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Thread: Hedo vs. a Family Resort (review)

  1. #1
    Registered User JayNSteph's Avatar
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    Hedo vs. a Family Resort (review)

    So, we just returned from a family trip to Runaway Bay at Grand Bahia Principe. This is a review stacking Hedo against GBP. Our daughter wanted to go to Jamaica so we took her along with Jay's parents. You will see, from this, why Hedo is so much better.......

    1. Friendliness. Hedo outdoes friendliness by FAR than GBP. The staff was friendly, but not as friendly as our Hedo family. The guests? Forget it, once in a while you'll get a hello out of a guest, but not often.

    2. Food. The food was great at GBP, don't get me wrong but it wasn't "readily available". They didn't have beach grills, and you pretty much had to fully dress to go eat. Jay got denied at dinner because he was wearing a tank top to the buffet. Yes, <GASP> a tank top. Also..........Jerk chicken? Once...ONCE on the buffet, and not to mention I never NEVER saw any meat patties. Now, they did have a "grill" there but it was this fancy round building that you had to be fully dressed to go in and eat. So, we went only once and got burgers, but the food was delivered to us, the buffet part of the grill opened a bit later after we were done eating. There may have been Jerk Chicken and meat patties there, maybe. There was never anywhere to get snacks unless you wanted to buy a bag of chips for $7. We went to one specialty restaurant while there, the Japanese cuisine...let me tell you that those cooks have NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING on Ricardo and Chris. They slapped their spatulas on the grill a lot and tried to throw chicken that no one caught. So, yeah the show was NOT all that great. No rice shaped penises! WTH? LOL They had a "kids' buffet" but I thought the Kid's food was not all that great and most kids wouldn't eat it. My kid was eating more of the other food than what was on the kid buffet. One night they had calamari on the kid's buffet, but not on the adult's buffet. Many of us adults were getting the calamari! If your kid is a picky eater, good luck. It was quite rough getting our kid to eat anything. She is quite the picky eater.

    3. Beach - Ok, so the beach in front of the resort was, well, you pretty much could not get in the water there. However, the resort also owned the beachline to the left of the resort out about a mile (at least it felt like you were walking a mile before you got there). The beach wasn't very "sandy" though, it was pretty rocky and thankfully I read reviews and got myself some water shoes or I would not have been able to get in the water for long. They had plenty of little bars stationed along the beach but...no where that you could get a snack. If you wanted food, you had to walk that mile back to the resort to grab lunch or a snack. Needless to say we got a lot of exercise there. Now, GBP does have a nude beach on the very tip of the long beach. We had intended to go, but we had our daughter and in-laws with so we never had a chance to break away to check it out. I am sure it is NOTHING like "home".

    4. Booze - Other than Appletons, the rest was booze I had never heard of. So I stuck with either Appletons Dark or Red Stripe. Jay drank Appletons white. The house wine was pretty good and when I asked what kind it was all I was told is that it is "house red". While she was pouring I read it and it was a Pinot Noir, so it was not bad.

    5. Entertainment - They seriously need help in this area. We never saw any of it but they did have it way too close to the building, it was loud and not good. My daughter was kept up way too late from the sub-par entertainment. Bring ear plugs for the kids.

    6. Bars - The bars were ok. But it seemed like no one knew about most of them because they were kind of barren, not many people in them at all. We watched Monday Night Football the night we got there at the sports bar, then walked over to the Disco for a bit and shook our booty's before we returned to the room. It was ok, but not many people in either of them.

    7. No hot tubs. None. Maybe there is a reason for that since it is a family resort.

    8. Rooms - The rooms were nice, but just like Hedo, we had one temp in the shower. However, it was HOT, not cold. LOL. The beds were comfy but the pillows sucked.

    Overall the vacation was pretty good for what it was, but it was NOT our Hedo, it wasn't "home" and I am 1,000% sure we will never go back to GBP. Hedo is the only place for us!
    **EX** Hosts of the Nood Brood (we are out of the hosting game now)

    www.noodbrood.com


    We still highly recommend Nood Brood though, lots of wonderful friends!

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    Although painful to read -- thanks for sharing....we have been done similar trips to JAM....looking forward to our "family" vacation with Daphne's parents the first week in Dec - at home :-)

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    Registered User mac_r_a's Avatar
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    Did your daughter enjoy it? Hopefully she did Must have sucked being that close to home and not being there
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    Registered User JayNSteph's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mac_r_a View Post
    Did your daughter enjoy it? Hopefully she did Must have sucked being that close to home and not being there
    She did enjoy it to a point. The resort was so big it was a lot of walking and taking steps, she did not like that too much. But she liked the pool and the beach. It was worth it for that much. She didn't care for the food, but she is a picky eater. LOL
    **EX** Hosts of the Nood Brood (we are out of the hosting game now)

    www.noodbrood.com


    We still highly recommend Nood Brood though, lots of wonderful friends!

