Bryan & Char - January, 2008
This was our 3rd visit to Jamaica but our first to Hedo2. We were there the week beginning Jan. 28th. The weather was great the entire week and we had a good time.
Arrival—We got to the airport about 30 minutes early. The airport is different then it was the last time we were there (pre 9-11) and we were expecting to just walk up to customs. Wrong! There was a long line of probably 400 people. It took over 30 minutes to get thru customs. The workers were very efficient but it appears several flights arrived at the same time. We opted for the bus ride as we have not seen the Negril area before. There was a beer stop and a ganja stop in which we are pretty sure the driver hit the weed before getting back in! Took him over 15 minutes to do this and he went alone to the place and got it discreetly for someone on the bus. We would have never known it was for them until they said something about it at the resort. Got in our room about 4:30. Total time from plane to room was about 3 hrs. 15 minutes. Went to main bar and got drinks with no problem while waiting at check in.
Room—We were not expecting much based on recent posts. We were pleasantly surprised for the most part. We booked Garden View Nude and received that. The buildings look old but are really in good shape (not excellent). We had plenty of hot water and the shower drained fairly well. Never did water stand in it after you shut the water off. Some would puddle during the shower. There was not a tub in our room. The mirrors on the ceiling were nice and the TV got things started several times. We had two complaints with our rooms. One was the safe is not bolted down. It was a nice digital safe but it was not secured to anything. We discovered this towards the end of our trip and would have reported it if discovered earlier. Our other gripe was with the a/c. We stayed in an upstairs room above the tree line (top of the hill). We could not open our drapes and enjoy the garden view as the sun would shine thru the large glass window and heat the room up. Keeping the blinds shut and lights off the room would remain cool until around midnight. That is when the heat that was absorbed by the concrete/masonry during the day would radiate into the room. By early morning the room would cool down again but waking up sweating is not good. The people who stay up all night probably don’t notice this but we were usually in bed by midnight except one night. Also one would suspect that the lower floors and/or rooms further down the hill below the trees don’t have this problem. We didn’t hear of anyone complaining about a/c and think our case was based on our room location. They should seriously consider upsizing the units for these rooms as we kept ours on cold the entire time. In the summer our room would be a bad one to get. Also we noticed that it’s really not that far to walk from prude rooms to nude side but being able to go back to room nude after being in hot tub was nice. Also there are rooms that overlook the hot tub/pool and these would probably be great for those that like to watch or be watched but bad for those that liked to go to bed early. There are some things we would call maintenance issues (by US standards) throughout the resort but nothing major especially considering they have had a major hurricane in the last few months.
Food & Drink—The food here is better than expected except breakfast can get a little boring. Breakfast is good but is basically the same selections every day and there is only one place we found to get breakfast and that is the main dining room. Munasan was great and we actually ate there twice. Pastafari was good but the wine was poor. The beach buffet didn’t happen as scheduled and some of the restaurants were not open at times shown on the brochures. The jerk chicken was great and burgers were good. You can get jerk chicken around lunch at the “Reggae Café’” on the main beach and around 4:30 on the nude side. The sauce was slightly hotter on the main beach. The service was excellent at all restaurants. Again other than breakfast there is a good variety of food if you make your reservations and try all the places. As far as drinks go we found the service much better at the main bar & prude beach bar than at the nude bar. Delroy & Scumba are definitely legends and make no telling how many drinks in a day but there were some things we noticed. You are not waited on in the order that you appear at the bar there. Also we rarely got the drink we ordered unless it was Pepsi or beer. Sometimes you had to tell them the order twice because you only got half of it. On Friday or Saturday (can’t remember which days running together) a new bunch of faces arrived and they actually ran out of drink glasses. The guests were going around collecting them so they could be cleaned. The nude bar does a good job based on the volume but the main bar at night gets pretty busy and the service is better. We were told toward the end of our trip that a lot of people tip up front and that’s how they get waited on ahead of others. We did not use our large mugs early in the week but later as the nude bar got busy we would have them filled up at the main beach bar and take over to the nude side. Also we discovered that there is a frozen daiquiri machine behind the nude hot tub and also one at the main bar that has pina coladas also. You can self serve there if you have a glass.
