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Riu Bambu Vacations

4.2 - 9832 Reviews
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

The RIU Bambu is a fantastic, all-inclusive beachfront resort with a lively atmosphere. Surrounded by lush tropical gardens, it is just a stone's throw away from Playa Arena Gorda beach with its many watersports. It is one of the most popular properties with Canadian vacationers.

Location: Directly on the beach, 30 minutes from the Punta Cana airport and 5 minutes from the Caribbean Street shopping complex.

Our Opnion

Closer to a 4 star rating, Riu Bambu is an older hotel with recent renovations. Located on a great palm tree lined beach with a nice pool area. The water play area with slides, waterfalls, splash pads and a wading pool is great for kids, plus access to Splash Water World is included. Typically good food with Riu.

Important Info

Holy Week, leading up to Easter is a major holiday in the Dominican Republic. Beach and Watersports activities and Alcohol may not be available during this period and can be cancelled at any time.

  • Breakfast, lunch & dinner daily (buffet & made to order food stations)
  • Unlimited reservation-free dining in specialty restaurants
  • Unlimited non-alcoholic beverages, house wine, domestic beer and domestic alcoholic drinks
  • Snacks 
  • Kids Club
  • Sports activities
  • Non-motorized watersports
  • Free access to Splash Water World in the Riu complex
  • Fitness facilities
  • Daily activities
  • Nightly entertainment
  • Entrance to Pacha disco (drinks extra)
  • Entrance to casino at Riu Palace (drinks extra)

  • 1000 rooms
  • 7 restaurants
  • 5 bars 
  • 5 pools, 2 for children
  • Water park nearby
  • Riuland kid's club
  • Teen club
  • Tennis courts
  • Fitness facilities
  • Jacuzzi
  • Boutique and shops nearby
  • Beauty salon and Spa nearby ($)
  • Free WiFi throughout resort
  • Medical services on call 24 hrs ($)
  • Motorized water sports nearby ($)
  • Scuba diving nearby ($)
  • Golf nearby ($)

All rooms include:

  • Air-conditioning
  • Ceiling fan
  • Satellite TV
  • WiFi
  • Regularly replenished mini-bar and liquor dispenser
  • In-room safe
  • Iron & ironing board
  • Hairdryer

Hotel Room

  • Two single beds
  • Balcony or terrace
  • Bathroom with shower
  • 270 sq ft
  • Maximum occupancy: 3
  • Maximum Number of Adults: 3
  • Maximum Number of Children: 1

Deluxe Room

  • One king or Two single beds
  • Balcony or terrace
  • Bathroom with shower
  • 330 sq ft
  • Maximum occupancy: 3
  • Maximum Number of Adults: 3
  • Maximum Number of Children: 1

Family Room

  • Two 3/4 beds
  • Sofa bed
  • Balcony or terrace
  • Bathroom with shower
  • 340 sq ft
  • Maximum occupancy: 5
  • Maximum Number of Adults: 5
  • Maximum Number of Children: 3

Family Deluxe Room

  • 1 king bed
  • Sofa bed
  • Balcony or terrace
  • Bathroom with shower
  • 340 sq ft
  • Maximum occupancy: 5
  • Maximum Number of Adults: 5
  • Maximum Number of Children: 3

Junior Suite

  • 1 king bed
  • Living area
  • Balcony or terrace
  • Bathroom with shower
  • 500 sq ft
  • Maximum occupancy: 2
  • Maximum Number of Adults: 2
  • Maximum Number of Children: 0

Stay at 1, Play at 2 - Guests at this resort have exchange privileges for the following services at Riu Naiboa:

  • Lunch and snacks
  • Access to all bars

Additional services within the Riu complex:

  • Complimentary access to the casino at Riu Palace Macao
  • Complimentary access to "Pacha" discotheque where you can dance the night away! (excluding special evenings). Drinks not included ($).

Honeymoon Bonus - Receive honeymoon amenities. Request at time of booking. Proof of marriage required. Subject to availability and subject to change.

Wedding Packages - Available, please inquire for details.

Early Booking Bonus - This hotel may offer early booking bonuses at certain times of the year. If early booking bonuses apply to your vacation, prices shown online have already been adjusted accordingly. Please inquire for complete details.

