Tim & Debbie
We booked a 7 night stay from Saturday -
Saturday in May 2007. We had been to Hedo II the year before, and had a
great time, but heard from several of the couples we met there that we
should try Desire.
All of our comparisions in this report will be
with our experience with Hedo II . I should say now there is no clear cut
"winner" between the two, as there are good and bad points to each place -
it just depends on what you are looking for, who else is there at the same
time you are, and your attitude and expectations.
We went to both places having read everything on
the trip reports and message boards, and going by ourselves, not knowing
anybody ahead of time. The advantage to this in both places was that we
were 'forced' to meet a lot of people, all very friendly and open for the
most part; the disadvantage is sometimes you feel like you're missing out,
or left out, on their pre-arranged group activities, not knowing anybody
ahead of time.
The trip to Cancun was no problem, we got
through customs quickly, also with no problem; but the reports we read about
having to run the gauntlet of guys wanting to 'help' you after you got your
bags and were trying to leave the terminal were entirely accurrate - so,
having pre-arranged transportation with Denny before we left, we kept a
tight grip on our bags, and headed to get past the throng to look for our
drivers, who were supposed to have blue striped shirts, and a Lifestyles
sign (we had a picture and good description of where to find them). You have
to actually get through two gauntlets, the first one is through all the guys
wanting to hook you up with taxis, limos, etc. inside the terminal (and all
grabbing for your bags while doing so), the second is once you get past them
and just barely outside, where it looks like you're the rock star, walking
out to find the local papparazi waiting to pounce on you - imagine about
50-75 uniformed guys, pressed against waist-high metal barricades, all
yelling at you at the same time, and waving signs with their company names .
I was fixated on looking for the blue striped shirt guys with their sign,
and was getting nervous not spotting them as we neared the end of the line,
when my wife grabbed my arm and pointed at a guy (not in a blue striped
shirt) with a clipboard with our name written (largely, duh) in magic marker
on it, who I apparently had walked right past ! As it turned out, he was
working with the blue-shirt guys, who drove up a few minutes later in a long
van; they picked us up, and off we went. As we made the short trip to Desire
(normally only about 20 minutes), we passed a horrible wreck on the highway
- a big semi was on the other side of the road, lying on it's side,with the
windshield broken out, and there were at least 2 wrecked SUV's on our side -
and I thought to myself that's exactly why I would never rent a car in
Mexico (or Jamaica, for that matter, with the drivers in Jamaica being
even crazier).
When you reach the turnoff road to get to the
resort, there are two guardhouses you have to pass along the way, which made
us feel a little more secure. Once at Desire, you cross over a little wooden
bridge over the famous swamp (and yes, we did see a couple of little
crocodiles in it during the week), the porter takes your bag, and you're
right in the lobby. The lobby, like the property, is half the size of Hedo's.
Check in was a breeze, you got the famous
champagne and chilled towels, but then it was off to the next desk, for a
"greeting" with a very friendly young lady for the timeshare pitch - and the
whole time, I was thinking of a posting we had read on the trip reports
about how the writer was really pissed that after having saved all year, and
spending a good chunk of money to get here, they had the nerve to want you
to sit through a timeshare sales pitch. The only surprize was that the word
'timeshare' is never mentioned, you're just invited to have breakfast with
them the next morning, get a free massage, and a tour of the grounds. So,
being tired and not wanting to argue about it (but still seething inside),
we made a 9:30 am apppointment with her, and went to the room. The end of
this part of the story is that I had no intention of coming back for the
sales pitch, and luckily, we were so drunk the first night, that we slept in
with a big hangover, only to be awakend by our friendly timeshare gal (who
I wanted to kill at that point for waking us up), who I promptly made
another appointment with (which we also didn't keep), and she had the good
manners to not call us again after that. Virtually everyone we spoke with
during the week shared the writer's sentiment about being pissed about
having to hear sales pitches on what was supposed to be a paid in full,
stress-free vacation.
