Trip Dates: December 26th, 2006 January 1st, 2007
Personal Background: Andy is 26. Shanna is 24. We are both thankful for each day we livevery easy going, easy to please, and very appreciative of a place as beautiful as Jamaica and the people who live there and work so hard to make our vacations a pleasure. We are not negative people. We enjoy every vacation we take. We do not let things ruin our vacations, but the following things are exactly what we experienced. We are both college graduates and have great friends from college. However, none of them are like minded when it comes to going to a place like Hedo and just taking what comes. We went to Hedo 3 the second week of January, 2006. We had an awesome time and met a lot of wonderful people that regardless of age, had the same mind set as us. We met several couples that were between the ages of 21 and 35 and there were also a lot of people we met that were over 40 that we had a great time with. We decided to try Hedo 2 this year because we had read the message board and trip reports and heard things about Hedo 2 such as the beach is much nicer, the resort is bigger and better, the staff is more inviting, the bus ride is shorter, and there is more to do outside of the resort (since everyone has the intention and then they get there and never leave anywayJ!). So we booked our trip in September.
Travel: We flew out of Chicago Ohare on Air Jamaica leaving at 6:40 am, non stop to Mo Bayno problems what so ever. Hot breakfast and free champagne. Our flight arrived right on time 11:35 am, got through costumes in 10 minutes, waited for our bags for 20 minutes, went to the Superclubs lounge checked in, got a Red Stripe (which turned into 2 more while we waited all was good!). Boarded our bus to go to the resort around 1:00. Bus ride uneventfulstopped for a Red Stripe (the stop was not nearly as scenic as the stop on the way to Hedo 3, which was right on the beach, very open, and surreal every thing you thought a Jamaican outdoor bar stop would be). However, the bus ride was a little shorter, we arrived at Hedo 2 around 2:30 pm.
Check In: There were a total of 10 of us dropped off at Hedo. Everyone that checked in before us (from the bus) was taken right to their room. When I got to the desk we were the last ones from the bus to check-in, and we had booked run of houseI made the mistake (I think) of saying to the young guy at the desk Can you hook us up with a good roomhe replied Oh yah mon!. So we are thinking SUPER.he said Just a minute so we waited and waited15 minutes later, he said Its gonna be a few more minutes so we decided to go get some food and a drink. We were sitting in the main dining room and one of the female ECs came and sat with us (not going to mention names). She shared some insightful information about Jamaican life and the lack of appreciation that the majority of American tourists have about their vacation experience in Jamaica and our outlook on life as a whole. She shared that a salary in Jamaica of $8,000US dollars a year is a HIGH paying job. She also shared that their main goal is to please us on vacation and hope that we can enjoy the Jamaican life, culture, food, and experience the way that the Jamaican people do each day, which made us again realize how lucky we are to have the lives we do. Back to the desk 45 minutes later thinking our room would be ready. They saw us coming and said Just a couple more minutes mon We were finewe were in Jamaica and didnt have many worries. We went for a walk around the resort to check things out. The resort is much bigger than Hedo 3. No one was in the prude pool (and that was pretty much the case all week, with the exception of a few people here and there), the prude beach was empty, the nude beach was pretty full, the nude pool had a few people in it, and the nude hot tub was full of people. This scene remained the same through the entire week we were there. SO back to the desk we wandered at about 4:30 pm --- 2 hours after we arrived. Still our good room he promised to hook us up with after waiting all this time was not ready for about 15 more minutes. At this point we offered to take any room that was ready. The receptionist at the front desk was apologetic, she said Thank you for waiting so longbecause of the wait, I am going to compensate you with .MUMBLE MUMBLE MUMBLE We had no idea what she said, but before we could ask WHAT?, she answered another phone line. (We didnt receive anything all week in fact, at Hedo 3 someone called at least twice during our visit to make sure everything was going wellnothing like this at H2) At this point, we really didnt care about compensation, we just wanted to get to our room and get to the pool! We got our keys and found our own way to Room 1105.
Room: Our room was an ocean view (very small ocean view) prude side room. Absolutely nothing to write home about smelled like pot for the first few days, other than that no big deals. If comparing to American hotels, Hedo 3 rooms are like the Hilton, Hedo 2 rooms are like the Econolodge. Both hotels had tiny ants throughout the weekthey didnt really bother us. Our room was cleaned dailynew towels arrived daily. When they clean rooms, they mop the floor and then leave the doors open while they clean the neighboring rooms. Andy had his money clip with (3) $100 in it in the bottom of a bag that was zipped up on the floor. One of the $100 bills disappeared the 2nd day we were thereafter that we put the money and our iPod in the safe (the safes at both resorts are very small- we have a larger digital camera which didnt even come close to fitting in there at either resort.). We should have done this the second we got there, but at Hedo 3 we didnt use the safe and had absolutely no problems. I guess we didnt realize that something in the bottom of our zipped up bag was up for grabs.we will never make this mistake again. We always had hot water, no matter what time we showered and our air conditioner worked very well.
