Kevin & Lori - May, 2014
May 3- May 13, 2014.
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Rather than a chronological run-down of events, I will break this into chunks by topic.
Travel – Lesson learned – never fly into MoBay on a Saturday at noon. Or, if you do, fork over the $50pp for the Club MoBay perks. We stopped at the top of the ramp (the big ramp, not the little ramp) into immigration and watched several better-prepared travelers sliding right to the front of the 45-minute long line with their Club MoBay escorts. Next time, that’s going to be us. For our transportation over land, we opted for a private taxi and weren’t disappointed in the speed of delivery to get to our beloved Hedo (1:06). If anyone wants the name of a great private taxi option, please feel free to email me.
Resort – We continue to marvel at how a place that we visit once, maybe twice a year continues to feel so much like Home. We joke about it and the staff always greets us with a hearty ‘welcome home.’ But the reality is that label feels more authentic with every visit. We immediately slip into the rhythm, grab a cocktail, unpack in our room, and take a quick lap around to assess any changes.
All the painted rocks have been moved out of the front lobby so the corridor between the front desk and the dining area is classed up a big notch. Right away, we noticed the fresh paint in the dining room. The chairs were recovered when we were here last year, but the easter egg color scheme was still there at the time. Now the columns are a nice soft ivory with a dark brown trim. The ceilings are bright white with fresh paint as well.
The trees and grounds are always well-cared for, and this time was no exception. Beaches were clean and raked, the pools were sparkling, new beach chairs were everywhere. Hundreds of new beach chairs, with a stockpile of unused one behind Watersports. There were bright blue umbrellas on all the beaches and around all three big pools. While I’ve read countless posts of a lack of beach floats, there seemed to be plenty. I stopped counting at 50 at the nude beach one day and there were several at the main pool and on the clothing option beach too. I’m sure the lower occupancy plays a role and when the resort is maxed out, floats are at a premium. But for our week, we never had a problem grabbing one…or a table. Plenty of those too.
The old massage hut is now a small store full of sunscreen, beer (who buys beer at an all-inclusive resort?), a good selection of sex toys and beach wear, and other general items. I don’t know that I ever saw anyone buy anything, but it’s nice to know it’s there. I think Hedo guests have become so good at taking every little thing they need, that there’s not much use for a lot of purchases on resort. Maybe knowing that it’s there will change that in the future. But they’re going to have to charge less than $27 for a can of sunscreen. WAY less. The purchase of that one can is the cost of a checked bag so I can bring all the $5 cans from home I need. Just sayin’.
The change in the beach appearance due to the upgraded room categories is very positive. I’d never noticed how boring the flat surfaces of the buildings facing the water really were until they were replaced with these spacious decks and balconies. The hot tubs are enormous, taking up nearly the entire deck on the lower levels. If I have extra pennies in the budget the next time we visit, I’d love to have a balcony room. Lots of room to lounge, have your coffee in the morning, get away from the racket. I went to the front desk after a few days and asked for a tour of one of the new rooms. The staff happily obliged and I have to say I was surprised by the quality of both workmanship and materials. I figured it was like looking at a house for sale that looks great on the internet, but when you step in, you see all the flaws and shortcuts. There was none of that here. From the granite threshold and new door to the gleaming tile, spacious storage area, the stunningly appointed bathroom, all the way out to the huge deck, that room was amazing. I’m starting a savings plan now for the extra $200/nt. Because for us, I think a balcony would be worth it.
One thing we noticed throughout the week was that the quality of the new items like beach chairs, umbrellas, deck/patio furniture on the new premium rooms was extremely high. The umbrellas were heavy gauge metal with thick canvas and were set in either a concrete triangle or a heavy wooden base (both make a perfect spot to set your drink and sunscreen). The concrete triangle umbrellas appear to be immovable, and when the wooden ones were repositioned it took two Watersports guys to move them. We noted that when the wind kicked up, staff was quick to drop the umbrellas to keep them from getting twisted up. They are clearly trying to preserve them. We did not stay in the new rooms, but we could see the furniture on the decks up and down and it was a high quality vinyl wicker-look. The hot tub rooms have two barrel chairs and a small table. The balconies have the same plus a large round futon-type lounger which came in handy for practical reasons (see A/C below) as well as for play. And the new beach chairs as well are very nice, sturdy, and comfortable. I don’t like using a float on my chair because it makes me roast, but the old chairs always killed my back without a float. I was able to lay in the new chairs quite comfortably all week.
