Travel Guide | Hotel Emporio in Cancun, Mexico

For our 3rd anniversary, Ryan and I decided to visit an all-inclusive. We went on a cruise for our first anniversary/babymoon, and went on a cruise for our second anniversary with our infant daughter, and contemplated going on another cruise for this anniversary. What changed our minds was that we decided to go just the two of us, and I haven't been able to just relax and drink on an anniversary trip since I was pregnant for our first anniversary and taking care of a baby for our second anniversary. Drink packages can really add up on a cruise, and sometimes on a cruise you are at a port for less time than you want and feel rushed away. An all inclusive just seemed like the better option where we could forget about our parenting responsibilities and just spend the day having drunk naps at the beach.  

Why we chose Hotel Emporio

Once we had decided to go on a long weekend getaway to an all inclusive, we knew Cancun would be the obvious choice. Cancun is just a 2 hour flight from Houston, and we enjoyed it the last two times we went. Although we're still wanting to get back to Moon Palace, we wanted somewhere a little more affordable this time. And although Panama Jack was affordable, there's just so many resorts that we didn't want to repeat the same one twice yet. 

So I just started searched online through Expedia and Trip Advisor and came across Hotel Emporio. It seemed like a great fit for us because it wasn't crazy expensive, yet still had good reviews. We were able to use our Chase Sapphire card points to book our hotel and our Southwest card miles to book our flights, making the trip basically free for us.

Since we decided to go without our daughter, all I felt comfortable doing was a long weekend because it was the first time we had both been away from her overnight. We ended up flying out early Friday and flying back Sunday afternoon, which was a great trip, but maybe one day too short. 

A pro tip I learned when I studied abroad is that most hotels will actually allow you to arrive to the hotel prior to the check-in time. Your room won't be ready yet as the last occupants are either still there or they just left and the room hasn't been cleaned yet, but the front desk will likely store your luggage until your room is ready. They likely will still give you your wrist bands when you get there and allow you to start enjoying the hotel while you wait for your room to be ready. 

Hotel Emporio Cancun Review

I'll be honest, this resort didn't really impress me much at the start, but it grew on me as we stayed. The lobby is one of the tiniest lobbies I've been to, and it was a crowded and slow process to get checked in. However, I did notice that there were a LOT of pilots and flight attendants checking in both on the day we got there and the day we left, so it seems to be really popular for flight crews.

One thing that I did like about the check-in process was that your resort wristband also had an RFID chip in it, which acted as your room key & could be scanned at the bar or restaurant to show you had the all-inclusive package. I love not having to carry around a room key and always knowing I have my room key on me, even if I'm just in a bikini. I hope more places start to adopt this technology, because it's the easiest customer experience. 

This resort had the option for food & drinks included, breakfast included only, or pay-as-you-go. I'm not a big fan of resorts having different packages with all-inclusive or not. It goes faster when you're trying to get a drink in the bar because no one is having to sign a receipt, we're all just grabbing a drink & leaving a tip & moving on. I also don't like it because it can be very hard to tell what is included in the all-inclusive and what is an extra (like certain restaurants or drinks). 

The hotel reminded me of Europe because there are LOTS of stairs to utilize the resort. The main level had the lobby, kid's pool, adult & kid's pool, and pool bar/buffet. The level above the main level had the buffet. The level below the main level had the kid's splash pad, adult's-only infinity pool & bar, the gaming bar, and a restaurant. Then there was another set of stairs to an adult's-only oversized hot tub. Then the level below the adult's-only pool was the beach. It was very confusing to know we're you're going and a lot of things seemed to be hidden, so it's worth it to spend a day just wandering around the resort to find out where's what. But, that being said, all the steps did help to really space things out. The toddler splash area is its own area, the kid's pool is a completely different area, and the adult's-only was its own area. 

