Travel with a Cocktail

This was our first Excellence resort and we are excited to try other locations in the future.

Resort – Everything was clean and quite beautiful. There were crews of people cleaning, painting, planting throughout our stay. They even rinse down all of the decks at night. You can tell they take great care to maintain the resort.

Room Location – We stayed in Beach House 1202, which is part of the Excellence Club. I could not recommend this room enough. Its the only one that actually has privacy, despite being right next to the pool, because it has huge plants next to the plunge pool and in front of the balcony. If you want privacy with an extremely convenient, this is the best location in our opinion – BH1202.

Room – The room was nice but the bathroom is not private at all and echoes. Also, the shower door is completely transparent glass so you need to be either very confident or comfortable as there is zero privacy. I brought a cheap bath mat and shower mat because people said that the floors were slippery. Worked great and left them for someone else to use.

At first we were very impressed with 2 TVs in the room but unfortunately they aren’t smart TVs and the cable channels were limited. I know many people say they aren’t on vacation to watch TV but it rained one of the evenings for 3 hours so we wanted to watch a movie and had to watch it on our laptop instead.

The plunge pool was heated and so delightful. We also loved the outdoor bed for eating room service and mid-day naps in the shade.

Service – This was extremely inconsistent and the biggest disappointment of the resort. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t 5 star service. Some people – like Akiem in the Sol Bar and Romaine by the pool – were so personable and eager to serve. We got great service at Zenith but our server at dinner at Oregano seemed annoyed we were there. Also, we were only offered drink service by the pool 1 of the 4 days we were there. I told the server my cup was full but I would need a refill the next time she came around. She never came back. We also weren’t offered service on the beach, which was a real let down compared to Secrets and Iberostar who have full beach service. Other 5 star resorts offer extras, like treats by the pool or sunglasses cleanings, but Excellence didn’t offer any of these touches.

Restaurants – Mostly fantastic, but there wasn’t a single time we ordered where something we chose wasn’t available. When in doubt, order the shrimp because they nailed it every time! The portions for everything are small but it was perfect because we were able to order 3-5 courses at each meal so we got to try a lot of options.

We absolutely loved the Lobster House and wished we had another night there so we could eat there again. This was our favorite of the weekend. I recommend the coconut shrimp, the surf and turf, and the fried grouper.

Our meal at Zenith was also fantastic. I fell in love with the dark rum ice cream. It was the best ice cream I’ve ever had in my life! Unfortunately we we over there just to have the ice cream for dessert and they were out of it the next night. I recommend the caramelized shrimp appetizer, the lobster thermidor, the salmon, and the chicken breast. I would pass on the lobster bisque and the pumpkin risotto.

We had Oregano for dinner one night and thought everything was not good – including the pizza. We went back for lunch and loved it! We recommend the focaccia chicken sandwich, the salmon filet, and the fist skewer for lunch. Pass on dinner.

We went to the buffet one morning for breakfast and it was just ok.

We went to Aroma for ice cream one evening and that was really nice. We don’t drink coffee so can’t speak to that.

The Jerk Hut had a decent hamburger and the jerk chicken was so good, but a little spicy for my taste.

Beach Dinner – Just don’t. This was a COMPLETE waste of $250. The service was fine but the food was not good at all. We were so disappointed when we could have just gone to Lobster House for free!

Bars – We got drinks at most of the bars on resort. We loved the rum punch and drank a ton of it because it was so refreshing. We also liked the Mango daquiris and Dirty Banana. Hubby drank Red Stripes from the mini bar so he ordered on at Oregano and it was draft and warm. The bars were out of mint our entire stay so we didn’t get a chance to try any mojitos but we didn’t mind because we loved the rum punch so much!

Room Service – They have a box in the room so they don’t have to bring in the room service if you want privacy. We thought the room service breakfast was the best breakfast of the week. You can order your bacon crispy or soft. The Jamaican pancakes with bananas and cinnamon in them were really nice.

For lunch, we ordered fish fingers, chicken fingers, onion rings and were all good. Once again, we couldn’t eat the pizza so pass on that.

Housekeeping/Mini Bar – We left notes with tips every day and received everything we requested. As others have mentioned, we did not receive Appleton Rum as they were out of it. That was disappointing since we wanted to try local rum but wasn’t a deal breaker. The red wine in the room was better than anywhere else on the resort. The room was kept extremely clean and we even requested it be swept one day because it was sandy and they did it. Great room services at this resort.

Mosquitoes – I don’t know if it was the time of year (November) or not but reviewers complained about mosquitos and we didn’t experience any. I brought bug sprays and table top repellent and didn’t need to use anything. We got up at sunrise one morning and saw them fogging the resort. They did a great job and we didn’t have any issues with bugs.

Seasons Transfer – The private transfer was included in our rate. The ride is about 40 minutes from the airport. The drivers were both professional and their vehicles were updated, clean, and well air conditioned.

Check In – I did pre-check in through an email link they sent me a few days before our trip. The process was extremely fast and easy.

Beach – The sand was nice and the water was warm. We thought there wasn’t any seaweed but we walked the beach one morning at sunrise and found crews sweeping up the seaweed and burying it. They did a fantastic job. I will say that the seaweed we passed didn’t smell like seaweed in Mexico but maybe its the time of year.

The beach is extremely narrow all the way around – pretty much can only fit one chair. Its actually kind of nice because you’re so close to the edge to hear the lapping waves.

There are not large waves in the swimming area. There is a ton of sea grass, which I wasn’t willing to go into because of many reports of people stepping on sea urchins. I did wear my water shoes but no one else on the beach seemed to have been. The ocean there was the most disappointing part for me because I was comparing it to Cancun and the Bahamas. If you’ve never been there to see the beautiful aqua water or that is low priority for you, then its actually pretty nice.

The best part is that its on a private peninsula so there weren’t any vendors pestering us.

Pool – Nice and clean. Lots of chairs and umbrellas. If you get there before 12:30, there are plenty of towels and people to help you set up your chairs. After 1, it seems like they don’t replenish the towels and you have to bring the ones from your room so try to get a chair before lunch.

I’ll leave a few tips:

– Get the rum punch with an extra shot of dark rum…. Its fantastic

– Don’t waste room in your suitcase on an umbrella (one in the room) or snorkel gear (unless you want to go outside of the swimming area)

– Book Club Mobay both ways because it was worth every single penny

– Leave extra time to get to your gate because they are not organized at the Montego Bay airport

– If you’re into wine, bring your own. We just used the glasses in the room and brought full glasses to dinner.