I’m a long time lover of Excellence – and an even LONGER lover of the “We Love” Facebook fanpages that got me addicted before my first Excellence Playa Mujeres trip way back in 2016. My husband and I went six years in a row- sometimes just the two of us, sometimes with other couples and family. NONE of us went just once. As the resort began to go through different ownership and some changes, we still loved it – just not QUITE as much. We ventured out. I started booking resorts BEFORE they opened to get a better deal. First, going to the absolute SHOW STOPPER Secrets Impression Moxche in 2023 then to Secrets Playa Blanca the following year. We would absolutely return to both of those – but Impression has now gotten out of our budget.

Before we went to either of those, though, we knew that Coral was being built. The day the reservations opened up online, I booked four different rooms on four different dates because I knew the prices would never be as low again as they were pre opening. A few months before we went, my husband convinced me to do the one-time splurge, and I cancelled the other more reasonably priced rooms and got room 5094 – the oceanfront Honeymoon suite with private pool. I have ZERO regrets and am only sad that, unless we get some windfall, it’s the only time we will stay in this room. (It is now usually about 1300 a night. That’s way out of my budget.)

So we set off on Wednesday, November 19, from Austin to Cancun on a completely unremarkable 2-hour flight. (unremarkable flights are THE BEST), landed in Cancun, through immigration in less than 2 minutes (not exaggerating) and our luggage was out in less than 20. SOAKED, but out in less than 20. Apparently there was a super quick rainfall right after we landed. The weather for our whole trip looked perfect, but there were a few VERY fast rain showers in the afternoons. (Pro- tip. Don’t ever bother looking at weather percentages- you can look at AMOUNTS of projected rainfall. Unless it says it’s over an inch, don’t worry – it will just be scattered.)

Yes, our Seasons transfer would have been included. They are lovely, new vehicles with great drivers. They are fantastic 99% of the time. Regardless, I pay $150 extra and book Kalido. What may seem like a waste of money to some is totally worth it to me. They are always quick to communicate, always arrive early, and allow for ordering drinks on the ride. I also get medical travel insurance through BCBS Global solutions and pay my Visitax. I am definitely risk adverse!

Eduardo was ready and waiting for us when we walked outside and we were to the resort in about 40 minutes – greeted with a cold towel and sparkling wine and checked in within a few minutes in the club lounge.

I had done the pre checkin online, so they didn’t need to scan our passports and had most of my information. I did inquire about getting a Whisper reservation – and was told there weren’t any available during our four-day stay. This didn’t surprise us. I know they are hard to come by. I also get the feeling that if I escalated it, and called day after day, I could have gotten in. One of the people VERY much “in the know” at the resort told me that no-shows are a consistent issue and to expect an announcement in a few weeks about requiring a deposit. I’m MILDLY disappointed we couldn’t get in, but I’ve seen other cool “drinks” shows, and I watched a YouTube “spoiler” video. It would have been fun, but I didn’t need it. The Bear (my husband) was more concerned about Comales. Comales is in Agave, and it is traditional Mayan cuisine prepared in front of you by the chef.

We were told that there WOULD be a Comales reservation, but they couldn’t officially sign us up for that until we got ALL the way checked in at 3 o’clock. The only other restaurants that need (or allow) reservations are the Hibachi style meals at Kanpai or the smokehouse experience at The Grill. Both of those interest me, but not this trip… I had already put together my thoughts of when and where we would eat using the Excellence Collection app. Since we were there for a short trip, and I knew not all the restaurants were open every night, I had put together a table of what we THOUGHT we might do for the restaurants. We didn’t stick entirely to the plan, but I still enjoyed making it!

Ready to get the trip started, we made our way to lunch at Oregano. The Bear laughed at me as I walked directly to it like I had been at the resort a thousand times before. I’ve seen all the maps, watched all the videos. I really did know EXACTLY where we were going. To be honest, it was not the best possible start to our trip. I always like to start at Oregano at EPM because I LOVE the view. The view at Oregano at Coral was pretty, but not spectacular.

And I didn’t love our waiter. He seemed to forget us multiple times, told us they had run out of pizza as they kept bringing it out for other people… so the resort was lacking a little “wow” factor in the first hour. BUT I was thrilled to be there, and the food was fine. I met a fellow “We Love” facebooker (Hi, Gil!) who told us how much we would love Milo, which I had planned on our final night.

