Don & Deb - May, 2007
This was our second trip to Hedo II (first time was
April 05). I had kept daily notes for this trip report, but can't find
them now ("could I get some monitor, please?") We had actually booked
for Desire in Cancun, but do to changing job commitments, we had to
change dates and Desire was full for our new dates. We briefly thought
about trying Hedo III or Desire Cabo, but decided to go back to Hedo II.
We did have some apprehensions about becoming a "repeater", would we
have as much fun as we did on our first visit? would we meet any nice
people to hang out with? etc, etc.
We booked the resort through DennyP, but the flights
through expedia. When we arrived at the airport, the wife's ticket was
good but expedia had never changed my ticket from Mexico to Jamaica! We
called expedia and was on hold with two different people for over 45
minutes with no resolution. At the last possible minute, the US Air
agent gave me a round trip ticket at US Air expense. Yea US Air, boo
expedia
The flight was less than half full and getting
through immigration/customs at MoBay was quick and easy. We only waited
5 minutes for the bus to Negril with 4 other people (going to GLN). The
driver did not stop for drinks, so the ride was quick, @1 hour 10
minutes. We arrived at Hedo at 1200 noon.
Checking in at hedo was quick and easy and our room
AC was cold when we went to the room (2168, on the nude beach
overlooking the swim platform). We had been worried about the AC due to
all the threads on the message board. As we went to the nude pool, it
quickly became evident the resort was not busy at all. I believe
occupancy must have been 50%, maybe less. I don't think we saw an EC out
on the beach that first afternoon. The rest of the week they were out
and working hard to get people doing things.
Weather was good. It seemed much hotter than when we
were there before. We had pretanned and brought SPF 30 sunscreen, but by
the third day we bought some SPF 50 from the store and started laying in
the shade more than we normally would have. It did rain two afternoons
late in our stay. And most of the day we were supposed to leave.
Food was fine. Lots of people complain (on the
message board), but I think the food is more than acceptable (maybe I am
not hard to please?) with Pastafari's being excellent. Breakfast is
great also. We did not get to Musan this time either. I worry about
being so close to the heat of the cook top with the air temp being so
hot already. I mean how much do I want to sweat while eating?
Air conditioning worked when we got there, but then
went out a few days later. We called the front desk morning, noon and
evening (respectfully) to keep reminding them of the problem. We would
be told that they were working on the chillers and it would cool down in
a few hours. On the third day, they offered to move us to another room.
Before we packed, I went to ask for the key to check on how well that
rooms ac worked. The desk clerk told me that rooms ac was also out but
ours would be working in a few hours. And it was that evening when we
came in from the pool. The day before we left it went out again, but
they had it back on by that evening. Just before we got on the bus, I
spoke with Lorna and with Roger Clarke about it the issue. I was told we
would get a free night on our next visit (next year, hopefully). I was
not given any paper work to certify this and Mr. Clarke has not returned
my email I sent to ask about it.
Towels were often in short supply by the nude pool.
This surprised me, since the resort was very slow.
No art auction.
Probably the most irritating thing for the week
was the number of people on the nude side in swim suits for extended
periods of time. People lounging on the beach chairs, floating on rafts,
eating at the picnic tables, drinking at the bar, even participating in
the activities with the EC's. This was both men and women, often the
ladies would have bottoms on (that time of the month concerns, maybe?
but it is still debatable if bottoms should be allowed) I tried to not
let it bother me (kind of makes me feel petty), but it is the "nude"
side, not "clothing optional", so I feel everyone should be "nude". Some
people would say I should have said something to them if it mattered to
me. However, I don't feel it is my place to enforce the rules, the
resort staff is paid to do that. I don't want to get the rep of being
the swimsuit nazi or something and the staff should do their job. I am
not sure if it should be security telling them, or the bartenders
refusing service or the EC's telling them they can't play with clothes
on, maybe all the staff working together would be best.
Hottub wasn't too hot or too cold and there was no
"pond scum" floating around like on our last trip. There was lots of PDA
each night we were there. However, one night we didn't stay but 15
minutes or so, because the number of single men gawking outnumbered
the couples.
Last time Rick's Cafe was closed due to the hurricane
damage. We took the bus to Rick's since we had done the cat cruise
earlier in the week (cat cruise was a blast!). The sunset was nice but a
bit cloudy. Rick's is worth doing at least once, but it did seem weird
to have to pay for drinks.
Arrived at MoBay 3 hours before flight time. Waited
an hour and a half to reach the ticket counter. There we were told our
flight was delayed two hours and this would make us miss our connection
in Charlotte. The flight was also overbooked. We agreed to stay in MoBay
(at US Air expense) and fly out the next day. They gave us an all
inclusive room at Sunset Beach. It was a nice enough place, but not any
better than Hedo (and the buffet food was not as good). It rained all
day and night. The flight the next day was full but uneventful trip
home.
All in all it was a great week. Even though the
resort was very "slow", we met several great couples to talk to and hang
out with (you know who you are, it would take to long to name everyone).
A bonus is that we met several people who post on the message board, it
is great to place faces with screen names.
We can't wait till the next trip (hopefully with a free
night!)