Desire Pearl Resort & Spa

We just returned from our ninth trip to Pearl. When you arrive on a repeat visit you are greeted with “Welcome Home”! And it feels that way. Compared to the huge resorts in the Cancun Hotel Zone, Pearl is smaller and more comfortable, busy but not hectic. The staff is amazing, they make it feel like home, really better as they are welcoming and eager to do everything for you to make your visit a pleasure. The size and atmosphere make it easy to meet and become friends with the guests which makes it all the more enjoyable. We keep in touch with some people we have met at Pearl and sometimes coordinate trips. Pearl has a great team of people that made our visit enjoyable which started with Alexis and the bell staff welcoming us and getting our bags to the room. We had Carlos and Michele as our butlers and they did a great job making sure everything was going smoothly - it was! The Pool team Victor, Horatio, Miguel and Antonio are alway welcoming and make sure we are set with towels and loungers or a day bed and are all terrific. The pool servers, Gabi, Abraham, Seriviano made sure we had the beverages we wanted when we lounged by the pool. Of course most of the time was in the pool or hot tub and the swim up bars have a terrific team of bartenders, Saul, Luis, Luis Lopez, Rosenberg, Cobb, Aaron and too many to mention. The super restaurant servers include Wilbert, Oliver, Carmen, Edilberto, and hostess Esmeralda and Jerry in the Mansion. Martinez, the sommelier, hosted an amazing Tequila tasting and the Seduction Dinner which is a true experience. And on our three visits to the spa, Desiree, Veronica, Jesus and others made each visit special. And last but not least, Elvin the Lifeguard who was ready with his first aid kit to bandage a scape and then check back the next day that all was OK. A really amazing staff! Such a terrific place we go in Spring and Fall every year.