Food - The bottom line is that the "fancy"
restaurants are better at Desire, but the buffets are better at Hedo. Hedo's
buffet is larger, with more choices, variety, and it differs a little every
day. The breakfast and lunch buffets at Desire were literally the same thing
every day (it seemed like the only differences in breakfast were what kind
of potatoes you got, and the yougurt flavor). Desire's formal restaurants,
however, were much better then Hedo's. First of all, you don't need a
reservation for any of the Desire restaurants, which was a big plus. Service
was much better at Desire (without trying to sound too bigoted, the Mexicans
try much harder then the Jamicans to serve you promptly and efficiently.)
The only disappointment was the Desire italian restaurant, which is actually
held in the same outdoor seating area as the lunch buffet. The food was
mediocre, although the service was very good, but it had the smallest amount
of diners each night it was open. Should mention too that everyone,
especially the women, dressed up very nicely for dinner, even at the buffet,
as opposed to Hedo, where swimsuits and t shirts were worn to all meals,
even the dinner buffet.
To spare you a further day-by day replay of our
week, here's a list of what we think are the key feaures and differences of
the two resorts:
Rooms - About the same size; Hedo has a better
shower and softer bed; Desire has a better patio area, and a better cable tv
system, with pay per view movies available, as well as the wireless keyboard
internet connection.; they both have the same locking room safe system,
which is a feature we appreciate. One other negaitve of Desire is the fact
that the bed is on a raised tiled platform, about 6 inches off the ground on
only one side of the bed, and we heard several tales during the week, and
saw the bruises as proof, of people falling off the platform at some point
(usually in the middle of the night when getting up to use the restroom or
whatever) and hurting themselves by bumping into something they didn't
expect to (and everything in the room is rock hard (tile, concrete, or
wooden) , so you're going to hurt something if you bump into it.) Our Desire
room actually only had 1/2 of the blackout curtain, but we were up so late
and so tired, it didn't bother us in the morning when the sun came up.
Nightlife - At Desire, after dinner, there is
down time until the Disco gets going, usually around 10:30 pm. There is
sometimes live music being played at the outdoor lobby bar from about
8-10pm, but it tends to be quiet and subdued, so people can carry on
conversations, which almost works to a disadvantage, as the next activity is
the Disco, which is much more high energy - in fact, on most nights, the
Entertainment Crew has to come down from the Disco to try and talk people
into coming upstairs to the Disco to get things going.
Disco - an absolute dud at Hedo, hardly enybody
ever went in or used it when we were there, most likely becasue that's where
a lot of the 'locals' would hang out on their 1 day passses (which are not
sold at Desire, which everyone appreciated.). The Disco is the highlight of
the nightlife and the main event at Desire - and at least half of the crowd
dressed to the event theme each night, which made it more fun to see and be
involved- at Hedo, only about a quarter of the crowd would dress to the
theme, even on Toga night, which was disappointing. The funny thing too was
that the guys were actually dressed sluttier then the women on one of the
theme nights ! The only problem with the disco was the a/c was not adequate
enough to handle the crowds, and it got real hot in there relatively
quickly. (Somebody told us one of the units was down for 2 of the nights,
and they got it working after that, but it still would get hot in there
after about an hour or two (tops) becasue of the amount of bodies in a small
space, and with all the disco lighting to boot.
Playroom - Probably my (the male's ) biggest
disappointment about Desire - becasue the entrance is off of the disco, and
it's subject to the same heat problems in an even more confined space, it
was REALLY warm in there, so it was literally never occupied. I expected to
see 'orgy city' in there, and the only time I did see a foursome come out of
there, it looked like they had just come from the pool, they were so
drenched in sweat.Yuk ! I'm sure it's more comfortable in the winter, but
if you visit in any other season, be warned unless they really amp up the
a/c in the Disco.
Piano Bar - well, there isn't one at Desire,
which we missed a lot - thus, the downtime between dinner and the disco.
There is supposedly Karoke on Sat. night at the lobby bar, but we got in so
late the first night of our visit that we never saw or heard it.
