A bit about us before we offer our trip report. I think a little background on us will help put the trip report in context.
We are a non-lifestyle couple but could absolutely care less what other people do, how they do it and who they do it with. I am 39, my wife is 34. Our first ever trip of this sort was to Hedo II last summer with the WWW group. We hung out with a group of other folks, yet were also very into each other and spent loads of quality time just the two of us. It was an incredible vacation and we vowed to do it again and again until we could either no longer afford it or one of us died. That was our first time nude in front of other people. We are a very low-maintenance couple when it comes to vacation. Put a couple of beers in our hands, give us some water and sunshine, and we’re happy people.
You will find this trip report to be a comparison between Hedo II and Desire. Some would say you can’t compare two different resorts but I think that is a ridiculous statement. Of course, you can compare them. It’s just important to remember that the comparison you are about to read is OUR comparison, OUR opinion and is completely subjective.
We had an absolute blast at Hedo II last summer. And while everything was okay (the rooms, the service, the food, the facilities), and it was more than enough to give us the best vacation of our lives (up to that point), we realized that there must be something out there that was more than just okay. Someplace that still had the same fun people, the same party atmosphere, the same nude environment that we found so liberating. And yet a place that kicked it up a few notches when it came to the amenities and the resort itself.
We found that place at Desire a few weeks ago when we had the best vacation of our lives (up to this point).
We arrived with no problems. Our bags were on the carousel in a matter of minutes and we were through customs and immigration in just a few more. Denny had lined up our transfer from the airport to the resort through a company called Expo Cancun. They were right there waiting for us. All in all, I bet we were out of the airport no more than 20 minutes after we landed. We had a great driver who enjoyed showing us things and talking about Cancun. It made the 20 minute ride to Desire a great start to our vacation.
When we arrived at Desire a bellboy named Frank (I’m not sure how Mexican the name Frank is, but that is what he went by) greeted us at the front door. I introduced myself and for the rest of the week, this guy remembered my name and made a point of saying hi every time he saw us. I’m a “first impression” type of guy and Frank set the tone for a great vacation to come. We arrived at Desire at about 11:00 am so our room wasn’t ready yet. But we were able to get all of the paperwork completed, check our bags with Frank and head off to the pool. The whole check-in process was very smooth and uneventful. When we came back at 3:00 pm as requested by our hostess, our room was ready as promised.
The rooms were nice but not fancy. We lucked out because we got a fairly large room with a king size bed. Some friends of ours had a queen and their room was smaller. I would have to say that the rooms were really not any nicer than at Hedo II, but they were more tastefully decorated. The rooms were decorated in white, which gave it more of a resort feel than the rooms at Hedo II. The bathrooms were smaller than at Hedo but had a large shower with CONSISTENT water pressure and temperature. We missed the Hedo II mirrors on the ceiling and agree with other trip reports that the rooms could use a little more counter space. We stayed garden view, but will probably stay ocean view next time. The ocean view rooms are right there, not more than a few footsteps from the water. There are large French doors that can be opened wide, really allowing you to get close to the water. There was always a nice breeze while we there. We decided for the extra couple hundred dollars, we would have loved to fall asleep with the sound of the water and the breeze flowing through the room.
This was quite a bit different than at Hedo II. The pool area and the pool itself were much larger than that at Hedo. Your first thought is that is a good thing. Bigger is better, right? But it meant that people had more room to spread out and so it didn’t lend itself to the same type of socializing that you had at Hedo II. Being at the pool at Hedo was sort of like being in a crowded bar – the closeness of everyone and everything made it easier to strike up a casual conversation with someone. You could easily sort of float/walk around the pool striking up conversations with the various groups of people. At Desire, there was still a lot of socializing going on, it was just in smaller groups and there tended to be less crossover, for lack of a better term, of those groups of people. I know that for many people that go to Hedo, the pool party is a huge part of the experience. If you are one of those people, you need to be prepared that Desire is a much more laid back daytime experience. At first, we were a little disappointed with the lack of a Hedo Style Yeeehawwww Partaaaaayyyyy at the pool during the day. But after a few days, we came to enjoy the laidbackness (is that a word?). At Hedo, it felt like you were shot out of a cannon the minute you left your room in the morning – zero to 100 mph in 4.7 seconds. At Desire, it was more of a gradual acceleration and we found that slowly cranking it up was better for us. This is one of those things that falls into the “whatever floats your boat” category. It would be hard for us to say that we like Hedo’s pool area or Desire’s pool area better or worse. They were just different.
