Every summer we do our best to take a family vacation. The last 2 years we have left our little guy (he’s now 2) at home. Life is crazy and has changed, A LOT, since Logan joined the family. As hard as it has been for me, it has been equally as hard, maybe harder on the girls. So we make it a point, for now at least, to make sure we take them away and get them out, without their little brother. Where we can focus and love on just them. For a short period of time, we were able to have the freedom you temporarily loose, when you have small children. Those teenage years are tough! So this is our way to give them our undivided attention. To laugh, goof around, stay up and out late!
My husband does most (all) the research for our vacations or travels. This trip he went through Costco Travels and found the all-inclusive Moon Palace in Cancun. I can’t rave enough about it! I’d like to go back with either just my husband and I, or get a group of friends and go. It was easily one of the best resorts/vacations I have been on. Trip of a lifetime! First of all, forget adults and their average food/beverage consumption on vacation. Kids, whole new level!! They have an insatiable appetite!! Right!?! I mean, they can order an appetizer or 3, salad, entree, drink, shake, dessert, bonus dessert (do your kids eat like this, regularly?? Mine do!) And we try so hard to reign it in with, “that’s a lot of food” “Are you going to finish that??” Then they give you that look, “duh, Im hungry! I haven’t eaten for like 2 hours!” But all-inclusive, its like their tummies have gone to Disneyland!! Not that I promote wasting food. (there are starving people in Africa) but I. DO. NOT. CARE! And give me a Mai Tai, I care that much less. Go nuts!! But seriously, kids + all-inclusive = way to go!!
So… Moon Palace, HUGE resort! You get there, check in, get your resort wrist band, then wait. Haha. True story, thats how it went. We chose the red eye flight so we arrived early in the morning to get the most out of our first day there. They “tried” to get us checked in early, but our grand plan, was also everyone else’s grand plan. But wrist band were effective immediately!! So we choose to walk to grounds and see what we could find. Walked out of the lobby, and got punched in the face with heat and humidity!! Ehhh, I HATE humidity. Can’t complain though. We are staying in a beautiful resort and it is the middle of July. Its summer in Mexico. Expect it! So we started walking…. and walked some more, did I mention its HUGE! We then decided lets walk back and put our swim suits on. Lets go hang in the pool and put these wrist bands to work!! It was HOT!! And that is exactly what we did, until it was time to check into our room. It was a great way to spend a day after traveling and being cooped up in a plane. Relaxing, swimming, floating, laughing and ordering whatever we wanted. It was a beautiful thing!
Got checked into our room(s) and I thought it would be like a typical adjoining hotel room. King bed in one room, 2 queens in the next with the door that separates the two rooms. Well, it was that, and more! The rooms were big and spacious. Big bathrooms and each room had a spa tub that was separate from the bathtub!! Mama happy! Girls were happy!! In turn, hubby of course was happy. He does love to take care of us and see us happy! He’s a keeper! We all loved the rooms and the space… and the all-inclusive mini bar that goes with it!! Even though I kick myself that I didn’t take full advantage of it! (dum dums) But the girls did! Not shocking! And I am pretty sure they lounged in there spa everyday.
With staying at the resort, you get resort credit. (Amount is depending on how many rooms and what level of room you get) Sweet!! You can use it towards, the spa, salon, golf and a few other things. On top of the things you can do at the resort, you can use resort credit for out door attractions. Like sightseeing, hiking, boat rides, guided tour through ruins, dolphins…. so many options and choices. Well, where we went wrong, was NOT going directly to the concierge or booking department immediately after checking in, and booking said excursions. Mind you, this was the day after we arrived, so day 2. Who would’ve thought! Most everything we wanted to do, was full and booked up. I wasn’t happy! They mentioned, upon arriving, to head over to the tour department, but didn’t give the slightest indication that your next stop, most definitely, needs to be that department!! I think most people who were staying there, were staying minimum of 7 days. We were staying for 4 nights. So, there were openings, just a day or two after we were leaving. Again, not happy! Hindsight, we should’ve booked excursions before we even arrived!? Again, who knew!?! Well, like I mentioned, not happy! So, I complained, because I do that sometimes! And what do you know… there were a few openings. Hmm, funny how that works!! Now we already knew that with the heat and humidity, going on a guided tour out to see nature or ruins was NOT going to happen this trip. So that was out. There were a few others that I cant remember, but what we did choose was the Aqua Twister, jet skis and snorkeling, catamaran, and swimming with dolphins!!! Which is on my bucket list!! Actually, it is on all 4 of our bucket lists! And my husband, being the wonderful man he is, paid an additional expense, so that on top of swimming with dolphins, we played with a sea lion and swam and fed manatees! Mind blown!! This is how this trip turned into a trip of a lifetime! Wonderful memories are always made on family vacations, but when you’re crossing things off your bucket list, and doing it as a family!! It’s pretty memorable and very special!
