Me and my boyfriend aged 20 and 22 booked this holiday for my 21st birthday threw first choice costing £1500 each from 22nd July - 05 Aug and below is how we rate this hotel.....

Lobby- Is massive with a bar and a turtle pond and air conditioning.

Room- We has room 998 which is 1 floor down from the top of the hotel this room was a nice room with a very nice big shower but the balcony was very small and there was also 3 sets of stairs we have to walk up after we get out of the lift on the 9th floor.... We did have a few ants on the floor but i think that was from the balcony and the room had very good air condition.

The room is stocked up every 2 days with Pepsi, 7 up water and corona beef which was free.

Maid- The beds and the room was cleaned every day and on arrival we did have a little elephant made out of towels..... I thought that i would of had my towel art but only had more in the 14 day which was petals all over the bed and 2 swans made out of towels which wad nice but i expected it more than 1 time for the price and for a 5* hotel.

Food- The buffet place was nice did seem like the same food all the time but they have that my of a variety that there is no other food they can put out......

Mexican- Very nice small proportions but nice

Chinese- Not very nice had sushi ect.

Steak House- Very nice can have ribs steak salmon ect...

Drinks- All drinks are water down but it’s all free

Reservations- if you want to eat at the 3 places above then you need to be up at 6.30 to make reservations 7 which I hated as I am on holiday so why should I get up at 6.30.

Pool-The pool is massive and is very clean need to be up around 9.00 to get a bed but it’s a very nice pool.

Beach- Is a few steps from the pool which was great, white sand clear blue sea.

Entertainment- Was good did seem like they did the same thing but was enjoyable. The entertainment team are great work very hard.

Nightlife- I am English so I don’t relay like R&B rap music but i did enjoy coco bongs mad shows like new years eve every night with balloons and glitter falling from the sky ppl dangling from the ceiling and the mask and beetle juice running around.

Daddy Rock was rubbish, Daddy O was good again R&B music but did have a bit of dance music ect, Senior Frogs is also a good place for food and a night out.

Most of the above clubs are around 40-50 dollars and that transfers there and all drinks included.

Excursions- I went on the jungle tour which was great got to drive your own bout over the sea to a little reef were you can snorkel around 2 hours 30 mins for around 65 dollars, Pirate ship is great dead funny around 70 dollars for around 3 hours with a steak dinner (nicest dinner I had on this holiday) with all drinks included, drinking games ,music ect.

We also swam with a dolphin which was 149 dollars for 1 hour which was not what I thought and was quite rubbish for 1 hour you get to be in the pool with them for around 15 mins.

Tullum was boring and boring was 2 hot to be walking around and is also very rushed, xeha was very good big nature snorkelling place around 99 dollars to do the both.

The Americans- Until I went on this holiday I didn’t have an issue with American but not I hate them they are the most arrogant, un polite out spoken confident loud people i have ever met.

Over all I loved this holiday and i loved this hotel but I don’t think I will return due to the Americans……….

I stayed at the Riu Caribe with my family the week of August 8-15th. We all spoke Spanish, and it almost was better to speak to the staff in English. They didn't seem to care about being spoke to in Spanish.

I'll start at the beginning...

Check-in: HORRIBLE. The staff was very rude and almost treated me like it was my fault and that I was asking too much to have the rooms I paid for. We had to stay in a crappy room the first night until our good room was ready.

The Room: It was alright, the beds were hard as a rock. My back hurt by the end of the trip. You had to get a crappy key/lock to use the safe. The "minibar" was full of crappy alcohol, so we didn't even drink it. It was nice to have a fridge stocked with waters though.

The Property: Good set-up, the hotel itself is pretty. You have to take a bus into town, which is really easy to do.

The Pool: It was too warm for me. When it's 90 degrees and humid, the last thing you want is a heated pool. I ended up staying in the beach. It was also very dirty. You'd have to wake up and put your towels out at about 8 o'clock am if you want a lounge chair. DON'T lose your towel, or it's $20.

