Yet again this year we traveled with Denny's WWW group for the 3rd time (this
was our 4th trip though). We arrived on Friday Oct. 7th via Air Jamaica
out of JFK. The flight was about as good as they come. No problems
checking in, we left on time and then actually arrived 15 minutes early in
Montego Bay, which allowed us to beat the long lines at Immigrations and
Customs. However, once we got to baggage claim, that was an entirely
different story. Luckily though, we flew First Class, and one of the
ground crew knew it. He came up, asked us our name, and 'poof'....our
bag appeared. He told us that they were "having problems with the
airline and the airport, and were lucky to have flown first class and for him
to have found us, otherwise it would have been a long time before our bag
appeared" (a work slow down is what we call it). Anyway, off we went to
the resort via Taxi ($70 US) no more than 15 minutes after landing...if that
long.
The fun begins......
Check in was typical. We reserved an Ocean FRONT Nude suite, but got
Ocean VIEW instead. Not a big deal and wasn't worth arguing over since
it didn't really cost us any extra since we booked during the Superclubs
promo. The stairs were good exercise (-:
Ill briefly touch on the restaurants and our experiences:
Buffet - The first night we had to eat at the buffet
because by the time we arrived (12 pm) there were no available spots at either
restaurant. The food was noticeably different (for the worse) than the
last 3 trips. We both ended up eating no more than a watery salad
and some bread and butter. It wasn't so much the quality, but the quantity
of selection and availability. Needless to say, we never ate at the
buffet again except for breakfast (which was good, but still missing the same
selection and quality from previous trips). Oh yeah, its also tough to
eat when you don't have utensils! Oh, and don't think of getting up and
getting your own. The staff will get upset! Just sit there and
wait 10 minutes while you food gets cold so as not to upset them.
Nude Grill - What gives here! The food, once
finally ready, was good, but the wait, combined with running out of plates at
least 2 days in a row, made the overall satisfaction with the nude side grill
very poor.
The Reggae Grill (formerly the Scotch Bonnet) - Food
was good, when they had it or prepared it correctly (the Chicken Soup was
great). Service was OK at best (the wait for drinks was so long that at times
we finished our meal and were ready to leave by the time they arrived, if at
all). Twice they were out of beef patties and white meat chicken.
Pastafari - The selection now is so small that they
may as well just bring you one of everything. However, the quality of
the food here was very good. The service however was not! On
average we waited over an hour each night for the food. One night we
waited 40 minutes just to be seated at a table that was empty and set all
night (and the place was never more than 1/2 full). Even the salad bar
was not the same.
Munasan (spelling?) - Excellent! Same as always.
Good food, good service and a great atmosphere.
The Bars - Never a problem really. For the most
part we seen the same level of service here as we were accustomed too.
One day they ran out of Red Stripe & CO2 at the nude bar for over an hour, but
we were on vacation and in Jamaica, so "no problem man". However, we
don't drink that much nor do we drink anything that out of the ordinary, so
keeping us happy is easy.
Some of the other areas/aspects we'd like to touch on:
Room - One word..."Mold"! It made us both sick
again (4 trips and 4 times we left sick). Its 'surface cleaned' at best.
Also, the lack of consistent water temperature is just something we have
learned to live with at Hedo III. We ended up cleaning and disinfecting
the room ourselves (not really something you want to do while on vacation).
This time was the worst for both of us. Enough to not want to go back!
Pool - At times it was so filthy that we found
ourselves cleaning it. It seemed that every afternoon the filter
basically stopped working (on the nude side anyway). The Quad was MUCH
cleaner, and we spent 1 afternoon/evening there just to get away from the
filth in the nude pool.
Hot Tubs - Typically inconsistent. Either too
cool or too hot to even tolerate! Again though, we're used to that, so
it by no means was a surprise. Would be nice if the thermostats actually
worked though, wouldn't it?
Staff - Ok, but noticeably not as friendly as in trips
past. There were some exceptions of course. Jeffery at the piano
bar, Sabrina at the nude bar to name a few...and of course Glenn (the piano
player). Hedo would not be the same without Glenn! Its almost as
if they are also on a work slow down or nearing a strike. Something just
wasn't the same.
EC's - Barely noticeable. Actually, the first
difference we noted was in April. This time they were even harder to
find. In past trips they were amazing!
Disco - The first half of the week the disco was
totally UN BEARABLE! So many locals that the guests were completely
outnumbered! The music was horrible, and obviously being played for the
locals on night passes. However, the last few days were fun. This
still didn't make up for the lost first 1/2 of the week though.
Unacceptable.
Something else we'd like to mention that totally disgusted us. The
HOOKERS/PROSTITUES! They were ALL over the place. Im not talking
about 1 or 2 that may have slipped in, I'm talking about a dozen of them, and
it was obvious! They, along with their 'pimps', made for an atmosphere
that was a complete turn off. We know Hedo is about a sexually charged
atmosphere, and we have done our share to contribute to that atmosphere, BUT
hookers ruin it! WTF is that all about? Pimps knocking on doors
looking for their girls, hookers hitting on you every time you're alone...come
on! Never again!
I think this about sums it up. The short version is that the trip was
not a total loss, but it was a total disappointment and we will not being
going back anytime soon (or at least until we can absolutely confirm that the
majority of these issues have been addressed). It was GREAT seeing old
friends again, and making new ones. As always, the people are what make
Hedo what it is, but its tough when either they or you are sick! Its
also tough when you have that general 'pit in your stomach' due to all that we
mentioned about, to truly enjoy yourself.
Oh...the transfer to/from the resort is as annoying as ever. Although a
larger portion of the road is now complete, it didn't cut down on the time it
takes to get to/from the airport (about 2 hours by bus...1 hour 15 minutes by
taxi).....unless you stop for something (-; that will just add
more time.
Another thing we learned about Air Jamaica or the Jamaican airport in general
is that you can't check in early! We arrived at 12:15 for a 5:15 flight
and we were told that we had to stand there and wait until 1:15 until they
would check us in due to 'security reasons'. I have never heard of that
rule before!
I think this about wraps up our Oct. 2005 Hedo trip. If you look for our
previous trip reports (Oct. 2003, 2004 and April 2005) you'll see that we were
HUGE Hedo fan's, so this is not just about Hedo bashing. You can also
read how things have changed over the past few years.
Thanks! See ya soon!