Amazing resort

Grounds were beautiful, food was amazing, staff were exceptional. Only wish the swim outs and the hot tubs near the swim outs were a bit warmer so we could have enjoyed our swim out more. Staff were very friendly and helpful. Easy check in and check out. Hotel was very accommodating to our requests

Excellent Hotel

This hotel had everything. From great food , service and entertainment. Would definitely go back. Cannot really say anything bad about this resort. A must try. The grounds were kept impeccable. The beach is clean . Loved it

Excellent Experience at Excellence El Carmen

This was our second trip there. Last time was April 2018. The largest difference I found since COVID is no assigned concierge attendant for each Excellence level building. Other than that the entertainment, food and service was wonderful. A special shout out to our beech waitress Carmen who looked after us so well 5 years ago and again this trip.. she remembers what you drank 3 days ago.. she offers exceptional service while on the beech!

Wonderful all inclusive resort

Wonderful beautiful clean resort. Staff was friendly and helpful. Great chose of restaurants. Amazing sandy beach. Swim up room was great for a morning dip after coffee on your private patio. Easy check in and check out. Nightly entertainment with great variety

Amazing Resort

This resort is absolutely stunning! This was my second trip to the Excellence El Carmen and I wasn't disappointed. Very Clean, great food, beautiful beach and excellent service. The staff are so friendly and welcoming and make your stay extra special.

I recommend!

This resort was great. We enjoyed every minute of our 7 day stay. From the moment we arrived to the moment we had to say good bye, the staff was friendly, food was great, beach was beautiful, drinks were plentiful. We have no negative comments and would recommend.

Beautiful resort

This is our second time at this resort and was disappointed with the quality of the service, food and wine. Compared to pre covid, their shine which made us go back has diminished. At this price, I am expecting 5 star food and wine. We lost two nights sleep given a plumbing issue with the private pools. They didn’t replenish amenities on our last full day as if we were checking out (ie coffee). Staff wore masks and the resort was clean. Will reconsider a third visit.

Dream vacation

This resort did not disappoint!! The resort is a good size, not too large and easy to navigate. Well appointed rooms, beautifully maintained grounds, decent food, great entertainment and friendly staff.

Beautiful Resort!

The room, restaurants, and entire resort grounds were immaculate and well maintained. Food was excellent and staff were all very friendly. Service was exceptional. The PCR Covid testing for returning to Canada was easy and quick. I cannot find anything to fault with our stay at Excellence El Carmen.The perfect place for a much needed week of R&R.

Info For Those Wondering About Covid

As I’m sure that there are many people wondering if they should travel because of Covid. Here is some info. For insurance purposes, we got the Manulife Covid-19 Pandemic Travel Plan - medical and trip interruption coverage. I purchased it online a couple of days before we left. It was $65 total for both of us. It covers you if you get Covid while on vacation and if the government changes to a level 4 travel restriction. If you go to the Excellence website- there is a long explanation o [... read more]f their Covid safety protocols and there is a Frequently Asked Questions page that explains their complementary stay if you test positive on your Covid test. We left from Toronto in the early afternoon. We found that the airport was not too busy. We wore N95 masks and didn’t eat or drink on the plane (you can if you choose to but are encouraged to not keep your mask off for very long). At the resort, most staff wear the clear masks that go up from their chin. Some staff wear the blue surgical masks. Most guests do not wear masks inside or outside. Some guests do - so it is up to your comfort. For the Covid tests, you can go to the Concierge Desk at 8:00 am two days before your departure. You pay for your PCR test at the front desk and fill out a form for each person at the Concierge Desk. You will need to have your passport numbers, flight date and flight time. You then go to the concierge room of building 10 for the PCR test (building 8 for rapid test). There is usually a short wait for PCR tests and sometimes a longer wait for rapid tests. Make sure to bring a phone or tablet for each person (they don’t tell you this). When you enter the room, you need to scan a QR code and basically fill out the same info that you fill out on the paper form - including passport number and email address. They emailed the results to us in about 36 hours. They have hand sanitizer at all bars, entrances to all restaurants, and at the front desks and elevators. The buffet is like it used to be - you serve yourself. The tables at some restaurants are well spaced out. At some restaurants the tables are quite close together. Many restaurants have an option to sit outside or inside. You can also get room service 24 hours a day for any meal if you prefer to eat in your room. We chose to get a room with a private pool and we used private transfers to be extra safe. The two pools near buildings 12 to 16 are quiet if you are not comfortable at the busy main pool. When we arrived in Toronto, after doing the usual declaration and customs, we got our luggage and then we were directed to the area for our PCR test. I had registered on the Switch Health website ahead of time so I didn’t have to frantically do it at the airport. I would say it took about 30 minutes to go through the line. They email the results within 72 hours. We felt safe at Excellence El Carmen. We were outside most of the time and were able to be socially distant from others. We are happy that we didn’t cancel. It was much needed break from the Covid world in Ontario right now. Here is a list of things to remember to do: The day before you leave for your vacation: *Do the Dominican Republic online form to get a QR code to show at the airport - I took a screen shot of it. *Download the Excellence El Carmen app and do the online check-in *Do your online check-in for your flight *Download the ArriveCAN app and fill out traveller info and get started on your ArriveCAN form. *Download the Canada eDeclaration app *Download or print your proof of vaccination QR code *Search “Arriving into Canada - Toronto Pearson Airport” for the link to Switch Health Arrival Tests and info about your arrival test *Register on the Switch Health website - this will be so you will be ready for your PCR test at the Canada Airport 12 to 24 hours before your flight home: *Take a screen shot of your proof of negative PCR test to show at the airport * Do the Dominican Republic online form to get a QR code to show at the airport - I took a screen shot of it *Do your online check-in for your flight *On the ArriveCAN app complete your ArriveCAN form - I took a screen shot of the QR code *Complete the Canada eDeclaration app form - I took a screen shot of the QR code *Have $20 US cash for each person to give when you go through security. Don’t cancel your vacation. You will be so happy that you went

