Our Family Trip to Moon Palace Cancun

We surprised our kids with an early Christmas this year and told them we'd be going to Mexico for a week in December, with some of their aunts, uncles, & cousins! We had a great trip and I have been looking forward to sharing photos with you here, and filling you in on the resort we visited. There have been quite a few questions about Moon Palace since I started sharing our trip in my Instagram stories!

Ken & I went to Mexico 6 years ago, for our 10th anniversary and we loved the resort we stayed at in Cancun. We dreamed of going back to Mexico someday with our kids, but weren't sure how we would make it happen. Then a year ago, Ken's sister & her husband went to Mexico for their anniversary and ended up becoming members of the Palace Vacation Club (which meant that they had a certain number of discounted weeks at Palace resorts) and they offered the discount to us and some other family members. We were so excited to be able to make this trip happen, and to do it with some of Ken's family and our kids' cousins! We also partnered with Palace Resorts who upgraded our room to a Family Suite so we could show you all of the special features available at the resort for families with kids, and I can't wait to show you!

Arrival & Greeting

In the photo below on the left, Talia asked me to take a photo showing that we had arrived in Mexico. The sign is difficult to read from that distance, but we were all pretty excited to be welcomed to Mexico!

Moon Palace provided transportation from the Cancun airport to the resort. We were picked up with another family and had a van ride to the resort. It was fun to watch the girls look out the windows of the van and take in the sights of Mexico (just the way I did when I went for the first time, 6 years ago)!

When we arrived at the resort, in front of the beautiful Sunrise lobby, we were greeted with a cold towel and a flower for each of the girls (just like I remembered from our last visit). I'm telling you, re-living things through your kids is right up there with experiencing them for yourself!

3-in-1 Resort!

The first thing I think you need to understand about the Moon Palace Resort in Cancun that is unique is that it's not in the main hotel zone of Cancun, so you're not sharing a beach that's lined with several other resorts, crammed up next to yours. The resort property is huge and includes three separate sections, so it's like 3 resorts in one.

There is one premium section called The Grand. You will pay a premium price to stay in this section and enjoy the special features in this area. If you stay at The Grand, you also have all-inclusive access to the other 2 sections of Moon Palace.

The other 2 sections are called Sunrise and Nizuc. If you stay in one of these sections, you have all-inclusive access to the other as well but if you wish to visit The Grand, you'll need to pay a fee per person for a day pass. We stayed at Sunrise for this visit and were quite happy to enjoy Sunrise and Nizuc during our week. We didn't visit The Grand during this trip.

As I mentioned, the resort property is quite large so if you'd like to travel between the Sunrise, Nizuc, & Grand parts of it, you have a few different options. You can walk (it's a beautiful walk along the beach in particular), you can take a shuttle bus that is continually travelling in a loop between the three, or you can take a golf cart.

Palace Resorts has another resort location that is located in the Hotel Zone, called Beach Palace. This resort is also included in your stay! You can arrange for transportation to Beach Palace any day during your stay and enjoy an all-inclusive visit to a different beach, restaurant, pools, etc. I highly recommend spending a day there (but I'll share more details from Beach Palace in another post).

Superior Family Deluxe Suite

We stayed in a family deluxe suite on the Sunrise side of the resort. The suite includes two similar rooms- one with two double beds for the kids, and one with a king sized bed for the adults.

Both rooms include a double whirlpool tub, a TV, a bathroom, and a mini fridge.

The kids' room comes with an Xbox, a "Fun in the Sun" bucket kit for use at the beach, and is stocked with pop, juice, water, and snacks. Snacks and drinks are re-stocked each day.

Both rooms include robes and slippers- and the kids' room comes with kid-sized robes!

Each of the rooms has its own balcony. We all loved going out there to relax in the hammock or sit and chat while enjoying the view! We had a garden view room, but could still see the ocean in the distance. I noticed that many rooms are set up so that their balconies are angled in the direction of the ocean- whether you're close enough to be considered "ocean view" or not.

Pools

The pools at both Sunrise and Nizuc are beautiful! The Nizuc pool includes a water slide (shown in the photo below). The Sunrise side has a bunch of connecting pools with many bridges that take you over and around them.

There is also a kids' pool and splash play area. Pools are located close to the beach so you can look over them, right out to the peaceful ocean or you can take a short walk down to relax in a lounge chair while listening to the waves.

Poolside drinks are included, there are always games and activities going on for entertainment, and our family's favourite part during this trip: the FlowRider! It was a lot of fun to watch Ken and the girls practice until they could do tricks and stay standing up, surfing without any assistance!

Interactive Map of Moon Palace

Map provided by Wanderlog, a road trip planner app on iOS and Android

I'll share more soon about the restaurants (there are a lot!) included at the resort, what it was like to stay here with extended family (they joined us after a few days), visiting Beach Palace, and how we celebrated our anniversary & Katrina's birthday at the resort.


Disclosure: We partnered with Palace Resorts who upgraded our room to a Family Suite so we could show you all of the special features available at the resort for families with kids.

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