Lunch being mediocre is no big deal to us. We really pay little attention to ANY meal except dinner. We did go to Zenith one morning for breakfast, which was tasty and beautiful.

And on our final morning we ordered room service. I really wish Excellence resorts would join the 21st century with room service. As of now, you can’t order from an app. Every time I call, it sounds like I’m calling an incredibly busy call center. The person on the other end, understandably, doesn’t speak flawless English. There is always a lot of repeating and correcting, and often the order that comes STILL has errors. They already require us to have our phones to order from menus in restaurants (which I actually don’t mind. I can see those better than I can see other menus). Why not just add a room service app option?

But other than that, most mornings, I just wait for the Bear to come join me on the beach and bring me a croissant and coffee. I do love my mornings on the beach… but I digress…

After lunch, it was checkin time, and I couldn’t have been any more excited. THE ROOM!! Oh, and how 5094 was all that I expected it to be. The air conditioner was good, the closet was huge, the bed was comfortable, and the bathroom was… weird.

The room had see through, sliding dividers to separate the living room from the bedroom; they would shield people in the bed from those walking by outside if they wanted that. The room was definitely lovely overall.

We never did get around to using the large whirlpool tub with the view to the outside. I THINK it was arranged in a way that people wouldn’t be able to see in unless they were REALLY trying to look.

As for the “weird” bathroom. It was big, but why? It had a big LONG shower, but still only one showerhead and a wand, that could not be used simultaneously. The toiletries and the controls were not in arm’s reach when you were under the water. The floor was treacherously slippery in the shower, and there was no bench and no door of any kind, so using the wand was tricky. I watered the bathroom door and floor multiple times. The water closet was also large- again, for no reason. There was nothing in there except a toilet. In the entire restroom there are only two small hooks to hang anything- no towel racks, no nothing. I also found the hardware and the “marble” odd. It photographs pretty well, but it feels cheap. The marble is clearly a print as identical tiles are placed one on top of the other, and the fixtures feel plasticky. The “brass” or “gold” or whatever is chipping off many of them all over the new resort, and they are loose and non-working in a lot of places. The same can be said for the black paint on particle board. Very odd choices for a higher end resort. And don’t even get me started on the cheap pool loungers at the main AND club pools. I keep wondering if they are temporary.

But boy, oh boy we sure did use OUR magnificent, beautiful pool!! (with great loungers…)

The water was comfortable. It was definitely slightly heated, enough to take the chill off. It was literally the only pool we went in the entire trip! We thought about about the main pool- which was large, gorgeous, and had plenty of chairs, but entry and exit access from the pool seemed a difficult. It looks very sleek, but there aren’t a lot of ways to get in and out of it. The club pool chairs went early- and the pools themselves were pretty small. The rooftop pool at X-lounge is a cool concept, but even smaller with only a few loungers. There are four bali beds available to rent up there. Then, there is another “club pool,” but it would be VERY strange to access it. There IS a ladder from the outside on the pathway by building five. All the rooms have private pools and decks, however, so you would be in the pool, without a lounger, and you’d be in front of other people’s rooms with no drink service. I think a lot of this resort is geared towards people being at the main pool or in private pools in their rooms. Some of those are at the BACK of the resort facing the golf course and VERY quiet. They also wouldn’t get drink service.

Service, overall, during the day was an issue. I’m not sure if they’re understaffed because they can’t find servers, or if they are purposefully trying to keep costs down. There was only one server on the beach and one server at the club pool, and it took a LONG time to get things, for the most part. They were literally running and working so hard, but it’s too much to do. Still, the bars are VERY close and all over the place, so it’s easy enough to get your own.

If lunch IS a big concern for you, getting food during the day is also no issue. Agave and Oregano are open most days for sit down meals. I also love Las Olas right on the beach.

You can also get food delivered from room service, from the beach/pool menu, or stop by Tipico to grab some street tacos. Insider tip: If you like McDonald’s french fries, ALWAYS order extra fries. They are like McDonald’s but better!

As I said, we really don’t give “thought” to food during the day. We do EAT it, but we’re just “grab and go” people. I do think it’s unusual that the Kitchen Table is ONLY open for breakfast. So many people seem to like a buffet for lunch. We only stumbled in there one night to check out Mexican fiesta. We loved it when it was outside at EPM, and it really looked great at Coral, too. That’s one we have on our “next time” list. They layout and the decor in the Kitchen Table are amazing. I’m sure it’s great for breakfast, too.

