Desires Trip Report – For the week of January 24 to 31, 2004
Grading of the various items in this report is on the ten-scale – 10 being top marks down to 0 for horrific.
Flight …
Our booking was for 1 week, all inclusive. Departure was from Toronto on Saturday afternoon with arrival at Cancun around 9:00 PM. Take off was delayed about 15 minutes. Our “group” consisted of 3 couples.
Grading: 4
Arrival at Cancun Airport …
Much has already been reported about the chaotic experience one gets when going through Cancun’s Terminal 1 … and they are right!!! What a circus!!! We were privileged to be one of 5 flights arriving from Toronto within a ½ hour of each other, along with 6 other flights from other locations. After some 90 plus minutes of being herded like cattle through Customs (which I’m sure the green light - red light system was set to permanent “green” to get everyone through) we were whisked away to the resort – a mere jaunt of about 20 minutes.
Grading: 4 (generous only because of the “first time experience”)
Arrival to Desires Resort …
Not too much to report here, other than it was friendly and brisk. Room assignments were looked after and before you could say “Hola” we were in our rooms.
The downside of all this was our arrival time … about 11 PM on Saturday night – Pyjama Night!! Needless to say, by the time we left our room to do our initial exploration – most of the pyjamas were off and activity was brisk and our group were all still in our shorts and tank tops working on our first drinks!!
Grading: 6 (would have been higher if we had been provided a tour of the resort)
Lesson learned … Book an early morning flight!!
Desire Resort Rooms …
Along the lines of previous reports, the one noticeable “need” is dressers with drawers and / or extra shelves in the cupboards. As well, the hangers do need to be fixed so they can be removed from the pole. A lot of living out of the suitcase can be avoided by addressing these two particular “needs”.
Overall, our opinions of the rooms are that, like many other resorts, they are basic. But then again, that’s all one needs, given you don’t spend a lot of time there during the day. Our room had a very firm Queen sized bed, while others were blessed with the equally firm king size, both suitable for bed activities – including sleep!!
Washing facilities included a shower, with excellent water pressure and consistent temperatures, a sink and bidet. Hopefully by next year they will be rid of the sulphur smell and have drinkable tap water (not that we encountered a problem – just inconvenient).
Room towels were well supplied and very well sized.
The two cupper coffee pot and supplies, including two large bottles of water each day, were a very useful addition for those blurred eye mornings. The room safe, was standard, fair in size and style of other resorts. The TV provided some comic relief – especially the porn channel.
An added suggestion here is having a second room key in the event one member of the couple slips into the room for any “respite” over the course of the entire day. This assists in allowing the other person to remain at their current activity without the need of disruption.
Room service (clean up etc.) was well done. On the one or two instances of items missed during room service a quick mention to the front desk had things looked after within minutes.
Grading: 8 (10 of 10 if the drawers or shelves and 2nd room key gets addressed)
Desire Grounds…
Our first full day started off with our own exploration of the grounds. The varied plants, trees and shrubs were well laid out and well kept. All the weaving pathways were kept clean with several garbage containers available within steps of any location on the grounds.
At a couple of areas of grass, pathways were being worn in affecting the aesthetics of the greenery. Staff drew quick attention to this and would drop a plant or two in those areas to stop the flow of traffic.
As a nice touch are the shaded bed lounges and adjacent covered sitting area by the main lobby.
Grading: 9
Desire Beach…
Available to all the guests, there are ample supplies of lounge chairs, little side tables, shade spots and showers lined along the resorts beach front property.
The biggest downside to the beach area – seaweed, seaweed and more seaweed washed ashore. Ideally there should be a daily clean-up crew and available equipment to clean, rake and freshen up the beach area every morning.
The beach area adjacent to the pool has the volleyball court, horseshoe pit and the water sports supplies. Interestingly enough this area gets raked daily and is well kept.
Grading: 6 (attention to having a clean beach would easily jump the rating to a 9 or 10).
Desire Pools…
What is called the “topless pool” immediately by the front lobby is very nicely done with a bridge. Aside from that, it is more of a landscape type pool. The week we were there not one person ventured in.
Grading: 8 for the aesthetic value
The main pool is nicely laid out with a two-foot deep wading area and a separate area of five-foot deep water, ideal for the water volleyball and water aerobics. The water temperature is weather dependant.
Grading: 8
For the beach and pool side lounges, pools and hot tub users are an ample supply of superb lush large towels. Hopefully the resort never cuts back on this feature!!
