Excellence Punta Cana Review!

We just got back from 7 nights in Punta Cana and it was awesome!! We stayed at Excellence and it definitely lived up to its name. Even though we booked kind of last minute (about 14 days out) we did a lot of research before we decided on this resort so any questions – feel free to ask.

First off – something you need to know if you are staying at Excellence – it is the furthest resort from the airport. The drive from the airport is a somewhat hair-raising 1hr and 10 mins according to the tour guide, but it actually only took about 45 minutes.

Food

Excellence has 7 restaurants that do NOT require reservations – which is great, but there is at least one restaurant closed every night – sometimes there can be up to 3 or 4 restaurants closed if they are having a special dinner event (Soiree, BBQ on the beach, etc). One restaurant doubles as two – it switches back and forth from Mexican to Mediterranean. Here’s how we rated them:

Chez Isabelle (French) – 5 stars – ate there 3 times! You must have the Chateau Briand!
Agave (Mexican) – 4 stars - very good
The Grill (Steak mostly) – 4 stars – yummy for lunch or dinner
Lobster House (Lobster Only) – did not eat there for dinner – a couple of people on the resort got sick after eating there and some said that sometimes the lobster was not cooked through. Scared us away. Though many people raved about this restaurant. We did eat there for breakfast though (I know, Lobster for breakfast sounds weird, but it’s a totally different menu for breakfast) and we give it 3 stars for that. The sweet rolls basket is yummy.
Spice (Pan Asian) – did not eat there but it got so-so reviews from the other guests
Toscana (Italian) – 4 stars – unexpectedly very good!
Barcelona (Mediterranean) – 2 stars – not very good compared to the others – seafood was over cooked


Overall I give the food at the resort 4 stars. Don’t bother with the burgers, hot dogs, and nachos by the pool – but the pizza by the pool is pretty good.

Pool and Beach

The pool at Excellence is the biggest I’ve ever seen. I’m sure bigger exist but this one had to be about a ¼ mile long! That’s the main pool. There is a second, smaller pool that has waterfalls. Both are beautiful and clean. There is a swim up bar in the main pool but not the smaller pool.

Excellence is on the Atlantic side so the water is a little bit rougher. There was only one red flag day while we were there though so we were able to swim in the ocean and it was great. Great waves for boogie boarding, not so hot for snorkeling.

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Re: Excellence Punta Cana Review!

Accomodations

We loved our room. We had a Pool View Swim Up Jr Suite. There are VERY few of these rooms available so if you can get one, jump on it. They are by the smaller, less crowded pool and they are less expensive than the Ocean View Swim Ups. But either a Swim Up room is definitely the way to go. You can literally swim up to your room. It was so nice having the pool right there. On our last day, we were able to take a quick dip.

The bed was a little hard and the minibar only had drinks (this can be upgraded though if you get a “Club” room) but otherwise – we loved our room. The maid service was very good and everything was very clean.

Entertainment & Activities

There is so much to do at this resort, there is no way you will be bored. We spent most of our time playing tons of beach and pool volleyball but there are so many other things to do and it’s different every day. They do activities by the pool, dance & cooking lessons on the beach, horseback riding on the beach (that was great!), and a fabulous spa. DH worked out at the gym almost everyday and although I really wanted to take the daily Yoga or Tai Chi classes – unfortunately I didn’t bring work out clothes or sneakers with me.

There is a night club/disco on the resort. It’s adequate. I personally need to hear some good music and shake my azz a little before I can call it a night so for me it was just enough.

The casino is small but also adequate for some late night fun.

The resort puts on a show every night. The shows can sometimes be a little hokey but most people go and sometimes they aren’t half bad.

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Re: Excellence Punta Cana Review!

Weather

The weather was fantastic!! We were very nervous and debated canceling our trip all together because Hurricane Dean had just blown by there not 4 days before the start of our vacation. The 10 day forecast called for isolated T-storms everyday. But everything turned out wonderful. There were a few sprinkles over night that didn’t affect us at all and one very brief torrential downpour that caught us by surprise while boogie boarding that made for a fabulous memory. Evidently, a lot of people canceled because of this and the resort was only at 60% capacity. I think that made everything better. There was one overcast day. Unfortunately, it was the day we had scheduled our 1 hour photo shoot ($50 – great deal!) so we had to cancel. We used the time to take our own pics instead so some of those you’ll see won’t be as pretty.

Overall Ambiance

Excellence is an adults only resort but it’s mostly couples so don’t expect a spring break atmosphere (thank god!). There is definitely some partying going on but there are lots of honeymooners, couples celebrating their anniversaries, and “babymooners”, so it’s also a romantic atmosphere which is nice. We made connections with some great couples there. There are a lot of north easterners that go there so you probably won’t be the only NYers there.

I’ve been on a few all inclusive vacations before and this was by far the best. I’ve done all-inclusives in Puerto Plata (the other side of DR) 3 times, and Cancun so this was my 5th and it by far topped all the others. I HIGHLY recommend it for any vacation

Re: Excellence Punta Cana Review!

Now for some pictures…

Our Room






Friendly Parrots on the resort that you can feed…but be careful if you are wearing jewelry or a hat – one of them took that little button off the top of DH’s hat in like 2 seconds flat!





The flamingoes were very cool too… there is actually lots of wildlife just running around the resort… there were peacocks too, but they hid from me the whole time

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And some random pictures throughout the resort:

Re: Excellence Punta Cana Review!

Thank you for this review. DH & I are going here in Jan and we can not wait.
The pictures are beautiful!

Re: Excellence Punta Cana Review!

Thanks for the review!Sounds like you guys had a wonderful time!

Re: Excellence Punta Cana Review!

Beautiful! Glad you had a good time!

Re: Excellence Punta Cana Review!

Looks great! Your pics are look like they are right out of a brochure!

Re: Excellence Punta Cana Review!

Wow great review! Looks like you had an amazing time. I cannot wait until we go in December!

Love your avatar pic. Thanks for this great review!

Re: Excellence Punta Cana Review!

OMG, I went there several years ago and you're making me miss it. I love that place! So glad you had a great time!!

Re: Excellence Punta Cana Review!

Oh, and was my friend there?



And I saw your parrot friends, too...

Re: Excellence Punta Cana Review!

great pictures! looks like a wonderful place just to relax! thanks for the review!

Re: Excellence Punta Cana Review!

Looks like you had a great time! We loved DR when we were there.

Re: Excellence Punta Cana Review!

Posted by LaurenExp

Oh, and was my friend there?


And I saw your parrot friends, too...

Re: Excellence Punta Cana Review!

Posted by BabyAvocado

Posted by LaurenExp

Oh, and was my friend there?


And I saw your parrot friends, too...

Aw I didn't know there was a turtle!!!

Re: Excellence Punta Cana Review!

Great review! It looks so relaxing.