Hedonism II Trip Report - Lyle: September 17-27, 2018
Hedo Trip
17 – 27 Sep 2018
I took advantage of a Wild Wednesday sale and visited Hedo 17 – 27 September 2018.
My outbound flight was from St. Louis to Montego Bay via Charlotte, NC only a few days after Hurricane Florence passed through the Carolinas. American Airlines called it exactly right that the bulk of the bad weather would have moved out of the area and only some residual rain and small thunderstorms in the area on the 17th when I was passing through.
Also, Hurricane Isaac was in the Caribbean at the same time and passed just south of Jamaica (east to west) just a couple days prior to my arrival. I talked with Donna Grant about it and she also called it exactly right and that it wouldn’t present any significant problem.
Upon arrival on the 17th in MoBay, there was some periodic rain and small passing pockets of thunderstorms off in the distance, but nothing that affected the drive down to Negril. Rocky’s Taxi was waiting for me upon arrival and provided the usual efficient and very professional service for the ride down to Hedo.
The film crew making a movie was still in the resort when I arrived. Some were in the process of leaving after being at the resort for 28 days and the front desk staff was busy working with the crew coordinator to address various problems and complications. There were some large room charges, people actually leaving when scheduled, unauthorized room changes because people swapped rooms, etc. and it all looked very complicated. After some complications that were absolutely NOT the fault of Hedo, I got checked in and proceeded off to my room.
My room was in good condition, clean, and almost completely functional. The only two problems with it during my visit were the room telephone and WiFi. The resort is having problems with the room phones due to the wiring on the exterior of the buildings and have a plan to correct that, but the modifications haven’t been started yet. I was told they found that some or all of the wiring on top of the buildings is using interior residential wiring that is failing due to environmental exposure. They are also experiencing various problems with the WiFi and internet connectivity. Much of the WiFi problems stem from hardware failures of some of the components. I talked with the IT guru and he said they are going to rework the telephone wiring, rework the WiFi components causing problems, and replace the internet service provider in Negril. No timeline provided for completion.
There were a lot of tiny little very energetic models and associated photographers around for several days at the front end of the visit. They were quite visible and present everywhere, primarily on the clothing optional end of the property, but I didn’t observe them mingling with the rest of the guests.
I thought the food was very good during the entire visit and I was quite happy with it. The food and beverage staff were all doing great with everything and they all seemed to be very attentive and focused on the guests.
The ECs were doing a great job the entire visit. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them as happy, playful, active, and fun to be around as they were on this visit. Ethan especially seemed to be doing a great job of keeping everyone and everything pointed in the right direction. I don’t know what Winston is doing to create this situation, but he’s doing an excellent job and hope he continues doing whatever he’s doing with them.
The beach was in good condition. The guy they have grooming the swimming area is doing a great job. The sea grass is being raked up daily and I only saw one urchin that someone else found the entire time I was there.
I took a few field trips off property during the visit. One trip was to the Red Dragon for some jerk pork and a couple beers, followed by a stop at Best of the West. Good trip, lots of fun, and glad I went. I also made a trip to Margaritaville one day and that was the usual over-priced lunch and drinks. I walked down to Boardwalk one day and that was also the usual visit with good food, some music, and cold Red Stripe.
Lorna Brammer was very attentive and was making the rounds daily to make sure things were going OK and asking guests if they had any problems she needed to take care of. Donna Grant was visible and always seemed very busy with various stuff and taking care of any guest issues that needed her attention. Kevin Levee was also present and pretty visible if anyone needed to talk with him personally about anything. I thought all of that was just about the right level of presence and access.
Departure was smooth and as planned with Rocky’s picking me up exactly as planned. Pre-departure from MoBay and the actual flight departure were smooth and as planned. We had a brief weather hold over the Carolinas due to weather, then were released to continue our approach and landing. Immigration was quite busy and had a pretty long line. Once I cleared Immigration, Customs was smooth and processing was quick. Everything went OK with the connecting flight and I had a few minutes to spare in getting to the connecting flight gate. The final flight home was exactly as planned.
All in all, it was a good trip. The weather for this time of year was fairly typical with daily rain / thunderstorms that would usually last an hour or two, but that didn’t seem to hinder anything. Good trip overall and I’m glad I went……….