Roy - December, 2009

Hedonism II - December 27, 2009 - January 2, 2010

For Perspective: We are an monogamous married couple in our early 50’s. We have been fortunate enough to have been able to vacation at a lot of different places over the years. Some with our kids and some as a couple without them. We have been to Hedo II many times, but have also been to just about all of the SC resorts in Jamaica as well as Beaches Family resorts, some Club Med Resorts, a couple of way too large and impersonal Mega-Resorts south of Cancun. Hedo II is the place we have the most fun and is the resort we have visited the most times but we are not so addicted that we don’t go other places too.

Travel to Jamaica: We flew from Washington-Dulles and connected through Charlotte. With enhanced security and struggling airlines slowing things down travel has gotten to be less and less fun for us. We always used to fly AirJamaybe out of BWI for years but stopped because we live so much closer to Dulles.
We will likely make the drive to BWI again just to go back the the non-stop flight. It is becoming too stressful to have to connect because it just gives us twice the chances to get delayed.

MBJ (Sangster) is more efficient by far than it used to be. This is an airport that has come a long way since our first experience there in 1989. The investment Jamaica has made in the airport, like the investment they have made in the past to provide safe, tasty drinking water right from the taps has helped Jamaica to be a success. And a far better vacation choice for us than anywhere we have been in Mexico.

Shuttle to the resort: It is nice to get a bottle of water at the SuperClubs desk while waiting for our bus, but I have long wished they would put in a Red Stripe tap like they have over in the Sandals area. I have really enjoyed a frosty beer there in the past while waiting with my family of our bus to one of the Beaches resorts. Get with it SC!
After only a very short wait we were in our shuttle and on our way. No one pushed for a bathroom stop so even with the very slow pace near MoBay due to continued road construction we were at the resort within about 90 min.

Check-In and Room: Warm welcome at Hedo even with Tony gone, still, a very nice welcome. Our room was ready when we arrived at 3:00PM (RM 1205, Ocean View Prude) and we were in it in no time at all. The room was great. There were only small problems in the room. We found the safe already locked and coded so we could not begin using it ourselves. The desk sent someone quickly to open in, replace the batteries, and get it working for us very quickly. The only other thing that did not work was the remote control but when I put my own AAA batteries in it and reprogrammed it myself it was all good. I left the batteries in it for the next guest. The room was clean and in good shape. The bed was great, but not for everyone. I love a firm mattress! The shower worked better than the last one we had at Hedo. My problem is that when I get in the shower I never have my glasses on and can’t read the instructions as to how to switch to different shower heads. I seemed like trial and error to me but I was able to get water from all off the shower heads at one time or another. We had hot water every day, better than in previous trips it seemed.
We will take some shampoo with us next time. We have always been ‘okay’ with what was in the shower but this time it seemed to be a generic brand soap/shampoo and neither my wife nor I cared for it. The body soap gel was Lever 2000 and was fine.

Food: This is an area that I am unsure about over the years. I feel that the food is not as good as it used to be years ago, but that could also be that we have been there a lot and are tired of some of it. This time is was slightly better than I expected though.

Breakfast: Good Oatmeal every day. Bacon was plentiful and well-cooked. There was a second egg station set up besides Charlie’s to help keep the lines down. Most still went to Charlie for awesome omelet’s but over to the other when we just wanted scrambled or fried eggs. This was a big help and made the lines faster.

Lunch: This is when the main buffet struggles the most IMO. We tend to go there for a salad at lunch time and then have Jerk Chicken at the nude grill later in the day. This works well for us since we tend to eat dinner late when on vacation. The expanded menu at the nude grill is nice. I love having Jerk Chicken all day rather than in a late afternoon rush that used to result in a swarm of people all trying to get some before it was all gone. This is a very nice improvement!

Dinner: Pastafari - still very good, though portions very small on the entrée. I did not care for their Caesar Salad dressing but all was very nice. We ate there twice. The first time was not as nice because there was a fairly large group making a tremendous amount of noise. They seemed to be screaming at each other from just a few feet away. I am glad they were having a good time, I just wish folks (usually in groups) could have a bit more respect for others. I think this is more of a problem than it used to be. I liked Pastafari better when it stood out as a more romantic place to have a quiet dinner and a conversation, and background music as a change from the noise in the main dining room. Now there seems to be no dress code and large groups have screaming matches there. I imagine there are many who prefer it this way, but I am not one of them. Our second meal there was much nicer and even though there was a large group there that night too, they were talking instead of yelling.
Munasan: Lenroy was our chef (as he was on our last visit a year before) and all was very good. We shared the table with 3 other couples, some new to Hedo and some multiple repeaters like us. It was very good. The only real problem is that there are no walls around Munasan and the evening entertainment is so loud that it is very difficult to talk to the people at your table. I would love to see walls and some A/C added to Munasan! Food and service was very good.
Buffet at dinner was okay , good but not great by any means. The exception to this was New Years Eve when they turned out a great meal with lots of excellent sushi, roast beef, and grilled lobster tails! It was excellent! We did the mignight buffet one night at it was much better than I remembered with no scary red hot dogs, no cold sandwiches, but instead good chicken and several other choices.

Bar Service: Excellent all around! I think I got a drink from every bar on the resort and all were good and the waits were minimal considering the crowds they were dealing with sometimes. Delroy and Scumba still shine and in spite of how overwhelmed they get at times with people 3 deep waiting for drinks they get it done with a smile as long as the folks waiting are patient. Bananas were hit and miss. I drank more Bloody Mary’s than anything else this week and they were great!

Entertainment: Probably far better for a new guest than a repeater. We have seen it all and it needs to be freshened up a bit. More Winston singing is always a good thing! He is a real talent and the highlight of every show he participates in! I would also love to see more reggae bands performing at Hedo and perhaps fewer appearances of the cabaret singers like Georgia Henry singing older American top 40 songs. Please….. More reggae and more Winston.

Leaving the Resort: Due to enhanced security after an incident on an airline at Christmas we were told to allow extra time to get through security. Fortunately I checked with the front desk and got us changed to an earlier bus to the airport! They had us on the 10AM bus and that would have been far too late! Think ahead on this to make sure you have the time you need., but deal with it early on or you might find the bus you want leaving the resort is full without you.

The Resort in General:

The Grounds were beautiful and kept spotless and the Pools and Hot Tubs were clean and comfortable every day. Agustus kept the beach as nice as usual though still down a bit after the passing of his mother.

The Towel Exchange system is great. I like it and can’t imagine why it upsets people so much. There are folks I have heard threaten to never go to Hedo again because of it…. Hard to understand since it is so great to be able to have a fresh clean towel and be able to exchange for a clean one all day long. This is a Huge improvement to spending days without a towel at all as greedy gut selfish people take and hoard as many as they can find for themselves even as other end up having to do without altogether.

Beach chairs were plentiful and in good shape but more small tables are still needed to set drinks on next to the beach chairs.

We look forward to our next chance to get back to Hedo! It is more fun than any other resort we have visited!
Roy in VA