Kathleen - May, 2013
This was our 6th trip to Hedo with Biff's Bunch and it's always a good time. Although I will admit I was a little worried at first. Our flight was a little later than usual this year, and not very full. Usually the flight is sold out. Then when we arrived at MoBay, the lines were the worst we have ever seen. We were so wishing we had signed up for Club MoBay, but you just never know when you will really need it!
Once we got though the long lines, we got on our bus to Hedo in record time and it was less than half full and all Hedo people. That was a big improvement from past visits, at least.
The weather was wet and dreary, so that had us a bit concerned. It's much nicer to be greeted by warm sunshine obviously. And we could tell it had been raining quite a bit that week. That dampened our spirits a little. We also heard the weather hadn't been very good from others at the resort, but once we got past that day, the sun shone every day, and we never had another drop of rain the entire week. It was amazing and our best weather trip ever. So that really turned around nicely. We had more time in the sun and on the raft than any other trip and even got a little too much sun one day. But I'm not complaining!
The greeting when we arrive home to Hedo is usually very heartwarming. This time it was comparable to the weather we arrived in. Dreary. The place seemed dead. And they seemed short staffed. The usual porters who are so good to us were not around. The greeter from our tour desk gave us a room we liked (garden prude, near the food), but was unsmiling, and lacked energy and enthusiasm. And that never got better the whole week. Not a good impression for first timers or anyone. The bags took forever to arrive at our room and the staff seemed unusually paranoid. We were really starting to wonder what happened to Hedo? On top of that, out of the blue, we were told we had to put down a $100 deposit although this has never happened before and was not in the contract. And it was enforced indiscriminately. Many who came in the same day were not asked to pay this new deposit, but some were. No explanation whatsoever from our tour desk. We were told it was a new rule as of TODAY. I think we could have fought it but it didn't seem worth the bother.
Since the weather was bad and we were tired, we just unpacked and slept through most of the welcome back party, but woke up in time to be there for the end and for dinner. The rest of the evening was enjoyable, and we spent it catching up with old friends, meeting new friends, eating and drinking and dancing, and then closed the evening with the piano bar and hot tub.
The food always pleases us. Brian brings me breakfast in bed every morning and we usually eat lunch at the nude or prude grill, then have dinner in the main dining room or the two restaurants, and go back at night for a midnight snack. They seemed to have more in the main dining room for the late night snack than ever. And the pizza at the nude grill is a nice addition. We're glad someone told us about that, even though we only had it one night.
The bar staff is always good to us and Joe in the main dining room bar did tricks for us. He was very personable and we enjoyed him. The prude beach bar is always very quick service and I like to start my day there with a dirty banana for breakfast.
The music and entertainment in the main dining room is good and I heard a fair amount of Reggae, which is my preference when I'm in Jamaica. The piano bar is much improved from last year, and the piano player has great promise. He's new and I will always miss Deon, but he is personable and talented. My only complaint about the piano bar is lack of seating and that the show tended to be the same staged event many nights. While it was amusing and hot and fun the first couple times, it got to be monotonous after a while. And the very attractive girls on the piano were not newbies or regular friends and guests, but seemed like very young, paid, and planted staff or helpers. It's really more amusing to see newbies up there or "real" people, rather than girls who are pretty dancers paid to get the show going. That's fine with EC's in the dining room, but this was different than the usual piano bar show. Nice enough in moderation, but after a while, it just got old. I don't think it's like that every week, but it was our week. And they need to change it up every other night & add some variety. I think we saw YMCA performed no less than 10 times that week. It's a treat, but mix it up a little! Many regulars didn't even get to sing due to the staged acts and I don't recall it ever being like that before. Still it beat the dead and empty vibe in there last year by a mile.
My only real complaint about the music is the pool parties by the main dining room. They have such promise but the music is mostly extremely loud Techno music that turns us off. Add to that the fact that it went on until 1:30 AM, and that was the one night we went to bed early (midnight) and our room was as close as you could get to the party. Not pleasant. Whatever happened to Bob Marley and some sexy romantic dance music? This was just blaring noise. We love to dance, but this was just plain annoying.
I love the hot tub and that was great as always, and the nude pool was fun although we are more beach people and enjoy being out on our float in the ocean. The catamaran cruise is another highlight, and we like snorkeling when the boat stops. We also took a Hobie Cat out and went sailing which I highly recommend. And Brian was able to dive one day despite sinus issues that prevented him from diving as much as usual. The dive shack staff are always helpful and accommodating. It was good to see Augustus back on the beach too. He always does a great job.
The guests were a friendly bunch, and we met more people this time and got to know more from our group better. We took a walk down the 7 Mile Beach with some in our group that was entertaining, bought a few souvenirs, and ate and drank at Margaritaville. Most took a taxi or bus back, but we walked all the way back, through the water no less, and I was sore for a while. But I would do it again. The weather, water, sky, and sand, were breathtaking.
We only saw the nude water slide open the last day.
It was closed most of the week. I'm not sure why.
We used the disco for parties,but I am NOT a fan of the disco. It's so
dark and dank in there. I hope they really do make it into a
party/hospitality room for couples to play. AND I sincerely hope
it's not just a swingers hangout. Some of us enjoy public play
with our partners too. The party room was a first for us last year
and was located behind the spa. It was very nicely done, and romantic
with mattresses and clean sheets, and mood music and candlelight. I
raved about it and several contacted me asking about it then and also
this year. Unfortunately, it was not offered to our group this
year, but it was offered to the group after us. This was my
biggest disappointment. And it disappointed a number of people.
It exists, but is a well kept secret except to a select few who get to
use it. I am not sure how to qualify since we did last year but
not this year. We were even willing to pay extra, but it was not
an option, unfortunately. When I got back home, I did inquire and
complain about this since we had it last year and I said it was a
selling point for us as far as the tour group we used. That's when I was
told the disco will soon be the new party room place. I just hope
they do a good job and make it up as nicely as the spa. If so, it will
be a great use of space and huge improvement over the seldom used,
unappealing, disco.
We are used to the rooms at Hedo by now, and enjoy the over bed mirror, big pillows, and had no water issues. However it would be nice to see matching tropical or beachy curtains and bedspreads instead of a mismatch of odd florals and outdated plaids from the 50's. Our housekeeper always did a good job cleaning and was very helpful.
Despite the complaints/suggestions which I hope the new owners heed, we had a wonderful trip and can't wait to return next year!