After spending the first four days of our trip at Desire RM, we took a taxi to the Pearl and arrived at 12:30pm. Desire Pearl has a nice grand entrance and lobby area that befits a higher end resort. However, the lack of airflow does not make the area very inviting. We had visited the resort last June on a day tour and enjoyed the grounds and rooms enough to give it a try for a few days.
Upon arrival we were quickly checked in by Cici's husband Alda. They placed some very nice black corded bracelets with a pearl onto our wrists, a petite one for the wife and a fraction more masculine one for me. We were then introduced to Evaristo, our butler who took care of our bags and got us settled in. We also received a nice welcome fruit tray and sparkling wine which was brought to our room. Our room was #52, a Jr. Suite in the Seashell building which had a nice view of the quiet side of the pool and ocean. The location is quiet and had only a half flight of steps. I am unsure if a Jr. Suite is a huge upgrade from a standard ocean view room other than having two queen beds and a bit more space. We did find the room clean and in good condition and very quiet, never hearing any noise from neighboring rooms.
The room has a balcony with a small table and two chairs, a nice sized tub, and plenty of storage. There is a screen door if you wish to enjoy the ocean breeze in your room without pesky intruders. After choosing the bed for sleeping and christening the other bed, we ate lunch at the Aphrodite restaurant by the pool/beach area. Lunch was excellent. We had appetizers, great chicken and fish, ceviche, guacamole and chips. During our first lunch, we didn’t know there was an a-la-carte menu as well, but lunch at Pearl became our favorite meal of the day. After our meal, my wife reserved an appointment for back and neck massage in the spa for the next morning and we headed to the Jacuzzi as the pool water was cold.
A few moments after settling in the Jacuzzi, J&D from California came over to introduce themselves and presented the premade necklaces with names for us. We had corresponded with them on another site about our travel plans and were very grateful for the cute and functional necklaces. The lounge was out of Don Julio Reposado which is our usual drink of choice, so we had to make due. The hardest transition for Desire RM veterans may not be the resort grounds, but the unfamiliar staff. Although mostly friendly, we are unknown to the staff as they are to us. It does take a while to build that rapport and family feel that so many of us have at the RM.
While in the Jacuzzi, we chatted with J&M from Texas and D&M from Northern California who were both visiting from Desire RM for the day. J relayed his story about walking over from RM and how it took an hour and a half. Parts of the beach along the way are not maintained so wading through piles of dried seaweed waist deep was part of the journey. M was definitely not a fan of the walk. They liked the vibe of Pearl and the amenities during the day so they took a cab over each day. We spent five hours at the Jacuzzi lounge, finally leaving to get ready for dinner at 7pm. We had arranged a reservation for 9pm at the Pearl Restaurant as we selected to have our lobster dinner that evening (a member perk). The Pearl is a beautiful restaurant; the outside part of the restaurant is where sushi is currently served. We enjoyed the food quality and taste, but were not happy about the pace of the meal. We each ordered one appetizer, my wife also had a soup and then we both had lobster. My ideal time for a 3 course meal would probably be about 60 minutes. Our dinner that evening took almost 2 hours. We did not try the Pearl Restaurant again during our stay as the excruciating slow service had me ready to slide into bed after our meal. Luckily some Don Julio Reposado followed with a 5 hour energy drink gave me a second wind.
The theme that night was eyes wide shut and the ceremony was held in a tent somewhere between the lobby and spa. We had been too late to obtain cloaks and mask, but were still allowed to watch. As described in other reports, a man and a woman dressed in nude color tights perform simulated sex positions on a bed in the center of the tent as all the cloaked guests surround them. At certain times, the entertainment staff will ask various couples to join them on the bed. Overall it is very tame as you stay with your own partner and everyone stayed mostly clothed. The room is dimly lit, so it is very difficult to even know who is in the center of the room and what they are actually doing. At the end, the music turns in a waltz and couples ballroom dance. Yes, it sounds a bit unusual but I think it is somewhat tasteful as well.
Afterwards, the bulk of the crowd headed back to the disco for a lingerie show. The crowd was ready to party so the fashion show may have been not the best segue into getting people to stay in the disco for dancing. It was probably a bit past 11pm when the dancing finally started. The crowd was lively as many Desire Cabo Refugees had arrived. However, the crowds did mostly leave for their rooms or the Jacuzzi lounge after less than an hour of dancing. My wife and I alternated between the lobby bar and the disco for most of the night. We were not keen on getting back in the Jacuzzi after a five hour soak earlier in the day so we kept C&M from Arizona (aka Disco King & Queen, aka CLG) company until they shut the disco down around 2am. It was a blast dancing most of the night and perhaps it was our heaviest night of drinking for the week. Artemio (Art) in the lobby bar became our favorite Pearl Bartender. And as for Last Man Standing Pearl Edition, it would be difficult to play as there was not anyone around after 2am to play against. We stuck around till 3am before heading to bed, a very promising first day at the Pearl.
