Mike's Excellent Vacation to Excellence Playa Mujeres in Mexico!

Trip date – June 20-23, 2008 

I ( Michael McHugh, Co-owner of Dream Makers Vacation Services) traveled to Mexico to do site inspections of various resorts.  Excellence Playa Mujeres is part of the Excellence Chain of resorts and is an adult’s only, all-inclusive resort.  Their resorts tend to have outstanding service, luxurious rooms and are just beautiful resorts in general. I was there on business for our travel agency. Dream Makers Vacation Services has a strong working relationship with this resort and sends many client’s there.

The Resort

Excellence Playa Mujeres was open in Nov 2007.  The grounds are well kept and very beautiful. 

The Service

Overall the service at the resort was excellent (sorry for the pun, but it was).  Everyone that you saw would say “Hola!”  Everyone was pleasant.  I saw many examples of employees going out of their way to help the guests.  For example, a guest was going to his room with two drinks.  An employee asked if he could help and ran down the hall to open his room for him.

The Rooms

Excellence Club Junior Suite Ocean View

I got an Excellence Club Junior Suite Ocean View.  This room had the Excellence club.  The Excellence club has the follow benefits:

·         Ocean view

·         Private check-in in the Excellence Club

·         Concierge desk on every floor, however, I only notice someone in the ground floor office.

·         Upgraded mini-bar.  You get more selections of liquor, wine, and beer.  However, you can order drinks through room service 24 hours a day. 

·         Private pools only open to Excellence Club members.

·         Fresh flowers in your room upon arrival.

·         Newspaper in your room every day.

The Junior Suite was very nice.  It was very spacious.  Every room had a jacuzzi tub.  Mine had an ocean view.  The balconies were very big.  They had a table with two chairs and the best part—a bed on the balcony.  I slept out here two nights.  It was very relaxing to smell the ocean and hear the waves crashing on the beach.  The shower was very spacious.  It had two showers—one that had a spray handle that you could remove from the wall and the other one was in the ceiling, so it was like a rain shower. 

The amenity pack was pretty extensive.  They use Bvlgari products.  It includes: shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, sewing kit, shower cap, tooth brush, cotton & q-tips, razor & shaving cream, and a shoe sponge.  Note that I was in the Excellence Club, so I had the upgraded amenity kit. 

Every room has wireless internet.  While you are on vacation it shouldn’t matter that you have access to your email or internet.  But, we can’t unplug can we?  It is nice to be able to email your friends pictures of your vacation.

The most interesting thing is that they have incense in your room.  It is a simple, but nice touch. 

They clean the rooms between 9am and 5pm.  I only had my room cleaned twice—Saturday and Sunday.  I was doing site inspections on Saturday.  I got back to my room around 3:30 pm.  My room was not cleaned.  I stopped by the concierge office on my way to the pool and kindly asked them if they could get someone to clean my room.  When I got back to my room, it was clean.  On Sunday, I was only out of my room for 1 hour for lunch and they came in and cleaned it.

Two Story Rooftop Terrace Suite

The room was the same as the Junior Suite, but had a 2^nd story.  The 2^nd steps led to a rooftop area that was as big as the room.  It had a table & chairs, two beds, and a hydrospa pool with two water falls.  The view from the terrace was incredible. 

Tipping

Tipping is included at Excellence resorts, but you are allowed to tip.  I tipped housekeeping and the bartenders.  I left $5 for housekeeping each day.  I gave the bartenders $4-5 at the end of each day.  At first, I did not notice a difference in the level of service.  However, on Sunday (my 3^rd day) the bartenders at the pool bar seemed to pay more attention to me.  If I was there longer, I suspect that the tips would have had a better effect.

However, many people I spoke with did not tip at all.  The service was still exceptional. 

The Food

Overall the food at this resort was very good.  Excellence Playa Mujeres has 8 restaurants:

1.       Barcelona – Mediterranean restaurant

2.       Toscana – Italian Restaurant

3.       The Flavor Market – Gourmet Restaurant

4.       Agave – Mexican Restaurant

5.       Spice – Asian & Japanese Restaurant with sushi bar

6.       The Lobster House – Lobster for dinner.  New York deli food for lunch.

7.       The Grill – Steakhouse for dinner.  Breakfast and Casual lunch.

8.       Chez Isabelle – French Restaurant

I ate at:

Mexican Buffet Party

They have a Mexican buffet on Friday nights.  I arrived at the resort on Friday, so this was my first meal at Excellence Playa Mujeres.  They serve the food outside the theater.  They have a band playing while you eat.  I am a picky eater especially when it comes to Mexican food.  I pretty much eat tacos or fajitas.  They had a variety of Mexican food.  I got fajitas.  They had beef and chicken.  The meat was good quality. 

