Valentine's/Presidents Day weekend - first visit Feb 2025

[SouthSiders]

We just visited Pearl for the first time, Feb 14-18, 2025. With it being both Valentine's Day and President's Day weekend, they were fully booked. That meant a lot of people to talk to, but a shortage of pool chairs and difficulty for people getting into restaurants on Valentine's Day, when Aphrodite was closed. We spoke with Miguel at the pool around 7:30am on Saturday morning, and were assigned a bed by the jacuzzi. So fyi for those who complain on this forum, it's not just people "leaving their stuff" there and being rude - it was the actual location that he assigned us for the day. By the time people tend to start playing on those beds, many had opened back up.

A few more notes on various topics...

Restaurants: We arrived at the resort around 5pm, and found out Aphrodite was closed that night. We made sure to get to Suki around 6:40pm to ensure we got in somewhere, and we walked right in with no problem. After that, we hung out at the Lobby Bar, and met many people who were there waiting for Pearl. It was apparently a pretty long wait for most. We thought the food at Suki was okay. The flavors were fine but subtle, and everything could have used a little salt. Best dish we had was the rock shrimp.

The second night, we tried Pearl for French night. We arrived when they opened at 6:30pm, and were seated with no problem. The dishes were hit-or-miss. Highlights included the mussels, French onion soup, and pork belly. The creme brulee was curdled - we each took one bite and that was that. We also felt the food hear desperately needed salt.

Since we were having good experiences at Aphrodite for breakfast and lunch, we did our other dinners there and were very happy with it. We felt the seasoning was always on-point at that restaurant, and we really enjoyed the Italian Night menu. Service was kind of slow though, so we ended up bailing before they brought out dessert, because there was a show happening at 9pm that we didn't want to miss. But, the food was great and we appreciated the variety on the buffets. I typically eat keto/low-carb, and that was pretty easy to maintain.

Our final night there, we accidentally stumbled onto some special dinner at Aphrodite, where the chef was presenting dishes made with corn. We didn't have reservations, but they had some no-shows and we were able to join. This was the best meal that we had! If you see something similar when you are there, we highly recommend the experience.

Daytime Activities: We typically spent the mornings walking on the beach, mostly south to Puerto Morelos. We got massages at Massages Violeta, which were 1000 pesos, so $50 USD. Husband said it was the best massage he ever had, and he's a certified massage therapist... so that's something! We also did a little souvenir shopping in town, but didn't eat anywhere. We ended up in the pool between 1-3pm each day. Glad we got the tip here to bring our tumblers! We mostly drank gin or vodka with soda, and yeah... the liquor is watered down at the pool bar. But that was fine by us and everyone we talked to, because otherwise we'd never make it to late night! Headed to the jacuzzi around 4pm and found it easier to meet people there, since the space is a bit more compressed.

Nighttime Activities: We really enjoyed dressing for the theme nights, and went all out (husband included). A lot of the guys this weekend went full-theme, which made it more fun all around. The actual shows were fine. Probably the best one was on the burlesque night. Then we'd all shuffle into the disco for the requisite 30 minutes of Flo Rida and girls practicing their pole-dancing moves. For us, the jacuzzi was a much better spot at night, and we didn't stay long at the disco.

Nudity: There was a spectrum, and we personally appreciated the "live and let live" attitude. People wore what they were comfortable with - so a few with full swimsuits, some topless, some completely nude. As first-timers, that was helpful to us as we eased in. Husband wore his trunks in the pool the first time we went, then took them off for jacuzzi and never wore them again. I mainly went topless but kept bikini bottoms on... except at night if I was going to the jacuzzi in theme wear that wasn't going into the water. I had been nervous about this before the trip, based on trollish comments on here, but IRL no one said anything. My general impression is that if you get angry and think people who don't want to be fully nude shouldn't be at Desire... actually, you're the one who doesn't belong. The vibe was very much "you do you," as it should be. You can peace out to a resort with mandatory nudity.

Accommodations: We did the lowest-level room, an ocean-view. We were shocked that it was legit ocean view, not like peeking at 2 inches of ocean between buildings. Our balcony was nice too, though we hardly went on it. We're typically cruisers, so for us the size of the bedroom and bathroom were fantastic. The grounds were well-maintained, and you always saw people trimming foliage, touching up paint, etc.

"The Presentation": Yeah, we did the presentation. We figured what's an hour at 9am when nothing's going on anyway, and then got the free massage (we went for relaxing massage). We actually listened and considered the information, but decided we couldn't commit to coming back that often. Later, we heard some members complaining about different ways they felt ripped off, so that confirmed for us that we made the right choice. The massages were great! Despite not buying in, we do plan to return at some point.

Overall, we had a really fun time and met some great people! We went for 4 nights, and I don't think we could have hung in longer, staying up until 2am and everything. But for that short time, it was a perfect getaway from the winter weather. We also both felt like it was a great experience for body positivity.

[Mr&MrsS&L]

Great review, thanks for posting!

[Ejc3md]

Thanks for posting! Always good to hear how things are now. We are heading down in a couple of weeks .