So, we finally decided to try an all-inclusive (AI). It's not generally our "style" of travel. However, with 3 young kids, we welcomed an opportunity to have an easier and (hopefully) less stressful vacation experience. We chose Moon Palace (MP) for a few reasons: 1) Direct flight from Denver to Cancun, 2) MP has separate but adjoining rooms for kids, 3) MP is a mega-resort with at least a dozen restaurants, kids club, golf course, and spa, and 4) we found a decent rate through Costco Travel.
Location: MP is located about a 10 minute drive from the Cancun airport. This made for a fairly quick jaunt to the resort after arriving in Cancun. The Costco Travel package included transfers from the airport using Best Day Travel company. We had no issues, and met the Best Day travel representative outside the airport as instructed.
Resort: The MP is huge. It has 3 main areas: Sunrise, Nizuc, and Grand. Sunrise is the largest, and is where most of the families with younger (or many) kids end up. There is a shuttle bus that runs continuously from one area to the next. You could walk from one end to the other (which allows you to have an ocean view), and that would take anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes depending on your pace.
Room: Rooms were spacious, and included a huge jacuzzi tub in each room. The kids LOVED that! Our room had a king size bed, and the kids had 2 twins and the baby crib (think pack-and-play). Our kids were too young to take advantage of the Xbox 360. The rooms have a marble style floor, so we had to be careful when it got wet. The frig with stocked drinks (beer, sodas, and juices) and the kid's snack tray was very nice. If you're a beer afficionado, they had Dos Equis, Coors Light, and Heineken. There are also hard liquors: vodka, tequila, rum, and whiskey. So, just in case you didn't get enough drinks at the pool bar, restaurants, or bars...it's right in your own frig. BTW, I saw in various reviews that drinks were "watered down" at pools and restaurants. I had no problem getting doubles from anyone.
Restaurants: Most restaurants serve a buffet style breakfast and lunch. We thought these were pretty similar at most of the restaurants we visited: a lot of variety. Dinners were where the variety came into play.
I'll give a brief review of the restaurants we ate at for dinner:
* Palapa Fragata (Seafood): Not bad, but we probably made a mistake going with the paella. The daily grilled variety dish looked pretty appetizing. Lunch there had some decent grilled entrees.
* Caribeno: Great presentation, but the food was pretty bland. Fish was over-cooked badly.
* Los Caporales: Pretty good Mexican food. Note: you have to be dressed appropriated (no shorts) here...we were turned away one night.
* Arrecifes: I know many people raved about this Brazilian steak house, but I thought it was just OK.
* Palapa Pelicanos: Sushi...think a notch below grocery store sushi.
* Sweet and Coffee: We loved this little coffee shop and snack bar in Nizuc. The desserts and sandwiches were a hit with the kids.
* La Trattoria: By reservation only. This is supposed to be their high-end Italian restaurant. As noted above, presentation was good, but food was mediocre.
* Los Tacos: One of our favorites. It's tucked away by an isolated pool in the Grand area. They had some nice taco/fajitas plates and nachos.
* Momo No Hana: We didn't actually eat here, but there was always a line for this Chinese/Asian restaurant. Perhaps the proximity in Sunrise? Or, is the food really that great there?
In general, the food was decent (think 6.5 - 7.5 out of 10). I doubt most folk will be overly impressed or disappointed, but no one will go hungry here. There is plenty of variety, and I think even the pickiest eaters will find something they can eat.
Resort Credit: The resort offers a credit for tours and activities. You need to be aware that while the credits are "free," you still will pay a 11% tax on any credit used. For a 7 night stay, we were given $1500 in credits. If we had used all of this, we would have paid $165. When you think about it...it's really not that bad, but it does diminish the "all-inclusive" tag a bit. The bottom-line is...the prices charged on these credits are a bit ludicrous. I mean...who really would pay nearly $300 for a round of golf?
Golf: I used the resort credits to play a round of golf. I had no problem getting an early tee time. The course is quite challenging, and I donated more than a few balls in the jungles. This was the first round I'd played in a year, so I was there more to enjoy the scenery. The mosquitoes were BAD. I forgot insect repellent, and I paid the price in welts. If you plan to play more than a round of golf, I would say bring your clubs. If not, then you're looking at $50 for club rental, plus the 11% tax on the round of golf (pricing is tiered based on your tee time). I actually had to buy golf balls, and got some bargain used balls (a dozen for $20 - OUCH!). I put a picture of the prices below...something I had a hard time finding published anywhere.
Spa: My wife took advantage of the $300 credit toward the spa. She got the 80 minute massage and pedicure. She said she enjoyed it.
Tours: My wife and daughter also did the dolphin swim (the one at the MP resort). They said it was a good experience, though there was a lot of waiting with a large group of people. They sell pictures of the encounter, but the prices are simply absurd (and you can't use resort credits).
