On the last night of the Desire Mediterranean 2019 cruise I was in a conversation with Mario Cruz… Yes, the ‘It’s meeee, Maariooooo’ who also happens to be the guy in charge of the onboard experience for Desire Cruise. This is our Desire Cruise Review from the Mediterranean 2019 sailing.
I told him that this was the best overall experience I’ve ever had with a lifestyle charter on this particular cruise line. And I’ve sailed with them often.
To put that in perspective, I’ve been onboard the Journey or Quest a total of 14 times in the past 8 years. I am an aficionado in understanding in the differences that the special flavor that the various charter operators bring.
So not only was this my favorite experience with Desire Cruise – it stands out as the best overall on this cruise line.
What made it better?
That’s a bit of a complicated formula. Our Desire Cruise Review is made up of the following components:
- The people and connections I make
- The entertainment and onboard experience
- Quality of the dining & drink service
- Immersion into the destinations – ie: great itinerary
- And completely out of our hands yet powerfully impactful: The Weather.
To get this conversational ball rolling… Do you agree with my list of the 5 things that make a GREAT cruise vacation? What would you included in your Desire Cruise Review?
Desire Cruise Review Mediterranean 2019: The People & Connections
Undoubtedly the number one factor that I use to evaluate how much I liked my lifestyle cruise vacation is the people I meet and the connections I make.
I made some of the best connections ever on this cruise.
The crowd was from all over the world and had a variety of interests 😉
One of the reasons I love a small ship like this is that I can make new friends and then easily find them again. I mean there are only so many places for someone to hide 😉 on a ship this size.
Ok here is a confession, I have been on 35 full ship charter cruises. I’ve learned that the best experience on a cruise happen when I get to know a few couples before we get onboard.
With this in mind I planned to join up with 20 other couples for a VIP tour in Monte Carlo the 3 days before the cruise.
Insider Tip #1 – always join a pre-cruise event.
Miss Lynn, Owner TheSwingerCruise.com
We shared a wonderful experience – laughed, luxuriated and took time to really get to know each other. It in the getting to know that deep friendships are formed. It was like lifestyles of the rich and famous!
We flew from Nice to our 5 star hotel in helicopters, Got backstage passes and visited the secret passages and high rollers room in the casino, Dined at Michelin Rated Restaurants in Eze with breathtaking views of the harbors, learned about scents and sensuality as we crafted our own perfume with the ‘nose’ from Fragonard. Tasted wines of France in a private wine cave tasting in Nice and danced the night away at the Negresco Official Desire Cruise meet and greet.
So in addition to having the great tour experiences we wanted, we shared those experiences with new friends. Everyone was welcoming and friendly. I love meeting couples that are just like us. And we found that was how we describe the guests on Desire Cruise.
One of the host couples for that group admitted they always do the pre-cruise and had volunteered to ‘host’ this time just to help them get out of the shy zone. Having a role to play really does give some structure to the experience and helps to know what to say and do.
So here is the cool thing – once we were on the ship we had this fabulous new group of friends – and many of them had friends onboard from past cruises – so instantly our circle of friends expanded exponentially. That made this Desire Cruise one of the friendliest experiences to date.
By sharing some of our preferences with our new friends… they actually became unofficial ‘wingmen’ who helped us find the sort of couples we prefer.
And WOW there were so many sexy couples that were just our cup of tea.
What I like about the relaxed program is that there are plenty of chances for conversations so we can get to know the deeper current in our new friends. Something that we find rarely happens on bigger more frenetic charter cruises.
Desire Cruise Review: Upgrades to the Program
No review would be complete without mentioning upgrades.
One upgrade on this Desire Cruise was daily meet & greets hosted by Michael & Holly – they seemed to be organized mainly by language or geographic region.
Dr Jess O’reilly also taught classes like full body orgasm and coordinated a wonderful large group mixer in her oh so sexy style on day 2.
I’m only mentioning a few of the classes offered… there was something everyday – and sea days had daytime classes too.
With only 344 couples on the ship, we don’t think that a whole lot more than that is needed to find similar couples. The size of the ship is important to our Desire Cruise Review.
Had there been a kinky or swinky couples meet and greet that would have been a nice addition for us. However we found that going to any of the kinky sex ed classes taught by Claus and Katrina were both ‘stimulating’ with excellent information and a great way to meet couples with our interests.
Something else to tune into is that if your travel agent is onboard the ship they may be offering a meet/greet for their client group.
On Day 2 TheSwingerCruise.com agency sponsored a VIP party with candy girls & open premium bar for the clients who had booked through their agency.
We are foodies. One thing we love on this cruise was booking an interactive dining experience like the Chef Table. It’s top notch food and wine and a great way to socialize.
Of course meeting couples on tours with similar interests and inviting new friends to join you at dinner are also proven ways to get to know everyone.
Desire Cruise Review Entertainment
One other thing worth mentioning is that Desire brought there playmaker and entertainers from Cancun for this cruise. They played games and made it feel so much more like the ‘Desire at Sea’ experience we were expecting. You can get involved and mix with others or watch from the sidelines.
I give the people we met and connections we made on Desire Cruise 5 Stars
Now on to the the rest of the review
Desire Cruise Review: Dining
Desire Cruise Review: Playroom and Experiences
Desire Cruise Review: Itinerary and Season
Curious to join a future Desire Cruise?
- Desire Greece Turkey – Sep 2024
- Desire Rome Barcelona – May 2025
- Desire Athens Rome – September 2025
- Desire West Indies – Feb 2026
Past Desire Cruises
- Desire Rio NYE December 2022
- Desire Venice Rome – May 2023
- Desire Greek Islands – August 2023
- Desire Rio NYE Redux December 2023
- Desire French Riviera May 2024
