July 5th-12th, 2003
We left Houston 25 minutes early and arrived at MoBay 35 minutes ahead of schedule and were very pleased to get our vacation started early. Air Jamaica’s food, drinks, and service were outstanding.
We opted for Air Transfers through Airlink International. Although there were 5 folks scheduled to fly together, only the 2 of us actually showed up. They still gave us the discounted rate of $92 per person including all the taxes and surcharges. It was an exciting flight in a smaller plane than expected, so the ride did take about 23 minutes. We circled the resort and it felt like a ride at an amusement part- very cool !! We arrived at the landing strip which was actually a muddy pasture, but that didn’t matter to us. The bus/taxi from the resort came along shortly to get us and it was only a 5 minute ride from there. Don’t be expecting a terminal or a restroom or you might be disappointed. All we wanted was to start our vacation as soon as possible, so our expectations were definitely exceeded here.
We arrived 2 1/2 hours before the official check in time, but they took care of us and had us in Room 621 by the time we had our first drink at the main lobby bar. Upon arrival, we were met by the Guest Relations Manager with open arms as we were expected. Othello, the bellman was outstanding and extremely helpful taking care of us and giving us the quick tour just in case we had forgotten anything or things had changed since our last visit.
Room #621 in the Au Natural Block was great, but our view from the main window was blocked by a big tree with the exception of the Pussy Fountain. Our bathroom window allowed us a very nice view of the hot tub and main pool area though. Overall, they are keeping the rooms maintained in good condition.
We noted the couch and bedspreads were a bit mildewed, as well as the bathtub. I was pleased with the water pressure and temperature this time around. Most days I was actually able to complete my 15-20 minute shower with a little warm water and that has never been the case before. The mirrors both above and behind the bed were in great condition as well as the one on the ceiling of the shower/tub. Didn’t have many onlookers of the showers in building 6 like we normally do and that was kinda strange. I guess they saw enough of us in the pool all day long! The housekeeper kept things up very nicely throughout the week and had a nice towel animal or design with fresh flowers each day for us on the bed. Almost forgot- Brian Sang, the Hotel Manager sent us a bottle of Moet to the room and we really appreciated that thought.
The Nude Pool-
I was very happy with the cleanliness of both the Pool and Hot Tub this year. They actually drained the Hot Tub almost everyday. The pump did break on Thursday and we all converted to the Quad for a few hours while they fixed it because no one was allowed in the pool for health reasons, etc. They had the pool ready for operation about 6-7 hours before they had promised it, so that was a great surprise. The normal bartenders were not working on the Nude side that I remember (Suzette, Anne Marie, and Serena) but we really enjoyed having Charmaine with us and a wonderful trainee named Melicia who has left SuperClubs to now go back to school. We were lucky enough to still have Sophie behind the grill serving up all those great Jerk Chicken Caesar Salads with a big smile though and another trainee named Courtney who really did a great job. Security has increased for the better at the pool. We witnessed quite a few folks being told to undress or get out! This included women in their bottoms- thank god!!! Only one major irritation to note in this area was a so called “Fitness Instructor” who would come to the pool constantly in her full work out attire and hang out in the water at the bar. No nametag and I can’t imagine that was her job, but security told us that she was that. She wasn’t mingling to get class attendance up; she was hanging out with her boyfriend getting blasted. The waterfall over the grotto only worked about ½ the week, but that was still pretty cool because it had never worked on prior trips. We will be asking for booster seats in the grotto though- they built the seating too low not to drown while “hanging out” in there. Somehow we still try to manage to the best of our ability though J The music has improved a lot at the pool- no more Hedo 3 “show your pussy” theme song and we’ve added 2 permanent “Fun in the Sun” CD’s to their collection for everyone’s enjoyment. As always, the after hours fun goes on until 5am in the Hot Tub. Unfortunately, we never lasted this late, but got to hang out several hours a few of the nights. “What goes on at Hedo stays at Hedo” is the saying I believe J So, you’ll have to use your imagination here.
A much nicer and bigger area than the Nude Pool, but there is little intimacy there to meet folks in my opinion. They have ample space, but there is no grill. There were no ashtrays to be found and putting out cigarettes in glasses is really gross. Then again, a lot of folks might find smoking gross all together.
