Desire Riviera Maya – Trip Reports

J & R  Repeat couple

We like Desire Pearl so much better. Too many young people acting crazy this time of year. Didn't get room we wanted although requested. We had requested white love seat/stool we had last time. Great for play! Didn't get it front desk couldn't understand English good enough. Bed was horrible..uncomfortable.

We travel often with no problem this was horrible. Sheets were very rough. But room was clean and quite no view of anything. We will spend more and go back to desire pearl. Like more mature crowd and more intimate easier to meet others.

(Castaways Note:  Even though the room was requested, Desire will not guarantee a room number or location.)

 A & R  Summer

We like pearl so much better. Too many young people acting crazy this time of year. Didn't get room we wanted. We had requested white love seat/stool we had last time. Great for play! Didn't get it front desk couldn't understand English good enough. Bed was horrible..uncomfortable.

We travel often with no problem this was horrible. Sheets were very rough. But room was clean and quite no view of anything. We will spend more and go back to desire pearl. Like more mature crowd and more intimate easier to meet others.

The entertainment, food and service was awesome! It was great to see Silvia, CC, Daniel and others again. We experienced the erotic massage and it was nice but overpriced.  This was our 2nd trip to Desire and this was our least favorite out of the 2. The beach was covered in several inches of stinky seaweed which attracted many insects. The mosquitoes were terrible at the resort even though they fogged in the evening. The pool water was miserably hot so there was no way to get refreshed from the heat.

The Catamaran ride from Pearl was boring. Too few couples and seas were too rough to snorkel or swim but the Capt and deck hand was fabulous. We will definitely go back but never in the hot summer.  Travel to the resort was a breeze with Castaways Travel.

Uncle Jack

This resort is a great place to vacation and unlike other resorts open sex in the pool or surrounding premises is prohibited. Now the Hot Tub is completely different.

Places like HEDO gets a little sickening of all the body fluids that end up in the pool from open sex. Desire's personnel have always been very friendly and always willing to help make your vacation a wonderful experience. You don't hear the 'no problem mon' at this place.

All the restaurant's are in air conditioned buildings, with the exception of the grill near the pool, but with the gulf breeze and ceiling fans it's nice. Make reservations for the International and the Oriental restaurants to guarantee your seating. And remember the International restaurant is fine dining, so don't go in there like your eating at a fast food establishment with all your friends making a lot of noise.

A tip for those of you wanting to buy liquor, buy it at the duty free store at the Cancun airport. Their prices are the lowest. Now be careful as you buy this after your checked luggage has been taken, so you are bringing (your purchase) on the plane with you.  If you don't have a direct flight, non-stop to your home town ..... like us, we changed planes in Houston.

First off you go through customs in which they ask you certain questions about your visit and what you are bringing back. Don't be afraid to say you have 3 or 4 bottles of your favorite liquor, I know your only supposed to have 1 liter per person, Customs is not set-up to collect duty for the extra bottles. Just be honest and they have always just let me go on. Now you get our checked luggage and go through customs again and leave a secured area for about 20 ft. and then you have to recheck your luggage.

It's at this time you need to place the liquor in your checked luggage as you will have to go through TSA security and you cannot board with all those big bottles of liquor. If you go without placing in your luggage, you will have to turn it over TSA for their annual Christmas party or go back and check it in.

Enjoy yourself as we have the past 3 years and will be going to Desire again next year.

D & N Couple

Some of the (marketing) issue is that their (Desire's)  marketing makes it sound like the resort is so over the top. I wonder if that extreme marketing actually hurts them more than it helps, since it tends to scare people who just want a free and open environment rather than a "drunken orgy."

One more point to add on the "drunken orgy" issue, is that despite the free and strong alcohol drinks, it's true that I never saw anyone out of control, staggering or drunk.

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My wife and I just returned from a few days at Desire RM. This was our second trip there, previously we had visited a few years back.

The weather was perfect and staff was as good as we had remembered them from before. I few of the same people were still working, including C.C., Sylvia, etc. Sylvia is so sweet and always has a smile on her face. I just don't know how she can maintain such a caring attitude in the face of all us demanding vacationers, but she does somehow. I think she is motivated by a "Higher Power", or some such...... 🙂

Food is good-not spectacular for the most part, but very nice with appropriate portion size in the restaurants. If you need more calories just order more at the Melange bar. The pizza is good there.

Several of the entertainment nights and pool games from "The Playmakers", as they are called, were a bit lame, but I think it was because this was a weekend. Pool games got more fun on Monday. They had a cover band one night that was fantastic and some gymnasts that were talented.

They need to make a rule that the disco has only live DJ's. Otherwise the music by the pool and the disco was pure 1980's.... By Sunday night and Monday, they were playing some more modern stuff which was a great relief.

They need to attach the mirror to the wall in our bedroom--we stubbed a toe on it and it's just leaning up against the wall.

Pickup at the airport with Lomas was a bit chaotic--we stood in 3 different lines and kept being sent to another line. Eventually we got onto a bus by ourselves and had a great driver. When they returned us to the airport, the driver even went inside the airport and printed out boarding passes. That was an unexpected plus!

I left a room tip for our cleaning lady and $20 for a few other staff in an envelope when we left the resort. I never felt any pressure to tip and didn't see much tipping going on around me either.

All inclusive is so awesome.... much less stress than being nickeled and dimed to death and I've done travel both ways.

