Riu Mambo All Inclusive Hotel

Will Return

Best vacation ever. Food better than expected. Friendliest staff we have ever had. Animation crue was excellent, very professioal and quite entertaining, many thanks to them for their hard work. Lots of things to do and see. We are planning a return visit next month.

Traveler's tip on local attractions

City tour and cable car were great, enjoyed both.

my special honeymoon

Love this hotel, they treat me and my wife very good, we was very comfortable. I will love to come back soon.

Traveler's tip on dining

The food is very good, They have some many style to choose from, i gain like 5 pound in those 4 day, and the restaurants where very clean.

Dominicans Best hotel

This is the best place to stay everyone is super nice been there 5 times now

Great memories

Our first expeience with an all inclusive. We were very pleasantly surprised about how much we liked this resort. It exceeded all of our expectations. The food and drink was really good, the facilities were in excellent condition. I am an architect, so I even started looking for things that were poorly maintained and just couldn’t find anything. The staff are in a perpetual state of cleaning up and serving you. The beach was fantastic. Water so beautiful. Activities were there for those who wanted them, without bugging those who didn’t want them. Animation team / entertainment was fun. I would love to go back.

Traveler's tip on dining

My wife had a tummy ache for the last two days. It was probably a tap water faux pas. Not sure. Just drink the bottled water provided for you.

We loved it

My wife and I loved the hotel. This was the second time there. Everything was just right. The pool the beach,fabulous.The food was very good, hotel staff were friendly and work hard to keep the hotel cleen.Great place to relax.

Traveler's tip on nightlife

Go to the shows!

great for an all inclusive - lots of people

we had a great experience at the riu - just be prepared for lots of people around you at all times. the all inclusives i had been to before were much smaller and there was more privacy. the food here was very good - remarkable given the hoards they are feeding, but the entertainment was not so great. for the 4 days we were there, my family and i had a great time.

Traveler's tip

don’t expect any privacy

WORST VACATION EVER!!!!

I arrived to find the sheets stained, make-up on the pillow cases, and a wad of chewed bubble gum stuck to the top blanket. It took 3 days to get someone to come and replace the sheets. They didn’t even give us another blanket. The air conditioning was broken, and the fully stocked mini-bar only contained one bottle each of Diet Pepsi, beer and club soda, and nobody came even once the whole week to restock it. The food was absolutely horrible and the alcohol was completely watered down. I would never return to another Riu Resort ever again!!!!!

great value for the money

hotel staff were friendly, buffet was very good, A/C was a little weak but in cooling the room but still did a fair job. shows were good at night go to the other 2 sister resorts if you dont like the show your resort is having. pool were pretty crowded for the number of guests. the beach was great with lots of shaded areas in which to relax and have some privacy, topless on the beach is allowed so look out if you have small kids. overall all a great relaxing 5 days would definally go back.

Traveler's tip on dining

Go early for lunch as the buffet gets pretty lean towards the end.

I was waiting for something else

Well, the pool was ok, and the beach was awesome but the room was awful. For the duration of my trip I didn’t have A/C however the room was clean all the time. The entertainment people needs to improve a lot with their games and one more thing, they show more interest to the fellows European people than Americans. Waiters are great if you give them tips. The only great of the hotel was that you don’t have people bothering you and trying to sell you a time share and you have free drinks in the room. By the way the 2 restaurant Italian and Stackhouse are the worst than the short variety of food in the buffet. Sorry guys but I only can give this hotel a 1 not a 2. Oh, one more thing the waiters in the Riu Bachata are very mean. I Don’t recommend this place for people with kids, this place have a lot of topless people around.

Traveler's tip on local attractions

Go to Ocean World for the Dolphin swim.

loved my vacation, very nice weather, people were very nice

me and my boyfriend loved the hotel. the people were very nice. the food was great. everything was just right. the only problem was that the king size bed was really 2 beds put together, i kept falling in the middle but besides that i loved my whole vacation. always try the daily special drink at the bar, they are so good. the activites are very fun, i tried pedaling in the water, was very relaxing.i realling cant say anything to bad about my stay because i loved it. i am planning on going back again very soon.

Traveler's tip on recreational activities

the horse back riding, i loved. my first time on a horse and i loved it.

