My goodness. I don't even know where to start. This place was just amazing. I was worried since I was looking at photos every single day that I'd ruin it for myself. But seeing ERC in person FINALLY after months of waiting was like a dream. It's a little overwhelming at first cause it was so grand. But it's so peaceful and everyone on staff is so friendly. I don't think 1 staff member ever passed us by without saying hola to us :)

We had a junior suite ocean view room, club. It was so nice, clean and bug free. We had turn down service every night except when we turned them away because we were still in the room.

The food. Oh the food. Breakfast. The buffet is so big they use both Barcelona and Tuscana for laying out the food. We only found the second half the next day after I was looking for french toast and muffins. Oh boy did I hit the jackpot. They have EVERYTHING. I mean where else will you find 10 different freshly squeezed juices. I'm not even going to list the items cause it's everything....

Lunch at the grill was wonderful with the beach breeze coming thru and the birds with all the adorable songs they sing. The buffet lunch at Barcleona was great too. The waiters were super and it was nice to be in some air conditioning sometimes! I even asked one to teach me how they folded the napkins and he waited till I could do it too :)

Dinner was great every place we went. We went to the 2 theme nights as well so even with 8 days we didn't have time for Oregano and Spice. Chez Isabelle was our favorite and we were going to pass on it cause we weren't familiar with French food and weren't to sure. But it was amazing, cozy, fun and yummy. The chocolate cake here is better than Godiva!

The pools were wonderful and never crowded. We stayed at the Excellence pool by Building 8 near the beach and our room. Amable near this pool was the sweetest thing ever. She asked our names and always greeted us we she saw us over and over again. She gave us the biggest hugs when leaving.

The beach was great too. The water was perfect temperature and like I said earlier in the forums with beach shoes you don't care about the few rocks you need to get past to get in. The water was always calm and refreshing and we loved it. There were less fish in it than in akumal which i was happy but hubby wasn't! He didn't get to snorkel really like in akumal but we did manage to have some fish fun. We brought some bread from the lunch buffet (Barcelona) to the piers and they would come quickly once they realize it was food:)

Our wedding. Everything we wanted. Romantic, happy, perfect. We asked for the minister not to use the microphone so it would be even more private. We had it on the piers which was decorated and the perfect spot for our wedding. It was breezy and shaded by the papala and we loved it :) The wedding coordinators were very friendly and willing to do anything you requested.

The nighttime shows weren't anything spectacular but we still enjoyed sitting in the theater and having some drinks just to hangout. They have a band one multiple nights and they were pretty good. I believe they are from mexico city and had a very Cuban flair to them :) Plus they take requests and know how to play anything!

We only found the X-lounge 2 nights before leaving. It was so romantic and just a great special place. The music, stars and breeze were wonderful. Hubby even saw a shooting star!

Overall I have nothing but great things to say, wonderful memories and pictures. I thank everyone in the forums for all the warm thoughts and wishes and helping me out when I was nervous before going. My only wish was that I knew you all in my real life..

oh. Bring bug spray for the evenings. There are certain areas of the grounds that have some mosquitos.
FYI we saw them replacing the Tv's with flat panels in the Excellence club building we were in! And yes they were constantly painting and fixing and repairing things :)

