Every staff member was accommodating, helpful, and friendly. The resort was beautiful. Weather was perfect the entire week. The food, though not exceptional was very good and we left every meal feeling satisified and stuffed. We were in the Excellence Club and totally loved it. We frequently enjoyed the lounge and the hor devours the staff served throughout the day. The "beach beds" made sunning on the beach luxurious. My only regret... we enjoyed the beach and pool so much, and we were so relaxed the entire time, we couldn't get motiviated to enjoy the spa, gym or activities -- which all seemed very fun too.

This was our first trip to Punta Cana and after a disaster at another hotel we were moved to Excellence. As soon as we stepped out of the car on the Excellence property, we were greeted by bellboys with enthusiasm and smiles and given champagne. We walked to the front desk where a bellboy followed us and asked what we like to drink. We thought he was just making friendly conversation, but after disappearing for a couple of minutes, he came back with 2 drinks for us. Check-in was a smooth no hassle process (Marlon was the person who checked us in and upon checkout 5 days later he remembered our names and room number! Impressive). After checking in and giving us our key cards, Marlon gave us a map of the hotel, explained where each bar, restaurant and pool was, and told us how to get to our room. Waiting for our bags to arrive took about a half hour. Not terrible, we were just eager to explore...
The property is BEAUTIFUL- open, airy, vegetation everywhere, and constantly cleaned. Picture a hotel with a roof but no walls- the outside is always visible, light breeze always coming through. Staff is cleaning and serving guests literally every minute of every day. There isn't one staff member who doesn't smile or say hello in passing...from the front desk managers and concierge to the maids and maintenance people. EVERYONE at this hotel is friendly, helpful, and eager to please.

Pool - The pool is HUGE and extends across the entire length of the resort. It is never overcrowded because there are so many different sections for guests to sit. Beds and chairs are easy to find for this same reason. There should probably be more than one towel hut, as the pool is so long and it is a bit of a walk to get there, but this is not a big issue. Pool is cold but the sun is strong and hot, so most people don't have a problem going in.

Beach - the beach is pretty and raked each day so it is clean. Beach isn't typical island sand and water though- sand isn't sugar white and water is rough because it is on the Atlantic side of the island. More like a Miami beach feel than Caribbean. Water is warm and blue and chairs are easy to find. "Excellence Club" members have different towels and a roped off section of the beach literally 10 feet from the rest of the visitors so I didn't see the point, but they are permitted to use beach beds which non Excellence Club members are not. There was no issue with anyone coming up to vacationers while on the beach pushing them to buy things. Waiters are around and will offer food or drinks.

Rooms - clean and cute, mini bar could have offered more alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks and snacks, but it's vacation and you're not spending very much time in the room. Large Jacuzzi bath is open and in the middle of the room. Toilet and shower are separate from Jacuzzi bath in their own room and have a door that closes but a glass window is facing the bed/rest of the room so there is absolutely no privacy when using the toilet or shower. This could be awkward to anyone traveling, even couples, as even the toilet is visible to the entire room. Noticed a few ants in the room (only 2 or 3) as well as small gnats/fruit flies, but it wasn't overwhelming and was to be expected especially since we were on the ground floor with a huge sliding door that lead directly outside to grass, patio with table and chairs, and hammock (we left sliding door open for much of the trip unless we were out of the room). Maids usually come twice a day. Night maids leave a schedule of daily activities for the following day and a weather report. Room service is fast (30-35 mins) and offers a variety of choices for food.

Nightly shows - Michael Jackson show was great - talented dancers and amusing. Circus show blew everyone away. AMAZING. The training of this group of people was truly a pleasure to see. A show like this would have cost a couple hundred dollars per ticket in the states. The other shows were nice and the entire hotel gathers to watch so it is like social hour, but the Michael Jackson and Circus shows were the only I'd classify as "don't miss."

Miile Spa - the spa is recently redone, clean and pretty. All white. Different rooms and showers- steam room, sauna, ice room, mist shower, hot tubs. Massages were good, staff was friendly and helpful. A great way to spend the day if the weather is bad and you want something relaxing to do.

