May 7th to 15th

[Cali_desire_cpl]

"I hope the food issue is brought up as well. I have to say that this thread is among the most negative I have ever read about Desire."

Just like everyone else, Desire is trying to stretch their dollar as far as it will go. Unfortunately, they are doing this with their food and beverages. I am a vodka drinker...... they used to serve Grey Goose.....then Absolute....our last trip, they were constantly out of Absolute and were pushing Wyborowa YUCK!.

[mfay]

nukesul- please don't blow the food issue for this one particular week out of proportion. Obviously lavaloving was very disappointed. From my posts above you can see that I had much more minor complaints. In fact- in the yahoo group for this trip- there have only been less than 10 out of 84 couples who had any complaint with food at all, and several others who specifically said they thought it was fine. We all have been spoiled by Desire in the past and have very high expectations so when something doesn't measure up it really stands out.
You didn't quote the first line of lavaloving's post, but you'll see that it says they had a fantastic trip.
The food issue was a tiny little part of an otherwise great experience.
Alessio- the Desire food and beverage manager- has already replied to us thanking us for bringing it to his attention- expressing his regret and promising to immediately address the problem . We can't ask more than that. Desire ALWAYS takes criticisms seriously and they have never failed to thank us for offering them. Our experience has been that they really do use those criticisms to improve.
Of course there is always that little issue of sorting out just exactly what is good and what is bad based on the differing opinions of thousands of Desire guests.......

[nukesul]

mfay, thanks for the reply. I doubt the food would have that much of an effect on my decision to go (Newbie scheduled for November) but these comments were a little tough to ignore and definitely a little on the extreme edge of criticism.

It is very unique the way the customers really have the ear of a resort such as this board and the various groups seem to. I suppose that just goes with the uniqueness of the resort.

Can't wait to judge for myself!!!

Cheers

[mfay]

You have no idea yet nukesul just how wonderful it really is. We'll look forward to your comments here in the forum when you return !

[tout.prest]

Nukesul,

What Mike is saying is absolutely true ! The letdown in the food dept is really the "only" negative comment that i could have made about last week as well. Its not that the food was bad persé, more that it just got a liitle boring throughout the week. We felt the exact same way and i have complete faith that Allesio has heard the comments and will make it a priority to look into how this let down some guests.

Now my list of compliments would take awhile to go over... .

The place really is just "that good". Worry not and know how jealous we are that you will be there before us...

Steve

BTW - I havent heard anyone talk about the new security manager, Ricardo, who constantly patrolled the beach making sure that all the guests had nothing to worry about. He was FANTASTIC at his job, and a VERY nice man as well. I loved how he made sure that no gawkers ever paused to "have a rest" while walking down the beach. LMAO

[mfay]

Steve- I'm told that actually someone else in the group did mention to Barbara or Trixie while we were still there how much they appreciated the job security was doing on the beach. So of course she/they went and found Ricardo and told him how great a job they were doing. She said they really appreciated hearing that.
I don't know how I missed all that- but you know I can't keep track of THEM all the time....lol.
Ricardo is a keeper- hope he stays around !

[lavaloving38]

Just to clarify our comments,
We absolutely love Desire...for us it is the best of times...we love the resort,the staff,the experience...the greatest of friends...no where is there such a place...we are home when we are there.
But when the lunch is bad it needs to be said...5-6 trays of the same awful stuff everyday is an insult...I always have fish BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING ELSE THAT IS NOT GAS STATION FOOD...if that is ok for some then so be it.
But I do think that if you are paying at the very least 350 a night and up,then perhaps there should be a different option
We always go for 10 days...bit monotonous at the buffet bar...how about ribs,bbq,etc etc
I DO NOT THINK THAT WE SHOULD SETTLE FOR POOR FOOD JUST BECAUSE ALL ELSE IS FANTASTIC...I DO NOT EXPECT GOURMET FRENCH DINING BUT GAS STATION FOOD DOES NOT CUT IT
THE 2 RESTAURANTS ARE GREAT...THE DISCO IS FUN...THE SERVICE IS BETTER THAN ANY WHERE WE HAVE BEEN
I could spend my life there...We truly love it

[northlkncouple]

We had a great time with the Ynots and Hot Tamales. Our first trip with the group and third time overall. We are usually pretty easy to please in the food dept. We did have an extended stay one night at Piacere, ate Japanese twice and the buffet 4 nights, two of which were Mexican night. We did find that the lunch buffet was always the same. We always got either chicken or fish fajitas made to order and chips. That was always good. Japanese was the best meal there for sure.