The view from the adult's only hot tub

The all-ages pool has hammock and a entertainment coordinator who runs games like cornhole

The kid's pool had a pirate ship slide

The toddler are had 2 water tables and lots of sprinklers

The staff was iffy on service. I asked our room attendant for an extra water bottle and she said no, the front desk gave my husband a hard time about towel cards (which was a weird process itself), and we spent our whole time during the days either on the beach or in the adult's-only hot tub, and only once at each location did a server come to take a drink order. But, the staff at the bars and the staff helping with luggage and waiting for our ride were fantastic. 

The rooms at Hotel Emporio 

We reserved a "suite deluxe sea front" room, Room 902L. It was a nice room, but I don't know if I would call it a suite deluxe. It had a bathroom with a large shower and separate tub, a king size bed, a couch, and a balcony that overlooked the resort mainly, but if you looked up you could see the ocean. Usually, we love to order room service for breakfast and enjoy it on our balcony, but this resort charged $20 for room service. This wasn't worth it to me, but the buffet was a trek from our room, making it unrealistic to go grab something from the buffet and bring it back to enjoy in our room. 

The room itself was a really nice, standard hotel room. It was clearly renovated recently, the bed was really comfortable, and the AC worked really well. There were two closets, one for hanging clothes and one that I think was intended to store your luggage. It had a table that you could not move, so I think that was supposed to be an upgraded version of a luggage rack.

Unlike other all-inclusive resorts we stayed at, this one didn't keep any snacks in the room or beer/soda in the fridge. We got 2 water bottles by the mini fridge and 1 water bottle in the bathroom. We did not realize on the first day that the water bottles would be so hard to come by, so we accidentally drank all our water down at the beach and then both woke up parched in the middle of the night that first night. Like I mentioned earlier, on Day 2 I just so happened to run up to the room while it was being made up and the room attendant wouldn't give me a spare water. I'm so glad I brought a stainless steel water bottle that I could have the bartenders fill up with drinking water, because we would've been rationing water without it. 

Eating at Hotel Emporio

While we waiting for our room on Day 1, we headed straight out of the lobby and to the pool bar and buffet. The bar gave us great drinks fast, and it was easy to find a seat at the buffet. That buffet is right in between the kids-focused pool and the all-ages pool, so it makes sense that the only options were hamburger, hotdog, chicken fingers, or tacos. And I mean only options. The hamburger and hot dog buns were definitely above what you'd get at a sonic, but the meat wasn't great. At first we thought this was the only buffet option, and I was starting to panic that we had chosen the wrong resort if that was our only option. 

Luckily, my husband asked around and found out about the roof-top real buffet that you get to by walking through the pool buffet and up the stairs. It was great! The views were amazing and they had a lot of choices and a lot of freshly cooked food, some even made-to-order. The one downside was that we ordered a beer and glass of wine when we sat down, and we were almost through our meal by the time our drinks came. Then, our waiter mentioned something to us about how we'd have to sign something for our drinks so we waited and waited and he never came back, so we just left. I'm assuming maybe it's because he first didn't realize we were all-inclusive but then realized we had already pre-paid for our drinks? Not sure, which is why I don't love these hybrid resorts where not everyone is all-inclusive. We had dinner at this buffet the first night and breakfast here the next two days. 

For our one full day, I went ahead and ate lunch at the roof-top buffet by myself while my husband took a beach nap. After he woke up, he was headed up to the breakfast buffet and noticed there was a restaurant right by the adults-only pool and checked it out. He said the pizza was amazing and it was a really great restaurant. I was bummed we weren't staying long enough for another lunch and already had dinner plans, so I never got to try it. 

