John & Cherre – June 8-13, 2004
We just returned from our second trip to Desire Resort and can’t wait to get back. We only had 5 days, and a tropical depression rained out 2 ½ of them, but we still had a fantastic time! This report will try to compare our two trips.
We flew from Miami around noon, and arrived along with about 5 other flights into the new terminal. Immigration looked like it would be a nightmare, but the lines moved quickly. Baggage was the problem: not enough workers to unload the planes, and only one customs station open, with people joining the line from five different carousels. It was fun to watch the first-timers getting waylaid by the tours and timeshare sellers in the airport on their way out to find their transportation. Just remember, outside means out in the humid Mexican air, NOT outside of the customs area!
We used Carlos for transportation, and the driver was there waiting there with our name on a sign, and the car was right there. Ten minutes down the highway, and ten minutes to get past the eight topes on the road into Desire, and we were at the resort. The reception was not as nice this time, because no towels were offered and no drinks…we got our own. However, our room was ready and we were ready to roll about 80 minutes after landing. Our room this time was 2411, upstairs in a new building all the way at the end of the resort near the spa…last time we were in 1411 in an original building right by the pool. The new rooms have better lighting and ours had drawers in the closet, the old rooms were dark and no drawers last year; however, building 14 was ‘out of service’ while we were there, and we could see some renovations being done there. Our AC worked great, particularly if you followed the Hedo rule and kept the bathroom door closed; it got so cold by the third day, we left the bathroom door open to warm it up a bit! The TV has not improved, they still have only one DVD on the porn station, but who goes to Desire to watch TV? We were never back in the room before 5 or 6 pm so we can’t comment on when it got cleaned, but the maid service was great, including birds made out of towels on the bed each day. The rain caused a lot of flooding at many resorts while we were there, but our observation was that upstairs garden view rooms did not suffer from the flooding. This may be because they were behind the ocean-front buildings and thus blocked from the wind-driven rain.
The building by the pool which used to house the EC staff has been enlarged and now houses the Mexican restaurant at night, and a buffet expansion of the grill by the pool for lunch. We found the food to be much improved this trip, and found out there is a new chef, Rodrigo, who is doing a great job running all the food services in the resort (he’s only 22!) The choices at all three meals was adequate and changed daily, and the International restaurant was impeccable as usual. Be sure to ask for the Mexican coffee at the end of your meal…it is a display worth waiting for! We ate fresh fruit every morning (it’s the best!) and fresh salad at lunch and dinner. We heard of a few people coming down with stomach complaints while there, however, we always take Pepto Bismal three times a day as a preventative and had no problems.
We felt the entertainment staff this time was weak…after five days they still had not taken time to get to know our names(we are not shy) and seemed to key off of a few of the same couples each time they started an activity. This may be because Silvina had left right before we arrived and the group was still new and trying to gel, but we were underwhelmed. The beach party was raved about, but ours was cancelled due to the rain (over 16 inches in the last 2 ½ days), and despite great participation in the theme nights in the Disco, no games or contests ever took place. Everybody dressed the part, but no organized activity ever took place.
The Jacuzzi party was well-attended until the third day, when the tropical depression hit, then the Jacuzzi was shut down quite a bit due to the risk of ‘slip and fall’ and lightning. We missed the beds up there, but no one can control Mother Nature. The good side was the disco was really hopping every night! The music was great, a good mix of old, new, salsa, rap, hip-hop, club…and the dance floor was rarely empty! We had some ‘professional’ pole-dancers there and they even gave lessons on one of the rainy days (they have a pole in their home). The back room was overflowing most nights, standing room only on our last night in fact. And the one night during the rain that the Jacuzzi was open it was also full.
We rented a car this time and drove into Cancun (we couldn’t sit inside watching international CNN anymore) and the rental agent was easy to work with and good with directions. The cars are right on property so pick-up and return are super easy. The morning of our departure Carlos’ driver was there early and took us straight back to the airport, no stops along the way. We highly recommend his service. They suggest 2 ½ hours lead time before your flight, and we urge you not to shortchange that, especially on the weekends. All bags are hand-inspected before you check them…we were in line over an hour to check-in, but those who got there a little after us had a much longer wait.
Overall, we still rank Desire at the top of our list of all-inclusives and will definitely be going back.