We only had four nights total booked at this resort, and all of our days look pretty much the same. I like to get up and get down to the beach EARLY. Getting a beach bed is important to me, and I like to see the sunrise, so I’m down there by 6:15 or so. I bring a book and stay put. I usually wasn’t the first one down there, but I got the bed I wanted every day. There are only five total on the “honeymoon side.” There were a few big groups with one or two people reserving MASSIVE amounts of chairs (15 or 16 of them), but the beach concierges were good about removing things if someone else came down and wanted them, and they weren’t being used. It was VERY windy, but that kept it cool. I brought towel clips to use to hold the wall to my bed in place and block the sun. I usually stayed down there until around noon. Generally, the beach concierge would come down and get me set up at around eight. Then, at about ten, drink service was hustling, but spotty, so I usually walked up to the bar right behind the beach. The club bars are double sided with one side walkup, the other swim up. There was a bathroom right around the corner. Again, the design of the bathroom was weird. SO HOT! It had some vents in the top but no other circulation at all. I can’t imagine what it feels like in the heat of summer. None of that stopped those hours on the beach from being wonderful. It wasn’t QUITE as peaceful as some other resorts. The pool music started at around nine, and I felt it was pretty loud, even on the beach. The resort keeps the beach pristine. Unfortunately, the tractors and (what I referred to as) the “beach Zamboni” are loud and smelly… I never went to the Imperial suites side because I knew ALL of those beach beds were reserved for the Imperial suite guests. Yes, the imperial suites are expensive. Regardless, to me, it’s overkill. They have their loungers with their pool. Then, they have reserved loungers on the club pool. AND they have reserved beach beds. I can see having either the pool loungers OR the beach bed, but it’s not like you can be in two beds at the same time. It seems they should have to select one or the other and leave one for other guests. Anyhoo… I was just a lowly honeymoon suite guest, so nothing extra reserved for me. Ha!

I’m not one who goes into the water on the beach. (I don’t really like the sand. I just like the view). The water was choppy while we were there, but minimal sargassum and beautiful color.

The Bear would join me on the beach for a few hours after the sun came up, and then we’d make our way to our pool when it got warm. He was a little disappointed that some of the activities he’d come to enjoy -like rifle shooting and painting – weren’t happening. I heard from some other guests and some of the employees that the app wasn’t always reliable. so they might plan to go to a cocktail lesson or bracelet making, but it wouldn’t occur. I’m not a big one for daytime activities, but I understand that would be really frustrating to people if it was something they really wanted to do.

I was really just enjoying my room so much that, by our last day, I wanted to stay there all afternoon. BUT I had asked the Bear to schedule a hydrotherapy for me when he made his spa appointment. All club guests still get a truncated hydrotherapy included, but I had read that it’s just not worth it for only thirty minutes, so we both got upgraded to the full time. Even though he was getting a massage, he still had to pay to get his extended ($60 per person). I asked him to cancel mine so I could stay in the pool, but they said we would still be charged because it was too late to cancel.

In the end, I’m glad I went. It was a lot of fun! We started in the warm pool with different jets. Then, we got into three different showers with different temperatures and lights. Then, the sauna – followed by the ice room, which was new to me! I liked it, and I might have thrown a few snowballs at the Bear. Then, the steam room where we covered ourselves with sugar scrubs and lotions. Finally, the cold plunge, warm plunge, and walking on river rocks. It all ended with a short shoulder and scalp massage on a heated slab.

I do think the spa’s location is a little peculiar. It’s right there in the hotel lobby. Still, while the Bear was finishing his massage, I could go on a walkabout. (By the way, he said his massage was very good and the rooms were warm and weren’t clinical at all like they used to be at EPM.) I went and checked out Revive (the smoothie bar) and saw a wedding being set up in the gazebo, and saw the non-club rooms and even the private cabanas that could be rented at the back of the resort. They looked like they would be great with a group. I think they are $100 per person with a minimum of four people, but you have your own pool, bartender, and a cook for day. Not a bad deal!

I walked through building five to get back to my room. This, to me, is another place the resort made questionable choices. The corridors are VERY drab with motel looking drywall. I don’t know if this is intentional or something they may change in the future, but with so much of the resort being so “Instaworthy,” the halls are incongruent.

The most bizarre area to me is the area smack dab in the center of the resort, right outside the martini bar and the restaurants, where the nighttime live music is. I can only assume that this area will EVENTUALLY include a Prelude bar or something like that, but right now it’s a HUGE open space without enough seating and only occasional drink service from the martini bar at night.