On our first night, my husband discovered the Italian restaurant, Bacoli Trattoria, tucked behind the lobby. It was fully booked for that Friday night, but he was able to get us a 7:00pm reservation for the next night. When we got there at our reservation, the hostess asked us if we were celebrating anything special, and we told her that it was our 3rd anniversary. Then she sat us down at the table right behind the hostess stand, where we were so close I could have high-fived her, even though there were less than half of the other tables occupied. I understand that people make reservations and then get busy (or drunk) and don't show up, but it was annoying that we were sat right there in a half-empty room, especially after we had just told them it was a special occasion. Although we've been given a free glass of champagne one night on our last two anniversaries, I don't expect this everywhere we go. But still, it was weird that they took the time to ask if we were celebrating anything and then seemed to not care a bit that we actually were. Other than that, the food was actually pretty good. I'm glad we had the all-inclusive package so we could order multiple appetizers to try out the food. One warning though, the bruschetta had a ton of chopped olives hidden under the cheese. I've never had bruschetta with olives, so I was caught off guard on that one. 

What to do at Hotel Emporio

I think this category is where this resort really shines. Like I mentioned, there's a whole area dedicated to just babies/toddlers, a whole area dedicated to just kids, and a whole area dedicated to adults only. It seems to be equally as family-friendly as it is perfect for an adults-only trip. 

The adults only pools had day beds you could rent, but we spent most of our time down at the beach or up in the oversized hot tub. What was weird was that the adults-only infinity pool also had a hot tub, but the heater seemed to be broken on that. The pool was probably 75 degrees, which would be great on a hot day but too cold for an 80 degree day. If the pool was heated, we would have hung out there the whole time. The views were amazing and it had it's own swim-up bar. This was actually the bar we went to the most often, because it seemed to open earlier than the beach bar and it seemed to not be as packed since the cold pool was basically empty. 

The oversized hot tub on a different deck was great. It was huge so it didn't feel crowded and it was partially covered, so you could choose how shaded or not you wanted to be. It didn't have an actual bar to it, but staff was able to walk around the full hot tub to take drink orders (although I found they didn't come that often and took a while to bring back drinks, so I recommend just taking turns going down to the other bar for a drink). There was only 1 instance of kids getting in the pool, and although they were just sitting and talking, the staff did make them relocate soon after they got in, so it's nice that adults-only areas aren't run over by kids. 

In between the adults-only bar and the restaurant where my husband had lunch on our one full day, there was a little sports bar. We went there after dinner on our last night and it was a great find! It was a long room that had partial room dividers with foosball, ping pong, and pool sections. The last section was a bar area with tables and a DJ (who was much too loud for that small of an area) with a karaoke TV going so it was a group sing-a-long. After the sports bar, we wandered around and found a horizontal rock wall at the end of the infinity pool that my husband had fun climbing.  

 

The beach was great. They had a large area reserved with lots of chairs, umbrellas, daybeds, and chairs. The daybeds couldn't sit up, so it was a rush to make sure you got a chair that wasn't flat the whole time. And not every chair set had a table, so I was glad that my beach bag could serve as a table. There was a good sized beach bar that had swings while you waited for your drink. There also seemed to be jet skis that you could rent, but it wasn't clear if that was the resort renting them or if they just allowed a company to rent them out on their property. 

Overall thoughts on Hotel Emporio

I think this place could have grown on me if I had a few more days to explore what it had to offer, and if I went in the summertime where it was hot enough that a cool pool was welcomed so I could have enjoyed the massive infinity pool overlooking the ocean. The bar staff was great and the drinks were good. The food overall was pretty good. Although there were a LOT of stairs, I liked how things were spread out so that different age groups could enjoy the resort without other ages being right there. 

I just really wish they had given us more waters plus some beers and snacks in our room like other all inclusive resorts. This is the first all-inclusive I've stayed in out of 5 different resorts throughout Mexico and the Caribbean that didn't even include basic beer and potato chips in the room. It's just nice to have a late-night snack or a beer before the bars open. 

If there was a bachelorette trip or something that wanted to go here, I wouldn't be opposed. But for now, I think there's other options out there that are worth visiting first before I come back to Emporio. 

