Moon Palace Cancun

This review is to help other families with coeliac family members: *Pluses* - Every staff member asked about allergies on arrival at all restaurants and it was flagged on our account. They then provided the server with a purple slip detailing allergies. - In restaurants with menus, there was generally a decent selection of gluten free options. Our favourites were the following: *Agra - Indian restaurant which had lots of options. We ate here twice. *Palapa Asadero - again plenty of options and we ate here twice for dinner. Steak was good. *Riviera Maya at the golf course - again lots of options and great Mexican food. Can also eat here for lunch and breakfast. *Gondola - we ate at this Italian restaurant for dinner and they were able to do pizza which is cooked in a separate kitchen. Took quite a while to arrive but you don’t have to order 24 hours in advance. *Momo Teppanaki - the team accommodated my daughter by cooking her food separately in the kitchen with gf soya sauce and she was still able to watch everyone else’s meal being prepared. Only downside is they prepared a scrumptious looking French toast on the grill for dessert but the alternative was nothing like it. (See below for dessert review). - For buffet dining, they have corn based gf bread and choc chip bread in separate drawers from the main buffet. We did use this a lot and also took fruit from the buffet as it was quite separate. If it was really busy, we requested this from the kitchen. - For buffet meals, you could order anything you wanted from the kitchen e.g. omelettes, gf pancakes, corn based fajitas/ tacos. This took quite a long time to arrive even for basic requests of fruit and bread. If you wanted to have something special, it’s better to let them know a day in advance. The restaurant manager was kind and helpful but she was covering Agra the week we were there, so think we’d have had a better experience if she had been there. - For room service, they would call you up to check on requirements if you ordered online and had an allergy. They can also make a box lunch if leaving the resort. *Could be improved*: - There is a cafe which has ice-cream, cake, cookies, sandwiches all day. This was the first place we went and there were no options that were deemed safe for coeliacs. My daughter is 12 and made a few friends and they would hang out here eating ice-cream and cake. She didn’t let it bother her that she couldn’t eat but it would be more inclusive to have at least some basic options. How hard would it be to have one gf ice-cream ordered from another supplier (the current ice-cream is made in a factory where there is cross- contamination so not safe). They could also have some choc chip corn bread available here so there is one cake option. Nb. They did get her a gf dessert from the buffet one day but see point below. - Building on above. We didn’t find any gf ice-cream on site and the gf desserts tended to be rice based or gel like consistency. Not great for kids. The gf choc chip bread was the best option. - For the buffet meals ordered from the kitchen, it was hard to know what the options were. Maybe a gf suggested menu would help here. On the plus side, I think they would have tried to accommodate any request if you knew what you wanted. - We went on the Chichen Itza tour and again were assured they catered for coeliacs when it was being sold to us. We did get some corn and chicken and veg from the kitchen but had to make a bit of a fuss to get something safe and that was the only real option. You can get a packed lunch from room service but this was a corn bread sandwich which is not the best. - For the room service menu, it’s not marked what is gf and not. This could be improved. - We got gf pizza from the Italian restaurant and also Pepe Pizza. The effort was appreciated but the dough was really heavy and it’s not the best pizza. More work to do on the recipe here as it is possible to do this well. - Likewise, they didn't have any gf burger buns and our only attempt at a burger was at the Grand and was a bit of a disaster. We waited a long time and it was corn bread and a lump of beef that arrived that didn't resemble a burger at all. *Summary* All in, it was a positive experience and we chose the hotel based on the gluten free reviews on Facebook/ Trip Advisor as most coeliac families do. However with a few more tweaks as advised above, I think the hotel would gain access to the wider gluten free market (estimated to be about 30% of Americans!) ‘Coeliac beach resorts’ on Facebook do very detailed reviews and food options and safety is the key criteria for families with allergies. I think Moon Palace would be bumped up on here if some simple changes were made. Thanks to all those who accommodated us on our holiday and demonstrated kindness to our daughter. Read less

