Live Report - Aug 16-23. 2014 - 4th Desire, 1st Pearl

[Mrladysman]

Hey waab that was me and The wife dancing like crazy last night then we went to hot tub til who knows when will see you later in club wife will dress up and she wants me to dress up also ill see

[waab76]

Day 7 - Breakfast. Beach. Having a look at all the new arrivals. Retreat to the patio and plunge pool mid-afternoon while Mrs goes to the library to see the results of yesterday's photo shoot. Lobster dinner at Pearl. Chilling with Fabian by the hot tub. sin Circus at the disco (which included Olympic-level performances from gymnast dude and contortionist girl). Dancing with the small but happy disco crowd. Back to the hot tub for a bit. Back to the room to sleep. It was a very relaxing last full day and now that we are just a few hours from checkout time, I can't believe how quickly it's all gone by.

I will circle back and do a wrap-up post after we get home.

[ironranger]

thanks for the reviews! Can't wait for our first trip to Pearl!

[tan44]

Thank you for taking time to write this great live report.

[yoyo]

good job waab and have a safe trip home !!

[maltesefalcon]

Sounds like a great trip (minus the droptrow dude). Can't wait for our October trip to get here!

[waab76]

Day 8 - Muffin got up early-ish to catch her 9:30 ride to the airport. Mr and Mrs slept in a bit longer before getting up to pack. We ordered coffee and omelets from room service to fuel the packing frenzy. A little after 11, we informed the butler that our bags were ready. We went to the lobby, settled the outstanding bill for spa services, and filled out the survey. Our ride arrived at 12, and we were off to the Cancun airport.

Thank the gods we were flying first class. We got to the airport 2 hours before takeoff, but the lines were so long, I'm not sure we would have gotten through in time. Checked the bags, breezed through security, picked up a few gallons of tequila at the duty free, had a disappointing burger at Margaritaville, and got on the oldest 757 in American Airlines' fleet for the ride to Dallas.

Immigration and customs were a breeze. However, we were very disappointed to learn that only international first class passengers can use the Admiral's Club and the only "international"city in Central America is Mexico City. We may have started a mild twitter war with @AmericanAir over the issue. Anyway, we got Starbucks and trekked out to Terminal E - the crappiest terminal at DFW airport - to catch our Alaska Airlines flight back to the Pacific Northwest.

Now we're home, safe and sound, and dreading unpacking.

General Wrap Up - We loved our room at Pearl, but we missed the staff and general vibe of Riviera Maya. At RM, we only went to the room to sleep. At Pearl, we actually spent time in the room relaxing, eating, and drinking as a regular part of the day. We also made more use of room service on this trip than on previous trips. Granted, being Premier - and thus not having to pay the $10 room service charge - makes it a lot easier. Anyway, on to the questions I started the report with:

Foam party - We didn't see anything special about it. I think the problem for us was timing. We arrived after 12 hours of travel just in time for the foam. Holding the foam party on a "travel day" when lots of guests are coming and going just seems wrong to us.

Beach - Very comparable to RM. If anything, there were fewer looky-loos on the Pearl beach than we saw at RM. Also, Pearl has the lovely pier.

Rooms - Hands down, Pearl wins. The rooms are great.

Fauxnuts - Oh yeah, there were fauxnuts on the menu. It was a lot of fun. Ham biscuits!

Hot Tub - The hot tub is larger than RM but has fewer options for dry socializing. Many times during the week, I found myself wishing that the hot tub bar had a dry side like the one at RM so we could be social without being nipples-deep in boiling hot water. Also, with only 4 beds and 1 lounger, you need to be using the bed or giving it up. And leaving your stuff on it while you're in the hot tub is just plain rude.

Pool - We only visited the pool after dark for naughty fun times.

Ginger Detective for Muffin to Play With - No such luck.

All in all, we enjoyed our time at Pearl, but aside from the great rooms, felt it was not as enjoyable as Riviera Maya. We aren't "party people", but we like having the option to join a party already in progress and then move back out of it when we get tired of it. At RM, people socialize in and around the hot tub and dance in the disco. At Pearl, there's less talking in the hot tub (and no place to sit outside the hot tub) and the disco empties very quickly. We will probably be sticking to RM in the future.

[yoyo]

Thanks Waab76 !!