This was our first trip to Hedo II after two visits in 2001 to Hedo III. We wanted to see what the original was like, and now its the only one well go back to. I hope I can provide some good comparison information for others who have a hard time committing to II after starting with III. We had been so put off by the negative stuff we heard we almost didnt make it to II.
Flight information seems boring to me, so in a nutshell, we fly from Ft. Lauderdale, Air Jamaica, it was within 15 minutes of on time both ways. No complaints.
We made the drive to the resort in a minibus with another couple who were on our flight, who wed emailed with. They were repeaters and really helped get us settled in right. The new road is a breeze and the trip took about an hour since we declined the pit stop.
It was with some trepidation that we took our first look at Hedo as we turned in the drive, but the beautiful grounds hooked us right off the bat. What a difference from III! Hedo II is as lush with tropical foliage as anything you could imagine, a jungle to Hedo IIIs desert island feel. We loved it. We also loved the setting with the resort all spread out on the slope of a hill down to the beach, which is visually much more appealing than the very condensed, all-flat Hedo III.
It does take a while to figure out how to find everything, and we were grateful to our new friends getting us oriented. Rooms were ready right away, which was not any surprise since it was Wednesday, midday and the resort was not full. We booked oceanview and at check-in requested and got second floor, midway between the nude pool area and the disco.
Coming from Hedo III, of course, the moment of truth was when we walked into our room. John said, This is nice!, and I said, Whew!. Sure, Hedo III has those big bathrooms with the whirlpool tubs, and the rooms are a bit bigger, and you can see that Hedo IIs rooms have been around a while, but we just didnt see anything to complain about. The room was brighter, cleaner, prettier and more comfortable than we expected by quite a bit. The kingsize mattress was as comfortable as any are to two people whose backs are only truly happy on a waterbed. And the view was great: beach right under your bay windows and the ocean stretched out in front of you. The shower performance was mostly better than what wed expected: we learned to set the temp for warm, not hot, and then the swings toward hot dont scald you, but neither one of us had a shower we were upset about. We did find ourselves showering after 7:30pm most nights, and I think that helped, since many people shower earlier. As for the A/C, it was weak but adequate. We took the suggestion wed read about and shut the bathroom door at night, and then we even found ourselves a little chilly near dawn. We did not use the Lysol I brought looking at our unit, I just couldnt see anything scary and I dont like the smell of Lysol. Although I am asthmatic, sensitive to mold and mildew, and allergic to many, many things, I stayed healthy and had no upper respiratory problems at all in six days there. I decided that Hedo Crud is a myth, and that myth almost kept me from trying Hedo II. Forget about it and leave the Lysol home. Another thing we loved about the room buildings was the wood decks and stairs all over. Everything is concrete at Hedo III, and the wood is so much warmer, homier and easier on the feet.
Hedo II is MUCH bigger than Hedo III, and I cant tell you anything about the prude side because we were never there. Point by point comparisons follow:
Beach: Hedo III is basically beachless, and Hedo II is about the beach. I heard all this stuff about how lousy the beach is, how its dirty and the sand isnt nicewell, it was clean, and they rake the leaves and other detritus off every morning, and the sand isnt beautiful, white sugar sand but its easy and comfortable to walk on and move beach chairs around on. There are lots of shady spots, perfect if one of you likes sun and the other wants more shade. We loved the way the nude pool area spills out onto the beach so that you can easily go back and forth, and the nice little foot-rinsing pools at either end of the pool deck area. There were always chairs free on the beach, and never any around the pool, so the beach is mainly where we parked, and we loved it. You just flow all day from pool, to cold whirlpool, to beach, to rafting dreamily on the ocean water, to the hot tub, passing by the bar for drinks or the grill for eats. Speaking of the hot tub, the temperature was consistent and very good every night but one. This was a contrast from HIII, where hot tub temps seemed all over the map. Both pools and hot tub were much cleaner than at HIII.
Nude Pool Area: Well, I dont agree that this area is much bigger than at Hedo III. The pool deck seemed smaller. The pool seems about the same size. The hot tub, of course, is much larger and more satisfactory. The cold whirlpool with the super powerful jets is heavenly! The shallow pool with fountains in front of the grotto didnt do anything for us, but its pretty. The pool bar is much better arranged than Hedo IIIs is. You can get at it from the beach or the pool, and it socializes better. The bathrooms are small and you have to walk down a very narrow path against a wall to get to them. Its an odd arrangement that could certainly be improved. Towels were a major problem, and thats one area that Hedo III is much better about. In our six days there, we only saw towels in the closet at the nude pool once. In fact, the only place we could count on even maybe finding towels was the main pool, and the dive shack. We knew to stock up, but its hard to do when you cant find a source.
Other Pools: Hedo II has bunches of pools, tucked in here and there in very exotic settings, with very clean water, and many situated so that you can lose the clothes and no one will be upset. We loved the two pools just below the main deck, on the two levels between there and the beach. They were crystal clear, low on chemicals because of little use, and very fun at night. I dont think we ever found all the pools. Again, the dense tropical foliage makes for all sorts of little hideaways all over the grounds. And if youre way into being seen, there are plenty of places for that, too.
