Hotel Riu Palace Punta Cana — Hotel in Higüey

We have just returned home from our Honeymoon that was a holiday of a Lifetime at the Riu Palace Punta cana. |Everything was going great until the 3rd day 13/10/2025 when we at 5pm they had a power cut in the resort, all the power went off and we were left literally in the dark. The restaurants were unable to cook any food and at about 7pm they made a make shift sandwich bar in one of the restaurants lit by candle light, We went down to have a look and the meats and cheese because it was out in the warmth of the night it was around 35degrees that day so as you can imagine it looked very moist and sweaty so was not worth the risk of eating the food so we went back to the room to wait for the electricity to be turned back on. We sat on the balcony and some parts of the resort the rooms eventually got there power back on. Ours remained off and the main entertainment area and reception were still off, so we sat in the dark on balcony until around midnight and then decided enough was enough and tried to get to sleep, as you can imagine it was in the 30s we had no aircon or fan it was unbearable and a restless nights sleep as we were waking up in pools of sweat, whilst laid on top of the bed. Then to make matters worse the Beach restaurant had got its power back on but the main buffet restaurant in the reception block that served breakfast had not, so at 3am in the morning the staff starting taking all the breakfast stuff on trolly's past our room outside on tiled floors to the beach restaurant. every time they passed our room it sounded like a train passing our room every 5 mins. this went on until at least 7am so not much sleep was had. The next day we went to see the Tui rep to ask if she had any idea when then the power in our block was going to come back on and she just shrugged her shoulders and said No they are working on it and that is all the information she could give us, we asked what the problem was with our block and she said she had no idea. She was pretty rude in the way she addressed us. We asked her how we were going to manage at night with no lights or aircon in our rooms and she said to use the torch on our phones, we reminded her there was no power so we were unable to charge our phones that had now gone flat. No help at all. We decided to get ready early that night and go down to lunch before it got dark and also the hotel only had the beach restaurant open with limited foods to serve the whole hotel. Later on that night and 30 hours from first going off the electricity to our relief came back on. |The next issue we had was staff in the hotel. If you were from a Spanish speaking country the staff definitely looked after you better, unless of course you tipped well.|As well as our Honeymoon, we also went with my sister and brother in-law for his 60th birthday and my new wife's 50th birthday. When we were going for Dinner each night the waiters would put on a great show for the Spanish guests singing happy birthday, playing instruments and presenting them with a cake. We asked customer service staff how we could get this to happen for our celebration and they told us to speak to customer care in reception, we did this and the girl who was customer care told us that she was unsure if they could do this for us and that it was up to the manger of the restaurant if they would do it for us, she reluctantly took our details and said she would call us to let us know if that was ok, we are still waiting to hear back from her two weeks later sat at home. |Fortunately I tipped a very nice waiter and on the day of the Birthday he decorated the table with our stuff we brought from home got his friends to sing and brought us a cake, if we hadn't be friended the waiter it would not have happened. |The Hotel itself was lovely the beach and pool were nice and clean and tidy we were just let down by the customer service team in the resort by Tui and...

High hopes that fell flat due to once beautiful facilities that have been left to disarray and disrepair.

Driving up to the Riu resorts you're met with grandeur and breathtaking stark white palace walls and an impressive marble laid lobby that leaves you giddy with excitement. The hallways match the stark white pristine palace feel and dark black wooden doors create a modern and elegant design that leave you eager to get in your room and unwind...

Unfortunately that's where the grandeur stops... We stayed in a 2 bedroom junior suite. My parents in one room and my husband and our 2 toddlers in another. Our dresser drawers had several drawer knobs missing which were super dangerous for our littles so we ultimately had to pull the screws out. The knobs that were there fell off when you tried to pull them leaving behind the dangerous exposed screws so ultimately we were unable to use 3 of our 6 drawers... We only had 2 outlets and only one worked but was by the door and not bedside which was inconvenient. Our hairdryer did not work.

We only had about a days worth of body soap in our shower and despite calling housekeeping and requesting it on the Riu app multiple times we were never refilled so had to use hand soap for shampoo and body wash for 4 out of our 5 day stay... This is even with leaving good tips daily for housekeeping...

The caddy that holds the hand soap and body lotion was broken and lived just off the wall on the sink broken...

My parents fan was broken so they didn't have a fan for their entire stay.

We saw at least 3 to 4 roaches crawling around and 1 even crawled into my sneaker... So gross.

The entertainment was minimal and unfortunately pretty awful. The performers were so bored and not into it that they were literally having side conversations mid dance during performances while dancing completely off beat.