Our next trip

A month after booking this trip, my iPhone memories started showing me pictures of our daughter on our last cruise and I got mom guilt thinking about Ryan and I traveling without her. I just went on Royal Caribbean's website to see if there were any sales, and there was a kids sale free and 2nd passenger 60% off sale! That was all the convincing I needed, so our next trip will be a quick 5-night cruise to Mexico!

Cancun All Inclusive Packing List for 2024

For our anniversary this year, Ryan and I decided to go on our first child-free vacation. Since we were going without our daughter, I only was comfortable going for a long weekend. This worked out perfectly because we were able to use our Chase Sapphire card points to book our hotel and our Southwest card miles to book our flights, making the trip basically free for us! This is the same strategy we used to go to the Dominican Republic for free for our honeymoon!

What I Bought for our All Inclusive Trip

I was so excited to find waterproof Uno cards for us to play on this trip! Ryan and I love playing card games together, but we don't get to do that often with a little toddler around. I found a travel Uno card case to pack them in so the cardboard box wouldn't get ruined in the suitcase. I went ahead and got a matching travel card case for our favorite Monopoly card game as well, because we take that on every trip we go on. 

Like I mentioned in my All Inclusive Favorites post, we like to bring stainless steel tumblers for drinks and a stainless steel water bottle for water. For this trip I got tumbler cleaning tablets to make cleaning them easier, and a collapsible cut stand to our cups air dry faster but folds flat to pack. 

Since we're planning on some rest and relaxation on our child-free trip, I went ahead and got us his and hers beach pillows with cooling inserts (I decided to leave the inserts at home). This is extra, but since we live near Galveston beach, I knew we could use these for more than this trip. These turned out to be our favorite item for the trip! It made laying down on the beach chair SO much more comfortable, and they packed up so small that I want to take them on every trip. 

Another thing I'm SOO glad I brought was a small Turkish beach towel. Our resort only let us check out 2 towels per day, so it was nice that I had an extra that I could use as a blanket in the mornings before it warmed up, and Ryan could use as a blanket to cover his legs when he napped so he wouldn't burn. We used this so much on this trip that I added another to my Amazon cart while we were on the beach so that next time we can each have one. 

Ryan already has a waterproof travel wallet, but we keep it in our "cruise bag" that has all of our cruising essentials in it and stays packed for our cruises. I got a 2nd wallet in a new color because it's so cheap, so now we don't have to unpack our cruise bag just for the travel wallet, and can keep one in our "all inclusive" bag for future trips. I needed my own "travel wallet," but didn't want an actual wallet. Instead, I found this cute tumbler fanny pack that can hold my phone, room key, and money. I really like that is has a zipper to keep my money safe, but also an outside pocket to keep my phone easily accessible. It's also waterproof material so I don't have to worry about using it when I'm dripping wet. 

What I Packed for our All Inclusive Trip

Checked luggage

Since we were flying Southwest and knew we'd get a free checked bag, we decided to check one bag and then each take a small personal item onto the plane so we could be hands free in the airport and take full-sized sunscreen in the checked bag. This was just a quick trip for just the two of us, so we could fit all of our clothes into a hanging closet organizer which took up one half of the suitcase. 

The other half of the suitcase had my travel toiletry bag, travel hair tools bag, our all-inclusive bag, my husband's toiletry bag, and our sunglass box packed with his and hers sunglasses.

Carry on bags

My husband brought a carry-on backpack that had his Airpods, an airplane phone mount, a solar phone charger, my Kindle and an iPad, plus his swimsuit and sandals and sunglasses for the beach.

I wore a crossbody that had each of our passports, my Airpods, my phone, and a phone charger. I loved having our passports right on me so I didn't have to go digging for them in my bag, but they were more secure than just being in my pocket. 

In my carry on, I had a wet bag with my swimsuit, coverup, and sunglasses, the Turkish towel, the beach pillows, towel bands, and a sunscreen stick. 