The entertainment was good.  They had a singer that walked around and sang to people.  I sat at table with 6 women and 2 other men.  He sang to every one of the women.  It was very entertaining. 

Toscana

This is their Italian restaurant.  The food was very good.  I got the Carpaccio, Minestrone, and Lamb.  The Carpaccio was tender and delicious.  The Minestrone was warm and tasty.  The lamb was very tender and fell off the bone. 

The Lobster House

The lobster house has breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  For dinner they have a selection of lobster recipes, but for lunch they have a New York deli style menu.  I ate at the Lobster House for lunch.  I had the roast beef sandwich.  The beef was very tender and the sandwich was awesome. 

Chez Isabelle

This is the French restaurant.  When talking to guests at the resort, every person I talked to said this was the best restaurant on the resort.  I had escargot (2 plates) and the rib eye.  The escargot was prepared with a pastry (rather than in garlic butter) and was very good.  While I prefer filet mignon, the rib eye was very good.  There is always some fat on rib eye, but the steak was very tender and delicious. 

Martini Bar

The martini bar is down the steps from the main lobby.  They make very good martinis.  I had an espresso martini that was incredible. 

Room Service

Every room has an Ex-Box.  It is a little box next to your door where they can put your meals without disturbing you.  The box has 2 doors.  One on the outside next to your door that they unlock and put your meal.  The other door is inside your room, that you open after they deliver your meal.  This is a nice feature if you want to order room service, but don’t want to get dressed to open the door to receive your meal.  When you order room service make sure that you tell them you want it in your Ex-box.  I ordered one time without telling them and the guy didn’t have the key to the Ex-box, so I had to open the door.

They have a room service menu in your room.  They offer different meals depending on the time of day—it is not the same menu 24 hours a day.

I ate my breakfasts in the room.  They were very prompt when you ordered the night before—if you said you wanted it delivered at 8am, it was there at 8am.  Every meal that I got through room service was correct.  The one thing I was disappointed about was not being able to get Espresso through room service.

The delivery time varied.  I got room service within 30 minutes and the longest was 1 hour and 10 minutes.  However, when you order, they tell you how long it will take and they stick to that time.  The time that they told me it would be 1 hour and 10 minutes was 11pm. 

The Beach

I didn’t spend that much time on the beach.  I’m more of a pool person.  When I did visit the beach, I noticed that they had plenty of beach chairs and umbrellas.  In Cancun, seaweed washes up on the beach.  However, Excellence does a good job of cleaning the beach.  They have a vehicle that runs along the beach to pick up the seaweed.

The water is very clear. 

They have beach service—servers will get you drinks.

The Pools

Excellence Playa Mujeres has 7 swimming pools.  Four of them are heated in the winter.  Two of them are exclusively for Excellence Club members.  If you are in the Excellence Club and want a quiet day, go to one of the Excellence Club pools.  There aren’t many people there and you can have a nice quiet afternoon.

I like the pool by the Lobster House.  It has a pool bar and many people hang out there.  Try the Electric Lemonade.  It is very sweet, but good—you have to try at least one.  They have drink specials that change daily (remember, it is all inclusive, so every drink is special because it is Free!).  Even though this was a popular bar, I didn’t have a problem finding a lounge chair or raft.  The water was comfortable, drinks were great, and the service was good. 

Evening Entertainment

I didn’t go to many evening entertainments, but I did see two.  Friday night was Mexican theme night.  They had a Mexican band that was pretty entertaining.  The singer walked around the audience and sang to the women.  He was very good and made the show funny. 

Saturday night they had a magician.  I didn’t pay much attention to the show. 

Water Sports

They have a wide variety of water sports.  Most are included at no extra charge: kayaks, snorkeling, sailing, wind surfing, and introductory scuba lessons.  For an additional charge: scuba diving, deep sea fishing, and private yacht excursions.

The Spa

The spa was extensive.  I did not have any treatments, but it looked very nice.  They used aroma therapy throughout the spa.  They have an extensive menu of spa treatments. 

The Activities

The activities include aerobics and water aerobics, water polo, fitness, yoga, Spanish lessons, cooking lessons, theme nights, beach volley ball, beach football, tennis, basketball, football, ping pong, darts, board games, archery, air rifle shooting, and billiards.  We have copies of the activity schedules and am delighted to share information with our valued client’s-just ask us if you would like us to send you a copy of one.

Recommendation

We look forward to making your vacation dreams come true!   Please contact us at dreams@dreammakersvaca.com or at 888-449-3563 for more information.  We look forward to talking to you soon!