The Riu Caribe is a beautiful hotel with very friendly and helpful staff. The dining room and food were excellent. We felt very taken care of by all the people there. However...

The beds were pretty much like sleeping on plywood with sheets.

When we arrived (very late at night) they put us in a room with two double beds when my reservation was for a king. When I requested a change they told me that I would have to wait 3 nights before we could move. Very disappointing for my husband and I to have to squeeze into a double bed or sleep separately. Really didn't help with the romance of a Caribbean vacation. Then, in order to change rooms, we would have to pack all of our things and have them in the lobby by 10:30 a.m. We would then have to leave all of our belongings in the lobby until 3 p.m. (check in time) to be placed in another room. It wasn't worth the hassle to us for one night.

We were VERY disappointed that there were no waiters available at the pool or at the beach. If you wanted a drink you had to go get it yourself. This was a huge hassle if you were on the beach because you had to hike up a large flight of stairs to get to the one bar by the pool. The cups were so small (and they would only serve you one drink at a time) that you would need another drink by the time you got back to the beach. This was unacceptable to us.

Overall, my husband and I agree that we will not be staying at any Riu hotel again.

I would like to say we all had a great time. The staff there are excellent. The pool help was wonderful, they are the best. The shows at night are amazing and those people are so friendly that they made are stay wonderful. The hotel is awsome. We are looking forward to next year. The food was wonderful. Thanks to everyone there.

As of August 2007 hotel Riu Caribe was no longer under construction. My husband and I had so much fun at this resort we didn't even have to leave. During the day the fun activities at the pool, at night with the activities in the lobby and all the places to have dinner was just incredible. This is a great place to go and I also noticed that it is family oriented. Next I go I will take my kids and this is the place I will stay. Thank you so much for making our trip worth while.

Just the best. Staff fantastic - thank you.

My wife and I had a stunning two weeks nothing was to much trouble for the staff kept you entertained all the time food great weather fantastic hope to go again and again

Let me just say if you haven't booked this hotel, do it NOW!!! And if you have, what a fantastic choice!!!

Me (13) My Sister (10) and my mom and dad stayed for 2 weeks (from 2nd April ¡V 16th) at the Riu Caribe and after looking forward to it for several months we were not disappointed!

God knows where to start ¡V we were all very tired after our 10hr flight so it was great that check-in didn't take too long. We were greeted with some fruit punch and all the women were given a rose each ¡V lovely! After being given our all-inclusive wristbands (with the wristbands you get access to the sister hotel ¡V Riu Cancun where you can also eat and drink for free, the Riu Caribe is a nicer place in my opinion though) and key cards etc we headed up to our room (433). The views are stunning!! I think everyone has a balcony facing over the pool and beach. Shame our balcony was very small, the rooms below us had hugeee balconies but it cost quite a bit extra for a larger balcony from what I heard. The rooms were very clean and the bathroom was beautiful, also very clean. Sadly the room wasn't really big enough for 4 people and we were very pushed for space, meaning we had no room for half a suitcase of clothes ƒ¼ Despite this it didn't cause too much of a problem ¡¥cause we only needed the room to sleep, the rest of our time was spent around the pool! Ooo and also the bed linen and towels were changed EVERY day ¡V fabulous and so was the mini bar, offering water, sprite, pepsi and corona.

The pool was fantastic, there were three main parts but it was sort of all joined up with two bridges across it. There was a higher edge leading all the way along the pool where you could place your sun beds which was very cooling under the hot sun. There was also a swim-up bar with someone always ready at your service. As before it was mainly kept very clean except the odd occasions when there was some scum from suntan lotion around the edges.

With free unlimited food and drink it was no wonder we put on a few pounds!! The food was amazing!! You eat at the buffet (Albatros) for breakfast, lunch and dinner unless you pre-book the steak-house, Asian or Mexican restaurants before hand. You should aim to book these before 9:00 am and the steak-house before 8:00am. We weren't very impressed with the Mexican, the Steak-House was nice and the Asian was delicious. Not as delicious as the buffet though, hmmm I miss that food it was scrummyyyy!! You can also eat at the restaurant around the pool for breakfast and lunch too, and the pizza place is scrumdiddlyumptious¡K yum yum! Ooo there were also wonderful sculptures made from fruit and veg and things, made in the shapes of boats, flowers and fish etc in the Albatros restaurant. The waiters were lovely too! I had a couple of photos with some of my favourites, they were just amazing people!

