We stayed at the resort for just two nights as part of a trip that included time in Playa del Carmen and Tulum (late April 2008). As a result, it is difficult to review this resort and its food and service without comparing it to our other experiences on this trip. Overall, the resort itself is gorgeous and immaculately clean. I was very tempted to give the resort a 4-star review but in my opinion it has room for improvement when it comes to food and service.

First, the positives: The resort is far from the main Cancun hotel zone, which was a plus for us since we like to avoid ultra-touristy areas. Booked a rooftop terrace room and were very pleased that we did -- it was private, had its own dipping pool and great views of the sea. The room was large, had modern decor and a very comfy bed. The service was inconsistent, but on the positive side we had two wonderful concierges who greeted us by name, and a helpful bellboy who took us to our room and pointed out the restaurants, bars and other features along the way.
The drinks at the bars were great (with the exception of the wines, which were just OK).

On the negative side: I picked this resort in part because of the rave reviews people gave the food. It may be that I'm a food snob -- or maybe I just was spoiled by the food I had earlier on my trip -- but I didn't find the restaurants to be that great here. It could be that Excellence has wonderful food compared to other all inclusives, but it did stil seem less fresh and flavorfful than in other places we stayed. I had a risotto dish at the Barcelona restaurant which was so heavily salted that I had to send it back (the waiter looked at me like I was nuts!). We had lunch at the Grill once and were ignored by the maitre d' for several minutes, then he snapped at us when we very politely asked for a table for two. Several people complained of slow service at the Japanese restaurant -- I felt bad for the girl fixing the sushi as she was doing the best she could all alone. The service at the restaurants would probably seem better if the staff smiled a bit more. I always tried to be friendly and tip well (I noticed that a lot of other guests weren't tipping) but these guys did not seem as cheerful as other waiters I had in independent restaurants in Mexico.


The beach at the hotel is not anything to write home about. If you are more of a pool person you will find much to like here but the beach, while clean, did not have the clear light-blue waters of other beaches in the area.

Also, many other reviewers had noted that lounge chairs by the pools were plentiful -- not while I was there! The resort was full enough that all the desirable lounging spots were being "saved" by someone throwing a towel on them by 8 a.m. After finding nothing by the pools one morning we went out to the beach and got the last remaining spot at 8. There are some smaller pool areas by the individual buildings... ours was unusable due to the construction noise at the neighboring site.

I should note that the hotel clientele, while we were there, was mostly people in their 30s to 50s and almost entirely couples. While this was fine for my fiance and me, if you're single and looking to party this is not the place!

Overall, if you love all-inclusive hotels and you love being near Cancun this hotel may be a good choice for you. If you prefer a really nice beach and authentic Mexican food you would be better off somewhere else.

So much has been written about this resort, so I will just try to write mostly about our experience while there. Some background on us...hubby is 36, and I am 40, and we have an adorable 4 year old boy. We are only able to travel once or twice a year now since we have a small child, but we have traveled extensively over the years and mostly choose beach destinations since that is what we enjoy the most at this point in our lives. We stayed at The Royal Cancun last year and loved it so much that we decided to visit Cancun again this year. We traveled to Excellence Playa Mujeres from April 25-30, 2008. We celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary on this trip and enjoyed the special amenities that this resort offers for anniveraries/honeymooners as well. Please take advantage of this if you are celebrating an anniversary, as it was a nice extra touch, especially the 15 percent discount at the spa!! Note: This discount is only good before noon. We booked our trip through WorryFree Vacations and could not have been more pleased with our travel agent Pat/our transfer. We arrived at the resort around 10:45 a.m. after about a 30 minute transfer to a cold towel, champagne and a very nice gentleman who told us he was upgrading us to building 8! I was very pleased with this after reading about the different locations of buildings on TA. However, we were told our room was not ready, handed a pager and that we would be given a tour of the resort. I highly recommend buildings 7, 8 and 9, as these were in my opinion the best buildings location wise. After walking around for awhile, we decided to enjoy lunch at "The Grill." At this time it was around noon. We were told that they were still serving breakfast and to come back in 20 to 25 minutes. This was a slight disappointment, but not a big deal. I'm just used to most places serving lunch by 11:00, and I'm not a big breakfast person. We then proceeded to the spa and found out they were booked until Sunday. We had arrived on a Friday. You might call ahead before you leave for your vacation if you are choosing to do a lot of spa treatments. You have to experience the Marine Wellness Circuit regardless if you book any massages, etc. or not. It is just to die for!! We went ahead and made appointments for Sunday and Tuesday.