We had fun with the water craft, taking out the Hobie Cat and kayaks. The "instructions" were minimal, I'd say and it's a good thing that we are sailors already or we could have easily ended up beached far downwind. They will go out with you on the Cat if you ask and if you are not confident at sailing a Sunfish or Hobie Cat, I suggest you ask for Alfredo or his associate to keep you afloat and pointed the right direction.

I know it sounds like I'm being grumpy, but that's everything that was bad. Otherwise you just can't beat Desire for being a place of openness and no judgment. We are not swingers, although several nice couples engaged us in conversation about it to determine if we were "curious" or not.

No one was rude, but non-swingers need to be prepared to speak up about what they want or don't want. It's a compliment to be asked. I'd guess it was about 65/35% non swingers/swingers ratio when we were there. It's nice to have the freedom to wear as much or as little as you want at the pool and hot tub area and enjoy PDA with your love without judgment.

As plenty of people have said, the hot tub (upstairs and out of site), associated outdoor beds and (private) play room is where 90% of the X rated action happens. They try to keep that out of the pool and beach area. If you get too much, just stay away from those areas and your vacation will be pretty tame.

My wife was a bit nervous this time and "competition", only remembering the beautiful people from years ago and not the average people. It took her about 15 minutes to relax, as expected, when she noticed that there were only a few "perfect" bodies present and no one was judging.

Pretty much everyone feels beautiful and "Desire--able" at Desire. Staff does a good job of drawing in people who seem to be hanging back. There were a few couples in their 60's and 70's who were smiling and very few under mid 30's.

A couple of girls in their 20's were probably models (that comment about the "perfect" bodies above?) and my wife and I wondered if they had been paid to be present by some generous benefactor, owner or wealthy guest. We had fun coming up with various scenarios that we obviously had no evidence for creating...

I can't wait to go back!   Just call us "Anonymous and in love."

K & K -  Two summer trips    -- Pearl and Riviera Maya

We went to Desire Riviera Maya (RM) and Desire Pearl (Pearl). We were very happy with both resorts. In general we do not sweat the small stuff and find enjoyment in most places. But here are some comparisons between the two...nothing a major problem though.

First, both resorts are very nice and offer a great environment for a clothing optional vacation. Both have amazing staffs that go out of their way to help. Both are close to Cancun airport with Pearl just a little further. Both had a great entertainment staff that was not overly pushy. You want a staff to pick up the fun but not "force" you into the fun...they hit the right mix.

Rooms: The rooms are nice at both but we probably give a nod to Pearl. We were in the cheapest room at both and the rooms were very nice. RM room had a much bigger shower that was really nice but no tub.

Pearl's room had a nice couch in the room and a tub. We would actually rather have the large shower than the tub, but that is us. The TV at Pearl had more channels and was bigger...not that we watched much TV, but the NBA finals were on:)

Pool: Nod again to Pearl only because there is a swim up bar. At RM you have to get out of the pool. But at RM you have Sylvia who is always ready to get you a great drink. We just like the swim up bar idea. Other than that, the pools at both are nice. Pearl's pool extends along the length of the resort.

Nice if you want to wonder in the pool, but not a dramatic benefit. Foam party at Pearl was just awesome.

Food: Kind of a tie here depending on what you want. We thought the individual food items were better at Pearl, but there was more choice at RM. We liked the buffet they had every night, but you could order something if you wanted. Pearl had a 4-star presentation quality for their food.

We ate at Aphrodite mostly at Pearl and loved being able to sit outdoors near the ocean. At RM you eat inside...not as nice, but this is not a big deal. We did not eat at Pearl Restaurant at Pearl because we did not want to spend 1-2 hours eating. Heard it was great quality, but we wanted to eat outdoors and get through dinner.

Nightly Shows: RM wins here because they have a central area outside for their shows. We only made portions of a couple shows at Pearl because they were in the Disco. Seemed out of place. We made all the shows at RM. Pearl should try to do them in the lobby area maybe.

Playroom: RM is better here. It is much bigger and the "beds" give a sense of privacy. We never used the playroom at Pearl and did not see anyone go in. It is just a small room at Pearl.

Drinks/Bars: Top notch at both. Great booze choice. Would be nice if they had a "drink menu," and a published drink of the day. It is nice to look at a list of specialty drinks and martinis and choose vice trying to remember something and tell the bartender how to make it.

Hot tub: Pearl wins here. RM rooftop hot tub is neat but much smaller and the stairs are a bit dangerous. Pearl had snacks available at hot tub time after our first day there and that was awesome. You need a little food while drinking in the hot tub.

Beach: Beach was nice at both resorts, no real winner here. It is nice at Pearl that you can walk to Puerto Morales if you want.

Shopping: We do not like to go off resort so RM had local artisans come one night to sell their wares. This was great and Pearl did not have this so it was hard to get a keepsake for the trip. The resort-identity bracelet that you get at Pearl was nice and made a nice keepsake we still have vice the plastic band you get at RM.

Pool Chairs: Equal at both. This is the most annoying part of the resort experience. We don't have a fix so we just deal with it by getting up early and getting a chair with the "chair guy" and then going back to bed. There are more than enough umbrellas to keep you shaded. RM had "couch beds near the pool and that was neat...Pearl did not.

In the end we had a great time at both resorts and would go back to either in a heart beat. The people you are with make the experience more than the resort amenities. Both Pearl and RM are great resorts and offer a wonderful time to connect with the one you love.

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