My wife and I were at Hedo III from 11/20-27. We are both 28 and have never been to Hedo II. The only other resort we have been to in Jamaica was Couples Ocho Rios. We seem to be the trendsetter among our friends and have steered 10 couples in the last year to Couples. We would return to Hedo III and would recommend it to certain friends.
Getting There and Back: Living in Northern Vermont, we use Air Canada from Montreal. The flights were all smooth. The trip from the airport to Hedo III is about 75 easy minutes. We waited about 15 minutes for our bus, and we were mixed in with a group going to Grand Lido as there were no other people going to Hedo III at that time. Our bus didn’t need to make any stops, but we heard of other busses making pot and Red Stripe stops along the way.
Checking-in: Checking in at Hedo III is about as enjoyable as a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles. It took us 30 minutes to check-in and 30 minutes to check-out. Nobody welcomed us or offered anything while we waited. When we checked in on Saturday PM, there was only 1 person doing check-ins, and she usually worked in reservations inside so she worked very slowly. I don’t know what the resort was thinking, as Saturday PM is always a busy time. We waited in line for our room, which was ready. The resort appeared to be about 50% full.
Rooms and Grounds: For such a new resort, the grounds are beautiful and very polished. The resort doesn’t feel new. The rooms are stellar. There are still no hairdryers or shower curtains however. Neither was a big deal to us. The mirrors on the ceiling and Playboy TV are a nice touch. The A/C works well. Our water pressure and temperature were spotty throughout the trip. We could always get lukewarm water, but it wasn’t always hot. The Jacuzzi tubs are nice, but seem unnecessary for a place with four different hot tubs.
We wound up changing rooms. We were initially placed next to the disco, which shakes until 5 AM every day of the week. While we enjoyed the disco several nights, it’s not possible to sleep until 5 AM if your room is close to the disco. We were moved to a quieter room without any hassle. My hunch is that other people are similar to us; they want to dance at the disco but not be shaken by the bass line every night until 5 AM. In general, the quietest rooms are on the far side of the courtyard pool (300s).
Food: The sushi restaurant is still not open, much to my dismay as sushi is not available where we live. Pastafari is excellent. The food is great and the service even better. The wines were all nice selections and the main courses equal to what you would find at a good Italian restaurant. Bravo on a job well done! We ate their 4 out of 7 nights!
The main buffet restaurant is abysmal. I don’t know where to start. The pasta some nights was so hard and dried out that you needed a knife to cut your noodles. Pancakes in the morning were so undercooked in the middle that we scared to eat them. This area badly needs work. Compared to Couples, the food paled in comparison here. The salads were good (Roland Dijon mustard a nice touch!) but the main courses and desserts need some help. However, nobody starved and the real draw at Hedo isn’t the food anyway.
Activities and the Nude Side: Thanksgiving week was a turning point in the young resort’s development. While there were reports of spotty wildness in the weeks before, it didn’t seem that there was much energy. Thanksgiving week marked the beginning of a change from being any old resort with a nude pool (like Couples), to becoming a Hedonism resort. The transition is not complete yet, and I suspect it will continue to develop over time. The resort had body painting, truth-or-dare, body shots, sundae eating competitions, and other fun games. Naked volleyball was surprisingly competitive. But the difference was that people started to participate in these activities as a group, instead of as lone couples in the middle of the night. The nude side developed a nice feeling and ambiance, which is the difficult part of a new resort. The nude side had so much more fun than the prude side that there were only 6 people at the prude side at 3 PM one day! There were probably close to 100 on the nude side. A defining moment came on Thanksgiving Day, when the whole nude pool marched over to the main dining area to crash their lunch, and hit the waterslide nude. The activities staff could not have been happier; they had been trying to get those activities started since the resort opened. Their smiles and applause showed how happy they were to finally see the energy which had been trying to develop. Our motley Thanksgiving Day Parade may be looked back on as a turning point.
That being said, the energy level is still low sometimes, and needs more high-energy ringleaders. More participation would have been great, and the resort seemed pretty tame most of the time. More people will help, as will people (especially women) who are into participating in more of the activities. However, the resort has enough energy now to merit the Hedonism name. It will only get better from here!
Guest Age: During the Thanksgiving week, I would estimate that the resort was 85% couples, 10% single men and 5% single women. The age range was evenly spread out between 20-70. Some guys were able to hook up; most were not and resorted to prostitutes. Single women have all the cards.
There are a fair number of Hedo II people at Hedo III who begin every sentence with "At Hedo II, they do it like this." This is not Hedo II and will never be Hedo II. If you like it there, don’t come to Hedo III and complain. Hedo III seems to bring in a classier, younger crowd, judging by the number of scary old stalker men with Hedonism II hats.
Sports: The facilities are excellent. Tennis courts, SCUBA, snorkeling, fitness center are all top notch. The trapeze is really fun too. It’s not that hard and is quite a rush.
Staff: Some staff are great and others need a lot of work. We never saw the activities coordinator at the nude pool for 3 of our 7 days! When they showed up, the energy increased dramatically. Many thanks to Fabian, Angel, Rascal Jen, and the whole trapeze staff for their work!
Theft: For some reason, theft was a big problem the week we were at Hedo III. Three people had stuff stolen from the pool area in one day. I had a new pair of $100 Birkenstock sandals stolen. I can’t imagine it was an employee; I suspect it was some kleptomaniac guest. Even so, it makes a vacation worse when you are violated like that. All three of us told the front desk and the security guards. The guards looked everywhere but the stuff was gone. The front desk was profoundly disinterested in the thefts. I don’t know if this has been a problem before or what can be done to stop theft, but watch your stuff (or don’t bring anything to the beach at all)!
Summary: Hedo III will never be Hedo II. I suspect it will always have a different feel to it, and will be one step below II on the raunchiness scale. Hedo III is an elegant, full service resort with all the amenities. Hedo III is for people who like a bit of fun and frolic in their lives, and enjoy being nude most of their vacation. Hedo III is not raunchy and it’s not a place where a single person is likely to hook up. Hedo III is the best vacation we’ve ever had.
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