Hotel Riu Palace Tropical Bay - All Inclusive

We spent a week at RIU Palace Tropical Bay over Christmas and had an absolutely wonderful experience. The service was excellent, and all of the staff were polite, professional, and genuinely kind. One thing we really appreciated was that no one was ever pushy or begging for tips. We are a family that is happy to tip—and tip generously—but it’s refreshing when it isn’t expected or pressured at every turn. This was hands down the cleanest resort we’ve ever stayed at. The food was consistently delicious, both in the à la carte restaurants and at the buffet. They truly went above and beyond for the holidays—Santa Claus arrived by boat on Christmas Day and gave each child a gift, which absolutely thrilled our kids and made Christmas feel very special. They also hosted a lovely Christmas Eve gala to celebrate the season. The resort app was easy to use and very convenient. Room service was fine, and if anything in the room needed attention, you could submit a request through the app and it was taken care of quickly. The only downside for us was that the beds were a bit hard (and I’m still feeling it!), but that was a small trade-off. The beach was immaculate, and the jerk chicken cooked by Jolly by the beach was incredible. My son—who normally only eats chicken nuggets—couldn’t get enough of it and was still talking about it when we were leaving. One tip for future guests: the site building at the far end of the beach, we recommend booking excursions directly there rather than through your travel representative. We found the experiences to be much more economical and even better overall. I honestly wish we could have stayed another week, and I already want to go back—which is something I’ve never said about a resort before. Highly recommend.

Overall we enjoyed our stay at the RIU. The staff was terrific, and the beach was lovely. Pros: the entertainment was fun and interesting. The rooms were large and clean. The beach service was attentive. The jerk hut was awesome,- and the drinks were delicious. Cons: using the app to make reservations for dinner. This process was awful- requires booking 2 nights in advance and is challenging to use. When you do get a reservation, the restaurant food was sub par. I would venture to say that the buffet food was better. The gym needs a major upgrade. It is small, old and not as clean as it could be. Overall we enjoyed our stay but with exercise and mealtime the most important elements of vacation for me, it was underwhelming.

Fortunately for us, Riu Palace Tropical Bay reopened just a week prior to our arrival. The resort property sustained minor damage from hurricane Melissa. Reopening was delayed due to damage to Jamaica's power and water infrastructure. We were greeted with a cold fruit punch that you could add rum to if you wanted it. Even though we had checked in online, the computer system was down (due to public electrical / internet provider outages) and we had to check in via a manual paper based system. We were upgraded from an ocean view room to an ocean front room probably because occupancy was low. All of the resort's facilities were operating properly and the Riu staff was outstanding! The beach and the water in Bloody Bay were perfect as usual. Most of the vendors in the blue tarp shops between Riu Tropical Bay and Riu Negril were back and open. All of the friends that I made there during our previous stay in February were found to be safe; but all of them had their homes affected by the hurricane. Some areas won't get electrical service back until June or July 2026. One of my friends has a massage parlor located right on the beach (not behind the fence where who knows what might happen). It is located closer to the Riu Negril facility, but the massage is worth the walk from RIU Tropical Bay! Her name is Angela Hart - ask any of the nice people in the blue tarp shops where to find her. She is very professional and is a genuinely good person. I think that she puts her soul and love into her massages. The only inconvenience that we had was intermittent wifi / internet service. This WAS NOT the resort's fault - it was caused by the public electrical/ internet service outages. The resort's generator kicked in immediately when the public power system was down. We will definitely return to this beautiful country and to this outstanding resort in the future. Airport transfers were provided by Junior Fun Tours. Communication with them prior to arrival and while we were there was FAST and precise. Both drivers that we had were exceptional; they were on time, drove relatively safely and were willing to engage in conversations with us and provided us with a lot of island information.

The worst hotel experience I have ever had. I would give it zero stars if I could. After a long day of international travel, we took an hour 1/2 transfer to the hotel. Upon arrival, we were told that they were overbooked and that we needed to get back in a taxi, and make the 1 1/2 hour return trip to MoBay to stay at that RIU for the whole week. No chance of retuning to the hotel we booked. Zero notice was given to us in advance of this change. Other people were being sent 3 hours away to Ochos Rios. We saw friends who had flown from different geographical locations to vacation together at Tropical Bay, where one of them got to stay with her family but they told the other friend (a solo traveler) that she had to go back to MoBay and spend her week alone. So many unhappy people, tears, and utter frustration. I realize that the RIU Negril had a fire, but this is not an appropriate way to deal with it. If there had been an act of God at the hotel that I had booked at, I would expect the hotel to let me know that they couldn’t honor my reservation, refund my money, or give me other options. However, there was no act of God at the hotel that I had paid for and booked, and I was given zero notice that there was any sort of issue until after I had already made a very long trip. There was no offer to reimburse for the transfer ticket to Negril, and they would not pay for a taxi to another hotel in Negril. There was no offer of some sort of upgrade in Montego Bay. We had carefully researched the beaches and we specifically picked Tropical Bay because of the beach. I was not interested in the Montego Bay Beach. I would not have booked that hotel. When we asked to just be refunded our money and we would find accommodations elsewhere, we got a very sketchy answer about that as well, involving the person at the desk allegedly having to email someone. Keep in mind that while we waited at the curb outside the hotel for a couple of hours while we got a new plan put together, we saw them randomly checking other people in. A lot of other people. So I don’t know who decided who got their reservation and who did not, but it was a mess of an operation, totally unprofessional, and I will never ever have anything to do with a RIU property ever again.

Tudo perfeito, dos 3 hotéis que nos hospedamos na Jamaica este foi o com mais interação, praia linda, excelente comida.

Rooms and food

Staff not too friendly. I’m mindful this may be related to trauma from the hurricane.

Personnel au petit soin, que ce soit le room service, à la réception, au restaurant, sur la plage au bar et la personne du sport tous étaient vraiment trop sympas et disponibles. Très belle plage et en cette période post-cyclone ce n'était encore pas la grande foule. Chambre très propre, bien agendée et bon service d'étage.

RAS.

I had an amazing stay at Hotel Riu Palace Tropical Bay! The rooms were beautiful, the staff were friendly, and the food was excellent. Everything ran smoothly, making it a truly relaxing vacation. Planning my trip was a breeze thanks to some helpful tips from Agile Styling—if you’re looking for guidance on organizing your travel or accommodations, they really know how to make things easy. Highly recommend both the hotel and the support I received!