We spent two weeks at The Grand Moon Palace in Cancun in Mexico. This is our full Moon Palace review + photos + what we thought of the most well-known hotel in Mexico.
At the time of travelling to The Grand we were doing so with our 2 youngest children, and it was also the first ever long-haul flight. When travelling Sofia was age 8 and Jorge was age 6.
This post is our full review of The Moon Palace Grand and we will do some more blog posts about other elements of the holiday.
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Grand Moon Palace Cancun
I remember queuing for dinner for our meal at The Grill and we were in the queue with a few other people, and we got chatting and it was nice to have a way to pass the time, whilst we waited for our table.
I got chatting and they said how long had you being planning your trip to Moon Palace and I said OVER 20 YEARS.
I told them I had wanted to come to the Moon Palace to get married back in 2003, and couldn’t afford to, and it had been my dream to come to the Moon Palace when we could.
Well, fast forward to 2023, and the same year as our 20th wedding anniversary, and we are here.
But not at the Moon Palace we had talked about for all those years, because it didn’t exist back then but The Grand Moon Palace Cancun is now a thing, and we chose The Grand because it felt more family friendly and had a water park.
Then if you check out our about page, you will note that the inspiration for starting Trip Meets Travel was our holiday at The Grand, so it feels amazing to share with you all the details now.
Planning Our Trip To The Grand Moon Palace
It was about six months before we went to The Grand that we started the planning process. We were thinking about booking Beaches in Jamaica and then realised Moon Palace would be a lot cheaper.
Then we saw a You Tube video, and it showed the waterpark at The Grand and that is what swayed us in the direction of The Grand over just Moon Palace.
We also looked at the prices.
The difference between moon palace and grand is quite a big difference. Just doing a quick check for Easter next year (same time of the year we went and perfect for school holidays) it is £13,430 for the Grand Vs £10,607 for the main Moon Palace. That means that The Grand is £2823 more for a 2 week holiday.
Though of course, we recommend you head over to TUI and see how the prices are for when you plan to go so that you have a realistic price and of course, this doesn’t include premium flights on TUI which we paid for.
So, you have to ask yourself is The Grand at Moon Palace worth it? Which of course, I will cover in full today and then you can make your mind up.
Moon Palace Vs Moon Palace Grand
Before you book your holiday to Cancun, lets talk about the main differences between Moon Palace and what you get at The Grand that you don’t get at the other hotel.
It looks more elegant. You will see the toilets in the reception area and think wow and they look like something out of the movies. I know both Me & Sofia loved doing our makeup in here.
It has a waterpark. The Grand waterpark was a big deal breaker for our kids. They have lived in Portugal with lots of waterparks and they would be lost on holiday without one.
The restaurants are amazing. I really cant fault the delicious food in the restaurants in the grand. I loved them so much I have done a separate post on grand moon palace restaurants. You have a much smaller choice in the sunrise or nizuc hotels.
Its less crowded than sunset. We went at the back end of spring break and with the Easter crowd coming in too. It was easy to cope with it at The Grand but when we did venture to the other hotels OMG we just couldn’t cope with the crowds. It was crazy busy.
Has a more family vibe. We noticed that The Grand was less noisy and had a more relaxed family vibe about it. Perfect for when taking an 8 and 6 year old on holiday. Even when the spring break lads had been drinking too much they were still polite and friendly.
You can go to all the hotels. Because the grand is the top dog, it means that all the other hotels are less money to stay at and this means as a grand moon palace guest you can go to them all. This takes you from a few restaurants to many more, plus you can walk around freely and go wherever you please.
But hang on a minute why not just get a Grand Moon Palace day pass? Yes, you can also get the day pass and it’s a good way to save money. You could split your time between the two places and save a bit of money. Or you could take part in some of the timeshare presentations which usually includes some free day passes for The Grand.
So, once you have thought about the price and whether you are team Moon Palace or team Grand, we recommend you book your break and then you can look forward to your amazing holiday.
Before You Arrive At The Grand
First thing is first, have a read through what to pack for Cancun, because The Moon Palace has a dress code that is so difficult to understand. Many people bring the wrong clothes, buy too many clothes, and then overpack when its not necessary.
