Secrets Excellence Resort in Punta Cana

After an hour's drive through the rolling green countryside in an A/C van, we are greeted with lush landscaping, ponds with flamingos and ducks and a huge open air lobby with more ponds and waterfalls. This is Secrets Excellence!! An adults-only all-inclusive resort on a long palm fringed beach. The resort feels like a small village. It has a square with daytime activities and nightime music or entertainment.

Accommodations are spacious - a canopied king or two queen beds, rattan sofa and chair. All have balconies and some patios even sport a hammock. A large Jacuzzi tub for two separates the sleeping area from the dressing area. Amenities include A/C, coffee maker, minibar, safe, ceiling fans, a basket of toiletries, 24-hour limited room service, and turndown service.

Garden view rooms are more quiet since all other rooms face the pool that runs the length of the resort. The gardens are lovely with ponds, fountains and flowers. Many ground floor rooms have direct access to the pool, but third floor rooms have the advantage of a cathedral ceiling and more privacy. The junior suites are my favorite.

The pool never feels crowded since it meanders through the property and palapas, floaties, and lounges are always available. The large swim-up bar is usually a busy place.

Seven restaurants offer a variety of foods with limited menus. The food is tasty, but not gourmet -- typical of a cruise or large all-inclusive. All restaurants are a la carte except for the breakfast and lunch buffet. If the weather is cooperative two nights of barbecue on the beach are planned with table cloths, glassware, and candles!! The A/C continental restaurant (reservations needed) has fine service, gourmet food, and a piano player. Dining here is leisurely. The Italian restaurant serves individual pizzas all day and the pastas are quite good. Our least favorites were the Mexican and Chinese. The Mexican food was bland and the service at the Chinese restaurant was much too fast. The food was very salty, but the pre-made sushi was good. Breakfast was served buffet style with omelets made to order, a fruit shake station and a self-serve mimosa or bloody mary station. Two open-air palapas overlooking the pool and the ocean grilled meats and fish for lunch and dinner.

Evening entertainment is quite good, at least entertaining, but not Broadway -- musical groups, magic shows, karaoke, dance shows, and the like, with some audience participation. The disco has a great sound system and is open until almost dawn.

A beautiful quiet spa, a few shops, free internet cafe, a watersports cabana, and a variety of excursions offered by the tour operators will keep you as busy as want on your vacation.

For a relaxing few days far away from it all, Secrets Excellence is one of the best choices, not only in Punta Cana, but in the Caribbean.

This restaurant exudes atmosphere -- the Mediterranean Seafood Grill is an open air palapa restaurant facing the ocean. Tablecloths -- even at lunch time -- and comfortable cushioned rattan chairs makes lingering over another glass of wine very easy. It's worth waiting for the outside row of tables.

Having lunch here feels as though you may be in Tahiti -- gentle breezes -- your table overlooks the dunes and you see the tops of the beach palapas and the ocean beyond. Could also give you the feeling of a European cafe on the Mediterranean with folks strolling by hand in hand.

The grill menu features, shrimp, lobster, calamari, grouper, tuna, clams, salmon or veggies. Whatever the fishermen have brought in, since it changes almost daily. Service is attentive, portions are generous and well plated and best of all the food is so tasty.

Full bar service is available and a seafood patty with mustard sauce is served as soon as you are seated. Soup, a salad bar and desert bar with a "make your own" sundaes station complete the menu.

This is an all-inclusive resort so there is no charge to dine here. The above figure is my estimate of the cost at a seaside casual restaurant in the Northeast.

It was our favorite lunch place but also very enjoyable at night when flickering candlelight makes it so romantic.

Quiqueya is Secrets candle-lit gourmet restaurant available by reservation only. It's a small A/C restaurant with a continental menu. You'll find mostly tables for two -- no loud groups here.

Reservations can only be made from 3-5pm daily. If the times are not convenient for that particular day, you will be given a reservation for the next day at your choice of time.

