Dec. 20-27 2014 an Engagement Story (+Temptation Comparison)

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Dec. 20-27 2014 an Engagement Story (+Temptation Comparison)

Postby SJCrazy » Thu Jan 08, 2015 2:08 pm

I had arranged with the resort staff to propose to my girlfriend, and they really delivered. I arrived 45 minutes ahead of my girlfriend (we were traveling on different airlines and itineraries) and got everything lined up. She got there, we started check-in and they informed us that we were the 10,000th couple that year! Hurray! They ran in, threw balloons at us and like 10 people started cheering. They told us our prize was out on the beach and ushered us out there, taking our pictures. At a certain point they told us to close our eyes and then open them a few seconds later, at which point I was on one knee with the ring and my new fiancee said yes! We had a whole bunch of the resort staff and guests all watching and cheering, and I'm told a few women were crying. I couldn't have asked the resort to do any more for us! It was fantastic and we'll never forget that awesome experience.

Now on to the more pedestrian elements of a trip report. We had booked 6 nights, but as we were headed to bed at 5AM on our checkout date, we booked a 7th night. We're definitely swingers and very outgoing, so your mileage may vary. I'm not going to post a narrative, just going with bullet points:

Entertainment Staff - We really like the current set of staff, but the first few days we were there there were almost no activities. Kayla was on vacation during that time, so maybe everybody's mojo was off without her? By the 3rd day things had ramped back up to normal in entertainment, and then starting on Christmas big Alex (entertainment manager) started MCing the daily events which was fun. The rules for the entertainment staff keep getting relaxed more and more; on our first trip (7 years ago) there was no nudity from the staff. On our second trip (2 years ago) the girls would flash their tits some. Now the girls are regularly topless for entire games of volleyball, and all of them sometimes remove their bottoms when they're in the pool. Also body shots off of entertainment girls' boobs are OK now, which I never would have expected. We both flirted with the entertainment staff more than we ever had before; I kept really trying to behave myself and Miss SJ kept instigating stuff between me and Kayla :roll:

Bar/Wait Staff - There were a good number of veteran bartenders and wait staff, but it seems like they're having trouble staffing the restaurants. We aren't real picky, but it was clear that there were issues. Incorrect orders, things taking much longer than they should, food consistently delivered to wrong person/table, etc. The wait staff problems were worst at Sahlo and Suki. It's certainly not going to spoil our fun but it's not the level of service we're used to at Desire, either.

Food - Miss SJ still loves the breakfast, and I still don't much care for breakfast in general. Lunch is still fantastic, and do be aware that the chef will cook you almost anything within reason, whether it's on the menu or not. Dinner at Sahlo was disappointing; we don't like the new concept, and wish they'd kept the Itialian concept instead, which we really liked. Suki is maybe even better than before, and we ate there the most. The buffet dinner seems quite a bit better than before; it's still McDonald's if compared to Suki, but pretty good in its own right.

Drinks - Drinks were better. I noticed a great many bartenders giving top shelf booze even when it wasn't specifically requested, which surprised me. This time none of the top shelf stuff ran out either, which we've had happen in the past. Thankfully the bartender situation is a lot more solid than the waiter situation; I only eat 3-4 times a day, but I drink all day long! 8)

New Pool and Restaurant - We like it overall. The "dry" side of the bar blocks much of the pool view from the restaurant, which is unfortunate. The restaurant doesn't really have the feel of being on the pool deck any more. The restaurant has a lot of nice buffet space, but the ice cream freezer was a casualty of the change and that's a big negative for us. We really like our Bailey's-and-Creme-de-Cacao milkshakes, but now instead of grabbing some ice cream and handing it to the bartender ourselves we have to find a waiter and send them into the back for ice cream, which takes a LOT longer. We really hope they retrofit a freezer into the end of the counter - or just put it behind the bar. The pool has some activity now with the swim-up bar; in the past we felt like the RM pool was totally vacant outside of events, but now it seems like people hang out and socialize in the pool, which is great. We were sorry to see the pool beds gone, but there's still the Pizza and the new beach beds are so close that they double as pool beds for us.

