This was my husband and my 6th annual trip to EPM. I chose it for the first time way back in 2017 when most every travel site had it listed as the best adults only all inclusive in the proximity of the Cancun airport. Now, it’s still ON those lists, but it rarely sits at the top anymore. It’s still the top one I’VE been to, but some of the more recent changes make me more willing to branch out. I actually became addicted to the We Love Excellence Playa Mujeres Facebook page even before the trip. Like the resort, that page has gone through some changes as well. As a whole, I still love the vibe there, too.

If you’ve never been before, much of this blog may not mean anything to you. I have MANY others over the last several years that detail day-to-days… and much of those things are the same. This one would take you the first one of trip #3, back when I used to blog every single day one at a time. But now, there are so many thing on “repeat,” I do it all in one just for my memories…

This will talk about the trip, but it will also focus on change. The FIRST change was the arrival in Cancun. The last couple times we have gone, all COVID regulations have still been in play. This time, not only were masks no longer a thing, the FMM form was gone as well. The only thing US citizens need to get into Mexico now is a passport, no other paperwork. We generally fly Southwest and LOVE terminal 4. I feel like it’s quicker and easier than the more crowded terminal 3. We were through immigration in under a minute. That’s no exaggeration.

It took our luggage less than 20 minutes. I know for some that’s an eternity, but so that I don’t have to worry about how to pack my ridiculous extras (damp rid, power strip, bug repellant, sunscreen, and a different swim suit for every day and different dress for every night) into just one carryon, I’m willing to wait the 20 minutes. I also continue to book with Kalido even though my Seasons transfer would be free through the resort. (When you book ROOM only through the Excellence resort page, you get free, included, private transportation in an SUV. The only thing is that their communication can be spotty. I don’t do spotty communication, so I am glad to book with the family-owned Kalido). We walked with eyes straight forward through the gauntlet of time shares and out the door directly to Kalido. Our driver was there ready and waiting with our pre-ordered drinks.

The driver told us of all of the changes to the road on the way to the resort. Traffic was bad and it took us just over an hour, but the driver was wonderful, and we had a bottle of sparkling wine, so no problems there.

Pulling up at the resort is always magical. Immediately your bags are taken, and you are handed a glass of sparkling wine. We arrived a little later than usual, but that turned out to be for our benefit because our room was READY. I had requested any room in building 8A… and specifically requested room 8154. I actually got 8155 which was wonderful. I LOVE building 8. It is the closest to the beach. 8A looks out over the main pool area and restaurants to the beach, 8B looks out over the club pool. I think the view from 8A is stunning. We always get an Excellence club pool view room. I know we wouldn’t use a plunge pool. A swim up MIGHT be nice, but we like to move around to different areas of the resort. I don’t feel there is a need to pay extra for a room just one level higher when we get an ocean view from our pool view room most of the time. And club is DEFINITELY worth it to me. We don’t spend any time of the day in the non-club areas. I love the three private pools, the upgraded service of having people make up your beds and bring around the extras, and I love the Magna restaurant. Black Friday sometimes has the best deals on the club-level rooms. I’ve never paid more than $60 more per night for the club level of the same type of room. All of the interior of all the rooms is identical unless you have the honeymoon suite or imperial suite and there only two of each of those on the entire property.

Check-in went smoothly. Normally, we’ve been able to decline putting down a credit card for a hold. They did not allow us to decline this time, and the hold is relatively steep ($600). I can see how a hold that large could be a problem for some people. (Unsolicited word of warning: If you only have a debit, consider trying to get a credit card for the trip. Not a good idea to put a hold on a debit card. You have no protection if something goes wrong or they dont lift the hold in a timely fashion, but I digress).

Before we had arrived, I had requested a certain type of pillow from the pillow menu which you can find on the Excellence Collection app (Visco fresh pillows) and I had requested Bailey’s in the room through the email also in the app. I also knew that the spa was closed and under construction until at least December, and I wanted my free hydrotherapy. (It’s one of the big reasons that I book club level). I emailed the Excellence spa a few times asking what my options were since the spa was closed. They let me know that I could get hydrotherapy at either Finest (family resort) or Beloved (boutique couples resort) by emailing those resorts. It took several communications with Beloved and some back and forth with Excellence before they said that we could have the hydrotherapy complimentary. My parents were there at the same time as we were, and I believe they were able to have the building concierge set it up. Regardless, we all got our hydrotherapy sorted and were happy with our room placements.

I mentioned at check in that I am a platinum level member based on number of stays. They said that their membership system was currently down and they didn’t have access to it, but if I emailed a screenshot of my membership, they could honor it. I thought that was a little strange, but I was glad I did because during the stay, we had two random cheese trays delivered, two pretty nice bottles of red wine, and a bottle of Taittinger champagne! I’ll take it!

So, now that we were there, we immediately fell into “the routine.” This is where all the days begin to blend together. I have found that five days must be my “sweet spot.” It was the perfect amount of time to really relax and enjoy.

Mornings:

I always pack a bag the night before and then head on off to the beach just before sunrise (about 6:40). This year, I only got “my” bali bed (third one over from the concierge hut when you’re leaving the building 8 pool) two times. The other two the bed was taken by the time I got down there. ALL of the bali beds were claimed by 7:15. Be warned. For the most part, people were actually IN the beds, too. The concierges did a GREAT job letting people know that they would clear the beds off in 45 minutes if the people did not return and someone else wanted them. I saw them clear beds multiple times. Rubi was awesome! I love to do my wordle, listen to the waves, read a book, and wait for my husband to join.

