Tony & Dawn - November, 2005
From Dawn and Tony, Boston
Dates Nov 23- 27, 2005
Hedonism III
First of all I will start out by saying this was
our 11th trip (5th this year if you count New Years 04/05 as this year).
We just got back on Sunday and had a
blast. The crowd was the best. Even though there were a few gliches (the lack
of hot water resort wide and the hot tub water, and oh yeah the rain!) most
people seemed to be in good spirits and felt that a rainy day in Jamaica was
better than any day back home! The staff was also excellent. They listened to
a lot of complaining about the rain and the hot water and kept their cool. We
saw several guests be outright rude to them and they remained calm.
Ok, now to back up and start from the beginning.
Flights were normal. We arrived at 1130am and spent about 20-30 minutes
in line for customs. No line for immigration. Headed to the
lounge, they didn't have our names on the list for the bus but probably
because I didn't give Superclubs our flights... Make sure you do this!
It was no big deal, they wrote our names down and off we went! There
were only 9 of us to start with and they put us on the really big bus, so we
all know what that means, we gotta wait until they fill it. We couldn't
blame superclubs for this one, we had to blame the bus orchestrator. But
oh well, we chatted and got to know others and the hour past somewhat
quickly.... Again, an hour on a bus in Jamaica is better than 2 hours in a
traffic jam in Boston! There was a lady from Breezes who wouldn't stop
complaining about the wait.... give her a beer and shut up! Your on vacation!
She kept going on and on about how Sandals would've just scooted her off in a
cab... I said then go to Sandals next time, now shut up! Finally about 20 more
people came and off we went! Quick stop at the pit stop, quick stop at
Breezes, then back home to Hedo!!!
We were immediately greeted by George and
Raymond, two of the Bell hops. They remembered us from previous trips
and were happy to see us. Took less than 5 minutes to check in then I
showed Raymond to our room....he he! Room 616, ground floor facing the
bushes! Yeah the hedges have grown so high that the first floor rooms
didn't have a view, but oh well we aren't there for the view, we choose 1st
floor 6 bdlg for the location so close to the nude side and quick in and out
our back door to the pool. We didn't even unpack, we immediately got
undressed and headed out to the back yard!! Only to discover there were
only 2 couples there because there was a brisk wind. Apparently the quad
was the place to be (and it happened to be 4pm during the quad takeover).
no biggie we were hungry and headed to the Scotch Bonnet. We immedately
ran in to Joe and Roe who we chatted online with before hand thanks to the
visitor list. (I highly recommend this, it's nice to already have friends when
you arrive). We joined them, a few minutes later my girl, Shurlene,
waitress at the Scotch Bonnet and Dining room, appeared screaming she couldn't
believe we were here! She wouldn't stop hugging me! I love her!
She is the best waitress in the place. She has such a good heart and she
is what they call "Good People!" She was always looking out for the
other girls too and making sure evyerone was doing their job and not letting
anyone wait too long. I had my beloved Beef patties, then headed out
back to the room to unpack. We also ran into a few people we had met
from last Thanksgiving so that was cool!
We went back to the nude pool, the quad raid was
obviously over and now the hot tub was full. We ran into our friends
from May, Charles and Elena! Thanks to Annie we enjoyed a little game of
carwash and we all felt squeaky clean afterwards! Nap from 7p-9p, up for
dinner at the Japanese with Charles and Elena. It was really good! We
called it an early night at 1am as we were tired from traveling.
Ok, now rather than go day by day (Because
obviously I could) here are the highights (good and bad).
1. The weather stunk! It was cloudy
and rain off and on all day on Thursday. We got a sunshine voucher for
this day! Yipee. Then torential downpours all day on Friday.
We were told it was a record amount of rainfall that fell. It took many
people coming in that day between 3 and 4 hours to get to the resort and some
staff members hours to get home! We were suppose to go off property that
day at 5pm but security wouldn't let us leave because the roads were so bad.