Overall good experience. I would not classify this as luxury, nor would I classify it as "budget"; somewhere in the high-end of the "middle". We traveled as a family of five (children ages 12, 10, & 6) from Baltimore, MD and we met our in-laws (2) at the resort; we stayed for 6 days/5 nights. Here are my detailed observations: PROs 1. The resort is HUGE. There are effectively 3 resorts in 1 (Sunrise, Nizuc, and the Grand). We stayed at Sunrise and our room was in Luna (just two buildings away from the main lobby and all of the action). This made getting around pretty easy, but I could see where staying in a building a little further away could be a pain. Nevertheless, the resort has its own inter-modal system of golf carts and busses to get around. We never had trouble getting on any. The walk between the center of Nizuc and Sunrise is maybe 10 minutes at most; no big deal. The Grand is not really walkable, but you can take the Lobby to Lobby bus that comes by every 5 minutes or so. I'm not sure if this was a function of how big the resorts was, but it NEVER felt crowded, not at the pools, dinner, shows, or activities. We stayed the Monday after Easter thru Saturday (our Spring break). The Grand did feel pretty busy when we went there one evening. 2. You have access to ALL three resorts. This includes the Grand (we think). We sat thru a timeshare presentation to get free access to the waterpark at the grand, but NO ONE checked our wristbands when we got there (this includes at the Grand's "Playroom" , so I assume that you can enjoy the amenities at the Grand without having to pay the premium to be there; maybe that's not true of the restaurants? 3. Depending on what you are looking for, the location is great. Maybe 15-20 minutes to the airport. However, this also means you see planes flying overhead throughout the day; if that bothers you, you may want to stay further away. We liked being close to the airport so that we spent less time traveling to and from the resort. Beaches & Pools: 1. The beach was no good. This may have been the time of year (late April). There was too much seaweed to swim and though they tried to rake it up in the mornings, it was still left un-swimmable. They also posted red flags each day we were there, meaning conditions were not good enough for swimming (which also meant no lifeguards were posted). No one really spent time on the beach except for watersports and organized activities like volleyball and sand soccer. This seemed to be the case for all three resorts, though Nizuc's beach seemed to be the one that was taken care of the most insofar as seaweed. 2. The pool at Sunrise is AWESOME; the best one of the three for sure and really the best I've been to in Mexico or anywhere really. It's huge and there's no shortage of chairs and shade. There also several areas you can choose to camp depending on what you're looking for (quiet, active, kids, on-between, etc.). Sunrise also has the flowrider which is great for the older kids. Nizuc's pool is nice too, just not as expansive; though they do have one larger waterslide, but their area for little kids (under 6) is not as good as Sunrise. We did not explore enough of the Grand, but it doesn't seem like they have as large expanse of pools. Instead they have the waterpark that supposedly you have to pay $100pp if you're not staying there (or attend a 90-min vacation club presentation). I would encourage you to just go there without doing either. No one checks. The waterpark is ok; certainly not worth $100pp; maybe $20 at most. They only have 2 slides really (2 innertube slides which are exactly the same and 5 racer slides which are all the same). There's a lazy river, a super small kiddie wave pool, and then a standalone splash zone with the dumping bucket and maybe 4 other slides. There's also a kiddie area similar to Sunrise. There is NO POOL at the water park, except for the lazy river and kiddie wave pool. Food & Service 1. The food left a lot to be desired. We tried the following restaurants: Pier 38 (Sunrise), Momo (Sunrise), Gondola (Sunrise), Brazillian Steakshouse (Nizuc), Rivera Maya (Golf Course), The Cafe (Sunrise), Bombagillas (Sunrise Buffet), Smoked (Sunrise Pool Buffet), and the burgers and dogs served at the pool. The best overall meal was Riviera Maya at the golf course; the worse was Pier 38. There was also another Italian Restaurant at the golf course that looked really good too. 2. Drinks - Pool drinks were typical of any all-inclusive - watered down with not much creativity or flavor. When compared to Excellence-Play Mujeres, this fell short by a lot. No drinks in fresh pineapple or coconuts or anything fun really. The most creative drink (and good) was the off-menu traditional Mayan coffee at Riviera Maya. Beer choices were basically limited to Dos Equis; no real fresh fruit in drinks except for the occasional garnish. On top of that, the ice (for all drinks) was great big bullet ice, not cocktail ice, nor single cub ice for single spirit drinks. The buffet offers a Bloody Mary Bar and Mimosa Bar that basically consists of just Orange Juice and Tomato Juice not nearly as much "stuff" to mix in as you might see in the US; and no pre-mixed bloodies like Zing-Zang (just Tomato Juice!) Drinks get a grade of maybe a D or C-. 