Charlie - December, 2011 through March 2012
Wintering At Hedo
2012 Edition
This is the second winter I've spent at Hedo (I arrived on December
28th and will be leaving on March 25th). If
you didn't read my two Trip Reports from last year (report
1, report 2)
I suggest you do as I won't be repeating the same things I wrote
last year – in fact, I'd consider them “required reading” if you are
considering spending a month or more at the resort.
For my personal circumstances (single, extrovert, retired, living in
the Northeast, no pets etc) “wintering” at Hedo is a great option.
The staff becomes a second family and the constant flow of new and
international guests keeps things interesting and helps the time
pass nicely.
Some highlights from this year's experience worth noting:
1)
The best kept Hedo Secret: The special wine list with
reasonably-priced better wines that can be charged to your room. The
list exists in Martino's but I'm sure you can get the list brought
to the main dining room too – Jeffrey is the “owner” of this
service.
2)
The food is better this year than last – still not great, but the
new exec chef (Vinroy Green) is starting to make his mark. I had the
best mushroom soup (broth not cream) last night and some “red wine”
mashed potatoes that were delightful beyond words – and I'm not a
big potato fan!
3)
For you old-timers, Veronica (from “Veronica's Pub” days) is working
a couple days a week at the “Boardwalk” beach bar (between Sandals
and Beaches). Walk over for a drink.
The food there is very good also. Try the snapper filet –
excellent!
4)
Some other restaurant suggestions: Catch a Falling Star (beautiful
setting, good food), Push Cart (great Jamaican cuisine, reasonable
prices), Italian Cafe (good pizza, locals hang-out), Sweet Spice
(another locals place).
All of these are cab rides away.
5)
My and others personal experience with leaving items at your beach
lounge overnight... they may well disappear. A step backward in
civility.
6)
For the second year in a row, the gym / spa AC was barely working.
The same excuse as last year: “waiting for new chillers for the
roof”. I asked several
times for floor-standing fans to no avail.
7)
See my post on the message board re: Digicel's 4G broadband
service... for a longer stay it may be worth your while. Search the
site for Digicel 4G and the thread should come-up.
8)
Several weeks had large groups at the resort who brought their own
DJ's, VJ's and entertainment. Many weeks had day-long pool parties
at the nude pool and nightly pool parties at the main pool.
Depending on your personal tastes, it was either fun or
disturbing.
As always there are plenty of things to complain about, but I'd
prefer to do that directly with the management and keep these
reports more “balanced”.
I'm still in the frame of mind to do this again next year...
although price increase rumors are rampant – that could change
things.
Feel free to e-mail me with any questions other than financial ones.
Whatever financial I am free to discuss was included in my last
year's reports.