Watersports: Hedo II is great for this, and Hedo III was almost hopeless because it was so windy on both our trips (and I know thats what its usually like, due to the location). John did the late morning scuba dive most days, and raved about the dive staff (he said the diving was nice, not great). I snorkeled while he dove, and the snorkeling was much better than at III. If only Jamaica could get their fish stocks built backits sad. We didnt sail, though we could have, and at Hedo III you almost never could. I was happy that we could turn up topless on the boats, and lose the bottoms on leaving the dock. Hedo III was fussier about that.
Entertainment: The ECs were great, and Ray-Ray is a hell of a dancer. They did a great job with evening entertainment, lunch time games, etc. We didnt see a lot of games at the nude pool, however, not nearly as much as wed seen at the other resort, but I know it has a lot to do with the crowd thats there and what interest can be drummed up among the guests. Next visit well do a lot more of the games we dont care about the Hedo Bucks, but the games we did were really fun and the ones we watched looked like just as much or more fun. Also, we could see that you meet more people by doing all that stuff.
Disco: Hedo II has a much better disco than Hedo III. Our perspective is that of dancers, and I dont mean bump and grind stuff, I mean cha-cha, and rumba, salsa, swing, whateverwere not great at it, but we have a lot of fun, and we like to move. Hedo IIIs disco has a lousy concrete floor thats wet a lot of the time from the slide above, and the room feels damp and doesnt smell too great. It does have that cool cage, but thats its only good point. Hedo IIs disco is new, clean, fresh, well air-conditioned, and the tile floor, while not ideal, beats the heck out of concrete. Of course, the music is deafening and heavy on the techno, but you have to expect that. It had a beat we could use. Better for dancing is the nice wood floor in front of the stage in the main dining room. We had a blast dancing down there on oldies night especially.
Food: John and I both love good food, and when we go out at home we seek out the best restaurants in town. We know not to expect gourmet food at Hedo, and were not there to eat. Besides, how many places can you have dinner wearing nothing but a tightly coiled sheet strung from crotch to neck like dental floss? Or a skin-tight sheer mini-dress and f*#$-me shoes? We had braced ourselves for food that was noticeably worse than Hedo III (where it was mediocre), and were pleasantly surprised to find that it wasnt much different. We ate everywhere except Munahana, which is open air on one side of the dining room, rather than enclosed and air conditioned as it is at Hedo III.
Scotch Bonnet (and calling this alcove off the main dining room a restaurant is a bit of a stretch) had tasty Jamaican stuff. If only it had its own building, or room at least. Two in our party had the goat and said it was very good. Truthfully, it was our last night and I was having SUCH a good time with our company that I didnt pay enough attention to the food
Pastafari was about on the order of Olive Garden. If you love Olive Garden youll think Pastafari is great. Im used to much better things in Italian food, but it was fine, the place is air conditioned, and it makes a nice change. The main difference from Hedo IIIs Pastafari was that the antipasto table had less than half the stuff, and not nearly as goodin fact, it was just a few leftovers from the cold stuff at lunch. Dont order the Traditional Caesar Salad: warm iceberg lettuce with small croutons and a creamy dressing that has some hint of garlic in it.
The buffet in the main dining room ran the gamut a few very good things, a lot of okay things, and some downright awful stuff. Just about the same as Hedo III, certainly no worse, and there were even a couple of edible desserts. And sometimes its fun to figure out which dish is recycled from which of yesterdays dishesthey do that a lot. Breakfast is the buffets best meallots of fruit, and I do miss the French toast already, but I cant eat like that every day! Watch the cheese in the omelets they get pretty heavy with it.
But who needs much dinner when that jerk chicken comes out of Roberts grill at the nude beach just a couple of hours before? I liked the chicken, although it wasnt nearly as spicy as Id expected, and Id love it if they stoked it up a bit. Just adding sauce isnt the same. As for the grill, we only lunched there once I dont do fried sandwiches, hamburgers or French fries, and John prefers more variety, so we generally go to the main dining room for lunch, and to watch the midday games. We did enjoy our appetizer of jerk chicken every evening, though.
Action Report: We saw all sorts of stuff, during the day and night. We might have been some of it. Its there. More daytime than I ever saw at H III.
Side Trips: Its much more fun to be right next to a town like Negril than to be in basically nowhere like Hedo III is. We didnt leave the property except to go to Ricks Caf, which was terrific fun! John jumped off the cliff, and then did it again since I didnt snap the camera soon enough the first time. We had planned to get a dinner at Rock House or Xtaba, but it just never happened. Next time we will, though.
Next timeyes, we liked Hedo II MUCH better than III. The only thing I liked better at III was the abundance of towels, that Munahana was in a/c, and the beautiful waterside location of Scotch Bonnet there. But overall, Hedo II has III beat hands down for atmosphere, beauty, comfort and fun. On both trips to Hedo III, I was quite ready to come home after five nights. The same length visit to Hedo II and I was wishing like anything we could stay longer. We cant wait to get backmaybe Christmas?