RIU Palace Maldivas

Nešo Petric

There are so many beautiful places in the world and life is too short to see them all, but it's worth coming back here. Not even for the food and service, but for the staff. *Negatives* - It was my third visit to the Maldives, and I honestly didn't expect that in this paradise on earth you could encounter with dirty water in the sea, and the impossibility of swimming during low tide. Thanks to the low tide and the nearby reefs, constantly pounded by waves, a lot of seaweed and millions of bubbles appear in the water on the beach. Of course, the hotel is not to blame for this, but it is good to be aware of it. We had a room with direct access to the beach, and it is simply impossible not to bring sand into the room with you. I don't understand why there is no small foot shower at the transition from the beach to the terrace. We had to fill a plastic trash can with water to wash our feet. I also didn't expect to fly halfway around the world, but when you fly from Male to this island, the domestic airline Manta takes all your lighters, and the first thing you have to do is visit a shop on the other island, Riu Atoll, and buy a new one. It's good to know for smokers that a pack of Marlboro light cigarettes costs 25 USD here. Thats all for negatives. *Room* The room was perfectly cleaned every day at our request (only because of the aforementioned sand from the beach and the lack of a foot shower). We turned off the air conditioning for the night, it was more than enough for us. I have to raise the beds. I always have trouble sleeping away from home, but these beds were perfect. I slept like a baby. *Beach* The beach is beautiful on the sunset side, beautiful white sand, twice a day cleaning of corals and seaweed. On the other sunrise side, it is broken by water and in places you had to jump half a meter from the sand into the water. There were also excavators that replenished the sand. On the other side, on this sunrise side of the island, much better swimming and cleaner water. *Restaurants* Reservations in restaurants that require it worked perfectly through the app. The food was very good. In the main Palm restaurant, a large selection of dishes, something for everyone, everything is very high quality, fresh, varied, but nothing will knock your socks off in terms of taste. Maybe it's because I'm a chef cuisine by profession for many years and I have a refined tongue. Restaurant perfect clean and nice. *Entertainment* Every day Bingo at the pool bar around 4:00 PM. Not interest in it. From 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM DJ. Sometimes it was even fun, because in addition to the DJ there was also a guy with a saxophone and a great guy with electric drums and they gave the music a special twist. Otherwise I didn't care whether the music was played by the DJ or just the equipment behind the bar. In the evening, sometimes DJ, sometimes band. It's not that the band played badly, but there is very little interaction with the audience. I would recommend having a karaoke party twice a week. A lot of people sang at the table with the band and I think they would even dare to go on stage if there was the opportunity. And I would definitely enjoy that much more than semi-professionally singing world hits. It's more fun at Riu Atoll, but we liked our island much better. I really appreciated the fact that you could leave your phone, sunglasses, cigarettes, whatever on the table by the beach and by the pool, and you didn't have to worry about someone stealing it. Even for few hours. I'm not entirely sure if it would be the same on the other island in Riu Atoll, as the clientele was quite different there. *Stuff* As I started, so I will end. The staff is absolutely perfect. Mr. Saleem in the restaurant, Sanju, Ashram, Mahdi, Miss Daisy in the bar, in fact, everyone (hard to remember all names) is absolutely friendly and always makes sure that you have everything you need. From the reception to the maid. They are the treasure of this hotel. If we return to this island again, it will be mainly because of the staff. So Stuff, Thank you all.

Lee Maartensz

We had a wonderful family holiday at this fantastic resort. Powder white sands, beautiful turquoise waters, wonderful accommodation, great food and drinks. However, the best thing about this place is the amazing staff; always smiling, always happy to stop and have a few words, nothing is too much trouble for them. A credit to the RIU brand, they made our stay here more magical than we could ever have thought possible. Thank you all x

Nevzat Ogul Ozturk

You want to pay 5 star hotel rates but stay at a 3 star hotel? Then this is the place you are looking for. Edit: Service is amazing, staff is super helpful, attentive and nice. Food is great. Sea is pretty good. But the rooms are below 5 star standard. Also the gym is at the other hotel which you have to travel a fair bit of distance to get to where you will find very little equipment.

Daniel Andrews

Island was stunning, Staff by the pool were great. Management non existent even after we raised several issues. Claim to have a la cart restaurants this is a joke. A specialist steak restaurants that only offers one steak and it was the smallest piece of meat you will ever see. The Japanese asked if we had any alleges of which we told them mushrooms they replied with none of what you have ordered has Mushrooms. When the food came everything had mushrooms and the manager just smiled.

Cheri Stephen

The hotel itself is lovely. Very relaxing! Paradise. But unfortunately when leaving we booked the sea plane. Instead of riu booking the sea plane to arrive 2-3 hours before our international flight from male. The sea plane was delayed by over an hour which apparently is a common occurrence. This left us with only 40 mins to get our international flight home which we ended up missing and having to pay over £3000 to book another flight the next day after the hotel assured us we would be supported. At the airport security would not let us through even thou our flight was delayed by over 2 hours! I would strongly suggest to not waste your money on the sea plane or if you do make sure riu books it properly with sufficient time taking into consideration potential delays which once again is a common occurrence of the sea planes. Really disappointed to have ended our trip like this and left a bitter taste in our mouths with Riu.