My brother and I stayed at ClubHotel RIU Mambo in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic from August 17 to 24, 2008. The moment we set foot aboard the SkyService plane that was to take us to D.R. I started regretting our decision to book this vacation as the aircraft could be described as dilapidated at best. The meal service almost matched the plane’s interior, the hostesses (who were actually quite nice) almost threw your sandwich at you as there were no plastic trays which I found a bit strange. Apart from all that, the flight was quite pleasant.
So we touched down at Puerto Plata’s Gregorio Luperon International Airport which was a typical small airport for southern destinations. The bus ride to the hotel took a bit over an hour since to our luck our hotel was the last one in the chain of hotels where we had to drop off some passengers. We drove through the whole Playa Dorada area dropping off people on the way and arrived at our destination Bahia de Maimon. Our complex contained three RIU hotels – Bachata, Merengue and ours – Mambo. We were right on time for dinner which was great. The food service deserves a special mention. Everything was just great! Everything smelled fresh and looked appetizing. There were so many types of food that we were really having a hard time deciding on what to eat. By the way, all three hotels were interconnected and you could eat, relax or just sunbathe on each of the hotels’ property.
Another Oscar would go to the hotel’s bartenders, especially our friends Judith and Simon. They were always very helpful and knowledgeable in their choice of a particular cocktail. And always with a big sincere smile on their faces, even though sometimes you could tell the guys were tired.
The nightly entertainment was good, especially the Michael Jackson and Stars shows. The hotel’s entertainment team (equipo de animacion) were really working their butts off just to make you pass your time. All I can say, we weren’t bored at night and didn’t wanna leave the hotel once the darkness descended as you usually feel at other hotels.
The rooms were nice and the free alcohol dispenser in the room made our lives even more pleasurable. The hotel consisted of two-storey buildings with 8 suites in each. Each suite had a balcony with a table and chairs. The A/C wasn’t particularly cool but paired with the ceiling fan gave enough cool air to keep you happy.
The beach was nice with lots of palm trees to lounge under. The sea was clear only in the morning and became cloudy closer to afternoon time. If you are travelling with children watch for some European women baring their breasts in public. We saw quite a few ones of them during our stay.
The hotel offered lots of tours. We went on 5 tours and enjoyed each one of them. The best tour guide was Rudy, a passionate NY Yankees fan. He was very knowledgeable and funny and even though he had a typical Hispanic accent, his command of English was astonishing given some of the expressions he was using. His was the Outback Safari tour and if you see him tell him the Toronto brothers are sending their best wishes. If you like boogie-boarding, you are going to love it at a beach in Cabarete. The waves might not be as high as on California’s Pacific coast, but they are still enough to have a fun time.
The Puerto Plata Top View tour was a bland affair except for the ride to the top of Isabel de Torres mountain (800m) in a cable car. The view over the whole city and harbour was truly breathtaking. There was a guy who does magic tricks on the platform right before you get on the cable car. My brother was videotaping him while he was doing his tricks. If you see the coin trick where he throws coins on the floor and then magically spits them out of his mouth, watch his other hand go into his mouth while everybody else is watching his hand throwing coins on the floor.
We also took ATV and horse-riding tours. I would recommend both of them. If you have some change take it with you as there’ll be some poor Haitian kids in the forest during the horse-riding tour offering to wash your feet after you took a dip in the river. We felt really bad as we didn’t have any change with us to give them. Those are refugees so I’m sure your help there would be appreciated.
Another tour we took was the Santo-Domingo tour, which was a bit exhausiting. We spent more than 13 hours to get there and back. The only reason we took this tour was our desire to see the first city on Western Hemisphere. There was also a nice cave with three small lakes inside. The view inside was great. They will also show you a mausoleum-like structure where Christopher Columbus was once buried. The guide will tell you the remains are still there but it’s a popular knowledge now that they were transferred to the Seville Cathedral in Spain years ago. But you will be taken to the house where Columbus’ son Diego once lived with his family. To me one of the trip’s highlights was the drive back to Puerto Plata part of which lied through mountains. A gorgeous, gorgeous place! We also stopped at a mountaintop restaurant with a magnificent view over the surrounding areas. Nice place to take pictures.
If anyone from RIU Mambo reads this review, I’d like to thank them for the fabulous week we had at their hotel as everything was to our liking. I will definitely come back there some day.