We eventually had lunch at "The Grill," which is located in the building by the main pool. Lunch was average to good. We were served chips, guacamole and pico de gallo that was at best average. The guacamole really needed cilantro and more spices. Our burger/fish that we ordered were decent. Dessert was just okay. Let me preface this by saying the food that we have experienced over the years at all-inclusive resorts is what I would consider average to good. It's not the caliber of a Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons or a Fairmont, and I have never expected this so I was not what you would call disappointed in the food, just stating a point.

Our pager went off around 2:00, and we were taken to room 8303 by another very nice gentleman. We walked by a sign that read "Excellence Club," but our room was not an excellence club room. Consequently, I wouldn't bother paying extra for the excellence club either, as we met some people who did have excellence club rooms and said it wasn't worth the extra money. The resort had placed an "Excellence Anniversary" sign on our door. Once we entered our room (which was gorgeous), we noticed a very musty, moldy odor--more on this later. I just assumed that our room had not been used in awhile and didn't think too much more about it, as we were just so excited to be on vacation! We were soon greeted by the man who stocked our "refrigerator" for the week. I say this, as it wasn't a real working refrigerator, but it served its purpose. We proceeded to leave some money for him everyday, told him what we wanted, and he restocked us daily! We also left money everyday for the lady who cleaned our room. I think this is a nice thing to do, as these people work so hard and are paid so little. We also tipped our servers by the pool/in the restaurants generously, too. We proceeded to the pool for the rest of the afternoon and enjoyed drinks and finally some relaxation.

We chose Barcelona our first night for dinner. Again, the food was average. Service was outstanding. Drinks were just average as well. For some reason the bartenders would make everything into a frozen drink. So a note for anyone who doesn't want a frozen drink, you will need to specify this to your server. They also had a Mexican buffet on this evening. I won't go into detail about dinner every night, but on subesequent evenings we ate at Spice, Toscana and The Grill, the Caribbean buffet and room service. Our favorite was Spice. I didn't care for Toscana, food was just too bland there. We had outstanding service at each of these restaurants. Again, all food was just average.

Positives about EPM:
~The staff--everyone was so friendly and always smiling! There seemed to be workers doing something everywhere all of the time. Everyone was always very cordial. The staff at this resort are amongst some of the friendliest people we have ever encountered on a vacation. They truly were.
~Check-in--a complete breeze for us. Again, very friendly.
~The spa!!!!!!!!!! My husband had the 80 minute swedish massage, and said it was the best he had ever had. We also go to spas a lot. Don't bother with the aromatherapy massage. It was just okay. Not horrible by any means, but I would choose something else. Mexican massage was good as well. Did I mention the Marine Wellness Circuit is to die for?! Outstanding. You must do this!!! We have been on several spa vacations before, and I have to say this was just pure heaven and right up there with some of the best. Run...don't walk...to do this wellness circuit. It's only $35 if you aren't having a spa treatment, but well worth the money. You won't be disappointed.
~Prompt service. Now, we did have to call several times for toilet paper/extra washcloths, but they were right there. Also, room service arrived in 40 minutes. Again, the food was average, but I was impressed by their speed.
~Breakfast at Barcelona. Food everywhere was average for lunch/dinner, but breakfast was another story. My husband just couldn't wait to get there. Excellent!!!
~The pools! So many, and they were never crowded (outside of the main pool) We were always able to find chairs! Quite a difference from The Royal Cancun towel game.
~The huge shower. Oh my gosh, such a wonderful rainfall shower head, handheld shower and plenty of storage space for shampoo, towels, etc. Beautiful as well.
~The grounds. Very beautiful, peaceful and large.
~The room. Just beautiful and huge!! The bed on the patio is a nice touch. We loved the in-room jacuzzi, Ipod docking station and nice big sofa.
~Building 8! Loved the location.
~The gym. Though it was small, I thought it was nice. They didn't have a lot of free weights, though.

