Mark & Lynne - November, 2009

 

November 22 – 28

 

Brief background, we are  a mid fifties couple who have been to Desire six times, Hedo 3 and Grand Lido Braco.  We thought we would try something different so we decided to go to Caliente Caribe for a change of pace.

 

Travel - Probably 80 percent of the resort guests fly into Puerto Plata which is a 1 ½ to 2 hour drive from the resort.   Due to price and flight schedules we flew into the Santiago airport which is a 2 to 2 ½ hour drive from the resort.  The Santiago airport is very modern and we cleared immigrations and customs and had our luggage within a half hour of landing.  Unfortunately we had to wait another hour for another couple to arrive.  The drive to the resort was as exciting as any roller coaster ride at an amusement park.  After passing 500 scooters, going over the mountains and beeping the horn a thousand times we arrived at the resort in two hours.

 

 Grounds - The resort is very isolated.  We never left the resort and the chances of seeing anyone who is not at the resort are remote.   The resort itself is split into two sections.  The upper level which has two hotel buildings, the main dining room which is open aired (where breakfast and dinner are served), disco, shops, gym and a large pool and hot tub (which was never working while we there).  On the lower level are villas, the beach, a hot tub, another pool, a volleyball pool and an outdoor bar and restaurant (where lunch is served).  The grounds remind me of Braco.  Very expansive and well maintained.  The view from the top of the resort is outstanding.  Although the buildings are clean they are starting to show wear and tear and could use some updating.  Rooms are huge and although the furniture is adequate it will need replacing shortly.  Hot water was never a problem.  One minor problem is the power is turned off each day at 9 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon for one minute.  You have to restart you air conditioner after this happens.  Another problem is the walk between the upper and lower levels.  This involves 58 stairs which provides you with all your daily exercise.  We are pretty easy going and it did not bother us but some people did complain about the steps.

 

Food -  The food at the resort was the best we have ever experienced at a clothing optional resort.  Every meal was ordered off the menu.  For dinner there were 3 or four choices every night. The portions were on the small side but if you wanted more it was never a problem.  Our first night we had surf and turf.  The beef was excellent and the lobster tails while on the small side but  were tasty.  They also had lobster alone one night, filets, and shrimp.  For breakfast there were four of five choices every day.  We tried them all and they were all good.  For lunch which is served by the beach there were three choices every day.  Lunch was good some days and average on others.  They also had a mid afternoon snack and late night snacks (i.e. pizza, fruit, mini hot dogs and burgers).  The drinks were also very good.  Dirty bananas, margaritas, rum punch were as good if not better than any we have had in the Caribbean.

 

Service -  We never thought the help at Desire could be topped, not we are not so sure.  The staff is as enthusiastic and tries as hard as any as we have ever experienced.  The bartenders and waiters all worked their tails off and always with a smile on their faces.  Tips were never expected, but I would feel extremely guilty if I did not reward their hard work.  The EC’s were all friendly and a pleasure to be around.

 

Guests -  The make up of the guests were 70 % American, 15 % Canadian and 15 % others.  Our guess is the average age was 50.  Definitely not a young crowd.  Our guess is that the crowd was 50/50 on the lifestyler/ non lifestlyer.  There were probably 20 – 30 couples at the resort and a couple of single guys.  This actually sounded like a busy week for the resort.  We were concerned that with so few people the resort would be very quiet and on the boring side.  We were wrong.  Everyone seemed to socialize and mingle all week.  We saw very few couples eating alone.  A few guests never got dressed, most wore clothes to dinner and most were nude around the pools.  We had as much fun on this trip as any we have been on due to the great people there.  However, we heard stories of weeks where there were less than 10 couples there, this would be a problem.  One concern we have is the viability of resort.  They can not possibly survive on their current occupancy levels.

 

Activities -  They had  the usual assortment of games.  They would usually have 10 to 20 guests playing darts, bocci ball, coconut bowling and a variety of other games.  The main activity was pool volley ball.  They play 3 games in the morning and 3 in the afternoon.  The size of the teams ranged from 6 to 9 players.  As I mentioned earlier they have a pool just for volley ball that has a net around it, so other people could just sit in the other pool and not worry about getting hit by the ball.  The only water sports they had were kayaks.  We took them out one day but it was too much work.  The beach area itself is on the small side.  The sand is nice but there are a lot of rocks in the water.  You should probably wear pool shoes in the ocean.  I would say less than 10 percent of the guests went in the ocean.

 

Night Life -  On most evenings after dinner they would have some forms of entertainment.  They had a dance group in one night, some singers, guitar players.  It was hit and miss and the evening entertainment did not match that at Desire, Hedo or Braco.  Half the time the Disco opened and half the time people simply danced at the main bar area.  Overall the place shuts down much earlier than Hedo or Braco.  The hot tub by the beach had last call around 1:30 the night we were down there. 

 

Overall we had a great trip.  We would go back?  Sure, if we knew a group of people similar to the group who was there this trip were there again.  As we mentioned earlier, occupancy levels are a big concern.  I would check first to make sure there were at least 20 couples there, before we would book again.

 

Lynne and Mark