Talking about amazing people where shall I begin with the sports and entertainment team?!? These people are incredible, all worth their weight in gold!! Christian, Rene, Alan, Arrian, Liz, Linda, Ahmed, Victor, Lileney and all the rest were just fantastic. I could write this whole review about them!! They were so funny and worked solidly all day long. From about 10:00 am in the morning to like 3:00 am the next morning, they were always there to brighten up your day! Starting with stretches on the beach to volleyball, salsa dancing, beer drinking contests and darts these guys made us feel so welcome and special ƒº. They were always trying to get people up and join in, as they say ¡¥Nobody Knows You And Nobody Cares'! I miss them sooo much ƒ¼ Hehe Love ¡¥em all to bits.

We hardly spent any time at all on the beach as we were always around the pool but it was picturesque with turquoise waters and golden sand that had the ability to stay cool all year round. The sea was safe to swim in and body board, just a shame it was sectioned off so we couldn't walk any further down the resort. Most of the sun beds were snatched up on the beach by 10:00 am and you probably wouldn't be able to get two or more sun beds together by 8:30 around the pool so reserve them quite early especially if you want some close to the pool. There's no need to take any of your own towels as many other people have said, they're free and you can change them whenever you want.

As well as the entertainment at the pool and beaches being fantastic the entertainment at night in the theatre was amazing too. The sports and entertainment team put on a show each week too where they train and practise very hard producing some wonderful performances. Whilst we were there they did a ¡¥Michael Jackson' show and a ¡¥Dreams' show, both incredible, they put sooo much effort into them. For the rest of the nights they have other people in such as Folklore dancing etc, all very good as well. All the shows begin at 9:30 pm, with the pre-show beginning at 9:00 pm.

The sports bar is open 24hr, for drinks, internet access etc and the main lobby bar closes at midnight. The service is excellent, we couldn't fault it except there were a couple of times where I asked for non-alcoholic versions of drinks and still ended up with alcohol in them!

Going into town is an experience with buses arriving every 3 minutes (more like every 3 seconds!) with tickets costing 6.5 pesos each. I would recommend taking the bus as it gets far too hot to walk in. There are some very big American style malls and some nick-nacky type market stalls too. The shopping facilities are quite good but as were leaving we noticed some even better shops further out. Shame we hadn't seem these before. If wanting to buy alcohol buy it at the airport not at the resort, it's cheaper there. There is also a nice little shop inside of the hotel where sweets and chocolate are very expensive but there are some nice gifts.

Trip-wise there is sooo much to do. We swam with dolphins at Dolphinus at Xcaret which was out of this world. What an experience, I definitely recommend this trip ¡V it's a must. We also went on the captain hook adventure. This is awesome too. They take you out on a pirate boat where they make you feel very welcome, play some very funny games and just generally have a laugh. The food was quite nice and the staff aboard were fantastic here too. After dinner there is a mock fight between the two pirate ships, such good fun and we Wonnnn ƒº. Hehe we had some very fun times in Cancun.

That's about it really. Ooo except when we were coming through customs, once entering Mexico it was such a palaver, many suitcases were checked, ours included which was very inconvenient and stressful but I don't want to dwell on the airport because this was such an amazing holiday.

It's such a shame there're so many other places in the world to visit but I would definitely go back to the Riu Caribe again if given the chance. I highly recommend this hotel to anyone and everyone you WILL have a fantastic time, hey maybe even see you there!

Other great things:
If tipped, some maids leave towel animals in your room, we tipped ours but it didn't look like she could make them so on the morning of our last day we acquired a couple of towel bunnies from another maid ļ

There is ALWAYS some member of staff cleaning this or that, the hotel is spotless ¡V very very good ƒº

You must try the paragliding at the Aqua Caribe sport beach hut located on the beach. Me and my dad tried it and even though it was a hefty cost it was a brilliant experience (do not try if scared of heights!!)

There is a photo shop and daily a man brings either a money (soo sweet!) an iguana or some parrots to the hotel with him where you have free photos which are uploaded onto the computer at the Photoshop so you can buy, but they're fairly expensive. We got a couple with the monkey and parrots ¡V very nice!

All in all I think I have now covered all of the points of this superb hotel and as I said above you MUST book the Riu Caribe, you WON'T regret it!

This was a great trip. We just came back and had an awesome time. However, our "Vacation Express" contact in Mexico was shady...we booked an excursion with a "money-back" guarantee and had sickness. We had to get a doctor's excuse ($80) and then were penalized 15%--then were paid in pesos, so got $166 out of $231--liar, liar--anyhow, the hotel is awesome and the entertainment team was exemplary!! I would go back tomorrow--but would NEVER book with Vacation Express ever again!

I went to Riu Caribe with two of my friends and had the best hoilday of my life the food and staff were excellent I have no complaints at all.