Charlie & Bunny - April, 2012
Bunny & Charlie, April 24-30, 2012
Flew US Air out of Philly, not a bad flight, departed close to the 7:55 scheduled and we landed about 10:30. A few minutes ahead. Immigration and customs was a breeze, total of 10 minutes to get thru both. We’d done just carry ons this trip which was convenient but didn’t save us much time as we still had the short wait in the SuperClubs lounge. They took our names at the desk, but that was it – which we found out was a mistake…we should have been given some paperwork to turn in at the front desk of Hedo. When we were there for the Anniversary, I remember answering a lot of questions at the airport & pretty much just picking up the room key, guess it’s back to the filling out the card method.
Bus ride was fine; pretty full bus with the obligatory stop at the Golden Apple. We like the stop, seems like the remaining distance is the perfect amount of time to finish a beer.
Bus ride took about 1:20 with the stop, check-in was easy (except for having to fill out the form they didn’t give us at Sangster) and we had our room keys in minutes, 1256…we always book the cheapest (prude/garden) and now have ended up in that building our last 3 trips. We got to the lobby a little before 1 and decided to check about dinner reservations – and got lucky with a 9pm reservation at Martinos.
Occupancy was near 100% when we arrived on Tuesday, heard there was some bumping over the previous weekend. Biff’s Bunch and Swingers Break were the two big groups there, along with a few smaller ones. Overall, an excellent vibe all week. We were last at Hedo for the Anniversary, which was a first for us – and we were rather disappointed, did not live up to any of our expectations. Glad to say a number of the items that were on our comment card back then have been addressed, some still remain – but I guess that’s major progress for Jamaica!
Our day routines were pretty much the same, up in time to get breakfast – we are bacon fans and there was always some available (unlike the anniversary). Two egg stations running with very little wait. Overall the dining rooms staff was very good, prompt filling water glasses, offering coffee, and getting silverware when needed (unlike anniversary). After eating, back to the room to nap/fool around then head to the prude beach to relax (naked) under a tree. Bunny read Fifty Shades of Grey this trip…she recommends! Passed it on to a Hedo friend when she was finished! By the time we would get to the beach (11am) it was impossible to find two loungers unused anywhere near Delroy’s. We have grown to enjoy chilling on the prude beach, even had periods of being somewhat crowded this trip (maybe 30 people at the peak).
Mid afternoon we’d venture down and spend some time in the nude pool. At least one, maybe two, of the groups in da house brought a DJ along with them who played on the pool deck each afternoon from 3-6pm. Was a GREAT addition. Not sure if it was one of the same DJ’s but they also set up & played at least one night at the main pool deck.
Weather each day included sun in the early part, some clouds and passing rain (lasting from a few minutes to an hour). Once the rain came through, things would clear up. Kept the temps in the lower 80’s and made the nights very pleasant.
“Happy Hour” in the hot tub was next, which as usual varied in temps from perfect to way too hot. A couple afternoons we ventured up to the hot tub at the main pool – same temp situation there. Stopped at the hot tub each night as well, only one of the nights was it impossible for us to stay.
Lunch for us was a mixture of walking up to the main dining room or getting something from the prude grill. Burgers, grilled cheese & jerk chicken were all very good. Main DR buffet was hit or miss. Salad bars seemed pretty well stocked but the options on the buffet seemed pretty bland and tasted that way too. The pizza at lunch is now made to order by Adrian (I think!) who makes sandwich wraps as well. He’ll add toppings to your liking, had that every time up there.
Dinner buffet was about the same, some kind of baked chicken, fish and beef being sliced. The roast beef on Friday (grand gala?) was not too bad. With lobster season closed (4/1 to 6/30), there wasn’t much grand to it. But, it is Hedo – and you can always find enough to eat. We did eat twice at Martinos and once at Munesan. Bunny had the apricot chicken both times & said it’s probably the best meal she’s had at Hedo. I had the tenderloin both times – first night the cut was not good at all, very fatty and difficult to chew. Our waitress (Selena or Serina) was excellent, offered to get me another entrée. Munesan was good, between the two of us we had all the offerings (steak, chicken, shrimp and sea bass). Sea bass didn’t have much taste but the others were all tasty.
We like the restaurants because we specifically try to avoid the “down time” of after dinner and before the evening starts getting going, so late reservations (9pm each time) are perfect. We just can’t take sitting at the main dining room from 7:30 til 10:30 for the Hedo shows that seem to never end. From what we could tell, most of the evening entertainment is entirely EC driven, not sure there was any outside act the 5 nights we were there. Regarding the dining room – as has been mentioned on the message board, almost all the fans have been replaced & the new ones are excellent. You do not need to be seated directly under to get the benefit.
Piano Bar has definitely lost some of its luster without Deon there. We hope he’s back in time for our November trip, but from staff it sounded like his return wasn’t entirely certain. They have someone filling in, sounded like an average pianist, but doesn’t know all the songs in the book and has not yet picked up on working the crowd and getting the party going. Unlike when Deon was there and EC’s would take over after a while, the 3 nights we were there for his act he had no support from the EC’s. The two karaoke nights were polar opposites. One night was the guest DJ running things & the place was rocking. The other, I don’t think the show ever got going – the EC couldn’t get everything operational. We don’t socialize much with the EC’s but it appeared the women were almost all new. For the guys, Fifty, Dean, Winston – and couple others I recognize so not as much turnover there.
The biggest improvement this trip (and my biggest complaint the past two) is that the A/C in the disco is working. It was very comfortable in the bar area, and working on the dance floor – but still could be cooler, we did have to take a break now & then to cool down by the bar.
We never did get our invite for the repeater’s party – now makes 3 trips in a row without getting it. Heard from some friends that 17 trips won the freebie, we were only on 14, so didn’t bother us too much to miss it – it was one of the afternoons that the hot tub temp was perfect!
Bar service all around was great. Early in our trip Ting was not to be found. It slowly started to show up at the main bar, then by the weekend all the bars had it again. Delroy was in great spirits, Scumba seemed to be doing a lot of floating, almost acting as bar back for all the bars. We always enjoy seeing Paulette’s smiling face at the prude bar, and Eldon and Elton in the piano bar are a great team – remembering drink orders and refilling glasses before they are even empty.
That’s all I can think of now, if you’ve gotten this far thanks for reading! It helps with the DIF…. Now back to our thoughts of “this time, last week we were….”