The service is leisurely and formal but enjoyable since a pianist provides background music. Men are required to wear long pants and collared shirts -- these well dressed people and the music create a "supper club" atmosphere.

Lobster bisque and hearts of palm salad were savored bite by bite. The loin of lamb was tender and cooked to perfection. The accompanying brandy and rosemary sauce . . . superb!! Veal steak should have been ordered "rare" . . . but the sauce and few small vegetables were excellent. The chateaubriand and filet with peppercorn sauce are both outstanding.

Desserts were good, but not spectacular. A better choice would be to sit outside in the courtyard under the stars and sip a specialty coffee with liquor and whipped cream while listening to the evening entertainment.

In addition to the "free" wines that are included, you are also offered a wine list of "better" wines at a charge of $25 to $35 bottle. We didn't feel the need to splurge.

Do make sure to call early for your reservation -- there is no one to answer calls made after 5pm. You don't want to miss this dining experience.

This open air palapa over the pool is accessed via a bridge. It's worth waiting -- at the long bar -- for a prized table. These are on an elevated area on stilts over the pool. It's quiet, breezy and not "buggy" (mosquitoes are pesky after a shower).

A casual lunch menu has choices of 1/2 pound beef burgers (very popular), veggie burgers, fajitas, quesidillas, shish-Kebab(delicious and tender) wings and ribs complemented by a self-serve salad and dessert bar.

Flickering candlelight and tablecloths transforms the mood of the steak house at night. You are also entertained by the music that drifts over from the evening entertainment in the nearby square.

Five types of US Choice steaks are grilled to order in addition to pork and chicken - all come with different vegetables and a choice of sauces. Steaks are large and cooked to perfection which is not common at large or all-inclusive resorts.

Wine by the bottle, cold Presidente, and a full service bar are included - I guessed at the comparable price in the US.

1. Don't bother to fill out the immigration forms at the airport -- they don't care about them, so just go to the head of the line.

2. Don't forget sunscreen and bug repellent with at least 20% DEET -- Off Deep Woods is good (you may need it after a rain shower) -- but basically they've taken care of their "bug problem".

3. Be prepared to wait for your room. Pack a bathing suit and cover up in your carry-on. Change and head for an open-air restaurant for shrimp or steak rather than the buffet that you'll be directed to.

4. All rooms are basically similar. If you're on a budget, the garden rooms are fine -- water fountains, beautiful plants, and flowers.

5. Buildings 1-5 are near the waterfall pool (quiet). Building 14 is the last one facing the long pool and beach -- also quiet.

6. Bring a drain seal for the jacuzzi tub because many don't hold water well. Seals available at hardware stores for a dollar or so -- it's a round rubber disc.

7. If you want one of the "beds" by the pool, you need to get up early (6-7am) to place down your towels. There are plenty of palapas and loung chairs if you don't make it.

8. There is more breeze on the beach than around the pool.

9. The ocean is choppy. A noodle packs easily in your suitcase for buoyancy and boogie boards are available free at the resort.

10. There is calmer water by the beach hut.

11. Massages are offered at the beach, but the ambience, aroma, and temperature in the spa is more relaxing.

12. Gourmet restaurant reservations can only be made from 3-5pm. Use a house phone by the pool or wherever you may be. Have a pen handy -- you are given a reservation number. If the time is not acceptable to you, ask for a better time for the following day.

13. Guest Services can arrange a cake for special occasions.

14. If lobster is not on the menu at the Mediterranean restaurant, ask for it -- they may find some.

15. For late night cravings, pizza is available until 11pm in the Italian restaurant.

16. Premium liquor brands are more plentiful at the pool bar near building 14 and the long bar in the show room, rather than at the swim-up bar or the lobby bar.

17. A small tip if you particularly like a bartender goes a long way -- they remember you and how they made your last drink.

18. Entertainment in the lobby by the bar starts early and ends by 8pm, so get ready early and linger before dinner.

19. Don't miss the specialty coffees in the square after dinner. You can still enjoy the evening entertainment from there.

20. Avoid Super Keno at the casino -- read my other entry.