I feel like I’ve spent so much time talking about what we DON’T do… I’ll talk about what we DO do: that’s hit the bars and the restaurants EVERY night… usually multiple bars and restaurants. At this resort, the menus at each restaurant are very limited, and not all restaurants are open every night. If you care about your dinners, you will likely want to go to the app, read the menus, and do a little planning. If you’re fine with whatever, there won’t be an issue.

So, on our first night, my plan was originally to go to Zenith. I was going to get the clams and the lobster; the Bear was going to get the steak. The more he looked at menus, however, he changed his mind and really wanted to do the tasting menu at Raices. That’s one of the things I LOVE about not having to make reservations! You can go with your mood of the day.

We always try to go to a bar at about five and then dinner at six. The Bear is an early to bed, late to rise guy, and neither of us want to have wait for dinner. So our first bar was X-lounge. The breeze is great, and it’s a lovely place to start and really see the whole resort. We wanted to do a sushi appetizer the first night, but the wait was going to be too long if we wanted to get to Raices at six. We did go up there again another night, and the sushi was quite good, and the view in the dark is SPECTACULAR, too, as is the view in the morning. I do wonder why they would choose to build such a HUGE Las Olas right where it breaks up the horizon. It seems like they could have made a better design choice.

From there, it was off to dinner. Most of the restaurants are in an atrium right beside the lobby/main building. A few are in the main building (Chez Isabel and Magna among them) Aroma, the coffee shop, and Kakao, the chocolate shop, bridge the two buildings. If you like chocolate, don’t skip Kakao; it’s a fun concept! There are shelves full of different types of little chocolates. You can grab as many as you want, and they are made on site. I wish they had to-go bags or something. As it is, you have to carry them around in a napkin. Still, there is no charge unless you want to buy a candy bar, so it’s a fun place to pop in.

Upstairs at Raices, the menu is either a la carte, or you can do the tasting menu which begins on the hour. If a time slot fills up, or you want to reserve for later, you can put your name down at the restaurant for that night only. It’s an adventurous menu of nine small courses. Some of the courses include things like crickets or ants. (The shrimp and crickets was one of my favorites.) The courses were hit and miss. The lamb was VERY overcooked, but the duck was amazing. The chicken with mole was phenomenal! We did do “pairings” with it, but the servers seemed to struggle with that. The wines sometimes came with the courses, sometimes didn’t. Sometimes the pours were VERY skimpy. The Bear ordered the Mezcal “pairing,” which turned out not to be a pairing at all. Instead, it was a tasting that had nothing to do with the meal. The pairings were $50 extra a piece, and kind of fun, but the upsell didn’t add anything to the meal. Still, Raices was good overall, and we’re glad we went. If I had to rate, I’d rate it as our third-place meal out of four; but the top three were all really close.

The following night was Thursday, and we planned to have a drink at the club lounge, then go to Magna. This was likely our least favorite meal. Nothing was bad. It was all just okay. My watermelon salad was probably my favorite part. We’d been told not to bother with the cauliflower soup because it’s nothing like the one at EPM. The restaurant is GORGEOUS and the service was good. We’re not sorry we went, but it didn’t compare with the other three meals.

I like the way Magna set up. It feels very intimate. The Bear says he feels like every time we go to Magna he “orders wrong.” I get it. It often is not one of my most memorable dining experiences. After dinner, we went to wander the Mexican fiesta night for a bit.

My bar on the list for that night was the Sports Bar since Thursday night football would be on. It’s in the main building behind the martini bar, and it’s really a good looking spot. Lots of TV’s. The service the night we were in there was a little abrupt and not super friendly, but I was glad to go.

The Bear was ready for bed, so I hung out a little longer and walked around the resort. I watched one of the fountain shows, which are really fun. They do two a night, and each one I saw was a little different, They do all begin with the same song. (“Excellence is calling you” will get stuck in your head! iykyk! ha!) The best view of the fountains is from the gazebo or from the long walkway alongside the theater.

On Friday night, we went back up to the X-lounge for our sushi and then went to Comales in Agave. Whereas Raices was newer, funkier Mexican; Comales is old school, homestyle. There are ten people around a flattop grill as each guest is served several salsas and a multitude of courses. This was great fun! One of the servers, Mayra, was the same server we had had at Raices. Her laugh is infectious! Each course came with some education about the ingredients, and there were several drinks to try as well- both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. This, to both the Bear and me, was a “don’t miss!” We would probably do it again even if the menu were exactly the same.