Beach bag

For my carry-on bag/beach bag, I brought a baby Bogg Bag and I loved it! This is my first vacation with my Bogg Bag, and the baby size was perfect for just the 2 of us at the beach. I got a phone pouch for the outside of the bag, and it was perfect for putting my phone away while still having quick and easy access to it while at the airport. I added two little carabiner clips to the outside of my bag so that we had an easy way to hold on to our sunglasses and could quickly access them without scrounging around in my bag. I clipped a small waterproof speaker onto one of the shoulder straps and quietly played music for just the two of us until the beach bar opened and turned on their sound system (it was also great for listening to music while getting ready in the room). I got a little beach-themed paci holder to hang off of the shoulder straps, and because it has straps on the inside of each side of the pouch, it held both mine and my husband's Airpods perfectly. 

I got a divider tray that kept my water bottle upright in the bag on travel days and converted it to a little table tray at the beach and 10/10 loved it. On our first day, we got to the beach in the late afternoon so of course all the beach chairs with tables were taken, and the only available seating was a lounge bed. I loved being able to use the tray in my bag as a table and have a place for our drinks to sit flat so we could lay down on the lounge bed and not have to hold on to our drinks. 

On the second day, we played Uno at the beach and since the tray has raised sides and is a few inches lowered into the bag, it was the perfect place to play our cards without worrying about them flying away. When we weren't playing Uno, it was just another table by our chairs to keep our little beach table from being overcrowded. Also, when it's horizontal as a tray, it completely hides all the stuff in your bag so it was a good place to stash things. 

What to Wear in Cancun

Women's outfits

For the flight from Houston to Cancun, I wore a matching 2-peice spaghetti-strap set, my favorite water sandals, and a lightweight knit sweater. I was so comfortable and cozy on the plane, and after we landed I just threw my sweater in my carryon and felt great in the warm weather. Once we got to the resort, I changed into a bikini, coverup, and same sandals and wore those for the rest of the day. That night, I wore a maxi dress and espadrille heels.

  

For our one and only full day at the resort, I wore a two piece crop top and flowy pants set with my sandals to breakfast. After breakfast, I changed into a bikini, travel sun hat, same coverup, and water sandals and spent all day down at the beach. For dinner, I wore another maxi dress with the same espadrille heels. 

  

On our last day, I wore another matching 2-piece set for my travel outfit with my same sandals and knit sweater for the flight home. 

So, in total I packed 2 matching sets for travel outfits, 2 bikinis for daytime, 2 dresses for nighttime, 1 casual outfit for daytime, 1 swimsuit coverup, 1 sweater to layer with, 1 roll-up wide brim sunhat, 1 pair of waterproof sandals, 1 pair of heels, 1 strapless bra, and underwear. 

Men's Outfits

My husband packed essentially the same as me, but I don't have any additional photos of his outfits to model what he packed. For our flight there, he wore a Henley with shorts and tennis shoes, and then changed into a swimsuit and sandals at the hotel. For dinner, he wore the same shorts from our flight and a polo with his tennis shoes. 

For our full day there, he wore a swimsuit and short-sleeved UPF shirt with his sandals during the day, and the same shorts and tennis shoes plus another polo for dinner. We ate at a restaurant at the resort this night (rather than the buffet), and although they allowed him in wearing shorts, he did wish that he had pants to be a little dressier, so we ordered him some linen pants for vacation. 

Unfortunately for him, he didn't wear his UPF shirt into the hot tub, so his shoulders got burned by our last day. For the trip home, he wore a long-sleeved UPF shirt, the same shorts, and his tennis shoes. 

So, in total he packed 2 swimsuits, 2 UPF shirts (1 short-sleeved, 1 long-sleeved), 2 polos, 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of tennis shoes, 1 pair of beach sandals, and underwear. 

Thoughts on our weekend getaway

It was a short trip, and we do wish we had one more full day at the beach, but we were happy to get back to our daughter. The nice thing about such a short trip was that we didn't need to pack much (and like I explained, a lot of this stays packed year-round), so there wasn't that much to unpack and we didn't have a ton of post-vacation laundry to get caught up on once we got home. What helped get us over the post-trip blues was that we actually have a 5-night cruise planned for next month, and we're brining our daughter along with us!

