Stayed at the Riu Feb. 3-10. I can truly say, after much hesitation reading previous reviews, the Riu is an extremely nice resort. It is large, so if you're looking for a smaller, personable resort - look elsewhere. We did have a bit of a glitch with our rooms upon arriving, but nothing that wasn't taken care of. Housekeeping: had no problems with towels. Upon arrival we only had two sets, however, since our daughter was with us - all we did was leave a note, with a tip, informing we needed an extra set during our stay. Taken care of the remaining stay.

Previous reviews stated the sheets were horrible - not the best sheets, true. We just asked for an extra blanket and slept on top of that and the top sheet as a cover. As for compaints of sheets feeling sandy. On an island they're water really isn't processed the same as on the mainland, and may not be void of all sandy particles. The sheets smelled clean and all was good.

A/C worked fine - we don't like it extremely cold. We came from a cold State - wanted warmth! In fact, there were times when we were in the room (which was very seldom) we had the patio door open/screen door closed.

Loved the fact when you walked through the lobby every morning - the staff would all take a moment to say "Good Morning". Yes, I'm sure they're instructed to do so, but it was nice. Entertainment each evening was good one night, not so much the next. However, the entertainers gave their all. The Mama Mia presentation was extremely well done and the reggae band's tribute to Bob Marley honoring his birthday on Feb. 7 was awesome.

The beach. Had really no gripes about it. Cloudy, didn't think so. Rocky, only way on the very end or just some areas where you walked off the grassy spots. It's NATURE. Tides go in, tides go out - sometimes water crystal clear, but never really cloudy. Can't say much about the pools. Never went in any of the them. I'm there for the ocean. You can go in a pool any time at hotels/resorts.

Bees around the bars - of course! There's sweet, syrupy bottles sitting around. The bees don't bother anyone. They're interesed in the bottles. Same difference when you're at a picnic - put something sweet away from the eating area - and you're fine. Top shelf booze, not so much, but I drink rum and always had Appleton. Wasn't there to get knock down drunk and feel like crap the next day - a good buzz, yeah.

Food buffet - no gripes. Just remember, the RIU is out of Europe. Not all desserts are made like the US. They don't use as much sugar, perhaps may be bland. Enough of a variety to find something. Personally, I loved all the seafood made available. ALSO, make a stop at Don Fresh, on the beach right next to the resort. AWESOME, fresh lobster. Well worth it.

Complaints about garbage on the beach - Well, let's see, if people would pick up after themselves and not expect groundskeepers to continually do it, then maybe it would look a lot nicer. I had seen people pick up their towels, beach bags and other personal items, but left plates, plastic cups and napkins laying there! Would hate to see what their homes look like. Garbage cans are placed everywhere. USE THEM! One evening, watched a guy trip off of one of the landings while walking to the bar with a plate of food - dropped a chicken leg on the nice clean tile, looked back at it and kept on walking. REALLY? Perhaps his wife wasn't in the vacinity to pick up after him. Guess we'll just leave that for cleaners, right?

I truly did like this resort - however, back in 2008 we were at Breezes Run Away Bay (smaller) and absolutely loved it. We plan on making another trip to Jamaica and that's where we'll return. It's nice to have a comparison - nothing against Riu Club Negril. Look beyond all those complainers. Some people just like to complain for the sake of complaining. It's their nature....go enjoy yourselves.

Please PM if you have any questions! Would be happy to respond!

I booked this hotel in early January and then read all the reviews on TripAdvisor. I have to say, the reviews made me super nervous and almost regretted booking the trip. Now that I have been to Negril, I can now share my thoughts.

The transfer from the airport to the hotel was not as bad as people describe. We arrived at the airport around 4 and made it to the hotel by 630, yes that seems a bit long. But that includes going through customs, getting our luggage, checking into the Jamaica Tours Station, dropping a couple people off and driving to the hotel. We did stop once for a beer and bathroom break.

The Hotel - The staff was very welcoming when we arrived and the check in process was pretty smooth. We could have left our luggage for a bellhop to bring to us, but I wanted to change and head to dinner, so we just brought our luggage with us. We were in the 2nd building and on the 2nd floor. They do not have elevators, but if you can manage carrying your luggage it wasnt too bad. The hotel overall was clean and for the most part set up pretty well.

Rooms - The rooms were pretty basic, they did have your own alcohol dispensers and soda's/water/juice in the fridge. They refilled every other day without a problem. I did notice that the maids would show up to clean our rooms a little too early for my liking. We had knocks on the door at 830am, and if you didnt want them to clean right then, they would not come back until 4ish. So we had a couple days after the beach that we had no fresh towels. Not too much of an issue. Also, if you are a light sleeper beware, The hallways echo extremely bad and you can hear everything from inside your room.

