Hey Dudes -
I have enjoyed the trip reports so much I wanted to ‘pay it forward’ with one of our own. However, I wanted to do more of a ‘as it happens’ sort of thing - while its still on my mind. I anticipate this is going to be long so I’ll apologize now - I tend to drown in the details…..
Sunday 7/17 - Cancun Airport. It was very uneventful. Went through Passport Control. Between Password Control and baggage claim is a duty free store where you can purchase duty free liquor coming INTO Mexico. That was a surprise. You are allowed 3L each. We wanted to have Bacardi, Captain, and some Absolute for our ‘in-room bar’. Next is baggage claim. By the time we got there someone had already loaded all of our luggage (4 suitcases- yes I did say 4 - plus a carry on each - more on that in a sec) onto a cart. He personally escorted us through Customs - we got a “green light” at the Customs desk and went on our way. Our escort got us through the time share gauntlet and located our transportation carrier. This was a very nice service!
Miscellaneous note on Luggage:
Mrs. Scuba packs for a day trip like we are going to be gone a month. So for 8 days, you can only imagine……. BUT, I can say that we ALWAYS have everything we could ever need. She always thinks of everything. From extra hangers, any kind of medication that could be needed (once on a trip I cut my foot pretty bad and she had bandages of every size, antiseptic wipes, antibacterial cream…). Anyway, we are always limited to one 50 pound checked bag each because every time we fly, we go Delta and I use my Delta Amex card - hence 1 free bag. However, since we went first class this time, she discovered that we could check 2 bags each and the weight limit was increased to 70 pounds! I was afraid our kitchen sink would be packed!
Our ground transport was Tourex Cancun. Awesome service. The driver stopped at a 7-11 so we could purchase some snacks for our in-room bar.
We arrived at about 1PM. The room was not ready. So we got the tour and did lunch. Room was ready after lunch and Esteban took us to our room and acquainted us with all the appointments - we have never had a resort room this big - 2 bathrooms!!!! Enough closet storage for a family of 4! minibar with a sink…. Wow, what a room.
So we change into swimwear and head to the pool. The band-aid was ripped off within an hour and we were both in the water sans clothing. No one noticed a thing. For the first hour or so it seemed like I was in a huge boob and sausage fest. But the strange thing is that after an hour, I didn’t even notice. That is saying a lot because Mrs. Scuba will attest that I am an ass and boob guy and to not even notice is amazing.
Fears that I had that were totally unfounded:
1. When we first undress everyone will stare and judge. - NOPE
2. If having a conversation with a beautiful woman I would not be able to not look at her higher than her chest - NOPE
3. I’m sort of a grower, not a shower - figured that would be unusual. - NOPE
4. Afraid that I would sport wood at inappropriate times - NOPE (even with 50mg of Vitamin V on board).
We floated around the pool then headed to the hot tub around 5. Then it was dinner with KenandEl and MarandRob. Very relaxing and such nice couples. After dinner we were totally out of energy and headed back to the room.
Monday 7/18- Up at 7 and located Victor setting up pool beds for the day. 200 pesos (about $10US) and we had two nice chairs under an umbrella on the wild side of the pool (across from the bar). Awesome breakfast - excellent buffet or you can order from a menu (or you can be like me and do both….) and then pool time. Make sure you get EVERYTHING covered with sunscreen - if you know what I mean. Also used SPF 50 chapstick. We brought our own pool floats and insulated tumblers and floated over to the bar to get the day kicked off….. Rum and Coke before 10AM???? Yup. Met lots of nice folks. Wore my University of Alabama cap which started some interesting conversations. An LSU fan offered me $5 to buy my hat so he could shit in it…… (all in good fun) Great lunch then more pool time. We migrated to the hot tub at around 5 and mingled till 7. We were really tired so we did room service and called it a night (we are old farts).
Note on Room Service: Order anything you want on the menu. It’s all included. You just pay a $10 delivery charge (plus a tip of course).
