Recently returned from a 7 night stay at the EPM, I relied heavily on trip advisor when making a decision on where to go and wanted to provide others with a prompt and accurate review. Sorry if this is long.... First, a bit of background. My husband and I are in our late twenties and were celebrating our five year wedding anniversary. We travelled from Calgary, Alberta for the week of Nov. 12 to 19th. Booked on Redtag.ca, travelled with a Sunquest package, flying on a WestJet flight. Confusing but all very well organized and seamless. We were picked up for a private transfer from the airport which we did not pay any extra for (note there is a lot of construction in Cancun right now and you do have to take some detours to get to the hotel, so don't panic when your cabbie takes you down a shady alleyway en route to the resort!) and had a comfortable 30 - 40 minute ride. The resort is far from the tourist areas and deep in the jungles, you have to go through three security gates to get in so you feel very safe. We were greeted by name at the hotel with a glass of champagne, cool cloth and a "Welcome Home". No wristbands required at this resort which is a huge plus in my book. Our check-in was easy, no line up and very quick, our room was ready and a butler immediately arrived to escort us there. A quick tour was given on our way to the room. I had made a brief mention of this being our anniversary when I booked and sure enough there was an "Excellence Anniversary" banner on our door and a single long stem red rose on the bed. Our room was in the 500 block which was a good location, farther from the main pool so quiet and private compared to some other buildings. It seemed as though the 700 block would have been quite noisy all day and night where as we could hardly hear a peep. The room itself was BEAUTIFUL. Spacious and clean, lots of lighting options, flat screen TV and sectional sofa. As others have commented, the bed was firm but you could request a mattress topper from the front desk to soften it if desired. The bathroom doesn't allow for much privacy but this is really a couples resort so I would think for most it's not a huge issue. The shower was amazing, big enough for six people with two separate shower heads, one a rain shower that felt amazing. Toilet blocked by a glass door, not sound proof but suck it up people, send your spouse outside if you need to! We didn't get any towel art but our friends did, maybe you get this for honeymoons only? Honeymooners do get a spa discount and special dinner we did not. We had a Jr. Swim up Suite and looked out onto the lazy river and the spa. The outside of the room was gorgeous, a huge sun bed, table and chairs and two loungers. We were happy we didn't upgrade to a higher room as the views didn't look to be great from most rooms (trees or buildings in the way) and for the amount of time we spent in our room, it wouldn't have been worth it. One thing we noticed immediately and never changed throughout the trip was how incredibly friendly ever staff member was. Everyone said 'hola' and smiled, you were always treated like royalty and no request seemed to be a bother to anyone. We tried most of the restaurants while we there, here's a quick run down - Italian was amazing, french was to die for, Japanese was not my favourite but my husband enjoyed and the live cooking show was amazing, do request this!! Tappas were very good, The Grill was excellent, did not have the lobster house for dinner but lunch was really good, I loved the Mexican but my husband wasn't as impressed (he's more of an Old El Paso kind of guy!) We are not foodies by any means and didn't try some of the more exotic dishes, but the food we did try was good. Portion sizes are smaller but this is very rich food a lot of the time and if you're still hungry... just order more! We only waited once for dinner and they did provide a beeper, this was right during prime dinner time, if you go a bit early or later it was a lot quieter. Loved not having to make reservations as we sometimes ate a lot later than we planned or changed our mind on what we wanted last minute. For breakfast we tried the lobster house for a sit down meal our first day, then tried the buffet at the Italian restaurant our second day and never looked back. The buffet was really good, especially the omelette stations and the french toast. We never ordered room service breakfast but heard it was good. We did order room service in the evenings but weren't very impressed with it. Perhaps due to location of our room we were at the end of their delivery route and the food was a bit soggy... we requested the food to come separately to avoid this (ie. nachos with cheese on the side) but then it came on top anyways... this was our only real food disappointment and didn't cause too much concern! The main pool did get busy so if you wanted a good seat, you should get up early. There were, however, always seats free by one of the pools and down on