Resort (Food, people, and entertainment): If we had to estimate, 90% of the guests were over 40, which is NOT OLDbut keep in mind that our parents are in their 40s. Everyone that we talked to was very friendly and respectful. Not once were we approached about a sexual situation (which was not the case at Hedo 3). There were about 15-20 single guys that we saw on a daily basis. They were all VERY respectful, easy going, and easy to talk to. None of them were invasive or constantly staring (Which was not the case at Hedo 3). There were some PDAs (most occurring at sunset and after midnight) but nothing even compared in craziness to the things we saw at Hedo 3. The ECs were only seen briefly at the nude pool a couple times during our stay and then on the main stage at meal times. Your feelings about this may be different than ours. Personally, this was very disappointing to us. At Hedo 3, the ECs were out and about ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT! They arranged drinking games, prude side take-overs, contests, body shots, etc. The events posted on the schedule at Hedo 3 ALWAYS happened and everyone knew they were happeningthe events posted on the schedule at Hedo 2 rarely happened (and if they did, the ECs were so quiet about it that few people knew) The EC we were talking with when we arrived told us that she visited Hedo 3 and the ECs there were allowed to do much more to get the guests involved than the ECs at Hedo 2 were able to do she must have been right. The food was food.always plentiful. The buffet and Italian restaurant were good. The Japanese restaurant was fantastic. Only one day we went to make reservations for dinner and the specialty restaurants were bookedkeep in mind the resort was sold out the entire time we were there. The prude and nude beach grills were supposed to open at 11 or 11:30 ( I forget which) they were never open until at least noon. The food there was good.cheeseburgers were awesome. Jerk chicken was always good around 4:30 in the afternoon at the nude beach bar. We didnt go hungry! The food at H2 and H3 was very similar. The New Years Eve buffet was very impressiveas was the entertainment and dcor. As far as the entertainment the other nights.It was alright, but the ECs at Hedo 3 definitely get more of the guests involved. The piano bar (which we visited at random times from 7-midnight several nights we were there was EMPTYalways, in fact we never once saw the piano because it was covered, nor did we see a piano player! not sure what that was about) At Hedo 3 the piano bar was the gathering place for everyone after dinner before the disco. The disco was pretty comparable at H2 and H3. The pole at H3 didnt spin when we were thereassuming it still doesnt and the pole at H2 spins very wellthat was exciting! As we said, there were no EC arranged prude side takeovers so one day we decided to arrange one ourselves. When we got there, they said the slide wasnt quite open yet. We said, well we are all here and naked so speed it upthen they opened it. Other than that, we didnt really see anyone using the slide, except for when we decided to make them open it again on New Years Eve. At Hedo 3 the waterslide was used much more often. The beach at H2 is definitely nicer, we floated in the ocean on the nude beach a few days and it was very relaxing (as long as you stayed on the float because it was very weedy). Hedo 2 is much bigger than Hedo 3. The nude hot tub at H2 is much larger. The hot tub temperature at H2 seemed to be a bit more consistent than the temperatures at H3. The nude pool was cool initially, but very swim-able once you got in. The hidden hot tubs at Hedo 2 are as follows: 3 on the nude side (2 actually belong to rooms, but are in shrubbery so you cant see them very well, the other one is right by the spa) 1 on the prude side in the middle of the gardens. Never did we see anyone in any of them. They are hot tubs just like the ones you may have on your decknot resort hot tubs.
Lifestyle: As far as the lifestyle scenes at each resortthis is what we gathered through talking to others and observation (at least at the times we visited both resorts). Hedo 2 is more of a go there knowing exactly what you want and then go to the room to do it. Hedo 3 is more of a girls flirt and touch throughout the day and then see what the drinks cause you to do by nighttime. Again, it totally depends on who is there when you are, but we feel as though we saw the true Hedo 2 because the resort was over booked the entire time we were there. Obviously, your preferences may not be the same as ours when it comes to this.you may not have a preference at all.
Conclusions: We had a great time at both. We met a lot of very cool people at both resorts. We had a great time on New Years Eve with a couple that we kept seeing all week but never talked to.just break the ice and go for it right away because we had wished we had gotten to know each other much sooner than the night before we left. We had a great time. We did wish we had gone to Hedo 3 in fact we went to the front desk the second day we were there to see if we could transfer, but Hedo 3 was also over booked, so we couldnt.oh well. We relaxed and had a good time all week floating nude and drinking dirty bananaswill we be rushing back to Hedo 2, no. Will we be rushing back to Hedo 3, yesnext New Years! If you have any more specific questions, email us at goodtimes1002000@yahoo.com
Also, please know that this trip report may sound negative toward H2. Like we said, we had a great time, just didnt like it as much as H3. It may be that we are too young to be going to Hedo at all J and 15 years from now, we may love H2 more than H3 (In March we are going to Desire Cancun and plan to do a comparison of all three resorts). We have noticed that the general age that writes trip reports seems to be older ( and perhaps more wise!! ) than us so we thought that people in their 20s and early 30s may find this information valuable since it is coming from a more closely age-related perspective.
