Brad & Sue - 03/05

Had a fantastic time at Hedo 2 last August but thought we'd check out Hedo 3 to see if it compared at all so we booked a trip and arrived there the last of March for a week's stay. After about 6 hours at the resort we realized we'd made a huge mistake so we approached the front desk and asked what we could do about it. We were referred to guest relations who promised to get us moved to Hedo 2 right away and we shouldn't worry. "Go have a drink and a swim and check back with us in a while and we'll have everything worked out for ya", we were told.

Well, as it turned out, they did agree to move us to Hedo 2 - if we paid them an extra $750! Plus, as an added insult, they wouldn't guarantee when their bus would actually get us to our destination once we left our original resort- the layover at the airport could be overnight, it was inferred. Well, needless to say, that nixed that idea pretty quickly.

So, in the end, we chose to grin and bear it. Wish now we'd spent the money and fought it out afterwards as the resort is just that boring, and downright not an exciting place for couples.

The grounds at Hedo 3 are small. There are many things one can say about landscaping at the resort such as tropical and lush, and it's all that, but as compared to Hedo 2, the grounds are teeny tiny and wholly uninteresting. The beach is miniscule and the nude pool is always crowded (too small, again) whereas the beach at 2 goes on and on and on and the pool is just outstanding (and intimate.) Once you arrive at 3 you'll look around for about 3 hours and then you'll know your way around; not so at 2 where you will still be discovering things well into your week-long vacation.

Here, Hedo 3 is certainly on par with the best. In fact, with the open-view showers that each room sported we had a security guard right outside our window each and every time my wife or I took a shower- hmmm...

If you like leftovers then Hedo 3 has you covered. Grilled tuna is definitely their forte as they served it over and over and over (and over and over...) again. It got so bad that we went to the Scotch Bonnet Restaurant just to get away from the tuna fare. Unfortunately, the Scotch Bonnet serves mystery meat and doesn't have access to it's own soda fountain or liquor bar so if you order a drink then they have to send someone out to go and fetch it. Good luck getting it. 50/50 chance there.

Hedo 2 offered an excellent cuisine at all times and served it as if you were seated in a five-star restaurant. At any given time, you had three waiters waiting on you hand and foot. Hedo 3, more often than not, you had to get your own coffee and drinks, scout out sugar and creamer, etc.

Reservations at Manusan cannot be had unless you pay for it...big time, or so we were told over and again by one party and another. If you did pay, the amount you paid dictated how long you had to wait for your reservation. We understand that $20 would get you in before your week long vacation was up, but just barely whereas $50 would get you in to dinner the next evening. All of this in a place that's not supposed to cost you anything more than what you've already paid the resort up front.

The Pastafari restaurant, on the other hand, was not as well liked, so getting in there was no problem with 24-48 hours notice. We chose to skip their menu items altogether and go for a cheese pizza, which they graciously agreed to provide for us.

If you're very experienced yourself and have no need for any assistance from the staff then you might be set. Otherwise, you're out of luck. We booked the clothing optional cruise (just to have anything at all to do.) There were a total of five guys trying their level best to get us loaded onto the catamaran from their transport boat. Suffice it to say that, by the time they had punched a large hole in the bow of their party boat with their transport and cracked the stern, then ran the boat aground half-way through the trip and stranded us in water above our heads, we were more than ready to get back to shore.

The rooms at Hedo 3 were pretty nice overall and sported, as we've said, open-view showers. We fought off bed bugs, though, as well as some of the largest cockroaches we've ever seen. Oh, and don't forget to wear socks at all times in your room if you don't want to end up with foot fungus from the tile floor.

Both of these rooms are several stories up and require quite a climb. The piano bar really rocked one night with one lady and two guys dancing nude on the bar while the whole place sand away the night. Unfortunately, this was the only night the place had any action at all. The disco blasts away every night with more than just loud music- try absolutely the coldest temperatures you ever saw outside a freezer. Nearly everyone we talked to said the same thing about the temperature. On the upside, though, the disco is larger, it seemed, than Hedo 2's, but both are only about twice the size of my family room.

Ho Hum, is all we can say. We've seen better quilting bees than their toga night. We tried to find something to participate in but found that most of the activities were barely attended. In fact, a lot of the singing performances had only one or two parties even in the room, if that many. The night events went over better but several of the circus acts like the ones we were subjected to were no better than what one finds at a grade school party. On the other hand, some of the acts were quite impressive.

The Hedo 3 resort is about singles. Perhaps they would like you to think otherwise but what's the use? If you go and you're a couple you're going to be surrounded by singles with vacuous minds and invariably part of some clique or group. Roaming the grounds day or night and you won't sight a single solitary serious sex act taking place. Go figure.

On the other hand, Hedo 2 had a sexually-charged atmosphere 24/7 and if you weren't careful about where you stepped you might stumble over a couple (or threesome) going at it full tilt. The nude pool at 2 after hours was nothing short of an orgy, at least while we were there.

Hedo 3 is okay for a singles who expect little in the way of serious sexual energy or superior guest relations. Hedo 2 is great for both the relations and energy, plus hit sports a great beach to boot. Notwithstanding, Hedonism 2 &3 are both Superclub resorts which publish a satisfaction guarantee policy which they do not honor. We don't know about you but we can't see ourselves doing business with a company that puts a few hundred dollars of greed over the comfort and satisfaction of their guests. We recommend finding an alternate resort company for your next vacation.

Brad & Sue - March, 2005