David - January, 2009

H2 Trip Report 1/8-1/19 of 2009

 

This was our 4^th trip to H2 and our last trip was in January of 2005.

 

When we arrived in the afternoon on 1/8 via TimAir, the resort seemed to be almost deserted.  We didn't see more than 25 couples around at any one time.  On Friday afternoon the crowd doubled, and then doubled again on Saturday and the party definitely started.

 

We met many new people, made many new friends, and did have much fun.

 

On the positive side:

 

* The Scotch Bonnet café offered jerk chicken every day, as well as many other great dishes.  We could just go over anytime during the day (11am until 6pm) to get a fix for our jerk chicken cravings or for the curried conch.

 

* The safe in the room is a nice electronic model, so there is no more key to keep track of.

 

* The a/c unit in our room (2246) worked great.  All we had to do was set the temperature via the digital thermostat and forget it.

 

* The new towel program worked out very well for us.  There were always new towels available whenever we needed to exchange ours for fresh ones.

 

* The house band, Roots Explosion.

 

* Augustus was in fine form our whole stay.

 

* Watching all the beach hustlers and timing how many *seconds* they could stand still on the beach before security was all over them.

 

 

On the negative side:

 

* There was no beach party on Friday 1/9/2009.  Not even any lobster in the main dining room.

 

* Very few people did togas on the two toga nights that we were there for, and you had to make a special request to get sheets to wear.   Why does H2 tout toga night and not put any effort behind it?

 

* The stereo volume at the nude beach and the main dining room were so loud that you could not hear the person speaking next to you.  We actually asked several times to have the volume turned down, which lasted less than 5 minutes before it was turned back up to painful levels.  This resulted in many people leaving the dining room at the start of the entertainment.  We resorted to turning down the beach stereo our selves when we could not hear the person in the chair next to us talking, and we were over 100 feet away from the speakers!

 

* The only outside entertainment that was brought in was one local male singer (don't remember his name) with a great voice and a steel drum band for the beach party on 1/16/2009.  We really missed a lot of the local acts that H2 used to bring in.

 

* Very cheap paper napkins were set out at lunch instead of cloth.  These were so cheap that one wipe with them and they fell apart.

 

* Tiny disposable drink cups (6 oz) are now given out from the bars.  On our last visit they used hard plastic tumblers that held at least 50% more than the disposable cups.  I am not sure if this was an effort to have people drink less, so people just resorted to ordering twice as many of the same drink.

 

* The food selection at the buffet was very limited and of low quality most days.  There were a few exceptions during two dinners during our stay.   Several days there was little fruit and no pineapple for 2 days.  We also noticed trays of food going empty and not being refilled.  One night we asked if there was more rice they could put out to replace the empty tray, we were told no.  This was at 9pm and they are supposed to serve food until 10pm.

 

* The dining room coffee machine was out of service for two days.  Instant coffee was given out as a substitute.

 

* The service around the resort was somewhat slower than usual.  We also witnessed employees yelling at each other in anger.  The understaffing that H2 has done to save money is really starting to have an effect on it's employees moral.

 

* Very poor service in Pastafari two times.  Pastafari used to be one of the experiences we really looked forward to at H2.  During our first dinner at Pastafari, we waited 1 hour and 35 minutes to get two courses for dinner (at 7:30 pm), we gave up after 10 more minutes waiting for desert and headed over to the main buffet.  Our second experience was just slightly better, but waiting 10 minutes at the door to be seated was an ominous sign of what was to come.  The volume of the stereo in the main dining room even intruded inside of Pastafari, where the base would put ripples in the water in our glasses.

 

* No alarm clock (or any clock for that matter) in our room.  The under sink pipes leaked.  No pen or pad of paper in the room.  TV remote didn't work.  The shower door routinely came off the guide rails.

 

 

The overall H2 experience has continued to decline since our last visit, and this visit was our last until the resort has a major realignment to correspond with the cost.  We talked to three other couples that felt the same way, and for one of them it was their 14^th trip to H2.