Trip Reviews, Ratings and Comments - Trip Review - Moon Palace

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Day 1
Alarm goes off at 4:30AM. Get up, have coffee and get our bags into the car. Drop the car at Budget rent a car and take their shuttle to the Syracuse airport. Check-in is fine and the flight is almost on time. This was the vacation we had wanted for quite some time. Get to Atlanta and have a 3-hour layover. We are glad to find a smoking room. So many airports these days you have to go outside to smoke.

We find we have to check-in again with the ticket agent in Atlanta. They do a better check of your passport here and handed out the forms to fill-in for immigration in Mexico. The flight to Cancun is on time as well, Yeah! We are really on our way now.

Arrive in Cancun on time. Joe needs to make a pit stop before we get to immigration. We head downstairs and there are long lines. Having read on the board to expect this we were patient. It took about half an hour. We knew to be sure and complete both sections of the form so we breathed right through when it was our turn with the agent. On to customs. Our bags were already there. Crunched in the middle of a huge pile of other bags. Got the green light now to fight our way past the time-share people to the official taxi booth. We lucked out, there was another couple going to Moon Palace so we could share the cab. It is really outrageous that they charge $40 US for a cab to Moon Palace. We paid our half and off we go.

The ride to Moon Palace is relatively short. Once past their entrance it’s awhile before you get to the resort. You can see what the area use to look like before it was built up. Get to the main building and unload our luggage. We head inside the lobby. It is beautiful, very clean and spacious. There are lines to check-in. We arrived on a Saturday at about 3:30pm. It was a long wait. I didn’t time it. They handed out glasses of champagne while you waited.

Final, get to the head of the line. We got a lady who was still in training so it did take some extra time. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. I knew we wanted to have a room near the pool. I told them I had a bad ankle and couldn’t walk far. We were told we got the last close room. We ended up in the main building (building 64). This turned out for us to be a great location. We followed the bellboy up with our luggage. Our room key didn’t work. I guess the girl at the desk hadn’t scanned it correctly. The bellboy used his key to get in.

The room is great. Very clean, big king size bed, refrigerator stocked with beer, soda and bottled water, Jacuzzi, huge shower and a great view off the balcony. Our view was of one end of the pool with the Caribbean Sea beyond it. As it turned out we were able to watch the sun come up every morning for some spectacular photos. Only had one chair on the balcony however. We changed our clothes and headed back to the lobby to get our room keys straighten out and to request another chair. No problem they say, so we head over to where we are to meet the person that will tell us more about the resort.

Lynda tells us about all the restaurants and free tours we can get. Also since we had VIP reservations we get a free manicure, pedicure and a massage. She also invites us to a cocktail party the next day and a free champagne breakfast. The breakfast we know will be the time-share pitch and private tour. We decided to skip both. Her info is a help but we are hungry and the restaurants will be closing soon for the hour they need to prepare for dinner. Off to the indoor pool restaurant for a quick bite and then out to explore the resort.

The resort is beautiful. The pool seems to go on forever (the one at Sunrise is even bigger). The grounds are beautifully kept, with great landscaping. There are places to sit along the paths. I liked the stone loveseats they have. Yes the beach has some seagrass but we didn’t find it a deterrent. The sand stays cool even in hot sun. It is a fairly wide strip of beach and it felt like it went on forever. If you ended up in one of the far buildings it could be close to a mile walk to the pool. We found where you can get the bikes, roller blades and set up reservations for a tennis court. We also discovered they now have a miniature golf area between Moon and Sunrise Palace.


Day 2

Woke up very early. I guess I’m still on Eastern Time. The sun isn’t quite up yet. Start the coffee going and head out on the balcony. What a wonderful view. The sun is just coming up and there are a few clouds making for a spectacular view over the water. It’s so warm here after the cold Syracuse winter.

Today is our day to just relax. Coffee and a shower (great water pressure and so roomy) and we are ready to jump into our bathing suits and head down for breakfast. Had breakfast in the indoor pool restaurant. This was great. All sorts of fruit and pastries. Many Mexican dishes, pancakes, French toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, etc. Not to mention that they will make you any kind of omelet you want. There are little bowls out in which you put the toppings you want in your omelet. They will make you fresh fruit drinks to order. The also offer waffles.

After breakfast we head down towards the pool. Picked up 2 towels at the Aqua World desk. It’s now about 8 o’clock. We went looking for lounge chairs with a small palappa. Almost all of them already have towels on them. I guess you need to reserve your spot before breakfast. Finally find one over near the dive tank behind one of the swim-up bars.

Stretch out and relax and enjoy the sunshine while reading. We listened to the diving lesson over in the tank. We decide to take the diving lesson later that day. We enjoy the pool and swim-up bar. We grabbed lunch/snack there. I wasn’t thrilled the sausage but the rest of the food was good. I loved the salsa and fresh chips.

The dive instructor at Moon Palace was wonderful. I wish I could remember her name. The lesson was 2 hours (this is not the free lesson). This one is your first stage to get your scuba diving certification. Our lesson was done in both Spanish and English. I’m a chicken when it came to scuba diving. The instructor was very patient and helped talk me through my panic about being underwater. We booked a dive for Tuesday. More about the dive later.

We just hung out the rest of the day and wandered around. We made our reservations for the tour of Chichen Itza for the next day as well as our free massage for Tuesday.

That evening we went over to Sunrise Palace. We were meeting another couple I had been chatting with on the boards. They were there from Calgary. We met in the lobby bar. We chat for a few hours. It was great to meet the people I had met on the net.

Submitted by: Lynn -- Lsuther@twcny.rr.com
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