Moon Palace Cancun

ADAN was extremely professional and knowledgeable ADAN!!!! Great guy and host. There is no substitute for a professional tutor and expert highlighting the subtle imperfections. I would love to go to the driving lesson but I have run out of time at my stay. I would ask for a session in English only. My Spanish is patchy,but covering two languages in one session is tough, even though Adan is proficient in both. R Read less

I originally booked a mom/daughter trip (my daughter is 12) to the Moon Palace (aug 17-22, 2025) Sunrise during a special summer promotion that offered $500 resort credits and 3 free nights to the new upcoming resort in Punta Canta. Before travelling, I was emailed by one of the "specialists" that an upgrade to The Grand would be more enjoyable. So I upgraded the room before we arrived. I'm going to list the positives and negatives of our experiences. 1. Check-in was not pleasant. We were greeted with the customary cold towel and flower (which was nice), but the line was arduous, and because we upgraded, they couldn't find our resort credits/promotion. Already exhausted and overwhelmed, we were then wrangled by another "specialist" on the way to get our bags with the promise to explain the resort. (It's huge and confusing if you haven't been there before.) However, this was just a push to get you to go to a presentation to upgrade to a membership with the promise of other credits, etc. The presentation/tour looked like it would be a few hours and I wasn't interested. After some haggling, I was able to pass on the tour and asked if they could look into our original credits (which are separate from the presentation credits). Overall, throughout our stay, I asked four different people to help transfer our credits, as I had all the original booking information in an email. Finally, they were credited the night before we left, and we never got the free night confirmation. So we didn't get to use either. (And who wants to deal with stuff like this on your holiday?) 2. The room was nice, the bed comfy, but the first night, the closet light malfunctioned, clicking on and off (bright and loud), so we didn't get a good night's sleep. It was corrected the next day (everything is done through the app) after placing 2 maintenance requests, but we didn't have any issues after that. 3. We had decided to book excursions when we arrived. I had received a few emails before from travel agents with the hotel about booking an excursion in advance, but I wanted to wait to see how the weather would be. I regret that decision. Book in advance if you can. Once again, talking to the specialists was arduous. Because we didn't do the "presentation tour" for the presentation credits, I was twice referred back to complete that process before booking an activity. If I had just prepaid and booked, we wouldn't have wasted our time. 4. We upgraded to The Grand primarily because we were sold on the promise that it was less crowded, had an amazing Water Park, Bowling Alley, Karaoke club, Teen club, etc. The Water Park was packed every day. (They allow day passes from the other resorts, so it sort of diluted the experience for those staying at The Grand, in my opinion.) The bowling alley, karaoke club and nightclub (if you're going for that) are all extra. I tried to book a bowling time and again was referred to complete the "presentation tour" as I would have gotten extra credits to cover some of the cost. I wanted to just pay for a slot - It was about $80 USD/hour, but they insisted that we do the tour. I just gave up and we didn't do either bowling or karaoke. The teen club was a hit when it wasn't crowded. I also enjoyed one visit to the adult-only speakeasy for a cocktail (that was included). 5. Shopping Tip - Only charge to your room. Because of my upgrade/credits issue, each time I tried to make a purchase, it was hassle to buy things (for some reason, my room wasn't showing in the system correctly because we had upgraded). So, I thought I'd try my debit card for a quick beach/pool toy purchase. When I got home, I saw that I was charged twice on my debit card. I don't see any way I can dispute it, as I have to go through the resort (I'll try to investigate), but essentially, this means I paid about $120 cad on a pool volleyball and football. And to be honest, I'm done trying to contact anyone with the resort - it's just too much of a hassle. 6. Dining Tip - Book your dinner reservations as soon as you can through the app. I had to book all of our dinners 2 nights out and missed out on one evening. I was able to book our arrival night dinner reservation before we checked in, so I highly recommend that. But it means you have to plan ahead. If you don't cancel your reservation within the 2-hour window, there is a charge. Also, go to the breakfast buffet early to avoid disappointment. The lines after about 8:30am are extremely long. We didn't enjoy our one buffet day experience, so we resorted to room service for breakfast most days. 7. Pools/Beach - We enjoyed the pools and beach. We did find that the pool by Los Tacos was less crowded, and we were able to grab a cabana easily if we went before noon. Same with the beach. The beach area at The Grand looked amazing compared to the other resorts (Sunrise and Nizuc). Lunch/Pool side dining was much easier than dinner with lots of different options. 8. Transportation - We used the airport shuttle, which was great. You'll want to become familiar with the golf cart transport system on the resort as soon as you arrive. It's a bit confusing as they do have Elite ones (for members) etc. Also be careful when you're walking on the paths as they go fast. 9. Check Out - Unpleasant for me, just because after we checked out, we were immediately approached by a specialist to sell us a coupon for a future stay. That's great if you are planning to return, but just be prepared. 10. Food - Overall, I thought the food and drinks were great for a resort. Poolside & beach service was really great (all the staff were friendly). 11. Property - The grounds and property are beautiful and nicely maintained. It is expansive, and I would recommend that you take the golf carts to get around in the heat. Overall, I won't return. Just too many bumps for me to enjoy a peaceful holiday. I did consider using my free night passes (if they showed up) for the Punta Canta, but after the double charge, the uncomfortable check-in/check-out process and the fact that I didn't use any of the promotion credits was too much. ** Note the resort credits will only cover portions of a few things - and there is a 16% fee each time you use them. Like $100 max for the spa (a regular massage was about $350usd), $100 for the shops, etc. I hope this helps when planning, I tried to be as honest as possible. It was a bit of a disappointing trip for my daughter and I. Read less