Riu Vallarta - All Inclusive

The rooms are clean, spacious, and comfortable with new furniture and a comfortable bed. Guests enjoy well-stocked mini fridge, 4 pools, and a nice beach. Some rooms offer partial ocean views.

After a a bit of a shaky start, our stay was great. The NexusTours transfer to the hotel was a nightmare. If the appropriate number of seats matched the number of guests transferring to the Riu Vallarta there would have not been a problem. After a good half hour delay with our luggage being taken on and off the seating area of the bus several times & being told we would have to stand at our own risk, they put us on the Riu Jalisco bus. Instead of dropping us & three more couples first, we drove by the Vallarta & went to the Jalisco first. When we finally got to the Vallarta, we were told there were no more bags on the bus & we didn’t have ours. My husband made them look again & were relieved they were actually there. By the time we got to the check in desk, there were no welcome drinks left for us & we were so parched. We were the last ones to get checked in & there was a mixup with our luggage again. We were put in a musty smelling ground floor room facing the parking lot & I have allergies. So went to the front desk, cleared up the luggage issue & asked to be moved. There were no more rooms available until the next day at 3. We were relieved that the buffet was still open & had plenty of food as it was after 9pm & we hadn’t eaten since we left Winnipeg around noon. After an uncomfortable night, we packed the next morning, had the front desk hold our luggage & lock up our valuables. We enjoyed our first day around the new pools & checked into our new room which was great! The cleaning staff were always Johnny on the spot & our rooms were cleaned by the time we returned from breakfast. As repeat guests at this hotel, we really like the room refurbishments since our last trip pre-pandemic as well as the fabulous pool changes. Plenty of seating areas either in the sun or shade, but as with most resorts, you have to get up well before sunrise to get some of the most desirable spots. The new pool bar line ups were long but moved quickly since it is quite a large now. We chose to only eat at the buffets on this trip & always found something good at every meal. While it is a very busy place, the flow worked really well. Yes the birds in the outdoor area can be a small nuisance but we enjoy eating out there. An observation is that the waiter station is not in a great location so it can get loud with the hustle and bustle of staff, clanking of & occasional breaking of dishes and glasses which get cleaned up very quickly! Staff works so hard. The beach is a great walk in either direction. We were there at low tide for the majority of our stay so the expansive flat beach made for very comfortable walk to Bucerias. Entertainment is typical for Mexico resorts and for the most part enjoyable. There was additional nightly entertainment from a center court stage before and after the main show which is new our last visit. Lots of dancing after the show. Some people complain it can be loud from the rooms in the center of the building but unless yo