Food - overall, food at all-inclusive resorts is average. If you're looking for out-of-this-world food, do not book an all-inclusive. The general purpose of an all-inclusive vacation is to have a nice getaway for a good price paid upfront and in advance with no hidden charges or surprises upon checkout. The food is edible, and there is always something for everyone, but do not expect world class food. We found the buffet to be the best food we had. There are tons of choices- different kinds of risotto, sushi, pizza (every different kind you can imagine), pasta (many different kinds of pasta and many different sauces), salad, veggies, fruits, cereal, muffins, eggs (prepared any way you choose), meats, chicken, fries, nachos, etc. Always something for everyone no matter your preference or taste. Food was good enough, not excellent.
- Restaurants vary. Italian restaurant called Oregano was probably the worst. Took over an hour for the meal which was longer than any other restaurant or buffet, food was bland and tasteless, service wasn't great. One couple described it perfectly - "Go there when you're NOT hungry."
Mexican restaurant Agave was average.
French restaurant Chez Isabelle was good. Crepes were bland but risotto was good. They charge extra for drinks though (wine, champagne) and they're not cheap.
Lobster restaurant wasn't bad. It is ONLY lobster though. If you don't like lobster, I believe the only other choice was clam chowder.
The Grill is situated literally over the pool and is nice to visit for lunch. Some of the food was good, some was a bit tasteless. But it is a nice feel during the day to get out of the pool and have this grill just steps away.
Las Olas on the beach is a little grill which offered chicken, burgers, fries, nachos, quesadillas. Tasty and convenient to be able to stay on the beach and have a quick lunch.
Didn't have a chance to try Spice (Asian) or Toscana (Italian). We didn't even realize Toscana was there until the day we were leaving because it isn't near the other restaurants. I would recommend trying this instead of Oregano.

-No matter where you choose to eat the meals and service are quick (except Oregano) which is great if you're looking to get back to the beach/pool in the daytime or to the show at night. Desserts overall were bad in every restaurant AND buffet. Yuck.

-Drinks were always good. The "daily drink" changes each day and is usually tasty and sweet. You can order whatever you want so I don't know how anyone could have an issue with drinks here.

-Tipping - We brought money to tip and always did, but never did we feel the staff was waiting, looking for or expecting it, which was a positive surprise. If we didn't tip (very few times) we weren't treated any differently.

-Overall this hotel is lovely. I could not possibly say enough good things about the staff and service, and I'm honestly not sure how any guest here could ever complain about it. Everyone has different experiences, of course, but if you keep in mind you're on vacation, have a pleasant outlook and just relax, you will have a great time. As stated above, we did have a major issue with a different hotel (Riu Palace Bavaro), so our vacation wasn't hassle free, but the Excellence made everything ok.

There are only 2 reasons I wouldn't rate this resort a 5 star. First is the beach. Although it is pretty and clean, other beaches on the island offer sugar white sand and completely flat and crystal blue waters. Second is the length of travel from the airport. It is no less than 1 HOUR. No more, but no less. This could be a drawback to some vacationers, as other all-inclusives offer only a 20 minute commute from PUJ.
I don't think I would return to Punta Cana, as the weather wasn't very good - only one nice day out of 5, and the water, unless you brush your teeth with bottled water and are extremely careful, will make you very sick. These weren't issues of the resort though, and as a whole, I have little to no complaints about the Excellence.

Let me preface this by saying: we picked a high-end all-inclusive in hopes that at least the food would be decent. It wasn't.

We even made reservations to the exclusive "Excellence Club" in hopes for better service/food. The only thing better at the Club is the Nescafe coffee machine they have upstairs. Do not pay for the upgrade, it's a waste of your money. We knew we weren't going there to eat gourmet, so we already had low expectations for the food. They disappointed us with worse than frozen meals. We dreaded going to dinner knowing to expect horrible food. It got really old by the second day.

People everywhere in the DR were great. The locals were so polite and helpful the entire time. The service at the hotel was as expected for a resort of this level. There wasn't much consistency to what time room service to make the beds and change the towels and we had to call it once because they forgot to clean our room (in a 5 night stay. 4 out of five is just 20% right?!)