Dressing up - MUCH more of an issue at Desire -
most women would have two different night outfits, one for dining, the other
for the disco (being much more sluttier). Most guys were dressed the same
for both, but on the whole, people dressed up much nicer at Desire. One
woman amazingly had different outfits all the time, including a different t
shirt each day with a funny slutty saying on them (her husband joked that
she had different outfits for going to the pool each day too, which was not
too far off the mark !)
Hot tub nightlife - Both were always crowded,
which made it fun; there is more hardcore activity at Hedo, but there is
some good-natured body shots and 'wall girls' at Desire.
Water activities - Hedo wins here, no contest -
Desire basically no longer has any water activities, after their pier was
twice destroyed by hurricanes, and not rebuilt. You have to go off-property
if you want to rent anything (jetskis, go sailing or parasailing, etc.),
which makes it more of a hassle.
The beach - smaller at Hedo, concentrated around
the nude side bar; I think Desire wins, because of the many outdoor beds on
the beach - the only issue was people would monopolize them, and we heard of
fist fights at prior visist because of this. The beach concierge was
supposed to prevent this, but siesta time for many was after lunch, and it
was frustrating to walk down the beach, and see bed after bed being
'claimed' (by a beach towel, books, etc.), but not being used. They also
have beds suspended on ropes (think of a giant outdoor bed swing on your
porch), but they were too 'swingy" for my taste, and were about the only
unclaimed option you could always count on. Having said all this, we were
able to find at least one open bed every time we went to the beach, and it
was really relaxing to take a siesta right on the water, with a cool breeze
coming in.
Water quality - It was better and clearer at
Hedo, but Desire, although not really clear, was not as bad as most posters
had described it ("swamp spillover") - there were people cooling off in it
and swimming in it. Both places raked the beach each morning.
Rafts - Hedo wins, there are NO rafts available
to borrow at Desire, if you want one, you gotta bring your own (which
several people did.)
Bars / drink availablity Both places have the
same system where it seems like the drinks are weak at the start of the day,
and get stronger as the day progresses. We read on a Desire post that the
big insulated mugs everyone brings to Hedo were not needed at Desire, as the
drink service was so much quicker, so we left ours at home. However,
we ended up wishing we had brought them for the pool, as the drinks got warm
pretty quickly, no matter how fast you were served. You don't need them for
Desire's jacuzzi bar or the disco, as they serve drinks very quickly there,
and you generally down them before they get warm.
I drink a lot of Coke, and missed the soft
drinks (and ice) available on tap at Hedo - the only thing 'on tap' at
Desire was water. Our other disappointment was the only beer available at
Desire was Dos Equis, where we like Corona better - but we found out on our
shopping trip day though that nobody had both beers available - they had one
or the other. (And since I didn't like the Red Stripe either, we skipped the
beer all week at both places.) Name brand liquar availablity at both places
is about the same. Once nice feature of the all-hours lobby bar at Desire
was the fresh pizza they'd make for you to your order, which you could eat
there, or take back to your room for a good-night (or good morning !) snack.
Service - Desire wins here, absolutely no
contest - the Jamaican 'no problem mon" ("I'll get it when I feel like it)
does not exist at Desire - the staff really busts their butt to please their
guests, with a smile on their face, over the entire property.
Tipping - Was much more in the open at Desire,
the only place tipping was really 'needed' though was in drink service -
most folks, especially the ones on the beach beds, tipped their server each
day to insure speedy drink service. I should add though that after I found
this out, I started tipping the servers at the pool, and I can't say it
actually made a bit of difference in the speed of the service. We also
tipped our maid at the start of the week, and I can't say we got any better
service there because we tipped up front either. Tipping the bell staff is
the same at both. The EC's at Desire did make a point of saying the best tip
they could get was a personal mention on the guest survey at the end of your
stay, which we made a point of doing (nice job ,Veronica and Helen !)