Rooms – Our room was crisp and clean. The fresh white paint and bedding, high quality drapes and sheers, and new TV are the simplest changes, but so effective. New cushions on the window bench, a fridge (which we never used), and some throw pillows on the bed all made a really lovely room. Simple, nothing fancy, but classy.
One of the effects of the premium Jacuzzi rooms is that they have a tendency to change the dynamic of the pool in the afternoons. The Fluffs were in the house and almost every afternoon, they moved out to their own mini-parties on their decks. It’s not always a bad thing, but it definitely changes the party in the pool from what we’ve known in the past. We’ve never been a fan of the group concept and always end up gravitating toward others who are not attached to a group and feel varying degrees of exclusion from ‘group games’ and trivia. Some groups are better than others at minimizing their exclusivity. Others do things like a pool deck birthday party with cake and champagne. Which of course everyone in the pool is ‘invited’ to, whether part of the group or not. But who can take birthday cake for someone they’ve never met without feeling weird about it?
As I said, sometimes it’s not a bad thing that the party moves out of the pool and to the ocean front rooms. But it is different.
Security – Our taxi driver told us that as of May 1, just two days before our arrival, Guardsman’s contract with Hedo had ended and a new security firm was on site. I can’t remember their name, but they have red shirts, black pants, and a whole different attitude. Realizing that they were still in training mode, I’m guessing they were extra diligent, but we were pleased with their attention to each and every issue. The ‘nude-means-nude’ rule was applied liberally and consistently. Once we saw people leave in a huff because one girl refused to take off her bottoms. Once we saw security call for backup to convince another couple that the rule did indeed apply to them. They eventually stripped down and joined in the fun. One woman with a nasty sunburn left her shirt on and was told to move to the clothing optional beach for the day. She and her husband both argued at length with the security guard who finally gave up. I understand the concept of staying covered with a sunburn. At the same time, the rules are the rules and the other beach is clothing OPTIONAL. So I think if it was me, I’d respect the rules and just stay at the other end for a day. Nonetheless, security was always on top of it.
On three separate occasions, I saw security physically chase vendors off the beach. If you paid attention, you could see them watching intently as a vendor slithered up the beach with their ‘cigarettes.’ I’m not sure what the trigger was, since many walked all the way to the hook without incident, but there were times when security would just sprint toward them and the vendor would run back to the safety of the breakwater between Sandals and Hedo. It became a regular occurrence and fun to watch.
After disbanding a group of vendors who were congregating on the end of the hook one morning interrupting our massage, the security guard came up to me later and apologized. She said she didn’t’ realize they were out there and would make a point of paying closer attention to that. She was genuinely trying to improve the new process. At every handoff between shifts, the security guards had a short conversation and handed off what appeared to be a log of issues they were documenting. I was really impressed with their diligence. And on top of that, they were super friendly and always smiling. I felt safer, all around.
Staff – Lots of familiar faces, some new, all content and happy. Denva, in the Italian restaurant greeted us like old friends as he always does. And he spoke frankly of how it felt in the past to continue to tell people that the A/C and ventilation in the restaurant was being repaired time after time, only to have the same people return a year later and tell him he was full of beans since it was still broken. (For the record, both those problems are finally fixed at Martino’s). But that’s the old Hedo. Denva, and others are proud of their resort now. Happy to be able to do their jobs without apologizing for all of Hedo’s shortcomings. The change in attitude was evident in so many faces around the resort.
We spent a significant amount of time talking with Cecile Levee in the mornings and were impressed with her attentiveness to the resort. She told us of future plans for the old jewelry store (classy post-dinner wine bar), the TV room (larger bathrooms), and long-term plans for the disco and prude pool (no firm details…but extensive changes down the road). She was very open about how the resort has been doing and noted that the premium rooms have been full almost constantly since they were finished, the wine sales are consistently good, and that occupancy, in general, has been hovering around 100% for months. She also said guests had been very complimentary of all the changes, but that no more room changes were planned at this time. They feel they have a good balance of premium vs standard rooms throughout the resort. The frustration of things they’d like to do vs things they have to do (like unexpected A/C repairs) is typical. Without a doubt, the management group is committed to continuing to improve the resort as the resources allow. That’s a welcome attitude.
Food – Awesome. We ate everywhere at least once and every location was fresh and flavorful. The presentation for dinner was impressive. Even on non-gala nights there were stations set up around the dining room for crepes or bananas foster, for stir-fry and other options. In 10 days we never had a problem finding something new to eat. Breakfast is always good, but I did start to mix it up toward the end of our stay and perfected the Hedo breakfast sandwich (one egg, yolk broken, fried hard, a slice of fresh ham and tomato on a croissant with a little mayo). The hubs was thrilled that there was name-brand cereal all week so he got a steady fix of the Corn Pops, Apple Jacks and Frosted Flakes that I refuse to stock at home. J
The repeater’s party was held on the main pool deck and the food was phenomenal. It was always upgraded, but this time it kicked up even another notch. Jon and Kevin Levee were both there to say thanks to the guests and give away some nights (a lot, it seemed like). Harry was not on property the week we were there.
