Moon Palace The Grand Cancun: A Review
This past December, my whole family and I went on a vacation to Moon Palace The Grand Cancun. It’s an all-inclusive resort in Cancun with amazing amenities, dining options, and pools. My grandpa had a membership there and when he passed, my mom and aunt co-inherited it. My mom took me and my sisters and our families on this trip this winter and I fell in love with this resort! Here is my review of Moon Palace The Grand Cancun.
Property Overview
The property itself is incredible. Moon Palace has several interconnected resorts, and you can get to each of them by golf cart. We stayed at The Grand, which is the main resort. There’s a main building with a buffet food hall, several restaurants, shops, a spa, gym, and gaming rooms. Spread out across the property are more restaurants, pools and hot tubs, a water park, and several access points down to the ocean. It’s big, but not overwhelming - just right!
Pools & Hot Tubs
There are several pools, and each pool has 1 to 2 hot tubs. You would think that there is no need for a hot tub, but our first few days were pretty rainy, and the hot tub was pretty nice.
The pools all have swim up bars (or are near a bar), so that was also really fun ordering drinks in the water and trying some new ones.
PRO TIP: tipping is normal here, so come prepared! We tipped about $1-$2 each time, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but with the exchange rate, $1 US dollar is about $20 Mexican dollars, so $1 is not stingy. And it’s actually pretty fun tipping. I’d say we tipped about $10-$20/day.
There’s also a water park on the premises which is great for kids - and adults, let’s be real! There are really large slides, a lazy river, and other activities suited better for smaller kids. This spot is really fun and incredibly easy to access!
The pools mostly sit between the resort and the beach, so you’ll get great palm tree and ocean views while swimming. Since they’re so close to the beach, you’ll also have easy access to the beach. There are several pathways, and one time Jason and I left the pool, walked down to the ocean for a bit, and came back.
The beaches are really nice and have chairs and hammocks scattered around. We didn’t swim much in the water because our newly 1 year old baby was not a fan.
Spa
Since me and my sisters all have kids and really don’t get much alone time with our spouses, we all agreed to take turns babysitting so each of us could have a date. For our date, Jason and I chose the spa.
I don’t have many pictures of the spa (since you know, I was tyring to relax and it seemed weird to carry my camera around snapping photos), but I was shocked when I saw it. I’ve never been to a spa, or even had an actual massage, so I didn’t know what to expect. This place is incredibly beautiful. The entrance to the spa alone was tranquil and spacious and relaxing. There was fresh fruit infused water and everyone was so accommodating.
The locker rooms were nice as well, with gorgeous bathrooms and decor. They assigned me my own locker and I was able to set the passcode myself.
You can enter the pool to the spa immediately, or you can go on a little journey before your massage and do different little rooms. Jason and I were not aware of any of this, so before our spa we were split up. I went into the heated pool. The lighting was dim and the pool was lit with purple lights. There were vibrating chairs in the pool and there were also separate cold plunge pools (I was brave enough to do it).
The actual massage was incredible. I never thought I’d enjoy a massage because I’m not a very touchy person to begin with, so strangers touching me sounded very unappealing. But we did a couples massage and we both thoroughly enjoyed it! I would absolutely do this again! And I’m kind of scared that I am forever spoiled with spas because of how bougie this one was.
If you want to look through photos of the resort, check out my blog Cancun: A Film Diary.
Rooms
My grandpa’s membership was at an extremely high level, so we were upgraded to Presidential suites for our stay. I’m not sure how rooms normally are, but photos online seem to show that all of the rooms are pretty grand. Back to our room - we shared a suite with my middle sister and her family. We each had our own hotel rooms with 2 beds, our own bathrooms and closets, a jacuzzi overlooking the resort, and dual patios. Our patio connected to the living room patio, and my sister’s patio was private.
In between our rooms was the living space with a kitchenette, dining room, living room and patio, and additional bathroom. The kitchen was stocked with wine and different spirits, water, and some snacks for the kids (and adults). Everything was marble and gold - the floors, the countertops, the hardware. It felt so regal and bougie - we loved being in our rooms! Although we tried to be out of them as much as we could to enjoy the resort.
Our rooms also had tvs and safes, so if you want to secure your passport and any valuables, you have that option.
