RIU PALACE MACAO

Location: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Travel Dates: February 2012

Length of stay: 3 nights

My rating: ***

It feels like its been forever since I've posted a hotel review, perhaps I should increase my travel budget.... but here I am! Some friends and I decided to take a very quick girls trip and chose to visit the Riu Palace Macao resort in Dominican Republic.  This was my first time at any of the many Riu properties and I do have to admit I have mixed feelings.  In retrospect,  I suppose it served its purpose. 

Overview: We prepaid for transportation to/from the resort and it took about 40 minutes to get there.   I think it would have been closer if we didn't have to make 1 stop at the Catalonia Resorts that took about 15 minutes. When we first arrived at the lobby they greeted us with a sort of juice cocktail (non-alcoholic).  The check-in process was quite long and we were informed that the advertised Wi-Fi access was only in the lobby area and not in the rooms. This wasn't a very big deal but it was something that we thought to be non-accommodating in this day and age.

Rooms: The room was clean.  Even though there were 3 of us staying in the room, the front desk only gave us one 2 keys (not key cards but actual keys) at check-in and one was for the safe.  It felt odd that they were still using actual keys and not a key card system. It has been a while since I've seen this.  The A/C in the room did an ok job at cooling but we could not open the balcony door or the thing would reset itself and take another 40 minutes to turn back on.  That pretty much ruled out the use of the balcony for us since it was very humid outside.   The toilet was broken and we immediately called for them to send someone up.  The technician was there within 5 minutes.  One thing I noticed and that I made a note to mention here is that there are no peep-holes on the doors.  I don't know who else really cares about this, but I felt like it was a bit of a security issue, just me. They do have a flat screen TV and lots of closet space which was also nice. Aside from these hiccups on the first day, we did not have further issues with the room. The house-keeping was excellent.  They provided a lot of extra towels and toilet paper/bath tissues and who doesn't appreciate that?

Food:  The taste of the food offered was actually good. There seemed to be a lot of confusion around which restaurants were open on what days and at what times.  This made it difficult to make choices ahead of time in order to secure reservations.  Since we weren't there for too long, we did the buffet at EL PATIO for 2 of the nights and had dinner at The Steakhouse on the 3rd night.  We felt the food at the buffet was very tasty.  One of the nights we went they even had sushi, which was quite good. The Steakhouse restaurant is very very small so they require reservation.  I wasn't crazy about the set up of the place but the food was decent.

Property: The property is located in a community of Riu Hotels and you can use the facilities across all of them.  There is only 1 pool at this property which was a negative for me since I enjoy hotels that have lots of pools so that you can have more choices of where to lounge the day away.  Only 1 pool meant very limited spacing.  The beach was large and the view of the ocean was beautiful! They have a beach bar and a pool bar that were both very active.

I hope everyone enjoyed my 2 cents on this place and until next time!

When choosing a room in a hotel......

One of the most important things when choosing a hotel/resort is the room itself.   Those who say, rooms don't matter since you are barely in them on vacation, are gravely mistaken. A room in a hotel is a pivotal part of your stay! It needs to provide the comforts of home and beyond. It should have an accommodating, inviting feel and make you feel safe. It should make you want to spend your entire vacation there, which you most certainly you won't do right?

Some hotels feel the need to meddle on useless details when creating their room categories/types. They offer such a vast range of rooms all at different prices that it becomes extremely confusing to know what you are getting for your money. This actually seems to be the case more in hotels that do not have a clear 'best room' or have little to none oceanfront categories. In my opinion, the best and simplest format is to have rooms categorized by view as far as prices.  However, there will also be suite categories to be considered.  Personally, I prefer places that don't try to nickle and dime you for a flat screen TV or upgraded toiletries while you have the same view or room floorplan as your neighbor.  If places are going to do this they should be very clear on what the differences are between rooms and that way they will have many more happy customers. 

One other thing that I don't understand and this happens at most hotels/resorts.  Why do they always seems to have a few rooms where everything is broken or its smells like mold or you may find an unwanted creature in a drawer? This I will never understand. Some poor soul usually winds up with this reject room at check-in and 'if' they complain then they get moved.  Why not close down those rooms and only offer guests the livable ones? It's like they are daring you to call them out and complain.

So after my little rant, I do feel a lot better!  As travel evolves, I hope that places take into consideration these things that can essentially be the cause of someone not choosing to stay in their hotel. 

Happy Travels!!

AAA Diamond Awards 2012

Travelers!

For all of you out there who like to take into account credentials of luxury in your hotel accommodations, (myself included), the AAA diamond award winners have been released! While I like to base my decisions mostly on actual traveler experiences, these types of lists represent another way to isolate properties that stand out from the rest as far as travel critics are concerned.

In my opinion, the overall winner here is Sandals Resorts. It received recognition on five of its properties across several countries and this is no surprise. Be sure to check out my reviews on Sandals Royal Bahamian and Sandals Grande Riviera. My experience at these properties were both spectacular! I am also quite excited to see Catalonia Royal Bavaro in Punta Cana make the list. Within the past year, I have had heard nothing but great things on this property.

Below, I have highlighted the 2011 recipients of the 4 diamond recognition for

Top Food & Wine destinations in US- Traveler's Choice

Here are the top rated destinations in the US for "Food & Wine" vacations as selected by Trip Advisor travelers! 
http://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Food

#10 - Asheville, North Carolina



#9 - Las Vegas, Nevada

Top Beaches in the World - Traveler's Choice

Here are the Top 10 beaches in the world, chosen by Trip Adivsor travelers!

Full list here -  http://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Beaches-cTop25


1. PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS



2. BORACAY, PHILIPPINES

3. PALM/EAGLE BEACH, ARUBA

And the winner is......

Hello there! I finally decided on a vacation for 2012 and the winner for this year will be Aruba!!  I just want to see what all the fuss is about.   Some people I know have there at least once and most people I know go there every year.  I am actually surprised I had not booked a trip there until now.   In retrospect,   I   don't think I ever found any hotel/resort that jumped out at me and said "I'm the one!." Until now, of course, when I found the Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort.  This place looks amazing and it is incredibly top rated.  I cannot wait to see what our experience will be like.  It has painted itself as everything I look for, amazing room, large quiet beach, top notch service and last but not least.... Adults Only! I think it's probably the only one in the island so it should be no surprise why it beat out the other ones for me.  We will be staying in a beach front Tara Suite.  The only sad part is that we still have a ways before we actually depart.  As you know, expect full details when we return!!

Unexplored places - Pitcairn Islands

Have you ever heard about the Pitcairn Islands?  Not too many people have.  It is one of those places that fascinates me because it is considered to be the smallest country in the world. There are only 50 inhabitants! I was doing some research on population size by country and found this place.  It reminded me a bit about the concept of that movie, "The Beach." I would love to visit!!

Out in the Pacific ocean, about 1300 miles east south-east of Tahiti there is a volcanic group of islands that are part of British overseas territory.  Ducie and Oeno, Henderson and Pitcairn (the main island) are part of the chain.

The country's website has a lot of great information including history, customs and tourism! Who knows, if I feel adventurous enough.......

http://www.government.pn/index.html