Reben & Julie - February, 2013
Hedonism II Trip Report
Feb
23 to 28, 2013
Reben
and Julie
The
Journey
Thanks to a good deal on first class seats, we flew in comfort from
Detroit. It is nice having 4
hours of personal service while flying.
We also tried the new VIP arrival service and it could be worth
the money. I say “could be”
because ours was the only flight to arrive at that time so there were
only 250 people in line.
On a really busy time there can be 1000 people in line and it can
take an hour to get through customs and immigration.
With the VIP service, we walked straight through and were in the
lounge in less than 10 minutes.
After that was a 15 minute wait for the bus followed by 10
minutes of waiting for the bus to fill up and we were off.
No beer stop was requested by the people on the bus so we got to
Hedo relatively quickly.
Checking was very easy and organized
The
Fluff
This
was our first trip with the Fluffernutter group.
We had a pretty good idea of what to expect and they did not
disappoint. Overall it is a
very friendly group. We have
been to Hedo before, but we now understand the purpose of going with a
group (even if they are all strangers).
The events that were planned were fun.
Some were a little over the top and rude, but nothing was in your
face. In short there was
something for everyone. My
personal favorite event was the “stoplight theme” pool party
(red=monogamous, yellow = maybe, green = go).
I was really surprised by the Red and Yellow outfits with a group
that has such a wild reputation.
Just goes to show that everyone has a different reason for going
to Hedo.
The
Room
We
stayed on in an Oceanview Nude room and we really like the room
location. It was right in
the middle of the action and it was a quick walk back to the room if we
needed something. Of course,
the tradeoff is the long walk to the dining room/piano bar/ disco.
But that is just how Hedo is.
Room quality is OK.
A/C stopped working one day but after turning it off overnight, it
seemed to get its second wind and started up the next morning.
Hot water was OK, only one night of cold showers.
The
Food
Dinner at the main buffet was very good but since food is a personal
thing, I am sure there were people there the same time who didn’t like
the food. I like it when
they have local food on the menu.
I don’t come to Jamaica for burgers, fries, and pizza.
I like seeing local curried beef, goat ox tail, and fish.
Food can be good without being steak and lobster.
Perfect example was sweet and sour fish.
Never had this before and it is just a simple dish but it is very
good. We slept through our
reservation at Italian so I have no comments.
Japanese was OK, it just offers another piece of variety.
We were surprised by the Midnight snack.
We were expecting burgers and hot dogs but were surprised to see
several additional choices like tempura fish, and Creole shrimp.
The
Staff
Our
first observations on the staff were that everything was better than our
last trip. With the resort
sold out, the staff was busting their asses work to keep up.
Especially the bar staff.
We felt bad for them trying to keep up with the endless crowds.
Even when they are running out of ice and booze and look
exhausted from the endless orders, it only takes a simple fist bump and
“respect mon” to put a smile on their faces and let them know you
appreciate all that they are doing.
Next trip, we are really going to put some effort into bringing
some meaningful gifts for the staff when we see them working so hard.
We
were present for the handover of the resort to Marshmallow Ltd.
There are plenty of comments and rumors about what happened so I
will try to comment only on what we saw.
On
Feb 26, we first heard from someone at dinner that there was a large
amount of staff that was let go.
This came as a shock to us because we felt the staff was doing an
incredible job during our stay.
At midnight, Jon and Harry did a countdown to announce the
official transfer of the resort (contracts must have been written to
take effect 12:01am). We
went to bed confused how staff could be let go if the resort had not
changed hands.
The
next day we talked to some others and hear more stories/rumors/comments.
We heard the investors had been having meetings during the week
to plan for the transition.
It seems that Kevin gave a list of names to Jon and Harry that he wanted
to let go. Jon and Harry
objected but Kevin said that if he was going to manage the resort, they
had to trust him. Of course,
we don’t know why the staff was let go, only Kevin and the investors
know the true reasons.
On
the morning of Feb 27, it was clear that something was different.
EC’s were serving dinner and tending bar.
The resort was sold out so it might not have been the best time
to short staff the resort.
Regardless, everyone continued to give 110% and they did it all with a
smile (as best they could).
We didn’t ask the staff any personal questions because we knew they were
all worried about losing their jobs if they complained so we don’t know
much more detail.
I
have never run or owned a 280 room resort in the Caribbean so I will
hold off judgment on what is best for Hedo.
It looked like the investors had already brought in a
consultant/designer who was walking around with them (funny to see a guy
in khakis walk around the resort during a week of a naked takeover).
Changes must be coming so only time will tell what the resort
will look like when it is all done.
The
Departure
We
also paid for the VIP exit service and again, I am not sure if it was
worth the money on this trip.
It saved 5 minutes through security and immigration and it got us
into the airport lounge.
Either the airport wasn’t super busy or they have gotten better at
handling the crowds. The
lounge was nice to have internet, finger food, and free drinks.
I suspect that if you know you are going to be at Mo Bay during
Spring Break or some really busy time, the VIP service is worth the
money. Or, if you just like
feeling special for the last few minutes of your Jamaican vacation.