There are several different hotel buildings with the rooms, and they all are next to a pool, which is very convenient! It takes away the hassle of getting all of your stuff together and making a trek. Since it was right there, there were some times where we swam for just 30 minutes, or we could run back to our room if we forgot something and it was no big deal.
Dining
There are so many restaurants at Moon Palace The Grand Cancun. We typically started each day at the buffet hall and would run into each other for breakfast. There were various different spreads - meat options, pastries, and parfaits. There were also different stations where you could have them make you an omelette or something like that. It was super fun having breakfast there and trying different meats and jams.
The main building had a coffee shop, which is the only coffee shop on the premises. I’m pretty picky with coffee, so I didn’t love it (plus they had no alternative milk). We would typically go there after breakfast and get some coffee, or sometimes also got breakfast there (their breakfast sandwich with chipotle mayo was delicious). They also serves sweets and ice cream, so this place was hopping from sunrise to sunset.
Every evening we made reservations at a different restaurant, so we had fun trying different cuisine and spending time with each other. My favorites were Habibi (Lebanese) and Jade (Asian).
In the resort app, I saw that Habibi would be showcasing belly dancers one evening during dinner. No one else wanted to go (lame), so Jason, Sienna and I went and had a great view of the dancers! The dancers danced throughout the restaurant for about 40 minutes, and there was a live drummer. It was a really cool experience, and they were so talented! We really enjoyed the show - and enjoyed peoples reactions as some loved it, and some were incredibly uncomfortable (lol). Oh, and the food was delicious!
The other restaurant we really enjoyed was Jade. It was an asian restaurant with very cool decor and interesting menu items. We had some typical sushi and fried rice, but they also had unique items like raw tuna with potato chips - which was actually super good!
All the other dining spots were great as well, and some of them were at other resorts in the entire resort compound. We rode on golf carts to a few and it was fun seeing other hotels within the Moon Palace.
There were also a few “cafes” near some pools that were nice during the day when we wanted a break from swimming and a light lunch. One of them was a hut-like cafe just above the beach and had the most amazing view of the ocean, as well as delicious food (I got a crab sandwich). There was also some jungle creature walking around trying to get food, which was very entertaining.
Activities
Moon Palace The Grand Cancun offers a lot of different experiences that you could potentially use room credit on, or you can pay for. You can explore ancient Mayan ruins with a tour group, go deep sea fishing on a yacht, dive in cenotes, or go snorkeling. You can also do activities at the resort, like chocolate tasting or coffee tasting. The list is pretty extensive! We all had small children, and a lot of the activities were all-day things, so we didn’t end up doing them, but they seemed like a lot of fun! There are reservation agents all over the main building, and they are very friendly and willing to help!
Honestly, I was a little nervous to ask about our room credit because I felt confused about it, and I assumed it would take a lot of our time figuring it out. It took literally less than 5 minutes. So if you’re kind of like me and want to avoid the hassle (and also not be a burden), you will not have that kind of experience!
Service
The service at Moon Palace The Grand Cancun was amazing. Everyone on staff is very attentive, friendly, and eager to assist or resolve any issue we had (we didn’t really have any - we just didn’t know how the room credits worked). The only remark I would make is that their room service for food could be better. The resort had its own app to book activities, list events, and order room service. Room service was kind of cool because we had ordered not only food, but a pack-n-play and different kinds of pillows. The only critique is that it can take over an hour to get the food, and the room service food was not great.
Logistically, the resort had vans taking people to and from the airport. If traveling internationally is a little daunting, Moon Palace makes it easier by providing that transportation!
All-Inclusive Info
This resort is all-inclusive, meaning all of the dining, room service, alcohol, pools and waterparks, are completely free. You also get a certain amount of room credit to use so you can do some non-included activities for free, like the spa experience. At first, it seems a little confusing, but there are reservation agents all over the main lobby who will explain very simply what credits you have and what you can do with them. We booked our couples massage with a reservation agent so we could be sure we weren’t going to be paying extra for it. All you have to pay for is the tax on the experience.
It was such a great feeling being able to go to a resort and not worry about paying for anything or watching our budget!
Overall Rating
I would rate Moon Palace the Grand Cancun 9/10. We had an amazing experience with very few and minute criticisms. I would love to come back again and enjoy the food, the pools, and the warm hospitality!
Until next time - may your weekend be full of creativity and style.
