4th trip review; August 2018

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4th trip review; August 2018

Postby upstatetwo » Thu Aug 23, 2018 2:49 pm

This review is based on a trip taken mid-Aug, 2018. This was our fourth time at a Desire, and second at DRM. Pre-kids we used to frequent lifestyle places and have been to Hedo twice, Cap d’agde, SMI, Punta Serena, and an assorted sundry of nude beaches and lifestyle clubs. Once we had kids we took a temporary hiatus from lifestyle vacations and repopped our cherry with this trip. We knew we wanted to return to Desire as we had felt they were always the nicest of the North American lifestyle options.

Booking / Pre-arrival

We booked the hotel via credit card points (yes, you can do that) and flights through airline miles. We paid a little over a hundred dollars in taxes on the flights for our five night stay and that was it. Transfers were done through USA Transfers, which worked fine. Even though we booked through a third party we still got the invite to do the advanced check-in, which we didn’t bother with because reports seemed to indicate it was an unnecessary step.

Check-in was quick and yes we got roped into the pre-Repeaters spiel but it wasn’t terrible. I feel like they could make that much more efficient instead of the soft sell since everyone knows where its going.

Room

We booked an oceanview room and were placed on the first floor of the 2200 building. It was a decent location, not loud at all at night, and the room was typical Desire. It’s pretty sparse but other than more space around the sink in the bathroom you don’t really need anything that isn’t provided. Wifi was easy to connect to and was reliable and sufficiently fast throughout the resort.

One of my wife’s big concerns pre-trip was the mattresses on prior stays were about as comfortable as a yoga mat on a cement bad. We were very happy that although the mattress was definitely on the firm end of the spectrum we both slept well and we found the bed to be very comfortable for all the different activities that occurred there (most importantly, sleeping).

With the benefit of hindsight we’re not sure the Oceanview room was worth the extra $30/night (in points) since all of the rooms share a common balcony it doesn’t really encourage sitting out there. Being on the ground level while we could certainly see the ocean we didn’t find ourselves relaxing by or in the room like we would at a textile hotel with an oceanview room.

Food / Beverage / Service

The food was definitely on the better end of the spectrum when compared to other all-inclusives. If you’re planning reservation restaurants vs buffet the Mexican and Italian buffets seem to be the best. The “action stations” by the pool for lunch were always a nice change with the Paella and grilled chicken and chorizo being our favorites. Breakfast was great daily. We did hibachi one night which was fine but nothing too crazy (with the biggest victory coming from wearing a white shirt and eating with chopsticks and the shirt stayed white!) and Sahlo twice. Sahlo is just weird. It’s not classy. The menu is fine, but uninspired and the food is good, but not up to the hype of it being a nice restaurant. Little things like the bisque being way too salty to be edible would have seen us complain if it wasn’t all inclusive.

Service overall was top notch. We consistently tipped $5 at every meal and whether or not it made a difference in the service we received I don’t know, but it was a small amount of money to have our every need met and even anticipated.

The rockstar of service for us was Candido on the beach. He was great, funny, and never let us go thirsty or hungry. This was a far cry from our last visit to DRM many years ago where they had a raise flag for service system that simply didn’t work.

Pool + Beach + Hot-tub

Our general rotation was to grab a chair by the pool before breakfast (yes, you have to reserve) and hang out there until a late lunch. After lunch we’d migrate to a beach bed since they provided a little more shade for those of us with fair skin. We were never charged for using a beach bed.

Yes the beach has the seaweed but honestly the smell didn’t really bother us and we went swimming a few times (my wife likened it to swimming in a shag carpet). If you hit the tide going out you can find a lot of stretches where there’s no seaweed and we saw a handful of people make it as far out as the sand bar.

There are periodic beach walkers and people trying to sell cigars but it’s very limited since you have to get into the ocean to make it to the Desire beach. One afternoon a parade of drunk guests from Secrets found their way to the beach and the security staff kept a close eye on them but they ended-up getting naked and having a grand time (it’s a public beach so not much they could do, or really needed to do). It was a funny diversion for an afternoon.

The little black book we received at check-in didn’t indicate that the beach beds were a place where sex was approved (despite what has been previously posted here, perhaps they updated the booklet) but we can confirm, first-hand, that no one stops you from having sex. You can have loud, overt, crazy sex and no one will say anything to you (on a prior trip to DRM we were admonished for beach bed sex and were worried it would happen on this trip – it definitely didn’t).

We never found the hot-tub to be overly crowded. There were the usual ebbs and flows of guests for happy hour and then again in the early morning but it never really got busy that we saw. Oh well.

Activities

We participated in a few games of beach volleyball and watched a few of the games by the pool and the evening activities. The entertainment staff definitely works hard but the evenings were always kind of awkward and forced. We ended-up getting dinner late (830 / 9) as a strategy to survive the lull between dinner and the disco getting going but still found ourselves in that rut. We’re physically incapable taking an evening nap, getting-up and rallying, which is what we surmised most people did. Our nights generally ended a bit after midnight, which was fine with us.

Other guests

In our travels we’ve determined that what makes or breaks a trip to a place like Desire are the other guests. We ran into a couple we had met at a prior trip to Desire and chatted with a bunch of friendly people. No guests acted inappropriately towards us or were overly aggressive and we always felt comfortable (which we can’t always say about all of our lifestyle trips).

The only reason why I created this section of the review is August is “sexy young wild” month, which means the 1:1 male/female ratio isn’t required. We’re about as sexually liberal and open as it gets. As long as its consensual and ethical; f**k whoever you want wherever you want whenever you want however you want.

We did however find ourselves surprised that a guest brought, what appeared to be, three ladies who were “hired help.” While we never found ourselves in an uncomfortable situation because of this we were both a little shocked it was allowed. In our opinion it’s a very slippery slope. This guy was clearly spending a ton of money at the hotel and the staff was catering to the group (as they should I suppose) but you have to wonder where and when the line is drawn?

Return home

Returning home sucks. 5 nights was the perfect length of vacation for us. We’ve never struggled with intimacy as a couple but the realities of young children, high pressure jobs, and a “normal” life just weigh down on you – Desire took all of those pressures away and we “reconnected” like we did when we were first dating. It was incredible and we were both plotting a return to Desire on the flight home.

There’s no vacation like it.
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Re: 4th trip review; August 2018

Postby nokidclub » Thu Aug 23, 2018 9:58 pm

Outstanding trip report. Very well written. Thanks for sharing!
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