We also did the Tulum Express tour. This was one we selected since we didn't want the 12 hour day that Chichen Itza posed. Still, we had a good 1.5 to 2 hour drive each way to Tulum (with a stop at a MP sanctioned gift shop). The actual time at Tulum was only about 2.5 hours. We had roughly a 1 to 1.5 hour guided tour of the site, and then about an hour free time. Most folk took the steps down to the beach. It's quite beautiful, and worth the effort. However, we didn't have swim gear, and so we just got our feet wet (with the exception of my son who managed to get his pants wet, also). Not a bad idea to bring kid's bathing suits to take in the waves and get wet. This trip is about the most a young kid could probably tolerate, unless you've got an exceptionally well-behaved kid. Our 2 year old had a melt-down, and I'm sure there were some people cursing us.
Wine: You can also use resort credits for "upgraded" wine at the restaurants at night. We did this on several occasions, and it was generally a bargain. That is, a $60 bottle using resort credit would amount to $6.60.
Tipping: I read the MP website about their concept of AI, and there are no surprises. I also read TripAdvisor, and other websites where people felt compelled to tip $1 or $2 here and there. We didn't typically leave money at buffets. We did leave $1/2 at dinner, for bags, $5 for tour guides, or a little whenever we felt we got exceptional service. The fact is---the staff at MP work extremely hard, and I found the people to be extremely nice and hard working people. We met one of the ladies cleaning our room, and we were about to communicate a bit about how similar our experiences were with raising young kids. I would say this is totally up to you about what to do here.
Exercise: I have to admit, I was very bad in this regard. I didn't run/exercise at all the whole week. My wife, on the other hand, got out on a few occasions for a run or walk. The gym had various classes to offer, too. They have a bike course, or you can make use of the extensive path network to get in some decent runs. Below is the Sunrise gym offerings for the week.
Childcare: Our intent was to use the kid's club at the resort, but we never took advantage. Between the tours, and extensive time in the swimming pools...we simply never used it. The kid's club was fairly small-ish. The new kid's club is being built, but it's a couple months off from completion, according to the staff. Of course, that seems to have been the mantra for the last year, based on my readings on various websites. They do seem to offer some fun programs, though.Y
Misc.:
* We didn't have problem using the tap water to brush our teeth. I would say that the water does have a very "lagoon" smell/taste. If you've ever stayed at a tropical resort, you would know what I mean here. We NEVER drank the tap water, and always used the bottled water that seemed plentiful at the resort. We used the bottled water for the coffee maker in the morning, etc.
* None of us got real bad stomach issues (aka GI or "Montezuma's Revenge"). I did have a mild case of upset stomach toward the end of the week, but I would say the water/food seem generally safe.
* We ALWAYS used the safe in our rooms to store cash, passports, and anything else of any value. We never felt in any way endangered or that we might be a victim of any crime. However, I like to think that we are always prepared.
* We never took the Palace Resorts provided bus to any of the other resorts in Cancun. I reckoned that if we were paying for the resort, we should enjoy the resort and limit our non-resort activities.
* We all enjoyed the swim-up bars, and even my kids loved the virgin daiquiris and drinks.
* The kid's pool at Sunrise has nice and age-appropriate waterslides in about 1 feet of water. I still never let my 2.5 year old far from my reach. There was one occasion where she got her finger stuck at the bottom of one of the slides. That was a bit discomforting, but I think it was an anomaly.
* The resort has a number of gift shops and jewelry stores. We did buy a few things there. I will attach resort info on some of the offerings:
* Wildlife in the tropics are plentiful: we saw deer, lizards, iguanas, and crocodiles. One of the coolest experiences was seeing a crocodile just on the other side of the pool at Los Tacos. Iguanas are everywhere, and the resort even has people walking around with iguanas (and toucans, etc.) to get "official photos" with....which will leave a dent in your wallet.
* One of the things I saw as warnings repeatedly was the TIME SHARE pitch. Upon checking in, we were immediately impressed upon by our resort consultant to take a 1.5 hour tour of the resort. We declined. Every time we spoke with any tour or resort consultant, we got the spiel about how we needed to take advantage of this. The reward was a measly $100 off a tour. We were not about that...and declined politely on every occasion.
* There were shows and activities daily. We didn't take advantage of the Cirque show (though we had free tickets). We did stop by the variety shows at Sunrise a number of nights (think Cruise ship style entertainment). I wish there was a single place to see all these entertainment options. We stumbled on many of these.
Summary: All in all, I thought MP was a nice resort. It's got wonderful pools, good facilities, great staff, and decent food. I'm far from an expert on AI's, but it seemed to meet most of our expectations. I'm not sure that we'll be back, but that's probably not so much MP as our style of wanderlust (we tend to want to see and experience new things). Overall Score: B
JLee
