Riu Palace Aquarelle

Food/Drinks: This was a phenomenal experience! The buffet was amazing and on point for breakfast, lunch, & dinner! The buffet was for every single type of vacationer: you had your typical summer items (pizza, hamburgers, etc.). The best food in my opinion was the seafood, curries/stews, and cornmeal porridge specifically which was the highlight of my breakfasts! The drinks were also great and there were delicious alcoholic/non-alcoholic drinks. I was a huge fan of the fruit punch (daytime)/rum punch (afternoon/nighttime). Staff: The staff was very friendly and I can't speak how amazing and attentive they were! Special thanks to Vanessa and Mesha for providing top-tier service, we can't thank you both enough for making our vacation even better than we could have imagined!! These ladies deserve a raise!! Thank you also to Roberto who made sure we were taken care of on the beach!! Beach: The beach was great! The water was absolutely perfect!! There's a small section that has a number of rocks, but you can see where there are virtually no people in a section in the water due to the rocks, so just stay closer to where people are.

Amazing, amazing, amazing! Just book it. Beautiful resort, spacious rooms, excellent food and drinks. Clean, friendly, fast service. Excellent vacation for families. I went for a vow renewal and I can’t say enough how perfect everything was. About 30-40 minutes from Montego Bay. Pools do close early at 6pm and the gym is small, but it didn’t ruin our vacation.

Was excited to try it out. Very affordable but in the end, you get what you pay for.(not always in a good way) It has potential to be a great Riu but just not quite there yet. With the exception of the sports bar and main lobby, most of the staff are young & I love that, but most need more customer care training. They seem very overworked and appear significantly understaffed at the moment. This led to some longer waiting times, poor communication and poor body language from some staffers during peak hours of serving meals. Going to a Riu can generally be a noisy experience, so be prepared not to have Peace and Quiet (Outside the Sports Bar is Ironically, the Quietest part of the Aquarelle property, go figure.) On entry, the beds are Way Too Soft for some of us to tolerate, our room was missing a critical towel hook, only had two main electrical outlets (had to unplug the minibar coffeemaker located near the doorway), the shampoo/soap bottles were ripped from the walls & the clothing iron was non-functional but wasn't replaced by the time we checked out 3 days later. (Despite reporting it twice.) Note Well: Air Conditioning may be struggling everywhere except main lobby and your room.🥵 Food is great. Lots to choose from but specialty restaurants need and upgraded menu, I'd recommend their fusion restaurant and the steakhouse may also be enjoyable.(try the salmon) The property has dedicated landscapers and is kept in great condition but the timing was awful. Weed-whacking and mowing the lawn 15 FEET from poolside between 8 am and 11 am was not enjoyable. Beach is in good condition but is missing a LOT of umbrellas heading into a record-breaking 2025 summer. Smooth sand underwater only up to 30 feet from shore...after that, your feet are in for a bruising.