Our Trip report for Denny's WWW April 2006.
We arrived on Sunday, April 2nd. The lobby is very nice and inviting, marbled tile and fountain, but kind of drab as far as color goes. The staff who checked us in were very polite. They make you wear wristbands, which was a negative thing for us. When you go to a nude resort to get an all over tan, it's not cool to have a bracelet tan line. Another guest at the resort recommended that we go back to the lobby and ask them to put then on our ankles instead. That was better, but whether it's a bracelet or an anklet, it is kind of bothersome. Jim left his on his wrist and kept scratching me with it And, we didn't end up with a tan line from it afterall. Jim has stayed in Cancun before and says the bracelet thing is a common deal at all-inclusives in Mexico.
The lobby has a sliding glass door at the entrance, and a matching sliding glass door at the other side. The second door opens up onto a very nice area where they have a bar, a couple of water fountains, a nice shaded sitting area, and several shaded beds that are elevated off the ground and swing. They have sheets on the beds and pillows and towels. Yes, they change the sheets daily... at least I saw them being changed each morning... I'm not sure if they change them more than once a day and many of them had fresh large towels, usually two rolled up in a basket.
Anyway, the bellman showed us to our room and we tipped him. Tipping at the resort, though not required, is prevalent and obvious. We got the impression that some of the staff expect to be tipped. There are several housing buildings, most have 8 rooms in them... 4 up and 4 down. All of them open to the outdoors, patio style with a nice large table and chairs to sit at and read a book or unload stuff while opening room doors. The rooms are very nice and clean. They have mini-fridges in all the rooms, which are stocked daily with canned beer, canned soda and bottled water. Everything in the fridge is part of the all-inclusive rate and you don't pay extra for any of it.
After dumping our bags, we went on a quick tour of the resort. It's smaller than Hedo. The beach is long and stretches the length of the resort. There are more beds "Open Cabanas" along the beach... pavilion-type beds raised up off the beach, but these ones don't swing. Some of the beds are covered with thatched roofs and are always shaded... others are covered with spaced logs (for lack of a better word), so some sun does get through. They also have sheets on them and are very comfortable for afternoon siestas. They are also plenty of beach chairs if you'd rather be on the beach, but prefer to enjoy full sun. The sand is very nice and the level of the surf depends on the wind. There is a reef that helps to keep the surf to a decent level, but it is not very conducive to floating. We did see a man who tied an anchor to his floatie and took it out in the water and floated that way so he didn't get brought back in by the surf.
The pool area is at one end of the resort. It's a very nice, clean pool, surrounded by beach chairs. We didn't have a problem getting chairs each morning, but they do make you check out and then check in towels. If you fail to return towels by the end of the day, they threaten to charge you for them. One piece of advice... if they can't find your slip when you bring the towels back, don't trust them. Stand there until they find it, because even though they tell you they will take care of it, that isn't the case. That happened to us and we almost got charged for towels... we had to tell the towel guy what happened (he acted like he had no memory of it) and he finally agreed to take us off the naughty list. They have a shaded grill with chairs and tables near the pool and the afternoon buffet is very nice. They served a variety of grilled meats: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, steak, chicken, pork chops, and long green fried chilis that seemed to be very popular among the guests (I didn't personally try one, though I wish I had). They don't serve all those meats every day... they change each day. The buffet also has a variety of side dishes like pasta salad, fries, poppers, steamed vegetables, nachos, etc. And... they have ICE CREAM (the real stuff) with toppings. A couple of cocktail waitresses work the pool area... yes, they have waitresses... or you can go up to the bar yourself, which is located at the end of the buffet. If you use the waitresses, expect to tip them. We saw some people tipping them small amounts each day... we tipped them $20 for the week. They play pool games and try to get you to join in. They also have water aerobics, beach volleyball, pool volleyball, etc, etc, etc. The recreational staff were awesome! Nice personalities and female staff had no problem playing volley ball topless on the beach.
The hot tub is on the top of one of the housing buildings. You take a staircase that's a pretty decent climb when you're drunk. It's on the top flloor (third story) and it has a very nice view of the resort from up there. There are several more covered beds by the hot tub that get used for PDA's... some people just nap on them, but don't be surprised if you see all out sex. There is a very nice bar up there, one side is swim up from the hot tub and other side has regular bar stools. There are also tables and chairs by the bar, very nice padded lounge chairs by the hot tub, cubbies to put your stuff in while you're in the hot tub, very nice, large, blue and white striped towels to use while you're at the hot tub (you're not supposed to take them from the hot tub area, though we did a couple of times and no one tackled us to take them away and the next morning the House keeper did retrieve them out of the room). The hot tub is about half the size of the nude hot tub at Hedo, while the swimming pool is quite large. The hot tub gets crowded on some nights, but it was very nice and CLEAN!!!!
Now for the food... the food at Desire kicks ass compared to Hedo... with one major exception that we noticed... both salad bars are small at Desire. There are two specialty restaurants that you need reservations for, and they give you little cards that you have to take with you when you make the reservation. One of the restaurants is sushi, with a grill in the back... similar to the one at Hedo, though it only seats 6. There's a sushi bar up front and other seating in the middle, but they only accommodate small groups... 2 to 6. The second restaurant they call international cuisine. It is furnished very posh and nice and the food was excellent. The main buffet serves three meals, but it is much smaller than the dining room and Hedo and is not equipped for large groups. We don't think it would be very accommodating to some of the large groups at Hedo. You can sit in smaller groups, and could maybe even get away with scooting some tables together. There are waiters in the buffet who take care of drinks (yes, they actually take your drink order and serve you at the table. All restaurants aren't open every night, and it got a little confusing just where we could and couldn't eat each night, but we always managed to find food.
They are opening a Desire Resort in Cabo, so that would be nice for all who live in the west or Pacific Rim.
Overall, it was a very nice resort. It's smaller, more intimate, cleaner, and has actual service (which we all know is lacking at Hedo). I told Jim that my heart is still at Hedo though with the tree frogs and Reggae. I would recommend Desire to anyone who wants to try it. The people were very nice (like at Hedo). The sexual displays were to a greater level than Hedo. What we mean is you see it more often... meaning actual intercourse... or maybe we just don't notice it as much at Hedo. But, you do see it everywhere and at all times of the day and night. But, if you are a Hedo veteran, it probably won't bother you. The people were not pushy and did not take it for granted that everyone there was in the lifestyle. We met people who were and weren't... just like at Hedo.
There are theme nights every night of the week. A good majority participate, but not all, so they are completely optional. There's more about that on the web site mentioned below.
They have a very nice gym there too, in case anyone is wondering about that.
The Disco was excellent, Jim and I think Hedo II should add a few features that Desire has. ;)
People we vacationed with were some of the best: Mark & Debbie, Mary & Brian "Sopping Buds", Mike & Barb "easygoing", Serall & Rich "crazyfun", Brian & Jules "wildFun", Jeff & Laura "newlyweds", Thom & Valierie "most excellent Buddies", John & Karen, Tom & Kim, Mark & Allison, Jeff & Sandy, Gina & Richard, Denny, wow so many nice people and friends.... other who weren't with Denny's group that were a lot of fun to hang out with like Lisa & Dan "Party Couple", Chuck & Karen "Capt & Ms. Adenture", Jennifer & Mitch, John & Margaret.
Jim says Desire Spa and Resort is excellent like a all-inclusive Hyatt Regency ***** Fun! And Hedonism II is great like an old trusty and familiar all-inclusive Holiday Inn *** Fun! They each have good character and we'll like make annual trips to both, of course with Denny's WWW group as they are the best sort of friends!
If you want to see picsof the resort, go to www.desireresort.com
Now we can't wait for our annual pilgrimage to Hedo II with the WWW group in December.