Then after you have gone through what you need to bring with you to The Grand we recommend you download their app. Then you can check out all the main cocktails, check out the restaurants, see the restaurant menus, and even see what free room service is included in your stay.
Though do note, you can’t make a restaurant reservation until you are here. Then you can book 3 days in advance and in high season that means you won’t be able to secure one, until 3 days into your holiday.
The Day You Arrive At The Grand
Coming from the UK it can be a long trip. We had to be up at 5am and then we arrived 4pm local time, which to us was 9pm at night. The flight was great with the kids though and they were very good for their first long haul flight.
Then when you arrive at Mexico Cancun airport it is incredibly slow at bringing out the baggage. We waited way over an hour for our suitcases to come out, so brace yourself for the long wait.
Then you have to walk all the way past everyone trying to sell you transport to the hotel and then outside your coach transfer is waiting for you. I loved the guy we got, he was so nice and friendly and gave us all a cold bottle of water, which was very appreciated with the new heat difference we now had.
Then when everyone was ready, we did the 15 minute coach transfer to The Grand.
That is another benefit of being at The Grand you have a priority for hotel drop off, which when there are people staying at different hotels it can make a difference.
Then on arrival you get a nice hand cloth and are ready to head to reception and book yourself in.
We got our Grand bracelets and were shown to our room. Whilst another person was bringing our luggage to our room.
They have plenty of the golf buggies to get you from wherever you are going. But with all that all inclusive food, we tried to walk as much as possible.
I did the unpacking whilst the kids and the hubby checked out the room and sat down for a bit. Note by this point we were really tired as it was now 5.30pm local time though to us it was 10.30pm at night and we had been up since 5am and the kids were so tired.
We were getting peckish, so we headed out to The Grand Buffet for the first time at about 6.30pm and had some dinner. Overwhelmed by all the food choices but loving the selection at the same time.
During the meal nobody spoke. We were just all too tired and had our buffet dinner and headed to bed, thankful that we made it to 8pm before bed, as we wanted to train ourselves best, we could on a different time zone.
Though OMG we chose our time wrong. Because the day after we arrived the clocks changed and we went from a 5 hour time difference to 6 hours, which really does mess with your brain.
Rooms At The Grand Cancun
I must admit back in the early 00’s what made me fall in love with the Moon Palace was that it had a jacuzzi in every room. And not just a small one, like the one we had when we went to Barcelona but a big one that would fit in four people. Or what it feels like when you get in, that two baths have been joined together so you could each have a side each if there was two of you.
But what people do here, is that they don’t use the jacuzzi and instead store their luggage in there, so with that in mind its recommended that you bring some dish washer tablets with you and then run the jacuzzi and then clean it with the dishwasher cleaner. This will make it as good as new for you.
Then when you are using the jacuzzi make sure you get the height right and its almost full otherwise the jets will cause the water to spray everywhere.
We also recommend you have a few towels out on the floor as the floor is very slippery after you have a jacuzzi.
The second amazing thing about the hotel room at The Grand is its snack drawer. The kids would probably list this as its number #1 thing about their hotel room. It was filled with coffee (boring bit) along with sweets (delicious teddy bears) + oreo biscuits + some chocolate bars (don’t ask me what they were as never seen them before). There were also some nuts which we got the guy to remove with our nut allergy.
Beyond this, there was also a spirit’s area with Bacardi and other drinks you could have in your room. Plus, a fridge that was well stocked with bottled water, juices, beer etc.
You also have a huge shower in your room that is big enough to fit all four of you in at once, as well as a double sink area, plenty of storage and a separate toilet.
There is also a double wardrobe with plenty of space a good sized safe inside the wardrobe as well as some more storage in the main room area.
You also have two good sized double beds, a desk area, as well as a little table and chairs.
Then outside there is a really comfy outside furniture, though it gets humid out there, so we never stayed out there that long.
We also had a brilliant position for our hotel room as we were right next to the waterpark which was great for quick access for us and the kids.
Room Service At The Moon Palace Grand
After the jacuzzi another main attraction at The Moon Palace Grand is the room service. Though unlike other hotel rooms, it is included in the price.
You can literally order room service 24/7 and 20-30 minutes later, it is in your room ready for you to enjoy.