Excellence El Carmen

The Excellence Staff were amazing. Restaurants were so inviting and personal. Special mention to Emilio and Franchiely at the Lobster House. Another Special mention to Frialyn who stood out above all others. Frailyn represented the resort with such a dynamic and professional service at the Excellence Beach Club. This was our second time at this resort but it won't be our last.

Great COVID Christmas Trip

First time visiting an Excellence Hotel, and we will be back. Beautiful spacious property with lots of greenery, palm trees, and places to sit and relax. The staff attentiveness and overall service level was top notch. Bars & washrooms are plenty and conveniently located. A very large beachfront, but it had some erosion that staff were actively working on repairing. Minimal seaweed which was cleaned up daily. Most days the ocean had just the right amount of waves to swim/play. We stayed  [... read more]over Christmas and they were fully booked but it never felt crowded, most days we could still get a front row palapa on the beach at 9am. Restaurants were all spacious, and most had options to eat outside. No dinner buffet, and no dinner reservations, but only a short wait for the restaurants. Food was hit or miss and I did get food poisoning one night. The menu's can only be accessed via the Excellence App (covid protocol) which is a nuisance if you're trying to "unplug" on vacation. Men need to have pants, shoes, and collar shirt for dinner. Due to COVID we mostly kept to ourselves, which was easy to do at this resort. All staff are vaccinated and wear clear mouth shields, but shields were often sitting low on their chin and not really doing much. Its up to the guests discretion if they want to wear a mask once on the property and most did not. For the pre-departure COVID test ($80USD) Reception did not provide clear instructions. They do not make appointments and you have to wait in line. Prepay for test at main desk, bring receipt to concierge desk to pickup test paperwork, then go to test building where you'll need your phone to fill out the same information again online. Results took about 36 hours and go to your email (junk box). We had a swim up room on the A side of building, but request B side for better sun exposure. We did not do the Excellence Club upgrade and did not feel like we were missing anything. Previously staying with Royalton, the base level at Excellence El Carmen was on par with Royalton Chic Diamond Club. If our visit had not been during a pandemic we might have rated this resort lower, many returning guests commented things were not up to pre-covid standards, but the staff were working hard to get through shortcomings. Overall we loved this resort and had an amazing vacation!

Amazing Honeymoon

My husband and I stayed at the Excellence El Carmen and we had an amazing time. Wearing a mask was optional at the resort but we never felt safer with all the protocols they had in place. The restaurants were clean, the staff was amazing and the beaches were pristine. Everyone was so helpful. Our suite with our own private pool was breathtaking. We can’t wait to go to another Excellence property soon!

