Excellence Punta Cana

Really a 4+ but we rounded up :) Overall, a very nice vacation with great service and we recommend giving it a try with the Club upgrade. But I’m not sure if it is absolutely required since we enjoyed the non Club areas a lot too. We would definitely consider coming back for a good price. This rating is considering the value for the price we paid ($2350 USD total for 7 nights) and with Excellence Diamond level benefits. And while this resort also checked many boxes on our list, we are still searching for the “unicorn” resort with our complete wish list: Adults only all-inclusive No dinner reservations Long walking beach with no seaweed - unfortunately not great here. Snorkelling right offshore - not here Wide layout with restaurants, bars and theatre close to the ocean and breeze Warm pools with swim up bar - it was summer so the pool temps are nice, no swim up bar in the Club but one at the main pool. Service was great at the Club though. Heated pool area and hot tub for winter trips - not in summer and not sure if heated in winter (I don’t think the pools are) Pool view of ocean - partial view from the Club pool but there were a few great spots bordering the pools and the beach across the resort. Lots of umbrellas or palapas at the pool Comfortable padded lounge chairs - only in the Club areas Unlimited pool towels No pushy time share or tour sales people - we love Excellence for this Quality drinks and food Lobby bar with live music and AC for summer trips - outdoors and no AC, but it wasn’t too bad this summer and the lobby bar is closer to the ocean and the breeze, so the evenings were mostly comfortable. Live music could have been better. Comfortable bed Quiet housekeeping in halls (when trying to nap :) Evening turn down service Reasonable spa prices - not here, but the Diamond benefits were great Professional entertainment - was decent this week Private airport transportation - was very good Close to airport - not too bad but about 45 minutes Here are the scores which consider the price we paid: Overall 9 Service 10 Food 8 Drinks 9 Room 8 Bed 8 Pools 9 Beach 6 Cleanliness 8 Grounds & layout 9 Buildings 7.5 Lobby bar 7 Entertainment 7.5 Spa 8 Some key notes: For context, we generally do either Secrets or Excellence resorts with their lower to mid-price point locations. We got a good price on this resort so we were overall very happy with the trip. The resort is older but in very good shape and our Garden View Club room which faced the interior pool was very nice. I would consider a swim out room to the semi-private infinity pool on the interior garden view side. We loved the resort’s wide layout with most things being close to the ocean and the breeze. The ocean was a little rough and not good for walking with the seaweed, but they were working on it. It’s really nice that the resort isn’t crowded by neighbouring resorts, but without the neighbouring property being cleaned, long walks were not great. However, the resort is wide and short walks were ok along with the boardwalk and we didn’t notice any seaweed smells. First - to be clear, overall the food was very good. But we agree that some of the menu changes are not great and the consistency on the trip varied a bit. For example (I know this sounds picky), we generally only eat leaner sirloin steak and they were out of them at The Grill at 6:30 one night - not a huge issue but very disappointing. We also didn’t care for the breakfast options at Magna. They were a little too “foodie” for our tastes and we really miss some of the past options. So we preferred the Kitchen buffet which had one of the better omelettes we’ve had, but inconsistent between chefs on different days. The Lobster House for à la carte breakfast was fairly good too. Other great highlights included dinner on Magna’s patio (the AC was weak inside), Chez Isabelle, and Lobster House. The Spice Japanese hibachi was very good and typical of most similar experiences, so if you’ve done it many times before, I wouldn’t prioritize it over the other nice dinner locations, unless you want the social interactions which can be fun for a change. Lunch at Oregano and Las Olas was good and we did room service for lunch once and it was very good. And the Aroma coffee shop is really great. The martini bar is small, outside and not air conditioned like some other Excellence resorts. However the Prelude Terrace bar closer to the ocean and breeze was a great spot. The Prelude couch area could use just a touch more ambiance lighting though. The Magna bar had a very dull vibe and the AC wasn’t good, but the drink selection was nice and it was close to the theatre and terrace area to easily go back and forth. Housekeeping service was fantastic and I don’t know if it was intentional but the timing was perfect with our schedule. We never had a problem with going back to our room and bumping into housekeeping. Minibar and liquor selection was also well stocked. The resort was reasonably busy but you didn’t have to get up early for lounge chairs, and Hendrick took great care of us at the Club pool. In fact when we went to the Main pool one morning, we had the pool to ourselves at 9:15 AM with our pick of just about any chairs. But these loungers were not as comfy as in the Club section. The main pool is louder and livelier, so the option to go to the Club quieter pools is nice when needed. And when we moved to different areas through the day we had no problem finding decent chairs (note August is a slower month). We won’t try to list everybody because the service truly was excellent everywhere. The people who work here seem genuinely happy and that shines through. Bring some tip money because they deserve it - and to the Excellence management- all of the employees working on the resort deserve a bonus! Some suggestions: - One consistent problem was the regular use of leaf blowers instead of manual sweeping. We found it too frequent and significantly took away from our spa experience and times relaxing around the pools. Excellence - this needs to be addressed! - Live music in the area around the Prelude bar and the lobby bar, after dinner and before 8:30 would be nice. Even just something simple like a guitar, violin or piano. The 8:30 performers need to mix it up a bit - 2 nights in a row with the same singer and the band on the third night played many of the same songs as the previous nights! - Las Olas bar could use some shade, the open patio was too hot in the sun and it was under-utilized for such a great location on the beach. - Another suggestion is to clearly communicate a ban on personal speakers from outdoor use. People should specifically be advised at check-in to never use them outside. We didn’t pay thousands to listen to someone else’s different taste in music all day…. Please be considerate and leave them in your rooms folks, or try over-the-ear ear buds like Shokz. You can comfortably listen to your music as loud as you like and still hear what’s going on around you. - The rooms could use some proper towel racks and a little more storage shelves in the bathrooms. Again, a very nice vacation overall and we recommend it. We’d come back for a good price, but we’ll likely still keep trying other resorts in search of our unicorn… but sadly, the beach which is out of their control, might be a deal breaker for us and our important morning walks.

Very nice resort with great staff. Everyone was very nice and accommodating. Would definitely come back to this resort again.

Not one negative thing to say about this resort. All the staff is friendly and accommodating to ensure your stay is comfortable. A big shot out to these two fellows Christian and Juan Carlos and the travel entertainment crew with Joy boy and Maria .

I was with my cousins at this resort for 5 days, first time here and have had great service. Room and hotel very clean. Honney helped us with an abundance of activities and entertainment, David the Dj had us partying all night. We also went with an excursion with the hotel we went to island Soana that was a blast.

I loved the activities! And I will emphasis on the fact that the workers are sooo sweet!! Whatever you need they have it and they are so respectful. To me that was the best part of the resort. They always make sure you are comfortable and getting everything you need, truly wonderful people and service!! Mostly, Cherlyn she was amazing and was at all the activities I took part of.