Travel Guide | Panama Jack Resort in Cancun, Mexico

For Christmas 2019, Ryan's dad gave us Southwest gift cards + a little cash for a quick getaway. We booked to go to Cancun for Cinco de Mayo 2020, and as we all know now that definitely didn't happen. We were able to reschedule our trip for NYE 2020 and had a great trip! 

Why we chose Panama Jack

We did a lot of research on Cancun hotels before booking. We had only ever been to Cancun once before on a work trip for Ryan, so we didn't know a whole lot about resorts. Our focus was to find an all-inclusive resort that wasn't crazy expensive. We finally found the Panama Jack resort and liked that it was a familiar name and the hotel looked so cute. 

Because of covid, we had to re-book our room and originally booked it for labor-day weekend, then our flight was cancelled and we couldn't find another reasonable flight, so we had to re-re-book our stay for NYE. I was very concerned about losing money over this dealing with a non-American hotel, but the staff was great! In fact, I later learned that Ryan was actually planning to propose to me on our original Cinco trip, and had been working with the staff to set something special up, and he said they were very helpful. 

A pro tip I learned when I studied abroad is that most hotels will actually allow you to arrive to the hotel prior to the check-in time. Your room won't be ready yet as the last occupants are either still there or they just left and the room hasn't been cleaned yet, but the front desk will likely store your luggage until your room is ready. They likely will still give you your wrist bands when you get there and allow you to start enjoying the hotel while you wait for your room to be ready. 

Panama Jack review

I really loved the Panama Jack hotel. It's on the smaller side so there was only one building and you didn't have to worry about getting lost at a massive hotel. Because it is smaller, we were able to visit almost every part of the hotel. Overall, it definitely feels family friendly because there's a huge pirate ship-themed kids pool that is on the opposite side of the hotel from the main pool. There is only one pool (besides the kids pool) but it had great views and there was always some activity planned. 

Because of the pandemic, we were able to upgrade to a bigger room for a fairly cheap price. The only downside was that although we got upgraded to an "ocean-front" room, our room was on the first floor so really it was a pool-view room on the "ocean front" side of the hotel. I definitely recommend you reach out to someone and make sure you get an ocean-front room. The other rooms face the busy road that connects to the hotel and the kids pool, so the view isn't nearly as good. 

We thought the staff here was great and we loved our room. Although this was an affordable hotel, it didn't feel cheap to us. 

The rooms at Panama Jack

Like I mentioned, we upgraded our room to a Junior Suite Ocean View upon arrival. Arrival is a little hard because it is in this big open-air lobby where it is hard to hear someone with all the noise echoing through. We got a junior suite which had a large bathroom, bedroom, living room, and balcony. Because we were on the first floor right by the pool so we didn't use our balcony for much besides drying swimsuits. They did have swim-up suites near the beach that looked nice. The couch in the little living area pulled out into a bed and was so comfortable we took several naps on it. 

Upon arrival, they had given us a little plate of chips and salsa to enjoy. The room also had a stocked fridge with beer and Lays chips. They restocked that beer all the time so we always had something to pre-game with. 

Eating at Panama Jack

We came at NYE, so eating was a little different than normal. On the actual NYE, we had to make reservations for the only available restaurant. This just so happened to be their buffet, Ventanas, so we were all dressed up and shipping champagne that we splurged for while getting up every 15 minutes for another round of food. That's on us for not thinking ahead about how popular all the food places would be on a major holiday. So, if you're traveling anywhere on a holiday, always ask ahead of time about reservation options.

We ended eating at Ventanas almost every day for lunch during our trip. It was a good buffet, but it had limited options as this is a smaller hotel. But, the views were beautiful and the staff was great of course so we really liked it.

