Totally agree with one reviewer - Ritz Carlton of all inclusives! We celebrated our 10 year anniversary here and it was wonderful. We did hear that quickrooms.com out of the UK was the place to go for the rates. I think we could have saved about $700. I am extraordinarily picky eater but I found something to eat at each meal. I didn't gain an ounce though so there is an upside to bland food! The hammocks are to die for. Go for the MIAMI VICE drink - pina colada and daiquiri mix. I am scheming already on who will watch my kids so I can go back. Stayed in rooftop terrace and it was great. Very nice service everywhere we went. I did have a kind of bizarre Spa visit since they wanted to renege on my 15% discount but it worked out. The water circuit was heavenly. I also did Pilates three times and it was fine. Not Dallas studio level but just fine. The Alegria disco was not what I expected. We went and stayed for less than a drink. We were free to just hold hands and relax. Just perfect. Oh - if you stay on a rooftop terrace - the key to lock the door to the room - also locks the gate door/service entrance. This is what they use to come and go to the rooftop. We locked ours and stopped an embarassing intrusion on one or two occasions. The anniversary breakfast in our room - was cantalope and a Mimosa. We would have skipped that and ordered a full breakfast instead. Our anniversary dinner was nothing special - they did nothing but say 'Congratulations', everyone at Chez Isabelle got a rose that evening. We had no expectations and wasn't going to spend $200 for a beachside meal. We had a lovely evening anyway. Loads of fun - would sell my kids on eBay to go back tomorrow.

The GREATS:

Our room was fantastic. All the rooms we could see had lounge beds outside on their respective balcony areas. The swim ups sound nice, but if you want a bit more privacy, get a room off the ground level, you don't have to deal with eveyone passing by in the lazy river.

The grounds were beautifully landscaped.

We had great staff and good food at the restuarants.

The NOT GREATS:

They didn't have our reservation...definitely bring confirmation materials.

There are conflicts between what activities the resort indicates is included in your package and what the onsite 3rd party SCUBA providers say. This did not get resolved during our stay.

The staff operating the non-motorized activities on the beach were more interested in their own adgendas rather than accommodating the paying customers.

Although the beach itself is nicely appointed with beds and lounge chairs in many arrangements, the water and bottom condition are weedy...not a problem if you are going to spend most of your time in the pools.

Had to push pretty hard on the concierge in order to get any assisstance with transportation to the airport at the end of our stay. Our onsite worry-free representative was virtually unreachable.

We stayed at EMP from April 25th till May 2. All I can say is we LOVED this resort. It was our best holiday yet and are looking forward to when we can go back.

Arrival
The resort is remote and is located in a gated community. I believe we passed through 2 guarded gates. We arrived at 8pm which was new for us we usually arrive during the forenoon. The resort had staff members out waiting for us who knew our names which was really nice. We received a glass of Champaign, warm scented towel, had our luggage taken care of and the door held open for us to enter the lobby. Check in was quick and within 20 minutes we were in our room.

Room
We had booked a pool/spa view roof top terrace room. We were located in building 8 which I thought was part of the Excellence Club. The side we were on which faces the lobby and the out door theater is not part of the Excellence Club…(no ocean view). We loved our room and the location we had LOTS of sun. It was nice to be able to sit out on our balcony and watch the nightly show plus the grounds and the lobby are beautiful at night with the lights. The rooms look just like the pictures and are beautiful. There are some privacy issues with the bathroom and shower (love the shower) if you are one who likes to shower alone or use the bathroom without your spouse/boyfriend watching you then this could be an issue….towel works nicely over the bathroom door

Roof Top
We loved this feature it was private and relaxing and when the resort is full and the pools are busy I can see these rooms being a huge bonus. **** I read some other reviews that stated people could look down on to other roof tops. YOU CAN….I felt so sorry for those folks that paid the bucks to be in the Excellence club in building 8 and 9 that were located in the 3 story wings because the taller portion of the buildings can see everything. Plus #8 3 story block is in clear sight of the grill….just not worth the extra $ I wouldn’t think. If you book a roof top terrace room I would recommend you ask for one on the 4th floor your terrace is on the 5th floor but your room # would be on 4. Our room # was 8403 and we had privacy. I am also not sold on the swim up rooms. They didn’t seem to have “easy” access to the pools you had to jump in and crawl out….the stairs were located on the other side of the pool. Plus I think being on ground level has some privacy issues again.

