Moon Palace All-inclusive Experience

I had never done an all-inclusive resort before and my husband had never left the country. What better time and excuse to try one out.   You see I LOVE to travel.  I feel like I learn something new about myself every time I go and explore somewhere new.  My husband promised me that he would travel the world with me once we got married yet he had already passed up going to Honduras and had me go with my friend and her family instead.  I am totally ok with this but I also wanted to experience some of these things with my best friend and life partner.  I figured I needed to plan an amazing vacation where my husband felt comfortable enough to tag along.

Once we saw this view we knew we booked our vacation correctly.

I had never been to Cancun so I started planning away.  I stumbled upon this amazing vacation package on a vacation rental website and the girl (Justine) had really good reviews.  When I started asking around for advice about places to stay the Moon Palace was highly recommended among friends and since it was the same place the good reviews were from I booked it.  I honestly loved Justine, she answered all my questions quickly, she gave advice about places and things to do, she was truly concerned about my vacation and wanted to make sure I had an amazing time.  Not only were we considered VIP since we booked with her membership, we got a free mani, pedi, and 25 minute back massage each.  We had $1500 resort credit that we used on a couples massage, swimming with the dolphins, and once we left they gave us a gift card with the remainder that we didn't use for the future visit (which there will be one).

The staff truly made this place unbelievable. They all loved their jobs and you could tell they really worked hard. They always had smiles on their faces.  They all went out of their way to speak english and communicate with the tourist.  They encouraged eating and drinking.  "Oh you are leaving the bar to walk to the beach, you will need a to-go drink for the walk.  Your not driving anywhere tonight, why not drink more and enjoy your vacation."  They recommended things and they all were amazing.  My husband and I were so pleased with the service and honestly wanted to tip everyone which we did.  Now you don't have to tip but when you see how hard they work to make your vacation amazing you will want to.

One of the beach waiters made me this grasshopper and dropped it off with my drink. 

At the Brazilian restaurant the waiter entertained us with making after dinner drinks for the table next to us. He was amazing and totally played to the crowd.

I honestly highly recommend booking through Justine and also just visiting Moon Palace. They have a handful of resorts that line the Cancun and Playa del Carmen coastline that you can eat and drink at all day long for free as well.

The soup at one of the mexican restaurants. The presentation was always lovely.

Rivera Mayan drink that the waiter recommended. So yummy and everyone asked about this.

Eating dinner outside next to the water in a private cabana.

A gorgeous plant wall outside our hotel.

A day at the spa getting my mani, pedi, and 25 minute massage. Gorgeous spa!

Being entertained outside by the pools at their nightly entertainment.

Mariachi band at the mexican restaurant.

hideous picture but a spa morning at a different spa at the golf course. Couples massage, yes please!

Out on the beach. We didn't even go into the pool, why would you with the beach and ocean right next to us. You would be surprised by how many people just stayed by the pool. Better for us though.

Gorgeous bar in our lobby. We spent most nights and afternoons here. The bar staff was AMAZING.

Xplor Day Mexico

I have completely neglected the blog.  I am sorry. I have been more busy then I planned to be. I am still not done talking about our Cancun, Mexico trip. I have always wanted to do a zipline. I am afraid of heights, not like deathly afraid but I get anxiety and stress, but once I am doing it or up high and feeling the rush I am loving it.  So for my husbands birthday we decided to do the Xplor excursion while in Mexico.  It is an all day event, you leave around 8:30 from your hotel and get back around 6:30. Once you are in the park drinks and food are free, its all inclusive. There isn't any alcoholic drinks while in the park though, do you blame them, they don't want people drowning or getting heat stroke, falling off a zip line or driving the ATV's off the tracks and crashing. Overall my husband and I are glad we did it but once is enough for us.

I have always wanted to do a zip-line but something that many people don't know about me is I'm terrified of heights. I get a thrill once I am up and about doing something but I get really stressed before the event.  My husband has never seen me in this situation before and he was shocked.  I was breathing heavy and talking a lot to people in line.  We had dated for almost 7 1/2 years and been married for a year and a half and we are still learning things about each other.

Anyways I thought the day was pretty good and a fun way to celebrate turning 30.  We went to the zip-line first to avoid the huge crowds, glad we did, when we went around to the 2nd line the wait time was huge to start the zip-line, then we grabbed some lunch, headed over to the atvs. We ended the day with swimming the caves and I am so glad there were 2 options, when we got in the water it was freezing. So we took the 5 minute swimming option rather then the 30 minute option. Anyways... here are the photos from our day.

When you first enter the park you walk through these caves and get a locker key. It was gorgeous.

Zip-line into the water and caves. 

Waterfalls were everywhere.

 The view from one of the zip-line towers. You can see the ocean as well.

Swimming through the caves. 

Dolphin Swim, Mexico

I have mixed feelings about dolphin swims. I have always wanted to swim with the dolphins but I also find it cruel to the animals that they are trapped and forced to play with humans.  I guess I finally gave into my craving side of being beside these amazing creatures and forced my husband to tag along. He is starting to learn that a happy wife is a happy life. Atiana is an amazing dolphin and her boyfriend kept coming to join the fun.  It was amazing to be able to touch these creatures and to learn so much about them.  They are such a playful bunch.  I have done the swim with the dolphins once though and I don't know if I would do it again. Not because it wasn't fun because it was. More so because I had mixed feelings about supporting these dolphin swims in the first place. So I will let that 1 time last me forever!

A Goal Accomplished- Cancun Mexico, Moon Palace

As I had written earlier about my goals for the year I mentioned traveling to a foreign country. I can now officially mark that off the list. It feels good to mark off one of my goals so early in the year. I have been to Mexico before but never to Cancun and I don't know if I can really count crossing the border and spending a day here and there as going to Mexico. (I went to college in Texas and would cross the border to go to dinner and bars).

My husband and I never officially took a honeymoon.  We had a destination wedding in Montana and ended up staying an extra week. I guess you could say that was our honeymoon but there is nothing romantic about being surrounding by both of our families.  Then once we got home we ended up buying a house 3 months after our wedding. As all homeowners know you become house broke very quick.  Now I love to travel and will travel to places without my husband if he really doesn't want to go (Honduras), but I thought I had to win him over with an amazing vacation so he would get the travel bug like I have.  I thought what better place then Cancun, Mexico. It is a touristy destination, I had never been before, we could do all inclusive which he would feel more comfortable about and I had never done that either, we could finally go on a belated honeymoon, and we could celebrate his 30th birthday while out there. Originally we had invited a lot of friends but no one would commit to the trip, hence why it turned into a belated honeymoon as well.  Plus I think it could count as a romantic valentines day present to each other since we left right after Valentines day.

Lets just say I think he might have caught the travel bug as well.  He had a hard time leaving Mexico and was already wanting to plan a trip before ours was officially over.  I am so excited for our adventures together in the future.  You will have to stay tuned to the blog to hear about our adventures in Cancun. (I can't wait to share..... and plan another trip, thats half the fun).