You head over to your Palace Resorts App and then choose what you want from the menu and then hit the button to submit your order and wait for it to be delivered.
Then if you don’t want to wait the 20 minutes you can pre-plan it. Such as just before you leave the swimming pool or the waterpark put your order in, then by the time you get back it will be almost done.
We loved the restaurants and the buffets, so we only used the room service option about 4 times.
Or another savvy option is to order the sandwiches from room service and then have them ready for if you are on a day trip the next day to take with you, then it saves worrying about the food.
The Moon Palace Restaurants
There is a lot of restaurants at the grand at moon palace and then you have more of them at the other palace resorts and it can be hard to choose where is best, what to pre-book and what you can just turn up at for dinner.
We will be going into the grand moon palace restaurants in much more detail here, but as part of our main review, wanted to quickly highlight our favourites and most disliked.
#1 Cusco Peruvian Restaurant
This was the only pre-booked restaurant that we went back to and booked again for the last night of our holiday.
It is also the easiest one to get a table for (even for the night after) and the food was delicious and so was the service.
We enjoyed the plantain chips, the meat and veggies on the skewers, and my all time favourite dish here was duck in a cheese sauce with fried rice. That was delicious and I could have eaten that every night for the whole holiday it tasted that good.
There was also plenty of choice for the kids too.
#2 Los Tacos
The runner up for the best food we had whilst at The Grand was Los Tacos. And OMG we spent most of the last few days of our holiday there are loved it.
You see not only do you have tacos, but it also has its own swimming pool so you can order off the waiter the tacos, he will deliver it to your sunbed, and you can swim and eat.
Plus, the little restaurant seating for Los Tacos fills up quickly and by eating from your sunbed you are guaranteed seating.
The hubby doesn’t like Mexican food very much, (I know ironic, isn’t it?) and absolutely loved the tacos.
There are 11 different types of mini tacos on offer. You can have a mix of them or stick to one type. Our favourites included the cure for the Irish flu and fish cracklings.
They also do some delicious guacamole as well as some tortilla chips to go with your tacos.
#3 Momo – Teppanyaki
If there is somewhere to take the kids for dinner that would impress them then it would be Momo and the teppanyaki show cooking. Its such a fun concept and for the amount of people there, it was very well managed.
You sit down at a large table and there is someone in the middle cooking a set menu for you and then you make your way through the courses. There is quite a lot of food so expect to be well and truly filled up when you are done.
They have sushi and it was so much fun watching the kids with the chop sticks, they have an egg fried rice course, and then the teppanyaki meat and veggies.
With the teppanyaki course, you get to choose between chicken, beef, and prawns or you can have a mix of them.
But its not the food that impresses me most. It is the show cooking. Like the mini fire from the Mexican water (aka tequila) that gets the kids attention, or the fact that you catch the veggies as they throw them.
Jorge and Sofia just loved the whole experience and well worth going to.
#4 The Grand Buffet
Some will tell you that the Grand Buffet is way too busy and go to another one. Well, that was not our experience when we stayed at The Grand.
We found that if you went to The Grand Buffet before 9am it was never that busy or that 6pm in the evening was the perfect time.
But what the big buffet offered that the smaller ones don’t is that they have the variety and there is a lot more food on offer. We also found at the Cusco buffet is that they wrongly labelled the desserts a lot which is not good with a nut allergy.
We also loved the different daily themes that The Grand Buffet did such as Indian night, Asian night etc.
#5 The Grill
This was the final restaurant we ate out that deserved a shout out for how good it was. There was a good choice of steaks and pasta dishes and something for everyone.
I remember having a delicious ravioli dish when I was there, plus the hubby and the kids enjoyed some steak.
The staff was also very good whilst we were there and we can’t fault the service.
The Restaurants That Disappointed Us
There were 2 restaurants we visited whilst at The Grand that we wish we didn’t go to. Both of them had a lot of hype about them, so to go there and be so disappointed is a bit of a let-down.