Now for nitpicking details... (I say this because there wasn't much to complain about)
~Drinks weren't very good unless you could find someone who understood what you meant by "top shelf." Also, had the wrong drinks brought to us several times. However, I think a lot of this is just the language barrier. Everything was frozen unless you specified otherwise. Margaritas were horrible. One particular waiter over the course of several days would take drink orders and never bring them to us. This happened to us and other people we had met at the resort several times as well. Again, not a huge deal to us, as we aren't big drinkers, but could be a problem if you are expecting top shelf drinks. However, you will just need to be persistent and ask for specific brands, and you should be fine.
~Lack of washcloths/toilet paper/tissues. Again, always taken care of promptly. I just had a hard time understanding why they didn't replenish these items with the daily room cleaning. Not a big deal to us, just worth mentioning.
~Beds were hard. We are used to a softer bed. However, we slept well, but they are hard. Again, completely a personal issue. We stayed at The Royal last year, and I have to say those are the best beds we have ever slept on at any resort period!!
~Our floor was out of ice two nights in a row. This was kind of annoying, and it did take awhile for anyone to bring us some. My husband went down two floors and found some. There still wasn't ice on our floor the day we left.
~The elevator in our building was broken for two days. Again, not a huge inconvenience since we were only on the third floor and physically fit, but since it's a new resort I was just surprised.
~Shuttle service. This resort is very isolated, and I thought I had seen mention about a shuttle service offered by EPM into Cancun several days of the week. There is not one. It's around $50 to $60 round trip for a cab. Just a note for anyone who likes to go to the nightclubs, shopping, etc. It wasn't a huge deal to us, but another thing worth mentioning.
~Pool floats. We were able to get one every now and then. People were definitely putting them under their chairs, etc. One man kept one by his chair the entire day while he sat there and put it back into the pool at 4:00 when he left. That was a little ridiculous. Not a huge deal to me, as I would rather just be in a lounge chair, but nevertheless worth noting.
~The musty odor in our room that is still in my suitcase. I came down with a sinus infection on the second day of our trip. I am sure it was due to the musty/mold odor in our room. Hubby was also very stuffy. I was still able to do things, just didn't feel so great for most of our trip. I never complained to management (we're not big complainers), probably should have, but I am now finding out that this musty odor is very common in Mexico. We have never experienced this before when traveling to other tropical destinations. I am still trying to get this odor out of our suitcases. My mother watched our small son while we were gone, and it was the first thing she noticed when we walked in the door. Had to wash everything, even clothes that weren't worn. I wish we had asked to be moved to another room, so I cannot put total blame on the resort for this, but just thought it was another thing worth noting.
~Towel game. I say this for anyone wanting to sit at the main pool only. Definite towel game there/also a rowdier crowd. However, we had no problems finding chairs anywhere else. Sometimes the beach was crowded, but we always found a chair when we wanted one and wasn't an issue for us.
~Entertainment. This was just okay. Hopefully in time this will improve, as they have a beautiful outdoor theater.

