Bill (Swimstein) - February, 2008
We were in camp from 2/8-18/08. Met many old friends and had a GREAT vacation. Food in the main dining room, except for the pastries, was as good or better than most years. Everything we tried at Pastafari was the best we had ever had there. The piano bar was rocking at least 3 nights with Ike playing. A little more time at Hedo II and more counseling by the old-timers and Ike might make an “A” grade. The Disco reportedly was sort of dead. The overall energy level seemed to be down a bit even though the Bubbly Bares were in house for their 25th Anniversary. There were very few singles there during our stay, not that that is either good or bad.
There were so many negative posts about Hedo II service and facilities problems during December 07 through January 08 that I promised myself and others that I would take time out from having a great vacation to take a critical look at the resort and listen to complaints of others. So what do I have to report... not much. In our room, the dispensor in the shower had shampoo and conditioner, but the third dispensor button was busted. We had a cracked tile too, but the AC and everything else worked fine. We heard of one guest complain that the AC in their room was not working. One guest complained that they had no hot water for three evenings in a row. We had a full house most of the time we were there and I would guess that is the reason that we heard several complaints regarding how long it took to get rooms assigned.
There were no bananas or limes for drinks and the bars ran out of the better brands of booze as the day or night wore on, which has been happening for 6 to 8 years now. We never had a problem getting something good to drink though and the bar service was great. When asked about the banana and lime problem, Delroy grinned and said “Soon Come Mon.” What else would he say. All in all, the problems appeared about the same in type and number as we have experienced since 1993.
I spotted Roberto Pellico, the new manager, strolling the grounds and/or dining areas at least 5 of the 10 days we were there. I talked with him once and he seemed to be a genuine nice guy. I never thought the conditions at Hedo II were that bad and always considered the facility and the price to be 3 star, but I would Roberto to improve things to 3 star plus over time. One thing I had never seen before was some of the lounges being rotated off the beach for cleaning virtually every day.
As an advocate of such behavior, I was happy to see throughout our ten days that there were guests sunbathing or walking nude on the prude side all day long. This includes the nude beach, main pool deck, and of course the water slide. There were mixed nude/prude water volleyball games in the main pool at least two afternoons. On the prude beach sometimes a couple was nude enjoying the company of a clothed couple. In other instances, one partner was nude and the other clothed. The Reggae Cafe (old prude beach grill) was open all day for grilled sit down meals and jerk chicken (serving both nudes and prudes). I asked several staffers if there had been a policy change and was told all prude areas were clothing optional for the week. Apparently we can expect the C/O policy to be in place January-March and several months in the fall. One manager told me that we should expect that policy whenever there were a large majority of nude Hedonists in house. There was some X rated action to be seen here and there at any time of day or night on the nude side, but it was not in your face, one had to look for it.
I, like many others, continue to enjoy the quaint or rustic feel of the resort (warts and all), the freedom from society’s encumbrances, and the respect shown for one another by the guests and staff at the resort.