An all-inclusive vacation is the mother of all relaxing vacations. It should be as hassle-free and dreamy as possible. Unlike your average hotel or vacation rental that travelers “only use for sleeping,” you will likely spend the majority of your time at the resort when you take an all-inclusive vacation, so you want to make sure it’s top-notch. My foray into all-inclusive travel was the Excellence Punta Cana, a stunning adults-only resort in the Uvero Alto region of the Dominican Republic. Here is everything you need to know about the experience.
Airport transfer and check-in
If you book directly through the site for a minimum number of nights, the transfer to and from Punta Cana Airport is free, which is wonderful because it’s about an hour drive away from the airport, and I’m not keen on getting a transfer from any airport in a brand new city. The transfer process was fairly straightforward though slow.
After you get through customs and passport control, you make your way to the transfer desks where you need to find the contracted transfer company. When we landed, there was a lot of traffic so we had to wait at least 20 minutes outside in the heat waiting for our transfer to arrive. Not the most ideal experience, but also not necessarily the hotel’s fault.
We finally made it to the hotel about an hour later, and as soon as we drove through the property gates, it was like stepping into The White Lotus. Everything is grand and beautiful and well-maintained. A porter met us at the car and offered a glass of champagne while we went through the check-in process.
This took a bit longer than I would have liked, especially after a 15-hour flight. They took our details and asked a bunch of questions about the reason for our trip. We were given a rundown of all the special things they could do for the birthday we were celebrating, which now that I think about it, we did not take advantage of. Then we sat down again and waited for the porter to come back around with our bags so he could guide us to the room.
Room and amenities
The resort is laid out in such a way where half the rooms face the large pool that extends across pretty much the entire property. The other half faces a nice little lagoon and green garden that is at the rear of the property. When you book, you have the option to select an actual room for an additional fee that is only charged if they are able to accommodate you in the room you want. We had used this feature and failed to get the room we wanted, which was kind of annoying until we checked in and realized we got a much, much better room.
The most useful thing you’re going to get from this blog post is that if you’re staying at the Excellence Punta Cana, you should pay to select room 70005. It’s a suite with a comfortable wide lounger on the terrace and unofficial swim-up access right next to the Lobster House and Oregano, the resort’s Italian restaurant. Most importantly, the only swim-up bar on the property is just on the other side of the pool. This wouldn’t have been my first choice because I didn’t want the ocean view to be obscured by the thatched restaurant roof, but this also made the room a bit secluded. With two sliding glass doors leading out to the terrace, we spent almost all our time at the suite and so did everyone else who came with us on the trip.
The room was massive with an open shower and a walk-in closet, a jetted tub, and a fully stocked minibar including three bottles of alcohol for our consumption (with a limit of one per day). Of course, we didn’t touch that. Why would we when we could swim down to the bar?
Pool and beach
The property had fairly nice amenities throughout. Though we didn’t use them because of our lovely terrace, there were loungers and umbrellas around the pool area and the beach for our use. I do suspect that if we didn’t have a place to lay, it may have been challenging to get the best chairs. Though it’s technically against the rules, we saw a lot of people get up early and leave a towel on the good loungers to “claim them.”
It was much easier to get a nice lounger oceanfront, probably because the water was too rough to swim in. It’s a shame because the beach looked gorgeous with fine sand, and it was probably at least 10 degrees warmer than the beaches we have in Europe. The best part is that you could get service to your lounger including a limited food menu and non-stop drinks.
Activities and entertainment
If you’re one of those people who can’t easily relax and need something to do, Excellence Punta Cana offers a variety of activities day and night. You can hit the gym or enjoy their available outdoor sports like tennis, paddleball, billiards, and even archery if you want to do something active.
They also hold various fitness and wellness classes throughout the week that include aqua cycling, yoga, etc. If you’re not so much into fitness, you can enjoy daytime and nighttime bingo, concerts, karaoke, and other shows. I didn’t play bingo nearly as much as I should have, which is a shame, because they raffle off some good prizes including free spa services.
