t think it was a nice place for younger children after 10.00pm.
Look out for the Entertainment guy again especially when he does the Football World Cup…………

Pools – Quite pool around the side, very nice if you want to get away from kids, but does loose the sun about 2pm. Activity pools good fun for people who want to be involved in all the day time fun, top pool holds scuba diving lessons and it looks out to sea, all pools very nice and warm.
Swim up bar pool, this has been slated in previous reviews and on a few occasions it did look a different colour, but it was given a good clean half way through and didn’t look much different to the other pools, we went in a few times and it is very lively with plenty going on, a good place for people watching………….

Beach – Was quite disappointed with the bottom end of the Beach although beautiful white sand, i found several large peaces of glass on two different occasions, and in places it is very stony when you try to get in to the sea, we got round this by wearing beach shoes, this made a big difference as the sea is beautiful when you finaly get in.
But on our second week we found if you walk to the top of the beach by the Riu Palace it is beautiful sand straight into the sea, you can see fish swimming around you and we where feeding them bread, we even saw 2 stingrays, defiantly best part of beach to be on, you can also get a sunbed very easily without getting up at the crack of dawn,
We hired jet ski’s $60 for 40mins and went paragliding which was fantastic for $105 this lasted 20mins and you got to stay on the speedboat while other couples had a go.

Trips-
Only did one with Thomson Rep and that was the Bar Crawl, excellent you get a VIP section in each bar and your drinks are free, it cost $50 and was great fun, well worth a night out and Anthony the rep is a lovely guy.
We went to Talum/X-Hal lovely views and the snorkelling in X-Hal was amazing, Jungle Trip which is a speed boat trip through the mangroves then 40 mins snorkelling again great, Isle of Mijuras beautiful island we went on golf buggy around island then a boat trip to the bays, the beach there is fantastic like a little Caribbean island well worth a visit, we also went on the Pirate night trip, this was good fun and great if you have kids as the pirates do the most fantastic stunts and the 3 ships meet and as a finale have a big fight, good night out.
We booked our trips across the road in the mall and saved a fortune on what Thomson wanted to charge and really didn’t have a bad trip, in fact we had more fun on the Isle of Mijuras trip as we where the only British and they where all Mexican they couldn’t do enough for us and made us feel like little celebrities.
Coco Bongos – felt a bit let down with this as when we got in we where standing and couldn’t see much and it was so packed, it took us 30 mins to find way out through crowds of people, this put us off so we did not go again, but we spoke to people and they said go early and tip your waiter and he will find you a seat, we got in their to late as all seats where took.

The only negatives about the holiday is the lifts only 4 lifts and they constantly get stuck or break, a little tip is do not over fill stick to 8, everyone we spoke to who got stuck had more than 8 in it.

The second negative is the time you need to get up to get a sun bed, on our first day we where jet lagged and up at 5.30am. l went down expecting to be the only one around but NO………..there where actually people around putting towels on sun beds, if you require a bed with a sun shade you need to put towels down by 6.30am to get a nice spot or by 7.00am they have all gone.
Don’t worry though there are plenty of beds on beach although no sun shade as they go early!! I have been abroad many times but never experienced having to get up so early to get a bed, l couldn’t even say people where not using the beds as my friend and l watched one morning and by 7.30 people where around using the beds and all the areas where busy.

We took American Dollars and changed it to Pesos when needed, everywhere takes American Dollars but they give you your change in pesos, so if you are going shopping change to Pesos in the lobby first it saves the confusion, also check your change in the mall, they tried to wrong change my friend twice.

Also use the bus service for 6 pesos you can go up and down the strip and the drivers are very good they will tell you when to get off we did this all holiday and had no problems they come ever few minutes from right outside the hotel.

Hope I haven’t rambled on the much, if I have missed anything give me a shout, have a great holiday.

Stayed at Riu Cancun in June for 2 weeks. Flew from Newcastle with Thomson, took us an astonishing 28 hours from leaving our house to get to the hotel. the delays we had to put up with were ridiculous and after complaining we got no where! we had to refuel in manchester as did other departures and its a lengthy stay on the tarmac so probably be easier just to fly direct from there. anyway once we got to the hotel and i'm talking after a long time with no sleep, we forgot about everything! the room was gorgeous, bed huge! view of the ocean - amazing! we didnt want to go to bed!!!!! as a fussy eater i have never had so much choice, i literally never had a bad meal and i dont even eat meat. we were so content with the buffet restaurant we only ate there the entire trip. beach was my favourite, i lazed about whilst my partner went up to the pool where i could see him from, due to the infinity type pool. swim up bar area we did not go into. full of really young americans and it had fag ends floating about, ugh. other pools were lovely though. we loved the strawberry daquoris, couldnt get enough! trips - pirate cruise, hilarious, great fun for all ages. isle mujeres. amazing. thomson trip was fully booked so they sent us to aqua tours which was much better. had a catameran with about 10 of us, we stayed together made great friends, swam with stingrays, sharks, dolphins, went ziplining at garafon which was out of this world amazing and snorkelled in the 2nd largest reef in the world. without doubt the most amazing thing i have ever done. stingrays are huge!!!!! a must do. hotel is located so good, coco bongos a must, shopping is excellent. just go its class!!!!!

