DennyP Travel - Hedonism II Trip Report
Chris & Liz - December, 2018
Another nice trip to beautiful Negril. The room renovations are done - very nice job IMO. Much brighter than the previous white/grey, and the bathrooms (which previously were scuzzy) are now excellent. The new AC units work well - much improved over the aging central chiller system of past years. Overall, the rooms are now quite nice & very comfortable.
The grounds continue to look very good. They're doing some minor clearing & replacing of landscape plants here and there, but no drastic changes from the past year or 2. We didn't prowl thru the bamboo grove as we had in past years, but it looked nicely tended from afar.
The beaches are in great shape. More/deeper sand than previous years, and Richard & Delroy are doing a great job tending them as always. The nude beach looked to be clear of seaweed & urchins too - kudos to the new watersports guy clearing seaweed with a kayak in past months. Unfortunately, the chair-savers & umbrella-movers were in residence, with folks saving 15-20 chairs in the morning, that then were empty for hours. And many umbrellas seemed to migrate from sunny areas to under the trees & along the ocean-view rooms. Not a big issue, just a minor annoyance.
The scuba diving was excellent as always. The dive team does a great job - friendly & professional. The diving is one of the reasons we keep coming back to Hedo. It was good to see that the Lionfish population seems to be under control. We often saw only 1-2 on each dive, along with the usual wide assortment of nice fish & coral. I do wonder about the decision to fix up the old (REALLY old) dive boat. Seems weird to fix up a 40+ year old boat and stick 2 brand new 150HP engines on it. The boat itself isn't very well suited. It's a pig... heavy as lead, and can hardly get out of it's own way. Worse, it's not seaworthy in more than 5 ft. swells. And... it ain't sexy like the old Performance dive boat. Fun dives regardless. :)
Food was good as usual. Breakfasts were a bit repetitive, with little variation in the hot dishes over the week. The ackee & callaloo were good as always, as were Jacqueline's omelets & the carved ham. Lunches & dinners were very good. Nice assortment and everything was well prepared. The sushi continues to be a star IMHO - much better than I'd ever expect at an AI resort in Jamaica. The repeaters' party was held in the disco, which was a minor disaster. The resort was relatively full, and it was so crowded that it was nearly impossible to walk thru - making it difficult for the staff to clear & replenish stuff.
Entertainment, facilities, bar staff, etc.... were very good. A few random observations: There wasn't the usual assortment of high-end tequila like Don Julio at the beach bars. The small pool by the disco was drained & roped off. Both beach pools were heated a bit & very comfortable. We were surprised to hear that a couple was asked to leave the playroom because they were mostly observing and "weren't participating". Didn't know that was a requirement....?
It was great to catch up with some old friends from previous trips, as well as meet new ones. Overall, another very nice relaxing visit.