My husband and I stayed at the Excellence from June 2nd-June 9th, 2008 for our honeymoon. We had the best time here, the room was perfect, food excellent, no problems whatsoever. We never had a problem finding a beach bed or chairs next to the pool so not sure what people are talking about there. We normally got to the water around 9am everyday. Never heard construction or had ants. We did however keep all our valuables in a safe and had no problems. Our favorite restaurants were Chez Isabelle and Spice. We ate at Barcelona everyday for breakfast and it was wonderful. We did a Tulum ruins and zip line tour which was the best part of trip.

One BIG word of caution..DO NOT RENT A CAR!! We rented a car from resort and got pulled over from Mexican police on our way back from Playa Del Carmen, after speaking w/ some locals its common knowledge for police to pull over tourists and take their money! The police only got $64 USD out of us luckily as we were on our way back to resort from shopping. The rental cars are nice and have big stickers on the back w/ the logos so rental cars are a easy target..JUST DONT RENT A CAR and you will be fine!

Hello to the new people we met from Arizona, Nebraska, Lenexa KS, Springfield MO, and Scotland!
~Jason and Brandi

The Excellence Riviera Cancun is an absolute must for travelers who are looking for a place to relax far from children. The resort is exclusive for people aged over 18 years old which makes the whole stay much more relaxing. No screaming and no running around.

Service is excellent and food is great. All restaurants offer 'à la carte' menus which is much appreciated in an all inclusive resort. Every restaurant is of exceptional quality for an all inclusive resort.

Spa is also good with its private pool area and 'hot-cold' water circuit.

Rooms are obviously one of the features of this resort and offer lots of space and comfort. The television is conveniently placed in front of the bed and the hotel offers a couple of adult channels free of charge. Once again, this is a 18+ resort.

The other benefit of this resort is that it's only 15 minutes away from the airport so if you have a morning arrival, you will benefit from almost a full day of services. Same thing when you leave as you can have dinner and take off afterwards.

Beach has potential but like many other beaches on the Mayan Riviera, there are lots of rocks which makes it unenjoyable at times. The best beach I've seen on the Mayan Riviera is at Barcelo Maya Colonial. That resort also offers great value for money.

Overall great experience at Excellence. I fully recommend.

My husband and I made our second trip to ERC in May 08. Our first trip to ERC, July 07, for our honeymoon was fantastic. Our second trip to ERC was also great.
The only snag was when we arrived and were given a room number in building #9. The room was not ready yet, but we decided to walk by it to see where it was located. We paid for a junior suite swim out room and the room they gave us was at the very end of the resort and by construction. This would have been ok if the resort door faced the construction, but the swim out area is what faced the construction, and it was loud. We had no interest in spending a week looking at (and listening to) the construction next door. We went back to the lobby and nicely requested another room. The clerk advised they were booked full and there was nothing they could do. This was several hours before check in and I knew many people had not yet arrived to be given a room number. I advised them of this and that we were returning customers who intended to come back again. (If this hadn't been rectified we would have never returned and possibly would have gotten a taxi to a different resort for the week.) She reluctantly checked with a manager and advised we would be given a different room, but they could not advise where until later.

We worried that the same room or one close by, would be given. Much to our relief we were given a room in building #3 which faced the spa (beautiful). Last year we stayed in the excellence club swim out ocean view. This room was the same minus different toiletries and bottles of alcohol (which we never used anyways). I would still recommend a swim out room because you have your own chairs and can easily leave and reenter your room after taking a dip in the pool.

The resort was a lot busier than we are used to and people did reserve all of the chairs on the beach and near the pools early.
Staff should just institute a policy that if no one is there for a certain period of time then the items would be put in lost and found. Many people left their chairs for several hours before returning. As much as I disagree with saving chairs, there is nothing you can do but fight for a spot. We had to take turns getting up at 6-7am to reserve a spot on the beach under a cabana. We didn't do this the first day and had to wait till 4pm to go to the beach. It would be great if more cabanas were provided as most of the people there were pale. Some people did hog the pool floats, but others were nice enough to share.
The same reminder from the last review I wrote: please take your towel and put it into the provided basket when you are done with your chairs. There are people waiting on the seats and if you don't remove your towels, no one will know they are up for grabs.

The room was great and there were a few tiny ants that made a visit every now and then, but this is a tropical climate and there is nothing that can really be done about them. Plus, they aren't hurting anything. No musty smell noticed in our room.

Unlike previous reviews, we have never had anything stolen (on either trip) from our room. We kept all valuables in the safe and often left our sliding door unlocked for easy reentry. Nothing was ever disturbed and the maid did a great job. I really enjoyed the addition of snicker bars in the fridge this time -yum.

The food was very good and the service was excellent. The only restaurant we had an issue at was the French restaurant. We had a great experience here last time, but this time the service was poor. Our waiter must have thought he had to act French because he was kind of rude and he provided poor service. The waiter at Spice was fantastic. He did an amazing job and was always there when needed. The breakfast buffet is superb and you never go hungry no matter the time of day. I also discovered the ice cream cones at the bar outside near the theater this time. Great on a hot day!

The drinks were great (I only wish I had remembered how great the pina coladas were before the last day).

Another reminder from my first review: take water shoes. There are rocks when you go into the ocean, which prevent some people from going in. The water shoes greatly improve the beach experiance. Also the drink coozies we took (again) helped to keep our drinks from melting as quickly.

This was another fantastic trip to ERC. We definitely intend to come back again soon!

We stayed there the first week of June which was nice--didn't seem all that crowded. Some pros and cons:

Pros: Service. Nearly everyone who works at the resort is extremely friendly and attentive, especially the restaurant waiters and the front desk staff. Two examples...my wife and I are huge hockey fans and wanted to watch the cup final. The morning of game 6, the satellite went out for that one channel only and we called the front desk. When we got back from the beach that afternoon, a message was witing for us that it had been repaired. Not a huge deal but I really can't imagine other hotels doing that based on my personal experience. Another example: we made a wake up call one night for early the next morning. They suggested a room service breakfast (which is included--24 hours a day) and forwarded me on to place my order. Again, not a huge deal but I appreciated the effort, and with so many similar resorts it really is the little things like this that make a difference.

Entertainment was good, not spectacular but who cares. You're there to spend time with loved ones and friends. They put on shows, from a mariachi band to cirque de soleil to a dance routine to karaoke. They tried for constant entertainment, especially when it rained for a few days. Solid.

The cons: the room wasn't all that clean. It wasn't unreasonably bad but the curtains smelled moldy and I would suggest wearing a shirt to bed. Upon my return I had a few swollen bites from bedbugs. Also the beds are very firm. Didn't bother me as I prefer that but my wife was uncomfortable.

The food we found excellenct with the exception of the Asian restaurant, Spice. They could improve on the quality of the sushi. Definitely don't leave without eating at the Mexican restaurant.

Overall, I would definitely reccommentd this place--unless you are looking for ultra sophistication and white glove service you won't be disappointed.