I loved it

I absolutely love Riu Mambo. I loved the beach, the pool the bars,the food, especially the animation team! It is a fabulous place . i would recommend it to everyone.

Traveler's tip on nightlife

Go to the Shows! they are very fun!!!

Didn’t stay long enough

My sister and I stayed at RIU Mambo (one of three sister properties). We had the option to play and eat at all 3 properties, but opted to eat at Mambo the majority of the time because their food was the freshest. They had bread that squashed like cotton and apple juice that tasted so sweet and smelled so fresh it seemed like they had the dispenser hooked up directly to a giant apple. The property was immaculate, and the hotel staff extremely friendly and accommodating. By the way, don’t be fooled by the "mini-bar"....it is fully stocked with full size bottles of rum & gin as if you were about to bartend, several 20 ounce bottles of Pepsi & Tonic Water, and a gallon of drinking water. I really needed to stay about two more days to fully take advantage of all the activies. My only complaint is that the majority of the motorized watersports were at the furthest property from us (Bachata), so we always had to go "over the river and through the woods" to get to those activities. Other than that, we had a great time.

Traveler's tip on shopping

Although their money is Pesos, everything was priced in US dollars & everything was extremely overpriced ($4/US for a can of pringles). Usually, you have some bargaining power when paying with the US dollar, but they might as well say that we operate in US dollars but gladly accept Pesos. Not happy about that!

We Loved It

This is the best place we have been and we are going back in august they have a great staff and the entertainment crew was awesome

Traveler's tip on nightlife

go on the mega trucks and mambo tour

Wouldn’t go back but still a good time

The male staff at this hote were particularly rude to the women, constantly leering at us or making suggestive comments to the point where we did not want to ask for help because we knew it meant we would be harassed. They were also not very helpful with requests, and you needed a reservation to do anything (which they don’t tell you upon arrival) so you end up wasting days waiting for your turn. (For instance, if you want to charge your cell phone, you will ned an adapter which you either have to buy or reserve for the next day) Same with recreational toys, boats, and dinner. The food was plentiful but it was the same thing everyday and not exactly fresh. The room was somewhat gross, the air conditioning never cooled down the room and it had a disgusting musty smell. The entertainment was fun and they put on a different show every night. The beach and pools were excellent. It would be nice if the pool stayed open after dark because once the sun sets at 6pm there is not much to do. All in all it was a good time, however definitely not the greatest resort I’ve ever been to, and I have spent a lot of time in the Caribbean.

Traveler's tip on getting the most out of your stay

Figure out everything you want to see and do on your trip the day you arrive and reserve/plan your whole week that day.

Real Nice Resort

The only problem we had was not getting towels and face cloths without requesting them for 3 of the 7 days.... After asking, the problem was corrected quickly. Mike

Traveler's tip on recreational activities

Resort offers lots of family activities from early morning until late evening... very friendly staff throughout.

Hot

They only have AC in the rooms and it was not cool at all. Very long walk from the rooms to everything and when you get there they have only fans.No view at all. Food was not good, shows were not good, and very hot because of the no AC. The pool and beach were great. Plenty of trees on the beach and around the pool. Great staff that kept you busy all day. Very clean and always cleaning. Mini bar in the room that has 3 bottles of soda and 3 cans of beer and they refill it every 2 days. I don’t drink beer but if you do you get 3 cans for 2 people every 2 days????? Very little people speak english. Don’t bother making requests. Nice place for people 18-30 with no children. If you are over 60 all the walking in the high temps will kill you.

Traveler's tip on getting the most out of your stay

Don’t forget to bring your own toiletries. The bar of soap is the smallest I have ever seen. Had to buy a 2 oz.bottle of mouthwash for 6 dollars. Sun block is 20. You get 2 bath towells and 2 hand towells No wash cloths.

wouldn’t recommend

stayed for over a week and it was pretty brutal, the rooms are air conditioned but only able to get room temperature a few degrees lower than the outside temperature and is over 80 degrees in the room most of the daylight hours. The televsion has 80 channels of which 2 are in English. The only option for internet access is a 3 computer Internet Cafe with very very slow sattelite internet, no wireless of any kind anywhere in at the resort. Also has "European" plugs and not the standard 3 pronged ones Americans are used to. Food is not bad though, and "Animacion" resort staff is good at keeping it lively at the pools and beach.