We chose the Excellence based on trip advisor reviews. I guess most people here don't like to eat or appreciate good drinks, because the food was horrible and so were the drinks. Here is a sampling of what we had:

1. First night, we arrived late and ordered room service: the "ricotta filled ravioli" was the type you get out of a can. So was the tomato sauce. I didn't even eat canned ravioli in college. Please.

2. Second night, we tried the "Lobster House" - you can't screw up lobster, right? WRONG. You can over cook it. And that's exactly how ours were done. If you speak Spanish, ask the server to "under cook it". We ordered seconds and the undercooked version came our OK. Gotta speak Spanish though. They didn't understand the request in English.

3. Third night, dinner #1 - we ate at the Asian place. Most awful food they could have served. The steak salad tasted like gasoline. The server didn't even offer an apology upon being told that. I don't think he understood what I said. Then came the vegetable tempura, which looked like it had been fried a couple hours prior and tossed with some sweet and sour sauce. It was soggy. I are 2 pieces of it and we got up and left.

4. Third night, dinner #2 - we went to the Grill and had steak. Aside from it not having any flavoring at all, at least it was cooked right. Remember to always add salt to your meals. They use none. The mashed potatoes were the kind that comes out of a box and you mix with hot water or milk. I didn't even eat that in college either. We also tried the "red skin mashed potatoes" which looked and tasted exactly right the regular ones (out of a box)

5. Fourth night, we ate italian food. That could have been an OK meal, except the server dropped our food off and disappeared. 30 minutes later we asked for the desert menu. They were already out of what we wanted, so we ordered just good ol' tiramissu from the busboy. Well, 15 minutes later, that didn't come out so we stood up and left.

If you order drinks, make sure to specify which liquor you want them made with, otherwise they will use the wells mixes and those will give you an even worse headache the next day. I left half of my drinks unfinished because they were disgusting and moved on to only having El Presidente, Mama Juanas and wine.

Oh! the juices they use for the drinks are Tang - terrible tasting. Mixed with the bad alcohol. You can only imagine.

Since we paid for an upgraded "Club" suite, we had out own stocked mini bar and mixed our own drinks if we wanted something decent. Problem is: you can't keep going back to your room every 45 minutes if you are trying to enjoy the beach.

Now, if you are OK eating crap food and drinking horrible drinks, this may be the place to stay. Oh, note to self: don't expect to take nice long walks on the beach - thats where they take people horseback riding. Horses = lots of poop. On the beach. Right by the water, where one would try to walk. You get the idea.

If that's what we was looking for, we might as well have booked a hotel for half the price.

Don't kid yourselves people.

And if you really want to go to Punta Cana, book a hotel on the Caribbean side of the island. The water is much prettier, and has no waves.

We will not be going back to an Excellence resort.

I dont know what took me so long to write this review, but we had a wonderful stay here last January and really enjoyed the staff, room, and resort grounds. This was our first visit to Punta Cana and the beaches are wonderful.
We upgraded upon arrival to the Excellence Club and were really glad we did. Although we didn't really use our "swim up" entrance, we did use the club. Football playoffs were on during our stay and my husband did want the chance to catch a few minutes of that, so it was a nice "bar-type" atmosphere for those games. They always had fresh food out in the club, so we definitely took advantage of as well. Our room was beautiful, really nice bathroom and tub, nice bed, etc.
The real standout of the hotel was the friendly staff. They really seemed to genuinely care that your stay was "excellente". Always smiling, always wanting to bring you a drink outside, always making sure you were happy and asking if there was anything else they could do for you. The private beach (when you are an Excellence Club member) was a bit quieter and well worth the upgrade.
Only a few small negatives... the hotel was a bit of a far drive from the airport. I didnt find the food or wine to be "excellent" (but living in NYC and dining out a lot, we definitely realize our standards might be a bit higher)... while keeping in mind this was an all inclusive, so it was ok by us. The breakfast on the other hand, I found to be pretty great.
Overall a really nice stay, great staff, and would definitely go again!