August 11-18, 2000
This was our second time on the SuperSuprise and second time to Hedo 3. So this is kind of a "double."
The Trip: We just want to start by saying we will never fly Air Jamaica again. Though our flight in was fine, the return was horrendous. Apparently their computers had gone down (we are just assuming, since there was never any explaination) and we had to wait 2 hours in line to check-in, and another hour and a half sitting on the plane. We could have handled the waiting, as we are fairly reasonable people, but the part we could not handle was when there was nearly a brawl among the waiting passengers. In that crowded, hot area, we were close to feeling like a panic attack. Air Jamaica management never stepped forward to calm everyone down, and some of the workers were laughing at us in our misery from behind the desk. There was no apology either. Our relaxing trip was pretty much ruined by what took place in the airport when we left. We sent in a long letter of complaint, so we'll see how that is handled!
We noticed that this trip~booked thru Apple~had many more problems. Our first trip was Funjet/ATA and there were no such problems as described above. Funjet also pre-pays the Jamaica departure tax, while Apple does not. Good thing we still had that much cash left! Also, with Funjet, we found out our destination before we left. With Apple, we had to fight to find out where we were going before we left. Many of the Apple "Suprisers" were not told until they got to Jamaica. We would not recommend doing the suprise package, at this point...
Check-in with Super Clubs desk was fine...standard crazy bus ride. Noticed many getting bumped to other places. So, when a Super Clubs employee calls your name out, don't give yourself away! They are going to do something you won't like. They tried to bump us off of our return bus, but we stood our ground...good thing too, or we would have missed the flight with all the chaos awaiting us at the airport. Instead of asking us to switch or telling us they made a mistake, they told us we were on the wrong bus. We are supposed to respect them, but then they treat us like idiots. Luckily we still had the little check-out paper saying what time to take the bus. When we were already packed and out of our room, in our travel clothes, we did not want to hang around the resort another hour.
A note about the Jamaicans, bus drivers in particular. We noticed this last time as well, that bus drivers have little bribes and things to stop at certain places over others. This was true on the Dunn's River tour we took as well. This does not always end up in favor of the tourists, put it that way, since the bus drivers are not stopping at the best places, but the places they are paid on the side to stop at. This really turned us off to Jamaica as a whole. We got the distinct impression that the Jamaicans smiled to your face, took whatever money that they could get, then turned around and dicked you over. There is no way to avoid this, either, since renting a car and just driving around is not a safe option.
Ahhhhh, Hedonism 3...the resort is beautiful, check-in went smoothly for us. Managed to talk our way into a better room, oceanfront-nude. We noticed that the resort is already starting to show some "scars" typical of extreme partying. The handle of our bathroom sink kept coming off...which became funnier as we got drunker and thirstier. The nude beach, which is small and crappy, was in better shape than the first time we went...fewer sharp rocks. Plus, there was an actual cocktail waitress this time. God love Nola! So we hung out a little more on the beach area.
Activities: Ok, nude volleyball is fun, but take a break once in a while! Didn't like constantly being splashed while trying to eat/drink at the nude bar. Entertainment staff...what can we say? Where were they? (Oh yeah, ones we didn't even know would come and sit w/us when we were eating). Seems to have gone downhill since March...there were some wild/fun/sexy games last time. They only came to the nude side once for about 20min to get people doing body shots on the bar. We could have managed that w/o their help. Took entertainment into our own hands (or shall we say "our own grotto") and others seemed to enjoy that and some even tried it themselves ;) Then several of us nudes invaded the prude side for use of the waterslide. The paparazzi were on us in about .5 seconds though, but one of our colleagues depantsed him. We felt the entertainment staff needed to find a happy medium and go more with what the guests wanted instead of forcing their own itinerary on us. We were glad they kept their stupid games (ring toss, for example) and LOUD speaker on the prude side this time. Bartenders were very good, even better than last March. Many were better than the entertainment staff...
Theme Nights: these are not really done during dinner/in the restaurants, but mostly later in the disco. The music in the disco is still too loud (we are not old folgies either! in our 20's!) Here too, the music was more what the DJ liked instead of what the guests liked. It is not that hard to get a bunch of drunks to dance! We were ready to leave almost as soon as we got in. The paparazzi were here too. REALLY BAD on PJ night. What is up with all the video cameras, anyway? It is fine if you are taping yourselves, but most of us don't want to be shot in a Hedo 3 movie. "Nobody knows you here..." but they will be sure to see you back home on the internet!
Other Guests: last trip we met many wonderful people of all ages, walks of life. It is true that the crowd really makes or breaks the time you spend there. We still had fun this trip, but the only couples that started chatting with us, were after something more than just conversation, and didn't come right out and say it. What's more, once they figured out that we were monogamous even when extremely drunk, they just wouldn't talk to us or even make eye contact after that. Very weird, because we were not at all unclear about what our preferences were.
In Conclusion: we will probably not go back...just lost our illusion of the place and the people. We also want to spend time at a real beach...not a sandbox.