Excellence – Playa Mujeres Mexico

Our second annual Adult Only All-Inclusive group seems like it was forever ago, and we’re already itching for our next one, but in the meantime we thought we’d give you our review of this year’s resort, the experience and the group as a whole.

The Resort: Excellence Playa Mujeres

Before we go into detail, we will remind you that we have worked with Excellence a long time. We love these resorts and send folks to them all the time. Our expectations of Excellence Resort is excellence and nothing less. In this case, we were not let down, overall. Were there some issues that made the trip imperfect? Yes. Should you expect a slip up or two from any great all-inclusive resort? Yes. Was the vast majority of our trip amazing? Yes. Here’s the breakdown:

Physical Resort & Grounds:

Nothing short of spectacular here. From the beautiful pools that were woven through lush landscapes, to the grandiose lobby to the best amphitheater(s) in the all-inclusive business, we really can not fault Excellence for their Playa Mujeres property in the slightest! Many of the beaches around Cancun have somewhat of a seaweed issue, but clear water and beautiful sand beaches make up for that one downfall. Great pools for being social and for laying low. The pools were heated, which was nice, almost making the jacuzzi tubs moot at their not so hot-tub temperature.

Room:

As usual, even the standard Jr Suites “wow” everyone when they come to Excellence Resorts. They are really well put together and big. Some would argue the open nature of the bathroom to the regular room can remove some privacy, and it does. However, we again would say this is a small concern when you consider the quality and other factors compared to other resorts. We had a swim-out room in the Excellence Club and while we loved the location in terms of access to the resort and the lagoon pool that snaked by the room, we did not love being at a major intersection of foot traffic and felt like we weren’t truly a part of the Excellence Club in this particular room. There were certainly rooms that lent themselves to being in the heart of the Club, unlike ours. Still, we were extremely happy overall.

Food & Cocktails:

Having the Mediterranean the first night was a God-send! We had some spectacular food including octopus tentacles (the real deal, not the little cut up chunks). We also experienced amazing lunches, like taco day down at the grille on the beach coupled with some great traditional Mexican live music ON HORSEBACK. No, that’s not food, but ambiance was perfect! Stone-oven baked pizza available all day was great, too. Drinks were always made well and just about any liquor/drink you could think of was available to you. We called the concierge day one and asked for some Jameson in our room and it was delivered within 15 minutes. So nice! Our two let-downs were sushi and tapas. While much of the group had an amazing time at the hibachi grille, we had the sushi and it was just “ok”. The following night, we went to the tapas bar, which we had thought was PERFECT at the El Carmen resort and Playa Mujeres just did not seem to grasp the tapas concept. The quality was good, it was just all delivered together after a long wait which dampened our spirits. Again, a couple small things in a large universe of great things. We had Mexican night the last night and they had a roast pig that was really great along with margaritas that were out of this world. So much more to say, but trust us, the food was overall strong.

Entertainment:

The entertainment was fun, if not mostly silly with the Elvis impersonator and the Michael Jackson (I swear it was him) look-alike. The Mexican music throughout our trip was so nice and some of my personal favorite parts of the trip. The disco was pretty exciting and we took advantage of karaoke night. Hibachi was reported as being excellent as well.

Service:

Plain and simple: Excellence really seems to focus on amazing staff and they shine throughout the entire trip always. Attention to detail could be found everywhere you looked!

Our Group Dynamic:

As always, our group dynamic helped make this style of trip even more fun than usual. Group dinners and soaking up the sun all day together is more fun than alone! Certainly, you can always get away from the crew and have your quiet time if you want. That being said, we love having folks there we know and that we get to know throughout the trip. Make your next trip like this a group one, whether it’s in a group like ours or even your own group of 4 or 6. It really enhances any trip.

Overall:

We will never hesitate to go here for adults-only trips. They also have “The Finest” next door if you want the same quality and want to take the kids. It is not cheap, however. No all-inclusive resort will ever be 100% perfect, when you consider how much food and drink is served and how much interaction you have with the staff, etc. However, as usual, we feel that the Excellence gets as close to perfect as any other all-inclusive gets. Also, we love Mexico, in particular. Make sure your next all-inclusive is here. It’s great value!

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