The first was Jade this was our first restaurant we tried, and I believe most of it came down to poor service rather than terrible food. We ordered the skewers which we normally have in restaurants as a main meal, and they are normally hanging from a skewer and is the equivalent of 2 chicken breasts. Well, they came out for our mains as the size of my thumb. Like lol this was going to be our mains. He also did a bad job of explaining the starters and we felt like we ordered the wrong thing and if they had explained the food beforehand then we would have been much happier.
The second was JC Steakhouse. The food just didn’t taste as good as I expected for a restaurant that has become so hyped among Moon Palace customers. But I also felt like we received a poorer service because we are British not American.
I noticed that the waiter kept going back to the table next to us (American customers) and totally ignoring us. In the end we left before desserts because the service was that bad. We assume that the other table was more likely to tip them than us.
The café was also a disappointment. We found that the cakes were not as tasty as we would expect and there was a lack of proper chocolate and a lot of dark chocolate used. We tried several items hoping for the best, but none really impressed us. But the ice cream counter was very good and made up for it.
I recommend when you visit the moon palace grand that you find your firm favourites and re-visit those.
The Moon Palace Grand Swimming Pools
You have a really good choice when it comes to swimming pools at The Grand and I do believe by the end of our 2 week holiday, we still hadn’t checked them all out.
I personally think there is more swimming pools than you have time to use. Which of course, is good because there are a lot of guests and it gives you balance and not feeling over crowded.
The swimming pools we checked out was the one at Cusco, the one at The Grill, the one at Caribeno, and the one at Los Tacos.
Our favourite two were the one at Cusco and the one at Los Tacos.
Cusco was the swimming pool that had the best swim up bar and the best guys at the swim up bar making cocktails. We tried cocktails at other places during our holiday and they never matched up to those at Cusco.
But of course, the Cusco swimming pool got busy, and you needed to get a towel on the sunbed before 9am. What we would recommend here is putting the towels down at 8.30am, then going to Cusco breakfast buffet, having your breakfast then you are ready for the pool.
But the Cusco pool was much bigger so plenty of room for everyone. Plus, there was a little ledge for sunbeds in the water and the kids loved this as it was like a baby pool for them to splash in.
Secondly, must be Los Tacos. The swimming pool is much quieter than the other ones and its perfect for chilling out with the kids. We spent a lot of days here and there is a really good waiter that brings your cocktails and brings the tacos.
Plus, both of them had toilets nearby so it was very handy for a day by the pool.
The Moon Palace Grand Cocktails
So, after the swimming pools everyone talks about the cocktails. After all, you sit by the pool (or in the pool at the swim up bar) drinking refreshing cocktails.
Firstly, don’t order your kids mocktails as they are small and boring, order them a virgin of whatever cocktail you are having.
There is a menu of cocktails which include the usual ones like sex on the beach, miami vice, electric lemonade and of course pina colada.
But the best ones are the ones that have become a thing at Moon Palace but is not on the cocktail’s menu.
Such as blue electric and the mango tango.
I think what I drank the most when I was there was either miami vice or a mango tango. Then the kids had virgin mango tango, virgin pina colada, or a virgin strawberry daiquiri.
Though nothing is better than sat in the pool at the pool bar at Cusco waiting for your cocktail to be made.
The Moon Palace Grand Waterpark
As well as the swimming pools the grand moon palace waterpark deserves a mention. Its brilliant for spending your day and the slides options are fantastic for a hotel.
I don’t recall ever going to a hotel that had such a good waterpark attached to it.
There are smaller slides, there is a bucket and there are plenty of other slides as well as a lazy river.
The biggest drawback (same for the swimming pools) is that whilst in Europe they have the filters at the side of the pool, at the moon they are on the bottom and its very easy to stub your toes on them and can get painful when you forget their location.
We had a few days spread out over the holiday at the waterpark and Sofia loved the bucket the most and they were both up and down the slides and then we also loved the little wave pool, and I could lose an hour just going around the lazy river with the kids.
The Moon Palace Grand Beach
We have talked about the moon palace grand rooms, moon palace the grand restaurants, the grand waterpark and of course the swimming pools, but the beach also deserves a mention which does have a very bad reputation among its visitors.
That is because its not perfect.
It doesn’t look like what you would expect of the Caribbean and certainly is not as good as Praia Da Rocha beach in Portugal. It also has a big seaweed problem.