  5. #5
    Registered User JayNSteph's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by daphnelson View Post
    Although painful to read -- thanks for sharing....we have been done similar trips to JAM....looking forward to our "family" vacation with Daphne's parents the first week in Dec - at home :-)
    It was painful to write! I really wanted to like it and although we enjoyed our time overall, it is definitely not like Home....can't wait to return in February!
    **EX** Hosts of the Nood Brood (we are out of the hosting game now)

    www.noodbrood.com


    We still highly recommend Nood Brood though, lots of wonderful friends!

  6. #6
    Registered User L&I's Avatar
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    Good Lord, man!!!

    Ask for recommendations before you go next time!!! GBP is not really a "hotel", it is a timeshare resort whose main business is suckering people into buying ownership, so the amenities expected at Home or other hotels are sorely lacking.....

    Some friends went recently and had such an experience with the aggressive timeshare salespeople that they will never go back or recommend it to anyone.

    There are far more interesting family resorts that you could have gone to & had a better time - oh well, live and learn!

  7. #7
    Registered User foxxyandhound's Avatar
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    this is why we have never and will never go anywhere in Jamaica other then HOME....
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    Registered User JayNSteph's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by L&I View Post
    Good Lord, man!!!

    Ask for recommendations before you go next time!!! GBP is not really a "hotel", it is a timeshare resort whose main business is suckering people into buying ownership, so the amenities expected at Home or other hotels are sorely lacking.....

    Some friends went recently and had such an experience with the aggressive timeshare salespeople that they will never go back or recommend it to anyone.

    There are far more interesting family resorts that you could have gone to & had a better time - oh well, live and learn!
    We looked at Trip Advisor as well as other online recommendations. We had a budget with the in-laws joining us and chose based on those. We did our best and we did have a nice time, but it was definitely not what we expected at all and will definitely not return. We did almost get looped into a timeshare hounding, but we didn't show up (we had a bit much to drink the night before). The place was beautiful though, but that is about all. Beauty is definitely skin deep there. The in-laws and kid enjoyed it though, but it was their first time ever in Jamaica so they didn't have anything to compare it to.
    **EX** Hosts of the Nood Brood (we are out of the hosting game now)

    www.noodbrood.com


    We still highly recommend Nood Brood though, lots of wonderful friends!

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by JayNSteph View Post
    We looked at Trip Advisor as well as other online recommendations. We had a budget with the in-laws joining us and chose based on those. We did our best and we did have a nice time, but it was definitely not what we expected at all and will definitely not return. We did almost get looped into a timeshare hounding, but we didn't show up (we had a bit much to drink the night before). The place was beautiful though, but that is about all. Beauty is definitely skin deep there. The in-laws and kid enjoyed it though, but it was their first time ever in Jamaica so they didn't have anything to compare it to.
    We love the Riu Tropical Bay Palace in Nigril. The beach is the best!! Great family atmosphere in Jamicia.

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    Best scenario is to book Sandals next door to Hedo and slide over when you can.
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    Registered User phillygirl22's Avatar
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    Secrets St James, while not family, was a very very nice vanilla resort in Jamaica!

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    Registered User The Travel Slut's Avatar
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    Wow, interesting comparison report and thank you for sharing. Sometimes you have leave to be able to appreciate what you have at "home".

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    Another family scenario would be the Jewel Runaway Bay resort. Great beach and a new, super-duper waterpark and there is a local pub, Flavours, on the adjacent public beach.

  14. #14
    Registered User JayNSteph's Avatar
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    Thanks everyone, we wanted to stay away from Negril and try something new on the island. Heck, we didn't get a chance to slide to the nude beach at GBP, doubt we would have made it for a night at "home". I can say that we will not be doing another family vacation in Jamaica. If we go island hopping again with the kid, we will try something she hasn't seen yet. It was definitely a shock and does make us appreciate what we have at Hedo!
    **EX** Hosts of the Nood Brood (we are out of the hosting game now)

    www.noodbrood.com


    We still highly recommend Nood Brood though, lots of wonderful friends!

  15. #15
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    Great report and thanks for posting. It gives us brits even more reason to choose Hedo!

    Lisa xx
    Second time to Hedo April 6th 2016 come and say Hi!!!

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