It’s been a few years since we last took a Caribbean vacation, spending time in Maine and 30-A in the Florida panhandle the last couple of years. It was time, time to go back to sun, sand and tanning all over. If you by chance have read prior reviews, we thoroughly enjoy a naked vacation. There is something about the freedom, skinny dipping and tanning all over in a tropical setting that is good for the soul. It’s a great reset from the stress of life and work. And I should mention with our late October time frame we were free for 10-days from all political commercials, what a relief!! As much as we both love Jamaica with the wonderful people and delicious food, after discussion and consultation with our trusted travel agent, we decided on Mexico, with clothing optional a priority. Desire Pearl in the Riviera Maya area was our choice, about a 20-25-minute drive from the airport in Cancun. This was our first trip to Mexico, although I had been to Cancun 25-years ago in another life, we wanted to avoid the beach strip. We couldn’t be happier with our choice. Even after an adventurous arrival flying into Hurricane Nadine outer bands. The flight was fine, but the adventure began with the ride from the airport. What should have been 25-minutes turned into an hour plus. A lot of the roads were flooded, especially the turn off roads to the resorts which were gravel through the Mangrove jungles. The saying, “Turn around and don’t drown,” crossed our minds numerous times. It didn’t help that our driver took us to the wrong Desire resort and had to double back thru the flooding. We arrived at the Desire Pearl during the worst of the storm with torrential rain and winds blowing 25-30mph. After checking in we had to wait about 2-hours for it calm down enough to walk to the room. Fortunately, the party that normally occurs at the pool had moved into the lobby. We grabbed a couple of drinks and joined in the activities. We immediately figured out this was a different kind of resort; a poker game was going on with most of the players partially dressed. It appeared that the losers got naked butts spanked, got to kiss someone or had to remove more clothing! An interesting start to the vacation. The hurricane passed and the rest of the vacation the weather was perfect. Let me remind the readers, we are not into the “lifestyle” (LS), we simply enjoy being nude in the outdoors. However, after reading reviews and forums, we were fully aware of the lifestyle vibe at the Desire Pearl resort. And we were certainly excited about the prospects of some visual delights around the famous hot tub. We were not disappointed, a there was just enough naughtiness and PDA without over doing it. And maybe we were a little bit naughty too! On to the review, we were actually quite pleased with the vibe. I would guess that a high percentage of the guests were in the lifestyle. While we got hit on a few occasions, no one was pushy, no meant no, and everyone respected our position. We made some awesome, fun, new LS friends that we will keep in touch in the future. They were just as interested in learning about us as we were learning about them. I have said many times before, as your clothes come off, so do all the barriers. People are much more social, honest, and friendly. It’s kind of hard to be a jerk when you are naked. So, in bullet point format, here are the highlights: • Resort – For us it was the perfect size, about 80 room with about 50-60 couples there, a very large pool overlooking the Caribbean, all room buildings had a view, and great service. • Food – way better than expected from reviews and we consider ourselves novice foodies. The 3 restaurants had varied menus to satisfy all tastes. Oddly, we enjoyed the breakfast buffet at Aphrodite (and we are not buffet people) the most, We are not early risers on vacation, but found our way there just before the turnover to lunch around 11:00 each day. Let’s call that brunch. The local Mexican fare on the buffet was delicious, especially the fruit. We did not eat American bacon and eggs any morning. • Rooms – exceptionally good condition and large with incredible ocean views, comfortable bed and impeccably cleaned each day. The bathroom shower barely big enough for 2, but we made do. Rooms are for sleeping and loving and were more than adequate for us. • Grounds – were tropical, immaculately maintained with a great layout. • Staff – Excellente!!!! All were polite and accommodating from the servers to the room staff, to the front desk. We loved the playmakers that were entertaining, engaging and fun. • Shout outs to: o Candice aka “Can dis dick go in you,” her words, not mine. She was vivacious, talented, fun and her energy was contagious. o Felix – very handsome and equally fun and engaging. o Saul – the lobby bartender who figured out how to make a decent Gin & Tonic with bad tonic, not easy to do. o Gabriella – Our pool server that was always sure to make we were well taken care of, o Miguel – our pool attendant that made sure we had chairs, towels, and umbrella daily. o The entertainers – all of them were incredibly talented, including the playmakers pool staff and the nightly entertainment. There singing, dancing, athleticism, and humor were all excellent. o Guests – the average age for our trip was in the 50’s on a standard bell curve based on my observation. There were certainly some 30-40’s and many on the retirement age side. My observation is that if you were at the airport and imagined the people around you naked, that was the guest list. We met so many fun people with interesting stories and life experiences for a very vanilla couple. I would rate the people we met as the best thing about the resort and our trip. All were genuine, fun, open and chatty. o And to everyone that served the guests of varying sizes, shapes, ages that were buck naked all day long with grace, courtesy and a smile. • Costume nights – I had to be encouraged to break my mold a bit and we participated every night and I was happy we did; it was so much fun. Leigh got progressively more provocative as the week went on and it was a blast. • Couples sensual message – We stepped way out of our comfort zone and did the couples’ sensual massage. Our massage therapists, Fernado and Tess were highly professional and talented. The experience was very sensual, very erotic, and a little naughty. They understood our limits, pushed them to the edge and left us eager for each other. We both could have said no at any time, but she never did and neither did I. We simply enjoyed the teasing and fantasy, then devoured each other. The half hour of alone time after the massage included a bubble filled jacuzzi and chilled champagne with chocolate covered strawberries. Maybe the most memorable time of our trip. In summary, this was an awesome trip. The resort was a 4.5-5-star rating. The food, staff and service were 5-star. We relaxed, tuned out the world, met wonderful new friends, reconnected, knocked down a few barriers, had long needed open healthy conversations, pushes a few limits, were a wee bit naughty and had lots of fun. We highly recommend Desire Pearl.

Where do we start, from the bellman Alex, the housekeeper, we love Gabi, Yolanda got wifey Oat Milk and made us laugh dancing out by the pool one afternoon. The hostess at Aphrodite Restaurant we just call Pretty Eyes. Javier who would cut down fresh coconuts for wifey, bartenders Aaron, Christian, & Luis. Carmen the server of course (great smile).. Spa folk were very nice as well. Thank you Victor and Antonio who manage the poolside lounge chairs. And last but not least, wifey says thank you Playmaker Sam aka who we call him Fabio

After many trips, we have found decisions to be made by leadership to be less than stellar. The fun that used to exist at the resort is no longer encouraged. So many memberships have been sold that the biggest intention now is figuring out how to make more money rather than pleasing the guest now that the money is locked in. I have never bought a membership and never will. The decision to go is based on me wanting to be there and the fun and lifestyle factor has all but disappeared. The food is OK, some of the workers are phenomenal. The hot tub has become boring as it appears they have placed boring bartenders there to limit alcohol intake and save money. No one is there that incentivizes fun in the hot tub any longer. Well, I would like to point to different things, the money being spent on the failures in the Dominican Republic and the upgrades at Riviera Maya seem to be driving decisions, more than guest happiness. We would love to go back and see changes that existed 10 years ago come back into play But with the prices, steadily increasing and the fun factor steadily decreasing, we are going to watch this a while before we make another decision to attend, although we usually went three times a year

Pearl hosted our group for the second year in a row and this year was even better than last. Dan (guest services manager) and all the staff at Pearl were amazing. We have been going to Desire (first RM and now Pearl) for many years and always look forward to coming back. See you in 2025 Desire!