Jan 11 - 19
Quick trip report.
Preamble:
We have only been to Hedo three times. Twice during lifestyle month (week 2 with Ron and Jen), and once during the switch hitters week (1st. Time the group meet). So in other words we are not old Hedo salts, but nevertheless I hope our opinion will count.
After arriving at MBJ the first hurdle was passport control. It only took 1.5 hours from exiting the plane to arriving at the luggage belt. Good news was that our luggage was already there. Went through customs and straight to the super clubs waiting area. Waited for no more than 20 minutes and were on the bus with some Hedo retreads. The bus ride was fun as always including the waterhole stop.
Check in was a breeze with Tom's Trips having organized everything, to the point where we even got the exact room we requested (2218). The room was exactly as we remembered to include our lovely maid (the real reason we love this room).
After unpacking decided to wander around a bit to see if anything has changed, but to our satisfaction everything was still where we left it last time.
First night was a bit slow from all points seen. The biggest noticeable change was the quality of the food. YES... I know... Almost everyone complains about the food, but up to that point we were a strong defender of everything served. It was not really the quality of food, but rather reduced choices. This forced us to eat most of our meals from the pasta station throughout the week.
The host couple was spot on. Always having fun and getting people involved. They are the reason we pick week 2.
As Hedo is, the days blended into each other and the routine of waking up late, a little exercise, breakfast, pool time, friends, new friends, drinks, discussions, games, pool time, drinks, and hot tub.
The positive points are being able to see old friends and easily make new ones. The complete acceptance of everyone, no matter what your idea of fun is or how you want to present yourself. A quick walk over to Sandals will remind you of why Hedo is special.
Winston was at his best as always. He is simply an amazing entertainer. 50 is big and strong as ever and knows how to move that body in every possible direction. We did however notice a slight change in quality of the nightly entertainment. All female EC's have changed and they are not quite insync with the rest of the crew. Plus the music during dinner should be played at a retirement home rather at a lifestyle month at Hedo. Not saying you need rock and roll all the time, or loud music, but the movie of dirty dancing (the old people's part) kept flashing through my head (we do not need elevator music during dinner).
Some nights were rocking...people on the dance floor... Really enjoying themselves, then comes 9:30-10:00pm and bam. Nothing. Wait. Piano bar only sufficed for one evening, else that was dead too. Until the late night parties started there was just too much time in between. During this waiting period many people just went back to their rooms and never came out again until morning. This made the late parties a little underpopulated.
Disco... May as well make a storage shed out of it.
Another big thing we noticed is that people were no longer discussing about the next time they will come, but rather IF they would. This to us is a sad development. We love Hedo, at the same token, we only have so much time off.
Quick suggestions:
1. Make use of the open areas. So much is underused it is horrible.
2. Open the water slide... ALLL THE TIME.
3. Bring back the sandwich bar and choices during lunch
4. Live up the time between end of Hedo EC entertainment and when other parties start
5. Do something with the disco ... Unused space for possible fun
6. Move more tables outside for breakfast (maybe even a breakfast bar by the upper deck pool)
7. Turn off the AC in the piano bar or hand out blankets
8. Clean the main bar by the buffet. It really stinks like really old alcohol that has been soaked by the wood (smells like throw up...sorry but true)
9. Have more fully nude events at the main deck pools and small pools under the gym area (all underused spaces)
10. Need more towels (was told a few times we could not exchange wet and sandy towels due to lack of clean ones)
Last but not least. Everyone is talking about the 10 million bucks that are to be invested. Now even so 10 million sounds a lot to the normal person such as ourselves, in the big picture, 10 million for Hedo is not really a lot. My suggestion is to first do all the things you can WITHOUT spending lots of money. Better organization, better use of space, simple cleaning, better use of time and events, and allowing staff to make a few decisions which would benefit the customers. Makes no sense in investing money before the basics are not taken care of.
With that said, we will see you either for a long weekend in June and the latest next Jan.
Cheers,
Sean and Chris
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks