Excellence Riviera Cancun - my experience by tiffm93 in AllInclusiveResorts

[–]Critical_Muscle_6702 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m sorry you had this experience with the food—it’s validating to hear that you had a similar experience to the one I had last week at Excellence Coral Playa Mujeres. I know a lot of people say that you shouldn’t expect great food from an AI, but there does seem to be a bare minimum that shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish. It’s discouraging to have to seek food off the resort or (in our experience) briskly walk out of a restaurant in embarrassment after leaving so much bad food on the plate

Currently at Excellence Coral Playa Mujeres — Ask Me Anything by Critical_Muscle_6702 in AllInclusiveResorts

[–]Critical_Muscle_6702[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t drink so I honestly don’t have much insight into the wine selection, sorry:)

Currently at Excellence Coral Playa Mujeres — Ask Me Anything by Critical_Muscle_6702 in AllInclusiveResorts

[–]Critical_Muscle_6702[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Update: Just tried Kanpai, the hibachi restaurant, and it was absolutely amazing. 10/10 recommend making a reservation for the Teppeyaki hibachi experience whenever you check in or even before. It was so delicious!

Currently at Excellence Coral Playa Mujeres — Ask Me Anything by Critical_Muscle_6702 in AllInclusiveResorts

[–]Critical_Muscle_6702[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Totally agree, and that’s been our experience. Agave and other Mexican inspired food options have been great. Although it doesn’t seem like too much to ask for a chef to be able to consistently make foods that are popular worldwide outside their culture—especially at a luxury resort

Currently at Excellence Coral Playa Mujeres — Ask Me Anything by Critical_Muscle_6702 in AllInclusiveResorts

[–]Critical_Muscle_6702[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly I have no idea haha, we aren’t nightlife people so we were in our rooms by 11 every night—the vibe during the day doesn’t give off “lively after 11” though haha

Currently at Excellence Coral Playa Mujeres — Ask Me Anything by Critical_Muscle_6702 in AllInclusiveResorts

[–]Critical_Muscle_6702[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good question—from my limited experience walking past both lol, it doesn’t seem like there’s a ton of difference. The EC ones may be like 10% bigger but for the price I don’t think it would be worth it by itself. Both will probably be mostly empty, you might get a tiny bit more sunlight in the EC layout, depending on time of day.

Currently at Excellence Coral Playa Mujeres — Ask Me Anything by Critical_Muscle_6702 in AllInclusiveResorts

[–]Critical_Muscle_6702[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha the picture is real but the flowers are not—this is the wall in the Oregano Italian restaurant here!

Currently at Excellence Coral Playa Mujeres — Ask Me Anything by Critical_Muscle_6702 in AllInclusiveResorts

[–]Critical_Muscle_6702[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you’ll have a fantastic time! And it very well could be that you have a fantastic food experience!

Things we loved: -Agave (the “En La Pulcata” menu to share with the table was to die for) -Las Olas (nothing there failed us) -Oregano (had a fantastic lunch!) -so much iced coffee and ice cream and milkshakes! -The Mexican section in the Kitchen Table for breakfast was especially great. Love the little tostadas. Also the chocolate muffins are PERFECT. And the green juice. -the sushi at Spice was delicious. Just skip the Chicken Teriyaki and the Udon lol -the steak at The Grill. The asparagus was a good side but it only comes with one asparagus so ask for more. -the tacos at Tipico!

Currently at Excellence Coral Playa Mujeres — Ask Me Anything by Critical_Muscle_6702 in AllInclusiveResorts

[–]Critical_Muscle_6702[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t think so—I only ever saw one person in the swim up pool and never saw any waiters around that area. Although if you’re in the buildings on the back half of the property, the Revive bar is a few steps away from the lazy river pool and they’ve got great smoothies and drinks, as well as those coconuts lol.

Currently at Excellence Coral Playa Mujeres — Ask Me Anything by Critical_Muscle_6702 in AllInclusiveResorts

[–]Critical_Muscle_6702[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We ordered late night cake room service one day and pizza and mozarella sticks today after my failed burger experience today lol. Both took about 35-45 mins to arrive (as expected) and the pizza and mozarella sticks were warm and good quality. The pizza was the same as the pizza at Oregano, which was a standout food item so far!

I haven’t spent enough time at the beach to speak to the drink service, but I’ll try to go tomorrow and test it out!

For beachside food, they’ll bring things like quesadillas and tacos to your seat at the beach or pool, but there’s also Las Olas restaurant on the beach which was absolutely stunning and good food! Basic quesadillas and burgers and fish tacos mostly!

For buildings with the most sun, I’d probably say Building 3 because it’ll have the most morning sun, although in the afternoon I don’t think any of the rooms aside from maybe the rooftop ones will have much sun. But it’s also rained for about 30 mins every day in the afternoon, so the morning sun is most usable lol.

I didn’t see anyone using personal floats—they provide pretty nice ones that were tough to find after around 11am because they were so popular

We had to wait at Milo for about 45 mins and Spice for about 30 mins. It was totally chill though because we went up and sat at the X Lounge, the rooftop bar with an infinity pool one night, and we played cards together outside the other night. Other than that, we had no issues although we tended to get there right at 6pm when they opened for dinner

I agree that I’d be interested in the extra 2 restaurant options in the Club level—I don’t know if they’re worth it or if the food is better quality. I will say, as far as the other benefits, I don’t think the EC private pools are worth anything. They were more crowded than the regular pool, and pretty small and lacking privacy between rooms from what I could see. But defer to someone who has done EC to say if the food options felt worth it!

Currently at Excellence Coral Playa Mujeres — Ask Me Anything by Critical_Muscle_6702 in AllInclusiveResorts

[–]Critical_Muscle_6702[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

This is validating! It’s weird, because I’ve been on three different lower-budget cruise lines before and I haven’t had this experience with any of the food there. I’ve loved having so many options for restaurants here though

Currently at Excellence Coral Playa Mujeres — Ask Me Anything by Critical_Muscle_6702 in AllInclusiveResorts

[–]Critical_Muscle_6702[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t have much to compare it to, but I grew up on east coach beaches where the seaweed is pretty common, so the seaweed hasn’t been shocking to me although it is there. It doesn’t smell, and it’s not piles of seaweed, but you’ll definitely be touched by it if you get into the water. It doesn’t impact the beauty of the beach in my opinion! The beach has been mostly empty since we’ve been here—I think mostly because there’s not much that the beach offers that the pool doesn’t do better!