We have just returned from The Riu Palace Macao. It was a family holiday consisting of my parents (67 & 63) my kids (12 & 6) & my husband & I (38 & 43).
We booked through Portland Direct. The flight was good, Leather seats & plenty of legroom (OH is 6'tall) Arrived late afternoon. Checkin was swift & efficient, Windy at reception spoke excellent English. We emailed ahead a requested pool view rooms (we hadn't paid extra for the) & were given 2 top floor rooms overlooking the pool. The rooms were large, plenty of room for four. As the room was on the top floor they have vauted ceilings which was very nice. Aircon could have been better but was cool enough to sleep.
We ate mostly in the main buffet. There are 2 sittings 6.30 & 8.30 we found the to be very good, plenty of choice at all meals. We tried the Steak grill & the Japanese. The grill was nice but the Japanese was terrible, give it a miss!
Drinks were mostly very good, you find that sometimes they FORGET to put the alcahol in! especially the cocktails. Wine at dinner was an aquired taste. The Champage was lovely so we stuck to that.
The beach is stunning, White soft sand, plenty of sunbed. The staff find you a bed, carry the cushions for you the service was second to none. The sea was very warm & calm but watch your children, the waves can be deceiving & will knock you over!
The hotel staff couldn't have been more helpfull, nothing was too much trouble for them. Everything was NO PROBLEM. Franklin the Ast Manager was lovely & remembers you & will chat to you in the restaurent. Our maid Betty was excellent. Many of the staff don't speak very good English but try very hard to understand.
The entertainment was very hit & miss. The resort was only about 50% full so maybe thats why there wasn't very much to do. The shows at night were very repetative. The Michael Jackson show was worth a watch & also Stars Night.
I would say that this hotel would suit the 40+yrs as we took our children & there was absolutly nothing for them to do! The service & personal touch was excellent.
Our only problem was that 4 days into our stay the only pool/baby pool/jacuzzi/showers & footbaths were closed for maintainence. They were closed for 5 days which meant that we had to use the other hotel facilities. Obviously we were very unhappy about this as we had paid for a 5* hotel & ended up using the 3* next door!
Would we go back again? No as we always try new places but I would recommend this hotel if you want to be pampered & just to chill out.

This hotel definitely has the WOW factor - the rooms are spacious, the pool is huge and clean and the hotel is situated on the most gorgeous beach.

The staff are super helpful and friendly and a small tip certainly goes a long way, however, even if you didn't tip you cannot fault the service.

The entertainment programme throughout the day was excellent - plenty to do and join in with but we never felt hassled or pressured to do so. The evening entertainment was largely bingo, dancing or a cabaret type show. Nothing majorly exciting but enjoyable enough. There is also Pacha (night club)which was full of people from the other Riu hotels and some locals (we recognised a few waiters still in their uniforms!) As a group of single girls (we left the men in the hotel bar) we felt comfortable there although the music was slightly dodgy.

There are plenly of places to eat and drink; the choice and standard of food was excellent. I would recommend the Caribbean restaurant located on the beach for lunch - the view and breeze is fantastic.

We should have gone to Mexico in Novemer, but because of hurrican wilma we chose this hotel and we were not disappointed at all. The staff are so friendly and very attentive.

The room we had overlooked the entrance and our balcony was huge, we were on the corner. We could not get over how much space there was for our clothes etc. It was a nice touch to have your bed turnt down every evening.

The food was good and plentiful and staff very attentive.
the pool was lovely, the only negative thing I would say is that sunbeds were saved very early in the mornings so sometimes hard to find a sunbed.

The bar staff were very good and drinks were plentiful and must say I did enjoy the champagne.

The entertainment was good, the entertainment staff worked very hard. I enjoyed the Michael Jackson show the most, it was very well done.

The beach was stunning and loved the walks we took daily.

All in all it was a very relaxing holiday and definately would return. I would recommend it to anyone who likes that little extra pampering while on holiday. Nothing was too much trouble for any of the staff.

I must mention how nice the portland rep was too.

Stayed at this hotel in June. Have to say it is a wow factor hotel, the rooms are really big, mini bar and fridge are a great bonus, We had a see view which you could just see the sea. Room was cleaned every day also with turn down service every night. My birthday I had while there and the decorated my room with loads of ballonns, my age on the bed made out of towels with lots of red petal flowers everywere, bottle of champagne was chilling in an ice bucket, they made it really special. The hotel is located 200 yards from the beach, fantastic staff they were really nice to talk to, worked really hard. Entertainment was on from 9.30 - 10.30 very funny shows. The food was fantastic with 3 places to eat in and themed night as well.