Tom & Traci - November, 2013
November 2-9, 2013
Travel was fine,
used Sun Holiday for the shuttle.
Waited about 30 minutes to depart but no stop at the Golden Apple
& we made it to Hedo about 2 hours after landing.
Check-in was a breeze; they seem to be
getting more efficient herding all those arriving into the “pit” area
where you complete a 1 page check-in form.
We were given a drink on arrival and on our way to our room
(1141) within a few minutes.
Our trip got out to
a rough start on Sunday afternoon November 3rd when Traci,
walking along the nude/ocean front rooms, missed a small step and turned
her ankle. She immediately
knew she had at least sprained it – possibly worse.
We were fortunate that Charlton (Bellman) happened to be right
there – delivering luggage to a room.
He immediately came over to help & ran to the bar to get ice.
Tracie was able to elevate & ice her ankle right away – and Charlton
told us he had a couple more bags to deliver but would be right back to
ride us up to the nurse (he offered to get the nurse, but Traci didn’t
want her to come). When
Charlton got back to us, we had him drive us back to our room, knew
there wasn’t a whole lot more that could be done other than icing it.
Monday morning I
(Tom) went up to see the nurse about possibly borrowing crutches.
The nurse was great too – asked about writing up an ‘incident
report’ which I told her was not necessary but asked about crutches –
which she promptly offered and adjusted for height.
The nurse did say if it got worse or she decided she wanted to be
seen, just to call her. We
used the crutches “on loan” but did end up paying the $30 for them to
make getting home a little easier, money well spent!
From there, I
stopped at the lobby and spoke with Cecil.
I told him how great Charlton was assisting us & asked about
Traci’s getting a ride to/from the nude pool as they were making their
rounds. That was all it took
– for the rest of our stay all the bellmen, Cecil – Charlton –
Ojell….were all so very, very helpful.
I can’t tell you how much we appreciated their help – but also
the concern and awareness they showed.
All it took was my being seen in the lobby & Cecil was quick with
a “is your lady ready for a ride? We’ll be there in 5 minutes…”.
And if I happened to pass one of them driving the luggage truck
while I was walking along a path, they’d stop to make sure I was ok –
and Traci – and that I wasn’t looking for them for a ride up/back.
Our days consisted
of the same basic routine; I’d go up to breakfast & bring it back to the
room. The carafe in the room
came in very handy. Traci
would get her “escort” to the end of the path at the nude hottub and we
would spend our days at the pool.
The saving of chairs seems to have gotten completely out of
control – or maybe I was just noticing it more because of Traci’s injury
and how getting a lounger was like striking gold, having someplace for
her to be able to sit and eat lunch.
There were many chairs/loungers reserved overnight which is
something I hadn’t noticed before.
Lunch each day at the nude grill was very good.
Never more than a 5-10 minute wait.
We had a fair amount
of rain most afternoons this trip – but most only lasted an hour or
less. Only Tuesday did it
start raining about noon and lasted into the early evening.
For dinner, we ate
at Martino’s once – was very good and out waitress Cyrene was awesome.
With Traci’s injury, whenever she’d see us the rest of the week
she would come over and ask how she was doing and if there was anything
she could do for us. I’d
seen information about there being a new menu – but for the most part it
is the same one as always. Calamari has been added but that was the only
difference I noticed. We had
the ravioli and for entrée Traci had the apricot chicken & I had the
tenderloin (our regular orders…) both were excellent.
They have renamed the antipasto bar as a “tapas” station…still
the same stuff there.
We ate at HarrySan
(still hard to get used to that name) twice, both times enjoyed it
immensely. We both had the
combo of chicken/beef/shrimp the first visit (no fish).
The food is always good there but we were lucky both visits to
share the table with great groups of people who made the event more fun.
The Silver Birds
Steel Band Orchestra performed Monday night – always a highlight of the
trip and this performance did not disappoint.
Did not pay too much attention to the Showtime entertainment the
rest of the week, it was mostly EC driven and it quickly becomes the
“same old, same old” for us.
After dinner was always a stop at the piano bar and our favorite
employee in the place, Eldon.
He and Shomari are a great team.
They always seem to have everyone served a drink quickly, no
matter how crowded it gets.
And they are equally quick when it’s not crowded getting you a refill
before even asking.
Never made it to the
disco or hottub late night, with Traci’s ankle we were usually back in
the room to ice it before bed.
Biggest
disappointment of the week was Hedo’s running out of lobster barely
half-way though dinner service on Friday.
Because of Traci’s foot we were having dinner on the later side
and getting up to the dining room at 8:45 meant there was no lobster to
be had. What irked me more
was after being told by one of the cooks they were “out”, he tells
another guest “let me check in the back, see what I can do”.
Aside from that – the main buffet was well stocked and the
selections better & more appealing taste-wise than our last few trips.
Two other issues
during the week: 1) water being turned off on the nude side of the
resort most of one day due to a broken pipe.
Did not take long for the bathrooms to display the effects
without flushing toilets. It
also led to no running water at the bar – not sure how plates, cups &
kitchen utensils were being cleaned, but did notice water was being used
from one of the 50lb drums/trash cans that are used to deliver ice.
Containers (milk jug type, the kinds that the drink syrups come
in) were being refilled from the cans – we didn’t ask for ‘ice water’
after seeing this. 2) nude
pool pump filter went up mid-week.
It did not take long for the pool to go from its regular sun-tan
cloudy to nasty. You could not see the letters spelling out “HEDONISM
II” at the bottom of the pool.
By Friday they did have a portable pump/filter on the side &
closed/drained the cool tub.
It didn’t seem like that portable filter made a difference.
General
observations:
·
Our garden
view prude room had a new flat screen TV and small refrigerator.
·
New beach
lounge chairs are great – having built-in arms & adjust for height
easily, without “popping out of place” like the old ones did.
·
Ample
supply of small beach tables on both the nude & prude beach, supply of
the foam rubber mats is dwindling
·
Industrial
type beach umbrellas are plentiful, around the beach and both pool areas
·
Fresh coat
of paint in the main dining room area (kind of an off-white) looks good,
better than the yellow – per Traci
·
A bank of
18 “cubbies” (3 rows of 6) has been added along the stone wall by the
nude hottub, large enough to put towel & shoes.
·
The
boutique is well stocked with clothing (sexy & regular souvenir items)
and other things - - but with no air conditioning it is almost
unbearable to be in there more than a couple minutes.
We would have easily spent a couple hundred on gifts but couldn’t
take the heat!
·
We brought
about 15 paperback books with us to donate to the ‘lending library’.
There is a table in the internet café with 2 or 3 dozen books
now.
That’s all I can
think of now. CEO Harry
spoke at the repeaters party which was held in the disco due to weather.
After seeing some of the changes first hand and hearing his
comments, about how he knows they will never be a Four Seasons but they
can at least provide a good value and meet certain expectations –
efficient check-in, etc…I’m on the side of drinking the “Hedo Kool-Aid”
that things are getting better.
The running out of lobster was the reality check that for all the
improvements they are still functioning on that Motel 6 level.
Irie!