We found the disco music to be terrible. I know everyone has there own musical taste, but ours ranges from Mozart to Sean Paul to Slipknot. But with three hours of techno electronica, we couldn't take it. We asked for several popular hip-hop songs to be played (with a tip) and he never played them. It seemed as though the dj had already made his playlist before hand, so he could mix the songs together seamlessly. He just couldn't bring himself to stray from playing the exact same beat/music. I would love to see a mix, from one song to the next of new hip-hop, 80's, rock, old-school hip-hop, reggae, etc...At least everyone would get a taste of what they like. The first 4 nights the dj definitely knew how to clear a floor. The last couple of nights did get much better with a different dj.

The resort was in great shape, room was great and every aspect, of the service, was unbelievably good. They always seem to want to make you happy.

Can't wait to go back again!

[DandAEastTexas]

Food....is subjective. As someone who could be very, very happy eating at Denny's or IHOP (which I will admit, does not speak well of me)....I hate the lunch buffet. My wife, on the other hand, makes a salad, has them grill up a piece of chicken....and has no complaints.

I have to keep reminding myself that if I wanted to eat the same crap that I eat at home....I could stay home (or at least limit myself to the 50 states).

Yes, I wish the food was more to my liking...hell, for the money it costs, it should be more to my loving. But it's not, it never will be....and I blame me.

Don

[mikeinnj]

I tend to agree with Don - alot of the blame for not liking lunch was my fault - I hate green peppers and that limited what I could get as the fajitas were pre-mixed and absorbed the taste.

The lunch buffet, again to me, was boring and not that great. Dinners were okay.

With that said, it was not enough to stop me from returning as everything else was wonderful!

[BriCin]

Yes, the food and drinks do need a lot of help.

When we tried to order a Mojito on the ynot week, one third of the time we would get the lazy bartender " we are out of mint." Before everyone shoots me, Yes there are a lot of great bartenders there.

The lunch buffet is starting to look like a golden corral lunch. (With a lot better views. The salad bar needs a lot more added to it.

But, please keep the corn fritters.

[guestserviceDRM]

Hello nukesul,

One of the most important things for managment and Desire staff is to listen to suggestions and comments from all our guests. We always try to fullfil all guests expectations, however, we understand that sometimes is not in all cases.
Your posts have been very helpful! Please, keep doing it.
Regards.

[tikitorch]

Have heard the same thing way to many times, no mint! Love mojitos and would be thrilled if the bars were more regularly stocked with mint! Thanks!!

[rchdlh]

We were not there for this trip but found this thread interesting. We agree that after our 11th trip in March the food had slipped. We always ordered something made to order off the grill for lunch plus salad so can't really comment further there. However, for dinnner when we ended up at the buffet and were not excited about the offering we simply asked our server and had the chef prepare a steak, pasta or fish. They are more than willing to accommodate. We also thought Suki had slipped a bit but the Hibachi table was fine. One pet peeve - what is up with dog earred and worn out desert menus? Mike states it best, the food situation is minor to the overall atmosphere. To keep it in perspective, we don't go for the food, regardless of the cost.

[Tone]

Just returned yesterday and feel I must weigh in on this subject. While we really enjoyed ourselves, the food at the lunch buffet was just ok. But we reallly didn't expect it to be great. My biggest complaint was the staff turning the lights on in one of the good restaraunts ( can't remember the name) during our meal, ruining the atmosphere. It was full, but the staff wanted to close. Rude? yes. My wife was not impressed, and neither were many of us left to finish in the bright lights.

Another big complaint of mine is the warm beer at the pool. I'm not going to pay that kind of rate again for warm beer on ninety degree days. the only cold beer I had during the entire stay was in my mini fridge, which they failed to restock the following day. When I told them we were out of pop and beer they quickly restocked with- you guessed it- warm pop and beer.

Funny you mentioned racoons. We saw a stray cat and coon fight over our dropped pizza at the lounge! Coon won even while the bartender was kicking it!

We enjoyed desire for the adult theme, but it needs some work.