Riu Playa Blanca - All Inclusive

This hotel is great but it is far from 5 stars. The positive: The staff at check in was great. The entertainment staff works overtime to keep everyone entertained. A few people who made my stay enjoyable and went above and beyond: Milton, Lucas, Caleb, Donney, Earl, Maria Fernanda, Noel Raul, Genesis, Josbel, Jose and last but never forgotten Urrunaga (he went above and beyond everytime to get my picky eaters vanilla ice cream because they were allergic to the flavors that were being served during lunch and dinner)and did it ever time without an issue he was amazing. The grounds are clean. The entertainment staff has lots of energy and keeps everyone entertained. The negative: the hotel is far from the airport about 2-3 hours with traffic. When we first checked into the room I wanted to take a shower from the long flight. The knob to the shower fell off in my hand. I was shocked. But i put in a request to fix and it was fixed. When the hotel staff cleaned the room, they did not replace the washcloths. I had to keep requesting wash cloths everytime. The room has a very damn feeling and smell. Its like mildew around the bathroom. The 2nd night the air conditioner was acting up. We were so hot i requested service the next morning. It was fixed by dinner time. Breakfast choices we did not have many proteins choices. I do not eat pork and that was there just about every morning no alternatives! I just grabbed a muffin and waited until lunch most of the time we would just wait till lunch. The speciality restaurants were great. We loved the steakhouse more than anything. The men on horses are not a part of the resort but they will annoy and ask you everytime if you want to ride the horse and take photos. The vendors on the beach prices are very reasonable and cheap. They leave before 2pm though everyday. So you gotta be sure to visit before then. Lastly, the black sand is hot so be sure to bring watershoes.

Very nice and clean hotel, staff is there to help,very nice variety of food in buffet I'm morning and lunch time. We went for supper at a la carte restaurant each night, so for the buffet st night I can't talk about it. Best a la carte restaurant for us was : Steak house #1 Italian #2 And in 3th place Asian. Beach was clean, that was my main concern, Room cleaned eat day, Pool clean,

First, the positives! 1. The food, specifically and only at the buffet, was great! 2. The pools were great! 3. The service! Now, the negatives… 1. The rooms were terrible. That seemed to be a constant with most reviews, so my husband and I prepared ourselves, but it was beyond gross. Entering the room, you smell mold; it’s unclean, nothing is wiped down, the towels reeked of mold, there were bugs and blood on the curtains, and even the refrigerator was nasty. They let us switch rooms, and it was EXACTLY the same, except this one didn’t have bugs. I understand all-inclusives aren't for staying in your room, but it rained A LOT, so we stayed in our room more often than we would have liked. It was a huge letdown to be constantly grossed out. 2. The restaurants were below average. I don’t recommend going to restaurants because we waited 1.5 hours for a table at the Xian restaurant, and the food wasn’t very good. So we ended up going to the buffet, which was always great! All in all, there’s nothing that would make me come back here, respectfully.

First, the positives: - The buffet!!! The food is great, and there are plenty of choices. Plus, I loved that the wine and beer were self-serve. :) - The grounds and pool area are nice and very well kept. - Our room was clean and spacious and had a nice balcony. - There is an activity booth near the pool area. We took advantage of the jet skiing and snorkeling. The snorkeling was surprisingly decent. It wasn't amazing, but it was worth it for us. Now, the negatives: - The rooms (at least those we saw) are aging in need of better maintenance. We switched rooms because the AC did not work in our first room. We are thankful that the request to move was granted, but it did take some time. - The beach and the immediately surrounding area are not so nice (though to be fair, we knew that from the photos before we booked).

First time for us to this resort and it will not be our last . Have been 17 Times to a Riu resort . Is this the nicest we have been . No it was not . But the people at the resort made up for the beautiful week we stayed at the resort . Food plenty to choose from at the buffet for breakfast and lunch . Specialty Restaurants they have 3 no reservation needed Steak House Italian and Japanese always had a great dinner with with a nice glass of wine . Service at these restaurants one word amazing .Sports bar always had my early morning coffee at 6 am to bring to our room . To bad I forgot the name of the gentleman in the morning working there a nice person to talk with .Room was not a 5 star but it was all fine for us . When things where missing I just used the App for Riu and they would bring the things we asked for .Pools bars everything at the resort was very enjoyable for us . Only complaint I would have it's the locals who go to the resort for 1 day . When they return to their room at 3 or 4 am they really take pleasure of screaming and slamming the doors at 4 am not pleasant at all . Other then that I enjoyed everything about the resort

Check in took forever due to the incompetent staff. It was downhill from there. I’m finally got to the tasteless prison cell like room with a bare bathroom and no decor whatsoever. We found the cockroaches in the bathroom. They were good about that as we got another tasteless room that lacked any decor whatsoever. Endless noise from the overcrowded public areas is another factor in my low rating. The pictures on the website that led me to choose this hotel, misleading, and false. The best thing that could be said about this hotel is the landscaping of the public areas. Other than that it’s got nothing does not have a real spa only massage services with no other type of amenities, such as a sauna or the whirlpool or anything else. Should not represent that they have a Spa they do not

The resort was great and very esthetic gorgeous. The beachfront location was only downsized by it’s 2 hour ride from PTY airport and with crazy rush hour traffic, makes the trip even longer.

the resort was great on the ocean, food was very good, resort was 2 hours from airport and panama canal, however transportation was very good

We chose RIU Panamá for our 25th wedding anniversary and we had a blast!!! The food was delicious, the shows were fun, the disco was great, the beach was so quiet. Can’t say anything bad about it