We stopped at Agave bar after for a drink. It’s somewhat awkward because there are no barstools there, but they have some rums and tequilas there that you can ONLY get in Mexico and only at that bar, so it’s worth stopping by.

We took our drinks outside to watch some nighttime entertainment and another fountain show. In comparison to the other Excellence resorts, there doesn’t seem to be as much nighttime or daytime entertainment going on. There are a few bands that start around eight, but very few musicians at other times or in the restaurants or bars. It’s very pretty, but it seems to still be finding its vibe.

The main shows start somewhat late for me (930). I did really want to go to the Legends show on Wednesday, but I was just beat! Plus, the theater area seemed very hot. I went to the circus show over the pool, and it was really cute! There was a live band that was fantastic! I loved their version of the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song. I sat in the plastic chairs which the resort had set up for the audience, but I couldn’t see anything from there. I moved to sit in the loungers at the end and had a great view. Then, I went back to the room to finish watching Survivor through our VPN on our Fire stick. Priorities! lol

Four nights is pretty short to do everything we wanted to do. I would probably want at least six. Even the Bear said he could do with one more. On Saturday, however, our final night had come. We were going to go to the sports bar again or the martini for our five o’clock drink when we got a knock at the door and a delivery of wine and cheese. We are “platinum” rewards members, and they honored all of the benefits without our having to remind them. It’s a good reminder to keep that “do not disturb” sign off if you hope that people will bring you goodies! So, no need to rush off to the bar.

Originally, we had planned to go to Lobster House just to order a steamed lobster tail and then to Milo. I like the Caribbean lobsters just fine, but we have already done that so many times at EPM. Also, I wanted to see the inside of Chez Isabel, so we changed our plan and went there since we love escargots. The restaurant is just STUNNINGLY beautiful. If (when?) we return, I want to do a whole meal there! I want all the cheese on the cheese buffet! But, I knew we were going to eat a full meal elsewhere, so we told our waiter we were only going to get a dish or two. I got the foie gras and the escargots; the Bear got a lobster spring roll and the escargots. It was all pretty good. The escargots and the crème fraîche were great, but the potato basket they were on tasted old and stale. It’s hard for me to dislike ANY potato… but…

Then, we went next door and upstairs to Milo. The aesthetic of the restaurant gives it the whole Greek “feel.” I would say a lot of the food was more Lebanese than Greek, but that is fine with me. EVERYTHING on the mezze platter was so good! The falafel, the spanakopita.. just YUM!!! I loved the smoky baba ganoush. For our main, I ordered the pistachio encrusted lamb, and got a perfectly cooked lamb. (Both the one at Raices and the one at Magna were overdone.) It wasn’t just the lamb, though. Everything on that plate was amazing. I also ordered a gyro for us to split. The texture was different than my expectations on both the pita and the gyro, but the flavor was there. The Bear got some lamb sausages and shawarma. They were also incredible. We couldn’t eat everything, but it was all so good! The chef there had trained in Turkey and Greece. We asked if we could let her know how amazing her food was, and she came out to say, “hello.” If you like Lebanese style food, I would really suggest trying this one out. The pictures didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked, but don’t let that discourage you. Even the signature cocktail was amazing.

We try not to be crazy drinkers on the last night, because who wants to be hungover for a travel day? So it was just another quick drink at the martini bar, another fountain show, and then back to the room to finish the bottle of wine.

And then as soon as it started, it was over. Time to pack up again. I knew Kalido would be early for out pick up the next day, and they were. We went to the lounge at the airport and were home again before we knew it. I’m never sad that it’s over. I’m always glad that it happened and looking forward to the NEXT time. Right now, we have Secrets Mirabel booked for next November. They just opened last weekend, so we got a great deal…

Would I go back to Coral? Absolutely. We loved it! I think I hit on the negatives and the drawbacks in this blog along with the highlights, but overall, I think they’re doing a great job with plenty of room to grow into something that is truly exceptional. Impression Moxche is still my current favorite, but the more I look back on these memories, the more I’m realizing how much I really enjoyed Coral.

So another blog done. Time to give the dogs a little love and get ready for Thanksgiving! Mostly, I blog to remind ME of all the details and give me a chance to relive the experience, so I do it as fast as I can when I get home, but I hope others enjoy them, too. As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!