Came back from a 4 night stay at the Riu Palace. The purpose of the trip was just to relax and rest on the beach for a few days after a very long winter. I found the beach AMAZING. White sand and crystal clear blue water. No seaweed, no moss, the occasional schools of fish. I didn’t mind the fish, but did find it annoying when people would feed them to bring them closer. Always able to get lounge chairs on the beach and Riu had staff there to carry them and place them where you wanted them. I found it interesting a lot of Atlantis people came down to the Riu end of the beach because it was by far more beautiful and cleaner than Atlantis’s beach area.
Room Number:
826
Arrival:
Arrival was a bit early for check-in. Bellboy kept the suitcases, we got our wrist bands and went in to the buffet grill for lunch which we ate on the outside patio. After that I went back to the desk and they gave me my keys and off we went up to the room.
Rooms:
Flat screen tv, minibar, fair sized balcony with ocean view and 2 chairs and a little table. Huge comfy bed and 2 arm chairs with a table. Lots of drawer space and closet space. Bathroom was large and with a double sink. The liquor dispenser full size bottles of top shelf liquor surprised me. You don’t normally get that full size in your room and they refilled them daily. That was fun. Maid was really nice and helpful to us.
Restaurants and Bars: Buffet was great, lots of food choices and theme nights. I enjoyed Mexican night the best.
Bars had menus and made all types of drinks wit top shelf liquor. Tip for the bar, bring a togo cup. Keeps your drink cold at the beach and they fill the cup up full. Saves time from going to the bar often since they use plastic cups. A lot of people had thermal cups. You can even pour beer from your room fridge in the cup and just ask for some ice and off to the beach you go. Sports bar had a snack fridge if you wanted something to grab late night and there was always room service at all hours.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Pool was a tad small, but it didn’t seem over crowded to a crazy degree. I think most people enjoyed hanging at the beach. I did go into it one day and didn’t find it cold at all. I think the sun heats it a lot.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel: Went to Atlantis nightly to use the casino. It’s a really quick walk, it’s right next door into the Beach tower main entrance.
Went into town by taxi to buy souvenirs on Bay street which are where the cruise ships dock and the markets are. It’s busy down there and it was fun. I went into Senor Frogs which had a large crowd and got a drink. There’s the straw market, Harley Davidson, Hard Rock and the normal "island" jewelry stores like Diamonds International and Colombian Emeralds. There’s also a few high end stores like Gucci, Fendi, I think I also saw a Coach.
Other Comments:
Had fun for a quick weekend getaway, good All-Inclusive for The Bahamas especially if you want to just relax, eat all you want and drink all you want. Less of the hassle and expenses of Atlantis and if you want to use the water park you can just buy a day pass or get one free if you go to Atlantis’s 1 hour timeshare meeting.