3. Food - I do not recall seeing salads, or much of any healthy options, on any menu, except maybe a ceasar salad offering at Gondola. It took us 3 days to eventually get fresh avocado (finally discovered at Riviera Maya). The guac served at the buffet and by the pool resembled the bagged guac that you would get at Subway or Taco Bell. The fruit never appeared to be fresh; at least not as experienced elsewhere. Meat, sides, and everything tended to be over or under cooked, and presentation left a lot to be desired. Aside from the meal at Riviera Maya, which felt authentic and was very tasty, I thing the hot dog by the pool was one of the best things. When compared to the meals you might receive on a cruise, this fell short. Food gets a grade of a C+. 4. The Cafe was not great. Not a lot of coffee offerings, and the coffee and food was mediocre. If you're hoping for a Starbucks experience, this will not scratch that itch. On top of that, we waited a long time (over thirty minutes) for a couple of crepes and three coffees. Save yourself the time and just order room service breakfast the night before (that's what we did 3 of the 5 days and it was great). One thing I'll say about the desert side of the cafe, and about the deserts in general, is that the head Pastry Chef was on-point! Every bread and desert that we had was great! A+ for deserts and pastries! 5. Service - Service helped the food to taste better. EVERY SINGLE server was fantastic. Super attentive, always accommodating, fun, and engaging (especially with the kids). The only place where we had an inconsistent experience was at Pier 38; which wasn't bad...it just wasn't great. Overall I would grade service with an A. Other "Stuff" and some cons... 1. The entertainment and activities staff was great. We attended a few of the nightly shows, 3 shows at Sunrise (Michael Jackson, Clowns/Circus, and Glow Motion), and 1 magic show at the Grand (whose theater is indoors and REALLY nice; again, no one checked our bands there; even though we had a day pass band). All of the shows were great. Glow Motion and the Magic Show seemed worthy of Vegas. 2. Major con for us was check-in and check-out. We asked about making dinner reservations during check-in and were whisked away to meet with someone (whom they suggested was the concierge that could assist us). Instead, we got stuck listening to a 10 minute sales pitch about going to a 90 minute presentation at the Grand if we want to get 2 days of free passes to the Waterpark and other Grand amenities. They roped us in by saying we'd have breakfast at the Circus restaurant at the Grand (which was something of interest to us) and that we would just go for 90 minutes and then get our free passes. We did all of this, but in hindsight, it proved to be an enormous waste of time with incredibly push salesmen and crappy breakfast in a restaurant that probably isn't all it's cracked up to be for dinner; and with all of that we found that we could have gone to the waterpark on without wasting all that time in the presentation. At check-out they also tried to do the same thing. Unlike normal hotels, you can't just hop in your uber and leave. They make you physically "check out" and get a "check-out" card. It seems like the sole purpose of doing this is so their salespeople can corner you on your way out just as they do on their way in. I get it, and understand the tourist economy, but this sort of pushy salesman garbage did not feel consistent with a 4 or 5 star resort. 3. We didn't use the Playroom at Sunrise, but it looked cool; and looked to be the better of the two (Sunrise and Nuzic). We DID use the playroom at the Grand and it's pretty awesome....bumper cars, ropes course, escape room, laser maze, time beater game, play pen thing, games, candy and food. We also went to the wired lounge a few times and never had any issues getting games. As for the Dreamery, I expected something very different from how it was portrayed on the website. The Dreamery seems to not be a physical place; it's just a "concept"; except maybe the little hut by the pool where they can make bracelets and balloon animals. The website really led me to believe that this was a separate place altogether, like another version of the playroom. 4. Our room was great. We had a family suite. Which is really just two connecting rooms. With 3 kids, finding a room that can accommodate us can be a challenge. This gave us an option that wasn't as expensive as having two separate rooms, but still allowed each of us to have our separate spaces anyhow. Shower was huge, water was hot, beds and pillows were comfy. We had a garden view room, but you still had a view of the Ocean. Our room was at the end of the spur (closest to the Lobby), but if you had a garden view room further away from the lobby it would definitely improve you ocean view. AC was cold, but didn't dehumidify much; room always felt damp, but the rooms each had oil diffuses that you could use to keep them smelling fresh. Nice balconies with hammocks was a plus! Only time the property showed it's age was the lack of power receptacles and no USB ports or charging options (so bring you "blocks" with your USB cables for charging). Not a big deal, just an observation. 5. One last thing that struck traveling with older parents) was the resorts accessibility. The amount of ramps and thought put into accessibility was noticeable and all of the staff went out of their way to help. Overall, we had a great experience as a family of 5 and we would come back again. Overall grade for me would be an A- with the following subgrades: Room - A Pool - A+ Beach - B (maybe just time of year) Food - C+ (A for deserts and pastries) Drinks - D Service - A Activities and Entertainment - A+ Read less

