First of all I would like to start out by saying that you cannot believe everything you hear. My husband and I came to the conclusion that there are some people that will find anything to complain about. We were leary about this resort due to the postings we read here.
A little background on us: we are both in our early 30's and I am a teacher and he is a financial advisor. We have stayed in the Mayan Riviera twice. Once at the Moon Palace and another time at a not so nice place.

We had an excellent time! Our room did not stink and I have terrible allergies along with a "dog nose" for bad odors. I was so worried about the "room stink issue" that I packed Febreze, an air freshener and an odor absorber. I did not need to use them at all. We will admit that we goofed up our a/c switch on the last day and yes it did become humid and had a scent. Therefore, keep the a/c on.

Food: We were pleasently surprised...again, we read all of the complaints about the food. It was actually very good. We are used to All- Inclusive places not having the best food. However, that's not why we go on vacation either.
I believe that there are some people that forget that you are in a foreign country and you cannot be so ethnocentric and expect to have everything "Americanized" for you. I enjoyed trying their cuisine and we even enjoyed the buffet. (we are not buffet people either).
The Steakhouse was good...loved the chicken. Many people raved about SIr Oscars (we missed our reservations). The Japanese Rest. was not that impressive but, was okay.

Service: Great service. A little tipping goes a long way. These people drive 8-9 hours to work at this resort. They leave their families for 12-15 days and go back for 3. Therefore, even though it's All-Inclusive a dollar or 2 is appreciated.
See Marino at the Buffet...he was wonderful! Josuelo at the pool bar took great care of us, too. Juliana at the lobby bar...she was a sweetheart.

Grounds/Maintenance: Very clean and well maintained. The people are always working and cleaning. We did not see one critter or cockroach anywhere!

Room: Beautiful. The bed wasn't too bad. We have stayed in much worse. Very clean and beautiful.

Our only complaints: The bathrooms are too far from the pool and beach. Our second is the most common: the reservation system for dinner. We didn't like having to commit to where we were going for dinner at 8:30 a.m. Then, you only have two dinner time choices 6:30 and 9:00. We often missed our reservation due to too much fun at the Pool Bar or a certain place was booked.

We would highly recommend this resort to couples. There are some families however, due to the dinner schedule and lack of kid programs I would say to leave the little ones home.

We had a great time and we met some wonderful people. We hope you find this review helpful.
Stacey
Midland, Michigan

Just returned from this supposed 5+ Star resort. Here it is in a nutshell. I am not a big complainer btw. I read all the negative reviews on this resort and decided that some people are just not happy wherever they go. I have to say, that i agree 100% with each and every one of those disappointed travellers. Hotel - Beautiful from the outside. The lobby, grounds and atmosphere 5 star. The service 2 star. The food doesn't even rate a star. Okay I'll give it a minus1 star. I am still trying to get the mold smell out of my nose and clothes. Something is wrong here. Every room smells! Air conditioning sucks. Water pressure was non existent. We had no hot water at all the first two days. The beds are like rocks. The food is absolutely disgusting. As a sidenote I will eat ANYTHING. I couldn't find a single thing on the buffet that tasted right. Plus they serve RECYCLED food. Last night's main course is today's lunch special. TOTALLY YUCKADOO! I ended up living for 14 days with a diet consisting of pizza - spaghetti and fries. I felt like a 5 year old ! I NEVER eat that kind of crap at home ! Even the a la cartes were a disappointment. That's iif you were lucky enough or stupid enough to stand and line from 7 a.m. to 8:30 am and get a reservation. We have been to the DR. 5 times. stayed in some beautiful resorts. Tried to go back this year to some faves but they were booked so we decided to try the Palace. We have also been to Mexico and stayed at the Riu Palace 3 times. NO complaints there. For the money there are much better resorts in Punta Cana. The beach wasn't even that great. I had to walk about an hour away to actually go into CLEAR water in the ocean. Not much of a seaweed fan ! All in all an experience that I would rather not repeat.

What a dump! Don't be deceived by the beautiful pictures. We would have probably been better off staying at the local airport hotel. What can I say that has not already been said in other reviews.

Room- Smelled like a cave. After washing my clothes multiple times I still can not get the mold smell out. Do not bring anything that you plan on wearing ever again. Bed was as comfortable as lying on tile floor. Sheets were crisp, probably from not being cleaned.

Food- French Fries were ok. Had to get used to them because that was the only thing that was even remotely edible. The first day I tried some cheese and it tasted like wallpaper glue.

Drinks - Don't bother. I have had better cocktails at a junior high party. Watered down, flat, basically undrinkable. The best drink in the resort is the gallon jug of water in the luke warm room fridge.

If food poisoning and smelling like a swamp is your thing, book your trip to the RIU Palace immediately. If not, do your self a favor and book a room at your local Motel 6. You'll probably get better service without the mold.

We just returned from a week at the Riu Palace Punta Cana on April 13,2008. All I can say is WOW! The grounds are stunning. The pictures don't do it justice. If you want oppulance and beauty all around you, this is the place to go. It is more French\english colonial than Carribean in its style. If you want thatched roofed bars and surroundings I suggest one of the other Riu's. Which all seemed very nice.
The rooms are quite nice, mostly junior suites which I found roomy and comfortable. Yes, I agree with other reviewers that the beds are hard. After spending the whole day on the beach or in the pool or off on an excursion (and throwing back a few cocktails) they actually seemed quite adequate. When we first arrived there was a smell to it but after having read other reviewers, we were armed with Fabreze and a plugin which rectified this issue nicely. We had a room overlooking the fountains and courtyard, which I recommend you request. The rooms on the Bambu side are overlooking a service road and can be noisy. We were originally given a room there and immediately requested a change which they were most accomodating about. If you can book one as such it will save you the time upon arrival. I found the food to be plentiful and varied. If you can't find something you like at that buffet then you are probably the pickiest eater around. In the specialty restaurants the service was excellent. I found the food to be just OK except for Sir Oscars (now aka Krystal) which was excellent. I was not really fond of the Brazilian restaurant, although the presentation was very nice I did not really care for the cuisine although I'm sure others might.
This resort is definately not a party place. It is beautiful, relaxing and classy. There is music in the courtyard in the evening for dancing and romance under the stars. The shows were OK, not Broadway but entertaining and they try very hard. The "Ideal Couple" show was the funniest one and not to be missed. I found the service to be excellent. The people there work very hard at making your stay enjoyable and in our case succeeded. At times there is a bit of a language barrier but you have to realize that these people are serving guests who speak, german,french,english etc.. I give them credit for doing as well as they do.
We only went on one excursion which was the "Outback Safari Tour". We thoroughly enjoyed it. It provides a real look at the Dominican Republic and it's way of life. There was an excellent tour guide who we could see was proud of his country and worked very hard at giving us an idea of what his country was all about. We visited cocoa, coffee plantations; a typical Dominican home, watched coconut oil be made by hand, cigars being rolled, had a lunch provided as well as a drinks served right on the truck in between our stops. The day ended at Macao beach on the Atlantic which was very nice and great for boogie boarding (which were provided). As this was our first visit to DR this was an excellent choice for an excursion.
In conclusion, if you are looking for oppulance, beautiful surroundings, class and a very relaxing place to stay with great service, clean and comfortable suites the Riu Palace Punta Cana is the place.