Riu Jalisco

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djptexas
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Riu Jalisco

Post by djptexas » Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:35 pm

I'm going to try not to be too hard - but we just got back from the Riu
Jalisco, and while the phyical property itself is spotless and well
maintained, the guests really ruined our trip. There were hundreds of
children (don't these kids need to be in school?) all of them screaming,
running down the halls, they were everywhere with no adult
supervision. The buffets were awful - mostly bad food, some acceptable, rude people cutting in line, adults and children were picking food up with their fingers from the buffet plates, there was often not enough food -
just too many people and kids. People were fighting for a place to sit at most lunches.

There was virtually no service. At breakfast they would bring a pot of
coffee to your table, juice and, maybe, pick up dirty dishes. The
only time we were offerred drinks was at dinner with a choice of bad red
or awful white "wine". Otherwise, you are on your own to go to the bar
to get your drinks whether water, soft drinks, beer or alcoholic
drinks.

Maid service was exceptional. Those girls work their butts off and,
in my opinion, the only ones that deserve a tip.

On our last day, my husband had an opportunity to enter the kitchen ( a
really long story that I won't go into now) and he commented that he
was glad that he did not see the kitchen on our first day and vowed
never to eat there again.

I know that this resort gets a lot of positive reviews, and ours may
have been better had the resort not been so crowded and with not so many unsupervised children (and drunk adults at 3:00 in the morning).
We usually don't stay at a resort unless it is adults only, but we got
such a deal on this place ($61 per person per night) we figured that we
could not go wrong - late October there should be no children. Wow,
were we wrong. Most of the guests - at least 85% - were Nationals.
Please believe me that I absolutely have no problem with that except that
most of the rooms had more than 2 adults and at least 2-4 kids in each
room. I can't believe that they were being charged the same rate we
were. Also, one morning, very early, I was in the lobby when a bus full
of people arrived that looked like they had been travelling for days -
they were all wrapped in blankets, men w/facial growth, some carrying
their belongings in plastic grocery bags - not your typical tourist on
vacation in a supposedly 5 star resort. My opinion is that this is a
2.5 star at best. We have been spoiled in past by very good all
inclusive resorts in Mexico. We will pay more attention to details in the
future and not base everything on price alone. We spent more time away
from the resort and eating out just to get away. Not my idea of an all
inclusive.

I really don't want to offend anybody, but I want to let people know
that this is not a 5-star resort and that you should expect sub-par food
and service. I felt at times like I was in a homeless shelter. I'm
going to chalk this experience up as a reminder not to travel to a large
AI in October that allows kids.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.

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Post by Plus4 » Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:15 pm

Sorry you did not have a good experience on your vacation.... I would not have enjoyed all the commotion either..
You probably were in Mexico during Day of the Dead which is a holiday ..

Quote:
I was in the lobby when a bus full
of people arrived that looked like they had been travelling for days -
they were all wrapped in blankets, men w/facial growth, some carrying
their belongings in plastic grocery bags - not your typical tourist on
vacation in a supposedly 5 star resort

Maybe :? The group that were brought to the Resort wrapped in blankets were not on vacation but people who were being sheltered from the recent flooding in Mexico..
Good for the RIU if they did take in some of the homeless..

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Post by djptexas » Mon Nov 05, 2007 6:11 pm

Sylvia:
Good point about the flooding. I didn't hear about the floods until we got back home. We were there 10/22-10/30.

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Post by mamba72001 » Mon Nov 05, 2007 6:40 pm

To say I am FREAKING OUT is an understatement.....

I am going to the Riu Jalisco with my 2 sons in less than 4 weeks by myself.
This review and the one below about the Nationals doesn't make me very happy.
And like you said, its not about the fact that they are nationals its the behaviour.

I wanted this to be such a great trip for my kids.
They are SO excited and now I am second guessing myself.
They are looking forward to the food.

What am I going to do now???

Guess call my travel agent.

This is the first time in Mexico for me and now I am regretting my decision.

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Post by mamba72001 » Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:23 pm

I've calmed down now.....LOL.....

Re-read the review and I am sure we'll be fine.........

I'll provide my review when we get back.

Hopefully it will be different.....LOL........