Great hotel for the price, its non stop drink and food.
The staff are wondeful even down to the maids who are stuck on the toilet door till early hours of the morning.
The Pasha club was good for a change it was air con and played some good music.
The entertainment on a night time was 5 out of 10, mainly for kids. We use to walk along to the other hotel and had a few drinks. The carnival in caribean street was fab the best night we had, there was pop corn men (free) bars set up and dancing.
The weather wasnt too good it use to rain around 3 every day and a few nights stayed on till late.
The air con in the rooms was rubbish and i think the mini bar should be stocked daily. There is a fridge in room.
The food was good the resturants italian and steak were more or less same menu, the problem i found was you had to que for 10am to book and people use to start queing at 9.15 which was a pain as who want to spend time queing.
There is free pedalos and other things on the beach but the life jackets stunk of BO!!
For the price we paid i was please with what we got. I emailed hotel in advance and ask for room near reception whcih they did and we were right next to bars resturants pool.
There is no toilets on the beach which was a pain. There is a beach bar at the Mambo.
Out of the 3 hotels id say the mambo was better its was quieter and had the beach bar, there was mainly english in this hotel as well.
Try the monster trucks trip well worth it but take sweets for the kids, id read to but didnt and felt guilty as the kids wait fir the trucks coming. Also take anything you dont want ie shampoo from hotel, clothes these people live in the jungle with nothing.
Be aware though, dont give kids on the street books and pencils as we witnesses a mother take them and but them on a stall she had. Give them in at the schol they take you to.
Try pay for an upgrade as its a long flight.
any question feel free to mail me.

First, I would like to say we had an amazing trip. My girlfriend and I went to the Riu Mambo hotel, which is one out of three riu resorts located to puerto plata. You pay for one hotel and you can have full access to the two others, which is quite unusual for the price. Dominicans are very smilly people. They make you fell like your one of a kind. You have a private minibar in your room, filled with rum, gin, coke, soda and beers. The rooms are VERY VERY clean. There is always someone wating nearby to clean your hands. Lots of free activities are organized troughout the days, like bingo, aquaform, shows (for children and adults) and even snorkling (deposit required). I really recommend trip to paradise island. It'll cost you about 150 $ (2 people) and you'll feel like a VIP for the whole day.
I don't recommend the hotel for young teenagers who would like to make party. If you wanna do so, go to cancun (oasis cancun). Riu mambo resort, as the two others, are for families with young children and couples who wanna live an amazing honeymoon. Families would be pleased according to the fact that there are plenty of activities organized for young children. While children are busy, you can take it easy at the bar, well it's only a suggestion :)
For couples, the unique look of the hotel (small villas instead of an hudge building) makes you feel like you live in your own condo, quiet, clean and really comfortable.

The only negative point is the food. It's good actually, but I would have liked to get more sea foods (only available at italian restaurant, which is a la carte)

Hope it'll be helpfull

Francois

I had a very relaxing week at the Riu Mambo. The staff was very friendly, shoutouts to Escaly (our maid) Pedro, Henriquez, Wilson, Tito, Melo (bartenders) , Lidia and Vargas (waiter and waitress)
They made both my boyfriend and my stay very pleasurable. Our Sunquest Rep got us to and from the airport in time and was very friendly.

The Animacion crew were great...the best night was Michael Jackson and African night.
The food was good a bit repetitive but good. I can't really complain as I like my food spicey...but the Mexican and Dominican night was tasty!

I know the next time I go I will learn to speak a little more Spanish as I was able to communicate but not as well as I wanted to. Leaving the resort to go drive the moto was amazing til we were pulled over by the policia and our motos were towed...and not being able to speak fluent Spanish caused barriers for communication ...oh well it was an experience!

Our room 1207 was very clean and Escaly made some cute decorations out of our towels. I will attempt to make these in my own home! Only problem with the room...it was a little further than expected but I am just lazy and wanted everything right as I walk out so the exercise was good! And it motivated me to hit the gym a few days while on vacation!

I highly recommend to tip the staff as they do deserve it and really work hard. We tipped our maid, bartenders and waiters everyday.

Overall I had one of the most relaxing vacations with nothing to worry about but when to eat and sleep! I brought a book to read and enjoyed baking my skin while reading in the day and dressing up and eating with the staff at night!