Tuesday 7/19 - Ditto seeing Victor and 100 pesos for a couple of nice seats. We hardly use these seats - is it worth the trouble of reserving one? Then we visited Cesar at the scuba shop.
Note about the SCUBA shop. CLASS ACT! Mrs. Scuba had shoulder surgery a couple of months ago. It did not go good and they are going to have to go back in. Needless to say, no diving for her. Cesar said nonsense - we can help. So Brenda set up our equipment in the pool and showed Mrs Scuba how she could be helped to get into her kit in the water with no shoulder stress. This proved that we could dive - so we booked a two tank dive for Wed. Brenda was totally awesome!
We did lunch with a very nice couple we met and then retired for a couple of hour nap. (hell, you would think we are ready for a nursing home). We were going to head for the hot tub but a huge storm hit so we hung out in the room and once again did room service. The theme this night was Desire Mansion so I wore a tux and Mrs Scuba a very freaking sexy bunny outfit. There was a Chippendale contest where many of the girls set around the stage and 5 guys “perform”. Then a few minutes of dancing (I have no rhythm) then off to the hot tub. We met a very nice French couple and I won’t kiss and tell but we put on a pretty steamy show - and we’ll leave it at that. Got back to the room at 3AM.
Wednesday 7/20 - Woke up at 8 - felt like my head was in a drum all night (way too much alcohol). But we had to do the Premier presentation at 9. This site forbids discussion on this subject so I will just leave it there. Afternoon was filed with Scuba. Theme night was Burlesque Night - Mrs. Scuba in a smoking hot corset and I had a 1920’s style gangster outfit.
Thursday 7/21 - Scuba in the morning, lunch, pool, jacuzzi, dinner. Sounds like a common schedule is forming….. Theme night was Sexy Costume. Mrs. Scuba was a Sexy Nurse and I was dressed as a sexy doctor.
Friday 7/22 - Bump in the schedule. I must have eaten something the night before that was coming back for a rematch - my stomach was not happy at all. We had two morning Scuba dives planned. I should have cancelled but I didn’t - mistake #1. We get on the boat and the water is extremely rough - I should have told the captain to turn around - mistake #2. We get to the dive site and at this point I think I was the color of an ugly shade of green. I thought that if I could just get off the boat I would be ok, so over the side I went - mistake #3. After about 30 minutes I surfaced, got back on the boat, fed the fish the remainder of my breakfast - and I even partially digested it for them because that is the kind of service I offer. Rather than make mistake #4 I told the Captain to get me back to the resort. I slept the rest of the day and night.
Saturday 7/23 - Recovering from the previous day we decided to take it easy and not plan anything. So we hung out with friends at the pool for the entire day. Not sure if they do this every Saturday but they fired up grills on the beach and grilled a ton of seafood. It was awesome! If you are not into seafood then you can still go to Aphrodite. Foam party started at 2:00. It was unlike ANYTHING I have ever been a part of. Picture foam to about the height of 6’ over the surface of the pool. Lots of beach balls being thrown around. It was really fun! Be sure to wear sun glasses during this event - the foam will burn your eyes. The only thing that disappointed me was that no matter how vulnerable I made myself in the foam, no one molested me! CRAP!
Saturday night theme was ‘Dress to Impress’ and the entertainment people put on an amazing show in the disco. After this it was back to the hot tub….
Sunday 7/24 - This was our last full day and we decided to take it really easy. Spent the entire day floating around the pool socializing with other guests. 4:00pm was hot tub time. Then it was time to get ready for dinner. Theme night was Neon and it was just ok. On Sunday I tried to extend our stay two more days. DP was willing to give us our room for $890/night. But since I had used my Delta Skymiles for our air travel, Delta was unwilling to change them even with a fee. So we resigned ourselves to the fact that if it was meant for us to stay it would have worked out and moved on.
