Charlie & Bunny - May, 2011
Bunny & Charlie,
5-11-11 to 5-18-11
Now that DIF has
fully set in, thought I could give myself a little relief by actually
writing a trip report! This
was our 12th trip to Hedo II, second time going in mid-May.
We visited Wednesday to Wednesday and found occupancy to be on
the low side when we arrived; easily less than half the dining room was
set up for dinner. The crowd
picked up a little toward the weekend, when a “circus erotica” group
came in. They were a very
friendly group that put on some shows during the evening entertainment
(burlesque dancing type) that were very good.
Weather was perfect
throughout the week, not a drop of rain.
When we arrived, there was construction going on around the
serving area (grill) of the main dining room where a large tarp was up
blocking that area off & tables were set up for the serving dishes just
across from it (opposite where the coffee urns are).
It looked like they were doing work on the exhaust hoods in that
area, and was completed by the weekend.
Construction on the replacement bridge was well underway, being
performed by outside contractors.
Steel support and cross beams are being used, think this will
last a lot longer than the last one!
We booked & were
given a room on the prude/garden side, no complaints but if you depend
on a hair dryer this was the first time we (she) felt the room unit just
wasn’t getting the job done.
Our shower door was missing one of the handles which sometimes made
getting in & out a little more difficult than it should have been.
Our daily routine
pretty much consisted of getting to breakfast minutes before it would
end, back to the room to lotion up/get the beach bag organized, then
down to the nude beach & a lounger in the shade.
There are plenty of chairs (low occupancy aside) and an adequate
supply of the Hedo foam cushions.
The inflatable raft supply also looks to be plentiful.
We (she!) did utilize the Hedo “lending library” which can be
found in the nurse’s station.
There’s a limited selection so feel free to leave a book or two
on your next trip. Usually
around 2p (with the snorkel boat going out) we’d get a burger or chicken
from the grill, although we did make it up to the main dining room for
lunch a couple times.
We’d migrate to the
pool in the mid afternoon and possibly hit the hottub before returning
to the room to get ready for dinner.
I say possibly because a couple days the tub was just TO DAMN
HOT! For those that don’t
know, there is a thermometer in the filter on the side of the tub closer
to the soda dispenser – one day the temp at 5p was 108…109 another day.
We did utilize the main pool hottub a few late afternoons, where
the temps varied equally as much – like pool water to boiling, although
I will say John from watersports was around to try to make it better.
There is an on/off switch by the railing to turn on the jets.
Music at the nude pool seemed to be getting better, but still
seems to get into a rut of playing the same CD over & over for days at a
time. When you get to the point you can announce what song is coming up
next it might be time to put in a new disk.
And a little reggae in the mix would be good - all over the
resort...for a 7 night trip I think this was the least amount of reggae
we've ever heard...not even Bob Marley more than a song or two.
“Young” Delroy (or
D2 as some call him) seems to be the mainstay now at the nude pool bar.
Delroy is still out, and there was no sign of Scumba this trip.
All the bartenders were on top of their game this week.
We did not see or experience the beach/pool bar service this trip
like we did last May & November but apparently there was a waitress
floating around getting drinks for some.
There seem to be a
full supply of EC, with a few transplants from H3 joining.
We are not much in to the organized activities but our
observation was that very little was taking place, maybe because of low
occupancy – but never really saw EC’s trying to get things organized.
Witnessed one game of bocce and afternoon volleyball on the prude
side happened everyday but that was about it.
There was the afternoon “happy hour” taking place at the nude
pool each day, with the ECs bringing the mic & sound system, playing
music and some kind of game (name that tune, drinking games, trivia,
etc) for hedo bucks.
For the evenings, we
ate twice at both Munason & Martino’s.
Munason was very good (our chef the second visit, Donald, kept us
all entertained) and Martino’s was excellent.
The other three evenings at the main dining room were average at
best…and that takes into consideration that the Friday Gala brought the
average up. The beef served
on the main buffet was downright terrible, one evening it couldn’t even
be cut with a knife much less eaten.
I had the tenderloin both trips to Martino’s and that was
excellent. I felt the wait
service this trip in the main dining room was lacking. On different
occasions we had to track down our own silverware (for both lunch and
dinner) and at one lunch, where we got there a few minutes after it
started, we were half way thru our meal before our water glasses were
filled - and there were only about 5 tables occupied.
Roots Explosion’s
music during dinner was fine, perfect volume for conversation and
occasional dancing. The
evening “showtime” was at least 50% EC driven.
The steel drum band/dancers on
Monday night were very good, as always.
After dinner we’d
move over to the piano bar.
The piano bar is listed as for "guest sing a long" but seems as soon as
EC's arrive, it becomes "Showtime part II". Dion is great & the piano
bar is one of our favorite Hedo spots but we like it because we can
sing...or sing along with others, or watch other guests sing, not to
hear them perform. One night
this trip, once things got going guests sang 2 songs...with the mic next
being turned over to EC's who sang the next 5.
