Excellence El Carmen Review (Punta Cana All Inclusive COVID-19 experience)

After Canada dropped the quarantine on arrival for international flights, myself, my partner, and a few friends decided to take a trip to the sun of Punta Cana in November.  We decided on the Excellence El Carmen as our place to enjoy the sun. While it wasn’t full of Michelin star restaurants, it did hit the spot for solid food & drinks under the sun. 

Booking

For once, I wasn’t in charge of planning, which was nice! In the end, the group decided on the Excellence El Carmen which is bookable through their website, through All-Inclusive packages on third party booking sites, or through Airline travel portals. If booking Excellence El Carmen on their website, the cost is about $340 a night for a refundable base room. 

That said, if you’re going up to an Excellence Club room (more on that later) with access to the swim up bar, than you’re looking at about $450 a night. 

These prices are also for November. If you’re looking at February of 2022 base rates climb to over $550 a night! 

I personally booked through WestJet Vacations, as I was able to use my Westjet dollars to offset the costs. Additionally, while private transfers were not included, we did have a bus transfer included.  I will note that it’s not easy to get a hold of WestJet Vacations, which makes me hesitant to spend money with them as any changes may require about 8 hours on hold with them. 

That said, while February 2022 rates are quite steep, November 2022 rates are more aligned to what we paid for our package. It will be interesting to see if prices continue to rise due to high demand and persistent travel inflation. 

Travel

I won’t be reviewing my flight, as it was a pretty normal WestJet 737 flight. I will note that it’s important to have your Nexus card, as the lineups for security in the morning at Toronto Person’s T3 are significant as about 12 WestJet flights leave in a 60-minute window.

Additionally, it seems like I wasn’t able to get a free online bag with my WestJet World Elite Mastercard. It’s my understanding that RBC is having troubles, but the desk was able to waive the fee after seeing my WestJet Mastercard. 

We arrived in Punta Cana to a LONG line, which appears to be typical. Almost our entire crew who came in on different flights waited at least an hour, with some people waiting up to 90 minutes. If you’re in a hurry, or just don’t want to wait, there is a VIP arrival service that the Punta Cana airport offers. According to the Punta Cana airport website, the VIP Arrival service lets you sit down in a lounge while immigration is completed and someone collects your bag. Unfortunately, it comes with the steep cost of $100 US + tax + tip! Maybe next time…?

The Hotel

The Excellence El Carmen is about a 45-minute drive from the airport.  Booking through Westjet Vacations, we took a shared bus to the hotel, which wasn’t as good as the SUV car service that the hotel provided. 

Upon arrival, we were greeted by doormen who took our bags and welcomed us to the hotel. Those on our bus who had Excellence Club rooms were taken to those rooms while everyone else was taken to a normal check-in area. There was a lot to take in during the check-in, and while our associate was nice and competent, we really just wanted to see our friends who were at the lobby bar. The best part of an all-inclusive is immediate drinks, right? 

The Room 

We ended up going to the room after a quick drink. Located in Building 2, on the top floor, room 2211 was a standard suite room that’s advertised at 800 sq ft. Immediately to the right as we entered the room was the closet. In the closet were hangers and room for our suitcases in addition to the safe. I will call out that one room in our group did report a watch and some jewelry stolen, so I’d advise using your safe, just like I would in almost every hotel. 

Excellence El Carmen - Suite Closet

To the left of the door was the bathroom. It had him & her sink stocked with toiletries, towels, and even a hair dryer. There was also a makeup mirror and room to get ready, a key for freshening up after a busy day in the sun. 

The bedroom area had a comfy king-size bed with a sitting area. The bed was pretty straightforward, not as comfy as a Westin bed, but comfier than a Courtyard.  I did like that there were stereos beside the bed that I could use to plug in and charge my iPhone. 

Excellence El Carmen - Suite King Bed

The sitting area had a sectional in front of the TV. While it appeared that it was a nice setup, I will note that the couch showed its wear and tear, with stains on it.

There were stains on the couch

I will say, overall, the room showed wear and tear of a 3 not 5 star hotel. For example, the bar fridge door was off the hinges. Additionally, the bar fridge was showing rust, not something that’s very flattering. 

Outside, we had access to a balcony with a lounger and chairs, which was nice after a day on the beach. This is why you stay at a resort like this, which make’s the little details less important in my opinion.

There was also a weird hot tub in every room, that was inside the room. To be entirely honest, it was pretty weird, and we didn’t use it. 

