r/PuntaCana

Only halfway through my trip and here is my experience in real time:

FYI I tip, smile a lot and use Google Translate whenever possible. I am not a loud/rude type of person. So this is all in the setting of very good behavior on my end.

Let me start by saying I would not have picked this place, but my friend chose to get married here so I decided to come a day early and leave a day later in hopes that I would have a decent experience, like some other reviewers. That was my mistake. 

If you can’t tell already, I am not having a good time. 

At check-in, I upgraded to premium because the reviews indicated that the service without premium was going to be awful. I also read that the only decent food was room service. I’ve been to a lot of all inclusives and it’s pretty shitty that they nickel and dime you at BBP for decent service.

I had a junior suite with an ocean view. I found my room to be outdated and dirty. It was not properly cleaned from the prior stay. There were crumbs on the table and hair in the corners. 

I had to call premium services multiple times in the first 24 hours for various issues, including empty toiletries in the shower and a safe with a low battery. 

I had dinner the first night at Coral because that was the only reservation available and it was just ok. The grilled shrimp were good, but that was it. I avoided the majority of the buffet aside from the fruit and the desserts. Their service was pretty good.

My room had a lot of mosquitoes and I got bitten quite a bit the first night. The next morning, I had the premium breakfast at Coral and that was also just ok. I had eggs and some fruit and yogurt. Not much else looked appetizing.

Then I went to the gym, which is small given how large the property is, but it appears to be functional based on the volume of people that use it.

I had lunch at Hoya 19, which tasted good, but then I ended up in the bathroom immediately after. I’m not sure what the culprit was. I had some shrimp, fruit and the pink sandwich with fries. The waitress was great.

I had dinner that night on the sushi side of Kyoto, which was wildly disappointing. I must’ve had the worst waiter there. He didn’t speak a word of English and he got my order wrong even when I pointed to what I wanted. When the food did come, it was cold and stale. The ice cream in the dessert was melted. I don’t understand how anybody likes that place.

Later that night, I thought I’d try room service. Anywhere else in the world, this stuff would still be considered bad food, but for this place, I would consider it good food. I would not eat it by choice outside of this situation. It was too hot to sleep so I was still up at 1am, at which time I saw a cockroach on the sofa. I could not sleep the rest of the night. I continued to get bitten by mosquitoes in my room. I called in the morning to report the cockroach and asked for housekeeping and pest control to come. 

I didn’t eat anything that morning or afternoon because I had basically given up. I called and asked for housekeeping to come while I was gone at the gym and the spa. The spa is probably the nicest part of the resort. Well maintained and professional. The massage was great. I had a deep tissue and tipped $10. If you have to come here, do not miss the spa. 

I returned to my room to find that no one had serviced it. I had been gone for 3 hours and even asked one of the housekeeping staff on my way out to service my room. 

I called premium services again for housekeeping and they instead sent someone with 2 towels. I told that person what happened the night prior and she saw that I was visibly upset. She agreed to come back after I had gotten ready for my event, and she did. She did an excellent job. I tipped her well. 

After the event I returned to my room to find a cockroach on the curtains. I called premium services immediately and they said someone could come in a few minutes. 25 minutes later I called again, and they said someone would come in 10 minutes. The cockroach made its way to the floor and I managed to put a glass cup over it. A woman with roach spray finally came and sprayed all over the room.

I felt much better after they sprayed, but later that night, I showered and was in a towel getting ready for bed when, around 1:45am, I saw a man peeking through the 4 inch SLIVER of patio curtain left open by the women who had sprayed. He was wearing a white polo so it stuck out against the darkness behind him. He ran away after noticing that I had seen him. Thankfully the doors were locked. After he left I peeked out and saw he had MOVED A CHAIR TO SIT IN AND WATCH ME (see pics). Who knows how long he had been sitting there or what he was doing while watching me get out of the shower, etc. Women are not safe anywhere. I have not seen an employee wear a white polo so I can only assume it was a guest.

I called the front desk and I was told it was probably a drunk person leaving the casino who mistook my room for someone else’s. I fought that idea hard and insisted this was not a mistake. They said they would review security video and get back to me. I don’t expect to hear anything back. 

This place just keeps getting worse. I want to go home so badly.

Stay tuned for part 2, if this place doesn’t kill me first.

Excellence El Carmen Review 

This was my first and probably last all inclusive stay. I had a hard time picking an all inclusive in Punta Cana for myself and my parents. I was about to book Lopesan Costa Bavaro but it was last minute and over $800/night for 3 people. Many places had varied reviews but a couple said Excellence brand was consistent, but I still don’t believe in the 4.9 Google Review. I’m still surprised it has such a high review, are standards really that low? This is far from a 5 star resort. We paid about $700/night for the double bed room.