Beach/Pool - Def make sure you put your towel or something on chairs at both the pool and beach fairly early. People hold chairs for the whole day and you might not ever see them actually sit in them. But if you reserve your chairs before you head to breakfast you should be able to find something. The beach was goregous and the water was warm. The water was clear for most of our trip, only day it was a bit cloudy was when a rain storm came through the night before, but it wasnt a problem at all! People were complaining alot of the time about the rain clouds or the rain that would come through almost daily. For the most part, it would last a couple minutes or an hour. But it is expected when you are on a tropical island.

Food - The food was ok. The buffet had a variety of foods (although not much chicken). The al la carte restaurants were ok, def worth trying. And the reservation process wasnt as big a deal as people made it out to be. We went around 930am the first full day we were there and were able to make a reservation for 2 of the restaurants for 9pm. Granted your chances of getting something for that night are pretty slim, but you can reserve up to 3 days. And I preferred the late night reservation, gave us time to relax after a day in the sun.

Entertainment - The entertainment crew did a pretty good job throughout the week. They would move from the beach to the pool in the day and then at night put on a show. The Michael Jackson show was pretty good if you ignore the lip synching. The dancing was pretty good.

Bars - BRING YOUR OWN MUG OR CUP or whatever. We were not informed of this before we went and were seriously disappointed we didnt. During the day, the drinks are in plastic dixie cups with a shot of alcohol. We had to get 4 at a time just to be good. We didnt stay at any of the bars because of the smell, it was pretty bad. But if you move to one of the pool tables or back to your chair its not to bad. After the second day we did stop tipping for all our drinks, we noticed that we would tip the first 2 days for every drink and stopped and there was no difference in service. And how they acted, it was just not worth tipping them extra.

My issues with the resort - BEWARE!! The beach volleyball court is not all sand. I found out the hard way, taking a dig and coming up to my knee scrapped and bleeding. The court is on a cement slab with about 2 inches of sand on top. So just beware that you should not dive or dig for the ball. Also, pretty annoying, they dont leave the beach volleyball on the court and if you ask for the ball, they tell you to go eat or do something else (Extremely rude). They will designate a time for you to play, which is annoying if you just want to have a quick friendly game. Also, bring a first aid kit with you, I went to the front desk for a bandaid or something to clean my knee out and he looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. I showed him my knee and he brought me a gauze pad. I said no I need a bandaid, he told me to head to the nurse's station. WHich I did, I walked in to one of the most miserable people sitting at a desk and politely asked do you have a bandaid or peroxide for me knee. He looked at me and Said go to the gift shop!! That was when I realized how rude people there were. I ignored it for the first 3 days, but that was were I got a bit annoyed.

Also, the people roaming the beach to get you to rent the jet skis or braid your hair or sell you anything, are a bit pushy. They will continue to ask you or try to convince you its a great deal. We also had one of them yell at us for Saying No thank you to a jet ski. "You dont say no thank you, you are here for the people" He was quite rude and a bit uncalled for.

SOOOO for those of you who are worried about heading here, dont be worried. Yes the hotel has its flaws, but it was much cheaper than the more expensive resorts. So you are def paying for what you get. This is no way a 5 star resort, I would say about a 3. But has everything you need to have a good vacation. And the beach def makes up for some of its problems.

I read so many complaints of this hotel on the website, that I was debating whether or not to come to the Riu at all. I have to say though, it’s a good thing we did. Upon arrival it took hotel staff less than two minutes to check us in. Our room was ready upon arrival, and unfortunately we were placed in building 4, which is a good 8-minute walk from the restaurants; for us, though, this wasn’t an issue because the beach in front of the room is relatively private (few people relax there), and the bar isn’t far.

After arriving to our room, one of the hotel staff stopped by to fix our remote control—the maid had informed him it wasn’t working. We did get a new remote, but it only worked while he was there, something that was simply not an issue because we didn’t watch tv at all. We mentioned that there were some wires sticking out in the bathroom, and he told us that was where the hairdryer should be. We told him not to worry, but when we returned to our room three hours later, he was sitting there installing it. We also mentioned that the fridge wasn’t cooling—the bottles in the fridge were all hot. He told us he couldn’t fix it within the next two days, so we called the front desk and went to the beach. When we got back to the room, we had a new mini fridge. Everything was looked after without us having to ask more than once!
We had absolutely no bugs in the room. The only bugs around were the occasional ant, and the sand flies on the beach (but if you go when the sun is out, you’re fine). The food at the hotel was beyond what either of us expected—there is something there for everyone. They have a Jamaican food station, American food, and every two nights they have a theme night. Everything was so tasty that the food back at home now pales in comparison. There is something there for everybody. I can see how after a couple of days people get bored of the monotony, but there are plenty of opportunities to try new dishes, as in the week I was there, some of the more complicated (i.e., not French fries or meat) dishes never repeated. We also had excellent service (in the mornings we sat by the windows at the back of the Green Island restaurant, and we were served by the amazingly nice Cassandra, and in the evenings we sat outside the restaurant on the patio and were served by Raymond).

