Dan & Kim - 06/06

Jacuzzi area: Nice in that there were beds available for people to use. They had towels available to use on the beds and a shower next to the Jacuzzi for clean up. The water was clean and clear although very hot. We utilized this area a few times. The bartender in this area was not very good and in fact would ignore people a lot. There was only one creepy night when a single guy showed up on the prowl. He had snuck into the resort, which is a feat because you either have to cross the jungle (not recommended by local people as there are "big snakes". Or he came up the beach from the resort about ½ mile away.) We were at the swim up bar with a couple we had met (M & J) when this guy showed up*. Kim's creep radar noticed him almost immediately and asked him, "where's your lady?" He responded that she was sleeping. Kim reminded him that he wasn't allowed in this area without her. He moved away and started stalking others in the pool. Needless to say Kim wasn't about to let that continue and basically chased him away. A little later we were making use of one of the beds and this same idiot shows up in the bed next to us. Again Kim asked him where is wife was and noticed he didn't have the arm/ankle band for the resort and then ran him off with a few chosen words, and again he ran away. What Kim should have done was notify the bartender so the guy could have been dealt with properly by security. Kim did call security after we went back to our room. Then Dan went down to the lobby bar to get a snack before bed and found the guy prowling there. He took one look at Dan and fled. That was the only "bad" experience we had. The rest of the time there was no sign of singles at the resort.

Music: Here Desire wins hands down. They would play very soothing music by the pool in the morning hours. Move to more of a light jazz and then into oldies around eleven and then in the afternoon would play a more pumped up mix. Overall a great alternative to the piped in pounding Jamaican techno that you can't get away from at Hedo. The only annoying part is that they would play something different in the pool dining area, which always kind of clashed.

Main pool (or should I say the only pool): Situated right next to the beach which was nice, but lined with 3 foot windows to keep the sand out of the pool area. Unfortunately it also kept the ocean breeze out as well so the pool area would get really hot. It is about the same size as the nude pool at H2, but no swim up bar and virtually no shade - due largely I think to Wilma damage - the trees really got hit hard. They make up for no swim up bar with phenomenal cocktail wait staff (Sylvia). There is also a bar and grill area next to the pool. This is the only food area you can be nude in. The pool was always exceptionally clean. I don't know how they did it because people were always swathed with sun screen. The pool water was bordering on hot the first couple days, but I think some comment cards must have addressed this because the last 3 days it was a little cooler. It's hard to cool down when you jump into bath water. They also would play water volleyball twice a day which we really enjoyed. It was way too hot for us to play sand volleyball, although many people did. You do have to sign out the towels (which are a nice size). If you don't return them there is a $20/towel charge.

Beach: Wins hands down again, great beach area which goes on for hundreds of miles. They lost quite a bit of it in the hurricane but have restored it nicely. There are beach beds and gazebo areas to get out of the sun or sleep on during the day. All beds were provided with sheets and towels and a little basket to put your things in. Also beach chairs were available and the wait staff would always be by to see if you needed anything from the bar. You could go swimming, however it was very rocky by the pool area. If you went down the beach to past the mid point it was much less rocky. However while we were snorkeling we saw sting rays that would bed themselves down next to rocks even just a few feet off shore. They were sand colored and very hard to see. Nobody that I know of got stung, but I would reccommend wearing water shoes just in case. We went out a couple times and didn't have any problems.

Ocean Amenities: Hobie cat, snorkel gear, etc. there was a small charge for this for a tax for the environment, but we did take that Hobie Cat out once and it was fun. We had brought our own snorkel gear which we used right there at the beach, but didn't see a lot. Did see the storm damage in the water which is bringing back the fish life now. It is too far out though to reach the reef unless you get a dive buoy and are willing to swim a bit. You could book snorkel tours out to the reef for a charge and the Snorkel tour people from down the beach took great pleasure in buzzing the Desire beach and showing the tourists the naked people. Snorkeling naked though rocked! We did not see anyone selling Parasailing like they do at Hedo. There was a dive shop though where I'm sure they could set up almost any water sports.

