Dominican Republic (Punta Cana)
Trip Summary
Punta Cana was a place I always heard so many great things about–it was a prime spot for honeymooners, had beautiful beaches, and wasn’t as expensive as some of the other popular spots in the Caribbean. So I finally decided to go there with my husband over the summer, and we booked the Excellence Punta Cana for three nights.
I really labored on which all-inclusive resort to book in Punta Cana–there are so many. I know we wanted to try an adults-only place and since we loved the swim out room at the Hyatt Ziva in Cancun, we looked for places that had similar set-ups. The Excellence stood out from the rest of the resorts because it had good reviews, was a bit more secluded than the other resorts, and had consistent high ratings for its cleanliness, service, and food/drinks.
So we decided to book a Junior Swim-Up Suite. You can get rooms in two categories (Excellence and Non-Excellence), but the only difference seemed to be that for the extra expense, you got an upgraded mini-bar and access to an additional restaurant and pool. When I asked around on forums if it was worth the extra price, I got mixed responses. We were only going to be there for a few days, so we decided on the Non-Excellence room. The pictures on the website looked the exact same anyway.
I practically lived on those travel forums in the weeks leading up to our vacation–taking notes on what to see, which restaurants to try, which shows to watch, and which drinks to sample. Everything looked so luxurious!
And the resort did not disappoint when our car drove up to the entrance of the Excellence Punta Cana. Immediately, we were greeted with cold towels and champagne, and hearty exclamations of “Welcome home!”
We were a little early for check-in, so they gave us a buzzer that would ring when our room was ready. So we set off to explore the grounds and eat lunch at The Kitchen Table which is their buffet area where they serve breakfast and lunch. It was an impressive set-up with hot and cold options all over the room and so spread out that it never seemed crowded. The food was also plentiful, so after making our plates, we sat down and connected our phones to the hotel’s free wifi.
We hadn’t had any wifi over the last several days since we were in a tree house village, so we hadn’t read any of the latest news stories before we had gotten to the resort. We knew about some tourists dying in resorts in the Dominican Republic (interestingly, when we went to Mexico a few years ago, there was a similar period of tourist deaths–so this kind of unfortunate timing tends to follow us!). But when our phones started to ping with messages and emails, I began to see why–the latest death just days before we arrived was at this exact resort, the Excellence.
My husband and I just sat there for a moment in stunned silence. Even in Mexico, the news stories were never at our resort. But this changed things…or did it? We had gotten trip insurance–we could go back. I had gotten a notification from our airline that they were waiving flight change fees because of all the cancellations to the Dominican Republic. But no–we couldn’t do that. We just had the time of our lives in Samana. We would do the same here….
Just then, our buzzer went off, so we quickly made our way to the front desk where we got our room key and a nice man, Abraham, led us to our rooms. He was very sweet, and we were hardly in the front door of our room when he had our return transport to the airport already scheduled and taken care of. “You don’t worry about anything,” he said, “leave it all to me.”
And he was right! The room seemed to be set up to be worry-free. Abraham showed us how to operate the room (there are buttons you push for housekeeping or privacy) and bid us a happy vacation. The room was beautiful and spacious, had all sorts of luxuries included, and had a beautiful view of the pool and palm trees.
One thing I will say about the swim-up room, though, is that it is not what is advertised on the website. The Excellence Club rooms by the infinity pool look like advertised, but the Non-Excellence Club rooms have a small lawn past your patio then a main walkway before you get to the pool. So they are “pool view” rooms more than “swim-ups.” Just FYI…as it was something I started seeing complaints about in the travel forums I followed…
False advertising aside, though, the room was still beautiful, and the resort is impeccable. The staff is constantly cleaning and making sure that the grounds are in the best possible shape, and it shows.
The resort was also remarkably uncrowded as we saw very few people there. I don’t know if the resort is just that spread out that you hardly see the other patrons or if the news stories were scaring people off or what, but the nearly private beach and pools were very peaceful.
Our favorite spot was Cabana #1 by the main pool. It was a large, padded chair in the shade and within swimming distance to the swim up bar 😉 My husband and I enjoyed reading books peacefully there and swimming back and forth for our favorite drinks. My husband’s favorite was the Banana Mama, and mine was the Coco Loco!
With the resort being so quiet, we made friends with the few people we did see and would wave and compare drink recommendations when we saw them!
Lots of fun people come to this resort, and we saw a lot of people on their honeymoon. It’s a good, romantic resort for quiet getaways, so we could see why it was a popular honeymoon destination.
At night, we went to some of the restaurants. The resort has quite a few places to choose from, but from the forums and message boards, I had read that Chez Isabelle (the French restaurant) and The Grill (the steakhouse) were best, so we tried those. After our near wardrobe mishap at the Hyatt Ziva in Mexico, we knew to wear proper attire (long pants and closed-toed shoes for men and dresses and formal shoes for women), so we didn’t have any trouble getting a table.
Both places were good, though, my husband and I disagreed on our favorites–I liked Chez Isabelle, and he liked The Grill. I will say that the French Onion Soup at Chez Isabelle is unmatched, so definitely try that.
I wish we had a chance to try more places at the resort, but we did hop around a little, so that we could have a little bit here and a little bit there and cover more ground. For example, the cheese fingers at the sports bar were as good as everyone of the travel forums said (and they run out of these often, so go and try them earlier in the day). Oregano had excellent pasta, and Aroma (the coffee shop) had good coffee and gelato.
