Desire Resort Forums

Just came back Hedo II with Fluff group and well after about 16 times visits to cancun and well after a visit long at Hedo me and my wife the only thing we can come up with is one to each resort once per year we really enjoy Hedo II. The mix of party nude people and the addition on single females and males give it a interesting twist.

Each resort have it's pros and cons if you decide to try any of the resort go with and open mind and don't compare none of the resort during your visit just enjoy each one of them to the fullest.

We also just came back from Hedo II, were not part of the Fluff group but stayed for 13 nights.

Hedo has more of a party atmosphere all day long but borders on being tacky fun.....too loud at the pool area, music is really loud. We walked to the next resort (Sandals) and couldn't believe how loud the thumping sound was way over there.

We saw that males were looking for females to scam into some kind of a sex scheme. We were actually approached and warned by the nude grill person NOT to associate with certain individuals that were there, that she saw we had spoken to near the grill. There were two single guys acting together in some kind of a setup to snare some men's wives that might be looking to fulfill some fantasy and then rope them into some scheme, either to get in the room or for money, we're not sure.

There is some really crude and very unclassy behaviour....I could say more but I won't.

The beach was terrible, full of seaweed and lots of seagrass, and so many people in the water just stirred it up more so you were floating with the sea weed grabbing onto your body parts. You also had to be so careful where you stepped because of the sea urchins. Some guy got stung on the foot by a stingray while we were there and incurred a $300 Dr. bill.

We both got ill with cramps and intestinal problems, we think this had to do with the kitchen staff not monitoring the temperatures of the food...left out without any ice for things that need refrigeration. We also both started coughing and experiencing breathing problems, most likely due to the poor air conditioning units in the room. The fan would only blow on high and right over the bed it wasn't able to be changed to redirect the air. We found numerous spots of mould in the bathroom. The new refurbishment of the rooms showed that they only painted over mouldy surfaces. We had no cold water in our room for showering, which we reported many times but could not be fixed.

The overwhelming smell of Ganga was always around, beach or pool. Even when we stood in the pool for only a half hour one afternoon, the cloud coming from some group was so strong we felt a hit of this just being in the area.

The beach vendors are relentless, I know all you have to say is no but you do get tired of saying it over and over again. Even the massage therapists from Hedo were very persistent in asking repeatedly if you wanted a massage.

Service is no where even close to that of Desire, waited over 15 minutes at 1 am to get a drink at the hottub. The bartender was alone but the main problem was that he was ignoring certain people (that he didn't know) and serving to people he knew that just showed up. Some guy was so pissed off that he threw his empty cup on the floor and left swearing after he had politely asked the guy for a drink and told him he had been there for 15 minutes and was still ignored.

There are no nice places to dress up nice to eat in air conditioning except the one Italian "fine dining" restaurant ....the rest. was no where even close to fine dining, there was no atmosphere in there either and it was just blah...and you needed to reserve it. The rest of the dining is in a huge massive buffet area where you have to walk around in your dressier clothes searching for your food and hauling it to a far away table....didn't like that.

The bathrooms that service the nude beach and nude pool/jacuzzi area are absolutely disgusting (women's side). There are only two stalls with a black plastic flooring with holes in it, hurts the feet if you forgot your sandals but worse than that it just smelled like urine and mould every single time I used the bathroom. Also, that bathroom is so far away from the beach it is ridiculous that there isn't something closer. You would have to walk up the beach and up the pool stairs, all along the pool and hot tub and then into the garden area to reach it.

Many many times there were no towels, very annoying to have to go back 3 times to try to get clean towels.

Sorry, I don't see the merits of Hedo II and I don't really ever want to go again. I don't need to go on a vacation to get sick, from the room and the food! The same week we were there one lady that we know of got food poisoning and was very ill.

The drinks are poor unless you stick to a rye or a vodka or gin or if you like rum. They were very inconsistent. They couldn't make many things we asked for and these were just normal things like mojito, margarita and a caesar. They have no mint, no clamato juice and the margarita was just wrong.

Good things are the Staff, they are so smiley and friendly, the Jamaican's are super nice. I loved that they have a water sports area to take out a kayak or a little sailboat, that is where they out do Desire. Too bad Desire doesn't offer water sports.