ALCOHOL: CHEAP!!! The liquor was very cheap, no top-self. I only drank Bacardi cause it was the best they had, OH, and they water the drinks down.

Food: Very mediocre. I expected much better. The reservation system for the restaurants was ridiculous. You'd have to get in line at 7am (if not earlier) to make a reservation for one of the three restaurants that really aren't even that good. Who wants to wake up that early on their vacation?!? The buffet was not bad, but pretty bland.

With all that said, I will never go back to the Riu Caribe. It was definitely nice to take a vacation, but next time I will be sure to go somewhere that is 4 stars. Hope this review helped!

just returned from riu caribe...stayed aug 14th thru 19th. when we arrived the first day our room was not ready, which we figured would happen..they told us we had to wait until 5pm as he whispered that we could 'have a great room under the presidential suite' for waiting. we were excited! well it was not what he had promised, it was your average room...which was fine with us. the power went out 3 nights in a row from my blowdryer...a pain yes but they quickly turned our power back on. all of the staff are great! always around to help! we spent most of our days by the pool which was great, the entertainment staff was awesome, they worked hard from early morning until late at night! the restaurants were good, we tried the asian and the steakhouse, but pretty much stuck with the buffet because they had anything and everything. the steakhouse is definitely worth trying! if you want to eat at any of the specialty restaurants you have to wake up early to wait in line for a reservation, this i found ridiculous! i went down most mornings at 6:30am and there was already a huge line, there has got to be a better system for that. the beach was nice and clean, but we are more pool people. we found the buses hard to track down and got lost several times trying to walk instead of wait for a bus..we felt fairly safe when we did get lost though. we left the maid $5US per day and our room was cleaned and restocked nicely. the pool is huge and very clean except that it reaches about 85 degrees by noon because it is so hot. we truely appreciated how greatly we were treated by the staff, they work very hard and are always looking to clear your plate or get you another drink, we tipped them tremendously to show our appreciation. the market inside the hotel is very nice for souveiners or everyday beach items. the shows by the entertainment staff at night are great, the karaoke was hilarious and the "grease" play was great. the activities by the pool and beach daily were endless... pool volleyball, beach soccer, fashion shows, everything you can imagine. all in all, a great resort!

I can't believe this hotel is rated as a 5-star.

When we arrived they gave us a room that was in the first floor and it was in very bad condition. Everything was broken (lamps, bathtub, tv, etc.) and we found 2 cockroaches! Of course we complained, but the night shift person couldn’t do anything for us, he even told us “That’s all we have, if you like, you can find another hotel to sleep in”.

Next day we talked to the manager (very nice person, shame she has to work there) and she changed us to what they called a “junior suite”, which was basically the same room but in another floor and with a terrace (which we didn’t need). In the new room they didn’t put complete bedding, we had to sleep with sheets only and the next day they didn’t make the room at all, eventhough we were out all day and never had a do-not-disturb sign.

They were really understaffed, very few people to attend a fully-booked hotel. The pool was dirty, full of hairs and sunblock foam on the edges. We even saw a toe nail passing by right next to us!!!

The food was not good at all, at night (not so late, around 10:30 pm) all you could find were microwavable hotdogs at the sports bar. The restaurants that required reservation were always full, they told us you had to go at 7am to get a reservation which is ridiculous if you are on a relaxing vacation. After all our complaining the manager guaranteed us a reservation in the Japanese restaurant which also was buffet and wasn’t good at all. We had to dine out every day, spending much more than we had in mind, after all, that's why we had chosen an all inclusive. With all we spent we could have gone to a really nice hotel.

At one point we thought we were overreacting (you know girls tend to), but then we met some guys from New York and they had the same impression, they thought they were scammed.

The only thing nice was the beach, it was clean and had no rocks. Too bad that a hotel with such a beautiful beach presents an overall bad service.