Some restaurants may be open for certain meals only and limited visits may apply. Reservations required and dress code in effect for a la carte restaurants. Time restrictions may apply for water sports.

Child pricing may only be available with select tour operators and valid for select dates and durations. Child pricing rules are subject to change without notice. Please contact one of our vacation specialists if you require assistance with child pricing.

Photo identification and/or credit card or cash deposit may be required at check-in for incidental charges.

Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy. Rollaway beds and cribs (infant beds) may be available and should be requested at the time of booking; fees may apply.

Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in. Special requests cannot be guaranteed and may incur additional charges upon check-in to fulfil.

Hotels do not condone unruly behavior, parties in rooms, excessive noise or any other actions that violate the hotels terms of use. Guests may be removed from the property at their own expense in the event of any disturbance or complaint from other guests or hotel staff. Escapes.ca cannot be held responsible for any guests who may be removed from the hotel due to a violation of rules.

What's Included

Vacation package bookings include the following:

  • Round-trip flights
  • Hotel accommodations
  • Airport transfers (see exceptions below)
  • Departure taxes (see exceptions below)
  • Tourist cards (see exceptions below)
  • Hotel taxes

All-inclusive resorts typically include the following options. Please see each specific hotels all-inclusive details for what is included, as it may vary from the list below.

  • All meals
  • Drinks (typically soft drinks and domestic beer, wine and spirits)
  • Daily activities
  • Nightly entertainment
  • Non-motorized water sports
Items not included:
  • Baggage fees (if applicable, see Supplier's terms on reservation page for details)
  • Resort and Environmental fees (if applicable) must be paid directly to the hotel
  • Travel insurance (mandatory if traveling to Cuba)
  • Airport transfers for packages to USA
  • Airport transfers for packages to Europe
  • Items of a personal nature
NOTE:
  • If traveling to the Dominican Republic with Sunwing or Signature Vacations, tourist cards ($10USD) and departure taxes ($20USD) are not included.
  • As of November 9, 2019 Los Cabos has implemented a non-mandatory tourist tax of $18:50 per person payable upon entry into Los Cabos.


Punta Cana has a warm semi-tropical climate but is tempered by eastern winds. It rarely rains during daylight hours.

Avg. °CJFMAMJJASOND
High262827282829292929282826
Low181819192022222322222018
Rain (mm)8020 9011019018017017020017012070
4.2 Google Rating
Based on 9832 Reviews

The worst vacation of my life. I went to spend a few days relaxing and came back more stressed than I was. The hotel was full of young Americans celebrating their course trip. Arrogant people, uneducated, drunk all day and night, shouting and without any control on the part of the hotel. The room they gave us was 1 km from the reception, dining room, every day a minimum of 6 km to go to breakfast, lunch, dinner. The ice water is from the tap with what you leave daily diarrhea, you ask for bottled water in the dining room and they don't give you, you have to bring the one from your room, you ask for the room and it takes more than 3 hours to bring it to you. You call the reception and they never pick up, the cleaning is to make the bed They don't sweep anything, not even the bathroom...horrible, a fatal experience, significant loss of money because it is not cheap and a very great helplessness. The food is repetitive and without the quality of a 5 star, there are 2 stars left over for this one hotel, the treatment of several waiters very bad, with looks of hatred and arrogance, in the bar of the large pool the dirt in the water is visible, in short to forget

Value chain:
It consists of satisfying the needs of customers by incorporating specific characteristics into the products. Individualism is not present in this chain, since the actors must share information among themselves, for example, the owners of coffee shops know the tastes of consumers, but On the other hand, farmers know the limits of the ecosystem, that is, they have complete information for others. The value chain is based on coopetition, which is the combination of cooperation and competition. Coopetition strategies allow the sharing of information between competitors to improve their resources and knowledge, and collaboration between competitors contributes to responding to the challenge of product quality. life of coffee growers because the transfer of information will improve the quality of coffee and they will be able to have their own brands and obtain fair prices. In the value chain, the form of governance is flexible which allows actors to be present at different stations in the chain and thus receive suggestions to improve the process on both sides.

