April 17-22

[Wingit48]

We just returned from our 4th visit to Desire and once again had a wonderful time. I won't babble on at length but just try to hit on some of the changes:

Immigration at the airport was a nightmare. The entire immigration room was packed all the way back to the stairway. There were a grand total of 7 immigration officers to handle the crowd, all of them proceeding at a a very liesurely pace and it took almost 1 1/2 hours to get through. Upon finally reaching the baggage carousels, I discovered that my bag had never arrived and filled out the necessary forms (the bags arrived at the resort at 8:30PM - I was very happy). We found our driver to the resort and were once again greeted with champagne upon checkin. Our room was ideally located and immaculate and we immediately stripped down and headed for the pool.

Clearly management is paying attention to details. The retiling of the main pool and the jacuzzi are great. There were no temperature issues with the water at either location. The new system for reserving pool chairs worked well for us since we are early risers but I wonder about those who get up after 9 since most of them seem to be reserved by 8 at the latest. The grounds, as usual, are immaculate.

Overall, the quality of the food seems to have improved. All of our meals were very good with better service then I expected. Our only negative experience was one night in the upscale white restaurant when the noise level was so loud that we had a very difficult time having a conversation at our table. In defense of management, the restaurant was packed and we were between two very loud tables, but perhaps they should explore some type of additional accoustic controls since it seriously diminished our enjoyment of the evening. Being from Maine, we found their lobster bisque to be "interesting". BTW, the grilled chickenat the poolside grill is excellent.

Of course, the new disco is the biggest change. The transformation is amazing. It is comfortable, attractive, inviting and fun. The addition of the outside deck allows us few remaining smokers to have a spot to light up without being crammed into the little entrance hallway and is much appreciated. We loved the playroom. Since we like to see and be seen, we thought the lighting was just right and it is a far, far cry from the old room. Needless to say, we found ourselves there for a brief interlude late each evening.

This was the tamest group of people we have experienced at Desire. PDAs were rare at the Jacuzzi in the afternoon and the crowd was much more sexually subdued than during past visits, but we understand that activities vary widely depending upon who is there. Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves immensely. We are always delighted in how open and welcoming the fellow guests are that we meet and we made several new friends.

Our only real bad experience occurred at the spa. My partner is a professional massage therapist and ordered a massage our second day. Her treatment was extremely poor. The masseuse was untrained, incompetent, unprofessional and ignorant. We politely expressed our disappointment to management whose attitude was simply "too bad - we are charging you regardless of what happened." Since I am in the hospitality experience, I found this to be a very poor response to a very negative event. Moral of the story - if you schedule a massage and the masseuse's name is Carlos, than cancel it and go for a swim instead.

Aside from this one belmish, we had a wonderful time. Desire has spoiled us for any other resort and we plan on returning in November. It is evident that the management is making a real and continual effort to upgrade the property and make it a unique and fabulous experience.

[mfay]

Thanks for the update ! We arrive for our next visit in 2 weeks, and you have just made us even more eager to get there ! Sounds like everything is at it's Desire best- other than "Carlos", and we have an appointment with Claudia anyway so we won't be needing him- Lol.

[tikihutguy]

Thanks for a great report! Sorry to read the last part regarding the massage with Carlos. I've been lobbying for the last couple of years for a male therapist and glad to see they finally got one. Unfortunate the experience was less than rewarding. You'd think it wouldn't be that tough to get a good male therapist. Most spas in the U.S. don't seem to have a problem

[kurtandKir]

I agree. Massage is pretty weak. We get two free 20 minute massages and Kirstin didn't even bother to go; she instead gave them to me and I put them together for 40 minutes. For free, it was almost worth it.
kurtandkir