Diving—Having recently gotten our C cards diving here would be our first true dives outside of class. We advised the staff that and at first thought we were being written off by their attitude. Boy were we wrong! These guys (especially Sheldon & Derrick) were the greatest. They worked real hard to help us get pictures and show us things. We were only going to do 2 dives but after the first wound up diving 4 days out of the 5 full days we were there. We were told not to expect much (by those who dove here before) but saw a large nurse shark, dolphin, an eagle ray, lobster, plenty of fish and numerous coral. We do recommend a shortie wet suit as it was cool going back. We used their BCs & regs. There were some leakage issues with fittings, o-rings, etc. but we felt safe. Our experience is limited with rental equipment and the stuff at our local dive shop never leaked during training so this is all we have to judge Hedo equipment by. We would definitely go back for the diving as long as it is included in the package.
Entertainment/Activities—There was always a good show at night in the main dining room. We were never disappointed there. As far as the activities during the day we always saw something going on but it was hard to get up from the shade tree on the beach with our drinks to go do a “nude waterslide”. That was on our agenda but sand gravity definitely kicks in. Wanted to do body shots but we wound up being more beach people than pool people and didn’t even know they were going on behind us until someone told us of them. Always something going on here. Did the piano bar one night and it was good. The disco was too loud (very small) and we didn’t stay long. There are also plenty of pool tables, a casino, numerous water sports and some shops. The gym is much better than the one at our local country club but we never went inside!! Did not do any spa or massage services.
Lifetylers/PDA—We are not “lifestylers/swingers” but have been to nude beaches/resorts before and like to be nude. We are not really nudists but do this from time to time. This is the first time either of us have been somewhere clothed or unclothed where sex took place openly. While we were shocked at first towards the end of the week we made a few PDA’s of our own but not as graphic as some we saw. Blocking the only walkway from the beach to the restrooms by the pool is rude if you are talking or having sex. Some of the PDA’s were erotic while others were too much “in your face”. The swingers did not “hit us up” as we had gathered before going although there were a lot there. Most of them sorta hinted around but we didn’t make any suggestions that we were into this. My wife was definitely against any type of sexual interaction with others and I was curious but after watching the PDA’s lost my interest. The swingers we saw never used any form of protection that we could tell. There was one bi-sexual guy who was there with his male lover. They were inviting people to their room to watch them have sex but this same guy was having un-protected sex to completion with various women on the beach. If we knew what was going on with him behind closed doors surely these people in the lifestyle knew. It is our understanding that men who are gay/bisexual carry the highest risk of HIV from sex. The other thing we noticed about “lifestylers” was that they were all very friendly until they found out you weren’t players. We did, however, meet some very nice couples there that were swingers and were always friendly to us. A special thanks goes out to “R & S” for showing us the resort and being friends even though we were not part of their crowd. Also “J&L” and “T&K” are two other swinger couples who were always friendly to us.
Vinnies/Wallys/Singles—Not sure that we saw any for sure Vinnies or Wallys… There were a few weird acting single guys like the one who stayed in the hot tub and didn’t say anything or the guy who built sand sculptures on the beach all afternoon. They looked like they were not having a lot of fun but then again saw each of them later in the week when the faces changed talking to single women. Our impression is this—If you are a well hung and muscular guy traveling alone who is very outgoing (but not rude) you will probably have as much sex (at least in public) as a couple. If you are an average male you will have a lot more fun going with a friend or a group of guys leaving all expectations of wild sex at home. We saw some guys that we rarely saw with women smiling all the time because they were on vacation while we saw other guys frowning because they were expecting an all out orgy. As far as single women we mainly saw them on the prude side although they may have come over to the nude side late at night while we were sleeping. There were a few on the nude side during the day and most quickly found a group they related to.
In summary this resort is one of a kind. You can vacation here and make it as wild or as mild as you want. If you stay entirely on the prude side you would think you were on a typical tropical vacation. It is quiet over there and very relaxing. Venture to the nude side and you can lay in the shade on the beach nude and relax or you can join in the fun at the pool/hot tub. There is plenty to do here at all times and it is a great vacation. We found the food, entertainment, facilities and activities along the lines of a Carnival brand cruise …really good but not always perfect. The only people who would probably be disappointed are those expecting a sexual free for all or those that wish to be spoiled and treated like royalty. We are definitely planning a return trip …soon come mon!