Hedonism II Trip Report - Tim & Debbie: August, 2021
Trip: August 6-11
We had a 6 day visit planned to Hedo for August 2020 to celebrate our anniversary we had postponed due to Covid concerns until August 2021. This was our 3rd visit to Hedo, but our first in 10 years, so we were curious to see what had (and hadn’t) changed. Here’s what we found (in a very random order) :
The plane reservations with United had been a challenge, with our postponing the trip for a year. Our previous 2 trips had us flying from San Francisco to Houston to Montego Bay, but for whatever reason, our rebooked flight had us going from SF to Washington DC, then to Jamaica, which made our total travel time longer , totaling about 14 hours to get there, which made for long days on both our arrival and departure.
The bus ride was the same as we remembered, only this time on a “real bus” instead of a van, with the obligatory beer stop at a small shop halfway there, and 3 stops at other resorts, with us being the last stop. Check in at the front was pretty smooth, with the new chore of proving you had your Jamaica entry form, and proof of a recent Covid test. We had been warned it was a good idea to take the Covid test from 2 different places, in case one of them didn’t come back in time. We took one through Quest Diagnostics, having to go to a WalMart pharmacy, and the other, an hour later, we took at a Safeway pharmacy, that we had booked through United, so the results would be sent directly to United. The Safeway test results came back in about 18 hours, but the WalMart ones were closer to about 30 hours, which would have had us sweating bullets if it had been the only test we took.
One nice thing is we immediately were able to book our return trip Covid test (taken at Hedo ) at a computer in the front desk area, so we didn’t have to worry about how & when to schedule that. That test ended up being very quick, and very easy, so we really appreciated that.
We had booked the least expensive room we could, knowing from our previous trips that we pretty much only spent time in the room to sleep and clean up, so going cheap worked for us. One thing we didn’t expect or realize was that there were active Covid cases among the Hedo guests, who were quarantined in their rooms - which were just 2 doors down from us ! The deal was that if you flunked your Covid test, you were put in quarantine for 10 days, at no extra charge to you. You could order anything you wanted to eat or drink, to be delivered to your room, but you were confined to your room, and also to a small section of lawn that had several chaise lounge chairs set up for them. Although we never saw anyone on those chairs, we did see & talk (from a safe distance) to a quarantined gal, who filled us in on her situation- she had tested positive, her husband negative, but they made him stay along with her until they both passed the test. There were 5 total quarantined guests on that day. There was also a guard posted about 50 yards away during the day, and right outside their door at night, to make sure they didn’t “escape”. We felt bad for them (besides having Covid) that Hedo wouldn’t rope off a small slice of beach and let them hang out there if they wanted, so they could at least enjoy the view and the sea air.
On the Covid topic, there was little to no mask wearing by the guests, but the staff were 100% masked. There were MANY more staff members present than our previous two trips, especially in the food service areas, since you weren’t allowed to serve yourself. Lol that probably saved myself a few extra pounds, as you’re reluctant to ask for that 3rd serving of dessert when you have to keep asking the same gal to keep putting more on your plate ! We did feel safe for the most part going maskless, as we knew both guests and staff had tested negative (we were told the staff is tested weekly.)
One random thought is we purposely brought extra cash to tip the staff, as did some other guests we spoke with. We knew that tipping is not required, but we also figured that the staff had missed X amount of work in the past year (one server told us she had been laid off for 2 months ), and a few extra bucks wouldn’t hurt us, but hopefully would help the staff a little bit.
The biggest disappointment of our trip was the almost total lack of participation in the theme night dress up , with the one exception of Jamaica night. We had bought costumes for all the 5 nights we’d be there, but after feeling stupid for being literally one of less than 10 couples wearing costumes at dinner after the first two nights, we gave up. On school night, which used to be a big deal, there was literally NOBODY dressed up for the costume contest during the dinner show. Now, one issue may have been we were there in the overlap of two big groups from back east, who apparently didn’t really care about wearing costumes. So bottom line is I was somewhat upset that we had spent so much time & money planning & buying costumes, not to mention having to pack them in our luggage, only to not use them (except on Jamaica night !)