In the rights of the value chain it is essential to have the search for sustainability as an objective, sustainability is a social, economic and environmental balance, and the only way to achieve it is when people work as a team, on the other hand, by 2030 Countries must be aligned with the sustainable development goals. The transformation mechanism can be summarized through the development of sustainability. In the environmental field, the transfer of information ensures the care of flora and fauna, managing water use and reducing the use of chemicals. In the social part, the children of coffee farmers who emigrated to the cities will see coffee production as a business model, since they will be able to participate and interfere in prices and in the economic part by achieving traceability in the cup of coffee. coffee will increase its price and can restore the rights that were previously violated, and thus obtain participation from all actors in the coffee production chain.

Do you think the national federation of coffee growers should disappear to improve the lives of coffee growers?

No, because it is an entity that has given order to coffee and has helped coffee have the importance it has today in the country, the problem is that it has not been updated to the needs that people have today. coffee growers, what should be done is update their form of governance and have something closer to the coffee grower, being a public entity it is not fair that all the funds go to the same brand which is Juan Valdez, the federation should provide the tools so that if a coffee farmer wants to export individually he can do so, so that the coffee farmer has more contact with the roasters to know where his coffee was and receive comments about it to improve it for the consumer.

Divine hotel! Fantastic food! Everything spectacular!

Supply chain:
Today the national federation of coffee growers works with the supply chain, the supply chain is the logistical connection for the transformation and marketing of coffee. In this, the coffee growers deliver the bags of dry parchment coffee to the cooperatives, then the cooperatives deliver it to the roasters and finally the roasters sell it to the industry, for example to coffee shops. As we can see, the coffee grower loses contact with the chain from the first moment, this does not influence the final negotiation prices, much less the roasting of the coffee, which limits the rights of the coffee grower. The supply chain has an individual approach instead of a collective and teamwork approach, and this affects the sustainability of the processes. In this chain, there is also a lot of volatility (prone to changes) and low profitability. Because prices vary so much, the way they make decisions is also constantly changing.

Cherry coffee 🍒
The performance factor is to go from cherry coffee to parchment coffee, generally this factor is 5 to 1, that is, for every 5 kilograms of cherry coffee I get 1 kilogram of parchment coffee.

The most serious thing about the volatility of the price of coffee is that it has caused the children of coffee growers to migrate to the cities and for example today it has become a serious problem to find personnel to work in the fields, but in 2011 UNESCO declared the coffee cultural landscape as cultural heritage of humanity and from this the children of the coffee growers who emigrated saw it as an opportunity to differentiate the product, the service and generate traceability (have a follow-up) in the profile of the coffee cup of Colombia. For this reason, work has begun with the value chain.

The rooms are not 5 stars worthy. We had so many issues with the room that we had to swap ours.
In terms of restaurants, palm Beach has a ticket system, meaning you need to stand in a queue that starts at 16h and wait for more than half an hour to reserve a slot for dinner. Making the "no reservation" misleading. This is the only one with this system. Colonial is not the best, Olé was the best for us.
The staff is always courteous and nice everywhere.
The bars serve the cocktails with too much ice and almost no alcool, unless you ask for something simple like Cuba Libre. Unfortunately, we went during mid-March, and we had too many Springbreakers.
The beaches are dreamlike, and there's always shade. From your room to the beach takes you 5 minutes. However, the resort lets too much sellers roam around the beach, Way too much.

Updated: thanks for responding but unfortunately, staff doesn't speak enough English to understand the situation my kid got frustrated to report the incident, he couldn't contact the police. He tried to explained to a beach staff that was friendly but he couldn't do anything.
Who do I need to contact as the chain value was over $6k.

Beware, young adults don't trust anyone there they're friendly but taking advantage that you are there for good time and steal your jewelry, money etc etc.... imagine if this happens inside of the resort 😳 no security for visitors. Shame beautiful country, but people take advantage of tourists.

It's excellent, I would recommend it a thousand times😅

Very nice place, friendly people, pleasant climate.

The rooms were decent. All the drawers and doors were janky. Very outdated. Housekeeping comes pretty often, shower pressure good, grounds were clean. However, there were lots of ants and a huge roach. As for the resort itself, very 3 star resort. Swim up bar can get gross and the drinks can be watered down. However, the beach is lovely. Lots of loiterers though. The food is horrific. Maybe I’m picky, but I lived off of pizza and fries. My friend also got severe food poisoning. Overall, the staff is pretty nice and you get what you pay for minus the pain of food poisoning. Basically, this is a budget resort, be prepared and bring your own snackies. It’s definitely for broke college students, like myself.

