Excellence Punta Cana Review & Pictures

[ecox125]

Hello everyone! Hope the planning is going great for everyone! My husband and I just returned from Excellence Punta Cana a few days ago and I thought I'd share our experience with all of you.

 

The ride to the resort is long, about an hour and you definitely get to see the true Dominican village life. The roads were rough, about what we expected. There are a lot of close encounters with other buses and motorcycles. Be prepared to see families of 4-5 on one bike

 

The resort is very nice. We stayed in the Excellence Club with an ocean view room. To be honest there isn't really a difference in rooms with the excellence club versus those that do not have it. The mini bar is better and they stock it daily. Plus you have access to their club area with a couple computers, daily buffet for breakfast and lunch. The rooms are a decent size with a jacuzzi tub, king size bed, ours had a balcony, the ground level rooms had a hammock and a lot of the ground level rooms had access to the lazy river pool just a few feet from their backdoor.

 

The staff is extremely wonderful and will take care of any of your needs. We did tip a lot even though it is said you don't have to. We mainly tipped bartenders, pool boys, bell hops, drivers, and housekeeping. They were all very appreciative. They will exchange for American money at the front desk or at the excellence club if you need to break bills into smaller ones.

 

As far as food, Toscana is the place to go for breakfast and lunch. The buffet is huge and if you can't find something to eat in there then you have problems. We didn't go to any of the other restaurants for lunch. Mainly we stayed by the pool and they bring around pizzas in the afternoon. We had dinner at The Grill, Lobster House , Agave, Chez Isabelle, Barcelona and our reception dinner was at Spice. All restaurants were pretty decent. All in all the food is decent and they have a good variety on all the menus. They do a really nice job with service and especially presentation. Our favorites were Spice, Agave, and Chez Isabelle.

 

The entertainment is good. The sax player Domingo is really really good and a very nice man. They have nightly shows at 10:00 anywhere from Dominican dancing, Impersonators, Michael Jackson night, and Circus Show. We also went to the Disco Alegria for one night for 70/80s night. They have all sorts of stuff running throughout the day so there is plenty for everyone to do. We just sat by the pool/beach and we were content. There are also a lot of excursions from Zip Line, ATVs, horseback riding, and a boat trip to Sanoa Island, which is the one we did. The Sanoa island trip was good but be prepared for a long day 8-6. It's good to get outside of the resort for the day and get to see other parts of the country.

 

The wedding was good, everything we wanted. I will say the there was little to no communication prior to the wedding which was concerning to me. Even after we arrived at the resort we had not been contacted by the wedding department to greet us and to arrange a time to sit down to speak to us. We went to the Excellence Club concierge for 2 days in row before we finally met with someone which was Lisbeth. Turned out that Ana Luisa was sick and out for the week we were there, which explained a part of the lack of communication. The pre-wedding consultation took about 30 minutes and we decided everything from venue to flowers to cakes...etc. They will ask for your dress/tux/documentation at that time so take it with you in order to save you a trip. Like I said before we were happy with everything. I got ready in the spa and a horse and carriage took me to the wedding site where everyone was waiting. The ceremony was about 10 minutes with translation and my husband and I had cake (which was delicious) and champagne after the ceremony. The rest of our cake was taken to the dinner reception at the restaurant to share with everyone. I really didn't have to worry about anybody but myself because I knew everything was being taken care of.

 

We had a wonderful time and we are already planning on returning possibly next year for our anniversary. It is really a wonderful resort and I would recommend it if you are considering getting married there. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions at all. I will try to see if I can post some pictures!

 

All the best!

 

Mrs. Erin Nesbitt

 

Here is a link to some of our pictures from our wedding at Excellence Punta Cana. Hope you enjoy!

 

Pictures by ecox125 - Photobucket

[BlakleyBrideToBe]

Thanks so much for the post! I'm getting married in September at the Excellence. I would love to see your pictures!

[blushingbride]

Thank you so much for posting your wedding review! I am truly excited for my wedding next year. Can't wait to see your photos. Did you hire Photo Souvenir?

[ecox125]

My dad did our photographs but we hired photosouvenir to do the wedding video since my mom wasn't able to come. She fell and broke her hip the day before we were leaving. They really did a nice job with the video editing. The pictures I saw were also very nice from previous weddings. The photographers are wonderful to work with.

[mich&adam]

Congrats Erin!! Everything you wrote about Excellence DR is exactly right. Although I will admit we loved the private Excellence Club Food, aside from SPICE,the best, i tend to have a weak stomach and everything we ate there was good and I wasn't sick. Also DR brides, on Tuesday afternoons they have a beach wide bbque, that's why they don't do weddings on Tuesday. The beach bbque was a ton of fun, just be very careful with the burgers, you cannot, i repeat,not eat their meet red in any shape or form, as you will get sick. I was there last year for a vacation (Oct.) and it was beautiful and we fell in love with it, that is why when we got engaged, we knew exactly where we wanted to be married!!! Congrats again to Erin and all the upcoming DR brides

 

Michelle

[NaM]

Love your pictures. Your dress looked amazing on you. Congratulations.

[EDSROSA]

Congrats! Your pics are beautiful!

[foxytv]

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing! YAY! Love to see my fellow DR brides tie the knot!!!

[leahstafford]

beautiful!!

[nbulldog19]

Erin...your wedding sounds beautiful, I cannot wait to get married there and your pictures are beautiful. Congrats!