My wife and I went to Desire Riviera Maya from January 20 until the 27th of 2016. The bottom line is that we had a wonderful time and want to go again. Rather than a chronological report, I will write this report by various potential topics of interest. That way the reader can skip down to the topics that they would like to view and skip the rest.
Transportation:
- We flew in Wednesday morning on American Airlines. We had changed planes in Miami. I have flown in and out of dozens of airports in the U.S., about 10 airports in Europe, about 5 or so in the Caribbean, and about 5 in Asia. But this airport in Cancun was among the best I’ve ever flown in and out of. Not having ever flown into Mexico before, I had a stereotype in my mind of a third world airport that would be extremely difficult to navigate. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The immigration controls were quick, polite, and professional. The baggage claim was quick, and the Adventor driver that we had booked through the Desire website was waiting for us. The entire time from the landing until we were in the van to leave the airport was perhaps 25 minutes. The same was true upon our departure. The driver from Adventor arrived at Desire right on time. The ride to the airport was about 25 minutes. A porter at the airport greeted us, took our bags and navigated us quickly through the check-in process. (We could have done it easily without a porter as well.) We got through security in under 5 minutes and arrived at our gate a few minutes later. The airport is spacious, clean, and filled with places to eat and souvenir stands. The souvenirs at the airport were surprisingly high quality at reasonable prices. Overall, nothing but praise for the transportation.
- Room:
- We had a “deluxe” garden view room. I would not call it deluxe, but it was adequate. The rooms are small. The bed was quite large. The housekeepers kept it very clean. There were no chairs in the room, and since the beds sit up very high, for short people like my wife and I it made it difficult to do simple tasks like putting on shoes. This is a minor complaint though.
- The food was plentiful, of a large variety, and of high quality. I am a very picky eater and yet I did not have a problem finding things I like at the buffet. I particularly liked the breakfast buffet. My wife loves to try exotic foods, and she loved the variety. The variety of restaurants was also nice. We ate at the reservations required Saholo one night and really enjoyed it.
- The pool was big and so was the Jacuzzi. Even so, they could be tight as they were so popular, particularly the Jacuzzi in the late afternoon and early evening. We used the workout room several times. It was busy in the mornings, but otherwise easy to get a spot. It was larger than a typical hotel workout room, but a bit smaller than those at other resorts I’ve encountered. My wife utilized the spa for a massage and enjoyed it greatly. The beach area is very narrow. We used the beach beds on 2 days and enjoyed just lounging on the beach. The beach beds were quite comfortable. The pool area was active all day and the focal point for entertainment which was great, but if you want quiet, the beach is very quiet. We divided our time between active at the pool and quietly reading at the beach.
- The various theme nights resulted in a variety of participation success. For the night with the broad topic of “Dress for success” the participation rate was very good. Almost everyone was dressed quite nicely for the evening. On the other end of the spectrum, only 2 or 3 people wore masks for masquerade night, and they quickly removed their masks when they realized that no one else was adhering to the theme. The Desire University (A.K.A. naughty schoolgirl night) probably was the costume night with the highest participation followed by burlesque night. After all, nearly every woman interested in a place like Desire probably already has a short plaid skirt and a corset in her wardrobe. The bands and djs were generally quite good. The best show by far was the burlesque show. One criticism though was the lack of flexibility related to weather. Two of the nights were chilly so the outdoor events at 9 or 9:30 were sparsely attended and those that did attend were bundled up more like they were going to a meeting of the parent teacher association versus a night at Desire. To me, on those nights, the resort should either have outdoor heaters or just open the disco early and move the party indoors. The entertainment staff ladies were required to still wear skimpy outfits even in the cold, and they were clearly uncomfortable.
- We sat through the membership pitch. It is a hard sell. We declined the deal, but we were tempted. The entire process took about 90 minutes. We both wanted to perform greater research on the benefits and negatives before making such a commitment. We will consider it the next time. I had tried to ask this forum for the experiences pro and con of those that are members, but apparently discussion of that topic is off limits. We did get the coupons for listening to the presentation, and those coupons were honored with no hassle whatsoever. Basically, you are billed for whatever services you use and then when you check out they apply the coupons and reduce the bill.
Staff:
- We could not have been more pleased with the staff. From the waiters to the housekeepers to the pool staff to the bartenders, everyone was extremely polite, friendly and professional.
- We spent one afternoon at the Desire Pearl resort. As others have noted, the crowd was a bit older and more reserved. Whereas, pool activities at Riviera Maya were quite popular, the entertainment staff at Pearl practically had to beg people to participate. The pool and Jacuzzi are much larger at Pearl. The facilities are newer and bigger. The beach area is much nicer. Fewer people were nude at the Pearl pool. At RM nearly everyone was nude or nearly so at the pool. I would say that less than ½ were nude at the pool at Pearl that day. To be fair, the temperature was fairly cool that day, but when we returned to RM later that afternoon practically everyone at RM was nude even on a cooler day. The buffet restaurant was nicer in appearance at Pearl but had fewer choices than RM. That having been said, we would be willing to try a stay at Pearl the next time. Pearl is easy walking distance from the town of Puerto Morales; whereas RM is quite remote. After taking a taxi to Pearl (about $25), we decided to walk back to RM on the beach. It is about 3 miles and was a pleasant walk except for one very tough rocky stretch of about 250 yards where you must walk on jagged and slippery rocks.