Great resort, friendly staff and great service. Only 30 min from the airport.

We were there the week of 02/15. Far from being a luxury hotel and compared to other Riu's it leaves a lot to say. The attention of the people in the lobby is good, but once you go to the restaurants it is deplorable. Repeated food, nothing gourmet,
Desserts, fruits and snacks, little variety. The drink machine and many times not working, visible with little maintenance. The main restaurant has islands of food, the place without air conditioning and filled with the steam of the same food. The common room, bathroom with a musty smell, a square bed and a half, pillows that are not even comfortable when folded because they are so thin, only one outlet that worked in the bathroom. The location is beautiful. But I wouldn't go back.

Today beautiful 5 star hotel!
The place is a natural paradise!

All good, and it would be better if it had an all-inclusive nightclub

I got sick after leaving the pool there is no chlorine in the water and yet people are uranating in it. I had to call emergency services because it was that bad… the food is garbage the staff is practically useless.

The best is the staff, 10.
The worst thing is the lack of maintenance and the lack of staff at night.
We arrived at 10:15 p.m. with a broken room lock, until 1:30 a.m. they didn't resolve it by giving us another room. Reception doesn't answer the phone because there is only one person who can't cope.
The buffet closes at 10pm and there is supposed to be a bar with food. Just cold ham and cheese sandwiches, with super thin and small slices. After such a long trip you can eat anything, but the truth is that they are very bad.
Rooms: there are differences: ours was good, spacious and with a large and apparent bathroom, but others are smaller and with a small and very old bathroom. The lock fails a lot, there were several incidents in the 7 days we stayed. In others the air conditioning made a lot of noise or if it is not the refrigerator even if it is in a closet, at night you can hear it a lot. Only a gel dispenser in the bathroom, no shampoo, no conditioner, or anything else.
The restaurants have good quality but with the exception of the buffet their hours are very short: from 6pm to 9pm, so in the last hour it is difficult to find a place, but the buffet has good quality and variety. The cocktail drinks are of poor quality.
The pools are pretty good. Entertainment activities are good.
The beach is very good, it is beautiful, but keep in mind that it is Atlantic (it is not so crystal clear and it has waves to play with, it is more fun than the "flat beaches" of the Caribbean) in December there was practically no algae.
The excursions that Newblue offers are very varied and in general to make lots of money, they stop you in expensive stores, they ask you for tips for everything and some are good, but others are very average and the guides-entertainers, the one we had, were very unprofessional On Saona Island it almost left us on the ground because they left 10 minutes before the time (people don't count) on the other one they left first and the non-Spanish speaking tourists didn't even know when they should get off because people from various hotels go there and they make transfers. of buses.
In summary: hotel staff of 10, but insufficient at night and poor maintenance. For that price there are others with better services. And the excursions either you are very attentive or who knows where you end up.

A very nice hotel in a prime location.
Very friendly and attentive staff.
Very good cuisine.

Always happy to come here

5 star complex, good service, very good gastronomy, cordiality.

It is the second time that I have stayed at the RIU Bambú Hotel (in 2015 and now).

I want to leave a CRITICAL SUGGESTION comparing both eras:

1) It is a 5-star hotel, with everything that category implies in every sense (despite what I quote below)

2) The modifications made in 2017 (in structure and functional areas) gave it a "more commercial" touch (more pool and more space around the pools) but it lost the typical line that the RIUs in Punta "had" (domes) Cana. I don't like it. The only good thing about these replacements is that, in the theater area, it improves comfort for the passenger (increases square meters of ceiling without losing ventilation). Another positive aspect is that the floors are of very good quality and are not slippery (this is a critical aspect in "wet" areas - pool, beach - with many people).

3) The rooms in their renovation or maintenance lost their "glamour" (delicate perfect finishing details); Now they are more rudimentary and the lower quality workmanship is noticeable.

4) Room service keeps the line.