My hubby wrote a review of Hedo and summed it up by saying if you are Classy or want a classy vacation, don't go to Hedo for that, you won't find it.

We have been spoiled by Desire and didn't even know it until we tried Hedo. It's Desire all the way for us now.

Slinon,

You really should re-post your post as your own trip report. A lot of people wonder about the comparison of Hedo to Desire. Your points are important!

We quit going to Hedo for several of the reasons you mention. Loved Hedo until we discovered what a big difference Desire offers!

Our first CO vacation was Hedo III in 2006, second was Desire three months later....this coming Thursday we leave for our 22nd Desire trip! Never went back to Hedo nor have the desire to go back......enough said!

Ok, good advice....I have posted a review and added quite a bit to the info. Hopefully it isn't too long but I have a lot to say about Hedo! The people that love love Hedo almost don't know any better or don't care to know anything different.

SLINON wrote:The people that love love Hedo almost don't know any better or don't care to know anything different.

I beg to differ. There are a lot of people who have visited both (us included) and prefer Hedo BECAUSE of its party atmosphere.

I cannot believe you lasted 13 nights in that nasty, skanky excuse for a resort. You deserve an extra week at Desire to recover! I may never get the lingering memory of the smell of old stale smoke and rotten booze that I smelled daily at the overcrowded pool out of my memory bank.....

Just got back from Pear and RM. 6 time Hedo vets. The party atmosphere at Pearl rivaled Hedo and the service, towels, food, grounds, etc, etc made it a possible replacement for Hedo. RM was dead with not much party going on. Only thing is Hedo includes the scuba diving so if your a diver, once you add Pearls diving cost, Hedo is a good value. I agree with a lot of your points. One reason we tried here instead of Hedo was because of the grounds, service and general aging condition. The fact that you can find a party 24/7 is a plus though, especially when compared to RM where there were hours between events that made it hard to keep momentum going.

harry bawls wrote:Just got back from Pear and RM. 6 time Hedo vets. The party atmosphere at Pearl rivaled Hedo and the service, towels, food, grounds, etc, etc made it a possible replacement for Hedo. RM was dead with not much party going on. Only thing is Hedo includes the scuba diving so if your a diver, once you add Pearls diving cost, Hedo is a good value. I agree with a lot of your points. One reason we tried here instead of Hedo was because of the grounds, service and general aging condition. The fact that you can find a party 24/7 is a plus though, especially when compared to RM where there were hours between events that made it hard to keep momentum going.

Please think about writing up a trip report from your perspective (ie not a newbie in any way - but a Desire first timer) Thx !

If you ask me to sum it up, Hedo is all about the Party and not much else, this is only my opinion after experiencing it one time. For the most part, I think that Hedo is a place you go to meet up with people you know or in a group. It isn't good to go as a newbie couple unless you just want to attach to a group and then Party. Most of the people we spoke to at Hedo have only been there but were curious to know about Desire but wouldn't dare leave their comfy watering hole because they just go there to Party only and don't care about the food or rooms or anything else literally!

I wanted to go home after 8 nights, that's when the stomach issues and all of our coughing began. I guess we were really hopeful that things would work out to take such a long first trip there. I couldn't help but think about Desire while I was there, wishing for a little bit of pampering.

The body to body scene in the pool is really something else. I should say "for someone else". Sorry, I didn't like that, I like a good number of people to have great conversations with but this was just too over the top for our liking.

You sure have nailed it with your review, having only been to Pearl once the year after our first Hedo trip and with our first trip to DRM for Halloween next month we would add the only thing we liked about Hedo over Pearl was the night shows at Hedo kicked ass compared to the terrible Tecno disco at Pearl, when the short contest was done at Pearl and the music started up the place would empty out in 15 minutes. Hope there is better at DRM and we have heard there is.

sixmonkeyes>
Wow.. Great report. I went to Desire Pearl a couple months back and I was at Hedonism a few years ago. And even though I had seen that there were posts comparing the two, I didn't read them before I went to Desire because I wanted to form my own opinion. I intended to write my own opinion when I came back, but now after reading yours, I don't think I need to. I agree with 95% or more of what you put. I think you were very objective. Here are a few opinions of mine though (not all are contradictory):

