[cuffedlinks]

My wife and I stayed at the Riu Palace Dec. 5th thru the 12th. Everything was to our satisfaction except the reservations for dinner (being stuck to 1 sitting) and the earliness of reservations at the ala carte restuarants, which, while fine, weren't supremely outstanding - the buffet more than suited our tastes and need for variety)

The Palace has a gym that we worked out in...not big but adequate...The rooms were fabulous as was the staff...We too did pottery and the attendant was informed that the next day was our last day...he finished the fine detail, fired it and had it back to us before we left...I would have been upset as well if we hadn't gotten it back - but not to the extent that I would discount ever staying in the Palace again...

We walked to and inspected the other Riu's and they looked very nice! Each had a different flavor in the architecture and layout...but our bus was full of people who had stayed at all 3 other resorts, and to a person they each LOVED their hotel and stay - (We were the only couple to stay at the Palace)...

The beach is shared, large and incredible...plenty of beach or shade in the myriad palm trees...not sure about the beach for the Riu Playacar which is next to the Viva Maya, next to the Palace and then the Yucatan...the Tequila is across the street but a short walk or shuttle trip to the beach...The Tequila is where most of the late night action is, it has the disco which is a separate entertainment venue than the theatres at each property...

The other Riu properties also had internet rooms, and the Palace has a lobby bar that my laptop and wireless card synched with and worked flawlessly. The entire area is very nice - choose according to your style, budget whatever...

Oh, one thing though. We had an EARLY shuttle departure for the airport...our flight left at 8 am - our shuttle to the airport left our hotel at 4:30 am...we were ALL Riu people except for one other couple...our wake up call came at 4:15 and not 3:45 and my pda was still set for Mountain time so it went off on the bus...

Any other Riu questions or anything on our trip to Playa...just ask!