gillianWe visited as a family of 4 in July 2018. It was without doubt the best family holiday we have ever taken. The Grand at Moon Palace is a 5 star luxury, family-friendly all-inclusive property.
Proximity to airport / first impressions
GMP is super close to the airport so no long trips with the kids in tow. It’s about 15 minutes’ drive door to door. The facility is HUGE, and initially can be a bit overwhelming, you wonder if you will ever work out where things are but after a few days you will be fine. There are also little shuttles which whisk you around the resort, they are plentiful and will take you wherever you want to go, but in reality you can walk most places, nowhere is really that far (unless you have mobility issues and then you may struggle).
Rooms
The rooms are spacious and modern with large balconies featuring a very comfy double sun lounger. All rooms have a whirlpool bath and alcohol dispenser (with 4 bottles) a mini bar for beer and soft drinks. Chi hair and bath products which were very nice. They also have great hairdryer and straighteners so you don’t need to bring your own. The only thing I would suggest is that the double beds are replaced with queens as they are quite small for 2 adults.
Food
The food is a particular highlight at GMP, Our favourites were (1) Jade (Asian Fusion) and (2) Tavola (Italian). There is a (3) Tapas bar (where you can get pre-dinner hors d’oeuvres) (4) A Pateisserie /Boulangerie /Coffee Shop where you can get wonderful coffee, pastries, ice creams, individual chocolates etc. (5) Le Chateau – a French fine dining restaurant (adults only) (6) JC Steakhouse (7) Caribeno seafood cuisine (8) Cielito Lindo Mexican fine dining (9) Habibi Lebaneese cuisine(10) Cantina Mexican cusine (11) Cusco Peruvian cuisine (12) Los Tacos casual poolside Taco restaurant (13) Buffet (14) Beach club (which always had amazing BBQ steak at lunchtimes!) ….. and lots of other snack / daytime / eating / poolside options and swim up bars. The standard of the restaurants is so high, we were actually so impressed, not like an all inclusive at all, in any way!
You also don’t need to book the restaurants, you just turn up and if there isn’t a table available they give you a buzzer to take to the bar where you can relax and have a drink while you wait. When the buzzer goes your table is ready, simple.
There are so many restaurants (above) and 24 hour room service (at no extra cost). You will not go hungry!!
Drinks
Great drinks choice including fantastic cocktails and ‘top shelf’ spirits (Grey Goose vodka for example – you had to ask but it was available).
The poolside drinks service was AMAZING. They got to know you after a few days and then started to bring your drink of choice without being asked. A few dollars here and there for tips go a long way and the poolside waiters work so hard in the hot hot sun, so they deserve everything they get!
Pools
9 pools to choose from including an adult’s only pool. When we were there once a week they had a pool party in the adults only pool for all ages, with a DJ, BBQ and games – it was so much fun! Every pool has a swim up bar (aside from the adults only pool) each pool had a different vibe, some had games going on all day and others were a bit more chilled / low key, so you could suit your mood, we tried them all.
Lobby
The lobby lives up to the name Grand – it’s beautiful with the usual check in desks and a huge bar area. All marble floors and intricate décor/finishing’s.
Water Park
The water park looks very impressive, but when we were there only a few of the slides were in operation. Apparently half of the slides had to be taken down and built again as they didn’t pass the safety tests (I don’t know that for sure, that’s just what I heard). There is a lazy river with big inflatable rings which flows through the water park, lovely and relaxing. There is also a wave pool which the kids loved!
Kids Entertainment
The kid’s facilities are awesome. There is a kid’s playroom where you can drop them in (if they are age 8+) or stay with them (below age 8) which has bumper cars / arcade games / mini golf / mirror maze / climbing. It’s really incredible. There is a section upstairs for younger kids which I think is a bit like soft play. This building is located in the centre of the waterpark. Then there’s a bowling alley (we never got round to going) and wired lounge which is aimed at older kids, full of arcade and video games, popcorn, cakes etc. Our kids hung out here sometimes while we were at the main bar (it’s just round the corner from the main lobby bar).
Evening Entertainment
Lots of shows and even a nightclub!
Spa / Gym / Golf / Resort shops
The Grand has a wow factor spa, with a selection of hydrotherapy pools, relaxation areas, sensation showers, a beauty salon and barber shop, saunas, and steam rooms. The spa is one of the nicest I have ever seen and I had a wonderful massage using my resort credits. I was told to arrive 30 mins early and boy am I glad I did, a member of staff takes you round the hydrotherapy prior to your treatment, they lie you down in a sauna and place cucumber slices on your eyes, then escort you round all the other areas for the recommended time in each. There is also a kids spa, called Princess spa – it is so cute. My daughter had her nails done here and her hair braided (using resort credits).
There is a good sized gym packed with modern equipment, a cycling studio, and aerobics and yoga studio. Bikes can be rented to take around the resort for free. The 27-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course is popular but requires a fee, though resort credits can be used to pay for a round.
There are a number of Jewellery and souvenir shops dotted about the facility.
Beach
In my opinion the beach is the only negative, there is a huge amount of seaweed and although they fight tirelessly to clear it, it’s still there and it smells. This is obviously not the hotels fault. We were in Mexico again this year and stayed at another hotel which had the exact same issue.
Resort Credits
You get allocated resort credits when you arrive, dependent on how long you stay. I read a lot about this before we arrived and a lot of people seemed to think it was a gimmick. We thought they were great and used ours for spa treatments and to go swimming with dolphins. You just pay the tax which is of course way less than the actual cost.
Trips
There were so many trips you could go on, either using your resort credits or not. We went for a day trip to a waterpark (this was free due to the fact part of the resort waterpark was not in action) and we went swimming with dolphins which was incredible.
Summary
Simply put, its a wonderful wonderful place for a family holiday. The old saying you get what you pay for rings true here, its not cheap but when you take into account everything that is included and the standard of food, service, well everything its worth it all and more. Don’t hesitate you will love it 🙂