EC's - Even. We read several gripes about the
EC's at Desire not being as good as Hedo, but they were equally good, and
just as hard working to get the guests involved, at both places. In fact,
I's say the Desire EC's had to work harded then Hedo's, as they had less of
a crowd to work with (it's half the size) , and it was a big challenge for
them to get the after-dinner lobby bar crowd to get off their duffs and come
up to the Disco, which everybody later in the week knew was going to
eventually get uncomfortably warm.
Sexual atmosphere - The big warning about our
comments here are that it all depends on who is there whey you are there,
and especially if there are organized groups or not on the premises. At
Hedo, there were no organized groups the week we were there; at Desire,
there were actually 2 different groups (The Bubbly Bears and the Hot
Tamales). Both groups were extremely friendly and inclusive, in fact, we
ended up going on the shopping trip with the Hot Tamales group, and a
Catamaran cruise with the Bubbly Bears, and had a great time with both .
The vibe at Desire is much more 'lifesytle friendly', the first question you
get asked by another couple after getting past the introductions and the
small talk is "Which are you - nudists or swingers (and are you soft or hard
swingers?) ", a question that rarely came up at Hedo. But at both place,
you can probably find whatever it is you are looking for , if you look hard
enough. I should add too that the abscence of single guys (potential Wallys
and Vinnies) at Desire was a BIG plus for the women.
Bugs - We were not bothered by the no-see-ums
at Desire, but we didn't spend time on the beach at dusk or nighttime, which
is when they're usually out and about; there were a fcouple of people we met
though that really got bit up pretty good - somebody did claim that some
people are more succeptable (more flavorful ??) to getting bit then others.
Hedo had tons on mosquitos when we were there, so it's a toss up. We also
never had the situation come up all week long at Desire some posters have
described, when the bugs all flood the glass walled hot tub.
Weather - about the same for both. We had
'threatening' clouds most afternoons at Desire, but only really had a good
rainstorm on one day - and we were in the hot tub, so who cared ? (as long
as theres no thunder and lightning, you're wet anyway, so why not stay in it
and enjoy a drink ?? At hedo, we also had afternoon rains, alhough we did
have thunderstorms on 2 of the afternoons, where we got out of the water.
Drugs - At Hedo, you've got the famous guy in
the little motorboat, crusing up and down the beach, which we saw the same 3
or 4 guests swimming up to every day we were there. We saw absolutly no
drugs being offered or used at Desire; one of the guests told the story of
how they had gone into Cancun on last year's shopping trip, bought a pipe,
and were immediately taken to the 'upstairs back room' and offered a variety
of things to smoke in it. We smelled mj only once at Desire, but it was much
more open at Hedo. Our attitude is if you want to smoke up, that's your
choice, but include us out ...
Towels - We heard a lot of griping about the
towel situation at Desire, but the deal is you go to the pool hut (also the
same place you can arrange off-site trips at) and get two white towels to
use for the day by giving them your name and room number. The towels have to
be returned before you can get new ones; the pool hut is open until 5pm,
after that, you have to take them to the front desk. (If you don't returne
the, you'll be charged for them, the price that stick in my head is $50).
There were always fresh towels available, and it was not an issue or a
problem. Some of the guests at Desire brought personal beach towels to
'claim' their favorite spot, either at the pool, or on the beach, (Should
warn you too there is not a lot of shady spots available at the Desire pool,
so if you want one, you have to claim it early !) The upstairs hot tub had
striped blue & white towels available for anybody who wanted them (you just
grabbed them ), they were not supposed to be taken out of the hot tub area,
but most everyone 'wore' them home after the last late night hot tub
session, and dropped them back off at the foot of the stairs the next
morning, as they went to breakfast, or to the pool.
Getting towels at the Hedo hot tub was much more
of a problem; there were a couple days we either didn't get one, or had to
wait a long time for them to be replenished.
Whew - we think we've covered most everything.
As to which place we like better and will return to next year - right now
the guy says Desire, for the great service, and the open sexuality vibe of
the place; the gal says Hedo, for the many different (and free) water
activities available on-site, and the less pressured atmosphere to hook up
with another couple. But we've got a whole year to decide ...