Personally speaking, I do not like the pool much because it’s not a good place to be nekkid while most of the crowd is clothed or ½ clothed. It’s funny that everytime you’d get out of the water, you have to move to a different chair to get some sunshine because the area is completely enclosed. We were only there for a limited time though, so we would’ve found a better way to go about this I’m sure. The upper deck might have solved this problem completely, but we didn’t try that out. The temperature in the Quad Hot Tub seemed to be the most consistent between the Nude and Quad. Suzette was working the Quad Bar, so it was great to see her, too. It would be nice to have a sound system for music here. What we noticed was a bunch of different CD players all playing different tunes, so it was hard to listen to anything really. Volleyball is a bit easier in this pool because the depth of the water is the same on both sides. We enjoyed the little bridges and coves in the pool for privacy and chatting with friends.
We only went there to invade the slide mostly, but we were allowed over as a group of nekkid folks for an EC’s welcome party with some fun games for about an hour (hidden behind the cave, of course)…
We managed to slip over to try our luck at a game of pool in the pool, but got busted by Sweetness (an EC) cuz we were nekkid, so we pouted and complied. This week seemed to have a little more action in this pool, but not much. It’s so beautiful, but seems to be wasted at this resort unfortunately. Music is pretty good in this area, but I’m not a big fan of the bar service here. Probably just spoiled by all the wonderful employees at the Nude Pool. BTW- the cave/grotto is a great place to be alone or with groups.
Sophie’s Grill (Nude Pool)- always good quality and cooked just the way we like it. Our favorite is the Jerk Chicken Caesar Salad.
Scotch Bonnet Grill- The Jerk chicken was great, Jerk Pork was really dry, but good flavor, and the Jerk Burger was pretty good (We’d recommend the burger and chicken). Service is a bit slow, but we enjoyed watching the sunsets there, so it’s hard to notice unless you’re really looking to evaluate.
Munahana- never a bad meal !! Just too much food and you hate to pass on any of it. They actually have a wonderful Mango Sorbet for dessert as well. Hats off on the service of food there, but don’t count on getting drinks from the bar before your 3rd or 4th course of food. Go for the wine, it’s just easier for the staff. Sake was extremely slow getting to us except for our last night where it was free flowing and readily available. Their warmer was probably out of commission earlier in the week.
Pastafari- I enjoyed all of my entrees there (Stuffed & Breaded Chicken, Snapper, Lamb Chops, and Pasta Carbonara) while Keith liked everything but the beef served at the beginning of the week (not the filet). The salad and anti pasta bar are outstanding and the wines served are pretty good, too. Service can be a bit slow, but we enjoyed spacing the meal out for conversation with our newfound friends.
Breakfast Buffet- we love the selection of fresh fruits and I can’t get enough of the Omelets and French toast. My wish list would be for the yogurts to be in a container full of ice to keep them colder.
Service was always pleasant and fast in the mornings.
Lunch Buffet- we only tried it once and the selection is great. The grilled marlin was outstanding and I love the added salad bar toss station. They didn’t toss it for you the last time we were there except for the special night events in the courtyard. Service was once again pleasant and quick.
Dinner Buffet- improved 100%, but we only tried this once as well as an appetizer because we had late reservations. Tried the Beef tenderloin, Jerk Chicken, and grilled fish and I was in heaven. Can’t comment on the service because we took it “to go.”
Midnight Buffet- I’m sure it’s great for all the folks who are wasted, but I’d just assume they only put out sandwiches and pizza (pizza is outstanding), which they do very well. It’s the time where all the leftovers are put out and the quality is pretty poor at times. The jerk wings and pizza are both great though. I think you can also get a made to order omelets, but I always save mine for breakfast. There is plenty of variety though, so who am I to complain?? I shouldn’t be eating that late anyway!!
Theme Nights- (Disco)
We only had participation on PJ Night, Toga Night, and Masquerade Night while we were there. Most of the folks dressed who came to the disco, but the Theme Night part seemed to only last an hour then they turn the place into a Techno Scratch Rap party. The music is pretty much unbearable and the guests were all pretty much in agreement at the Nude Pool. They seem to direct their play list to the 18 year olds, which aren’t at the resort, but the EC’s seem to love it. The cage is a lot of fun to play in and got a lot of use during this week. The pole on the bar got climbed and humped its fair share, too. I absolutely love to dance, so the music is always a big bummer to me there. The fun nest part is seeing everyone in his or her outfits. The drinks leave much to be desired in my opinion at this bar and it’s very difficult to climb those stairs every 15 minutes in high heels, too. Wish List: get a blender and different bartenders up there and change the music in the disco to accommodate the average age group visiting the Resort during each particular week.
Great place to start the evening and a lot of fun whether you’re singing along, dancing up on the tables, or just hanging out. The Piano Man is funny and entertaining. We unfortunately missed both of the Karaoke Nights and we love to sing. Heard there really wasn’t much participation at all. Wish List: get a blender for fun drinks or at least a frozen drink machine.