The exercise classes never had many people so were usually cancelled.

The kids program staff seemed very annoyed by the children and Everytime I passed by they were on their phones and the kids just watching TV. We did not leave our children there.

The beach chairs had a lot of broken ones...

The restaurant staff at the beach side lunch restaurant were great and very helpful.

The restaurant staff at La Isabela restaurant were the best. They were welcoming and accommodating and so aware of every need. Antonio was incredible and made our entire stay so amazing. He was so professional and personable. Find him if you go and choose to sit and his tables for the entire stay.

The restaurant staff at the Italian restaurant was some of the worst wait staff I've ever encountered. They were so rude and off-putting. They looked so annoyed when we walked in even though there were only 2 other families there when we walked in. They sat us down abruptly and left without explaining about a QR menu and about how there was a bar you could eat from in addition to ordering food. When we finally asked how it worked that pointed wordlessly to the QR code... We asked what meals they liked the best or what was recommended and they again pointed to the QR code.... I was speaking in Spanish as I'm a fluent speaker so this was not due to a language barrier. After 30 minutes of waiting we had to raise our hand to order...they finally came over. They asked "and for dessert?" We asked "what are the dessert options?" And instead of answering and recommending some or telling us more about them- they said "it's on the code...* We said no dessert thank you... It was awful. We ended up leaving and just going to the buffet for dinner.

Overall, the facility was perhaps once grand, but it has fallen into disrepair and it does not seem to be getting fixed anytime soon.

Some staff was great, but the majority were not...

I'd look elsewhere for your stay... Or stay here but know what you're in for and find Antonio because...

Hello I stayed at the riu palace punta Cana for 6 days and I had an amazing experience. I have so many great things to say for one it’s a beautiful resort. Customer service from the begin to end was so great They have somebody bring your bags to your room. Checking in was smooth and Emilio who checked us in was very informative and friendly. They have entertainment every night starting around 9:30 and each night it was better than the last. The animation team is so full of life and will have you up dancing Leandro and Yeison and others were super friendly and made sure everybody was having a fantastic time. The wait staff is amazing they literally make sure your cup is never empty. They were very prompt, I seen reviews about the drinks being watered down but I didn’t experience that I mostly drank jack and coke. Other wise the drinks can be sweet if you get the frozen ones I would add an extra shot in there. They don’t have straws so pack some to bring. Argen was very friendly also he appeared to be supervising the pool area and wait staff. On too the food I don’t eat meat but I felt like I had a few choices some of the veggie dishes had cheese unfortunately for me I try to not eat dairy a lot. The buffet was fine nothing very special to me as I don’t eat meat but they had a nice variety for meat eaters. Dessert and plenty fresh fruit. Breakfast is buffet style plenty options and 3 omelette stations for people who eat eggs. Late night there is food in the sports bar hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos etc… and fruits. Room service has a very limited options maybe 8 things I tried to order the vegetarian sandwich it wasn’t available. During the day there is food by the pool it was called Pepe’s I think jerk chicken, hamburger and all the fixings and potatoes they were grilled so good. Luigi’s restaurant is amazing !!! The Japanese place was good I had vegetable fried rice and veggie roll. The other restaurant la bodega didn’t have options for me. 2 other restaurants I didn’t try. Now on too my favorite part the riu pool parties so much fun be prepared to have a great time. It’s theme parties with foam and entertainment, Dancers and a DJ only place you may hear diverse music look on the website for what days they have the themes. The party is a 4 minute walk or they have a bus but you can walk for sure it’s still on the property. The pools are nice they have 3 pools and a kiddie pool- the animation theme has shows for the kids also. Swim up bar is so nice, they had water aerobics and other activities to do on the beach. The beach is nice unfortunately not much you do with seaweed but I did see some people cleaning it up. I would say the people selling stuff on the beach didn’t bother me much but there prices are higher then booking excursions online or through the hotel. The hotel gets quiet around 11:30 there is a night club at the Riu bavaro you can walk there or take a taxi they are open till 2a.m other then that the sports bar is open 24 hours and the bartender Luis is the best hand down. They have music playing and tvs you can play pool or other games. There’s a bar in the lobby open till 12 a.m . Now on too the rooms my only complain is there was maybe 8 outlets and 3 worked. I had a few devices to charge so it was annoying but I made it work. As far as design nothing special could use a little updating but it’s ok. Bathroom needs vents !! The batteries were dead in the remote but I never called or made them aware till Check out because I don’t watch tv anyway. Liquor dispensers and mini bar in room well stocked. I will be going...