Based on the reviews we were expecting quite a bit more than we received although there were certainly some great aspects to the holiday. We had upgraded to concierge before leaving as didn`t want to risk not being able to use palace dollars, but I have to say that this is the poorest concierge level I have ever stayed on. The actual concierge were fairly useless and not knowledgeable at all. The initially refused to book our trips and told us we had to do it downstairs (because then we would get the sales pitch). I knew this from reading reviews so stood my ground and finally reluctantly they booked them but every time I went for help I went through the same thing with them. I had booked spa and restaurant reservations before I left but they couldn`t find them so I rebooked and then ended up being double charged. I wasn`t happy with room location and was assured we would be moved as soon as another room became available - I gave up on day 5. Room was beautiful and spotless - never did get to use the hot tub in room though (too busy!). Had a full size balcony which I had requested and loved that a lot. One great bonus of the concierge is the upgraded room service menu. A few nights we started our evening on the balcony with some bubbly and some great tequila shrimp - yum!! Did both dinners on the beach, really enjoyed them, food, ambience and service was great, definite must do. Had a horrible first night dinner at the italian restaurant, not good food, poor service, getting a glass of wine was painful but did have good experiences further on in the week there. Food overall was pretty good, not fantastic and the wine was poor. The wine list was stupidly expensive, a $15 bottle from home was well over $100. Weather was very hit and miss for us unfortunately, fair bit of rain and could be a bit colder so would have liked to have spent some better time up in the sushi restaurant. The quality of the meat in the open air restaurant wasn`t to our taste, quite tough. Enjoyed the breakfast buffet, and although it`s not on the buffet if you ask for smoked salmon they will bring you some, same thing with cappucinos. Make sure you ask for top shelf or you won`t get it. Tips will get you everywhere. Trip to Chichen Itza was good but felt like we were on an infomercial on the bus and I bought a couple of things from the bus and my credit card info was copied and stolen so came back to a mess at home. Enjoyed Isla Majeres - unless you really want a swim with the dolphins there decline it and take the free swim with the shark and sting rays. They don`t tell you about it up front. We then left the crowd and took a taxi to the palace resort on the island and had a lovely lunch, lay around the pool etc. then took a cab back to where the the boat was leaving from, had a great hour walk along the beach and missed all the sales pressure to buy, buy, buy. Also really enjoyed the snorkelling tour where you get to drive a jet ski and boat ride. Did a couple of spa treatments but was pretty disappointed on the whole. Massage was iffy, manicure and pedicure chipped within hours and they wouldn`t let me buy a jar of nail polish to touch it up. Told me it was my fault for going in the pool! Enjoyed an afternoon at the Beach Palace, really liked the big pool but the resort itself was very big. All went to the Moon Palace and had a body wrap, again, nothing special. Nice resort but WAY WAY too big for us. We also really enjoyed the bar, spent too many late nights in there enjoying the activities and getting to know some people. We were fortunate to be there during early days of the turtles laying their eggs and most nights went out to see them. If you enjoy snorkelling you can do it off the Club Med beach. No one asked us if we were staying at Club Med, clearly we had Palace bracelets on (we had our own gear) and really enjoyed it.
The other real bonus, and one of the reasons I upgraded to concierge was for the dedicated beach chairs and servers. Love this one, super comfy chairs, umbrellas, frozen drinks and food anyone could wish for. The ocean was very rough right up until our last day when it was lovely and calm. We didn`t spend much time at the pool, except for the swim up bar but it was packed all the time. Hubbie played water volleyball once and enjoyed it. So loved the room, loved the turtles, loved the beach, on the whole loved the service. Okay on the food, okay on the tours. Thumbs down on the concierge floor, the battles we had trying to get parties to speak to each other, when there was a problem it was a nightmare and very time consuming to sort out, hated the sales pitches from the front desk every time you walked by, the sales pitches on the tours. Forgot to mention that the city buses are really great, no need to take cabs anywhere.

The Sun Palace was nice. The front desk staff was backed up quite a few times and you had to wait long to speak to guest services. One of the front desk managers was arrogant and could use a few lessons in hospitality! We did not like the fact that you are pushed to go listen to a sales pitch to become a member. The guest services will not tell you that it is a minimum of 90 minutes of a sales pitch, they just tell you, you are going to breakfast at Moon Palace and will receive additional credits/points to use.
The entertainment staff was great! Vanessa, David and Leonardo were warm, friendly people and really tried to get you involved in the activities. We all loved Vanessa, David & Leonardo. We do think that the Sun Palace could offer better shows at night for entertainment, like the Beach Palace.

We so enjoyed our stay at the Sun Palace! The staff is amazing, rooms beautiful, beach awesome, pools great too! Highly recommend this to every couple! Italian food was the best!!

This was our fourth stay at a Palace Resorts, second at the Sun Palace. The service and quality was just not as good as it has been in the past. The biggest difference was the food. The Italian Restaurant was very good, however we reordered the "special" appetizer of the night and it came out different than the first time. The Oriental Restaurant, a favorite of ours before, was not good at all. The sushi rolls were blah and the service very slow. We actually went out to dinner twice (seems silly to say when staying at an all inclusive), but we wanted a nice meal. In talking to other guests, this was also a complaint of theirs and they recommended a restaurant that we had great steaks and seafood.

Our room was nice, however we got the impression no one had stayed in that room for awhile. The TV did not work, an outlet for the coffee maker was broken, the robes were not in the room, the hair dryer was missing. The hotel staff was very responsive in getting these things taken care of, however we waited 45 minutes after check in for our room to be ready. It was obvious the room was not checked. After checking in, we asked that the cushions on the beach chair on the balcony be cleaned, as it was covered in bird poop. They did not clean it, they just flipped it over.

Probably the most frustrating experience had to do with a promotion Palace Resorts ran back in December. If you paid off your remaining balance, you received 1/2 of the amount back in Resort Credit. Four days and two resorts (Beach Palace after the sales pitch we attended) later the Customer Service Representative Karla noticed me sitting in the lobby rather irritated and was able to get us the necessary cards from this promotion. I understand Palace Resorts and Hard Rock are going through some merging, but come on, we were there the end of January and no one could confirm our Resort Credit balance and get us these cards.