Desire Trip Report 17-24 Oct 2003
FOREWORD: This was my first trip to Desire, but not my first trip to an adults only resort. I have been to Hedonism II three times so far and loved every trip. Desire is not Hedonism, and Hedonism is not Desire. This was my first trip to a couples only resort and first trip with Christina. Also, many of the names have been changed or omitted either to protect the guilty or I just can’t recall them. That being said, on to the trip report!
GETTING THERE AND BACK: Getting there took longer than most, a flight from LA to Cincinnati one day, Cincinnati to Atlanta to Cancun the next day, followed by the airport transfer. I heard of several people having problems with the airport transfer, my transfer was not exactly flawless either. First it took forever to receive confirmation of the reservation. With that in hand, was pleasantly surprised to see Christina’s name held up by a driver. The driver took a nosedive while getting us to the suburban, bloody nose and all. Ed and Melanie shared the transfer with us to Desire. Once at the resort I paid the driver $30 (half of the $60 reservation for round-trip transfer). The day before we left, we confirmed the transfer back to the airport with the front desk and it was there waiting for us no problem. Interestingly I never was asked to pay for the return transfer, so roundtrip airport transfer only cost $30!
PAYING FOR THINGS: I paid for the resort on my credit card when I got there. They charge you in Peso’s, and when I returned home and checked my credit card online I found that the Peso exchange rate had fluctuated, in my favor! During our stay, we charged a few things to the room…wine, massage, etc…when you check out you are presented with the bill for those items. No surprises there. The surprise came with the car I rented. I rented a car one day and had to put it on my credit card in case of any damage. That is no big deal, normal rental car procedures. When I turned the car back in, I paid in cash and ripped up the credit card slip…again when I checked my credit card online I found that I was charged for the rental…and without a cash receipt I can’t contest it. Between that and the fact that the rental turned out to be more than twice as expensive than if you rented outside the resort, I do not recommend renting from the company on the resort.
THE ROOMS: I think Christina and I had one of the best rooms, at least location wise, in the resort. Room 1212, directly between the disco and the hot tub! The room itself was nice, king-sized bed and a balcony. The room was a little dim, even with all the lights on. The shower was especially dark, forcing Christina to shave her legs in front of the sink! We did have a few problems with the air conditioning, but it was taken care of as soon as I told the front desk. The only other real complaint about the room was the doors to the balcony…they were showing their age and did not work very well…. I am sure we woke up our neighbors once or twice when trying to open or close them late at night. While the resort advertises only three types of rooms (regular, Jacuzzi suite, and Passion suite) in either ocean view or garden view, the rooms we did see the inside of varied…. some had kings beds, some queen, some doubles…some rooms had plenty of light compared to ours…some did not have balconies, etc. Never did get to see the Passion suite. A word of advice…if you have the Passion suite, INVITE PEOPLE OVER…. why else would you get it?
THE FOOD: Remember, this is not a five star restaurant! I thought the food on the buffet for dinner and breakfast (never made it to lunch there) was anywhere from average buffet to above average. The poolside grill was good with a wide variety of foods for almost any taste. The ala Carte restaurant is the best food on the resort though. Get your reservations early though as it fills up fast. We did see some people get in without reservations, some by giving a tip, some just by joining a couple that had reservations, some just by explaining it was their anniversary, birthday, etc. Oh, and there is some food set up by the lobby bar for late night snacking, but I never sampled any…Christina almost had a hot dog from it though…J
THE PEOPLE: One word; awesome! Everyone was open and friendly and fun to be around…age, race, and nationality made no difference to anyone. What a nice feeling it was to come out to the pool shortly after arriving and have people yelling out our names! Emailing and sending people pictures before going was like having instant friends upon arrival, makes you feel right at home. Scott & Glema, Erin & Mitchell, Sean & Cindy, Mike & Val, Brad & Lisa, George & Laura, Edgar & Tita, Don & Tita, Scott & Grace, Ed & Melanie, Tim & Tai, Michael & Dayna, and all the others whose names escapes me (and/or I got wrong here) thank you for helping make this a great vacation!
TYPICAL DAY: Christina and I went with one thing in mind, relaxation! As a result our days were all pretty much the same: wake up; have breakfast (sometimes in the room when someone didn’t want to get up); apply suntan lotion; lay out by the pool; play some games (horseshoes, water volleyball, sand volleyball, etc); drink; snack; chat with people; shower and get ready for dinner; drinks at the lobby bar; dinner; hang out in the hanging beds; dance at the disco; play in the playroom; have fun in the hot tub; and eventually back to the room to get some sleep and start all over. Sure, we did not do a lot on or off the resort, but that was ok with us. We were just enjoying ourselves relaxing, meeting, and hanging out with cool people.
THE STAFF: What can I say, they were great! Everyone was very courteous and quick to respond to any request we had. The entertainment staff; Hector, Chabeli, and Silvina, were great! They kept those who wanted to be active occupied and those who wanted to just lay back and relax alone for the most part. They work long hours 5-6 days a week and always seem to have a smile on their face. All of the bartenders, wait staff, bellmen, front desk workers, security, maids, etc all were wonderful too!
THEME NIGHTS: Christina and I dressed for the theme nights most of the time and had a blast. I would recommend somehow extending the theme outside of only the disco...perhaps adding some entertainment in the dead time between dinner and when the disco opens. A word of advice to the guys out there…it looks a bit tacky when your lady is dressed to kill and there you are in a t shirt and jean shorts…make the effort to dress for the theme nights as well…your lady as well as the other ladies will appreciate it. My favorite theme nights were white night, PJ party, and hot & sexy (which looked pretty similar to PJ, but no one was complaining!). While Christina and I did not dress up for shoe and wig night, Brad and Lisa’s outfits made the night (esp. Lisa’s!).
OVERALL IMPRESSION: I think Desire is great and I will be back. I will be back to Hedo as well. Desire has some finishing touches needed here and there and with as responsive to their guests as they are I am sure it will only get better as time goes by. I am a bit concerned about how the resort would be when it is full. While we were there it was less than half full, even then it was hard to get reservations, and the loungers by the pool were always taken. The two big recommendations I have are to 1) expand the pool area to allow for more loungers and maybe even a dedicated water volleyball pool and 2) either make another restaurant (Mexican, Italian, etc) or expand the current ala Carte restaurant. All in all, this is a great resort for all couples…swingers, nudists, those looking for something different, and everything in between.
I have left out a lot, I know. If you want any further details feel free to email me najnad@yahoo.com and I will entertain your requests. Also, I have created a Yahoo! Group for Desire at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Desireresort/
Looking forward to another trip!
Dan from LA