We also ate at the little breakfast buffet by the pool We really liked the options they had here. You can sit outside and have breakfast facing the ocean. They weren't open all day, but we liked it enough to have breakfast here multiple days. We did order room service one morning, but it seemed to have even less options than the breakfast buffet. After comparing the two, we decided the more options were worth the effort to leave the room and head over by the pool for breakfast. We're early risers, so we did learn that there's no mimosas before 10am.

Because this was a short trip, and because a lot was closed due to covid, the only other place we were able to try was Viaggio. This was our biggest disappointment of the trip. We went down there and was told there was a one hour wait. So, we hung out at the lobby bar for about an hour and then went back. Then we checked in with the hostess again and had to wait almost 30 minutes for a table. While we were at our table, I had to go to the bathroom. Since our room was on the first floor not far from the restaurant, I told Ryan what I wanted and walked to our room to use the bathroom. By the time I got back, they had only taken our drink order. Later, we got our drinks. Later, we were able to order. Later, we got our appetizer. At this point, it had been 2 hours since we were originally hungry and an hour since we were supposed to be seated. Then, our food came. By this time I was ready to leave so we got up and left before our dessert was served. I was really annoyed at how slow this restaurant was and if we ever went back, I probably wouldn't eat here unless I wasn't really that hungry. The food was fine, but by the time we ate I was not in a good mood.

On a more positive note, we loved the food cart by the main pool. Every day they had something different, and we loved the burgers, hot dogs, and tacos we got from here. It's great because it's a short walk from the beach so it's perfect for mid-day drunchies.

What to do at Panama Jack

We met another couple on our trip who took a day trip snorkeling out in the gulf. Because we were only here for a short time, and because 2020 was such an exhausting year, we chose to do nothing. We loved it. We would wake up early every day because we're early risers, set out towels and a beach bag of sunscreen on 2 lounge chairs, would take a mile walk down the beach, have breakfast at the buffet near the pool, then lounge/drink until the afternoon. 

The beach itself wasn't rocky, but in the ocean there were some very big rocks and some no-swim areas. The waves were pretty strong, but we had a lot of fun jumping into them and being blasted around. The current was also pretty strong, so we always were moved down the coast. If you have kids, definitely stay out in the water with them. But, the ocean was beautiful here and we really saw no seaweed or murky waters.

Our biggest regret of the trip was that we didn't get a cabana. I think they were about $50 and you got a cabana and a bottle of champagne. At first we thought this was dumb because it's an all-inclusive resort so the alcohol is free anyways and the beach chairs are free too. But after day 1 we decided it was worth the $50 but by then they were all sold out. We ran into another couple we met who reserved a cabana, and the FOMO got worse. Not only do you not have to worry about reserving a lounger on the beach, but you actually get a little outdoor daybed to spread out on, a cooler of the champagne plus a whole bunch of beer, and the staff visits more frequently. It just is a lot of convenience for not a lot of money, and if we ever visit here again, we'll definitely get a cabana ahead of time.

Overall thoughts on Panama Jack

We really loved this resort. The staff were always great, we loved our room, and we felt so relaxed during our stay. I feel that the problems we had at Viaggio was mostly due to the covid problem of being understaffed during a surge of guests during a holiday. I personally really liked that it was smaller and it felt more manageable. I would recommend this hotel to anyone who wants to enjoy Cancun without being overwhelmed, especially if you're traveling with children. I think it's safe to say that we'll be back.

Travel Guide | The Grand at Moon Palace in Cancun, Mexico

We went to Cancun through Ryan's work in December 2018. His entire company rented out a huge chunk of the resort, allowing us to reserve entire pools and even have a Macklemore concert on the beach. Obviously this means our experience at Moon Palace was a little different than most guests, but I still wanted to share a little about it.