Party tip: 5 hour energy drinks work very well, they don’t make you bloated like other carbonated or overly sweet energy drinks
Thursday July 4th, Independence Day
We woke a bit later than normal and noticed some very fit and attractive women gathering outside the lawn near our balcony. The yoga class was going to be held on the grass near the quiet end of the pool. My wife was still feeling a bit sore from her strenuous fitness class earlier in the week but thought that yoga may help her stretch out her sore muscles so she headed down to join the class.
I leisurely got ready for the day, headed over to the lobby for a cappuccino and to get a clean wifi connection. Unfortunately, the wifi was spotty at best in our room and was more often off then on. My wife had a massage scheduled for 11:30am so we headed out to the spa right after her yoga class. At the other Desire Resorts, the facilities inside the spa are mostly coed with the staff allowing men to be in the women’s steam room or vice versa. It was unclear, but the Pearl Spa seemed to want to keep the facilities gender specific. After we checked in and got lockers, my wife went to her appointment and I went to get a steam. On each side of the facilities is a cold splash pool, a hot soak pool, a sauna and some shower stalls. There also a Swedish Shower Stall with a pull chain that shot out a cold jet blast of water from walls and from the rain shower up top. Wow, what a wake me up that was. Overall, the spa is very clean and well maintained and the staff very friendly. My wife enjoyed her back and neck massage, but again not spectacular. We did have an appointment booked with Claudia for the next day so we would forego our Desire Sensuous Massage this year.
After a very invigorating shower, I went back to the room and relaxed. About half an hour later, my wife was finished with her massage and we were both famished. Our first meal of the day would be lunch at Aphrodite. We love sitting outside on the terrace overlooking the beach. Today, we ordered the tres tacos off of the a la carte lunch menu and they were delicious. There was also a special BBQ set up for the 4th of July festivities and decorations all around the pool area. Many guests were in the spirit of the day donning very nice stars and stripes attire when they weren’t nude.
Finishing our lunch, we went over to the beach area and found 2 nice loungers with a large Palapa shade. After relaxing for a bit and enjoying the nice ocean breeze, we decided to go take a walk on the pier. It is usually unlocked, sometimes the security guards stand by the gate, but mainly because they use it as a vantage point to see the beach traffic. It was a very relaxing place to sit and enjoy the sun, shade and spectacular views of the ocean. I also found it to be a bit windy, locating a great place to go naked flying under the large palapa structure at the end of the pier (a reference to my Desire RM trip report). We didn’t bring our camera, but I mentioned to my wife that we should get up early tomorrow and take another walk as the pier is definitely a Kodak spot.
Making our way back to the beach loungers, we enjoyed the afternoon relaxing, occasionally going into the ocean and grabbing drinks on the beach side of the swim up bar. It began getting too breezy by the mid-afternoon so we headed over to the Jacuzzi lounge as the pool water seemed a bit chilly. We ran into J&M and D&M again at the Jacuzzi as they taxied over from Desire RM. They said the Pearl was a lot livelier during the day and had a very festive atmosphere. The foam party was also planned to take place at RM later that night, so we made plans to head over there after dinner. We spent most of the late afternoon chatting and drinking and just enjoying the vibe of the day.
Later during the day, a woman that I exchanged appreciative glances with the previous day in the Jacuzzi came over and introduced herself. H&C was from Washington State, H was just my type hot, flirty, and naughty. Losing track of time but I’m assuming it was late afternoon, we spent quite a bit of time enjoying each other’s company. My wife spent most of the time near the bar area with H’s husband while we spent a lot of time together in another part of the immense Jacuzzi. After a very long make out session, which I recalled started when the sun was out, the sky was now completely dark. My wife and I had a great time with H&C and they wanted to take things privately, but timing for tonight would not work out. As we reconvened back into a group, we realized that we would need to get ready for dinner and then head back over to Desire RM for the foam party.
It was 8:30pm when we went to the Buffet restaurant for Oriental night. There definitely needs some improvements for this dining night. It was probably the worst of any of the buffets we have had at Desire, but we do have some pretty high standards for Asian food. But a meal of convenience is what we needed and that is what we got. Since there is not a need to dress up for the Foam party, we planned to catch a cab right after dinner. As we reached the lobby, we asked the front desk to call over and verify the foam party at RM was still on the schedule. As we waited, we watched the enthusiastic entertainment staff dressed in their 4th of July outfits trying to whip the crowd into a frenzy.