I will go back for sure it was a great and relaxing experience for me and my 6ys old daughter

The staff was very friendly and the food was amazing. I will go back with friends and family. I love how clean and well kept the hotel was and the staff really work hard.

amazing spring break

I went with 3 other people and we had a blast. we took full advantage of all the riu hotels had to offer and we really had a great time! It was a fun and inexpensive vacation. Highly recommended!

Traveler's tip on recreational activities

if you do the excursions from the hotels make sure you book AND pay in advance. We booked a snorkel tour the day before we wanted to go and did not pay for it that same day and were bumped off. so make sure you pay in advance!

Good cheap getaway

Reasonable rate of room and airline flight through Expedia. All the staff were very friendly and accomodating. Try to brush up Spanish as it is thier national language, however most do speak English. There is no top shelf liquor at all so possibly might want to pick some up at duty free if you so choose. I feel Ocean World was overrated unless you really do want to personally swim with sharks, dolphins, or sea lions. All-inclusive was great, made our vacation pretty worry free. There were three hotel/areas of the Riu resort to chose from to hang out at. NOT really for young spring break traverls unless you go with a rather large group- that would be alot of fun. The beach wasn’t the best but it was nice to have free access to paddle boats, sail boats, kayaks, and wind surfing. You could also snorkel for a $25.00 deposit for equipment. The animacion team was pretty good at holding sporting events during the day and entertainment events in the evenining. Overall no real complaints.

Traveler's tip on getting the most out of your stay

-reserve a shuttle to take you to resort -bring own top shelf liquor from duty free, no top shelf at bars -use the water sports equipment, but beware stinky life jackets -brush up on Spanish, mostly bar talk, talking to servers, and hotel staff -Ocean World overrated

Good value

My girlfriend and I came here for Valentine’s Day. We had a great time. The food was good and plentiful and the liquor free and not watered down like some of the other reviews claimed. We wandered between the three hotels and never felt a need to leave the confines of the hotel prpoerties. We got our scube certification and the dive center (right on the beach was great), but BE SURE to make reservations (not just payments) in advance as they are sorta busy. Also if you have med problems bring a certificate of health and photos for your application. The photo shop was the only disappointment. Try to avoid at all costs.

Can’t wait to go back

The hotel was very nice. Great service, friendly people and beautiful beach.Entertainment crew was fantastic and the food was very good. The only complaint I have is the smell of the room.

Traveler's tip on local attractions

Make sure you split your time between the resorts and the fun activites off the resort

A lovely week

The service here was really wonderful. We had a beautiful week, the beach was lovely, lots of trees to get some shade, plenty of loungers. Our only complaint really was the consistent problems with electricity. Our bathroom light rarely worked and one morning there was no power in the entire resort! Everyone was pretty mellow about it and the staff did everything to help.

Traveler's tip on local attractions

We booked a trip to Paradise Island from one of the hotel guys on the beach, he said he would give us a better price than booking it in the hotel. The bus ride was ridiculously long, like 2 1/2 hours! The boat ride to the island was painful, constant smashing against the water, fun for about two minutes. Snorkeling there was OK, not great,lunch and then the loooong ride home. Just not worth a whole day, I think the hotel tour gets you into a much closer boat. Check it out.

wonderful time

my wife and i stayed at the hotel for a week. time flew by us. The hotel was well maintained. The rooms were very clean. The staff was very friendly. You couldnt of had better food. I would definitely stay at this hotel again any time.

Traveler's tip

the 2 things i would not recommend is the steak house and the casino. The food in the steakhouse was the worst food that the resort has to offer although all the other food was well above standard.The other thing is the casino. The girls that work in there are miserable. They dont talk they dont smile and they have poor attitudes. We lost but out of the probably 50 people i saw in the casino. i think i seen one guy win. Everybody else lost. I think its extremely rigged if you ask me

Very good trip

We just came back from a week vacation to Riu Mambo and we had an wonderful time. The service of the whole staff from entertainment, to bartenders, to waiters, front desk and cleaning staff was excellent. You can eat and drink in the other 2 hotels which is great for a change. Would definitely go back. The only con is the beds are not too comfortable but we didnt care much.