We were lucky enough to book a 10 night break arriving on 26th April 2008, allocated on arrival, either the Riu Merengue or the Riu Mambo, we were lucky enough to be staying at the Riu Mambo!!

Check in - was not the quickest or best (which I think is the only minor niggle we can think of for the whole holiday), everyone was gathered together from the bus and had to wait whilst we were given a little welcome speech and one by one our envelopes with our room keys etc., however, within 10 minutes we were being escorted to our room. First impression - what a pretty place, lovely colonial style room blocks, all different pastel colours, gardens gorgeous with plenty of trees and all well spaced out, not on top of each other.

We were staying in room 2018, on the ground floor, which was wonderful, it was right at the end of the street with such a lovely view. The room itself was great, usual high Riu standard, 2 double beds, table and 2 chairs, television, great bathroom, lots of drawer space, double wardrobe (with lots of hangers), complimentary safe and then our favourite cupboard - housing 4 optics with fridge below with mixers and beers!! lol Balcony with table and 2 chairs (now we know that we're on holiday!!) We set about unpacking and had a telephone call from reception welcoming us to the Mambo and asking if everything was okay. I told them that everything was fine thanks but any chance of having some Vodka ('him indoors' favourite tipple) and I was told no problem they would make sure we had some the following day - less than 15 minutes later the little booze van turned up with Vodka, service or what!! Only half an hour into our holiday and we knew that everything was going to be wonderful!! Tip for the Brits - we knew from being on TripAdviser which travel adaptors we needed but hadn't thought about the voltage - it's only 110, thankfully my hairdryer is a duel voltage so it worked well but I had a battery charger for my camera and that took 2 days to get enough charge into my spare batteries.

For evening meals you are asked to eat in your own hotels restaurant, have to say that after our first evening it was so enjoyable that we didn't try out the other restaurants for either breakfast or lunch. The staff are wonderful, nothing is too much trouble and they are always smiling. Tables were cleared away quickly and re-laid, never a problem getting a table, even when they were busy. The food was wonderful both at breakfast and dinner, we only ate at the poolside restaurant during the day so can't comment on lunch. So much choice, far too much to list (even for us picky eaters) and all well prepared. Ashamed to admit that I am a smoker but there were clearly defined areas for smokers and non-smokers (usually there were fewer children in the smokers area too, a bonus when you're our age and childless!!) Another tip for the Brits, the salt and pepper work the other way around to here, the salt is the one with lots of holes and the pepper is the one with only one hole, good job we like both, lol.

Day 2 - not sure how or why, especially after such a long travelling day but we woke early and had a walk around the complex and were really pleased that we had been allocated the Mambo!! I understand that the rooms differ between the 3 hotels but the lay out of the Mambo is, in my opinion much better. The Merengue is the biggest of the 3 and the blocks of rooms seemed to be very much on top of each other, the Bachata was spread out a little bit more but were in 3 storey blocks and much bigger, the Mambo is definitely the 'quaintest'. The beach is definitely better the Mambo end, very little coral and more room back from the beach. Breakfast was very welcome and then decisions, decisions, pool or beach?? The pool at the Mambo looked very nice, available sunbeds but at this stage we weren't sure which way the sun was going and we didn't want to burn on our first 'real' day - so beach it was. What a joy - no trouble at all getting a sunbed - I can't tell you how happy that made us!! We opted to stay on the bit of beach back from the sea - lots of palm trees and therefore lots of shade should it get too hot for us - oh and the most important thing of all - not too far from the beach bar (which we still aren't sure if the Merengue and Bachata have - we couldn't find them) - bargain - settled for the day, or as it turned out for our whole holiday!! lol (They only serve beer or soft drinks at the beach bar - if you want anything stronger you have to go to the bar by the pool - which is also where the toilets are). Afternoons at the pool can become quite noisy, water aerobics and water polo going on and then the 'dreaded' bingo around 4 o'clock.

Entertainment - I'm sure you all know by now that you can join in as much or as little as you want. At our end of the beach there was quite a bit going on, beach volley ball, darts, dancing, yoga, boules, horsey horsey ?? (still a bit confused about that one), step aerobics and water aerobics in the sea - ohh it was so lovely just to lie there and watch all those busy people!! lol Evening entertainment was the usual Riu stuff - entertainment staff miming to songs and dancing but on our last night there was a decent duo on, actually singing and playing (albeit to backing tracks). We used to wander over to the Merengue of an evening where they have a lovely bar, set back from the hustle and bustle and have a few drinks there, quite entertaining watching the bar staff, who deserve a big round of applause for all their hard work and knowledge of cocktails!!

Outside activities - can't help you there I'm sorry, we really went for a really relaxing holiday in the sun, didn't want to do anything or go anywhere. I was off work and we just wanted to spend quality time together, relaxing in the sun with a few beers and lots of books. Oh, on that note, I didn't take enough books with us - don't panic, just down from the pool at the Mambo is a hut (which I think is used for the children's daytime activities) which as a few shelves with books on, most of them were foreign but there were enough English books to keep us going and funnily enough from authors we probably wouldn't have read back home but probably will from now on - see it is true, you do learn something new everyday.

Our thoughts - Riu's have got it right yet again, excellent service, fantastic food and selection of food, really lovely surroundings and all spotless, great rooms and balconies, wonderful staff (special mention to the room maids who made going back to our room after a hard day on the beach so enjoyable with their towel art) just exactly what we wanted, a really relaxing holiday!! Only thing I would ask is that everyone makes use of the ladies who stand outside the restaurants and toilets with the antibacterial hand gel - it doesn't hurt or sting and it dries very quickly - is it really worth risking spoiling your holiday for the sake of it?? Bless them they have the most boring jobs at the hotels but always have a 'hola' for everyone.


On the Friday the weather took a turn for the worse, (so that's why we had an umberella in our wardrobe!!) We just took it on the chin and found somewhere comfortable to sit and read. By the afternoon we were back on the beach, bargain. That evening the rain and I mean rain (and I thought that Welsh rain was heavy!!) set in. We decided that we had had enough to eat that day and just sat on our balcony, lovely and warm and dry, still in our beach clothes and watched the world going by!! Oh the joys of being in the Caribbean where they put a bar in your room!!