Lyle - September, 2016
Trip Report
Hedonism 20 – 27 September 2016
I visited Hedo 20 – 27 September 2016 and following is a brief
trip report regarding my comments and observations following the
trip.
I flew with American Airlines from St. Louis, Mo to Montego Bay
via Charlotte. Both
flights were routine with no problems or delays along the way.
Arrival in Jamaica was also pretty uneventful; there was a
relatively short line in Immigration and virtually no delay at
all in Customs. Our
luggage was available as soon as I reached customs and
essentially no lines at all waiting for the Customs officer.
I booked ground transportation via Rocky’s Taxi & Tour Service (https://www.rockystaxiandtourservice.com/)
and their representative was waiting just outside the door as
promised. The rest
of the trip to Hedo was expedient with the usual professional
service provided by Rocky’s.
Check-in at Hedo was quick, smooth, and efficient and my room
was ready upon arrival.
I can’t conceive any way the arrival registration process
could have been better.
My room was clean and in good condition.
A new air conditioner has been installed and works VERY
well. I was very
happy with the way the air conditioner works, once I got the
remote control for it figured out.
We had periods of rain every day (I think) but nothing that
really was much of an inconvenience.
The rain would last for an hour or so, and that was
usually the end of it.
It just provided an opportunity for a nap or to find
somewhere suitable to hang out with people.
I thought the bar and food service staff was excellent all week
and never had a complaint with any of that.
I enjoyed the food all week and thought it was good.
It certainly met my expectations and I had no complaint
with any of it. I
did eat in Pastafari and also the new Flame restaurants and
enjoyed both.
Pastafari was excellent and I enjoyed the new Flame restaurant
very much. I felt
there was an appropriate menu of choices available and felt the
quality of the food was very good.
I did have contact with some of the management and supervisory
personnel and felt they were all very much on task and placing
customer service at the top of their priority list.
Donna Grant was very visible and readily accessible to
guests and was very attentive to anything that needed her
attention. Lorna
Brammer was also very accessible and would walk through the
areas where guests were during the day to talk to people and
inquire if they were happy with things and if there was anything
that needed her attention.
I did have several trips ‘off campus’ to visit various bars and
restaurants and enjoyed all of it and encountered no
difficulties or problems of any sort.
As always with travel anywhere, appropriate vigilance
regarding personal safety and security is always advisable.
The day or departure, check out was very smooth and efficient
with no delay at all.
(Frankly, I’d be hard pressed to suggest any way the
Front Desk staff could be any better than what I experienced on
this trip.)
I had arranged in advance for Rocky’s to pick me up at a
specific time and they were there as promised.
Actually, they arrived earlier than the appointment time
and were waiting patiently for me when it was time to depart.
The return trip to MoBay was smooth and uneventful and I had
plenty of time prior to my flight for check-in, shopping, lunch,
etc. prior to my flight.
The American Airlines flight to Charlotte departed on time with
no issues and arrival in Charlotte was smooth.
There was some delay in Immigration but nothing
unexpected. The
baggage arrived soon after I got to Customs and processing
through Customs was very smooth and quick.
There was a minor flight delay of less than a half hour
departing Charlotte (probably due to a storm west of the
airport) but the rest of the return home was uneventful.
There were a couple things about the Hedo visit I thought were
out of the ordinary and worth mentioning here:
One day there was a small drone that appeared to be flying over
the water just off the beach down near the dock and between
there and the end of the property near Sandals.
I never saw it come down toward the north end of the
beach. While it was
probably innocuous, several of the people out in the swimming
area that noticed it voiced their concern and displeasure with
its presence. Many
speculated whether it may have a camera aboard, who was
operating it, why it was there, etc. and generally didn’t feel
good about it being there.
I did not address this with Hedo management because I
thought it may be associated with a modeling photo shoot that
was occurring on the property all week.
I assume they were aware of the drone and it was either
authorized by them, which is what I suspect was the case, or
they would take appropriate measures to end its operation.
Again, at no time that I’m aware of did it come down to
the nude beach end of the property and the other end of the
beach was virtually vacant all week.
I spent a lot of time in the swimming area and saw there were a
bunch of baby stingrays (I think they were baby Yellow
Stingrays) hanging out in the swimming area.
At times, I could observe several at the same time, so
I’m sure I wasn’t just seeing the same critter multiple times.
I’m fairly confident I observed roughly 9 or 10 separate
individuals in one morning.
These pups were pretty small; I’d guess the body (less
the tail) was only about 6 or 8 inches long.
They seemed pretty curious about things and displayed no
fear or caution of people.
As a result, people often were getting WAY too close to
them and it would be easy to inadvertently step on one of them.
In summary, I had a great trip that met my expectations in every
way and I’m very happy with the trip and everything that was
provided by American, Rocky’s, and Hedo.