Robert & Deborah - February, 2013

Deborah and I were booked with Desire Pearl from February 7 to 18, 2013.  We were booked into a Passion Suite room #7. Our Butler was primarily Carlos, a wonderful asset to the Desire team. Kudos also go out to Rocky, one of the waiters, for his consistently high level of service. Victor the beach concierge, perfect!

 

Desire Pearl is a truly beautiful place!  The beach is gorgeous, as are the grounds. The water off the beach is beautiful and swimmer friendly.  We never wanted for a chaise lounge or a comfortable place to sit. Towels, as at all Desire resorts, are abundant. There were plenty of umbrellas for shade and little thatched roofs for those not wanting direct sunlight.  There is also a beautiful private pier for strolls and if you want, a private romantic evening dinner.  The swimming pool is stunning with a swim up bar!

 

The suite, we can't say enough about!  We had our own private outdoor patio, approximately 24' X 24', with a plunge pool big enough for 8 people, a double chaise  lounge and table for 4.  The temperature was always perfect in the plunge pool probably about 99 degrees.  The suite consisted of 4 areas; there was a living room with couches and chairs and TV and a dining section complete with a wet bar and fully stocked refrigerator and a half bath, there was a beautiful master bedroom with a king  bed and a sitting area, the was another room with a beautiful granite soaking tub and a huge master bath with a large closet area and ladies make up table mirror and lighting.

The super high ceilings in all of the rooms were open to each room with exposed wooden beams The only negative about the suite was that the TV in the bedroom was permanently attached to a wall facing the sitting area and could not be directed at the master bed, although it could be seen from the bed, not ideal.  Everyone we talked to loved their rooms.

 

The gym is located centrally in the resort near the lobby, in the spa building.  We didn't take advantage of the Spa except that Deborah did have her nails done to her complete satisfaction.  The gym has very old equipment and certainly needs an upgrade.  The recumbent bike would not respond to intensity level changes and many of the dumbbells of different weights were missing. The weight machines were very tired. There were plenty of towels and bottled water but no disinfecting wipes or spray to clean up the equipment before and after use.

 

The hot tub is huge and can hold a lot of people, but there was way too much shallow area of approximately 2" depth that was a total waste of space and prevents those seated near these areas from having a place to put a drink down.  Temperature was near perfect at all times.  The hot tub bar did not have any non water seating as does Desire RM.  Bathrooms are a bit of a hike from the tub:(

 

Breakfast was good, except the morning cook," Estrella?", had no clue how to cook an egg.  She would cook one side until brown and tough and then flip it over, scoop it up and serve it.  Brown on one side, raw on the other.  There seemed to be plenty of breakfast choices.  Lunch was good, there was plenty of choices and a daily grill making burgers, fish, fajitas etc.  Dinners were held either at the same location as breakfast and lunch or in the very beautiful Pearl Restaurant.  The dinners were very good, high end fine dining type dishes and presentation.  Daytime service was okay, but not nearly as good or attentive as Desire RM where the waitstaff is extraordinary!

Dinners were for the most part excellent, service varied however, dinner could take anywhere from 1hour and 15 minutes to 2 hours and 40 minutes.  Mystery to me.

 

The lobby bar is in the open covered lobby area, not outdoors and not somewhat separated as at Desire RM.  It is a smaller, one sided affair and not as conducive to conversation as the bar at Desire RM.  There are smaller, nice little groups of seats provided.  The midnight pizza is brought out and put into the little revolving warmer with no choice apparent.  At Desire RM, midnight pizza, grilled cheese or BLT's is a revered social event, not so here.

 

The night club is beautiful and the music was a bit more to my liking and the entertainment was better than at Desire RM.  We really liked the nightclub!  The playroom however, is a different story.  The playroom is very, very small.  There is no place to put your clothes and room for perhaps 6 to 8 couples, maybe.  They really need to blow out that mostly useless store in the lobby and extend the back wall of the playroom into that space, better!

 

The daytime noise level at Desire Pearl was at times excruciating!  Those damn EC's would not stop blowing their stupid whistles or screaming at the top of their lungs through the P.A. system.  Very few people participated in the volleyball games, at most 2 to 4 guests and the EC's, really, no freaking whistle needed.  During the low guest participation games around the pool the EC's would, I guess, try to create excitement by screaming into the P.A. system.  Really, there are some people who like to take naps after a long evening of partying or spend quiet social times with friends.  I and several others I know of complained about the noise.  Don't try so hard, we'll get up and join in if WE feel like it and no amount of screaming is going to encourage participation.  We wouldn't return unless guaranteed a room further away from the south end of the pool.

 

Several guests I know of, including us, at times felt a little sick.  I think having alcohol gel stations placed around the resort so staff and guests can be diligent in hand cleanliness might be a good idea and relatively cheap to implement.

 

Upon our arrival the resort was maybe 40 percent occupied and eventually became almost full.  The resort seemed to handle the guests well at all levels of attendance.

 

Would we return?  I know the resort is new and of course they have already laid out a lot of big bucks to get it to where it stands today.  However it is going to require tweaking and that costs money in order to draw people away from Desire RM and of course, establish Pearl in it's own right.  While people, and us too, raved about the rooms and the beauty of Pearl's beach and pool, it's still about THE EXPERIENCE and for now that's at Desire RM.

 

Thanks, Robert & Deborah