Riu Palace Antillas Aruba Resort Review
Last week, I had the privilege of going on my first vacation with my wonderful boyfriend to Aruba and stayed at the Riu Palace Antillas in Noord. The only other All-Inclusive resort I've ever stayed at was the Paradisus Cancun in Mexico, so that is all I really have to compare to. But believe me, there were definitely some major differences; some positive some negative. Before I go into my full Riu Palace Antillas resort review, let me just say…on a scale of 1-10, I’d give at least a 8. Everything from the food to the service to the beach was definitely great!
Location
Riu Palace Antillas is a quick 20 minute drive from the Oranjestad airport, which was so nice! The beaches in Aruba aren’t anything super beautiful on the other side of the island, but the beach / ocean at the Riu totally changed was spectacular! As you can see from the above photo, the color of the water was absolutely breathtaking! The prettiest turquoise blue water, and a great beach to walk on! We went for a walk two different days and enjoyed all the views!
Rooms
Rooms and hallways are the main reason I am not giving the Riu Palace Antillas a perfect score. Every room in the hotel had a nice view of the ocean, though. Nick and I shared one room with a king size bed. The rooms were plenty spacious, with really comfortable beds, and a stocked mini bar that they re-stocked daily! The bathroom was also really spacious and had a very nice shower with a rainfall head. Housekeeping always did a great job keeping our rooms clean and we loved the pretty shapes they would make the towels and roses for us. The bad thing about the rooms was that the furniture was extremely outdated as well as the walls and floors. Did not feel like a modern hotel room to me, but it's not a major deal since I mainly choose a resort based on it's outdoors and amenities. I think the hallways were what bothered me most. They were carpeted, dark, and much more outdated than the rooms. Looked like an old motel hallway. I think that bothered me more than the hotel rooms themselves.
Service
Choosing an “adults only” resort was definitely the way to go! We never saw any kids the entire time, which was awesome. So much nicer to relax by the pools and beaches.
Our service at the Riu Palace was an 8.5 out of 10. The workers were extremely happy to cater to your needs and most of them were extremely pleasant and so nice. Every now and then I may catch a waiter or waitress who may seemed a little flustered, but but that did not stop them from serving me. I wish I knew the name of the one girl who served outside at one of the sit down places, because she was AMAZING! Sometimes our drinks did take a little long from other servers, but not a big deal. We were in paradise, and life is slower paced.
Spa
Another thing I'd like to mention about this property is the spa, Renova. If you go here you have to get at least one massage!! Nick had booked up a couples massage as an early bday gift, and it was amazing! I think just about fell asleep! I haven't had a massage that good in a long time she worked out some serious knots in my back! They were so great, and after our massage they gave us a beautiful bottle of champagne to share. One of the best massages I've had in a long time and I highly recommend it!
Grounds
The grounds at Riu Palace Antillas were so nice! This is the main reason for which I chose a resort. The above photo will you give you a nice idea how the grounds from afar. The resort is pretty huge so we got lost a few times at first haha. There are several pools at the Riu and all of them were stunning. There are swim up bars at 2 gorgeous pools, which we definitely took advantage of. The grounds are huge! Loved by the pool there was so many trees for shade, and canopies and music. The outdoor bar with tons of seating was right by (attached to the swim up bar), and there were 2 fancy restaurants outside as well. The beaches were plenty big! There were so many umbrellas on the beach for guests to lay under for shade (which is what we did because we didn't want to get too burnt haha).
The best part about staying at the Riu Palace Antillas is that the Riu Palace Aruba is right next door, and they grant you access to both resorts! We got double the pools, restaurants, casinos, etc. Felt extremely large!
Food
Okay, in addition to the great service…the food at Riu Palace Antillas was so great! Most people think all-inclusive resorts don’t have great food, and that might be true for most of them. But we LOVED the food at The Riu. The Palm Beach restaurant outside was definitely my favorite for dinner since it was a steakhouse. YUM!
We ate breakfast at the main buffet everyday and it never disappointed. AND there was an entire mimosa bar, so you know I was in heaven there!!
I won’t bore y’all with every single detail about every meal we ate there…but believe me when I say, you will not be disappointed in the food at Riu Palace Antillas!
After spending 5 nights there it definitely made me want to visit their other locations! Comment below if you’ve stayed at any of the Riu resorts, and which one has been your favorite!
Thanks for reading!