Room: Super simple. I actually despise the open bathroom concept, which seems to be popular in Punta Cana. Very hard to find rooms with two double beds. Like hello siblings and friends also travel together? I decided to tag along with my parents, and talk about awkward. We had to take turns sitting on the balcony when taking showers. The plus is there is a huge couch and balcony. Our room was located near the center, so it was quite loud at night but easy access to all restaurants. The room is humid and your clothes will be wet. The room is falling apart, rusty sinks that clogged, towels are falling apart. We had 3 people in the room and never had the right amount of towels. The bed sheets were stained, and I found a moth larva the first night in my bed. Pillows were awful, they do have a menu, but they all suck. The body products were inconsistent, I’m pretty sure they used the L’Occitane lotion in our no brand bottle (they use L’Occitane for Club members only) which was fine, but then when I used the conditioner after running out of my own products it looked just like the lotion. I asked housekeeping for a new bottle, and she confirmed it wasn’t conditioner and I got a totally different product. At this point hotels need to bring back mini bottles.

Property: The only plus of this property was the landscaping. I loved it, it was so well maintained. Every night after dinner I’d take walks around it, felt super safe, amazing plants to look at. The beach area was nice, we didn’t have a sargassum problem and water was pretty calm. The vendors are slightly annoying but they don’t harass you. The pool set ups are strange. Each building has a pool but it’s awkward using it when the swim up pools are right there, people stare at you even though signage says “building pool.” The main pool is super small and pretty packed in the evenings with loud obnoxious drunk people. It is also pretty dirty when you walk in I was shocked. Half of the pool is also used for aerobics and other activities.

Activities: Lots of things to do on this property which is nice, from painting dolls, to yoga, to pool bicycles. The people in charge of activities were very nice and encouraging. We did have a problem with the Seasons Tour people, we booked a trip to Santa Domingo for the next day, however we got very sick after the buffet dinner the second night we were there. I wanted to cancel and they kept giving me a hard time, saying I had to go to the reception and tell the driver I can’t go maybe they’ll give me a refund. I was on the toilet but fine I will go. I waited for 10min nobody showed up I figured they forgot since we booked it so last minute. I told reception I had to go or else I will shit myself. They really didn’t want to give me a refund. I said it’s fine I will just dispute it with my credit card, your driver didn’t show up, they said he came at 7:16, well pick up was at 7am someone should have communicated he’d be late. Anyways they ended up not charging me and at check out they gave me a $300 Excellence voucher to use at any property.

Service: Hit or miss. I think I met like 3 people that were actually nice and had a smile on their face. They all expect tips regardless of the service they provide. I was shocked how miserable they all looked. This was so off putting. I have been to a couple islands and though service is usually on island time, I have never felt so unwanted especially at a resort and especially on an island that makes most money from tourism.

Excellence El Carmen Review Food

I love the branding for the menus on the app, and the interior designs are nice. I expected much better food from all this and the descriptions but food is lacking. Portions are small which is good to eliminate food waste, but sometimes I felt like the sides were a bit too small. The desserts were the best part. Service is hit or a miss, some people are very nice and remember you, while others look absolutely miserable.

The Kitchen Table: Buffett at breakfast was mid at best. Lots of options, but it all tasted bland. Had dinner one night here for “Dominican Night” it didn’t have many Dominican flavors and again had some generic foods like pizza and pasta, we got a bit sick the next morning but luckily didn’t last long.

Agave: Was okay, we had the talla style fish which was a bit dry, and the tampiquena steak which was pretty decent. 

Chez Isabelle: Pretty good food, they didn’t have the lamb and substituted a steak for my father which he said was very dry and cold and he was not impressed. I had the onion soup and tournedo rossini which was pretty good. My mom had the cod also had no complaints.

Basmati: Favorite, wish I came here twice but it’s not always open. The flavors were great, desserts were a bit too sweet but unique. 

Oregano: Didn’t come here for dinner but did come for lunch twice, huge fan of the tiramisu. The chicken had great flavor but a bit small, pizza was pretty decent as well as the salmon. Really nice server here who always remembered us. 

Flavor Market: Didn’t get to go to this one. 

Aroma Cafe: Pretty good sweets, good coffee, the girl never smiled I hated going in there (and yes I tipped). 

Spice: I was hesitant to go here since 1) I wouldn’t eat raw fish at an all inclusive and 2) I recently came back from Japan so I was expecting to be let down. The receptionist was so miserable, I saw her a couple times at breakfast she looked like she hated her job. The shrimp tempura is not tempura, the salmon was so dry and had no flavor, rice was AWFUL it was hard and dry which is wild because Basmati had some amazing rice. Dessert was good, and I feel like that was the one plus from all the restaurants.

The Lobster House: Dinner was inedible SO SALTY. Came here for lunch once, I loved my tacos and the chocolate cake, but my parents did not enjoy their food (salmon burger and the Tikin Xic Fish). 

Las Olas: Basic beach food, was fine. If you’re hungry and don’t want to walk far from the beach it will do.

The Grill: Had a really nice shy waiter here. Lunch was okay, I had a burger, my mom had the Grouper she enjoyed, my dad got the ribs but they didn’t add the coleslaw that was on the menu. For dinner my dad had the porterhouse he wasn’t impressed, my mom enjoyed her Kansas Steak, I had the beef ribs which were pretty good. Mac and cheese is actually penne with cheese sauce that was dry. The baked potato was a joke, it was miniature. 

TL;DR: The good: landscaping/property grounds, daily activities, and beach. The bad: condition of room, strange pool setup. Could be improved: food and service.