We got a sunshine voucher for this day too! Yipee! We didn't let
the rain and clouds sour us. We had fun. I invented cross country
water skiing since half the resort was under several inches of water,
especially around the main bar and game room. We played Bingo, didn't
win, but had fun passing the time. Chatted with friends. Some
still hung out in the hot tub even though it was raining. Saturday we had a
few hours of sun, but then the clouds and drizzle came back. Oh well,
still a fun day! Of course the day we were leaving, Bright blue sky and
hot as heck! We got an hour of sun in before heading to the bus to go
home.
2. The crowd is what made this trip
rank in one of our top 2. There were no organized groups. Someone
did get a November Hedo group together, but the majority of them were gone
when we arrived. There were about 8 of us couples who briefly met online
before hand. There were several refugees from Desire. Some happy
enough to have a place to go since their 1st choice was out of the question,
whereas others complaind and complained about how much better Desire is.
We still love Hedo and haven't and won't even considered Desire even after
hearing people rave about it. For the most part, everyone seemed to be
having fun anway! We met a ton of new friends, and several old friends!
One couple we met on the bus in went to Breezes and came over for the night on
Saturday and we had a blast hanging out with them. I think they are
wishing now they would've stayed at Hedo the entire time, or at least came to
visit before their last night! We had a blast in the hot tub Friday and
Saturday night. Although some of Friday night is a blur, I KNOW I
had a blast! Thanks for the Champagne shot Lu!
3. The EC staff did an excellent job
considering most of them are new (even just since we were there in August).
Romeo, Flex, and Spike are still there, although Spike was on vacation this
weekend. Mystery is now the most senior girl and she has just been there
since March. They all did a great job! I have to give them a lot
of credit. In some ways these new staff members co-mingle and appear to
have a lot more fun than some of the old staff members.
4. The rooms. We were in 616, ground floor yellow
building facing the nude pool (well really the bushes). We prefer the
ground floor bldg 6 for the location. We could care less about the view.
We are never in the room anyways during the day. When we walked, in our room
smelled like it had been recently bleached and cleaned. The walls were
pristine clean, newly painted. We had a new a/c that purred so quietly.
We had a remote for the TV that worked without unprogramming each day.
The shower curtain looked new, the counters and floors were scrubbed really
clean. The CD player looked brand new. Not a speck of dust or dirt
anywhere! We had two new bath rugs next to each side of the bed, these
were great! We kept our ac off the first day because it wasn't that warm
out, but the next day it was very humid and we just turned it on for the dry
setting. Each time we turned it on we smelled paint. Unfortunately
it also caused me to cough uncontrollably each time we laid down to sleep.
I don't think it was mold, I think it was paint particles, oh well I have been
back 3 days and so far (knock on wood) I feel great! (still a little
tired, but that was self induced...he he)
5. The hot water. Well this was a little
problem. Apparently the boiler was busted and the hot water was
extremely limited. Needless to say our showers were extremely quick and
some were mere sponge baths because the water was downright cold. Most
of the time the water was luke warm or just above. Not tooooo bad.
Finally on the last day (Sunday) they had the boiler fixed and my last shower
before going home was nice and hot! Yeah the problem is fixed!
(that or they were pumping the hot water from the hot tub.. see #6)
6. The hot tubs. The quad was boiling,
especially on Saturday night. The staff used a hose to try and cool it
off and then finally resorted to dumping in a garbage barrell full of ice.
This cooled it down slightly, but it was still hot. Oh well, we just sat
around the edge and drank and had fun anyways. Some guests instisted on
letting it ruin their night or trip, not us ... as I have said before, any day
in Jamaica is better than any day at home! The nude hot tub was usually
look warm (cold during the day) they said the heat on/off switch was broken,
but they still didn't have it fixed when we left. They did keep the quad
bar open til 1am to help with some of the complainers.
7. Towels. The lack of towels weren't that
bad this time especially considering how much it rained and that the resort
was sold out with the exception of bldg 9.
