Resort Details
Customer Ratings & Reviews
TripAdvisor Traveler Rating
6376 reviews
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Oct 28, 2025Do Not Recommend
Had a trip booked at the Riu Antillas 1 full year in advance for my partner and I after he was deployed for the past year. We booked a full year in advance (which is the earliest the hotel website allows you to book) and splurged for the oceanfront suite (the top tier of available rooms). When we arrived and got to our room, I noticed that it was a partial ocean-view suite, not oceanfront. When we addressed this with the front desk, we were informed that the hotel "overbooked" and they are unable to provide the room that we had booked, as it was not available until halfway through our trip. This was never relayed to us when we first got our room assignment, as they clearly hoped that we would not notice or say anything. We were told we would be getting a partial refund for the difference in room types and to touch base with management throughout our stay. We checked in with them every day and were informed the refund would be put back on the booking credit card. We were ultimately moved to the correct room for the last couple nights of our trip. We touched base with the staff before check out stating that we needed documentation sent to us of the refund, as we had not received it yet, so that we did not run into issues getting it once we returned home. We were told there would be a refund of $1269 placed back on our card and have email documentation of this amount from management. Fast forward multiple MONTHS of not receiving a refund, RIU fighting our credit card dispute, we finally received a refund of $634. When I reached out regarding the incorrect refund, I was informed that the original calculated amount was incorrect and that we would only be receiving that half. This went on for multiple months with me reaching out to management multiple times, and the hotel has still not refunded us our full promised amount. The hotel began offering an "elite club" booking option back in October of 2024, which they converted all oceanfront rooms to. This was put into place 7 months following our booking, meaning the hotel bumped our booking in order to charge guests more for the "elite club" experience. What was supposed to be a romantic vacation following my partner returning home from deployment, ended up being a huge headache and having over $600 taken from us and not returned. I do not recommend the Riu at all. (Resubmitted 10/25 per Trip Advisor guidelines as I had submitted the same review on both Google and Trip Advisor).
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Oct 28, 2025Apartment building with all inclusive options
First off, don’t take my review wrong until you read it fully, I am being honest about our experience here at the riu antillas. We are a couple aged 44, we figured doing the adults only resort would benefit us as we do not have kids. While we did have fun, this just wasn’t the resort for us as it was too quiet when it came to entertainment. From being at many riu resorts previous, we figured the same “fun” would be had while we were here. The resort felt like an all inclusive resort at an apartment t building. During the day there is no music on site, no entertainment staff doing anything to entice their guests to get involved, it was purely a bunch of tourists laying around with little to do at all. We were pretty bored for the week we stayed so we made our own fun by taking a left at the roadway to the strip down to the shops to get some exercise which was a pretty safe experience for anyone to do as Aruba is a safe island even at night. We also took the city bus to oranjestad the right of the roadway to see the downtown area and shops which was also pretty neat to see. The food was the best part of our stay, many choices to choose from, the ala carte choices were great but you must wait in line a hour before they open to ensure you get a spot as it filled up quickly. The steak house was by far the best offering surf and turf, salmon and jerk chicken. The Krystal Ala carte was good offering a romantic dinner with your loved one, the restaurant offered red snapper, short ribs and grilled octopus. The remini Italian restaurant offered buffet style appetizers and also great choices for mains. The buffet was offered for those who couldn’t make it to the line to wait a hour before dinner which had themed nights for patrons. The buffet breakfast was similar every day but had everything you could expect for breakfast. The 2 lunch buffet’s also offered many choices from fresh fish, steak, pizza, pastas and much more. The outdoor lunch buffet offered burgers, chicken fingers and fries. The dinner buffet had all of the above plus a Mexican night, Italian night and others. The resort staff were friendly, the cleaning staff were attentive and always provided fresh towels and even mopped our sandy floor every day. The only thing I can say is none of them stood out from the rest. The resort was rather small, you have an apartment style building with little outside of those barriers, I personally would never live in an apartment and that’s exactly what it felt like. Once you left the high rise you are met with little to do other than the beach or walk down the strip to the stores to spend money at. This resort is definitely catered to senior citizens who want a quiet low key vacation who don’t care to have any entertainment during their stay. The shows…..well we went to the neon party, we lasted a whole 20 minutes of the 4 hours it ran for. While the room it is in is large, the lack of cooling options were dismal and instantly we felt overheated as it was open to the outside as there was no ceiling. They definitely need to do something about this as most will not be able to withstand the extreme temperatures in this room. The hotel offered nightly shows but same room was used and we didn’t want to soak our evening attire with sweat. The island is very windy almost always, the wind played a major role in us not wanting to stay at the beach for too long as we didn’t feel like being sandblasted. We did have hurricane Melissa pass through during our stay but it stayed north of us and gave us a full week of cloud cover. We have given this resort a score of 3/5 for the above.