Entertainment: Staff was good, but annoying at times, especially the guys. They did do a good job of trying to get people involved, but would not share the rules of the game before you agreed. For instance Kim was rallied into competing for Ms. Desire. What we ended up doing was gargling "La Cooka Ra Cha", Pole dancing and a kissing contest, where lips were 1 point and a penis was 10 points. Needless to say the last person to go on that one had it made, because the entire pool was ready with their penis lined up so to speak. They also had us sitting on chairs in the hot sun where we were melting - It was probably close to 100 degrees there. The last contestant opened her coochie during the last round of applause - clearly willing to go the whole way for the win. Dan was called upon to compete for Mr. Mexico. He did a fabulous job and won! His competition consisted of drinking a shot of tequila, Mexican cheers and sexy dancing.

Guests at the resort: We were there in the middle of several swing groups. Some of which were very aggressive. However, having said that, we were not bothered much. We did find a few couples that were a bit concerned with the swingers and invited them into our fold. Overall we made some really great friends again, but the layout of the resort was not such that it was conducive to getting big groups of people together. We did do an EGE (Erotic Gift Exchange) that was very successful, but other than that we did not participate in the dress up theme nights much. People generally did their own thing or did things with one other couple. Such as, we went to Playa de Carmen one day with M&J by cab to get our piece of art. They did not allow vendors onto the property.

Food: Hands down much better than H2. They had an International Restaurant, a Japanese restaurant, Italian and then Main dining area. Reviews of all below: First though, note that reservations were not required for any of the restaurants and you could go to them as much as you wanted to. You simply had to give them your room number, I believe for tracking purposes to see the trends in the restaurants. Also men were required to wear pants to the specialty restaurants. At least they told you this at the front desk. It did not seem to be enforced since Dan didn't bring any pants and most of the men dining had shorts on. We did buy a pair of pants at the resort shop just in case it was an issue.

SUKI - the Japanese restaurant: We attended this 3 times. The sushi rocked. The first night it was packed and very loud. It was very hard to hear ourselves, however the food was great. We ate in the regular sit down area. They only have one grill that seats 6 people and had sittings at 6:30 and 8:30 on a first come first serve basis. We did do that the second night we ate there and enjoyed the grill immensely, much more so than the seating area. Food great, however service spotty in the dining area outside of the grill.

Italian. Attended 1 time. This was served at the pool bar area. Salad and appetizer were set up as buffet style and they brought you your main dish which you chose from the menu. Food was good, service was good. This was where we did the EGE and the only time the group ate together. When I tried to set up an area to do the EGE they made a reservation for me at the Italian restaurant - so that settled that. We ate dinner and then did the gift exchange. It did work out quite well.

Main Dining room: Mostly this was only open during the breakfast hours from 7-11 a.m. They did do a Mexican buffet one night but we did not try it. Service here was always exceptional and they will bring you a bloody Mary or screwdriver if you ask for it at breakfast. They did have a cactus juice mixture that was interesting that we tried once. They make omelets to order and would also make pancakes if you asked them to. It seemed like you could get pretty much anything you want if you know who to ask for it. They also had great fresh fruit, cereal, yogurt selections and a buffet of other items including American and Mexican dishes. The food buffet was always a little different which we appreciated.

Pool Grill: Open 11 - 6. They had a buffet with soup, salad and nacho makings, the freshest quacamole and salsa you will ever have. Also other buffet items (American food) that changed daily. You could get almost anything at the grill, fresh fish, chorizo, steak, chicken, etc. It was great. We had grilled fish one day and made them into tacos by asking for a couple tortillas with it. As I said before their food rocked!

