We stayed here for 14 nights in June 2023. After reading some reviews before our arrival we were somewhat nervous about what we were going to experience. There is some merit in previous reviews however a lot of it is ‘nit-picking’.

The room was of a good standard, with a mini bar, aircon and fan. There was a hairdryer and iron for us in the room and we also had tea and coffee making facilities. The housekeepers were always very friendly and cleaned our room everyday, sometimes scattering freshly picked flowers around the room. We did notice that our coffee was not refilled very much, and we were only given extra milk twice in the two weeks. The coffee is very nice but we found going to the sports bar and getting a cappuccino was just as good.

The pools are reasonably looked after with two main pools, a swim up bar and children’s pool in a separate area of the hotel. We spent our time in the pool bar which had music and games which made it lively. The bar staff were always happy and cheery and the drinks are very good also.

We ate mainly in the colonial bar, which is your pretty standard international buffet. We also had the chance to eat in the Mexican,Asian and steak house during our stay. The food quality was excellent, especially in the steak house. However getting a reservation for the steak house seemed like such a farce. We queued for nearly an hour to get a table booked on our last night and felt there was a much better and fairer way of booking a table, rather than first come first serve.

The Location is beautiful, as you’d expect being in the Caribbean, however what we did not realise was the hotel was on a huge complex of just Riu hotels and you couldn’t leave the resort unless you were doing an excursion. This made it rather difficult to keep entertained as we prefer to be doing things through out the day.

The staff were really friendly throughout our stay. We would question why when we asked at the reception about shops in the area we were shuttled 15 minutes away from the resort, when there were many shops on the resort which were much cheaper than those we were previously sent too.

We’d like to give a special mention the Ayjay from the entertainment team. He was amazing from start to finish of our stay and really made the time to go the extra mile for us all. Even if that did mean getting in stage and dancing as if nobody was watching…! Thank you Ayjay for the memories.

Pros -
Food and drink
Staff
Rooms
Good for those that want to sit by a pool for the duration of their stay.

Cons -
Little to do if you’re not interested in sunbathing all day.

On arriving at this resort we were greeted by the staff who were very professional and escorted us to our room which was spacious, clean and then we opened the balcony doors. We were faced with ongoing building works not 10 meters from our window. We ate in the Colonial on night 1 and it was a pleasant experience with very helpful staff but some of the guests you'd think had never been fed. We woke on day 2 and proceeded to breakfast which had an large variety to choose from. We then progressed to the pool. Happy enough until day 3. We progressed to the pool and on swimming noticed that there was a bubbling scum on the surface. We had also witnessed people still in the pool at 11pm the night before. On every following night we witnessed people in the pool up to midnight and this was enough proof that the pool was not being properly cleaned. We raised this with the hotel and on day 5 while passing the pool to the beach there was a very strong smell of chlorine. I know this is not good. Cocktails are all pre-mixed with just alcohol added. Restaurants are all buffet style except the Steak house and the Gourmet but you can still stand and wait for up to an hour to get a table. As for the entertainment - well unless you can speak Spanish there is no use going near it. It was absolutely dire. Overall the resort surroundings were nice the beach was to die for but really I'd only rate this hotel as a 3 star at most. Really all I will say is I will return to the Dominican Republic before I leave this earth but I will never stay at this hotel ever again.

Please beware, the Riu Bambu has mold on the ceilings and cockcroaches. The sheets and pillow cases are not changed for the whole week. The staff are rude. The towels in our room had a weird burnt smell. If you have a later flight back home, be prepared to share the courtesy shower room with staff members as the staff at the Riu don't see the difference between an employee and a paying guest at the resort. The lack in hospitality and unsantitary practices at the Riu Bambu was horrifying.