My husband and I stayed at the Rui from Aug 3 - Aug 8. We read so many reviews of so many hotels that we discovered not one hotel had 100% good reviews. So, we chose the Riu and crossed our fingers. Luckily we picked the right hotel. The Riu is very large and beautiful. The beach is one of the best and biggest compared to the surrounding hotels. There are some rocky parts but plenty of places to swim. You do have to get up early and put a towel on the chairs if you want one under the shade. The staff at the hotel are wonderful. They work very hard to keep the hotel clean. They are pleasant and very helpful. Everyday our maid left us little animal figures made with towels. The view from our balcony was awesome. We could watch the sunrise right from our room. On the other side of the hotel you could watch the sunset. The rooms are a bit musty but that is from the humidity. The beds are firm but I got a very good night's sleep every night. We did not need a mattress pad. Our refridgerator was stocked every other day. As for the food, we ate at Don Juan's almost every night. It is a buffett and it has a different theme every night. They also have regular dishes that are available every night. I don't understand why people have complained about the food. You certainly don't have to eat the same dish every night when there is so much to choose from. Our waiter Edgar at Don Juan's was so polite that we made sure to sit in his section every time we went. We also ate at the Steak House which is also a buffet and also good. We did not eat at either of the specialty restaurants because we did not want to get up and stand in line at 7:00am to make reservations. We were happy enough with both of the buffets. The alcohol may not be premium but it does the trick. Who cares if you have to have a few extra drinks when they are all free? The bartender Juan Carlos at the bar outside the lobby was great. We did not step foot in the pool with the bar as the water did look a bit cloudy. We spent most of our time on the beautiful beach. The elevators can be a bit warm in the middle of the day and you do have to wait a few minutes in the peak hours of the day, but it wasn't really a big deal. You don't really spend that much time going up and down the elevator. We took the bus everywhere and there was one every few minutes. I won't say too much about our excursions because this is supposed to be about the hotel. Over all this hotel is amazing and when we return to Cancun, we won't think about staying anywhere else. Please tip the staff as they work very hard and do their best to please you. We took $200 in one dollar bills and were able to tip generously all week long. There were people that did not tip but received the same great service with a smile. If you appreciate what they do for you then tip them. They will definitely appreciate it.
On a side note, we did the Captain Hook's dinner cruise and it is something we will do every time in the future. It is a 3 hour cruise with dinner and all the drinks you want. The pirate show on the cruise is extremely funny and entertaining. Definitely worth the money. We ended up on the Red Ship with Captain Hook and it was a blast. Wish I could remember the captian's name. Also, if you have never been snorkeling, that is a must also.

My Husband & I just returned yesterday from the RIU. We have been to Cancun 5 times, this was our second trip to The Riu. We love It. There were just a couple of things I want to tell people about Nothing thats a Big Deal, cause the Place is Great ! First the Elevators are VERY SLOW, when one finally comes it is so packed that you choose not to get on it, we were on the 4th floor so it was not a big Deal to walk. Second Yes, the beds are Hard, but the maid quickly put a Topper on it & then it was Great. The Biggest issue I had was the lack of Chairs by the pool & on the Beach, this is not a huge deal since I am an early riser, I was able to save 2, there are some rude people who save them & then dont show up for 5 HOURS, Ugh ! The day we arrived we got to the beach & pool at Noon & there were NO CHAIRS to be found, but since I was up early it was not a Big Deal for us. But, you will have to get up early to get any. Now the GOOD STUFF & there is Plenty of it. The Hotel is Spotless, the staff work very hard to keep it that way. We left the maid a couple of dollars each morning so she went above & beyond to make sure our room was nice. Check in was Great & they had a room ready for us at arrival. The food was good too. The shows are kind of Cheezie, but entertaining & I give them Credit. Everyone was very helpful & pleasant. The Beach is Beautiful & the location cant be beat. You can pretty much walk every where. I know this is pretty lengthy, but I hope it helped we can not say enough Good things About The RIU, those that are very negative about it should just enjoy the atmosphere & the people and not be so Uppity and Nit Picky about everything. Well to end it I am contacting our travel agent tomorrow to book for Next Year !