As for the reservations to the restaurants, they’re not as hard to get as some people say… You can book for two days in advance, or you can talk nicely to the sweet girl who does them, and she’ll set you up with something sooner if she can. Not an issue.

At the hotel they tell you that going out on boats or sea-doos with the locals is unsafe and you should do it at your own risk. We spent our whole week out on boats with the locals, and we had absolutely no problems whatsoever. They took excellent care of us, especially when things were not going as smoothly as planned, and they were even cheaper than the hotel. Why not spend some time with the locals? They’re nice people.

There were only minor things that we didn't like:
1) There were flat sheets on the bed (not a big deal, I know, but in the morning we'd wake up and the sheet would be crumpled up between us and we'd be sleeping on the mattress).
2) There are no benches along any of the paths, front or back (it would be great if the hotel could install some, so that people could sit and relax along the walkways).
3) The alcohol they use to mix drinks is really cheap. All drinks are juice/coke and rum. Not a big deal. We didn't drink that much anyways.

Lastly, this hotel is in a bay so there are rarely waves on the water (unless there is strong wind). This makes it easy to snorkel around. And, to get to the seven mile beach you have to have a boat drop you off, because you can't walk along the beach to get there--they stop you at one of the resorts if you have a Riu wristband on.

I would definitely go back to this hotel. Don’t listen to all the naysayers. It’s not bad like they’ll have you believe. We had a fantastic, problem-free vacation at this hotel!

As one who does not find pleasure in criticizing, I'll first begin with the good attributes of Riu Negril. The common areas--the lobby, dining room, pool, the beach--were very lovely. Most of the staff were quite friendly during our stay. Grilled jerk chicken was served on the beach nearly every day and was definitely a treat. The drinks were flowing both at the several bars and in the liquor dispensers in the rooms. There was good variety of food at the buffets, some a bit fresher than others. But there was something tasty for everyone to enjoy.
With that said, here's a play-by-play of our arrival. We had booked through a travel agent and had already been assigned a room. The receptionist said that she would like to upgrade us to a better room--which, it turns out, was a 10 minute walk from the lobby. So after finally arriving there, anxious to get to the beach, we unlock the door only to find another couple already in the room! Of course, by the time that we had made our 10 minute trek back to the lobby to complain about being given an already-occupied room, the front desk had already been notified. So, for our troubles, we were given an upgraded room--another 8-10 minute walk from the lobby. When we arrive, my husband notices that the safe in our upgraded room, a feature we certainly planned on using, was not working. So my husband picks up the telephone to notify the front desk but--what do you know?--the phone is dead. So we plan on expressing our grievances after dinner. We make our complaints prior to dinner. After dinner, they still had not been repaired, so we again report these concerns to the front desk and they are finally rectified.
So now it's bedtime. Our upgraded room is not a king-sized bed but instead two full beds pushed together. When we pull the covers back, we see that although my pillows are covered with pillowcases, those of my husband were not and were simply tossed on the bed unmade. What made it worse was that one of the pillows had a large unidentified stain on it. We toss these two pillows on the floor, assuming that the housekeepers would see the following day that they had missed an important step in the bed-making process. The following day after returning from the beach we notice the same dirty pillows without pillowcases had been put back on the bed and covered. That evening, my husband prepares to iron a shirt for dinner and notices that the iron is cracked allowing all of the water to flow out prior to even pressing his shirt. We make our second round of complaints to the front desk, and again, after needing to report them twice, the problems are rectified.
I can say that the sheets were not changed daily. On some days, the sheets on my bed were changed but those of my husband's were not. There were ants in the bathroom--yes, this is a tropical island but it's not too much to ask to keep the litte critters out of the bedroom. What fresh towels we were to receive the next day remained a mystery. I truly looked up at the ceiling a few times during the stay and wondered if we were on candid camera.
Not to say that my husband and I didn't have a good time--it is Jamaica, after all. But for the amount of money that we paid, a clean functioning room is not too much to ask for.