The karaoke nights are a little different now, they have a new
system – not using the binders with the lists of songs anymore – they
have a laptop and you just tell them whatever song it is you want to
sing, and they seem to have it.
The best part of the Piano bar is our favorite bartender, Eldon
who will have your drink ready when he sees your glass getting low!
From the piano bar,
we did try going to the disco a couple nights.
Here’s exactly what I put on the comment card leaving the resort
and on one the electronic version from Denny’s the day after we got
back: How can you find the
condition of the disco acceptable? As I said in my comment card
yesterday "would Mr. Levee & his wife find the condition of the disco
acceptable for their vacation?"
The smell is terrible in the bar area, and with no air
conditioning it is so uncomfortable we can't take being in there for
more than a few minutes. The
one night there was a decent crowd, in spite of the heat, the music
being played was a good mix (old stuff, new stuff, techno) but when it
went all techno – the place cleared out.
Another night they were serving drinks in glass “because no
plastic…have to take the chance” as the bartender told me, sure enough
10 minutes later, broken glass on the dance floor.
The late night
hottub temps did seem to be a little better; I think just one night it
was unbearably hot. Bunny
did have two incidents late night using the bathroom where once she
found a workman being in the bathroom while she was using it.
He came out of one stall while she was going into the other, but
at one point was standing right outside her stall (could see his shoes
under the door). The other
incident had 3 workmen back in the bathroom area – just loitering in the
area outside the door. The
first incident caught her off guard; she just got out of there & didn't
use it again that evening. We did not report it at the time but I did
include it in my comment card, know that is hard to follow up on, but
perhaps walking around that path could be something the guard could do
regularly in that area (instead of just sitting in a chair by the
hammocks which seemed to be the norm).
We arrived on
Wednesday and it occurred to us at some point in the afternoon that it
should be the evening for the repeaters party – in true Hedo form, after
asking about 5 employees if the party was that evening with no one
knowing an answer, we decided to just going looking for it on our way
back from the hottub and sure enough found it in the piano bar.
We saw Serena, a H3 transplant who has gotten a lot of props on
Denny’s board – and can agree she seems to be a hard working employee,
willing and ready to pitch in where needed.
Oh, and also in true Hedo form, we got our invite to the
Wednesday repeaters party the Tuesday before we were leaving…
“Firsts” for this
trip:
This was our first
time being at the resort to really experience the morass fires.
The morass (was explained as what we would call “swamp”) gets so
dry it sparks wildfires.
We’ve occasionally seen the smoke while on the cat cruise or on the bus
ride to/from, but this was the first time we experienced it up close &
personal as one night there were flames and sounds of crackling fire
along with heavy dark smoke right across the main road; and two other
evening where we couldn’t see flames but the smoke was very thick & made
being outside uncomfortable.
Wasn’t a problem during the day, but as soon as the sun was down seemed
to take over. Seeing the
flames so close was a little disconcerting, but staff (including Lorna
Clarke who was outside keeping an eye on things) assured us “this
happens every year, we just never know when”.
This trip we also
spent some time a couple days on the prude beach.
At different times there ranged from a half dozen to may 15 or 20
people on the PB, and plenty of space and shade to be able to lounge au
natural.
This was also the
first time in 12 trips that we’ve ventured off the resort (well, more
than half-way down the Sandals beach…) making a long beach walk to
Margaritaville. Wish we had
done it before our last day.
It was nice to see some of the other resorts along the Negril coast.
There are a lot of amenities that I see I like - gazebos on the
beach with pillows & linens, true drink service to your lounger, powdery
white soft sand, true dining options right on the beach...and we spoke
this trip to a number of couples all saying how nice Desire is (did not
hear one negative & they were all independent couples). The only thing
Hedo has that the other Negril resorts don't is the option to be naked
all day, and maybe a little naughty...we love the naked, can take or
leave the naughty. We're
already booked for Anniversary week - but did even talk on the plane
ride home about canceling & checking someplace else out, but the thought
that maybe Hedo & Superclubs will be "pulling out all the stops" for the
anniversary makes us think twice about changing just yet.
Took a shuttle from M’ville back for $12, and during that ride
could see some of the scorched earth from the fires – but buildings and
such just feet away seemed to be fine and undamaged.
On my comment card I
mentioned I’d be putting together a trip report for Denny, and will post
on trip advisor - pointing out the positives and negatives, so if there
is progress on my issues (mainly the condition of the disco) to let me
know & I will include it.
Three weeks later and no reply yet…
Funniest part of the
trip…MoBay airport, standing in the immigration line when a 3 year old
boy (travelling with his older sister, parents & grandparents) looks at
Charlie….looks up at his grandmother and says “Is that my daddy???”
Bunny just about loses it “so that’s what all those father’s day
cards you’re getting is all about”…
Bunny & Charlie