Trip Report
Mark and Rebecca
June 12-19, 2005
This was our third trip to Desire. We likely would not have gone again in 2005, not because of the resort, but just because we have a lot of other things we want to see and do. However, we were given vouchers due to Hurricane Ivan on our second trip, and the resort was willing to combine it with the 5th night free promotion, so we decided three nights free was incentive to go back for the third time. We did book our trip well in advanced, and that allowed us to arrange to meet up with couples we had met on previous trips.
We flew out of Pittsburgh nonstop on USA3000. I love that airline. Real food, comfortable seats, pleasant crew. And the flight left on time and arrived 30 minutes early into Cancun! The flight home arrived early, as well. Great prices too! I would chose to fly the airline again.
I chose to rent a car again, and that went well enough except for missing the new turnoff for Desire which of course started the usual husband-wife fighting about driving ability versus navigation ability. Our friends in the back seat were kind enough to not say one word about either.
The weather was beautiful in the daytime, except for the last day. We did an offsite trip to Crococun and Tulum. The food was mostly okay, I really liked the pizza and sandwiches at night, and room service was nice on one occasion. We really enjoyed the specialty restaurants. We enjoyed visiting with our friends from Detroit, and catching up with others. One of our more fun evenings was a trip into Puerto Morales with our friends for souvenirs and drugs (I started getting a cold that day) and eating dinner by the ocean.
A few of the staff were outstanding – particularly Hugo and Arturo, and the maid for our building, and a member of the security detail that also did first aid, the waitstaff in the specialty restaurant and our morning waiter (I am bad at remembering names). Hugo and Charbel were by far the best staff members to us.
There seemed to be fewer scheduled activities. Activities didn’t go on as scheduled. I don’t know if there was a lack of interest. As an example, beach volleyball was on the schedule at least twice. It never happened, and I never recalled it being announced or anyone coming around asking if you wanted to play, as has occurred in the past. Actually, I just didn’t think much of the activity staff, except for J.J., who just actually seemed tired. He seemed to always be on duty. Ebony and Sweetness were also E.C.s, but at the risk of being flamed, they just didn’t do much, and they didn’t seem comfortable talking with many of the guests (i.e., my husband had said that one had a beautiful voice the morning after she had sang during the lobby entertainment, and she just didn’t say a word back… twice, he said good morning, again, no response…). In any case, my only point is that less activity seemed to be occurring than the other two trips.
My husband had fun kayaking, Hobie-cat-ing, and learning to windsail. I had fun watching him until I got stung by something. It was nice sitting on the dock for drinks in the early evening, too.
I had fun with the theme nights, and dancing at the disco. I thought the music was better than it had been in the past. However, it is just too hot up in the disco. Please – get some a/c and ventilation up there! The night I wore a vinyl outfit was the night I almost passed out after an hour up there, and the outfit was just soaked with sweat.
Didn’t spend much time up at the hot tub. The hot tub was pretty hot (temperature-wise), and uncomfortable. There was an issue with people “reserving” beds and getting a bit pissy if someone wanted to use it. Sex – it was there and a lot of people were looking for it. It seemed more predatory than usual, and there was not a lot of friend-making opportunities on this trip. We were dismissed pretty rapidly once it was apparent we don’t swing, and we had an incident or two in which it seemed our choice not to swing wasn’t quite respected. This was a little different than other trips in which we’ve made friends we still see to this day. I respect the fact that others may be at the resort for different reasons and don’t have time to waste – it just wasn’t as fun or friendly as it had been in past for us. My opinion – my viewpoint, like it or not.
Anyway, we had a good trip overall, and really enjoyed our time spent with our friends we met up with from past trips. I think three times in 18 months was just a little too much for us. It is a unique destination – and I do enjoy it there, but we are off to other locations for a while. I look forward to reading other people’s reports – it’s a good way to keep up with the employees, and changes to the resort.