8. Chair saving. Yeah it went on... oh well.
I didn't make it out to do it, although I usually do, but I was just too hung
over and tired. The one day I did it my stuff got soaked! I used
my wild bunch tote bag to save the seat so I'm sure someone thought the group
was there and someone will post something bad! he he! Considering there
were no wild bunchers or groups there i was a little surprised how many chairs
were saved. I have a feeling some of these were some of the ones
complaining on line that it shouldn't go on. One couple we know saved
their seats and when they came out at 11am, someone had "thrown" their stuff
on the ground and taken their chairs and were actually very rude about it when
our friends came to get their stuff. Our friends just shrugged it off
and found 2 new chairs. There was never a lack of chairs, just lack of
the most prime spots.
9. Hookers and Locals and Security. We didn't
see any hookers. In fact we talked to the front desk and management and
they said they believe they have the hooker thing under control. Every
outsider who comes in (with the exception of Breezes people) have to show a
photo id. They keep a copy of the id. If someone is reported as
being a hooker they are put on a "No admittance list". We didn't see a
single hooker, even on Saturday! There were a few locals, but they were
well behaved and we didn't see them bother anyone. There were a few wild
girls there on Saturday during the day, but they were young and harmless.
I was also told by Security that those with wristbands (all night passers not
from Breezes) are not allowed on the nude side at night. If you see
someone on the nude side with a wristband all you have to do is tell Security
and they will be thrown out. We saw Security parade through the Disco on
several occassions. They also seem to have a few new security
people at the pool. They didn't look familar. The water boys were
harmless and we didn't see them hit on anyone!
10. The staff. They did an AWESOME JOB!!! I
absolutely love them. I hate when I hear others complain about them
being slow and lazy. Considering their working conditions, they work
pretty damn hard! Most of them are what we would consider temporary
employees even though they have been there a long time. That means they
get no benefits, they are the first to be told not to work on slow days, and
their pay is the lowest. They also get their shifts juggled around the
most. Not to mention they wait on crazy drunk, naked people all day in
90 degree heat and 150% humidity and you never hear them complain! If some
guests would just say hi and get to know them they would probably get better
service and not complain so much. Instead we see so many just be rude
and demanding. Here are my shout outs:
Bartenders: Serena, Sabrina, Bevlyn, Tarek, Ione,
Conrad, Showtime (Erol), and Noreen and any others I missed... you did an
awesome job! I think you all even got better! My mudslides never tasted
like Bananas!
Waitstaff: Shurlene you know you are my favorite,
keep up the good work! Allison in Pastafari, Dwight, Sashagay, Melissa,
Maureen, and Teneika in the Dining room and Scotch Bonnet you all did great...
keep smiling!
Security: Omar you did excellent job making us feel
safe!
Groundskeepers: Considering how much rain fell,
they were right there cleaning it all up the next day! Great job guys! The
pool guys stayed busy on the rain day sweeping rain all day into the drains!
Front Desk and Guest Relations: Keneisha always
calm, cool, and collected no matter what a guest says to her or how unfriendly
they are to her. She is always sweet and goes out of her way to help.
Stacy and Karen were a hoot! They called our room several times to make sure
we were happy and to let us know that we would be getting the sunshine
vouchers, without us even asking!
Management: David in the dining room. This
man is the hardest working indivdiual on the entire island. He truly
cares if he is doing a good job and if his staff is. One night was
Tony's b-day and he decorated a table with flowers that spelled Happy
Birthday! Then brought him a cake. We didn't even ask him to do
anything! We chatted with the bar manager (sorry I don't remember his
name) and Petrena the food and beverage manager, they were happy to hear
things were good. We met Kevin Levee finally after 11 trips. He was a
nice guy. I didn't get a chance to talk much to him, but Tony did and
felt very impressed! He said that Kevin and his staff read everything
posted on here so keep writing, they are listening!
So final words, are we had so much fun that we have
already scheduled Trip # 12 for Dec 29-Jan 2 this year. We went last
year over New Years, and it was only so so, but we are giving it another shot!
We had so much fun this trip (and I didn't get to bring as many staff gifts as
I would have liked) so we had to go back soon! I feel like they are more
my family than my real family (sorry mom!)