Day 1: Check In at the Moon/Sunrise
The road into the Moon is long and wooded. When we pulled up to the Moon drop off, we all got out, and our luggage was unloaded, only to find out that we were getting loaded right back in and taken to the Sunrise section! WOOHOO! I was all excited because I knew this was the nicer and newer of the 2 sections. So, off we went.
The lobby was incredible looking! I've never seen soo much marble, and the stained glass ceilings were just beautiful. The whole grounds were impressive, and more like a small village than a hotel. We found that our room was ready immediately (it was currently around 1pm Cancun time) even though check in was not until 3 pm. We were taken to our room, and even after requesting a certain area two times, it was NOT the room we asked for. It was a first floor garden view room on the back most part of the property, directly opposite the main building, and directly next to the sanitation processing plant! Yes, the Moon Palace has it's own sanitation plant. And if you are down wind of it, you'd better walk fast and hold your nose!! Once I get the map of the hotel scanned, I'll highlight which rooms are effected by this smell, so that you can avoid them! SO, needless to say, we walked directly back to the reception area, and complained. We were passed from supervisor, eventually to hotel manager. Eduardo, the manager, told us the best he could do was to offer to move us to something better the next day when guests checked out. We tried and tried and tried to get a better room immediately, but it just wasn't going to happen. The manager promised us first choice if we arrived at the desk at 9 am, and he put our name on a list with about 15 other people in our situation. This was the best we were going to get, so we sighed, and just went to the room. My husband was NOT in a very good mood after this, so I immediately took him to the lobby bar and handed him a nice margarita. Needless to say he calmed down after that!
We headed back to the room to wash up. The room itself was very very nice. They are all the same except for the presidential suites. We had a 2 person jacuzzi looking out over the terrace (where all the people were walking by!!) and the floors were all marble. They are VERY cold, so bring some socks - and the floors are also very very slippery when wet! Be careful... We had a king sized bed, a decent sized t.v., although in this room we could not find a remote (we would however, find one in the new room). The fridge was well stocked with beer, soda, and bottled water, and there was bubble bath waiting. Just a hint about getting your fridge stocked - the first day we did not leave a tip, and we noticed that no more beer and water was added to our fridge. So, the next day we decided to leave about a buck in pesos, and a note in spanish requesting moy cervesa y agua right next to the tip, and a gracias afterwards. The next day, we had EXTRA beer and water in our fridge. Although this was not consistent because one day we left a tip and a note, and the tip was still there after the maid left, and the fridge was empty! We had to call the front desk and ask them to bring up more bottled water and beer.
Next we decided to try out the hot tub. This is one thing that WILL be in my next house. I didn't notice any strange water color as some people said. The bath water had a sort of green caste from the bubble bath, but that was it. The room was very very clean. Of course, we were only going to be in this room for about a day if we could help it, so we didn't unpack much. After our soak, we headed off to the buffet to grab a late afternoon snack. We went to Bougambilias, and the food was pretty decent. Nothing spectacular, but a large selection of food. Mexican, pasta, breads, fruits, and pastries. I found the deserts in almost all of the restaurants to be very bland, and actually didn't eat any more of them after the first day. I figure, if I'm going to get calories and fat from something, it better darned well taste better than "okay"!!! The restaurant was very pretty, and I found Bougambilias to be the nicest buffet of all the ones I tried. I thought the food here was the better of all places, especially breakfast.
After our dinner, we headed off to walk around the pool before it got too dark. It gets dark around 6 pm here, so you have to make the most of your daylight time. Remember, it's winter in Cancun too! It just doesn't feel like it!!! The pool at the Sunrise section was absolutely huge! There were canvas 'cabanas' with about 4-6 chairs under, so that you could get shade, and there were TONS of chairs everywhere. The neat thing about the pools, is that for the first 5-6 feet or so of the pool, it is only about 1-2 feet deep - it's sort of a ledge, and the pool chairs are actually sitting 'in' the water. These chairs are great - you can stick your foot off the edge and feel the water, or when you get hot, stick your hands in and splash yourself (or someone next to you!!). We sat in the chairs on the edge every time we went to the pool. Of course there were chairs off the water, and up farther, everywhere! They were very comfortable canvas/material covered chairs, and they reclined. There were a few swim up bars all around, and some Palapa Bars nearby. The one behind us had a "jungle" theme, with swinging chairs hanging from the ceiling! Really neat, this bar was a must visit.
We walked over to the Moon section, and checked out the restaurant. We decided to try dinner at the Spanish restaurant that night. It looked really nice... but appearances are something that the Moon Palace has down pat - things may look good, but the taste never matches the looks! There was a dress code for this place, pants and shoes other than sandals or tennis shoes for guys, and pants or a dress for women. No T-shirts/jeans or shorts here. When we returned later for dinner, we were very disappointed with the food. We ordered 2 of the combination plates - mine had a batter fried shrimp (it was soggy batter, and overly greasy, and the shrimp had no taste), a vegetable egg type thing that tasted like vinegar, something that was supposed to be pork ( I couldn't find any meat on it!) and something that was supposed to be rabbit stew (I wouldn't have eaten that anyways, but I wanted the shrimp). My husband's stuff was even grosser. I honestly can't remember ever going to a place for dinner and actually not even touching hardly any of it! It was a good thing we weren't really hungry after the late lunch buffet anyways. Tired and disappointed, we headed back to our not-so-prime of a location room for the night. We were too tired from the day of travel to do much else....
* none of these photos may be used for any reason without permission -
all are copyright, Amy Newcomb or Ray Newcomb, 2000
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Check-In - Lobby, Room, Pool Photos More Pool shots, and Grounds Photos Cancun Palace Beach Photos Snorkeling Photos (Underwater) Mostly advice about downtown Sunset/Sunrise Photos, another day at the Pool Trip to Chichen Itza and Photos Packing up, and Going Home
