Has anyone stayed at the Excellence Riviera Cancun?

nula721

Would love to know about your stay with Excellence, any tips would be great!

DCastonguayStuart

I've stayed at that one and at their Playa Mujueres location, and if your stay is anything like mine were, you will not be disappointed! My last visit was Christmas 2008, so I hope it's still the same. The Excellence chain, in my experience, is really all about 5-star service. The facilities was very clean and extremely well maintained. All the staff is really well trained, bartenders, servers, entertainment staff, etc. Here are a few details on what you can expect,

Food/Drink - Breakfast is buffet but they keep the tray sizes small so everything is restocked frequently and fresh. Lots of healthy options and not so healthy options. For lunch, you can go to the buffet, a made to order pizza restaurant, a made to order sandwich place over the pool (the Reuben is insane), or you can order your lunch to be delivered to your beach lounger. All dinners are a la carte, but there are no reservations, you just show up! If they don't have space, so can go somewhere else or get a beeper and they'll let you know when the table is ready. The food was pretty delicious, well above the normal standard for all inclusives. For drinks, they use top-shelf alcohol and don't overload them, so everything tastes like it should.

Rooms - Not sure what you've booked but when I stayed I thought the coolest feature was the "secret" door that let's room service deliver your food without you having to get dressed and open your door, it's also where you put your dishes so there's no skanky dishes lying in the hallways. The beds are real Kings, not the "Caribbean king" where they shove 2 twins together and you fall between the beds.

Beach/Pool - The beach in that part of Mexico isn't the tropical blue that a lot of people expect, but it's warm! Very nice for swimming with a long stretch of sandy beach. The pools are really nice, wake up a little early to snag a covered mattress, they have curtains for privacy. The beach and pools are patrolled by staff so you don't have to go to the bar if you don't want to. Also the Excellence chain doesn't use towel cards, you can take as many as you want and change them at any time.

Local Area - If you're looking for excursions there are 3 that I would really recommend. For me the absolute must see for anyone visiting the Mayan Riviera is Xel-Ha, it's an eco park with a natural lazy river, mangroves, swimming with dolphins, snorkeling, etc. If you're athletic you can snorkel the whole route, if you want to relax they have inner tubes and you can take your time. Go check out their website. It's a little expensive but I promise you will not regret it. If you're looking for a more cultural experience, try to book a trip to Koba. Those ruins are much closer than Chichen Itza (?) and are really lovely. The tour we did included a walk through caves on the way back to the hotel, and it was a really nice surprise. If shopping/nightlife are more your thing, you should stop my Playa del Carmen, there's a ton of really good shopping on 5th Avenue, some very delicious restaurants and lots of good people watching. It's right on the beach and there are a tons of bars and shop to explore. My favorite place to go after dinner is a hotel called Deseo on 5th, it's very modern, all white and at night it turns into a pretty swanky lounge. It has beds to relax on and they project ol movies onto the building next door, lots of music pumping, all that good stuff.

General Tips: Bring a bunch of $1 bills for tipping at the hotel, you'll actually want to tip trust me. Join in on the fun with the entertainment team, they are a lot of fun and really add to the enjoyment. There's great gift/jewellery shops are the hotel for souvenirs. Keep in mind that cabs in the Riviera Maya are expensive, get the rate ahead of time.

Hopefully this helps, have a great time!

nula721

Wow that was a great review, thank you sooo much. We dont know where to stay, but with all the great reviews of Excellence, we couldnt go wrong. Thanks again!

charyce21

Hi DCastonguay,

I am torn between EPM and ERC right now. One of my concern is EPM might be too expensive for a cab ride to Playa del Carmen. How did you get around. Did you take the bus or is there a shuttle?