But the beach staff work hard and clear it up asap and we had a lovely trip down to the beach. Also, because the beach is unloved even during Spring Break, you can have the beach almost to yourself.
We had half a day at the beach and really liked it and the kids loved every moment.
What Else Is There At The Grand Palace Cancun
It doesn’t just stop there. You also have a few other options available to you.
Our kids loved the indoor kid’s area that was in the middle of the waterpark. There was a soft play, dodgems to play on, lots of video style games and there is rope walk the kids can do.
There is also the wired lounge which is in the main area of The Grand and close to a lot of the restaurants. We only went in the once because I have epilepsy and there were too many flashing lights in there. But if I hadn’t got issues, we would have stayed in there more often.
There is also plenty of evening entertainment but with having kids and they have been on the go all day, and us struggling with the time zone, we found ourselves all asleep by 10pm.
Then if you have some energy left, they also have a fitness centre, which we didn’t manage to get to, as well as a spa if you want some beauty treatments.
Moon Palace Grand – The Bad Bits
Our Moon Palace The Grand Cancun review wouldn’t be legit without mentioning the bad bits. Though of course, the grand is such an amazing place there is a lot more good than bad.
I will start with what everyone complains about and that is the timeshare. Moon Palace focuses on selling timeshares for people to return and return again and again. It feels like these timeshare customers are more important than everyone else.
The timeshare customers can pre-book restaurants that we can’t, they also get other perks such as resort credits that we don’t get.
There is also a lot of talk of constant sales pitching for the timeshare. We personally didn’t experience this and was told we didn’t because we are British, and the Americans are their target audience.
Cleaning of the room was late a LOT in our first week. When I am staying at a hotel come 3pm-4pm my little kids are on afternoon nap. And there were several times that they came to clean when the kids and us were on our afternoon siesta.
When people ordered room service the plates and leftovers would be left in the communal areas and often not collected for a while afterwards. This looks really ugly for what is a 5 star hotel.
The hotel is tips led. Whilst the official talk is that tips are appreciated but not expected, the service is better for those that tip compared to those that don’t. Also, they will make more of an effort with the American tourist because they believe they will tip and that us Brits wont. You can read more about our tipping system when we were at the Grand.
The shop is very expensive for essentials. Whatever you do, don’t run out of suntan cream because the prices for more is 5 times more than what it costs to buy it in the UK.
Is The Grand At Moon Palace Worth It?
For an all inclusive resort with so many swimming pools, food, cocktails, a water park, room service and a jacuzzi then absolutely.
But for me its location is what spoils it with all the current gun crimes going on in Mexico. Which personally puts me off going out and about.
Plus, of course, it is a 10 hour flight from home.
Its nice to say that we have been to The Grand at Moon Palace, but we have got so many other great places on our bucket list so I don’t think we will make it back to the grand soon.
Though for an overall hotel I would say its absolutely worth it for what you get for the money.
Moon Palace Grand Cancun Visitor Information
- What is the Grand Moon Palace resort? Its an all inclusive 5 star family hotel based in Cancun in Mexico. You can find out more info about it by clicking here.
- How much did The Grand at Moon Palace cost? The grand moon palace cancun prices for us was just over £12,000 but this includes a premium seating option for our long haul flights. Click here for current prices.
- How far is The Grand at Moon Palace from airport? It took just 15 minutes from the parking outside of Cancun airport to the front of our hotel. Its only a short ride to the hotel which is brilliant when you are tired.
- Which section of Moon Palace is the best? The Grand section is the best part of the Moon Palace Resort. There is a reason why they call it the grand. You will certainly feel like you have landed in luxury.
- Are drinks free in Moon Palace? Yes, as part of your all-inclusive package at Moon Palace all drinks and all food are included in the price. You also have drinks in your room as part of your mini bar too.
- Is there a dress code for Grand Moon Palace. Yes, there is and its so confusing as you read one thing and then see another. I have written here all about the dress code and what to pack for the moon palace.
Pin Moon Palace The Grand For Later!
Well, that’s a wrap, do you have any questions then do ask below and if you want to refer back, to this later for planning your trip to Moon Palace then don’t forget to pin it to your travel board on Pinterest.