Not up to the Excellence Standards

We love the Excellence hotel chain and have stayed at EPM, EPC and are booked at EOB in December. The service is always amazing. Our recent stay at EEC was a bit disappointing. There was nothing major that would ruin our trip and most of the issues were minor and were fairly easily resolved. However, it wasn't the level of service that we have come to expect from the Excellence hotels. When we arrived, there was no glasses of champagne waiting or cool towels. We checked in and found the f [... read more]ront desk staff not overly friendly. Usually they cant wait to welcome previous guests "home". They didn't give our bellboy our room key which was easily resolved. Getting ready for dinner on day one we realized that none of the plugs in the room were working. They did send someone fairly quickly to rectify the situation. We ordered a bottle of wine which took over 2 hours to arrive and repeated phone callsrequired but when it arrived we were not given an opener or wine glasses. We requested early maid service for our stay and would leave the please make up the room sign on the door (we were the only ones in our hallway that put the sign out) but unfortunately one day it was 5 pm before the room was made up and 630 when they came for turndown. We requested wine in the room daily which we have done at other Excellence resorts with no issue. We only received wine in the room on one occasion and that day we came back to the room and found a bottle of wine, again no glasses, but the other alcohol from the room had all been removed. This was the only day we received wine in the room without following up. My husband drank the beer in the fridge on day one and it was never replenished. The clothing steamer in the room was broken as well. The food in the restaurants was good. We did note that one night there was no lobster at the lobster house and one evening very limited cuts of meat at the steak house. They didn't have syrup on a few occasions at the buffet. Again, we just didn't find the same level of service we have experienced in the past. At lunch they have nacho's on the menu. We requested just the chips and guacamole but they wouldn't do that even though it was the same as the nacho's without the cheese. I assume that finding staff and getting supplies may be impacted by covid as all hotel staff at this resort have been doubly vaccinated (which is amazing). It was the little things like going for a nice dinner and them running out of glass ware so you were given plastic cups for the wine. There was never any toilet paper etc. I know these things sound knit-picky but we have come to expect better from this chain. Complaints to the front desk were disregarded until the second to last day when a young woman finally listened to our concerns. There were also some issues with noise as we were very close to the theatre and one night the karaoke went on till after midnight only to be woken at 7 for a tree being cut down. That being said, there were some standouts - Mac Donald in the coffee house, Raphael in the breakfast buffet and at the French and Jasmine by the pool - great job and great service!!!. All in all it was not the level of service expected but the resort is lovely and we had a good time.

Ok resort

the room was very nice, however we spent the money to upgrade to the swim up room and we were very disappointed. The pool was only skimmed it was not cleaned once for the week we were there. The build up was noticeable and tile was in rough shape. We had maintenance come to fix the deck outside the door because of the dip in it. Also had to have them fix the front door because it wouldn't lock unless you pulled it tight.

Excellente Resort !

Beautiful modern hotel; well laid out. Beach is perfect. Amazing staff and entertainment! Great food, awesome Martini bar. Spa is heavenly ! Great place for couples to relax and have a romantic getaway. Loved it ♥️

Great resort

We had an amazing time at Excellence El Carmen. The staff was always very friendly and helpful. The resort is kept very clean.The beach access was great. The beach was clean and the sea as well. We had access either to the beach or the pool. We had a room with a private pool. The room was clean to the standard of what I have expected. The pool was cleaned and chemicals were added every day. It would have been more ideal to have one buffet style meal rather than having the restaurants open on al [... read more]ternate nights of each other. All in all, we got treated like royalty and the resort is a dream. We definitely go back.

Two weeks spent at the Excellence El Carmen

My husband and I stayed at this resort from Monday, January 20, 2020 until Monday, February 3, 2020. We upgraded to Club status and were assigned room 3151. Unfortunately, this room was next to the staff room where they kept the cleaning supplies and trolleys. We were woken early every day with the staff chatting and wheeling the carts around. We went to check out the restaurants on the TV to see the menus, but unfortunately our TV did not work for 4 days. The resort was not full whilst we  [... read more]were there. I was disappointed that there was no tour of the facilities. With regard to the restaurants they were very good. The only complaint that we had was that the hot food at the main buffet was not very hot. The staff at the resort were excellent. We spent most of out time on the beach in the Club section, but unfortunately some of the vendors were noisy and annoying when we were trying to relax.. The beach staff also were excellent.

Very nice resort!

This was our second time to this resort. Last time was two years ago. We have to come to enjoy the Excellence brand. The resort layout, room and venues are quite modern. We stayed in building 6 and it was kind of in the middle of things. About a few minute walk to the main restaurants, pool and beach. The beach is a beautifle sugary light brown colour and you can walk a long ways both directions. The service level all over was excellent. We'll definitely be back.

Even Better 2nd Time Round

Second visit to Excellence El Carmen and it surpassed expectations again. Food, service, ambiance, beach ... the whole package was 5 stars. The spa has one of the best hydrotherapy programs we've ever been to (and we've done a few!) Shout outs to Kinmay, Francheska, Andres, Oswaldo, Alma, Dianne, Jennifer, Zobeida, Diosmery, Grace for making our vacation "Excellent".