The beach was actually in better shape than before. It was raked daily (as before), but they now make an extra effort into cleaning the roped off water section of seaweed and debris. I had stepped on a sea urchin on my last visit, which made my foot miserable until I got the spines removed after I got home, but there was actually a guy in scuba gear working in it every day after sunrise on this trip. Bravo for that (and for the water footwear that most everyone was wearing). The Hedo rounds were immaculate, and we made a point of tipping the landscape dude, who we observed daily, is probably the hardest working and least appreciated staff member there - he worked his ass off, and we appreciated his efforts to make the grounds look like paradise.
The entertainment staff at the nude pool was just ok. At the nude pool, we remembered lots of games and contests, but this visit primarily had the staff just dancing poolside to the DJ, and having trivia quizzes. In their defense, the 2 groups were probably more interested in visiting & drinking, but there was a lot of dead time. We felt bad for the dinner entertainment crew, as previously mentioned, nobody was dressed in theme, which wasn’t their fault, but they were working hard to try and entertain us. (The house band & singers were all pretty good, too.)
I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit we can’t review any of the late night action, as since we are now 10 years older, out of Hedo shape, and qualify for the senior discount at Denny’s (without having to show our ID’s), we were totally sun baked, burnt out, and somewhat wasted by 10pm, so it was all we could do to crawl into bed. (Pretty sad, huh !)
As far as the food - it was ok, not great, not horrible. The best thing everyday were the omelet ladies, who made a mean omelet, and were always friendly and quick. Harry San was just ok , Pastafari got a lot of bad buzz from the poolside chatter (the consensus was it’s the same exact stuff you can get at the buffet, so why bother), but the Flame Beach Grill got consistently positive comments, both for the food and the service.
Random thought #2 was my personal biggest gripe of the week was - they actually ran out of Tequila on 3 of the 6 days we were there. Again, granted, there were 2 big overlapping groups, but how do you run out of booze, except for poor planning and execution ??!! (I know, I know if that’s my biggest gripe, it must have been a good week - and it was.)
We did use the water sports 2 days, paddle boarding and then kayaking. The crew there was great, friendly & helpful. The laugh in the pool one day was that a couple borrowed a Hobiecat, didn’t really know how to sail it, and got halfway to Cuba before the crew had to go tow them back in.
Another surprise was the marijuana situation. 10 years ago, if you “wanted smoke”, you had to go to “the point” on the edge of the beach, kind of hide what you were up to (like everybody didn’t know what was going on anyway) , and make your best deal. “The point” is now “the flat”, it got shaved down, nobody goes on it anymore, since you can buy your smoke either right on property (at “Hedo Weedo”), or from the friendly local salesmen who walk up and down the beach.
Final random thoughts are : (1) We did have daily maid service, which we loved, since no hotel anywhere in America we know of does right now (2) The cable TV is 100% better - way more channels, always a clear signal & picture (3) Nude pool does still have jerk chicken, now available all day long, not just during happy hour (hurray!) (4) Coming back into the USA, the customs line in Houston was huge, and slower than molasses in January. We saw several folks in a panic, as the slowness meant they were going to miss their connecting flight. But… the Global Entry line was empty - so if you have the bucks & travel enough to make it worthwhile, you should look into it & sign up for it, to greatly speed up your experience in getting through customs. (4) They do have a tennis pro on staff, who offered hour or so long lessons, based on your ability, which I (Tim) would have taken advantage of, as I played through college, but not since, and would have liked trying it out - but the times offered daily were literally only during Happy Hour - hell, that’s when it’s drinking time ! Maybe if they were offered instead late morning or early afternoon, they’d get more people like me to take advantage of it. (5) The room beds only have a sheet and a blanket, so you might get chilly at night with the A/C on if you don’t plan accordingly.
Finally, we’d like to thank Denny for helping guide us through a frustrating year of rescheduling, as his help was invaluable. We may or may not return to Hedo next year, but know we won’t wait 10 years again before we go back.