Unfortunately, the lobby staff member reported back that the Foam Party had been canceled again. Not exactly sure what to do, we decided to regroup back at our room. Feeling a bit tired from the long day and the 5 hour Jacuzzi soak, we decided our most pressing need was a nap. We actually slept for 2 hours and contemplated going back out to the disco or lobby bar, but in the end we decided to enjoy the room and have a quiet night in.
Friday, July 5th
We actually woke up early and it was the first night of the trip we slept for more than 5 hours. This would be a great opportunity to explore the various areas of the resort while most guests where still sleeping and be comfortable with taking a few pictures while all is quiet. We got our beach bag and camera. My wife wore a wrap and we headed out to the Jacuzzi, pool and beach areas. Our final destination was the pier, where we took the most pictures. It is rare that we have too many pictures of our trip so this was a nice way to supplement the trip report which is the best way for us to relive our trips.
We had actually wanted to try a professional photo shoot that is offered by the resort, but we were not interested in purchasing single shots for $10, but would want all the pictures of the shoot on a memory card. However, we could never get details on the costs of doing that. After walking most of the resort common areas, we decided to grab a some coffee and juice as we had a couples massage appointment with Claudia in Puerto Morelos. The cab ride was approximately 15 minutes from the resort and we arrived a few minutes before our 10am time slot.
This was our first time seeing Claudia as our timing on previous trips did not work out. Her massage studio is highly air conditioned and with all the fans blowing, it actually is a bit too cool and loud inside. She does play music during the massage and is very good about explaining her techniques and goal of the session. Although I do massage my wife semi regularly at home, I did enjoy the session mirroring her movements on my wife and also learning breathing techniques for relaxing. I would say the sensuous massage is geared more towards feeling arousal through touch and not techniques for completion or orgasm. We both did enjoy the massage and will use the skills acquired to enhance our own massage sessions.
On the way back to the resort, we drove through Puerto Morelos a bit before reaching the resort. I asked to stop by a convenience store (Oxxo) and was greeted at the door by a shotgun toting security guard. A bit surprising, but that’s about as effective a deterrent to shoplifting as I have ever seen in a store (I’m just here for some gum). We didn’t really have breakfast so we headed to Aphrodite when we got back to the Pearl. Lunch was again delicious and the servers are always great. We did find out that it would be Mexican Night a la carte style that night so we were looking forward to dinner.
This would be our final full day so we wanted to make sure we got in some time to relax. We chose loungers at the beach under a palapa that was fairly close to the swim up bar and restaurant. Today was probably the hottest day of the week. The sun was very strong so we stayed under shade for most of the afternoon. We did manage another walk to the pier in the afternoon and watched one of the lifeguards diving for lobsters on the beach right in front of the resort. There were also two men with a kayak that worked most of the day dragging large rocks from the water in front of the beach. They would fill up 20 buckets a day filled with large rocks and broken concrete pieces. Of course, there were also the huge mounds of seaweed that requires daily sweeping. A lot of work goes into keeping the resort enjoyable for all of us and seeing that hard work makes me appreciate that it does not come easy.
As the day got late we headed over to the Jacuzzi lounge for a warming soak. Our friends from RM were visiting again and relayed news that the Foam party was on. They even saw the equipment being setup in the Jacuzzi lounge. We decided to give it one more try or would regret not going. Not wanting to stay too long in the Jacuzzi, we left to get ready for dinner around 6pm.
Mexican Dinner Night was a la carte style as we ordered the Al Pastor tacos off the menu. As we both love tacos we each ordered our own set of three tacos and since they were not very large, we decided to order one more set of three to share. The a la carte items and service at the Aphrodite restaurant was always top notch. We will probably give the Pearl Restaurant more of a chance on our next visit and will definitely need to try the sushi terrace.
After finishing dinner, we headed to the lobby to catch a taxi to Desire RM. Tonight’s theme at Pearl was actually Red, White and Blue which seemed a bit strange for July 5th. There was a Reggae style band playing in the lobby that was quite good as we left the resort for an epic night of bubbly fun. The cab ride seemed to take a long time in the dark as the roads between resorts are riddled with potholes. I imagined hitting one of the craters too hard and being stuck with a flat out in the darkness. We did eventually make it to RM and headed to the Jacuzzi lounge to find our spot. They were just about to start an acrobatics show involving a tall pole. Three muscular men would scale the pole, do amazing holds and movements. Their gravity defying moves were the most entertaining show of the week.