Now that our excursions are booked, we can relax, explore our hotel and really put the wrist bands to work. And explore we did! Not only was our resort grand, it has 2 other equally grand resorts that basically make it one ginormous resort. No joke! And guess what?? Our wrist bands give us access to the other 2 resorts, all their restaurants and accommodations they have! Pools, bars, spas, taco trucks… really the list goes on. I think there are around 15-20 places to eat between the 3 resorts. On top of beautiful pools and spas and the beach! Beautiful white sandy beaches!! TAKE ME BACK!! I really can’t say enough wonderful things about this resort!
Our day swimming with dolphins was amazing! It started off with a catamaran ride and a little swimming. Then some lunch. And THEN Dolphins!! Not only did we get to touch them and swim with them. It was so much more. We learned about them, hand signals, they kissed us, we even go to swim out and have them push our feet with their snout (proper name ‘rostrum’) I felt like trainer at Sea World! It was such an awesome experience. We held on to their dorsal fin and swam with them, I was in love. And am pretty confident that feeling was the same for my family. Mikinzee (13 at the time) was just beside herself with overjoyed emotions.
Our day continued onto hanging and playing with the sea lion. Which was very entertaining. Except for the big guy that was not being visited by us. He was in his cage adjacent to where we were, and he had the worst gas! (barf) It really was so gross LOL but animals and nature can be that way. (thats what I tell myself to keep a smile on my face)
The day ended with the sea elephants! Hahaha. Manatees!! Those guys are something else. They live to eat. The amount of lettuce they consume in a day is staggering. I believe it was some 150 lbs of lettuce/food a day! And do they even have teeth?!? 1 big square tooth? I don’t know, but they are a strangely cute but gross creature. (Reminds me of our bulldog, Chunk!) Oh and let me share the fact that one sneezed on me. Yup! Right in my face! Chunks of lettuce flew out of his mouth and landed on my face. Most of it, luckily, landed on the wall behind me. But there was plenty that got me. Again, barf!! Dolphin day was a pretty full day. Think we were gone most of the day, like 6 hours. So after, we went back to hotel, showered and had dinner. That wrapped up a full day!
Our other full day outing was the Aqua Twister and jet ski with snorkeling. Let me just tell you about the Twister (boat). I was a little nervous at first, nothing against Mexico, but we ARE in Mexico. I say that with love, I feel the nervousness when I am anywhere that isn’t home or that I don’t feel I have some control over. But, we did it and it was RAD! We had blaring music, went fast, screamed my face off, spun out and got drenched! Good times had by all!! I would do it again in a heart beat!
Then we hopped on jet skies and we out to a coral reef where we snorkeled. The beauty of the coral reef is something that words can’t describe and my photos don’t do it justice. So you get to see a photo of me and Kiki, The Keeksters, Kikipotamus, Keeks… I’ll stop there 😉
Did I mention the Moon Palace has a water park? And we did not go til the last day!?! Stupid move on our part! While Bren and the girls had fun going down the slide, I ventured to the lazy river. I love me some lazy river! But the BEST part, they had a TACO TRUCK!! So good! It was at that moment we realized we had been missing out! Oh and the drinks they were pouring were strong! Where had that been the whole trip!?
Honestly, we ate so good on this trip. Food from all over. It was ALL very delicious. I don’t think we had one thing we didn’t enjoy. And we enjoyed A LOT! We ate well, girls drank a lot of virgin strawberry daiquiris, endless ways to keep the whole family busy. Even carved out some husband and wife time at the adult pool and relaxed a bit. Which, as much as we go to relax, kids need to be busy. And if they aren’t busy, they want to be eating. It’s a cycle that never ends! So I am a big supporter of ALL-INCLUSIVE! I would love to hear your experience if you’ve been to one of these resorts, or anywhere in Cancun. I hope everyone’s experience is as wonderful and memorable as ours!
Adios ~Jeanne
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