Riu Palace Riviera Maya

[scubaag03]

Has anybody stayed here?
How is the hotel dive op? Any information would be great.


Thanks

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

I believe the dive op in the hotel is Scuba Caribe. They are a good company, but they take out a lot of people all at once and it will be more expensive than using a dive op in town. If you would like some info about our prices and what we are all about just let me know and I can shoot you a PM. Have fun and Happy Diving.

Riu Palace is a very nice hotel though! It is in Playacar which is very close to the center of town and is well known as one of the premier All Inclusives in Playa. Let me know if you would like to talk about diving. Take care.

 

[WreckRat01]

I stayed in Riu Palace Riviera Maya in May 2008. Hotel is clean, good service, good food, clean beach, great pool. Take regular precautions: Drink only bottle water, eat only cooked food, and stay away from ice. I use a “Gray Line” service to arrange my entire site seeing activities: Chichen Itza, Coba, Tulum. (Their booth in the plaza near by, where the bank is, about 3 minutes walking distance from hotel) and I use Nicolas http://www.cenotexperience.com.mx/ to do cenotes /cave diving. I liked him, good guide, and great instructor. Stay away from “Dive Aventuras” in Puerto Aventuras, they are not good. I had been mistreated there.
What kind of diving activity would you like to do?

 

[psumike]

Stay away from ťive Aventuras in Puerto Aventuras, they are not good. I had been mistreated there.

Could you elaborate? I've dove with them 3 times and had the best of attention and found them to be very safe. Safe enough that I had them domy son's AOW.

Mike
PADI-DM

 

[driftwood]

I stayed in Riu Palace Riviera Maya in May 2008. Hotel is clean, good service, good food, clean beach, great pool. Take regular precautions: Drink only bottle water, eat only cooked food, and stay away from ice. I use a ªìray Line service to arrange my entire site seeing activities: Chichen Itza, Coba, Tulum. (Their booth in the plaza near by, where the bank is, about 3 minutes walking distance from hotel) and I use Nicolas http://www.cenotexperience.com.mx/ to do cenotes /cave diving. I liked him, good guide, and great instructor. Stay away from «àive Aventuras in Puerto Aventuras, they are not good. I had been mistreated there.
What kind of diving activity would you like to do?

Bottled water is a must and salads should be treated with caution. Fruit that you peel will be alright and all the ice in Mexico is safe. Each town has its own ice factory which uses purified water. The ice plants are one of the things that the PRI did right in Mexico.

 

[craracer]

I've stayed at the Palace and Tequila, which are right next door. SC is the dive op, as mentioned before. Good OP, but make sure to get and keep all of your receipts for diving as they tried to overcharge us. I called their main office about their error and provided the appropriate documentation. They assured me that they would rectify the problem, but never did. I ended up disputing the charges with my CC company in order to get a refund.

Aside from the Palace and Palace Riviera, the RIU's all provide excellent service/rooms/food... The Palace and, I would suspect Riviera are a step above. The Palace is the best place I have ever stayed at. Food is exceptional, great nightly entertainment, fantastic rooms, wonderful staff, top shelf drinks, great beaches.....I use the Palace as a benchmark for all other resorts I stay at.

When you stay at the Palace, and I'm assuming the same applies to Riviera, you are free to visit/use the facilities/eat at all of the other RIU's in the area (Tequila/Palace/Playacar/Lupita). All of them, with the exception of the one with the golf course (don't remember which one), are within easy walking distance. Basically, they are next to eachother.

Just a short walk up the road from the Palace is a small shopping center area where you can find items for less than what you would pay at the resort. You'll find everything from medications to clothing to jewelry. It's slightly more upscale and worth a gander.

Looking back at my dive log, I see that dive times were anywhere between 28-54 minutes in duration with an average of around 45 minutes. Dives are slow to no drift with great viz. We saw turtles on just about every trip.

Just FYI, you can catch a ferry over to Cozumel for some diving. Just speak to the dive OP and they can help you arrange it. I think the ferry ride was about 40 minutes or so (just off memory).

Any other questions, just PM me. I'm sure that you will enjoy the resort.

 

[stortecky]

Bottled water is a must and salads should be treated with caution. Fruit that you peel will be alright and all the ice in Mexico is safe. Each town has its own ice factory which uses purified water. The ice plants are one of the things that the PRI did right in Mexico.

If you are staying at the Rui all the food will be safe. They purify all the water that they use in the kitchen for cooking and cleaning up.

 

[Ed Hatfield]

The Riu Palace Riviera Maya is on the beach between the Reef Playacar and the Viva Wyndam Azteca hotels. It is about a 1.5 KMs (a little under a mile) from the south end of 5th Avenue. The Riu Palace Mexico is on the beach and the Riu Tequila (similar to the Riu Lupita) is across the road surrounded by the golf course. The guests at the Tequila get to use the Palace Mexico beach which then makes it a little busy. The Riu Riviera Maya is the better choice. I prefer to be in Playa Del Carmen (The Royal and Gran Porto Real) are the two AI hotels with the Coco Bay (AI) at the north end of town. Dive ops in town do have better rates. Some hotels demand up to 20 and 30% of the dive rates for the ops to use the hotel kiosk. The ops can't afford to absorb those types of commissions and pass the additional charges on to the divers - not their fault. Most boats are pangas and are limited to the number of divers, therefore limiting the profit per boat load. Shop around on line and get some prices from the downtown shops. When you get to your hotel and find the prices higher (and usually they are) just call the shops direct and take a cab to the shops. Cab will only be $3US. I have dove with some operations in the off season and was able to negotiate a 'cash only' price hopping on a boat that was half full. Don't even try this in high season - all the boats are full and you pay the going rate. Ferry to Coz is $28US return and is about 40 minutes. Here again call over to the operation and book direct. Try 'Dive with Martin' - but any recommended on SB will do. Their boat leaves at 0730 to pick up the resort divers. If you take the 0600 ferry over and then cab to the shop you can get the boat before it leaves. Book in advance as walk-ons are next to impossible in high season. In Playa Del Carmen if you get tired of 5th Avenue take a walk up to 30th Ave towards the north end. Have dinner in one of the restaurants. Look for one that is full of locals - Usually that means good food and good prices. Enjoy your holiday. I'm counting down the days until I get there (23).