Pools
Amazing….nothing much more to say. Clean, warm, lots of space, plenty of loungers. Not a lot of floating things.

Food
We have stayed in all inclusives before and we have never been all that impressed with the food. We try and make our holiday about sun, beach and relaxing. What can I say? WOW…we waited all week to have a meal that we could say…Ok, not so good. Never happened. Every meal we had was great. I would say I am a picky eater and the food at EPM is awesome. Even the room service was flawless.

Service
We have no complaints on our service at all everything from room service to maid service was top notch and professional. All the staff we encountered were helpful and extremely polite and worked hard to accommodate us.

My complaints
I made sure I had anything and everything of value with me or locked in the safe. One thing we did notice about EPM is that there are a lot of people who have access to your room on a daily basis and they come at different times and it is never the same. You have your maid which can came as early as 9am while gone to breakfast or as late as 430 it changed everyday. Besides the maid there is also someone who comes by and stocks the mini bar everyday. And then in the evening there is a turn down service. It was a little bother some at times when you just want to relax and the knocks on the door just don’t stop. Also, a little difficult if you are in the bathroom or shower (you can see right in both) and to have a stranger come in………I would assume it might embarrass a few.

Over All
I loved this resort and would go back in a heart beat. I would recommend it to anyone. When we were there the resort felt pretty empty it couldn’t have even been ½ full. Interesting to see what it will be like if it was at capacity.

more pictures at webshot under skyset42

My wife and I read many reviews about this resort on TripAdvisor before finally booking a 4 night stay at the end of April 2008. We took the advise of going with open minds and couldn't have been happier.
The ride from the airport was not bad at all. We booked a VIP transfer thru BestDay and it was smooth as silk. It took about 40 minutes to get there, but it was well worth it.
There greeting with a cool towel and champagne was really nice. The front desk personel, conceirge and bellmen were all very cordial and helpful. Our room was ready for us when we got there at 1:15 pm.
We booked the Junoir Suite Spa/Pool view and it was just as described by the hotel information page. We were in building number 1, away from the beach but close to all the other activities. The 2 person shower could really fit 6 or 7 people, we want one like it at home. Door to the toilet was a big deal to alot of people, it never bothered us. It would only be a problem if you were staying in the room with someone you don't already live with. The King bed was very comfortable. I have a bad back and can't sleep on crappy mattresses, but this bed was as good as I have ever had in a hotel room. Terrace was plenty big and we had breakfast out there, which was the best. The "X-Box" next to the front door was great. It is a box that the room service people can put your food in if you don't want to be disturbed. But the biggest use for it is you can put your used glasses, plates or whatever in it for them to pick up. Not alot of TV channel choices but you can bring DVD's or get one from conceirge. They have TNT, AN (CBS basically), FOX, FOX News, Golf Channel, Etc...
Food was great...Barcelona had the best breakfast buffet, but getting it delivered to your terrace isn't bad. My wife is a very picky eater and she always found something to eat that was prepared very nicely. The lunch buffet is good, plenty of choices and the Lobster House/Grill was excellent for lunch. For dinner the swordfish at Barcelona is great, the Potato and Leek soup at the Grill is superb. If you go to the Flavor Market, you had better order 2 or 3 of everything. I know it's a tapas bar, but the portions were super small. The crusted grouper there was very good, took me 6 portions to really feel like I had eaten grouper though.
The service at the resort was by far our favorite thing. Staff members we had only met once would remember us. They called us "Alabama" and it made us feel at home. The Revive bar near the spa was our favorite hangout. Manuel and Lizbeth took care of us. They were two of the best servers I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. They joked, laughed and taught us Spanish. Well tried to teach us. Try a Miami Vice, it is a wonderful drink.
To end this...all I can say is we're already planning to book a return trip to the EPM within the next 2 months. This time for 7 or 8 nights. We're going back to our 2nd home