Comparison with similar resorts:
- We have been to 2 other clothing optional resorts in Jamaica, neither of which exists any longer or at least not with what they were named back then. Those resorts were “Hedonism 3,” and “Jamaica, Jamaica.” Desire RM is much nicer than either of the Jamaican resorts. The food is better and the service is better at Desire. And one important difference is that Desire is for couples only as opposed to creepy single guys taking over the Jamaican resorts. We, also, felt much more physically secure at Desire. We enjoyed our time at those resorts, but have no need to return, but we can’t wait to go back to Desire.
Public Displays of Affection: We were there during swinger’s month, and the concierge said that sex was permissible anywhere on the property that month only. Even so, we saw little action outside of the Jacuzzi area. NOTE: We never entered the “sin” room so I can’t relate any observations from there. My wife and I are monogamous, and no one was disrespectful of that. There was a clear live and let live attitude. The Jacuzzi area with its surrounding day beds was a scene of much action with some couples just living out the chance to make love under the stars and others who were clearly looking for an audience by putting themselves in the center of a group before “getting busy.”
- Rarely, do I see a trip report that mentions excursions away from the resort. Now that we have been to Desire, we noticed that it seems that very few people leave the resort during their stay. We left 3 times during the week. There is a desk next to the pool where you can book excursions to various tourist locations. We booked at this desk, but overall this desk was a disappointment. The Desire website lists many possible tours that can be booked online. We decided to wait to book tours until we got to the resort thinking that there might be even more choices and better prices. We were wrong. The selection of excursions on the web is much more extensive. The person manning the desk was very polite, but seemed to know very little about excursions. He just had a choice of about 4-5 brochures and that was your choice. So when we go again, we will book our excursions online.
- Chichen Itza:
- Our first excursion was to the pyramid at Chichen Itza. This is not close to Cancun so you must book an all day trip. It is nearly 2 hours from the resort. We thought this excursion was well worth the cost of about $130 per person. Yes, it was a little expensive, but the trip was very good. First they took us to a Mayan owned Cenote (Xenote) which is a sinkhole filled with water. It was very cold but I went swimming because after all how often can you swim in an underground sinkhole? The location also had a nice buffet lunch included. This location had a tequila museum and a very nice gift shop filled with local crafts that were priced well. We bought little silver plates with our kid’s names written in Mayan hieroglyphics. Then the bus took us to Chichen Itza. This is an historical national park with the famous pyramid as its centerpiece. This was wonderful. Not only is the pyramid there, but there are numerous other pre-Columbian structures and an ancient ball field. It is extremely impressive, and I walked away with great respect for the abilities of the Mayans. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable. The trip back included a needless 10 minute stop at a Cathedral. Usually, I love to see Cathedrals, but it was closed, and we could only take pictures outside. This added a lot of time to the trip and was anticlimactic. The day was long. We left Desire at about 8 am and returned about 7:30 pm. But it was a great day.
- Based on asking at the front desk, it seems that few people that go to Desire attend church services. We asked our “concierge” about where we could attend Catholic Mass, and he looked at us like we had asked him to fly us to the moon. He had no idea. It seemed to us to be a basic question for someone who had the title “concierge.” But he did bring us to a lobby staff woman who was knowledgeable. She informed us that in the nearby town of Puerto Morales, we could attend an English Mass for tourists at noon on Sunday. The taxi to the church was 300 pesos each way. There is a taxi stand at the entrance to Desire and the bell captain doubles as the taxi referee. Taxis are stationed just a block from Desire so when he calls, it only takes a couple of minutes for the taxi to arrive. Taxis are very clean, and the drivers are quite professional. We took the taxi to the church of San Jose Obrero which was a pretty little church just one block back from the water across from a town square. The Mass was very nice and simple. Once concluded, there is a taxi stand for the return trip directly across the street. One very nice feature is that the taxi stands have published prices for the trips to common locations so you don’t have to guess or negotiate. One tip related to taxis is that because there are 2 Desire resorts, the taxi drivers can get confused so you have to explain clearly which one you are going to.
- This is a kind of theme park in the Playa Del Carmen area. It took about 45 minutes to travel there from Desire. But this is not a Disney style theme park at all. This place has about a mile’s worth of ziplines, a route to drive dune buggy type vehicles through underground caverns, a place to paddle your own raft underground, and a place to swim in an underground river. This again was expensive at about $150 per person for the day, but we enjoyed it greatly. Again, a good buffet lunch was included. It takes all day as we left at about 9 am and returned to Desire at about 6pm. But there were so many unique attractions that we had never done before. You need to be in reasonable physical condition because the activities are physically taxing, but by no means do you need to be in tip top shape to enjoy this place.
Overall we had a great trip to Desire and hope to come again once we are done with paying the tuition of 2 kids currently in college. We certainly recommend it to the open minded who are not easily offended by nudity or sex.