The Grand at Moon Palace review

Moon Palace is a "fortress" in Ryan's words. It really is a huge resort with several different hotels. It's so big that realistically the only way to get around is on golf carts. It's all inclusive and we loved receiving a Corona as we were checking in. There's several different restaurants and even a little bakery and shopping stores. It has multiple pools and direct beach access with hammocks and lounge chairs. While we were there, I never noticed any merchants bothering beachgoers. We went right before Christmas and we did see big bulldozers clearing off buckets of seaweed every morning, so just be prepared to see those occasionally. 

A pro tip I learned when I studied abroad... most hotels only require you to be out of your room by check-out time, and will allow you to enjoy the amenities until you leave! Our flight wasn't until 8pm, so even though we were out of our room by the 11am check-out, the front desk stored our luggage for us and we were allowed to eat and drink for free until we had to leave for the airport. 

The rooms at The Grand at Moon Palace

We loved our room at The Grand! We stayed in a Grand Deluxe Garden View room which had a bathroom with windows that opened to the room, a full step-down living room area which had a two-person jacuzzi tub, and a huge balcony with lounge chairs. This truly was a 5-star room. The room was stocked with CHI bubble bath, body wash, lotion, and blow dryer. Each day we were given a new bottle of red wine to go with our bubble baths and I loved it. Our room also had a diffuser in the room which the staff would turn on when they were done servicing our room, so when we returned to our room in the afternoon it had a lovely vanilla smell. I know vanilla is one of the most common scents, but every time I smell it now, I think of our stay at The Grand.

Eating at The Grand at Moon Palace

What I really liked about The Grand was how easy it was to eat compared to other all-inclusive resorts we've stayed at. Almost every morning, we would set up room service on the balcony. Their room service had a great selection and the food was always great. For lunch, we typically would eat near the pool or go over to The Grand Buffet. The buffet was obviously a pretty popular place, so be warned that it can be about a 30-minute wait to get a table at peak time. But, they had a huge buffet with lots of options so the wait is definitely worth it. The best place we ate at was Tavola which had amazing Italian food and wine. We actually came back to have this as our last meal because we liked the food here so much.

What to do at The Grand at Moon Palace

Our room actually was right near the water park, and we loved going here on our last day. There's a huge slide that my little 5'2" self technically was too small to go on according to the "you must be this tall to ride this ride" sign. I went anyways and rode down with Ryan, and I definitely flew out of the tube a little and kinda agree that maybe I was too short for it. But, it was a lot of fun! We spent most of our time racing down the slides, and would relax in the lazy river when the slides wore us out. They even had a little thing in the bathroom that could quickly dry your swimsuits. 

Obviously with a water park, The Grand allows children at the resort and is very family friendly. There is a huge (think Vegas-size) adults-only pool at the center of the hotel that has cabanas and swinging chairs everywhere. Ryan's company rented out the entire pool for a welcome pool party the first night and we had so much fun! We also spent a lot of time throughout our stay at one of the smaller pools that is very close to the beach. It's great because you can relax in the water with a beautiful view without having to worry about big waves knocking you over and still being close to the bar so you always have a drink in your hand.

One of Ryan's favorite parts of the lobby was that it had this amazing arcade room with this huge screen on the floor where you could play interactive games by walking on it. 

As for the beach, it was absolutely beautiful. The water was a little murky when we went in December, but it was still the perfect temperature to splash around in and the beaches were so soft and there were no rocks at all. We never had a problem finding a lounger to sit on. And because the resort has multiple hotels on it, you can walk for a long stretch on the beach and still be at Moon Palace, which we loved because we love long sunrise walks on the beach, but for safety reasons we don't like leaving our resorts if we can help it.

Overall thoughts on The Grand at Moon Palace

Ryan and I have a goal to stay here again. The food, THE ROOM, the pools, the beach, everything was absolutely perfect. The only reason why we haven't returned is because all that quality comes at a price. The cheapest room is still several hundred dollars a night, and Ryan is no longer with that company, so right now that's just too much for us to spend. But, if you have the budget for it then I absolutely recommend this resort! You will definitely receive your money's worth.