Here’s the low down on our quickie! Our quick trip from June 7 to June 10, 2011. If you were there during that short time, you may remember us as the couple who won the Love and Marriage game where we had to match each others answers. No comments please on the contest to end the competition!
We’re writing this review from the perspective of two all-around newbies. It was not only our first trip to Desire, but our first trip to Mexico as well. If you’re a frequenter of the resort or Cancun, in general, some of this will probably bore you. However, we gained so much valuable knowledge prior to our trip from posts such as this we feel compelled to share our experiences.
If you read this board regularly, you might remember the thread we started (entitled C’mon man!), asking if a 2-night stay at Desire was worth it given the fact we weren’t assured a 3rd night would be available. The responses to our question were great and we booked with the idea we’d take the 2 and hope for the 3. As it happened, the resort emailed us the day before we left confirming a 3rd night was available. Everything worked out perfectly!
Trip Planning
We looked at everything… Cabo, Hedo 2, Hedo 3 before it closed, Temptation, Hidden Beach.. Basically, if it’s out there, we considered it, but a wide variety of factors led us to settle on Desire as our first c/o trip. And in short, we hit a home run! If you’re like us and considering a trip, there are 3 forums where we feel you should go and read every post. Obviously this board is one but then there is Cancuncare.com and AdultTravelForums.com (specifically the Hedo II board). After reading all of them for awhile, you’ll get a good feel for the differences in resorts… everything from the food and service to the other people that will be there when you are (which was paramount to us when making our decision).
One thing we decided early on in our trip is that we wish we’d emailed more, prior to leaving, with people who were there during our stay. Exchanging emails with the couples we spent time with from Atlanta and Texas was the difference in our first day being awkward and it being unbelievably fun. We’d been there all of 5 minutes when they both introduced themselves, called us by name and asked us to join them by the pool. If either of you read this, we can’t thank you enough for everything you did. You helped make our time at Desire special!
Airport/Transfer/Check-in
We’d never dealt with the Cancun airport and didn’t want to get stuck there, needlessly wasting Desire time so we looked for online tips on how to get through the quickest way possible. Cancuncare.com has a great section on this topic. We learned so much from it that it actually felt like we’d been there before as we skated through in 15 minutes.
We chose <a href="http://www.entertainment-plus.net/tour_tpt_bp.cfm?aff=ancu2">USA Transfers</a> for our trip to Desire and it was great. Requested a transfer online and it was exactly as advertised. Driver met us outside the airport and we were under way immediately. After reading different opinions on transfers, we chose to taxi back to the airport and were very happy. We chose when we left, stayed up until the last moment possible and didn’t have to worry about the shuttle leaving without us. We’ll use the same transfer methods when we go back.
We used early check-in before departing (actually from the iphone while driving to the airport) and actually have no idea if that made check-in at the resort go quicker. But on the chance it helped we’ll definitely do it again because check-in was a breeze… 10 minutes and nobody tried to sell us a time share.
We arrived before noon so our room wasn’t ready, but regardless they clipped on our bands and we were shown the way to the pool!
Resort/Food/Staff
The resort is immaculate! It takes a small army of shrubbery artists, quietly doing their thing, to keep that place in the shape it’s in. It’s really amazing to see no corner, no wall and no path that isn’t completely ensconced in lush greenery. Truly, the grounds are the best maintained of any facility we’ve ever seen.
Our room was good.. It wasn’t the Wolfpack’s villa at Caesar’s Palace, but it was just as pictured. Our only complaint of the week however was our shower. Our room was #1401 and the shower completely had a mind of its own! No matter where you turned the handles it’d fluctuate between package-shrinking cold to sunburn hot and sometimes it would be a trickle and then seconds later be strong enough to sandblast concrete. Very odd and annoying… but not a huge deal.
We used the fitness room each day. And again, it was just as pictured.. small, yet serviceable with nice equipment. It did just what we needed it to!
The food.. such a topic of contention here. We thought the food was just fine, but we’ll be the first to tell you we’re not foodies. Still, we found something good to eat at every meal and several times (especially at lunch) we had the chefs cook something special right in front of us while we waited. We managed to eat healthy all week and still tried new things every chance we got.
The EC Staff does an incredible job. Hector, Vanessa and Dianna are worth their weight in gold to Desire! On the final day of our 3 we got involved around the pool. I (he) played volleyball and water polo. Dianna nearly drowned me in water polo, but I told my wife if I had to go, dying by hot-topless-Mexican-chick-draped-across-your-back was probably the best way! And as I mentioned earlier we participated in a couples’ contest. That turned out to be the most fun we had together the whole trip where no happy ending was involved! We’ll get involved earlier next trip.
The other staff of Desire, from the bar tenders to house keeping were absolutely top notch. If they hate their jobs or dislike the customers, they’re the best actors in the world because it’s absolutely the most welcoming staff we’ve ever encountered. We really can’t say enough about those folks!
The beach was absolutely great given what we were expecting. It’s wide enough so that you’re able to give the beds some space when you walk and they do a good enough job cleaning up the seaweed that you can play around in the surf. It’s not the Florida panhandle, but then the Florida panhandle doesn’t have Desire!
Disco/Playroom/Jacuzzi
You know... there are things that happen at Desire that are so effortless and seem so natural… and then you get home and wonder how in the hell you could ever explain it to someone who’s never been and not have them think you need to check into rehab! But those things happen… all the time… and they’re normal, exhilarating and addictive!
The Disco was awesome and for us the music was perfect. Were they even playing music? We talked on the ride home that we didn’t remember what the DJ played... only the people we danced with and each other.
The jacuzzi is an incredible experience! Somewhere, someone else might be able to build another disco.. a dance floor.. maybe even a playroom… but it would take a miracle to re-create that jacuzzi! On our trip the weather, the people and the atmosphere were perfect. In planning the trip we wondered if we’d use it much, now it’s the thing we miss the most!
The People
This was the reason we ultimately chose Desire as our first adult trip. The people! And boy, none of you let us down! We met incredible folks from Wisconsin to Argentina and all points in between. The entire trip to Mexico that morning we were like ducks swimming on a pond… calm on the surface but frenzied activity under the surface! We kept looking at each other and counting down the hours “Two more hours and we’ll be naked!?”… “One more hour and we’ll be naked!?”
That first day is a surreal experience and if it hadn’t been for our friends from Atlanta and Texas I don’t know if it would have gone so smoothly… or should I say, I don’t know if all our clothes would have been off within an hour of walking through the door!
Throughout the 4 days we met incredible people. From VABlondie and her man to our friends from Chicago to other people we only shared a passing chit chat, the folks who go to Desire make the place. We thought we had a good grasp on the atmosphere before we went but we were still blown away by everybody.
Anyway, if you’re thinking of going and you’ve actually read all this.. We hope it’s been a drop in the bucket towards tipping you into go mode! If you have any questions about our first time please send us a message. It took us awhile to build up the courage and arrange our first dates and now we’re already planning our next trip. We find ourselves hoping to book when nearly every single person we met on our first trip could be back again even though we know that’ll never be the case. Still, a couple can dream!