Overall, this resort is beautiful, peaceful and a wonderful place to vacation. I hope my review doesn't sound too nitpicky. We had a wonderful time (despite my illness), but I am not giving it the "excellent" rating, as I have a hard time giving a resort five stars or "excellent" unless it exceeds in every category possible. I would, however, give it a 4.5. That being said, the food/drink is probably the only thing keeping it from being a five star/excellent in my opinion. Again, this is just my opinion. I am not a food/wine/drink snob, but just giving my honest opinion. I would compare the food to cruise type food. It's palatable, but nothing to write home about. Subsequently, the food would not keep me from staying at another all-inclusive or EPM again, but it is what it is. We found the resort, the grounds, its staff/service to be absolutely outstanding and top notch!! That being said, you won't be disappointed in this resort. Sorry for such a long review. Oh, and don't forget to do the Marine Wellness Circuit. :)

stayed at this resort for five days in march. have stayed at 2 other excellent resorts. read all the reviews of this resort online. our stay was excellent, the staff was very friendly. great stay, great rooms. more importantly my wife left many dollars worth of jewelry and cash in room and didn't realize it until we arrived home. so she called and emailed the resort and within a day Ester the manager had informed us that they have recovered all our jewelry and cash and would send it home via fedex. we received everything that was left. read some negative comments about this resort and theft, thought it important to give them credit for returning our forgotten items. they were extremely helpful, we would return again

Arrival and Rooms

We stayed at this hotel for 14 nights at the end of March booked through Thomsonâ•˙s. On arrival to the hotel we were greeted with a cold towel but no Champaign as I had read other people had received. We were assorted to our room by the bell boy who pointed out bars and restaurants on our way we were put in room 7301 with a spa view. As soon as the bell boy left we heard the construction noise, our front door faced the work. There was also a strong smell of Damp.

We called our concierge and requested a new room he asked us to go to reception and that we would be shown what other rooms were available, however when we got there they told us they had no rooms available and to come back tomorrow. The hotel was only 45% full, after 3 days of visiting reception we were moved to room 7356 it was an Excellence Room with an ocean view but still had the same smell of damp.

The Excellence Rooms are the same inside as spa view the only additions are upgraded products and spirits above your mini bar ours did face the ocean but I donâ•˙t think all do.

Restaurants

We ate at every restaurant at least once, my favourite was spice! They do a great deep fried ice cream and try and do the Tepenyaki Grill itâ•˙s a great show. The French and the grill are also very good; however we found our experiences are the Grill to be very inconsistent at night. We had one of the best steaks I have ever had on our first visit but on our second it was over done and the wrong cut of meet. We did not enjoy the lobster house be warned it is Caribbean lobster but this is could be just a personal taste thing! The Mexican is a great night the staff put on quite a show with the service of coffee! We only visited the flavour Market once as we did not have a good experience, but heard nothing but good thing about it off people we met.

We used room service once for lunch and it was very quick. We also used it every day for milk for our morning coffee, it never took more than 10 mins.

Bars

The swim up bar in the day is great the waiter remembers everyoneâ•˙s order and refills drinks without being asked! Try the Miami Vice!
The Martini bar was quite most of the time but to be honest it was very cold in there at night so we stuck to the outside bars. Outside there was usually a band or a singer and there were shows every night. Some were good and some were bad but all were watchable!

Pools and Beach

Yes there is sea grass on the beach and yes it is in the sea. If youâ•˙re a beach person this place may not be for you I can take it or leave it so I left it! We spent our days by the main pool beds there are gone by 9am so you need to be up sharp to get one. There are plenty of beds all around the river and on the beach but it was a bit too quite there for us. All the activities and music are at the main pool. There are floats supplied by the hotel but they were hard to find as people took them out of the pool and put them by their beds we not using them.


Rooms

The rooms are stunning to look at, but as I have said we did have a damp smell in both rooms we use, to be honest it did not bother me there as much as it has since I have got home. It has been very hard to get out of clothing. Our room was not cleaned till gone four most days and turn down was around 10pm so if you want an early night remember to put the card in the door!
Also our room was missed a few times but someone always came quickly when we phoned to complain.

This review may be read by some as negative, but it is not intended that way. It is purely to give you a full picture of the resort.

We had a great holiday, enjoyed the food and hotel. We now plan on visiting another excellence resort in the future.