We left on 2/16/2000 on US Airways non-stop to
Montego Bay. The flight was great, Jamaican imigration was no problem, and we
soon checked into the SuperClubs desk. There were 15 couples going to Hedonism
III, which surprised us somewhat. Superclubs found us a bus instead of a van,
and soon, we were on the bus and on the way. After having a couple of Red
Stripes at the airport while waiting on the bus, then our "rest stop"
that the bus made about half way to get more Red Stripes, everyone on the bus
was ready to get to Hedonism III.
Even though we swamped the front desk with 15 couples all at once, check-in went smoothly. We were soon in our room unpacking, and were very pleased with the room layout, the cleanliness, and the view. We were in the 600 building, overlooking the nude beach and the ocean. The satellite TV and VCR combo is a nice touch, but we only turned the TV on one time, and that was while we were showering and getting ready to go back out. The CD player got a lot of use, though, since we took it down to the nude bar/hot tub area several times at night and had the night bartender plug it in to drown out the background music being piped into the bars and through the speakers laid out on the grounds. The music was generally good reggae, but it seemed like they played "Get Up Stand Up" or "No Woman No Cry" every 30 minutes, which got a little tedious. We both fell in love with Ziggy Marley's Spirit of Music, which we brought from home. It has been described as "Jamaican folk blues," and is a great CD to listen to anytime, but especially in Jamaica. I strongly recommend it to anyone that loves music, and especially anyone going to Jamaica.
Hedonism III is a beautiful property. Even though it's only 20 acres or so, everything is very well laid out, and this became even more apparent to us after a couple of days. We very rarely saw crowds in any one place, except for the main dining area on Toga night.
Most of our impressions of the resort itself have been covered in other reports or posts, so I will just touch on some of the main things I observed:
After 17 years of marriage, neither of us had ever sunbathed nude in public, even though we had "skinny-dipped" a few times with other couples. It was really no big deal at all. On the first afternoon, right after we arrived, my wife selected a chair towards the end of the nude beach, and would wrap a towel around herself to go to the nude bar or the room. By the second day, after realizing that no one really cared, she had lost all inhibitions, moved into the crowded areas, and walked to the bar and even to the room nude. It is really no big deal. We spent probably 80% of our time in Jamaica without clothes on. We did witness one incident when a woman refused to take her clothes off on the nude beach and raised hell at the guards for suggesting that she had to because she kept yelling "everyone wants to look at my body." It was pretty comical, because even though she was attractive, no one around really gave a damn about her body. Eventually, security, who were very low-key, convinced her that it was indeed the nude beach, and she decided to disrobe. I wonder if she was disappointed that no one stared at her? :)
While sex in public in the daytime did happen, it was usually very discreet. No one bothered us when we went out on one of the decks at sunset alone, and when we saw 2 couples engaged the next day, the guards watched, but left them alone. At nighttime, the guards basically left you alone, which is how it should be. We didn't fulfill all of our fantasies at Hedonism III, just some of them, but there's always next time.
We were there Valentine's Week, and the crowd was very heavily couples. This was fine to us, but some of the party atmosphere that we had expected after reading all of the Hedo II posts and reports was missing. I would estimate that at the very most, 30% of the guests ever used the nude areas, and they still were pretty crowded most afternoons. About 25% of the couples there looked like they would be better suited for Sandals or somewhere a little tamer. They didn't participate in toga night, Bare As you Dare, or ever come around the nude areas except their brief stroll-throughs so they could gawk a bit. We didn't mind these couples in the least, but would have preferred to see them get into the spirit of things and get past whatever hang ups they may have had.
The ocean is very rough and the beaches are pretty inadequate. They are obviously manmade, and the water is very shallow on both the nude beach and the prude beach. The ocean floor, at least on the nude beach, is covered with a bunch of rocks, some of which are pretty damned sharp. Also, because of the strong currents, it was about impossible to float for long in the ocean at the nude beach, the current constantly pushed you up against the rock jetty. We sailed with a hedo staffer one day, but didn't do the sea kayaks or anything.
The food was very good with a very good variety. The salad bar was a great touch, and the service was great. The best night, imho, was Wednesday night's lobster dinner. It would have been nice if they had done lobster more than once, and had had more seafood to choose from overall.
Nothing ever started on time, but no one, including us seemed to care. 4 pm meant 4:20 or 4:30, or "soon come", but everyone was so laid back that it didn't matter one way or the other.
Most of the events on the event calendar didn't take place, although the staff usually tried to get guests involved. Only one of our 5 days did we see anyone from the entertainment staff try to get things going on the nude beach, and even then, most people ignored them. We showed up for the Thursday "Mixology" class at the main bar, and when no staff came around to do it, Chris the bartender took it upon himself to do the class.
We had printed out the year 2000 trip reports from Denny's site to re-read on the plane, and when Simone introduced herself to us Wednesday night, we passed them on to her. A couple of days later, she came back up to us thanking us greatly for them and said she had passed them around the staff, and was making sure her GM got copies.
The staff MADE Hedonism III. Lincoln at the main bar has to be one of the best bartenders I have ever seen anywhere. His constant energy and enthusiasm is contagious. Anyone going to Hedonism III HAS to try a Lincoln Continental. Be brave and have him turbo-charge it. As Lincoln would say "Pump it up, big time, okey dokey?" Simone from guest relations was awesome and made us feel very welcome, as did Romeo from the entertainment staff. Anne-Marie, in the nude bar, had a very wry sense of humor, and was a lot of fun to be around. Chris Carter in the main bar was an entertainer in his own right, making a lot of different drinks, then persuading everyone sitting there to try them.
My wife strongly recommends the half hour massage. Even though it is $35, she went every day.
I very much wish that the entire complex, especially the much larger prude beach, main pool, and quad pool, were clothing optional. I think that while Hedo III does not have the same party atmosphere as Hedo II, in the months to come, as return visitors start coming back, and those that felt out of place go to Couples or Sandals instead, Hedo III will be even more awesome.
Take bug spray, sun screen, and "water shoes" or sandals. This stuff is all available in the gift shop, but the prices are ridiculous ($14 for a bottle of "Off" that was $3.98 at CVS in the US). If you smoke cigars, buy some at the duty free shop at the airport or take a trip to Ochos Rios. The gift shop at Hedonism III is about 50% higher than off the resort.
If you smoke ganja, you won't have any trouble finding it. However, take 1 or 2 hits, put it out, wait a few minutes, and see how it affects you. It is very, very strong, and it is easy to smoke too much, which will paralyze you for a couple of hours. We heard of a couple of people losing an entire day of their vacation because they smoked too much at one time.
Last but not least, THANK YOU to Denny for this great board, Jamaica Jim Jordan for his info at GoClassy and his web page, Chris for her great book, and all of you guys that post on this board, because you greatly enhanced our enjoyment of Hedonism III by helping us know what to expect, the proper attitude to maintain, what to take, and what to do when we got there.
We have made reservations to return November 1 for 3 days at Hedonism II, then back to Hedonism III for 3 days. We will book again for next winter also. I can hardly wait to go back, and if we didn't have to come up with a babysitter every time, would be going back before November :)