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Post by KVR » Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:37 pm

djptexas, your review basically mimics my review of the RIU Tropical Bay in Negril, Jamaica. Too many drunks, too many kids and really bad food. We've been to many AI properties. The RIU is a cheap AI chain. They attract adults looking for a Spring Break atmosphere wanting to get their drink on and tons of families. Too bad, because the hotel themselves are quite nice. After our experience, we would never consider staying at another RIU property anywhere.

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Post by helenf » Mon Nov 05, 2007 9:37 pm

I have never stayed at the RIU properties in Nuevo, however, I did stay at the RIU Cancun this year and we loved it. The food was fabulous. The crowd was mostly 40 plus with few children. Service was impeccable. The RIU also provides adults only resorts with their "Palace" properties.

My coworker only travels to RIU properties all over Mexico and the Caribbean and absolutely loves all of them. He refuses to stay anywhere else.

As for the comments about the "Nationals", wow! If one doesn't want to vacations with the "nationals" then I would suggest not to visit Mexico! WE are the visitors to THEIR country are we not? :roll:

Helen

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Post by arzluvcaz » Mon Nov 05, 2007 10:05 pm

Hola all,

JMO, I would not take the review of one persons opinion, go to Trip Advisor and read....Rui sounds pretty good to me for a big resort.

-http://www.tripadvisor.com/

Personally we like the smaller resorts Golden Crown, where you get treat like family.

I hope this helps!!

Andy and Cheryl

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Post by sonofdob » Mon Nov 05, 2007 10:48 pm

helenf...I have to say ditto...Mexicans ? In Mexico ? Who would have thought ? The Riu properties in Playa del Carmen are very nice, great food, great service and guests that are mostly 40 something couples and small groups...sonofdob.

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Post by mamba72001 » Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:56 pm

Thanks everyone for posting.
I am going to just have to wait and see.
Not too much I can do about it now.

I am going to go with a positive attitude and enjoy this time with my kids.
(They are 16 & 13, by the way)

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Post by tojol57 » Tue Nov 06, 2007 3:29 pm

Complaining about the "Nationals" being at the resort, where are they to go for their vacation? Not every national is hooked up with a coyote and heading for USA or Canada for work... there are plenty of hardworking nationals that vacation in Vallarta too... also, their school schedules are a lot different than ours, so why is bad to have children at a family all inclusive... if you wanted an adults only atmosphere then you should have checked into the Golden Crown Paradise and spent just a little more... but that is just my opinion here....

everybody take a deep breath.... and you will be fine....

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Post by benito » Tue Nov 06, 2007 5:05 pm

maybe you can cancel the mexico trip and go to hawaii or orlando, where you will find the nationals more to your liking. if you go thru with the pv trip, i hope you step off the resort, get on a local bus, interact with the locals, learn something about the culture, you'll have a much better trip, and it might even change your perceptions, one might hope!

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Post by mamba72001 » Tue Nov 06, 2007 8:06 pm

I just re-read my reaction to the original post and completely understand the replies.
I wish I had worded my response differently.

I absolutely want my kids to enjoy the Mexican culture and interact with the Nationals.
Otherwise I would have gone to Hawaii or Disney.

The food & safety are my main issue with the above. My boys are so excited about food.
Heck, they are teenage boys and thats all they do is EAT!
I can get my own coffee!

In all honesty, no matter where I travel I am concerned about our safety.
Because I am travelling on my own with them and have never been to Mexico, the unknown can be concerning.
That goes for ANYWHERE we travel.

Thanks for all your replies.

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Post by Tom1 » Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:38 pm

If you are travelling on you own with minors, remember that it is extremely important to get a formal notorized statement (signed by your spouse or ex-spouse...) saying that you are authorized to travel to Mexico with your kids (to a given hotel, exact dates, etc.). Otherwise, you may not be allowed on the plane. Tom

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Post by condor » Wed Nov 07, 2007 1:46 am

Ok I'm going to put my to peso's worth in here and hope what I am going to say comes across the way I mean it to and not inflame the internet horde on here.

First the food quality and service, I have heard these type of comments before about the Riu. Part of it may be a reducing in staffing in the slow seasons and not having everyone up to speed as the crowds start to return. I have friends that have been to the same Riu resort at three different times of the year and said the second time they weren't sure they would ever go back do to many of the same complaints you had. They said it was almost as if it was a different resort. They did return for a third trip and were as pleased as the first so one never knows why thing can change so from month to month. As far as running out of food that happens at many resorts over run with families (kids tend to take more then they eat).

