Fun and Sun here we come!

Tammy, and Lisa booked this trip back in the summer. A resort that we actually stayed at back in the post covid days in March of 2022 (when you had to do covid testing prior to flying in and out of countries). Here we are below flying to Cancun in 2022.

The kids are so small, especially Connor!

Back in 2022 we went with Jimmy T, Christina, Jen, and John. This time, Tammy/Craig and fam, Erica/Kit and fam, and Jen/John and fam are joining us. However instead of just 3 nights, this time we’ll be spending the entire week at Moon Palace, the Grand Cancun! We really enjoyed it the last time we were here… the food, the amenities, the resort were all great. Appropriately named, it’s grand indeed. Best All Inclusive Vacation | Moon Palace The Grand Cancun

The great thing about this time though, is that Tammy was smart, and booked our reservation through an existing ‘member’ of the resort. This provides us with a bunch of extras such as $1450 USD credit, manicures/pedicures for 2 people, massages for 2 people, free shuttle to and from the airport, premium alcohol, and maybe other stuff? Caveat is that we need to sit through a 90-minute presentation tomorrow. I’m sure they’ll be trying to sell us a membership. Key is to stay strong and not give-in!

We left our house in an Uber at 645pm. We got to the airport a bit after 7pm, checked in at the priority check-in Air Canada counter. This was thanks to Karen, who gifted us with a status upgrade for the flight. This gave us access to premium economy seating, lounge access, free checked-in luggage, and priority check-in and boarding. Thanks Karen!

We promptly checked in, went through security, and headed to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge. The lounge itself was nice, but the food wasn’t that great.

We ate a little bit, then headed to a different lounge… specifically Sky Lounge. My Amex gives me and 1 person lounge access. Lisa also has 10 lounge passes through Wealth Simple, so she used 1 for this particular lounge (Isla’s free because she’s under 12). This lounge was pretty nice, and they had a noodle bar. Connor, Isla, and I all got wonton noodles. Much better than the Air Canada lounge.

Finally, seeing as there was 1 more lounge to visit, we decided to make our way to the newly completed Plaza Premium Lounge. Again, my Amex gives me and 1 person access to the lounge, and Lisa used one of her Dragon passes. This particular lounge was packed, and difficult to find a seat. We did find some seats, and I grabbed a bit of grub. I do think the Sky Lounge was the best of the 3. I watched the Canucks game on my laptop and saw them actually win a home game, and against the defending Stanley Cup champs no less. Here’s Connor chilling out:

Isla and Mommy doing the same:

The flight would be a 6-hour affair that departed Vancouver 45 minutes late. We departed YVR at 1045pm and arrived in Cancun at 7:30am. Red eyes are not my forte. I barely slept. It was nice to have premium economy seating with extra legroom though! Lisa and I were actually seated in the exit row in row 20, while the kids sat up in premium economy seats in row 14. Isla slept pretty well, but Connor was super gassy and only got 1.5 hours of shut eye. It almost felt like we were traveling with no kids!

We arrived to a nice 23-degree morning in Cancun. We went through customs, picked up our luggage, and met up with our shuttle driver that would get us to the resort. A 15-minute ride, and we were checking in! Here we are chilling out in the lobby.

We didn’t get our rooms right away, since it was so early in the morning. After we checked in, we had to meet with the person whom would be explaining to us that we would have to sign up for the 90-minute presentation. Once we completed that, we went to the cafe. We ordered a latte, americano, a hot chocolate, and some chocolate adagios. A nice way to start the morning! After that, we walked over to a nearby pool, found a couple of cabanas, and napped. There would be a lot of napping today. hehe

By now, it was about 11:30am, and we were getting a little hungry. By the pool where we were at, there was a specialty taco restaurant. They were yummy!

After that, we walked down to the beach to have some fresh coconuts.

We chilled out beachside.

Connor and I napped again.

The temperature here today has been fantastic. 26-27 degrees. Super comfortable. The white sand beaches here are something else.

It was about 2pm at this time, and Lisa got an email telling us that our room was now ready. The room is exactly the same as the last time that we came. Nothing spectacular, but comfortable. There’s a hot tub too, and a big balcony. We hung out in the room for an hour, then headed out to eat again. That would be a common theme today.

We went to a Caribbean themed seafood restaurant. They serve a nice grilled fish here, but sadly, it wasn’t fresh off the grill today, so it wasn’t as good. We also had a grilled octopus.

We headed back to the cafe to get some more chocolate adagios and coffee.

We headed back to the room, to nap again before our dinner reservation.

We had an 8:15pm reservation for a teppanyaki restaurant called Momo. It was at one of the Moon Palace Resorts sister hotels called Sunrise. We took a shuttle over to the other resort from our resort. We have the ability to be able to traverse between all Palace Moon properties, but the people staying at Sunrise Moon Palace aren’t able to go to the Grand. Perks of staying at the Grand. Isla was pretty grumpy for a good hour after waking her up from her nap as depicted here:

She eventually cheered up though!

Wearing Mommy’s glasses:

2024 Connor

2022 Connor:

2024 Isla:

2022 Isla

Here was our teppanyaki chef:

We only decided to go here, because the kids have never been to teppanyaki before. The food itself was to be expected. Nothing great, nothing bad. Just ok.

The front of the Sunrise resort had some nice Christmas light decorations, so we stopped by to snap some photos:

There was a churro cart too (really good)!

That was our night! It’s been a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnng day. The kids are tired. We headed back to the room, to clean-up and call it a night. Tomorrow, Erica/Kit and the kids arrive in the morning; while Tammy/Craig and the kids arrive at about 4pm. Can’t wait!

Oh, Lisa snapped this photo of a wedding reception happening not far from our room:

Anyhow, that was our day. Until tomorrow! It’s also 3 hours ahead here (Eastern Standard Time), so it’s nearing 11pm. Time for us to get some shut eye.