- I think I would like to stress that (at least for me) what makes or breaks these kinds of resorts are the people. Cool people make the vacation fun. And in that respect both places are equal. I wouldn't say the crowd was very different at either resort and both made both trips very memorable. So, even though it is true that Desire has some things that are better than Hedo, I wouldn't let it rule out Hedo if you are interested in going there.
- As far as the service aspect. The one thing that I _LOVE LOVE LOVE_ about Hedo is there is no tipping. The staff is not allowed to accept tips. Now, it isn't because I'm a cheapskate or anything like that, but where the heck are you supposed to put money when you're naked? So, I had to go back to where I dropped my stuff and get money periodically to give to the bartenders. I know I could give them a big tip up front, but I feel like they don't always remember that and then they think you aren't a tipper later on. Now, that being said. Hedo people do accept tips if you do it slyly. But since it took some extra effort, I only really went out of my way to tip the people that really seemed to put effort in.
- One minor plus to Hedo is if you are into weed, it is plentiful there. I'm not a huge weed guy, but I like to smoke some maybe half a dozen times a year and vacation is one place I like to. Mexico is strict about their drug laws, so I never even considered seeking it out at Desire. Not a huge deal, but a bit of a nicety to me. Although for anyone that doesn't know, weed is still technically illegal in Jamaica, but unless you blow smoke in the face of a cop, you are unlikely to get arrested for it on a resort.
- Public Sex: For anyone who doesn't know, it is technically against the rules at Hedo. So, if you have sex during daylight hours you generally need to be discrete. If nothing else, just out of consideration for others around you. However, at night around the hot tub, it was wild. One time when we were in the hot tub and I did a 360 look around, I estimated that there was maybe a dozen couples (or groups) having sex. In general, the sex at Hedo seemed a little bit wilder at Hedo and a little more sensual and passionate at Pearl. But that is very subjective and I'm sure it changes week to week (if not day to day).
- Bartenders: I must give my 'vote' for the bartenders at Hedo. Bartenders at both Hedo and Desire hustled plenty. But one thing that I liked is that the bartenders at Hedo were more 'inventive'. I do not have a set drink I like or even a set few drinks. So, I often go up to the bar and say something like: "I feel like a drink with some dark rum (for instance) in it. Do you have any ideas or favorites for me to try?" It seemed like every bartender at Hedo would come up with something, but the majority of the bartenders at Desire had nothing. Or if they did, they would be the most generic of drinks. The one exception to it is Fabian at Desire Pearl. He might be my favorite bartender of all-time. He was very personable, knew his liquor, and could come up with all kinds of ideas on the spot.
- Restaurants: My wife and I loved, loved, loved the Pearl restaurant. There is nothing close to it at Hedo. We are foodies and to have a 4 or 5 course meal was great. Also, to have the cuisine continually changing was great too. We ate at the Pearl every night but 1.
- Minor gripe about the pool at Pearl: It would be difficult to address this, but the Pool at Pearl is completely in the sun for most of the day. There is virtually no shade except a little under the bar. I felt like I was getting cooked a bit, but it wasn't too big of a deal.
- Nude/Prude at Hedo: Another plus at Hedo is that there is a separate pool/hot tub/grounds/beach for the non-nude (nicknamed 'prude') people. So, even though it is not strictly enforced, everyone on the nude side is expected to be nude. Not a huge deal, but it gives the group a feeling of 'togetherness' in my opinion.
- Condition: Nearly everything at Pearl is in better condition than at Hedo (although, I thought I heard/read that there was some renovation going on at Hedo. Not sure if it is true or not).

So, I guess that will do as my 'extension' on the review. Much like sixmonkeyes said, Desire is nicer hands down. But Hedo has its pluses too. If I was to go back to one, I would choose Desire though.

We will be at DRM next week and were at the NEW Hedo in February and back again next February. I will give my take on the two properties when we return.

Excellent trip report comparing the two resorts. We've been to Hedonism twice, we're convinced that we need to check out Desire next. Can't wait!

we have been to hedo and Pearl and prefer Pearl much more.

BYW STL, where did you go to High school?