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Oct 27, 2025Awesome vacation at Riu Antillas!
My husband and I recently vacationed here for his birthday. This was our first time to Aruba and this resort was so amazing! The customer service was top notch! The food was excellent for an all-inclusive. This resort is located in a great location, where you can just make a left out of the resort and there will be tons of restaurants and shops to choose from. Thank you to Ashanti & Gunther (front desk), Vava (bellman), Juan ( bar server), and Joanna (Room Attendant) for making our stay more special!
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Oct 26, 2025
Absolutely The Best !!
I am currently here for the second year in a row and this year I brought a group of 70 people. Best Adults Only All Inclusive Resort in the island. Excellent food, excellent service and very accommodating staff. We are alreday planning to bring our grouo back again next year!
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Oct 24, 2025
Booze Cruise on Land
Planning our honeymoon we wanted to do something in the Caribbean that was all inclusive and no kids. With so many choices we ended up going to a travel agent for some help. After looking at many options we settled on the Riu Palace Antillas. Our agent signed us up for the "Elite Club" which brings additional features. The resort itself is nice. Five on sight restaurants to choose from. All themed differently with a buffet. One huge pool and right on the beach. But, other than drinking, eating or sun bathing the resort offers very little else. There is an entertainment hall on sight but offers very little. What I found extremely frustrating is in the evenings, during college football, NFL football and hockey season, there is not a TV anywhere other than your room. The sister resort next door has one bar that offers TV's to watch sports. Not that I want to spend my honeymoon watching TV. But in the evening there really isn't anything else to do if you stay on sight. There is a big tourist area just up the road which is an easy walk. The Elite Club is interesting. We were put into a room that was in a separate building from the main resort. There are 28 rooms all together in that building. They are supposedly the honeymoon suites. There are Elite Club rooms in the main tower. It was nice being away from the main resort though. DIdn't have to fight the elevator lines. Elite Club offers you the ability to make dinner reservations through the Riu app. If you are in the general area you have to wait in line. The Club also has its own pool with bartender. Its own restaurant and own bar. You can also get exclusive food items via room service. You also get a stocked mini fridge, water delivery every day and some snack items, all of which can be restocked via the app. There is also an area in the back of the buffet room for Elite Club. You get a menu of "exclusive" breakfast options but.... All the waiter really does is go to the buffet and plate what you order. Which took unusually long. The app is very glitchy. One day we attempted to order a sandwich and had to schedule a time only to be told we were out of the window and the order was cancelled. Then... it showed up. The restaurants overall very much reminded me of a cruise ship. After about four days of dining on sight we had enough and did the rest of our meals in town. The Steakhouse which I believe is their signature restaurant is very mediocre. The service at the specialty restaurants on sight I found to be very slow. Overall the resort is kept clean and the staff is very nice, although stingy. Every time we asked for a certain amount of something they always shorted us one or two items. My wife and I travel quite a bit and our impression of the Riu Antilla is it is a booze cruise on land. And a tip if you hit the beach or general pool. You have to get up early, get your towels and place them on a chair to get a good spot. If you wait, as we did, the choice spots on the beach with a tiki umbrella or right at the water front are taken. We were put under a tree near the beach.