We were very happy to see that Romeo, Sly, and Teddy Bear are still there. “Ice” or Michael as we knew him didn’t seem very friendly this time around. Could be that he’s a supervisor now and not just temporary. The new EC’s: KiKi, Sweetness, and Spike were a lot of fun, but very green with the activity level at the Nude Pool. We were very disappointed that the entire week seemed completely rated “PG” when it came to organized activities. Teddy Bear called body shots over at the Pussy Fountain and wouldn’t let us touch, lick, or suck lower extremities, believe it or not. Yes, Hedo is what you make of it and we tried to get things going a few times ourselves, with no luck. Usually, the crowd jumps at the chance to keep things “Wild and Wicked” but it just wasn’t this way except for after hours and with couples being very discreet in the pool during the day. Several of the daytime activities never happened that were on the schedule, but we were having a great time playing volleyball or having private moments anyway J We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation and had some much needed rest and relaxation, but do prefer the EC’s promoting a more “Wicked” atmosphere. Romeo seemed to be the only one even trying to do this. We didn’t get to spend much time with Gemini or Destiny, so we can’t really comment on them at this point. We have never traveled with a group to Hedo, but will probably need to consider this in the future if this is the normal Hedo activity level now. It seems that the sexual charge is turned up a notch depending on which group is visiting in a certain week by the recent trip reports.
Although we know the staff can get in major trouble for accepting cash tips, we do normally take care of few special folks discreetly on each trip, but have never been asked by any of them. This trip was completely different. It’s alarming the number of staff that expected or asked for money. This made us feel really uncomfortable, but we couldn’t really complain either. We’d never want to jeopardize any of their jobs. People were expected to give the hostesses tips for getting them into the restaurants when others had cancelled reservations as well. It makes me wonder if the staff has received any pay cuts recently to be so much bolder about their behavior. Anyway, we didn’t appreciate this at all.
It appeared that everything was up and running everyday except 1 when Tropical Storm Claudette came through. We never participated though. Our hope was to do the Nude Booze Cruise but, Claudette didn’t cooperate with us. We saw several boats on the water being used by the guests, etc.
We opted for the bus transfer back to the airport since we couldn’t get a late check out anyway. They had oversold the resort and were bussing guests back and forth between Breezes and Hedo 3. The ride took a total of 1 hour 55 minutes. We picked up guests at Breezes and Starfish and dropped off a couple of employees and guests at both Grand Lido Braco and Half Moon. The beer stop was for only 10 minutes so the driver could eat. The road wasn’t that bad with the exception of pulling into the Starfish. I was expecting it to be worse in the way of potholes than the road to Negril was until late last year. Maybe they are just at a good point right now. Without the stops, it would’ve been 1 hour 25 minutes for the ride.
Nude Pool average age was about 35-45 this week and we had a few very nice single males there who were very respectful of all the couples. There seemed to be a much larger percentage of single men all over the resort during this week (about 15-20 that I counted for sure, probably more), but only 3 single women. Quad and Prude pools average age was much lower at around 21-30 yrs. Still, the usage was minimal at those pools even when the resort was oversold.
They didn’t invite us personally to the “repeat offenders” party, so we felt a little strange, but showed up anyway. A lot of folks at the pool felt bad that they were forgotten as well. Security tried to walk in on us at 2:30am in our room because the night auditor said we were supposed to be checked out (even though we only checked in that afternoon). They could have called instead of barging in, but didn’t and then were a bit rude and sarcastic on the phone. Although it was a downer, Jerome handled the situation to our satisfaction the very next morning and followed up with us. There are a lot of starving kitties on the grounds- we feel so sorry for them and just want to gather them up and bring them home or at least help pay to get them all spayed and neutered to control the population. We were guilty of feeding them, but we couldn’t help it once we saw the 6-week-old up on the 2nd floor landing hoping for a handout.
The people we met really made our trip special as you hear so often, so we’d like to mention a few:
Gail & Kevin, Leah & Kirk, Charlotte & Julio, Elise & Frank, Tracy & Henry, Cindy & Mike, Blaine & Mark, Susan & Larry, and Tiffany…. There are too many others to count, but thanks to everyone at the Nude Pool for a special week. Special thanks to Brian Sang, Hotel Manager and Karen, Guest Relations for their special help and services throughout the week to make sure our trip was special. We really appreciated the Sunshine Guarantee voucher for the one-day the Tropical Storm came through, too.