Food and drinks
This was the most inconsistent aspect of Excellence Punta Cana. They had a massive buffet for breakfast including everything from fish to waffles, but everything was kind of cold, which is impressive considering how hot it is in the Dominican Republic. As a result, I ended up getting an omelette made to order every day, because I knew it would come out warm. Nonetheless, there was some great food to be had around the resort. The best restaurants were The Grill, Agave, and Oregano, though we didn’t try Chez Isabelle, the resort’s white tablecloth French restaurant. I was also a huge fan of Aroma, the bougie café and sweets shop where I was able to get a fancy white mocha or Frappuccino every day.
The worst restaurant and overall experience was Spice. It was legendarily bad. We were a group of 9, which is challenging, because you can’t make restaurant reservations. So they just recommend you go as soon as the restaurant opens or after 8:30 PM when servers are most definitely trying to go home. Our server half-assedly took our order and then we waited for at least 40 minutes before we started getting random plates nobody ordered. We took them, because by this time, it was probably close to 9:30 PM and we were starving. Then when we did get the food we ordered, I wished we hadn’t. That was the worst sushi I’ve ever had in my life. It was like if someone hollowed out an eraser and stuffed it with sushi ingredients. I wish someone had come back to refill our drinks because I needed it to wash that down.
Aside from the food, the alcohol situation was great, but only if you really enjoy super sweet poolside drinks that are served in a coconut. Amazing, tasty, but not terribly strong and full of sugar, so you’re probably going to get a hangover before you get drunk. That being said, I can’t hate on the pina colada or the ginger mojito at Blue Bar. I drank more of those than I drank water, and I would do it again.
Some of the people in our group complained that the alcohol was watered down because they had 9 tequila shots in one night and didn’t die. So if it is watered down, maybe that’s a blessing.
Service
Excellence Punta Cana is the kind of place where the staff is always walking around smiling and saying hi, even while they reposition the rocks in the garden. According to their terms, tips are technically included in the cost of the room, but many people still tip. And if you’re seeing the same people repeatedly, you’ll probably get better service if you’re passing out dollar bills everywhere you go.
By the way, despite the fact that you can’t get dollars out of the ATMs on the property, you can ask the front desk for change for dollars.
The service was good overall, though sometimes it was nonexistent like at Spice and sometimes it was a bit too good. The morning after our dinner, a manager came up to our group at breakfast and offered his apologies for what happened at Spice, something which none of us had even complained about. Then they offered us a reservation as an exception for our group at the restaurant of our choice (though funny enough, it still had to be before 6 PM or after 8 PM). After that, our group was treated with kid gloves at every restaurant. The resort is definitely one of those places that Karens and Chads probably LOVE because they will kiss your ass the rest of the time if they drop the ball.
I don’t need Dominicans to suck up to me on vacation to reinforce my sense of self-worth, so I found the whole thing kind of awkward instead.
Value
Though I am a newbie to all-inclusive resorts, a couple of people in our group said that both the property and food were better than other all-inclusives they had been to. All-inclusive resort reviews across the Dominican Republic and Mexico seem to confirm this, with most properties getting less consistently positive reviews.
The room we booked, which cost us $430 per night, felt like an incredible value. A comparable room at Secrets resorts in Punta Cana would easily run $600–$800 per night. Even the equivalent swim-up suite at Excellence Riviera Cancun in Mexico starts at over $650 per night.
If you consider that the average meal out including cocktails for two people is anywhere from $100-150, the room is practically free. So given all the upsides, this location provides amazing value.
Overall rating: 4.5/5
Was it perfect? No. But it did provide a picture-perfect setting for a really fun and really relaxing vacation for a big group. The in-suite jet tub and beautiful views also make it an ideal destination for romance. And if you have a good attitude about it, the bad things about it can make for a hilarious story.
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