Monday 7/25 - Pretty uneventful. Our driver was to pick us up at noon so the morning was spent packing and going around wishing everyone well and getting contact info for our new friends.
Notes about staff: EVERYONE here is unbelievable. Not a single person that is not friendly, smiling, and appears to want to make sure you truly enjoy your stay. And I am talking about everyone - front desk, bar tenders, wait staff, housekeepers and even the grounds keepers. I don’t know where Desire finds these folks but I would love to have each and every one of them working with my customers.
Notes about guests: We have not met a single couple that is negative. Usually there will be those couples that just can’t seem to be pleased. Not here so far. No one griping about the food, the service, or anything else. Amazing…..
Notes on Dive Shop: They are an independent concession located on the resort. However, you can’t tell they are independent - they mix in so well. We love them all. Brenda is the most patient dive-master we have ever been with. Thinking of her now, I would truly love to wrap my arms around her and hug her as a daughter. She IS the one that made our diving special. First mate Daniel - I don’t think his facial expression knows anything but a permanent smile. What a sweet kid and hard worker. On our last dive he weaved a grasshopper out of leaves for Mrs. Scuba. She brought it home in the safety of her carry on and constantly checked it to make sure it was not damaged. Then Cesar - he is extremely accommodating and will do anything to work out whatever you need. He runs an extremely laid back operation. We really loved working with him. The only staff member that I had any issue with was Adolfo. And it really wasn’t an issue. He handles the business side, not the fun side, so I guess that is to be expected. So he got a little pushy when it came to payment and a bit pushy to pay in cash rather than a credit card. I get that cash is better, but we spent about $800US with them - who carries that kind of cash earmarked specifically for diving. He was just a bit intense when compared to all the other team members. But I do get that a business needs that side as well.
Lessons Learned and General thoughts that might be helpful:
1. We love the Master Suite - it is huge, two bathrooms and a private living room. Even though we don’t spend a great deal of time in the room, there is lots and lots of storage space. Plus if Mrs. Scuba wants to take an afternoon nap, I can watch TV in the other room without disturbing her. Also, that room has a built in bar with a mini-sink that is really nice. When we go back, I don’t think we will downgrade.
2. Location of Ice - The location of the ice machine at DP is a closely guarded corporate secret. They would rather give out their ATM pin number than tell you where “you can get your own ice”. There is an ice bucket in the room and they are happy to fill it for you if you ask - but crap, just show me the nearest ice machine and let me get it when I want it. (Plus I can keep the tip money).
3. Don’t over-plan or over-expect if you are hoping for a LS encounter. This sets you up for failure. We went into this with a “what happens, happens” attitude and was not disappointed. We are very new to LS (prior to our trip we have never had an experience). There were a couple of encounters that were really special. We didn’t plan them nor persue them. They just happened organically - which was really cool. But even more, we had so much intimate couple time - just us, on the hot tub bed at midnight, curtains blowing in the breeze, very erotic music playing, a bottle of coconut butter, jeez…. those times will be at the front of my memory until we return to make new memories.
4. As far as I could tell, most guests were more nudest, not lifestyles - which was fine. We met some really really awesome people that we now consider close friends. When you are congregated as a small group with no clothing and talking about life, its amazing how fast you will make a good friend! There were some cliques that had traveled together in the past. But they were still friendly.
5. Bugs/mosquitos - never saw one the entire trip.
6. It is true that the mood changes every day! There are people arriving and departing daily and with this brings changes. Not bad changes but one day the resort will have a more laid back atmosphere then the next day, BAM, party in your face!
I could go on and on with this review but I have to stop it at some point and get it posted. I am sure I will think of more stuff the moment I submit it and will try to come back and update it. However, if you have any questions, please post them, or if you have questions that you consider too personal or embarrassing to post, PM me. Everyone on this site has been so helpful getting us ready for our first trip, we want to do the same for others.
Take care all!
Scuba