I’ve stayed at several all-inclusive resorts in Mexico over the years. I’m familiar with the typical caveats, and I understand that experiences can vary. But this time, at Moon Palace Cancun, the disappointment was overwhelming, and I have a lot to say about it. First of all, the resort is massive, spanning a huge area that even includes a golf course. To give you an idea, it took 10 minutes just to walk from my room to the front desk. You really have to plan ahead just to get around. For us, this turned out to be the biggest inconvenience of all. The trouble began after a meal at the restaurant near the golf club. Being cautious about Montezuma’s revenge, we stuck to fully cooked, hot food and made sure to wash our hands and use clean utensils. But almost immediately after returning to our room, my teenage son began vomiting, and it didn’t stop. He spent the entire night throwing up and running to the bathroom. The next morning, I took him to the on-site clinic, where we were charged $225 for a single antibiotic injection and some anti-diarrhea pills. The staff warned us that seeking medical help in town would cost thousands of dollars, plus hundreds more for transportation, and that most doctors didn’t speak English. Honestly, I doubt locals would ever pay that much for a case of non-bloody diarrhea, let alone thousands in U.S. dollars. It felt like they were trying to discourage us from going to a hospital, where a simple stool test might have revealed the actual cause of the illness. For comparison, I had a similar experience in Japan after eating some questionable raw shellfish at a fish market. That was a known risk I willingly took, and even then, it cost me nowhere near thousands of dollars. I tried to file a complaint with the resort, but they denied any responsibility for my son’s food poisoning. We hadn’t left the resort or eaten anything that wasn’t provided by them. Our vacation was completely ruined. My son spent most of it in the bathroom, and I spent mine walking back and forth between our room and the front desk trying to resolve the situation, each trip taking 10 minutes one way. Although the staff was aware of his condition, they never suggested canceling our pre-booked activities. Instead, we were charged for not showing up. It felt like the resort knew there was a food safety issue but chose to hide it rather than warn guests. During our connection flight in Mexico City, we spoke with a few locals about what had happened. They confirmed my suspicions, mentioning that many resorts don’t pay kitchen staff well, which directly impacts how seriously food safety protocols are followed. I’m deeply disappointed, not because of the financial cost, but because of the emotional toll. This experience has left a lasting impression and has changed how I feel about traveling to Mexico, despite its natural beauty. Read less

We did not enjoy our stay at Moon Palace. Unfortunately, the experience did not reflect a five-star standard, especially for a resort in Mexico. Key Issues: Small Beds: The beds were too small for two adults. We had to request an extra bed to sleep comfortably. Dirty Room: We found a gecko in the room and had to move furniture to locate it—only to discover a lot of dust. There was also limescale buildup near the shower. Pool Cleanliness: The pool was poorly maintained. Cups, straws, sunglasses, leaves, sand, and plastic toys were visible at the bottom and left there. Poor Service: Service was extremely disappointing. We arrived at 11:30 PM and requested towels and an extra bed. They arrived at 1:30 AM—two hours later—despite the “Do Not Disturb” sign being on. No one helped set up the bed, and the linens were missing, so it was left outside. Luggage Policy: We stayed for 4 nights, left for 2 nights in Mérida, and returned for another 5 nights due to a fixed reservation. Shockingly, the hotel refused to store our luggage during the 2-night gap because “the service didn’t exist.” Lack of Transparency: The resort consists of three separate hotels, but this wasn’t made clear at booking. We were placed in the Sunrise section, which felt outdated and in need of refurbishment. Generic Experience: The resort lacked local character—it could have been anywhere in the world and didn’t feel like Mexico. Overpriced: For the quality and experience offered, the resort is not worth the high price. We hope that as the Sunrise section undergoes refurbishment, service and standards will be brought up to what one would expect from a high-end resort. Sadly, this stay didn’t live up to the expectations or the cost. Read less

I had great experience with the entire stay.the staff was very courteous. The deep massage was a refreshing experience . The customer service was excellent in all the restaurants. This is my favorite place to go when I need a break from work. The only thing I didn’t like is they push aggressively to join their membership program and ask to keep upgrading. I am not sure how much is it even worth Read less