the beach. There were beautiful shaded beds around and hammocks over the pool, we loved the liveliness of the main pool (and the swim up bar!) and spent most time there. This is mostly a couples resort and we met a ton of amazing people while we there (luv u tommy & susanna, cindy & steve, steve & katie, etc...) wouldn't recommend for singles looking to meet someone. Most people there appeared to be our age into the thirties and forties, a couple older couples, mostly US and Canadians we met but a few from the UK/ Europe as well. If you wanted to be social, you could be, otherwise there were lots of spaces around to have some privacy. Most people we met were very friendly and except for a rowdy group from New Jersey that arrived late in the week, they were all very polite as well. Sam at the swim up bar was great and would customize drinks you wanted, Paola provided amazing pool side service and we were thrilled to discover you could order food and eat by (or in!) the pool. The buffalo wings were a huge hit. We found the service excellent whether you tipped or not, although people were very appreciative when you did tip. I also did notice that they show all the top shelf liquors around the bar then give you the cheap stuff from below the bar when they pour a drink, just ask if you want a name brand and they're happy to oblige. Drinks were delicious, and we never got sick all week, did see them using bagged ice in everything and although signs said all water was purified, we didn't drink anything other than bottled water all week. There were always lots of floaties around in the pool although some people did try to hog them and would float around on two or three. The towel game does take place here, as it does everywhere else, and we did see a couple chairs with towels that sat empty all day. I would just steal them personally if nobody had belongings there. The scheduled pool activities took place about 50% of the time but when they did, they were lots of fun (name that tune and bingo were favourites) and make sure you visit the beach bar on Wednesdays for Pineapple drinks that look like monkeys. We didn't spend a ton of time on the beach but did find it very pretty. There was a lot of seaweed that would wash up on store due to recent storms but a machine cleared it away every morning except one. Beach BBQ was phenomenal, burgers and chicken and steak and tacos, fresh salsa and chips.... so good! We did rent a seadoo one day and also went parasailing, this was a blast but not sure I'd pay to do it again, do rent through the guys on the beach as you can negotiate down the price. We took a ferry across to the island one day and this is a MUST. We would recommend taking a cab to the "speed" ferries and going across this way, it is much quicker and worth the cab fare($15USD each way) ferries were only $22USD for the two of us round trip. We rented golf carts on the island and toured around, it was a blast, found some neat places to stop and have cheap beers, ate at Jax and lunch was amazing, don't bother with appys AND main dishes unless you a really, really hungry, we were starving and couldn't get through half the food but what we did eat was delicious. This day was one of the best of our trip, the market provided some shopping as there is really nowhere to shop around the hotel, but be warned the vendors are very pushy. They are also very desperate to sell and you can negotiate in price A LOT. Offer them what you want to pay and threaten to walk out, more often than not, it will be yours. The weather was beautiful, only a touch of rain during this one day and otherwise was a couple brief showers in the evenings. I read lots of warnings about mosquitos but this wasn't an issue for us, had a few bites from something my last night there but again, you're in the jungle so i guess it's unavoidable! Evenings were a highlight for us, they played live music every night and people gathered by the Cafe Cafe bar and listened as they got ready for, or settled after, dinner. This was right next to the large theatre where they did their evening shows. Most shows were typical mexican resort cheese but the fire show and circus shows were good and the Michael Jackson show was AMAZING. Michael is alive and hiding out at the EPM! Cafe Cafe was a great place to hang out at night, alone or with friends and the service at that bar was awesome. Juan and Danny were our favourite bartenders, we miss them! I did also convince my husband to join me at the spa our last day there and this was a great experience, we did the couple's mayan ritual which included a seaweed wrap, facial and massage. All were great, we both fell asleep in the wrap. We also took advantage of the one hour hydrotherapy routine you get for free and this was an awesome, albeit sometimes odd, experience! All in all, this was an amazing trip, we were sad to be leaving and would return in a heart beat... just need to find someone willing to watch our kids for a week again!
