The RIU Palace is a great place to spend a honeymoon.

The Good:
1) Great Beach
2) Friendly Staff
3) Clean Rooms (Good House Keeping)
4) Hotel Lobby is stunning
5) Balcony's are clean and spacious (interior rooms = ocean view)
6) Nightly entertainment was really good. Different each night.
7) Food Selection and availability good.
8) 24hr room service is a life saver
9) Excellent pool bar. Staff even walks along the beach to replenish drinks. Very friendly.
10) Japanese and Sir Oscar's food was really good. Great service.

The Bad:
1) Apple representative was not helpful. She persuaded us into booking two excursions. After the 1st excursion, my wife became ill. We attempted to cancel the 2nd excursion (due to her illness) and the Apple Rep declined a refund. Very hard to find. When finally found -very pushy and at times even arrogant.
2) Our first room (we had to change) was very musty and damp. There was no view (we upgraded prior) they did promptly correct.
3) You have to wake up and wait for reservations around 8:00am. The early bird gets the worm. They sell out quickly. You can't make future reservations, only same day and in person.
4) The casino (Macao), beware. The staff is very pushy. They will offer you a five dollar (US) chip to play a specific game upon entry...You can't win and will end up spending much more than intended. Don't use a debit card to advance money, they charge around $25.00 for each transaction. They actually encourage this. The fee will state "commission." You do the math.
5) No access to American cash. Take lots of ones for tipping etc. Try to use credit/debit as much as possible with the vendors and stores.
6) Food = Stomach problems regardless of who you are. Take precaution. "Don't drink the water!"
7) Warm drinks everywhere throughout the resort. I guess filtered ice is an expensive commodity???
8) Beds are very hard.

You have to take the good with the bad. By far, the good out weigh the bad. Stay open minded. Have Fun!

I too decided to ignore some of the negative reviews I saw on here - BIG mistake!!!

Until about 4 years ago I was a long time Superclubs client as I am a fan of the "all inclusive" vacation but after staying at RIU resorts in Mexico which are FANTASTIC I converted. BUT ...RIU should be ashamed of this property!!

Yes, the architecture is impressive and beautiful and the beach is nice but that is where the positive ends......

The front desk was slow, unorganized and uncaring. If you are expecting to be greated upon your arrival you are at the wrong place........

No one offered to help us take our bags to our rooms.

When we finally were given the keys and got to the room it was dirty - housekeeping had been there and the bed was made but there was a used towel in the bathroom, a dirty glass on the night stand, a cigarette in the ash try and hair on the wall in the bath. Ughhh.....

The whole time the bed linens and some of the towels were stained. Apparently no one at this property has every heard of a wash cloth as they were non-existant. Except for the wrapped soap the maid only left used toiletry items for us. (In case you are wondering - yes I do tip the housekepping staff - if they show up....) The shower water had a HORRIBLE smell. Yes, the room has a musty smell as others have noted but it's similar to the room smell I've experienced at different resorts in Jamaica.... One day during our stay housekeeping did not come at all even after I finally called at 6pm and asked them to please send someone and was told they would send someone "right away "no one showed up.

There was some problem with the air conditioning (not just in my room - throughout the resort and the staff seemed to be completely unconcerned and had no answers as to what was going on with this).

The food on a scale of 1 to 10 would be about a 3. Drinks are below average. No - I am not picky - I have taken 15+ other all inclusive vacations and the food at this resort was by far the WORST.

Twice during our stay there were no towels available at the pool (apparently they only give out so many pool towels per day even if you have a towel card and if you don't get one you are out of luck for that day) . The pool water was WARM - hardly refreshing.....I heard the "oh, it's so hot here that's why the pool water is warm" but why haven't I had this experience at any of the other properties I've been to where the weather is also very hot?!?!? There was a REALLY bad sewage smell to the left of the pool past the ping-pong tables the whole time we were there.

The resort allows "Scuba Caribe" to pester you all day around the pool and on the beach to sign up for excursions. BEWARE - I signed up for horseback riding and after waiting 45 minutes for the van to arrive at the designated time and location I had to spend another half and hour tracking someone from ScubaCaribe down and was given some big run around about why they didn't show up for the excursion and a huge hassle about getting my money back. According to other resort guests this is not unusual.

Security at the resort was virtually non-existent .

Don't bother with the "disco" unless you are with a large group and can make your own party (there won't be anything going on anywhere else after midnight) but you will have to fend off the local men that are truly annoying to the point of almost harrasing. I don't understand why the resort would allow this. Also - FYI - your are admitted to the disco as part of your "all inclusive" package but you must purchase your drinks in the disco.......