Grading: 10
Desire’s Roof Top Hot Tub and Beds…
Whoever thought this design up should be rewarded!! As lifestyle minded people would agree… what an ideal combination!!!
It was interesting to note a number of non-lifestyle guests and some “visitors” from associated Blue Bay Getaway took exception to some of the hot tub and bed activities that happened from time to time. Perhaps a more concise explanation or signage prior to going upstairs to this area is required.
Better non-slip walking surface should be added to the entire roof top area.
The hot tub itself could do to live up to its name and be a tad warmer. Over the course of our week the temperature ranged from 33.5 C to 36 C reaching 36.5 C (99 F) on only two afternoons. Given to cooler January evenings (18 C / 64.4 F) it would be nice to step into a 38 C temperature.
Grading: 8 (10 of 10 if the walking surface and water temperature get addressed).
Desire Bars…
Main Court Bar (Melange Lobby Bar): Quick and friendly service.
Grading: 7
Poolside Bar (Coconut Bar): Good friendly service.
Grading: 7
Hot Tub Bar (Nude Jacuzzi Lounge Bar): Good friendly service.
Grading: 7
Disco Bar (L`Alternative Disco Lounge): Quick and friendly service.
Grading: 7
Bar Service Overall…
Our grading of 7 is partially based on some hours of operation issues, notably the main bar, and partially on knowledge base of drinks.
During the day a number of guests chose to relax along the beach. While we personally did not do this, we did hear of some folks who were located at the area furthest away from the poolside bar had lengthy waits for refills.
Perhaps having both the main lobby area and poolside bar run the same daytime hours would improve service during sun time.
The other note of interest is the varied ways of how some of the drinks are made – differently from bar to bar. Not a huge difference, but noticeable. An example is a poolside Miami Vice is listed as being made without orange juice while a main lobby one includes orange juice. Given my spouse has a mild allergy to orange juice this does become something to be aware of.
Desire’s Dining…
The Main Restaurant (“El Arrecife”): Over the course of our week we never had a bad meal!!
While the fare may not be 5-Star, it was nicely varied and tasty. Along with this we always had the option of right-off-the-grill food done to our desire.
The only downside to the meals was an apparent lack of green salads, unless you happened to be one of the first 20 folks dining. After that, the selection of greens did not look very appetizing.
Grading: 8
Poolside Grill (“Coconut Grill”): A number of previous reports were critical of the offerings of this venue. Not sure why, as we always found the food to be nice and service friendly. We did not hear of others with any complaints either.
Grading: 8
“Il Piacere” Restaurant: From our visit to this intimate setting we can only say “5-Star” and Bravo!!!
Grading: 10
The Staff of the Restaurants and Bars:
Where to start? They are extremely attentive to your needs and desires. These folks have been well trained on the fine art of customer service.
Kudos and Bravo to Felix, Sabino, Victor, Juvenal, Ivan, Phillipe, Pedro, Pablo, Alfredo and Javier!!
Special Thanks to Mary at the “El Arrecife” Grill and especially to Abdias (great smile, humorous, quick – truly a person who loves life and his job!!)
Grading: 10
Desire Activities:
From the daily rituals of stretching class, horseshoes, beach and water volleyball – all great mixer games – to the varied “Desire Time” games – all done in good fun and with laughter. The key element here is participation – such a subjective topic when it comes to individual preferences. Regardless, we found it fun!!
Grading: 8
L`Alternative Disco Lounge:
This venue operates from 10PM to 2AM, cranking out a variety of tunes, mostly retro 70’s lending hand to lots of sexy dancing and mingling of the guests. Perhaps as a suggestion, would be a better mix of slow and fast dance tunes, including more bump-n-grind style music to help heat things up.
Grading: 8
L`Alternative Disco Lounge Play Room:
What more can anyone ask… a facility offering a sexy playground complete with towels… WooHoo!
Grading: 10
The Entertainment Staff:
If there was one thing with this resort that should not be changed is this staff!!
Enrique, Silvina, Saul, David and Charbel are always there, working and playing endlessly with the visitors. They keep to the schedule of daily events and don’t hesitate to join in the games, not just over see them. They also welcome new ideas (ie. Human Scrabble - what a hoot!!).
They are great ambassadors for the Resort!!
Grading: 10 + +
Over all, we found the Desires Resort and Spa has nice ambiance, good service, good facilities and great staff to look after your needs.
Grading: 8 +
Would we return? …yes!!