First of all, I must start by saying that I did LOADS of research into this holiday, and reports of theft and recent negative reviews nearly put me off going and I almost changed my booking to another hotel. I am,however, very glad that I didn't! Flew with Thomson from England which was surprisingly fine!
Check in, however, did not start off too well! I was placed in block nine, which looked directly onto the construction. Believe me- it is not nice to look at and was very noisy- so I politely asked if I could be moved. Reception said no- they were fully booked ( which did not look the case to me) but said I could upgrade or wait four days.Eventually after MUCH persuasion on my part- they eventually let me move the next day. I get the feeling that they have had a lot of people complaining about block 9- but there is no way I was going to spend two weeks looking at a building site! Got moved to block five which was MUCH better- but a lot of noise from construction traffic ( I am surprised this hasn't been flagged up on reviews before as it starts at 6.00 in the morning!)
Anyway- apart from that rather negative start- the rest of the holiday was great! The pools are lovely- yes the pool bar area is a little noisy- but it's harmless fun. It is hardly club 18-30 Faliraki!If you want peace and quiet you can go to the spa pool where it is a lot more restful. There is plenty of shade for those who burn easily!
Restaurants are great- lovely meals and great quality. Portions not too big. Plenty for veggies too. My favourite was the Italian but they were all equally good. Weirdly enough- the Mexican food was very lacking in spice and heat! The salsa didn't even have any chilli in it.........(?)Breakfast is fine- a range of cereals, omelettes, fruits, breads etc. ( By the way- WHY do people have eyes bigger than their stomachs???Why get LOADS of food at breakfast time and then leave it untouched needing to be thrown away. I know it is A.I but seriously..........I hate greed!!!!!!!)
Room service was great- we didn't wait too long and it's great being able to put your dishes in the SECRETS box, which they regularly come along to empty.
The rooms were great! The shower was fantastic and the bed was fine. In our first room, despite me being very careful not to leave sweet wrappers/ coke cans out etc, there was an ARMY of ants invading us from the door to the sink- absolutely LOADS of them, but in the second room- block five , there was no problem at all.Strange! We locked everything away and didn't have any problems with theft.
When we arrived in our room, we had towel art and petals on the bed to celebrate out anniversary. There was also a bottle of sparkling wine and a champagne breakfast in bed the next day, which I thought was a lovely touch! There was a mini bar in the room stocked with cans of pop and sweets. A nice touch.Air conditioning was lovely.
There were plenty of activities during the day to keep you amused. My husband took part in a lot of beach "soccer" whilst I took part in drinking cocktails from the lounger! But there is something for everybody if you like to be entertained!They tell you what is going to be happening in a newsletter which you get in your room the night before.
In the evening, there is a range of bands etc. Harmless fun! The magician was brilliant! Loads of choice of drinks to keep you going!
For me the best part of this holiday was the staff. If you are sitting on your own somewhere they come over and ask if you want a drink or an icecream! They are just so friendly.Or if you are having a quiet glass of wine- they come over and top up your glass without having to ask.We did tip- we were happy too as the service was so great!
Overall- I would recommend this hotel if you want a bit of luxury in a nice hotel with friendly staff- just don't let them put you in block nine( LOL!!).

My husband and I stayed at the Excellence August 11th- 18th for our honeymoon , after I spent many hours of research on many sites. Our room was Excellence Club Oceanview Suite. It is definitely a beautiful place. Overall we had a wonderful honeymoon here. I will try to break it down for those who want the details ( as I did when I was in the research stage. )

The staff: Exceptional service, this was probably the most impressive thing to us. Always so friendly, always eager to help, really outstanding service in many of the restaurants, and just in general. I will make a note here and take it as you will. We did tip the staff. Not as much as we would in the U.S., but they truely deserve it. They do such an excellent job, we really wanted to. Some did not tip, and they seemed to get the same level of service. We tipped the maid two dollars a day and tried to also tip for turndown service, which I think was done by someone else. Also tipped for drinks just a couple dollars every other round or so. We did tip at every meal as well.

The grounds: Very beautiful, lovely statues, flowers etc. Although comparing Excellence to Iberostar Paraisio Maya which we stayed at several years ago, it seemed a bit small and contained. Which is a plus in some ways, but whereas at Iberostar there was always so many places to walk and explore, here it was somewhat limited, you could explore the interior and the perimeter of the property easily in one walk. There is always walking up the beach though. I will say that it never seemed crowded, to us

Room Service: Wonderful. Always on time, delicious every time but once, usually even better than the food from the restaurants. Very nice.