Lobby Bar: The lobby bar was a great place to relax for a while. People would stroll by and get a drink or hang out for awhile and chat. It needs ceiling fans to give some air movement. Charlie manned it during the day and he was by far our favorite bartender so we always made some time to hang out with him. He also makes the best Margaritas. We miss you Charlie!!! Although with very few exceptions, I will say we had pretty much great service everywhere on the resort. (Edgar filled in for Charlie while he was on his day off and also did a great job.)

Night Club - They had a nice disco but it was smokey and loud and hard to talk to anyone. Also had a small bar so it was hard to get a drink. Dan would put me in front of him because I would get served faster. If you like to dance, you would probably love it though. They played good dance music and have 2 poles for dancing in the middle of the floor on a stage. Theme nights always happened there after it opened at 10:00.

Piano bar: Although we heard several times that they were building a piano bar, we did not see where that possibly could be. Our guess is that it will never happen.

Water pressure. Basically it sucked. We always had hot water, but not very hot in the evening hours when everyone was showering and at that time the water pressure was nearly non-existent. Recommend that if you want to shower at night do so before 6:00 p.m. or after 8:00. Pressure in the morning was still not great but okay and water temperature was much hotter. H2 wins in the shower category.

Drinking water: You would not want to drink the water out of the tap, but bottled water is readily available in your rooms and all over the resort. Ice is made with purified water. We did not get sick this trip, at least not from the water. The last day was cloudy in the morning and we forgot to put on our sun screen until later in the day. We did get a little too much sun and were not feeling the best on the trip home. But then again it could have been depression at having to leave too. Remember your 30 spf sunscreen - We were tan before we left and still used it everyday and did not burn. People - even really tan people - who did not use sunscreen burned. The sun is beyond intense down there.

Resort Staff: They bust their butts for everyone. These people work night and day, but generally in 8 hour shifts. they get one day off a week. The shifts are also on rotation so everyone works in one area for 1 month and then switch to another area. Charlie was at the at the main lobby bar during the day while we were there and was our favorite. He was very personable and always willing to share information about the area, resort, what happened after Wilma, etc. We will miss him the most. Other staff members that gave phenomenal service: David, Sylvia, Zilzia (sp?) and Edgar.

Accommodations: Our room was great as it was on the ocean with a balcony. Location of rooms wasn't really a problem though as the resort was not that large. It was pretty easy to get anywhere you wanted to go quickly. No mold problems with the A/C like at Hedo - ours was new. We did hear of a few rooms with problems with A/C not cooling properly. Rooms were supplied with a refrigerator and a coffee maker. The fridge was stocked with bottled water, soda and beer (XX).

Weather: Was phenomenal and hot. Partly cloudy to mostly sunny. Humid with highs in the 90s, lows in the 80s, but comfortable at night. It seemed it was always cloudy around us but over the resort the sun would shine. On Saturday there was a storm off the coast just to the north that spawned 2 tornados (or waterspouts as they were refered to). That was pretty cool. See the picture, I got to my camera in time to capture one on "film".

Area Surrounding the resort: The resort stood on it's own in the middle of the jungle. Jungle is a loose term as it was mostly destroyed by the hurricane. However the staff dissuaded us from going past the resort into the jungle as there are "BIG Snakes" there. Needless to say we listened and didn't try to see them. Check the pictures out though - you can see how devastated it is. I'm amazed that they were able to open in 4 months. To get into the resort from the road you had to cross a wooden bridge (by car). This goes over a pond area that is clearly marked "Danger: Crocodile Area". Dan thought they were joking until we saw them. One was about 9 feet long and the other one we saw was about 7 feet. She had a nest and we have pictures of that too. The resort is completely fenced except for the beach area. The Croc area had a 3 foot fence that keeps them at bay. The only time they have a problem with them is when the water gets high. When that happens, well let's just say the crocs have been in the lobby. We also saw gekkos, an inguana and a Lima on the resort. As for other resorts in the area, there are more resorts down the beach a ways, but pretty well secluded from Desire.

Dan & Kim - June, 2006