The beach at Excellence El Carmen - can you spot Corby?

Have you ever wanted to hop on a plane, get away, & just unplug for a week?

After a tumultuous year with high stress, incredible loss, and the ongoing pandemic, we knew we wanted to get away for a bit. We’d originally talked with a travel agent about a more adventurous trip to Belize but when it came down to it, we just needed a break from all thinking/planning/running from one thing to the next. So we took a chance and snagged a Black Friday deal through Excellence Resorts.

There are two Excellence brand resorts in the Dominican, Excellence El Carmen and Excellence Punta Cana. Based on online reviews and photos, we chose to go to Excellence El Carmen. Punta Cana was the original resort and El Carmen is a bit newer. (They also have a family-friendly brand called Finest, if traveling with kids is your thing.)

Getting there:

American Airlines has a direct flight from Charlotte to Punta Cana. It’s about 3.5 hours. Thanks to winter weather, our original flight was canceled and we were rebooked a day later. I’ve gotta say - I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to change our reservation dates at the resort. So a day later than planned, we headed to the DR! Excellence El Carmen works with Seasons Tours for private airport transportation, so we arrived in the DR and found our driver and we were off!

Our experience:

Pros:

view from the main building looking towards the beach

We arrived on a Tuesday, at a resort that was at 70% occupancy. When we were at our last dinner on Friday night, there were lots and lots of people checking in. We never waited for a table, never had an issue finding pool or beach chairs, and the service was impeccable.

The weather was a balmy 80 - 82 degrees with a constant light breeze.

The bellman escorted us to our room, showed us how to use the fountain in our pool, explained the room service situation, the mini bar, and everything else we needed to know.

The resort is just as beautiful in real life as it is online.

Several of the restaurants are either beautiful or have a great views - or both!

They have a great app with a listing of what restaurants are open when, dress codes, the entertainment schedule for the day, and literally anything you could need to know about the resort.

Cons:

Glass door on the bathroom. Who does that?!

Super salesy tour vendors. If I wanted to book an excursion, I would have already done it. There were also guys from the water sports company patrolling the boardwalk and walking around the pool. Once you told them no, they generally left you alone.

You couldn’t totally unplug because you need their app to order at the restaurants. I would have paid extra for paper menus and left my phone in the room.

The beaches in the Dominican are federal property - thus not private with beach vendors walking from resort to resort selling swimsuits, carvings, jewelry, etc. (They were very nice if you said no!)

Of note: In Aruba we were told not to leave anything on the balcony and porches as it would walk away overnight. This seemed to be a common theme at all resorts in Aruba, but we left our swimsuits out to dry each night in the DR without issue.

Restaurant Rundown:

Lunch apps at Lobster House

salmon tataki, crab roll, octopus toastada

Apps at Chez Isabelle

Lunch Entree at Lobster House

Mahi skewers

Dinner at Chez Isabelle

Scallops

Lunch at Lobster House

Chicken Quesadilla

When we were researching, we couldn’t find many food pictures or food reviews, so this is for you, new friends who googled and found yourselves here. Keep in mind we were only there for 4 dinners, and did not upgrade to Excellence Club so did not have access to those exclusive restaurants.

The Lobster House - by far my favorite. Located by the Main Pool and open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I went once by myself just to have some apps.

Chez Isabelle - The French restaurant where we went for our final dinner. By far the best themed restaurant in terms of the space, decor, and general ambiance, with indoor and outdoor seating.

Oregano - Great lunch spot, with the biggest portions we got the whole trip. In the same structure as The Lobster House, separated by a wall of plants. We had caprese salad and focaccia paninis.

Basmati - Indian food. I’m not a huge Indian food fan, but we enjoyed this. This one felt most like a weird empty movie set.

Spice - Pan asian food. If I did it again, I’d skip the hibachi show and just eat in the regular seating area. The hibachi was a preset menu with a sake to start, miso soup, a little noodle salad, and a main course of fried rice, veggies, chicken, shrimp, steak, and fish.

Sports Bar - you’ll never guess what this one is. Bar food & drinks, with tvs playing whatever games are on. Also has pool tables and this is where I learned they are serving you in real glassware when a ball hopped off the table, taking my drink to the floor with it. Oops.

Las Olas - self serve food at the pool and beach. You could walk over and make a plate and bring it back to the pool or eat there. Primarily burgers and pizza, with a variety of sides like pasta salad, mac & cheese, and nachos.

Flavor Market - just skip it and get room service.

The Kitchen Table - Giant buffet spread. We only had breakfast here, but enjoyed the wide selection of breads, juices, meats, etc.

Room Service - Don’t order the soup. Turns out they aren’t great at making soup when it’s constantly 80 degrees and you don’t need it. We were pleasantly surprised by the pages and pages of options (19 page menu!!) and really enjoyed our breakfasts on our deck by the pool.

We did not make it to Agave (mexican), The Grill (steakhouse), or the little food truck.

Overall, we had a great time!

I’d definitely recommend Excellence El Carmen to anybody who is looking to get away for a few days, up to a week. If you're considering a honeymoon at Excellence El Carmen, go for it! (Especially if you’re planning to go the day after your wedding.) It’s a great place to just relax and unwind.

If you’re going for a vacation or anniversary trip, I think unless you did the workouts, pool games, and all of the activities every day, you’d be bored if you went for more than a week. While we were there we did the fat tire bike ride, watched a few of the shows, and I also got a pedicure. The pedicure was a treat, with a scalp massage + hair mask included. I’d personally skip the massages/spa - I feel like they are wildly overpriced, especially when you probably have great massage options at home who can do ongoing bodywork for you. (I have a fabulous massage therapist at Mood House in Charlotte - hit me up if you want recommendations.)

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or want further clarification, please reach out!

Happy vacationing!