Facilities

The resort is expansive, with 15 bars and 10 restaurants, it’s likely able to keep your taste buds trying new options daily. The resort was organised in 4 “courtyards” with bars located at both ends. Pool access rooms are on the bottom floor of blocks 1 - 9, while 10 - 16 have most of the massive suites. It was nice that the main lobby (52) wasn’t too far from any part of the resort, which made it easy to access food. 

With regards to fitness facilities, there was a really nice fitness center. To be entirely honest, I was shocked by how good the facilities were. There were ergs, squat racks, TRX, a stretching room, a bench, and rows of treadmills. This likely is one of the best hotel gyms I’ve ever been to. 

Additionally, there were two tennis courts located by bunk 15 with a sign up sheet that you could “reserve” an hour court. We typically played later in the day, but expect it to be really hot if you’re playing between 10 - 3. 

The beach had rows and rows of towels and beach chairs with umbrellas. That said, the typical problem of people going down to the beach at 8 am and claiming a chair with their book happened, which was annoying AF. If you’re looking for more chair access, without having to run down early, think about booking a Club Lounge room, as there is a special beach section for people who have access. 

Additionally, there are numerous pools around the facility. The main pool was by Oregano and Lobster House and contained the only swim-up bar. There were typically people playing music and entertainers by the pool all day, offering games, challenges and even an aquafit class in the morning. By no means was there a rager with a DJ blasting music, which fits in with the vibe of this property as a less party and more “chill” place. 

The bars located all around the facility offered all the typical drinks. As promised, the hotel offered standard American / Western brands as their bar rail (think Smirnoff, Bacardi etc.). That said, they typically had a cheaper Western brand on the rail and if you didn’t ask specifically for a Jack Daniels, they would use a cheaper alternative, which to me is fair enough. Additionally, Presidente, the Dominican beer was on tap, but if you asked, you could get bottles of Corona, Sol, Heineken, or Coors. 

Bottles in the room

Dining

Now, I think my partner disagrees with me here, but I thought the food was fine. I live in Toronto, I’m used to high quality food from all over the world. You can’t expect that an All Inclusive resort is going to pull off top-quality food from around the world. That said, I’m expecting the food to be fresh, the kitchen and dining rooms to be clean and the presentation of the food to be good. In my opinion, that’s what we got, and that’s all I can ask for. Don’t come to this resort to expect 5-star food, expect 3 or 4-star food that’s under-seasoned to appeal to the mass consumer and that’s what you’re going to get. That said, we did try a few restaurants. 

I will give a huge shout-out to the Sports Bar team (Felix, Joan, Lariel, Carlos) for running the most fun place at the resort. These guys had a good time and we’re attentive in a casual atmosphere. So much so that we pretty much started every night out at the bar (frequently ordering the chicken wings…)

Excellence El Carmen Sports Bar

For breakfast, we typically ate at The Kitchen Table, which is the main buffet at the resort. There was a wide variety of food and I usually just had some sort of eggs, a smoothie and some fruit for breakfast. 

I also liked this option for lunch, as I was able to have a stirfry for lunch every day which wasn’t to filling, but also healthy. There were plenty of options for every preference, and the food was kept hot / cold to align to safety standards. 

Additionally, we ordered breakfast through room service once, which came within about 30 minutes. Room Service is 24 hours and included in your stay.

I also spent a day in the Club Lounge to work, so I managed to sneak in some egg’s benedict and fresh juice there while I was working.

The first night we were there we booked into Spice for the Teppanyaki experience. The food was fine but going there as a group was an awesome time. This is more of a fun experience, not a fine dining experience. 

The next day we went to the Lobster House at Excellence El Carmen. Located by the main pools and near the beach, it had a nice outdoor vibe that is open for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. We had Mussels, Coconut Fried Shrimp, grilled Lobster and the Surf & Turf (yes, I may have ordered two mains…) 

I liked the food here, as the Lobster appeared to be fresh and the mussels were different. That said, I spend a lot of time in PEI, and it’s no PEI lobster! 

The following day we went to Agave, the Mexican restaurant. I had the Mahi Mahi Veracruz style and the fish tacos, which were a bit disappointing. We also ordered Fajita’s the next time we went there, and although the pictures don’t look ideal, they were pretty good but didn’t have a bold, Mexican flavor. 

We also had a (maybe very drunk) dinner at Oregano, the outdoor Italian restaurant. I thought the Caprese salad was fresh and the pesto pasta hit the spot. That said, the Pesto definitely wasn’t using traditional pine nuts. 

The Point

To be entirely honest, this was a much-needed vacation. Was the hotel perfect? No, but I don’t go to an all-inclusive expecting perfect. Did I feel safe, was the weather good, and the company great, absolutely yes! While I wouldn’t hesitate to return to Excellence El Carmen, I’d likely want to try another resort to compare the experience.