This was our 2nd visit to Cancun/Riveria Maya area. We stayed st Secrets Excellence Riveria Maya for our honeymoon, so when we wanted to take a couples trip with our in-laws, we thought we'd try another Excellence resort.

Check-in: When we arrived at the hotel we were greeted with champagne and cold towels. My brother and sister in-law were taken to their room right away, however my husband and I were told our room wasn't ready. We were given a pager to take with us while we waited. It was probably about an hour until our room was ready, which wasn't horrible since we were were enjoying the martini's at the martini bar downstairs from the lobby. Once our room was ready we were escorted with our bellman who took us to our room and gave us a tour in the process. We had also somehow got upgraded to the Excellence club level.

Excellence club: In my opinion, not worth it. When my husband and I went to Excellence Riveria Maya for our honeymoon we paid for an Excellence club room. Basically this grants you access to the Excellence Lounge, an upgraded room service menu, and a private pool, bar, and beach area. The excellence lounge is nice and I did often enjoy the mini appitizers, but spend the extra money on a rooftop terrace room instead of excellence service.

The rooms: Amazing!! Were were in block 8, with a partial ocean view and partial construction view. The construction was never noisy and didn't bother us at all. We splurdged on a roof-top terrance room, which was awsome. The hydro-tub was nice to sit it early in the morning or to watch the sun set from. The bed up there was also nice to sit on and enjoy the view. Just be careful of the marble stairs, they get VERY slippery! The bathroom set-up is awkard, but as long as you are traveling with someone you are comfortable with, you'll be fine. The in-room jucuzzi is also nice, especially because you can open the window all the way and let the ocean breeze in. I recommend bringing some salt's/bath bombs to use in it. Once again though, be careful. If you leave the balcony door open it get's very humid in the room and the floors get extremly slippery. The mini bar is always stocked daily and bring your MP3 player so you can hook it up to the docking station. The only downside in the room...the bed is way too firm. We woke up everyday with backaches. My husband normally loves a firm mattress and it was even too firm for him. It was so bad we almost slept on the bed on the roof-top one night. Maid service was a little wierd as far as timing goes. Sometimes they were there right in the morning and sometimes late in the day. Overall though, they did a great job. Turndown service was also great. We especially liked the daily activites sheet they left each night.

Activites: Speaking of activites, they could use some work. Honestly, this is really more of a relaxing kind of resort, so if you are looking to just sit back and do nothing this place is great. We, I guess, were looking for a little more to do and really didn't find much. The nightlife was especially disapointing. The shows and theme nights were all a little corney. We did enjoy going to the Algeria Bar to watch the NBA finals, however after that it turned into a dance party. I think the resort was a little low on patrons the week we were there, because the place seemed a little dead.

Food: I agree with most of the other post's...it isnt 5 star, but it's not bad either. I personally enjoyed the food better at Excellence Riveria Maya. The 2 best resturants were the French and Asian. The one thing we noticed is that the service and food seem to be better the earlier you go. The 2 nights we ate late were the 2 worst nights we had. Also, they need to work a little more on the speed of dinner service in particular. I'm not trying to be picky here, believe me when I say we were in no rush or anything, but when you were on an excurson all day and come back and just want to eat, you don't want dinner to take 2 1/2 hours.The breakfast and lunch buffets were great!

The pools and beach: No problems at all. Again, I think the resort was a little under occupency so getting a good seat by the pool or on the beach was never a issue. There were plenty of pool floats and were really never had an issue getting those either. Drink service was great as well, we had a great time doing tequlia slammers at the swim up bar. Russell is a great bartender! I also recomend getting the Coco Loco at least to admire the presentation. The beach was clean and fairly free of seaweed. To me if you are bothered by seaweed, then stay by the pool. We liked to sit on the beach at night, enjoy the breeze and relax.

The Spa: Again, here I have to say that I thought the spa at Excellence Riveria Maya was better. We both got the Excellence massage which was ok, but not anything out of this world.

Things I wish I would have known:
As far as booking trips outside the resort there are plenty of tour represenitives in house to help you plan whatever you desire is!
We went to the Ilsa Mujeres one day and opted to take a cab over to the ferry instead of buying a tour. The front desk called us a cab which arrived immediatly and took us over to the ferry for $8. The ferry ride is $7 round trip. Be prepared to be hounded when you get off the ferry by snorkling guides and golf cart rental people. We rented a golf cart for $40 and attempted to navigate our way around. This was a big mistake. To be honest, the island is very poor and there isn't much to do or see besides Graffon Park which is beautiful. The water is crystal clear and for $50 you have all-inclusive access to snorkle, eat, kayak, etc. There is also an amazing zip-line over the crystal blue water! Overall my advice is don't do what we did and try and do it on your own. Most tours to the island are around $75 which is cheaper than trying to go it alone.

Also in my opinion, skip the eco-parks. I was extremely dissapointed in Xel-ha. It is $75 and the water is so murky you can't really even see anything while you are snorking. If snorkling is what you want, go to Cozumel or Puerto Moreles

We are just trying to adjust back to home life, which is very difficult after such a lovely relaxing time. We had a lovely holiday at the excellence. We visited the excellence riviera cancun last year and knew that this would be equally as good as last years holiday.
Both hotels have individual character and enjoyed both.
The rooms are very comfortable and well designed. A bottle of champagne on ice was waiting for us, on arrival. Its those kind of touches that go along way
Sometimes the service was a little slow at the EPM , and needs to be improved upon. The hotel is not full to capacity yet, and I do not know how they would cope if the hotel was full.
Food was lovely, Chez Isabelle and Spice were our favorite restaurants. Breakfast is buffet, with lots of choice.
The best bar staff were Ivan and Teresa. Teresa works in the martini bar and Ivan works in the stars bar. They really looked after us and always very welcoming.
Entertainment team kept everyone happy and fun to spend time with. The staff do work very hard and try to make your stay enjoyable.
I would recommend this hotel to any one. Its a lovely hotel and thinking of returning in the future or maybe perhaps trying the excellence in punta cana.

This trip was the perfect pick for honeymooners. The bartenders were exceptionally friendly as well as the wait staff. The food was good. Not 5 star cuisine but acceptable. The hibachi restaurant was by far the best meal we had. This is the perfect place to stay if you want to lounge by the pool all day and just relax. The room was amazing and very clean. The only complaint I have is we went in October and the mosquitoes were terrible. Definitely take some bug spray of your own because the gift shop was extremely overpriced and once the sun goes down the mosquitoes are awful. I would definitely recommend taking a day to go to the Mayan ruins. It was incredible and a great place to barter for souvenirs. Can't wait to visit again!

Fantastic holiday !!!

Rooms – Great bed, great black out blinds. Gorgeous room in general

RTT – Ours was a corner room so RTT was on same level as room which I loved! HUGE with 3 beds and great hydro pool particularly on a hot afternoon!

Food – All good. Personal favourites were Spice & Toscana. Service great! Loved the barbeque at the main pool for lunch. Room service always quick!

Pools – SO many – one to suit everyone – loud/ quiet so many seating areas would never struggle to find somewhere to sit/ lie during the day no matter what time, with towels scattered around resort

Beach – Lovely and quiet, HUGE, sand gorgeous and cool on the feet!!! Miles better than beach in hotel zone as this was rocky and small.

Service – From bell boys to reception to waitresses all fantastically helpful & friendly!

Great place, we will be back!!!