The pool (and the beach, and the whole resort for that matter) is clothing optional, not mandatory nude. As a result, there were people hanging around the pool in various stages of clothing. In fact, I would say the majority of women were topless but wearing bottoms. And while the debate rages on dennyp.com regarding the militant “nude means nude….blah, blah, blah” of Hedo II, it was an absolute non-issue at Desire. Not once did me or my wife feel like someone was just hanging around checking out the sights. However, having said that, I am really glad that our first ever nude trip was to Hedo II where it’s all or nothing. That put us on the exact same footing as everyone else. I could see that taking it all off would be much tougher for a first timer at Desire than at Hedo.
We missed the lack of a swim up bar but we had Felix and Sabino. Felix was the waiter who walked around and took everyone’s drink order at the pool. After a day, the man anticipated my every drinking move. I bet I never went more than 5 minutes without a beer. Sabino was the pool area bartender and was a hell of a guy who somehow remembered our names all week.
The pool area has a grill that is open pretty much all day. In addition to the sandwiches, hamburgers, etc. there are also finger foods like chicken fingers, nachos, jalapeno poppers, etc. Nothing special here - the food was your average snack bar quality.
The hot tub party went from about 4-7 pm and then cranked up again about midnight. The view from the hot tub on the second story rooftop was really nice. The hot tub had a swim up bar. The hot tub was much smaller than that at Hedo and its irregular shape (i.e. not circular) led to much socializing by default. The hot tub was consistently not hot and this was probably our only real gripe all week.
We enjoyed the food at Desire much more than at Hedo. After a couple of days at Hedo, I had a hard time finding anything that didn’t all sort of taste the same. This was not the case at Desire as there was a much better selection of food. The main restaurant was buffet style so it wasn’t world class by any means. But they had cook to order food at every meal (eggs, omelettes, pancakes at breakfast; steaks, fajitas, seafood, pasta, etc. during lunch and dinner). There was a great variety of fresh fruit, vegetables and breads. Desserts weren’t as varied as Hedo, but were all very tasty.
The “sit down and order” restaurants were fantastic. One of them was French and this was a very classy, outstanding restaurant. It was a five-course meal that lasted almost two hours. Everything about it was first class. The other restaurant was an authentic Mexican restaurant. It was also several courses, very good, very relaxed. At check in, you’re given 2 vouchers to eat in the fancy schmancy restaurants. We wish there had been more because it was outstanding stuff! We would have eaten at the Mexican restaurant every night if given the opportunity.
The service in the restaurant was a good as we have ever received at any restaurant or resort anywhere. All of the waiters were gracious, polite, and funny and seemed eager to make sure you enjoyed yourself. I also liked the fact that the waiters would bring drinks to your table – you had to fetch your own at Hedo.
Everybody has their own set of needs and priorities when at a resort. Some people need a nice room. Others need good food. We need a great disco. The disco is a very important component of our trip. We really enjoy dancing and partying in the club. The comparison to Hedo II’s disco is just not even fair. The Hedo II disco is literally a concrete box - concrete seating and a concrete dance floor. The Desire disco is a true nightclub – nice wood dance floor, floor-to-ceiling poles (that saw some nice action, by the way), plenty of seating and tables and a bar that was actually in the same room as the dance floor. Because the disco was so nice, people hung out there much longer than they did at Hedo. This created much more of an “environment” than the disco at Hedo. Many more people were dancing, many more people were socializing, and many more people just chose to make the disco a large part of their routine.
Music is a very subjective thing, so I can understand why some would love the music, others would not. This is one thing where it is literally impossible to please everyone. However, we found the mix of music pretty decent – a nice blend of 70s/80s/90s pop, techno, hip hop, and Latin music. Some people we talked to wanted more AC/DC and Garth Brooks, others wanted more techno dance music. We thought it was a nice blend and the DJ did the best he could to try and give everyone a little something they liked.
There is a waiter named Abdias who waits tables in the main restaurant until about 10:00 pm or so and then comes over to the disco and waits tables there. Not only is Abdias a fantastic waiter, the guy is absolutely hilarious. He speaks just enough English to be dangerous!
