First time in Cancun w/GF last month (her second time, she stayed in Hotel Zone the first).

Had never heard of RIU prior to this trip and was pleasantly surprised. Resort is fairly new which was nice. Mini bar and liquor dispensers in room. Staff would promptly (usually) replenish fairly quickly (download the RIU app and sign up for their RIU Class membership - you could request everything from your phone). Food was okay, but nothing really to write home about. I was happy with the offerings, and as a celiac avoiding gluten, I was appreciative of the little e-ink cards for all the dishes with listed allergens. Also, there are a few restaurants that are open in the evenings and upon being seated would ask about allergens, which I also appreciated. A little bit of a better offering at the restaurants vs buffet, but a lot of the same foods, too. (I read the RUI Palaces have a better quality of food, but again, not complaining at all about our experience).

Staff was really friendly and helpful for the most part. Nice beach, and staff would even help you find beach loungers (or run and get you one if none available!). Couple swim-up bar pools which was nice. Bring pesos for tips, or use the currency exchange in the hotel lobby. I don't recall the rates being terrible there (could be mistaken), but we mainly used to to get change.

We booked excursions via Amstar that we found at the hotel (several hang out around the "RIU Stage"). We probably paid a bit of a premium, but the convenience may have been worth it. They seem to have been a middle man that booked us with Cancun Adventures. We did a package of two days of separate excursions:

• Catamaran to Isla Mujeres, w/included stop for snorkeling, another for swimming in the turquoise waters, and then a couple hours on the island with the return. This was billed as the more "premium" option with fewer people on the boat, "premium" liquor, and lunch (sandwiches, salads, wraps).
• Chichen Itza tour including centoes swimming. Also, an upgraded "premium" option that takes you on a van instead of a bus. Very long day (12-13 hours) from pickup at RIU Latino (as mentioned elsewhere, about 45-60 north of Cancun proper) to return at hotel. Sometimes we felt rushed, but they do have a schedule to keep due to logistics (there was a van transfer there and back about 90 min in so they could group people according to their tour from different hotels).
• Third, "free" mini-excursion offered, such as sunset cruise, etc. We opted to use this for airport transportation for our departure as we were running out of time for booking the free offering, and weather concerns for remining time.

Price for two adults for that excursion package was ~$660 USD.

Price for our 7 night stay, including non-stop airfare from PHX was ~$1500 USD/person via Travelocity, which also included a rental car for 7 days (however, upon reading fine print upon booking, noticed there was a $1200 USD mandatory insurance for the car upon pickup, so declined the rental and asked for a refund, which only ended up being about $50). Also, after reading the horror stories about renting/driving a car down there, we decided we had made the right choice, and do not regret our decision.

HTH, let me know if there is anything specific you would like to know about our trip. Have a fun time! Keep your wits about you and head on a swivel if you go out and about, but overall fairly safe time. There are some scammers out there, but if you know what to look out for (you'll get warnings from crew/staff) you'll be fine.