This trip my parents were there, too… so I’d chat with Mom before she went off to do whatever activity she found for that day. She and my husband are activity people, normally. She did the bike ride, the painting, Zumba, paddle board, and some other things. This trip, he only did rifle shooting. Me? I just read. A LOT… and loved it!

The bali- beds are all claimed early but MOST of the time there are loungers available throughout the day on the club beach. This time, though, there were LOTS of large groups who would come in and take large areas. They can do that, of course. They didn’t leave, and they didn’t play music, but they were LOUD. Several people yelling back and forth to one another in their area, ordering rounds of shots and whooping and cheering. As a whole, the crowd seemed younger than they had in the past. I would say that the median age has dropped about ten years. When I first started going, the average age seemed mid 40s, now it seems mid 30s.

There were LOTS of people in the water. It was mostly clear, a little bit wavy, not turquoise like Isla Mujeres, more a seafoam green, but warm and nice.

I’m not normally a big breakfast eater, but I have to do the chilaquilles at Lobster House at least once for the view and for the chips, and breakfast at Magna on our last morning is a MUST. it’s always incredible. (This time I was a big fan of the almond croissant, the goat cheese omelet, and the quail egg with caviar).

Afternoons:

My husband would come and join me with a coffee and a croissant from Aroma in late morning. We’d have a few bloody Mary’s on the beach (Floricel is an AMAZING beach server) before making our way to lunch, On the first day we used to do The Grill. That has changed names now and is Oregano, but currently, its lunch menu is the same as the old Grill. This time, we generally went to Las Olas on the beach. They brought back some of the themes from the past, but without live music at this point. Still, I like being on the beach. I do miss the old days with toes in the sand. Still the service is very good and good light snacks for lunch, so you don’t feel TOO bad if you order room service or a pizza later! (Do NOT order room service pizza… lol.. it’s kind of hilariously bad…)

After lunch time for us is generally pool time. Building 8 pool had A LOT of people there this time, including some big groups, so we spent part of the long weekend and the very quiet building 9 pool. Julio was the concierge at all 3 of the club pools and did an amazing job making sure that beds were made up, that we constantly felt taken care of, and that we got exactly the kind of day we wanted. Building 9 pool was COLD but refreshing, especially with that late day heat blasting on the deck side. The hot tub at the building 8 pool was FIERY hot! Julio did act like the monkey drink and the goodbye art were automatic things to get on the last day of EC. I had not felt like that was the case before.

Nighttime:

Even on the nights I suggest we forgo dinner because I’m just not hungry, my husband is NOT having it. And generally we have a plan. We always do dinner and then try to make the show. Sometimes we go to the sports bar or Havana after for a drink. Usually, though, it’s just dinner and a show. So, I’m giving a quick rundown of each night.

Thursday: Flavor Market where the food was good but the service was EXCRUCIATINGLY slow. We only had a few plates, but it took forever to get anything. I think they were very understaffed. We went from there to the fire show that was inside the theater. It was AMAZING. To watch them literally jumprope fire is pretty impressive.

Friday: This was the last night for the restaurant formerly known as Toscana. It became “The Kitchen Table” on Saturday when the new Grill opened in the old Barcelona space. At the moment, “The Kitchen Table” isn’t open at night at all. It has the breakfast buffet and the former Toscana lunch menu at the moment. The entertainment of the evening was also a new addition: Lucha Libre!!! My husband couldn’t have been more excited! He grew up in South Texas watching Lucha Libre and it definitely was all he was hoping it would be! Just before that, the Elite rock band played in the courtyard. They are always a highlight for me! I think they’re EXCELLENT!

Saturday: We started at the Lobster House with just steamed lobster tails. I truly think that they’re excellent. I like Maine lobster, but I might actually even prefer the small, sweet Caribbean ones? After that, we went Basmati hunting and finally found it right beside Agave. Both are squished into one small spot at the moment. I don’t think that’s going to be permanent, but I’m not sure. The wait at Basmati was going to be an hour, so we elected not to wait and went to Spice instead. There were several very large groups at Basmati… tables of eight to ten. I was glad to go to Spice. I miss the old sushi bar, but the little Hibachi rooms look interesting. The sushi was good, the Mongolian beef was terrific, and the desserts at Spice are the best in the resort, I think. I love the tempura ice cream. Saturday night was burlesque which had changed a little bit from past years and is still very impressive.

Sunday: Dinner at Magna always feels as close to fine dining to me as you can get at EPM. Yes, they had the crazy Tomahawk steak, but that’s not really my thing. I LOVE their salads, their foie gras, and their ravioli. As usual, the whole meal was terrific. As I mentioned before, the crowd has changed and Sunday night entertainment reflected that. It’s a “glow” party. You can paint yourself up with florescent paint and dance to music largely from the 2000s (whereas, in the past, most of the music was 80s/early 90s). LOTS of people doing shots and seeming to have a really good time. Not my thing…

Monday: I was thrilled to hear that the Mexican fiesta was back. However, the weather was forecasted to be stormy, so it was moved inside to The Kitchen Table. It did not storm, but I understand the precautions. The food for the fiesta was just as fabulous as it had been in the past and so was all of the entertainment that came with it. The quesadilla station, the leg of lamb, and the roast suckling pig were definitely highlights. I love the Mayan show even if they scare me! And it was a GREAT grand finale to the trip.

Will I be back? Oh, probably. I had an amazing time, but I AM ready for a change. I love the things that stayed the same… I don’t necessarily love the new. So, maybe it’s time for something entirely new for me? I do hope EVERYONE has as fabulous of a time as I have had over the past six visits and that more people keep on loving Excellence Playa Mujeres.