Restaurants: Breakfast was one of our favorite meals of the day. Barcelona was our daily go -to. Great variety, mediocre to great in quality. Lunch was never very good. On the occasions where we went to the ala carte restaurants for lunch, our food was mediocre to not very good. Often items we ordered would come out different than what was stated in the menu and not tasting very good. Buffet for lunch was usually a better choice, for us. Dinner was odd. Appetizers were usually the best items of the entire meal. Food was in general, mediocre but edible, nothing special, but sometimes surprised with something quite good. Very hit or miss. I read all the rave reviews on the chateaubriand served at Chez Isabelle, and I convinced my husband that we had to try it. Definitely a disappointment. The quality of meat in general was not so good. I know, it's Mexico, right? However the hibachi tables at Spice which were also highly reviewed, was quite nice and very enjoyable for me. Overall, I would say that the food was the biggest disappointment for us. Not what they sell it as.

Our room: A huge selling point for me! So beautiful. Amazing shower ( and water pressure, ) wonderful jacuzzi indoor and outdoor. I loved the furnishings and decor and the bed was great, not too hard for us at all. The oceanfront view from the balcony was awesome! I would recommend trying for a higher floor though. We had the floor above the ground floor which they call a first floor room, and the trees somewhat obstructed our view. It was still outstanding, but I imagine the higher floors might be even better. We did notice the ants that everyone mentions. They are soooo tiny. Not many, barely noticeable. I was quite worried about the ant problem that so many posted about in their review; I am not an insect person. But, I was not bothered by them, and would say they are inconsequential.

Room service: Always very efficient, never a problem, although I was a bit surprised that the sheets aren't changed more often. Everything was very clean.

Entertainment: Some shows in the theater were quite good, others were somewhat lame. The one night that we made it to the dancing at Allegria it was a surprise. We walked in and found six other people. We weren't expecting much of a hotspot and were happily surprised when a steady stream of people filled the place to near capacity within an hours time. Fun. Not the best selection of danceable music, but it is what you make it.

Location: A plus and a drawback. The seclusion is perfect for a honeymoon experience. For those that like to do their own exploring, outside of the set-up tours, transport to leave the resort is expensive. We went on a daytrip, not set up with a tour company, to the Crococun Zoo. The zoo is located basically at the end of the Excellence driveway, which is a mile long. It cost six dollars plus tip each way, and travel to Cancun is about thirty dollars.

Tours: We didn't do many. We swam with the dolphins at Wet 'N Wild. This was good; food alcohol/beverages and pass to the waterpark were included. I really wanted to swim with the dolphins, and this tour was great for that. The dolphin experiences at the nature parks had an additional entrance fee and this seemed like the best deal to us.

Spa: We got the couples massage that was included in our honeymoon package. Amazing experience. We would definitely do again, even if we had to pay for it. You absolutely MUST do the Marine wellness circuit that is included for free before every spa treatment. We went about an hour early for this and it was well worth it.
I hope this review helps someone in their choice.

We were at ERC for Aug 2 to 9th and had a wonderful time. We spent the previous week at EPM and decided to do ERC for the second week because of its proximity to Puerto Moreles and for a change of scenery. We booked Excellence Club for a treat and enjoyed the perks. Our room was in Bldg 8

We were greeted with a cool scented towel, escorted to the Excellence Club for check in and offered a beverage. Quick introduction to another wonderful Concierge, Roberto. He took care of us during the week. Very resourceful and informative.

We had a beautiful bouquet, elaborate fruit basket and champagne chilling in the room. Housekeeping was fantastic. Consistent, very clean and organized. Catalina our maid for 6 of the days did a great job all week long. We got some adorable towel art on occasion. She was very sweet.

We really enjoyed the Excellence Club beach all week with fabulous beach drink service by Raoul (sp?)
Cielo Bar and pool service was exceptional. Amable took great care of us with food and drink all day by the pool on the two days we hung out at the EC Club pool. She was very attentive, entertaining and personable. The Beach Attendant (Jorge) at the club was very helpful with limited English but a genuine big Mayan smile and courteous service, kept that beach area immaculate all around the palapas and helped lay out our towels. Moises the bartender was a lot of fun too. All of these staff members really added to our pampered stay and made us feel special and so well taken care of.

The ERC resort Management really outdid themselves when selecting their employees. We found exceptional service everywhere. Everyone friendly with a warm greeting even the many gardeners and maintenance staff.

