jilliibabii
Mrs. O'Connor
Member since 6/10 12821 total posts
Name:
Jillian
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Review of Excellence Punta Cana
Well I'm back!! And holy bananas was this place amazing! We landed at the Punta Cana airport 45 minutes ahead of schedule (thanks Jet Blue!) and were pleasantly surprised that we could walk right off the plane, down the stairs, and onto the runway. I don't know why but I thought this was the coolest thing in the world.   I'm obviously easily entertained.
The "How's my flying?" makes me giggle, too.
The airport is strange because it is all open, there's no real walls anywhere. Our bags followed us along the runway once we were off the plane and were waiting for us once we got through the minimal customs area. We had arranged (through the resort before leaving) for a private taxi to pick us up from the airport and drop us off again when we leave. I am SO glad we did this. First of all, it is humid as all hell in DR. I was wearing jeans since I'm always cold on the plane so I was dyingggggggg when we got off the plane. Second of all, the resort is VERY far from the airport. I'd say it was a little over an hour drive despite the resorts claim that it's 30-40 minutes. Not a big deal, but I'd imagine it'd be even longer if you took the free shuttles since they stop at many different resorts and Excellence is one of the furthest.
The resort was amazing. As soon as we got out of the cab the concierge welcomed us with champagne and took our luggage. We checked in, but had to wait an hour for the room to be ready. Just to the right of the lobby is the buffet restaurant so they asked us to have lunch while we waited for the room to be ready. We went to get drinks and something to eat and came back and our room was ready.
The lobby.
Now, if you'll remember, the rooms I wanted (the swim-up suites) were all sold out, so I was really nervous about the room. It's about as far from the lobby as you can get, but the room was amazing and the location was actually perfect! The way our room was it faced the back of the resort so we had a lot of privacy, especially in our backyard, while still being steps away from the pool (it's basically impossible to be far from the pool since it stretches .45 miles long and goes through the whole resort). I highly recommend a ground floor room as the backyards with hammocks are MUCH nicer than the tiny balconies the 2nd and 3rd floor rooms come with.
Our room.
Our backyard with hammock, table, and chairs.
As you can see the room had a fantastic little hot tub right in the living room. I loooooooved it. There is also a separate shower, but the strange part about the shower is there is a glass window from the waist up that looks into the bedroom. DH loved it because he's a perv, but the even weirder part is if you look through the window past the shower, you can see the toilet. I didn't care but some people might, especially if you're not a couple since this is an adults only resort and not couples only.
Yeah, that's the bedroom on the other side of that window. Bizarre.
The rooms are stocked with full sized bottles of rum, whiskey, vodka, etc. The fridge also has beers (Presidente, which is delicious.), sodas (Coke, Diet Coke, Fanta, Seltzer), juice, and bottled water. They also had little snacks (cookies, nuts, and crackers). There was no extra charge for any of these items.
The food was amazing and plentiful. We had breakfast at the buffet everyday and then we'd either do lunch at the buffet, the grill, or (when we drank too much ) room service in our backyard. We had dinner at all of the restaurants except for Barcelona, because we couldn't find it. lol! Our favorite was Oregano. I wasn't a big fan of the French restaurant. There were three restaurants (Oregano, Chez Isabelle, and Agave) all in this little building right next to the lobby, theater, and casino.
This is where the 3 restaurants are located. The door goes to Chez Isabelle to the left and Agave to the right. And Oregano is outside on the right. My favorite part was that the waiters all dressed in specialty outfits at the restaurants- they wore gondolier outfits at Oregano and matador outfits at Agave- it was cute.
Also, there was just food around all the time. They had a bonfire dinner on the beach one night and everyday around noon 3 chefs would come around with trays of appetizers and desserts and just bring them around to everyone at the pool. It was fantastic to be laying poolside in one of the beds reading and have someone come up to you with snacks. They also had a pizza delivery service that delivered to your room, the pool, the basketball courts, etc. Waiters were constantly checking to make sure you had everything you needed.
The pool was amazing. It was like a long, rambling lazy river and I loved it. There were tons of floats (though people still liked to hoard them for some reason) and you could ALWAYS find a place to lay out. They had some chairs on a ledge in the water, chairs around the pool, beds around the pool, beds on the beach, etc. As for the beach, it was very nice and clean, but the water was rough. I'm told it's because of where the resort is situated on the island. We spent little time on the beach since the water was so rough that there was a red warning flag out every day. And besides, this resort was much more about the pool than the ocean.
The swim-up bar was amazing! We actually didn't find it until we were there for 3 days and I went in search of a floatie. And then once we found it we never left. We made friends with some people and had a blast hanging out.
The swim up bar is kinda hidden behind a restaurant, which was lovely since you got a ton of shade.
Chilling at the swim up bar with my floatie and electric lemonade- which was delicious.
We only actually went to one show at the resort- the burlesque one. It was a little cheesey but entertaining. It was something nice to do after dinner but before the club opened up at 10:30. They also had live music each night (before the show) right outside the theater. There's seats and a bar right there so it was really nice. One night everyone was salsa dancing in Santa Domingo Plaza- pretty cool. The club was actually really nice, too. It looked like an older building on the outside but inside had a HUGE dancefloor and tables, chairs, and a big bar. It never got really crowded but it was hopping. They played a nice mix of salsa music and regular dance club type music. We had a great time there.
This was the dance club.
They also had lots of other fun activities like horseback riding, basketball courts, billiards, mini golf, a shooting range, complimentary scuba lessons (which took place in the pool), etc. They also had salesmen around the resorts who would arrange for excursions for an additional cost- they had everything (ziplining, dune buggies, speed boats, horseback riding, party boat tours, snorkeling, etc.). They were really nice and not pushy, which I appreciated it. The horseback riding was $50 per person for the 2 hour sunset ride. DH and I did that but unfortunately it was really cloudy so our sunset was kinda lame. But the ride was awesome! The guide loved us so he'd let us hang back on the beach while the other drunk couple we were with ambled along. Then we'd race down the beach to catch up. It was awesome- DH especially loved it. At the end of the ride we got back to the ranch and they had a little shop. DH was inside shopping while I sat outside and played with these 5 tiny adorable little puppies. It was fantastic. Then they sold us a bottle of rum with a picture of us on it which was even better. lol!
DH and I on our horses.
Puppies!!!
DH & I on a bottle of rum!
Now as for the staff.... I wasn't nearly as pleased as I was with Jamaica. In Jamaica everyone seemed genuinely happy to help and just nice in general. Not that anyone was nasty per say in Punta Cana, but they were there to do their job and that was it. They also spoke a lot of Spanish and then would laugh at you so that's kind of unsettling and insulting. At least wait until I walk away until you discuss what a gringo I am. They also not only accepted tips, but expected them. For everything. We didn't mind, we always tip generously anyway, but at least be grateful for it. And that's not to say everyone was like that- just a few of the bartenders in particular. But then again, there were plenty of really dumb obnoxious drunk Amaericans there that I can sort of see where they are coming from. But anyway, I digress.
All in all, the trip was amazing. DH joked that it made Couples Swept Away in Jamaica look like the Red Roof Inn but I don't think that was a fair statement. They have totally different vibes. Jamaica was a tropical getaway- it was about the beach, the sand, the sun. Punta Cana was about opulence- it went big. It was also much more about the sprawling pool than the sprawling beach. So I guess it really comes down to what you're looking for in a vacation. Honestly, my DH and I are super easy to please- we're mostly just happy to be away and have someone cook and clean for us and anything else is gravy. If you have any other questions or want to see more photos, please feel free to FM me! I'd be happy to offer any insight I can! 
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