“Kids running everywhere with no adult supervision”. This is where I may inflame some. I have only noticed this problem with kids in Puerto Vallarta. It may be because I have been there when they have school holidays and the kids are out of school, but I have not seen this problem in Cozumel or Playa del Carmen. Now I have seen well behaved kids and not so well behaved, American and Mexican. What I have noticed and been told by resort staffers is the more affluent families bring their kids to the coast on holidays and tend to let them run wild. Two years ago we were sitting by the bar one afternoon watching kids run wild and we noticed two kids about 9 or 10 playing quietly by the pool. They came over and talked to their parents at the table next to us. When they went back to playing we commented to the couple that their kids were very well behaved. They smiled and thanked us. Sometime latter some members of the staff stopped by to chat and the couple asked them a question in Spanish. The staff member told us they wanted to tell us they really thought it was nice that we complemented them on their kids but spoke very little English and wanted the staffer to relay the message. We speak tourist Spanish only and laughed with the help of the member of the staff we had a very nice conversation with them. By the end of the day we were able communicate pretty well with them and found out that this was the first vacation that they had taken like this. They didn’t have a lot of money but had saved for 4 years to take this vacation they said they had also noticed how wild the other kids at the resort were and were talking about it when we commented to the how well behaved their kids were. When we talked to the staffers later that night they said they couldn’t wait until the weekend when most of the families were leaving. They said they felt the same way we did that most of the kids were little brats. The family we had talked with earlier was a blue collar family much like others in Mexico that worked hard to give their families what they never had. They told us the parents of the wild kids weren’t any better than the kids. They are rude to the staff regularly run to the general manager and complain if they hear staffers speak English before Spanish and will also complain if their drinks were mixed with bar rail booze not top shelf. I guess what I’m trying to say is there are rich spoiled kids everywhere it just in Mexico they are the majority of the ones that can afford to vacation at these type of resorts.

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Post by Plus4 » Wed Nov 07, 2007 2:28 am

Condor you worded your thoughts well..Noone could take offense or become inflamed.. BtW..I enjoyed your post. :)

Kids gone wild(no matter what age :evil: :P ) are are no fun to be around and could make a vacation most unpleasant)..
If parents are not keeping their children in line when visiting at a resort then I think the Resort management needs to step in have a chat with the parents.. The other guests should not have to suffer..

We have been very fortunate when staying in Family Resorts in PV..The children no matter if they were from Can..The States..Europe or Mexico have all been well behaved and a joy to have around..
2 Times we were in Resorts when bus fulls arrived from Guadalajara with families on vacation..
The Resorts became a lot busier but at no times were we bothered. Yes one could tell the families were affluent.. I never found the children spoiled just normal kids.. I did notice if kids began running around pool areas security would remind them not to run..
De Cameron 2004 Best friends..
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Post by JWBW64A » Wed Nov 07, 2007 8:58 pm

We are heading back to the RIU Jalisco for the 5th time in 2 years in May 2008. Also recently stayed at the RIU Caribe in Cancun in August and everytime have had a geat vacation. As other posters have stated: just go, enjoy the weather, the food, the environment and the local people who work at the hotel and go out of their way to keep the resort clean and ready for your use. Sure - the food might not be outstanding every meal - but there is always something to eat - you wont go hungry. When you are at the RIU make sure to walk up the beach to Bucerias and explore the area around the town square and the flea market - and enjoy the many fine restaurants. You and your boys will have a great time - go with the flow, enjoy Mexico and you will have a great vacation.

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Post by mamba72001 » Thu Nov 08, 2007 3:15 pm

Thank you so much JW for taking the time to reply.

I am much more confident and relaxed after reading what is posted here and on other threads. Everyone has been extremely helpful.

We will take your suggestion and walk to Bucerias.
Any suggestions as to where to eat?

I think my boys are looking forward to the food the most!
Teenagers! Gotta love them!

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Post by shorethor » Sun Nov 11, 2007 8:08 am

I am taking my kids to the Riu in mid december 4 and 12 yrs old. I am hoping there are other children there to play with but can't see myself letting them run wild. Parents should not be letting that happen. I have been to Mexico many times but this will be my first Riu experience. Hopefully things work out. I am looking forward to it.

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Post by chuck » Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:46 pm

I need to complain about the last time I stayed in a hotel in the US. It too was full of "Nationals".

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