We were prepared with lots of US 1s and 5s for tipping and it sure was appreciated. Although they give the same great service to all guests regardless of whether you tip or not it made us feel better to thank them individually for their contribution to our good time in paradise.

The grounds are beautiful, have really matured and flourished since our last visit to this resort 4 years ago. One day a gardener came by the EC pool and cut about 10 coconuts off a tree and the bartender served drinks in them for the quests. What a treat that was!

Weddings:
We were lucky enough to be able to see a beach wedding and a renewal of vows on the pier. Both were beautiful ceremonies with the service broadcast onto the beach through speakers. I will be posting a vow renewal ceremony picture. (I asked for the permission or the participants if it was ok to post a pic on tripadvisor). It was beautiful, I wasn't the only one tearing up. Hard to describe how lovely the voices of the officiators with the Spanish accents were with that Carribean setting. A fabulous resort for a wedding.

Pools:
Lots to chose from, you could have quiet or loud. They are cooler in the mornings and tend to warm up more during the day because they are all shallow. We tried the Lazy river pool around the spa island one evening around 7 pm and found it quite tepid and the mosquitos were loving us!

Float Issue:
Oh my. So many float hog guests. We even saw 4 people take the floats to the beach and hide them under towels on lawn chairs. Some people taking them to their rooms at night. The floats were never an issue in the Excellence Club pool although some people did come over, walk across the lawns of private swimouts to take floaties to take to the other pools. The 6 to 8 floats in the EC pool were just left in the water for the guests who wanted to use them and were not pulled out and hoarded. If you like floating on the pools and don’t want to get caught up in the floatie issue would recommend you bring a blow up float for your stay. The resort does not manage the float issue well at all.

Restaurants:
Great service at all of them.
We really enjoyed our Chez Isabelle dinner. We heard from other guests that the service was slow. I have never been rushed at a French Restaurant and this was no exception. We had fabulous, courteous, attentive, pleasant service from Rudy. He was exceptional and had perfect timing. Rudy always made sure we had wine in our glasses and water. Even provided me with a small side of Roquefort cheese when I mentioned how much I enjoyed the cheese in our appetizer. Perfect touches for our French meal. Service was not fast but that is the way we like to dine. Gives you time to digest between courses. These staff members work long hours six days a week and we were amazed at how efficient they are. FYI - The menu states the Chateaubriand is for 2 persons but one person can order it as it is not flambé at the table but very well presented.
Lobster House was fabulous – again great service and they let my husband order from the Grill Menu as he does not eat lobster. His filet was fabulous. Beautiful warm breeze in this restaurant as it is close to the beach on stilts over the main bar pool.
Toscana was delicious with great ambiance. Juan Luis gave us terrific attentive service here.

La Grill we did for lunch. They have a small salad – dessert buffet set up there to accompany your menu choices. The burger and prawn salad we ordered were tastey.

Barcelona for breakfast and lunch buffets had such a variety of food. Could not go hungry here. Great lunch dessert section there with lots of variety, 4 types of ice creams, pastries, custards and on and on, about 15' of choices.

Resort Business Centre:
There is a business Center at the main entrance of the resort for all guests to access that is open from 8 to 10pm. Has 7 computers, printer, coffee and tea service, very small novel – book exchange shelf (about a dozen books probably traded out by previous guests)

Gym
Starting to show some wear on the machines. But well equipped with workout machines. Played 80s disco type music during the times I was there. Room was a great temperature and they had the cold towels for after workout and cold water. Very nicely appointed bathrooms.

Nearby Construction:
A new resort is being built near the south end of the resort about 400’ away. The construction is a 5 story resort with lots of workers. Not too much machinery sounds but plenty of hammering during the day. We were in Bldg 8 and our suite door faced the construction, they started at 7 am in the morning but as it was manual hammering with a constant tempo and did not bother us. Bldg 9 would be more exposed to the noise.

We will definitely return here. Already looking for rates for a mid December vacation with our adult kids and their significant others.

Thank you for lasting until the end of this review. Feel free to PM for specifics.