Mike - December, 2015
Hedonism II trip report – Dec 11 - 18th, 2015
I don't normally take 2 trips a year to Hedo , but every once in awhile, if I can get a good price and the week on the surface, appears to be a quieter one then I will give it a try and enjoy the warm weather and sunshine. This time I was arriving near the end of Denny's group( who I didn't get a chance to meet unfortunately) and leaving just as the fluffers were arriving .
Bus Trip
Didn't take long to get thru immigration / customs
and find my bus , and it did not take long for the bus to fill up.
Unfortunately it took about 45 minutes before we left as we waited for
the people in Club Mobay, who were told the bus would not be ready for
30 or so minutes, so enjoy the lounge. This just happened to be the
second time in the last
couple of years the same thing has occurred, I find it annoying and
almost worth spending the $130 or so for a taxi.
I may reconsider that for my next trip.
Arrival
The first
thing you notice when arriving is the new lobby, wow,
where did all that room come
from, I thought it looked classy and well done with very comfortable
chairs to enjoy if you were so inclined. The check-in went smooth and I
was kindly upgraded to the nude side with a slight ocean view. Once I
got settled in went back to the dining area to have a look around,
another really nice improvement. Just happened to meet
Anthony the head chef and chatted for awhile, any problems with
the food come talk to me he said.
Food
I thought the food in the main dining room was delicious throughout the week. The Friday night lobster tails were my favorite, I had to go back for seconds. They had the standard chicken and at least curried goat one night, along with duck, salmon, roast, wonderful scalloped potatoes and a number of other good choices. I am sure some people would find something to complain about but not me, I really did eat too much.
Breakfasts were enjoyable , if the lineup is not too long will get an omelet, otherwise I really enjoy the french toast, with maybe a bit of bacon and hash browns added to my plate.
The midnight buffet in the dinning room is no more, it has been moved to the prude grill, only went once and only had fries, I preferred the dining room.
The prude grill has been totally rebuilt, looks nice. I don't normally eat lunch but the burger I had one day was excellent . Can't say the same thing about the fish I had at the nude grill one day , not well cooked, mostly raw and threw it out.
Beach
Never needed to worry about getting to the nude
side early to save a chair, the week I was there the resort was about
50% occupied so even if you got down in the afternoon you
could always find a spot
even get a place under an umbrella . Never really saw any chair
for that matter have a towel on it and no one show up to use it, wish
that would always be the case. Towels also plentiful, I still prefer the
old blue/white stripe ones, the newer brown towels with ridges on them,
I find uncomfortable. Saw one PDA on the beach, which security also saw,
no effort to stop it, not sure if that was because there were few people
on the beach or a change in policy, never asked.
Entertainment
Can’t say enough about the EC staff, they really do work long, hard hours and yet always seemed to be smiling and happy to talk to you and they do put on some great shows.
Only went to the piano bar one
night, same old in my opinion , don't think I could go every
night.
Repeaters Party
Held in the piano bar this trip. Harry did speak for a minute or so, mentioned more improvements to come, especially the nude grill and re-tiling the nude pool, again probably in the slow period in 2016 with guests to be compensated for the inconvenience.
The Spa was under renovations when I was there but
he expected it to be completed by the end of the year, with different
theme rooms, I assume for the playroom. All massages were done on the
beach or in the hut on the beach.
Harry-San
The only
thing I will mention here is the lounge area next to serving area, used
it every day, nice , comfortable place to sit with a drink and catch up
on emails, WIFI coverage was good.
Kayaking
Never hear anyone talking about kayaking or sailing for that matter. Not that there is much to talk about, took a small green kayak out almost every day, either paddled out to Sensatori seeing how not busy the other resorts were , hardly anyone on the beach at Sandals and quiet, also had a nice paddle over to Grand Lido to have a look, of course would have been much easier to just walk over from Hedo. Regardless, paddling back, nice to hear the noise at Hedo, you knew people were having a good time, even on a quiet week, Hedo is lively.
One thing I have always liked about Hedo is that it has always been clean, the yards, beach and rooms, it is nice to see that has not changed.
I think the management are doing their best to keep customers happy and ensuring their rooms are good and your stay is going well, they do check. I normally go to Hedo in Feb, leaving just as the Fluffers are getting settled in. As one can imagine, it is a very busy period. There is something to be said on coming during a quieter week, I really enjoyed it, with still enough people that make Hedo a great place to keep coming back to. As Harry mentioned, it’s the repeat guests that are driving the changes to the resort, slowly but surely, it is happening.