The resort also had a scheduled show every night that ranged from a broadway show to a circus show to a Michael Jackson show. Often afterwards, there would be open karaoke, and that was just as entertaining, if not more to watch. The stage is also close to the martini bar, so it is fun to watch while sipping on a chocolate martini (another one of my favorites–and it is not in the menu, but thanks to those travel forums I read, I knew the bar made a wonderful one–you just had to ask for it!).
The room service is also very good at night. We had gotten some wine to enjoy on the patio of our room while we read our books and looked through pictures, and instead of just bringing a glass, they brought a whole bottle. I had to laugh as they uncorked it and poured it fancily, complete with a white tablecloth and everything, but it set a nice, romantic mood. It was very peaceful out on the patio at night, just relaxing and listening to the wind move through the palm trees.
All in all, it was a very nice resort, and the staff was wonderful. The rooms were clean. The only deduction I can think of was that the rooms, while cool, still got very humid–so much so that the sheets and everything in the room were constantly damp. We had asked for a fan and dehumidifier when we booked the room and when we checked in, but they only have a small number of those, so we never ended up with them. Also, the food, while mostly good, tended to be overcooked. In the cafeteria, some foods were mislabeled or didn’t have labels at all, so it was kind of a guessing game as to what you were putting on your plate. Also, while many friends warned us about the mini-bar, everything in the fridge itself (water, juice, soda, beer) was sealed and fine. However, there were three bottles of liquor on the shelf above it, and two of those bottles, while full, were unsealed. That made us uneasy, so we did not drink from any of the liquor bottles during our stay.
However, I think the biggest thing that frustrated me was the false advertisement of the “swim up” rooms. I would have still booked a room if the “real” swim up rooms weren’t available, but showing the exact same pictures for our room and those on the infinity pool was misleading and dishonest of the resort. I had even emailed them to ask about the difference between the rooms and got a dismissive reply that didn’t answer my question, but only said that I “didn’t need to worry about anything.” I only learned the actual difference when asking actual guests of the resort in a Facebook group devoted to the resort, so I knew what to expect thanks to them!
So, I’m conflicted on the rating. My husband and I did enjoy ourselves, but it would have been perfect with more accurate advertising, sealed bottles in the mini-bar, and a less humid room.
Excellence Punta Cana: B+
Overall, my husband and I loved the Dominican Republic and liked the experience of exploring a new country together. It is truly a beautiful place if you get a chance to visit!
Favorite Experiences
Just sitting under the cabana by the pool and reading was very relaxing. The weather was perfect, and it was so nice to just de-stress and think only about the book you were reading, the wind rustling through the palm trees, and what drink you were going to order next! Ha! I had intended for the first part of our vacation to be adventurous (in Samana) and the last part to be relaxing, and it was just that.
What I Wish I Knew
I mention reading forums a lot here, and I owe a lot to the Welcome to Excellence Punta Cana Facebook group for answering so many of my questions. They are a wonderful wealth of information and are a great group of people wanting to help each other out and enjoy this resort. I wish I knew some things (like how inaccurate the hotel’s advertising was about the rooms) earlier, but it was thanks to the group that I even knew about it at all, so I at least knew what to expect when we got there.
Also, I wish I knew just how damp the room would get. The air conditioner vent is at the top of the room and blows out over the ceiling, so the wind doesn’t really hit anything below it, so sheets, pillows, towels, and the furniture just never feel dry. Even though I requested a fan and dehumidifier, I should have insisted more or even just brought something myself. I did remember to bring a big trash bag to put all our dirty clothes in for the trip home, so that came in handy as even the clothes that were clean were wet from the room, so I just threw them all together and had a massive laundry day when we got home.
Also, I wish that I knew the restaurant tended to overcook their meat, because both meals we ordered at Chez Isabelle and The Grill were overcooked. It was still good, but I know it would have been even better if we asked it to be cooked a little under what we would normally order it as. I think if we had stayed longer, we would have tried more of the restaurants, too. I did want to try Spice, but we did not have enough time, so if you go, tell me how it is!
Oh, and my goodness, avoid the gift shop. My husband had lost his sunglasses in Samana, so he wanted to get a cheaper pair to last him for the rest of the trip. So we went to the gift shop and found a $25 pair–well, we were hardly out of the store, when we found that it had cracked in two places and the top part holding the lenses had come off. So we went back and showed them our receipt, and they were nice enough to give us a new pair. But then, not even a few hours later, the sunglasses were cracked again in all the same places, and the frame was completely disintegrating. It was comical how terribly cheap these sunglasses were, so if you go, pack a backup pair of sunglasses, so you don’t have to buy a pair. Unless, you want the entertainment–I swear, every time I looked over at my husband, another piece of the frame was falling off, but we just had to laugh about how absurd it all was!
Lastly, I wish we just kept our phones off the wifi the whole time we were in the country. I know awareness is good, and we are always careful on vacations, but that news about the tourist at our exact hotel (and in the next building from our room) was unsettling. It was on the back of my mind a lot and made me hyperaware of everything we ate and drank, and I think if I just didn’t know, I would have been able to relax more. I don’t know–I am conflicted about that, too.
In any case, though, it was an amazing vacation, and all news aside, I would still go back. If you think you will ever plan a visit, there is a helpful forum here. If you plan on staying at the Excellence, definitely join the Welcome to Excellence Punta Cana group and the We Love Excellence Punta Cana group–they were the best resources for planning!
I also post reels and TikToks regularly of all the places I’ve reviewed on here, so if you want to see some videos of what to expect, check out my social media here:
TikTok: @touristyteacher
Instagram: @touristyteacher
Facebook: @touristyteacher
Happy travels!
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