5) The current information mechanism is deficient. Before it was perfect. From information during checking to daily activities. This includes information to access restaurants. Before they explained that the 5 restaurants were with prior reservations, one reserved without problems and had the possibility of enjoying them. Now in the brochures or in the application it says one thing and you go to the restaurant and find out that you must make a reservation, which involves waiting in line for an hour at a certain time. And the worst thing, when you make your reservation, you find that the level of gastronomy is not that great; and so, one ends up staying at the buffet. At a competing hotel: the application tells me WHERE the restaurant is and I CHOOSE the day and time without problems. That time I was able to enjoy the 5 themed restaurants; Today, after "queues", waste of time and negative surprises on the gastronomic level, after visiting 2 themed restaurants, I stayed with the buffet.

6) Gastronomic level: the variety decreased and the quality decreased (both in the buffet and in the themed ones). Example: before I couldn't find negative aspects (and I was looking for it); now: a.- from Wednesday January 17 to Saturday January 20, the lettuce was inedible, a very strong chlorine taste, then it improved; b.- in the Snack Sport Bar (the only one open 24 hours a day), you only find cold cuts and cheese sandwiches and chicken sandwiches (more or less 100 units in total), and after 10 p.m. and when it is finished, either whatever time it is, they don't replenish; You only find coffee and drinks; c.- I have been staying for 10 days and only in 2 moments (in 2 lunches) they placed a tray with a few apples (it was finished in minutes), kiwi I only saw 1 day, grapes I only saw 1 day, it is only seen every day: pineapple, banana, melon and watermelon; I never saw pears; never nuts; d.- natural squeezed juice only something that looks like cucumber with spinach, never another type; There are 3 varieties of chemical juices; e.- poor or misplaced identification signage in the buffet or does not exist; f.- looking for healthy options is difficult.

7) Entertainment activities during the day: little and poor.

8) Entertainment activities in theater: good in general, but now with a passive audience, before involving the public was promoted. The sound is very bad (in the first meters, covered area, it rumbles, in the unroofed area you CANNOT hear it). The facilities are very good, they are not used. Improve the sound.

It was an good experience, for me and my family, expect for a couple issues.

The good: the hotel have a good quantity of amenities, good food, cocktails, snack, etc for every taste.

Multiple pools with bars are open 24 hours (just the pools) pool bars close at 11 pm.

Also you will have direct access to the beach 24 hours. The beach is clean almost pure and the water is marvelous.

Other positive point for the RIU Bambú is for the family friendly politic and activities the offer for all the ages.

To improve:

Rooms need mantaince, they doesn't look as a 5 starts hotel, and plugs are loose so it is difficult to use theme to charge cellphones.

The bad:

I had a bad experience on my arrival date, however the hotel made it up giving us a better room even with a welcome letter and a champagne bottle they promise to invite us to a better restaurant in the hotel besides, they never call us about that however I didn't insist on that as I mentioned before they have variety.

*Suggestion, if you book transportation direct with RIU be careful, they never confirm pick up times, and they never advice that you need to contact a third party, in the morning of our return we were waiting at the reception for our transport and never showed up, then some one from another company at 9:00 am, told us the car was waiting for us from 7:00 am, however they never call us to the room to let us know about that. We had to pay a private taxi for 40 US dollars to the airport, hopefully RIU refund that money to my, as that was miss communication from their staff.*

Other than that I also suggest to use the waters splash park and the spa.

Food, liquor, and services are on the level of 2, maybe 3 stars hotel. The whole complex craving for renovation.

We went back to Riu hotel and Punta Cana because we had amazing time and experience in Riu Palace and Riu Palace Macao.

While we had great experiences with above mentioned hotels, with this one was nothing but disappointment.

We arrived on January 4th at 10:10pm. All restaurants were closed. All you had to eat was very bad sandwich at very noisy and slow service sports bar.

During check in, we asked for room close to the beach. We were given the furthest room possible. And not Deluxe Room we booked.

No blankets in the room and after few calls and no blankets, we had to use bath towels to cover ourselves as it was very cold in the room.

It took them 2 days to fix the safe.

No hot water in shower until Sunday Morning. Numerous calls to service desk. At one point they were not even answering our calls.

When we had our orientation with Sunwing- our agent said- hotel is asking to give them 24 hours to fix the problems. Well, we did not pay to stay at this resort so we can report the problems they have and wait for them to fix it.

On positive side, weather was amazing, beach was beautiful. Restaurant service and food was good.

Not even 3 star resort, but they are priced out as 5.

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24-03-29-07-25
24-03-29-07-25

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