:So my wife and I just returned from what was to be a romantic getaway to Desire and I thought I would write up my own personal trip report from our point of view. There are a number of other Hedo Vs. Desire reports and they should be taken as just personal preference reviews just as this one is. I have seen a number of flames in response to other reviews and I’m not trying to say one resort is better than another, they both have areas of improvement and both have things that are unique and very nice.
What we like about Desire
The Beds- All along the short strip of the desire beach are real beds, albeit kinda plastic mattresses covered by a sheet, but they are beds with drapping curtains, the hanging beds on the second row were actually our favorite as they moved and rocked in the wind, ind of a hammock effect but with more support. The best of both worlds. The nice beds are on the South half of the beach which are reserved for people upgrading to the passion suites, so if you are not in a passion suite you will have the lesser beds on the North end which is father from the pool, but still close to two bars. Plus if you want to be more secluded the lesser beds are the way to go anyway because if you hang out by the pool they have music blaring and staff running around trying to get you to play games anyway.
The Staff- For the most part the staff was terrific and will laugh and joke with you and make sure you are having a good time. We were impressed by the level of service and attention to detail that most of the bar staff exhibited. Carlos was our favorite bartender and really went out of his way whenever we saw him. The event staff is also not terribly pushy. Sure they will approach you to play games (a lot) and might grab your arm to drag you up, but if you don’t want to go they will let it be and won’t make a spectacle until you go up like at Hedo.
Resort accessibility- The trip from the airport was short, 20 minutes and BAM, if you book an early flight out you can be at the resort sipping wine by lunch time. The roads are real roads and we never once feared for our lives like on the island. We even rented a car to drive into town for shopping, which I was firmly against before flying down, but after seeing how much like US roads everything was we decided to make a go for it and rented a car. Be aware that apparently he police just drive around with their lights on up and down the highway for no apparent reason, almost had a heart attack a number of times when I saw lights behind me, but they just drive along like that, perhaps for speed control, don’t know for sure, we didn’t want to stop one to ask
Couples only- yes this was nice not having to deal with Vinnies or the Captain watching everything you do, now you have couples sitting in the corner watching everything you do. It’s the same kind of. But different if you know what I mean?
What we did NOT like about desire
Airport Transfer- We went ahead and purchased the airport transfer at the time of booking direct from the resort. After doing some research we saw that the cost of a cab to and from was about the same and decided it would be nice to just step out of the airport and have a ride waiting for us. Quick heads up, if you do this have a printed copy of your voucher with you at the airport. After we made it through customs we knew to head straight outside for rides, when we got there we found our ride was NOT there. Here’s the thing, if your ride is there with a sign with your name on it, we think it is probably smooth sailing. But since we were stood up we had no idea what was going on and if you stand there for more than a few minutes its worse than being inside with the time share people as the cabbies will circle you like vultures and will tell you anything to get you to pay for a ride to the resort. I did not have a printed copy of my voucher with me and it was looking bleak, luckily one of the airport staff gave us the local number of the resort and we called and a ride was sent out to pick us up. Standard CDMA phone service is available there (roaming rates apply). And after an hour we had a van there to pick us up. Have EVERYTHING printed out in hardcopy, as data service on my blackberry was horrible in Mexico.
Pretrip questions went unanswered- We sent a few questions over to the resort via the web page about various amenities, such as internet access etc, but received no response to our inquiries. Also no pretrip package was received like Superclubs. We had an email receipt that we had paid for the vacation but unlike Hedo you will not receive a cool little welcome package or anything in the mail prior to your trip. So as stated above, have everything you DO have printed out, just in case.
The Bugs- the resort is nestled way back off the highway, surrounded by lakes which are infested with crocodiles. We kept looking for crocs past al of the signs telling us not to feed them! There were also a lot of standing pools of water along the roadway, and what breeds in standing water? Mosquitoes! OMG the bugs at the resort were so bad. Within ten minutes of going out to the beach both of us were covered in bites, before we even knew we needed to cover ourselves with Off. During our trip we sprayed each other from head to toe several times a day plus spraying down our bed and pretty much most of the room each night. We went through two family sized bottles of Deep woods Off. Even with this, we were covered by bites by the end of the trip. And pay heed to the “stay off the grassâ€
