Great resort, enjoyed the stay!!

This is our 6th all inclusive: three with kids, three couples only, so we can compare, and this one is the best so far.
Do not read negative reviews, some people bi..ch about everything..

Food: very good, all restaurants except, maybe, Barcelona, but it may have been our luck - the server was very slow and had no clue..
Room service: excellent
Issues: everything is addressed promptly by the staff, no complaints

Ocean is little rough, but if you don't mind short walk, about half mile to the right (facing the ocean), there little or no waves.

Take lots of singles, it it all inclusive, but if you get a drink brought to you while relaxing in the lobby or on the beach? Come on.. Going to a dinner to a nice restaurant, I usually leave $10 or so, $2 for room service..

Do not bother paying extra for "Excellence Club", do not pay for transfers if you book through Expedia or Delta (or whoever) Vacations: find (google) a local transfer company, much cheaper, and very reliable.

Free Wi-Fi at the hotel, BUT Google Voice (through Groove IP app) doesn't work, I guess they block that particular port on their firewall. Skype worked ok, not great but if you turn video off, you can talk.

We went to a catamaran tour for a day to the Carribean side of the island, loved it

We just returned from Excellence this past Friday and I must say this trip was filled with memories that will last a lifetime!

What made this trip so fantastic has to be the wonderful staff employed by the resort. As soon as we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted by Victor and Manuel, two fantastic guys that were most kind, setting the standard for the level of care we received the whole trip.

We were a little early on our arrival and were guided to the outdoor beach bar while our rooms were getting the final touches. That's where we met Omar, Breimy and Felix, three of the most accommodating bar tenders you'll ever meet. If you're Canadian and looking for a quality ceasar, I suggest you speak with these lads, they encourage good times!

We ate at most of the restaurants and they were all delicious - hats off to Carlos, the resorts Mexican Head Chef. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the restaurant, but I do remember Anan the waiter. This guy went out of his way to make us feel special one night, laying rose petals on the table, keeping us fully refreshed - quality 5 star service.

Young Lopez deserves a mention - very helpful and all smiles all the time. And last but not least, Domingo the resident saxophone player http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr_zbHbwyHA - this guy has romance written all over him!

The beach is great, I'm more into waves vs. calm waters.

Pool is also great - it was a coin toss as to where we would hang out each day.

Everything is in walking distance ie. pool, beach, rooms and restaurants (5 minutes to anywhere).

Take advantage of the excursions, from what I hear, they are all fun. We did the catamaran and spent the day on the south side of the island in the calm waters which was nice - great for pictures.

I seen a couple of posts about the folks selling the excursions and have to say this.
Don't be shy when dealing with the lads selling the excursions, they are all very kind and not pushy at all. Dr. Watson, Pierre, Diego, and Herby are all there to try to encourage fun and if you're not interested, just say no. If you try to be nice and say "maybe", then of course they will ask you again. Don't waste their time and be honest and they won't ask you again. Afterwards, you will get high-fives and hand shakes every time they walk by, of course only if you're interested ; )

Thank you Excellence for the great vacation - see you next week!

Jeff

We just returned from EPC on 11/30/12. I had read many reviews prior to leaving, but our experience exceeded expectations. This resort is absolutely gorgeous in a natural, tropical way. We loved sitting on the beach every day, it was very picturesque. I was not comfortable going into the ocean because of the large waves, but many other visitors went in and enjoyed it. We received a room in building 1. Having stayed at over 20 caribbean resorts, we are used to rooms smelling somewhat musty. However, I was surprised at how musty this room was considering it was newly renovated. It was in a good location with a nice view, so we chose not to move. The staff went above and beyond. They want you to have a great vacation and do everything to insure that is what you get. The head chef approached us at breakfast one morning just to ask for our feedback and if there was anything that could be better. Another gentleman, Roberto, approached us when we were checking out to see if we had any problems during our stay or if we had any general suggestions. They make you feel like your opinion really counts. There were little things that Excellence offered that other resorts do not, including free wifi everywhere, free 30 horseback ride, and free massages on the beach every morning. We were surprised at how good the food was for dinner. Our favorites were Spice and the Grill. We did not care for the breakfast buffet. The food was not kept hot enough. The only exception was the made-to-order omelettes. We ended up skipping breakfast most days and having lunch instead. We had prebooked private transfers with IBK Transfers and everything went smoothly with them as well. I did notice that taxis were the same price and were readily available. We will probably use the taxi option next time, just because there would be less waiting around. We have stayed at 4 other resorts in Punta Cana, but feel Excellence is at the top. We would not hesitate to return!

We arrived 11/25 and left 12/1. We stayed in the Excellence Club, the check-in process was quick and smooth and we felt welcome at the resort.
The room was as we hoped for, in building 8 with a direct ocean view.
Some of the amenities that were offered were not accurate or fully disclosed. For example, there is not daily fresh fruit and flowers brought to your room, we received the nightly dessert to the room 2 nights of the 6, restocking of alcohol bottles, we met friends and used two bottles...we threw away the bottles away after finishing them and discovered after 2 days they were not replaced as advertised, when we inquired as to why we were advised we needed to leave the empty bottles where they are located in the room if we wanted them replaced. Are you kidding me??!! We paid a lot of money for this all-inclusive! Its advertised as they will get replaced without stipulations involved.
One day after showering I grabbed what I thought was a clean towel and to my disgust it was a smelly,dirty towel...very gross, gagged and almost vomitted.
Mini bar in general was far from an upgrade for Excellence Club. If there version of an upgraded mini bar is a kitkat, 4 pack of oreo cookies, plain crackers and 2 small bags of peanuts then I would hate to see the non Excellence Club mini bar. We ate the kitkat bar on the 2nd day and it never got replaced. Also, drank the only orange juice and it never got replaced.
Outside of the room...in the pool there were no rafts. Having the rafts was what we looked forward to. We asked several times where they were and got a different response everytime, being cleaned/"broken"/ sent out and then finally was told they no longer offer rafts beacuse they are an issue. Again, very disappointing. That was something what we looked forward to #1 because we had them daily in Playa Mujeres and #2 as advised.
Stay far away from the "market" on the beach!! The stray dogs roaming around that area on the beach were more pleasant then the local shop owners. The shop owners were all VERY pushy (even through they'll tell you they are not pushy) and when finally decided to get something their approach changed drastically to a threatening demand to pay a specific amount. We felt very unsafe and uncomfortable.
The theme throughout our stay when it came to the restaurants was, the food was fair at best and at some places unedible (Barcelona and various dishes from the other restruants). How does the pizza place Oregano run out of cheese, really?! Then, at a few other restaurants, things on the menu were not available. The service of most of the staff was top notch though. Carlos the server at Agave was fantastic- he went above and beyond when we saw him.
Nightly we went to the bars- We went to catch the football games at the sports bar....after we found it, a bit out of the way and hidden, we ordered 2 beers but were told there was no beer. How does a sports bar not have beer? We went to the night club Allegro one night and it was foul- the stench was nasty. We walked in and walked right out, never went back. We ended up hanging out at the Martini bar every night. Ramon the bartender there is amazing. He's extremely attentive, fun and enjoyable. He couldn't do enough for us.
We made the best of the trip despite all the disappointments. The resort itself and the amenities are no where near five star however, the staff was. We had a great past experience with Excellence at Playa Mujeres- even though we do not plan on returning to the Punta Cana location we do look forward to checking out the Oyster Bay location once open.