Beach - The beach is the beach, not much to say. Service at the beach bar is excellent, as always. More of the beach beds seem to be "members only" now, but they also added some slightly smaller lounger/recliner-type beds on the beach side of the pool's glass wall, and those are free-for-all and really great as they give you a good view of and access to both the beach and the pool. The seaweed control crew had things pretty well under control.

Jacuzzi Lounge - No changes; still the same beds and loungers as before. Still a hot side (narrow end towards the bathrooms) and a cold side (wide end towards the ladder) in the water. There seemed to be a lot less underwater hanky-panky this trip, but every trip is different. There were some body shots some nights, but more would be better! :twisted: We met a lot of really fun couples up there, and did plenty of playing on the beds. This trip people cleared their stuff off the beds when they weren't using them, which is so much better for everyone. It's frustrating to want a bed and have half of them empty of people but covered in stuff, so thank you to all the guests that were most considerate this time around!

Disco - Every night we had to go pester somebody to turn on the A/C, which is stupid. By the time the lobby bar event ends for the night, the A/C should already be on. We think the music was better this year than previous years. We heard there is one or maybe 2 new poles on order for the disco, so be on the lookout for that. We really only used the play room one night, but it seemed like there was some action in there quite a bit of the time.

Temptation Comparison - We spent another week in Mexico after we left Desire, and we capped it off with 3 days at TTR. In our opinion, the differences vastly outweigh the similarities. The food at TTR is of much lower caliber, especially the buffet which couldn't even give a Denny's a run for its money. The drinks weren't quite as good as Desire, but they were OK. The facilities as TTR are nicer than RM for sure; they actually reminded me a lot of the facilities as Los Cabos (RIP). The entertainment staff at TTR is actually really good. The beaches and pools are very nice. The real difference is the crowd: the age range was about the same as Desire, but the couples tended to be older and the singles much younger, with an overall much younger average. There were pairs and even trios of dudes clearly traveling there together hoping to get lucky; some of them would very transparently be talking about how much luck they were or weren't having, making fun of their buddies who didn't get laid. Not classy! There were a decent number of single women, though not nearly as many as single guys. Both Miss SJ and I felt like we certainly could have played the game and ended up in unicorn land, but we were tired, a little sick and just not really interested in wading through a singles scene. We chose not to go on the boobs cruise, but we saw it heading out and coming back in and we would probably go on it if a good opportunity presented itself.

That's everything I can think of right now. My new fiancee and I can't wait to go back! Years before we knew we wanted to get married, we knew our honeymoon would have to be at Desire. Now the challenge is to see if we can sneak in another trip before our honeymoon :D
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SJCrazy
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Re: Dec. 20-27 2014 an Engagement Story (+Temptation Compari

Postby TandD » Thu Jan 08, 2015 2:37 pm

SJCrazy wrote:I had arranged with the resort staff to propose to my girlfriend, and they really delivered.

Wait, you wanted the *whole* staff to propose to your girlfriend? I would think you would pick one guy and... Oh, I get it now. Never mind.

Great review and congratulations!
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Re: Dec. 20-27 2014 an Engagement Story (+Temptation Compari

Postby M&E » Sat Jan 10, 2015 9:43 pm

great report and it was very nice meeting you guys.

Hope we catch you at desire again

Mike and Erin
Aug 2013 RM
Aug 2014 RM
Dec 2014 RM
Aug 2015 Pearl
Nov 2015 RM
May 2016 Pearl
Aug 2016 RM
Jan 2017 RM
Aug 2017 RM
Sep 2017 RM
Aug 2018 RM
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Re: Dec. 20-27 2014 an Engagement Story (+Temptation Compari

Postby Yachaika » Wed Feb 04, 2015 5:58 am

Thanks guys for making out stay lots of fun!! We hope to see you this year again! Andriy & Alona
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We arrive on: 21 Dec 2014


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