(On a related note, we took a trip to a downtown Cancun nightclub called The City on Friday night with a few other couples and some of the Entertainment Coordinators. Unfreakingbelievable. I am telling you as someone who has been to a ton of discos and nightclubs; you have never, ever seen a place like this. It was the largest club with the best sound and the best lighting and the best music I have ever seen. If you at all like clubs and dancing, a visit to The City is a must do.)
Attached to the disco. Wow. ‘Nuff said.
I’m not sure I can do the staff enough justice with just words. When you get great service it’s often hard to describe exactly why it was great – you just FEEL and KNOW that it was. Many small subtle things (smiles, attitude, sense of humor, caring, etc.) all add up to create the entire picture. The service was so good that at times, we felt like we were the only people in the resort. The level of attention of the staff was just unbelievable. They seemed to just be there right when you needed them. And they did everything with the best attitude and smile. The staff was playful and funny. We like to be able to joke around and have fun conversations with with the staff. They would make practical jokes, tell funny stories and even bust on you a little bit. But they also understood that their job was to help you, not to turn into your best buddy.
Management was all over the place, especially in the dining room. It was clear that there was a certain level of expectation that management had. When that expectation wasn’t being met, they were quick to correct it. A perfect example: one day at the pool bar, the bartender ran out of bananas and had to run to the restaurant to get some more. When he got back a few minutes later, a long line awaited him. A manager noted the long line. Within a minute, there were two other guys behind the bar helping the bartender get caught up. After everything was caught up, my wife noted the manager having a discussion with the bartender. And though she doesn’t understand Spanish, it was clear the manager wasn’t happy. She got the impression that the manager was instructing the bartender that he needed to be more prepared when he opened the bar – i.e. an adequate supply of bananas. This was indicative of management’s attention to detail that we saw everywhere within the resort. In fact, we laughed about the fact that we hadn’t discussed the dreaded “Hedo Towel Crisis” once. In a crazy sort of way, the towel situation sort of sums up the difference in management styles of the two resorts. At Hedo, when they ran out of towels, well, they were just out of towels. At Desire, if the pool got low on towels, they went and got more. Problem solved. Seems so silly that it really is.
The people at Desire were just as awesome as they were at Hedo II. We honestly didn’t meet anyone we didn’t like. As mentioned earlier, the people at Desire tend to be a little more quiet during the earlier part of the day. That is more because of the layout of the resort rather than the people themselves. Obviously, we met more lifesylers at Desire than we did at Hedo. Since the resort markets itself to lifestyle couples, this is only natural. We also met many couples that were not into the lifestyle. And we met even more couples that we had no clue where they stood and really could have cared less. The bottom line is that for us, as a couple not into the lifestyle, the whole thing was a non issue.
Hedo is like a frat party, Desire more like a wedding reception. Hedo’s frat party is held in a resort that’s not the best in the world, but is just fine for the purposes of a party. The frat party has body shots, kegs of beer and keg stands, a bunch of chicken wings and chips, people singing songs, etc…and this is all before 4:00 pm! Desire is like a good wedding reception. Everyone wears a little nicer clothing (not much slutwear). Everyone starts out a little quieter, a little more conservative (daytime at the pool). The food is a little better. The wedding reception is typically held in a nicer place than a frat party. Sounds boring, huh? Well, its not. Desire is not just like any old wedding reception, its like a GREAT wedding reception. We’ve all been to at least one great wedding reception. Starts off quiet, starts off conservative. But it starts to heat up as the night goes on. The music starts to crank up, the drinks to start to flow, the shots start appearing. Where it was a faux pas to do shots of tequila early in the reception, a little later on, not only is it acceptable, but everyone is doing them! Everyone is partying, everyone is dancing, impromptu strip contests take place at the disco, women are dancing topless on the dance floor, the bartender just gives out bottles of tequila, and its eventually a little out of control for everyone – and the same goes for Desire. In fact, I would argue that the night time party at Desire is better than at Hedo. It’s a great party – it just takes a little longer to crank it up.
We had a great time at Hedo II last summer and would go back again tomorrow if we didn’t have options. But we do. And for the foreseeable future, Desire is the place for us.