The worst part of the trip was that we all got VERY sick from the food to the point of having to see the doctor upon our arrival home and we are all now on a course of Cipro for the next week......

So, needless to say I would NEVER go back to this resort and would NOT recommend it to anyone......

If you like beaches, this is one of the best ever. There is plenty of shade and chairs are plentiful. The sand is powdery white and there are no rocks at all. The waves are very small and the water is not crystal clear, but very clean. Topless sunbathing is very common.
The rooms are average. The bedding is clean, but not at all plush. The toiletry items they provide are not great at all, so bring your own shampoo, etc. The property is not huge, so there is not much walking required.
The food is average. We only ate at the steakhouse, and it was pretty much like the steak at the buffet. The buffet did have a wide variety of choices.
The employees were nice and helpful. The room was always cleaned while we were out at the beach.
Tipping was not expected from the employees, but very much appreciated.

I was at the RPPC the week of July 4th. I had read some of the comments here on TripAdvisor, and had some reservations about the place prior to my arrival. Here is an overview of my experiences and thoughts:

1. Punta Cana Airport: upon arrival, be prepared to fork over $10 per person for a "tourist card". You buy it from one guy, and then 100 yards later, give it back to another guy!?!?! I would also recommend using the lavatories in the airplane prior to arrival, as the restrooms in the airport were anything but stellar.

2. Hotel: the hotel itself is very "palacial" looking - newer property built in 2006. That's about the best thing going for it in my opinion. They lack in many other areas.

3. Check-in: They tell you check in is after 2 pm- but were told the room wasn't ready even then. Finally after checking back a few more times, we were told it was ready. With key, safe key/lock, & towel card in hand, we went to the room, and opened the door and discovered it hadn't even been cleaned yet by housekeeping. So, we schlepped back to the lobby and informed them of what happened. After an apology by the clerk, we were given another room; which I might add had a nicer view to it.

4. Room: We had a Superior Junior Suite which looked out into the courtyard. We were close to the pool area, and could see the ocean from our balcony. The rooms DO have a musty smell to them, but I had packed a Glade Plug In. After a few days, the smell was not noticeable. The beds are hard, and the water is not potable, but they give you a gallon of water in the frig. One thing I will say is that I DON"T think they replace the glasses in the bathroom at all... I think the maid just wipes them out with god knows what, and leaves them there day after day. I never did see a cart of clean glasses that the maids were using. The sheets also have a very funky smell.. almost like sweaty dirty socks. I don't think they know what Fabric Softener or Bounce Sheets are!! In addition, other posts here comment about the funky smell that is in your clothes, suitcase, and anything you had in the room AFTER you leave the resort and come home. We have been doing numerous loads of laundry and using Febreeze to get out the smell and it's still there! We also noticed little "ants" in the room, mostly on the nightstands and the coffee table in the sitting area. God only knows where they came from and where else they were crawling around!

5. Language barrior: most of the staff speak little to no English, so if you know Spanish, or at least take a pocket dictionary with you or see the following for a few key Spanish phrases:

http://dr1.com/travel/prepare/phrases.shtml

6. Food: The food is fair to average, and while you won't go hungry because there is a lot of it, it gets very old and boring since it's the same day in and day out at the buffet. We ate at 2 of the "Specialty Restaurants" - Luigi (Italian) and La Bodega (Brazillian). Out of the 2, I liked La Bodega the best, but neither were out of this world. The drinks are very watered down, and the beer (Brahma) is locally brewed. If I didn't know better, I would think the beer is actually non-alcoholic, because you don't even get a "buzz" from it, but who knows!

7. Staff: I found the staff to be most pleasant, despite the language barrior. The staff was always cleaning or doing things around the property to make things look nice.

8. Entertainment: "Animacion" is the group that does the resort entertainment from anything at the pool, to the beach, and also the nightly shows at "Los Rosario" Lounge. Shows started at 9:45 and last about an hour. They did karaoke, a "newlywed" type game show, African, Latino, and other cultural dance type shows. Since there is no other "nightlife" in the resort, this is about the only thing to keep you entertained at night. The TV channels were mostly in Spanish, with only a few (1 or 2) channels that broadcast in English.

Overall, I would say while the property itself is magnificent, there are many things that are lacking, and I would probably not return to this hotel nor to the D.R. I have stayed at other RIU's and had better experiences, so don't let this review scare you away from RIU's.