by buried20kleague » Wed Mar 30, 2016 10:30 am
I agree with what the couple other posts said, but I thought I might add a bit.
One post mentioned the plunge pool temp being hard to control. That's dead on. The first day, ours way a bit warm... Like lukewarm bath water. So we asked for the temp to be turned down a bit. That night, it was downright cold. We asked for something in the middle, and our butler told us that they're basically either "on" or "off". So we went warm, because even in the Mexican heat, at night you'd much rather not be freezing cold in a pool.
I'll speak to the party question you had. Before we went, I had read about the Penthouse parties on here, just like you have. It was my wife's 40th birthday too, so I thought setting it all up as a surprise birthday party could be really cool, unique, and completely memorable. So one day when she was down on our beach bed, I went up front and asked about the possibility of a small food buffet, a bar with a bartender, and a DJ. They told me they'd do it for $400 for three hours (I think was the length). I went back and forth, and decided I didn't want to spend that much without knowing for sure if my wife would want to have a party like that, so I didn't do it. So the next night I told her about it and she said we shouldn't spend that money... That we could just invite people up and hang out if the mood hit us. So one night we went to the jacuzzi for a while and were talking to a bunch of people (as you do), and my wife just said "So hey... Anybody wanna come up to our Penthouse and hang out on our deck and in the pool?". A number of couples (maybe 6 or 7 I think it was) jumped right in, and up we went. I ordered a ton of room service which was free obviously, and I tipped the delivery people very well. I also asked them to bring me a couple bottles of liquor, which they gladly did. We spent the next few hours hanging out and having great conversation and fun with a bunch of people, all completely naked. I remember thinking to myself a handful of times how odd a scene it was... I was in Mexico, hosting a party with a bunch of naked people that I just met, all hanging out in my room and pool and all. But the funny thing was, it felt natural, and it was just a ton of fun. And I might add that there was no swinging or fooling around, really. Maybe a couple playful grabs or butt smacks or what have you... But for the most part it was probably like any party you might have at home, only this was with naked people we didn't know two hours earlier. Sure, there was a sexual type of feel to it and probably fun conversation on the topic (I can't recall), but that was it.
The one thing I differ on from the previous posters is we were on that deck and in our pool ALL the time. We even would comment on how surprised we were that we rarely saw people on the decks. We would spend the morning till lunch on our beach bed, then eat lunch, then hang around the pool a bit, then head up to our deck and pool for a while, then back to the main pool, then to ours, etc. We loved it, plus we figured we paid a LOT of money for it, so we might as well get use out of it. That was good and bad... It was good because we felt like we got our money's worth. But it was bad because it kept us from socializing as much as we might have otherwise. If we had a normal room, there would be no reason to spend any time there, which would lead to meeting more people. As it was, it sort of isolated us at times. We still met a LOT of fun people, but we probably didn't get as close to them as we might have with a normal room. So we're going back in May, and we're going to consciously make sure that we keep a good mix of getting use out of the deck and pool, but not at the expense of socializing.
And your other question... For us, there was no way we could go back to Pearl and stay in anything but a Penthouse. We love to host, and we had such a great time at the little party we had that we have to repeat it... And having that deck and pool is priceless to us, for a number of reasons. Plus the beach beds, and transfers, and all the other little bells and whistles... It's just top notch, which we enjoy when we can.