After they cleared away the pole, a portable wall was moved in to cover the stairway leading up to the lounge and they began the foam machines. The DJ was located on the raised area above the Jacuzzi overlooking the beds. The Jacuzzi was transformed into a club with disco lights and the foam machines attached to large metal braces overhanging the lounge. The crowd got wild as the foam began oozing out of the machines overhead. Soon the entire dance area was filled. There were times that the foam would rise several feet over our head and we had to wade to a clear spot just to breathe. Even the times we were on top of the Jacuzzi beds dancing, the foam would still sweep over us causing mild panic. Eventually, we figured out the optimal places to dance and not be worried about being consumed by an avalanche of bubbles. Most of the crowd was naked. However, a few women wore bottoms as they were probably a bit worried about accidental penetration. The foam was slippery and skin on skin contact felt incredible. It was impossible not to get any in your eyes and it did sting a bit, but overall I was surprised by how easy it was to move around and not slip. We did take breaks every once in a while and rinsed out our eyes and grab a drink. Carlos was working the bar and he said that the foam party was by far the most fun theme night according to the guests.
We danced most of the time by ourselves, but sometimes we would get into groups where the ladies would rub against each other as the men danced on the periphery. I think most men behaved themselves and did not grope anyone except their own wives unless invited by others. As for sexual activity, it was a bit difficult to see what others were doing, but I know my wife and I had a bit of sexual activity as the foam covered up our fun. At one point, the foam machines stopped and there was only about two feet of foam on the beds. I proceeded to lie back on one of the beds while my wife straddled me and I am happy to report that foam sex and foam dancing is equally fun. The foam party went on for almost two hours with a bit of a brief break in between foam making, perhaps to reload the machines. After an amazing time, most of the guests headed into the Jacuzzi which was packed. After a 30 minute soak in the Jacuzzi, we said goodbye to our RM friends and headed to the lobby to catch a ride back to Pearl.
Despite the long taxi ride back, we arrived at Pearl still feeling the adrenaline rush from the party. As we entered the completely quiet Pearl lobby around 2:30am, we wondered where the party was. The disco was empty and not a soul could be found in the lobby bar area except for Artemio. We weren’t quite ready for bed and also not really keen on getting wet again at the Jacuzzi lounge so we decided to just drink a bit and keep Art company before turning in. We did remember to shower off the foam remnants on our bodies before slipping into bed.
The Foam Party at RM was the most fun we have had dancing anywhere, anytime!
Saturday, July 6th Checkout Day
We had arranged to have breakfast delivered to us on our last morning. We dined on Huevos Rancheros, Green Chilaquiles with chicken and an Egg White Omelet. Room service was right on-time at 9am. We chose to eat on our balcony and enjoy the great weather that morning. The food was quite tasty and provided us with much needed nourishment after the prior nights activities. Packing was not too difficult or time consuming, but we did have to remember the proper weight distribution so our luggage would not be over the allowable amounts. Our luggage was picked up and held for us in the lobby and we checked out a bit after 11am. Our transport would not be at the resort until 2:30pm so we went to the spa where we were given a locker to store some items before we left the resort.
We didn’t need to get a spot at the beach or the pool so we decide to just put our beach bag and clothes at the Jacuzzi Lounge cubbies. Being one of the warmer days, we decided to spend our final hours in the pool. We enjoyed a few blended mojitos while catching up with a few friends. We chatted with J&D our necklace making friends and we finally caught up with H&C from Washington. We would have liked to spend more time with them, but timing was just not in the cards for us this trip. A few lingered kisses and touches would be all the time we would have before heading off to lunch. We had another delicious meal at Aphrodite and went to the spa for a shower before heading to the lobby for our transport.
As we left the resort, we felt very satisfied with our week. The plan was to be a bit more active during the first part of our week while at RM with a few relaxing days at Pearl. As for our overall impressions of Pearl, better rooms, better food, nicer pool and Jacuzzi areas. Staff was good overall, but also sometimes spotty. As for future trips, we feel that three days was not enough time to make a complete assessment of Pearl. Our next week long trip may actually consist of three days at Desire RM and then four days at the Pearl or vice versa depending on when the foam party fell into our dates. Ideally, the best option would be to spend one week in the summer at Desire RM and another week at the Pearl for a winter retreat.
A warning about Saturday Departures: 2 hours arrival at the airport was not enough time for a Saturday afternoon departure. In order to make our flight, they had to pull us from the massive line after the one hour cutoff time for baggage check in.
