We have been to Rm 3 times but this time stayed at Pearl.
Booked through Orbitz and USA transfers booked through the forum. Both flawless. Also did express check in which also went smooth.
Arrived on Saturday around 12:30 and dropped stuff off at the locker in the spa and luggage stored. Wife changed and we went to lunch. After lunch we got a bed at the quiet end of the pool, stripped down, and jumped in for the foam party.
Afterwards we went and got our room (memo to self - find room then start drinking. Will make life easier).
Rooms. Much larger and nicer at Pearl. Liked that we had a tub though we never used it.
Pool. Liked the larger pool but noticed less social interaction than RM as there was room to spread out. So not sure if larger is better or not.
Chairs. Impossible during our week to get a chair at the active end of the pool unless a member. But never an issue getting a chair even when it was full. But we did like the palapas and chairs on the beach. And everything is a short walk, so really didn't matter where you sat.
Beach. RM wins hands down. More seaweed and rougher sand on beach and in water at Pearl.
Food. At RM we've always had good to excellent meals. At Pearl we had good, excellent, and terrible dinners. Lunches are nicer at RM as the restaurant is outside and still part of the pool activities. Friday's lunch at Pearl was cooked outside (as was Saturday's) but Friday's lunch was one of the best meals we had.
Did enjoy not having to make dinner reservations (unless you want to eat at the sushi place) so you could choose when and where you ate at the last minute. This is a plus for Pearl.
Entertainment. We thought the shows we've had in the past at night at RM were better than Pearl's nightly entertainment.
Hot tub. Same as the pool. Liked having more seats and more room but sacrificed the forced socialization in RM's smaller hot tub. Still met a lot of folks but maybe not as many as if we had the same group at RM.
Ages. The scale shifted a little older our week at Pearl but nothing we found that different. Maybe a 5 year age shift.
Staff. Equally wonderful between both places.
So our lean would be to RM but future visits will probably be based on availability and price. If both available, we will go with the cheaper option. On this trip, with the special we caught, Pearl was the cheaper option.
Bottom line, both are wonderful and have pros and cons, but we didn't feel either one soared over the other.