It seems the management of the bars has improved dramatically. I saw regular bar deliveries every day, where the bartender actually had an invoice to compare to the delivery. No more running short of anything. There were premium liquors I’d never seen before, and ample supplies of the standards. It showed in the way they poured drinks without concern for conserving liquor. Most drinks are about 50/50 booze to mixer. No complaints there at all!
Watersports – We always spend as much time on the water as we can. This trip we were on kayaks 8 of our 10 days, including one last spin around Booby Cay on our last morning. Watersports guys are always friendly and helpful, the equipment was in good shape, and everything ran on schedule. I was so excited a year ago that there was a new rope not covered with sea life in the swimming areas. This year it wasn’t as clean and the buoys were getting funky. But sometime during the week one of the watersports guys was out cleaning all the ropes and scraping a significant portion of the funk off the buoys. Then he tightened it back up so the rope was above the water. Small efforts like this are why general maintenance makes such a difference.
Spa – We were excited to get our couple’s massage in one of the new massage huts. One is out on the hook, so the inevitable pool noise is a factor. But the other one is at the other end of the nude beach near watersports, which is also noisy and where the local fishermen come to sit and talk in their boats. We flipped a coin and opted for the one on the hook, since neither seemed all that quiet and calm and relaxing. We scheduled for 11am because the nude beach is pretty quiet that early. What we didn’t account for was the vendors. They take cover on the point where they’re now hidden by the massage hut and two or three congregated there right about the time our massage started. They were loud, shouting to others on the water…just annoying. About mid-way through the massage, I couldn’t take it any longer and went to security at the spa lady’s urging. Both spa ladies indicated they had complained about the noise, but the resort management didn’t think it was an issue and that if we complained, perhaps they’d make changes.
Security chased the vendors off the point immediately and made a report (see more on the new security in that section.) It was disappointing that our calm and relaxing $200 spa was not relaxing at all for the first half. It’s beyond me why anyone would think that a massage hut anywhere on the nude beach was a good idea, when the entire clothing optional beach sits pristine and quiet and mostly empty all day long. Take either massage hut down to the far end of the other beach and you’d have something. But where they both are now is just dumb, even at the quiet part of the day. Next time we’ll go indoors for our massage.
A/C – Our one and only problem of the week was temperamental A/C. Our original room was in H-Block, and the first night our A/C was struggling to keep up. Fortunately, we had done the travel-day drunken stumble back to our room, so we didn’t really notice it. In the morning it was evident that it wasn’t keeping up. We asked someone to check it and the second night, when we were significantly more sober, it seemed to get cool, but it wouldn’t STAY cool. One of us had to get up about once an hour to turn it back down from 76 to 68. It would cool the room, but then shoot right back up to 76 and we’d wake up sweaty. And not in a good way. We reported back to the front desk the next morning after almost no sleep and the staff said they had a list of rooms complaining about the exact same thing so they sent Omar to take a look. That afternoon the entire resort got notes under the door that the main A/C was broken and would not be back on until noon the next day.
We saw immediate evidence of them working on it as they dug a big whole next to the main pool to repair a broken drain line that evening. There were 6-8 maintenance workers out there well after dinner. The entire resort was out for the night and many of the people who had the balcony rooms used their futons as beds to catch the night air. For those of us without balconies, it was a miserable sweaty night. But as promised, the A/C came back on promptly at noon the next day. We retired for a nap around two and the room was nicely chilled. About 45 minutes into our nap, our A/C made a loud noise, the lights went off of it, and it started to blow non-cooled air. Omar was on the roof and said he wasn’t working on anything having to do with the A/C. We went back to the front desk and found that about 7 rooms in H-Block lost A/C as a completely separate problem from what had knocked out the whole system. Staff was very understanding and gave us a new room, this one at the far end of the nude beach right behind the watersports showers. It had a partial ocean view and A/C that made it feel like a meat locker. The A/C went out one more time for the whole resort a day or two later, but was back on by 3pm the same day.
Problems will happen anywhere. We were pleased that maintenance was working hard on it and that the front desk staff made sure we were comfortable in a new room.
We will definitely be back…maybe before the end of the year. The place looks great. It’s not a new Hedo. It’s the same Hedo, much improved.
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