Comparison of RM/Pearl to Hedo II---Just Returned from Hedo

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Comparison of RM/Pearl to Hedo II---Just Returned from Hedo

Postby SLINON » Sun Jul 27, 2014 2:06 pm

Background: We have been to DRM twice, DLC once and DP once. We made our first trip to Hedo II July 06 - 20 and spent 13 nights there. All we can say is that once was enough or maybe too much at Hedo! Not going again for many reasons but these are the main reasons below:

Hedo has more of a party atmosphere all day long, that is true we found but borders on being tacky/crude fun.....too loud at the pool area, music is really loud. We like that it was music and not just the background ELEVATOR music they played in a loop at Desire Pearl all day long. Just way too loud and very repetitive. One day we walked to the next resort (Sandals) and couldn't believe how loud the thumping sound was way over there. We were half way down the Sandals beach and couldn't believe it. I said to my husband that the Sandals guests must just hate Hedo.

We saw that males were looking for females to scam into some kind of a sex scheme. We were actually approached and warned by the nude grill person NOT to associate with certain individuals that were there. One night around 2 am she saw that we had spoken to a single guy near the grill. This guy was getting around, there's no doubt. He was actually involved and acting together with another single guy in some kind of a setup to snare some men's wives that might be looking to fulfill some fantasy and then rope them into some scheme, either to get in the room or for money, we're not sure. We know there is something there based on what the kitchen staff told us.

There is some really crude and very unclassy behaviour......a group of single girls came into the beach water screaming " we just want to get some quality dick!!" Well they did get their share of attention later that night in the pool and hot tub so I guess that tactic worked for them but it just makes the atmosphere un classy if you ask me. Single creepy guys could be seen staring throughout the day and wandering around....I noticed them, not so much for hubby. I guess he was focusing on the girls on the property. I couldn't help but notice it.

The beach was absolutely terrible, full of seaweed and lots of seagrass, and because there was so many people in the water, it just stirred it up more so when you were trying to float around, the sea weed was grabbing onto your body parts. You also had to be so careful where you stepped because of the sea urchins. Some guy got stung on the foot by a stingray while we were there and incurred a $300 Dr. bill. Regarding being on the beach or in the water....if you like to get laughed at and looked at and possibly in someones pictures, then just wait for all the other resort boats to go by pointing and laughing. The Hedo guests are up to the challenge because we saw people doing BJ's when the boats went by just to "show them" who has more fun...all kinds of behaviour when the boats showed up. Felt like a monkey in a cage at times....I didn't like that. Not cool.

We both got ill with cramps and intestinal problems, we think this had to do with the kitchen staff not monitoring the temperatures of the food...left out without any ice for things that need refrigeration. We also both started coughing and experiencing breathing problems, most likely due to the poor air conditioning units in the room. The fan would only blow on high and right over the bed it wasn't able to be changed to redirect the air. Some people have said to bring two can's of Lysol to spray the unit down. This is ridiculour! As if you want to have to do that on vacation, really?? We found numerous spots of mould in the bathroom. My husband has said on tripadvisor that you need a mechanical engineeer to operate the shower. He's not kiddidng, sometimes it took me 2 minutes to find the "sweet spot" where all the shower heads would turn off. There are about 8 different ones that are connected. Couldn't use this feature because the pressure was so strong, when it hit me it almost took my nipples off! No joke. Terrible showers. We had no cold water in our room for showering, which we reported many times but could not be fixed. We also had this problem in the first room they gave us which was literally near the road close to the Sandals resort. After walking from there to the nude beach which took well over 5 minutes, we had to switch the next day to get closer at a cost of $410.00 USD. Basically the new refurbishment of the rooms showed that they only painted over mouldy surfaces. The new mattresses are EXTRA FIRM. If you have any type of a back issue you will not be comfortable at all. I came home with so many aches an pains it's unbelievable. It's now one week after we returned and I am just starting to feel a bit better.

The overwhelming smell of Ganga was always around, beach or pool. Even when we stood in the pool for only a half hour one afternoon, the cloud coming from some group was so strong we felt a hit of this just being in the area. The guys selling it are relentless...constantly asking if you wanted it. Very annoying. The other beach vendors are relentless, I know all you have to say is no but you do get tired of saying it over and over again. Even the massage therapists from Hedo were very persistent in asking repeatedly if you wanted a massage.

Service is no where even close to that of Desire, waited over 15 minutes at 1 am to get a drink at the hottub. The bartender was alone but the main problem was that he was ignoring certain people (that he didn't know) and serving to people he knew that just showed up. Some guy was so pissed off that he threw his empty cup on the floor and left swearing after he had politely asked the guy for a drink and told him he had been there for 15 minutes and was still ignored. We had to search and search for a table for dinner, asking for a table to be set because you could not at times just go to a table then head to the buffet as there was no cutlery etc. As an example of " everything is irie mon"...we checked out at 12 pm. Called down, told them we are leaving, were told to leave our luggage at our room door and it would be picked up. Went down to the lobby, filled out the check out papers, were given a tag for our luggages and told them again we needed our luggage brought down. 3 hrs later we showed up at the lobby to get ready for a 4 pm pick up taxi and no luggage! We asked and they said it's IRIE MON, someone would go get it. My husband asked another 4 times and spoke to 4 different people. Long frustrating story short, we got our luggage at 3:50, had to run to the Spa, shower and change as if we were on an episode of the Amazing Race and run to the taxi. Not the most relaxing way to end the vacation. If we would have taken the free shuttle from Sunwing, we would have been on the bus in our bathing suits and sweaty full of sunscreen. I doubt this would ever happen at Desire. It's frustrating to always get the " everything is irie mon" with no results.

There are no nice places to dress up nice to eat in air conditioning except the one Italian "fine dining" restaurant ....the restaurant was no where even close to fine dining, there was no atmosphere in there either and it was just blah...and you needed to reserve it. The cutlery used was the quality of a dollar store. The interior of the restaurant was not nice at all. The rest of the dining is in a huge massive buffet area where you have to walk around in your dressier clothes searching for your food and hauling it to a far away table....didn't like that. It was a complete sweat bucket with ceiling fans blowing down on you all of the time. Not a nice dining experience at all.

The bathrooms that service the nude beach and nude pool/jacuzzi area are absolutely disgusting (women's side). I am not exaggerating. There are only two stalls with a black plastic flooring with holes in it, hurts the feet if you forgot your sandals but worse than that it just smelled like urine and mould every single time I used the bathroom. It looked like there was fluid in the holes in the mat (maybe some splashed urine I hate to think). Also, that bathroom is so far away from the beach it is ridiculous that there isn't something closer. You would have to walk up the beach and up the pool stairs, all along the pool and hot tub, and even after a few drinks, I still felt like I was walking through a meat market with all the looks from the people in the pool down below and walking by the men at my private lady parts height! I am no prude believe me, I love nudity and people and enjoy a good swing when the people are right but I felt like I was on a runway of hungry sex starved people! WTH.

Many many times there were no towels, very annoying to have to go back 3 times to try to get clean towels.

About the women at the resort. I have never been hit on so many times ever at any resort. Mostly started in the ladies bathroom. Women like to talk, about everything and next thing you know you are invited to someones table or getting your boobs adjusted and played with and getting your little skirt pulled even higher and women slapping your butt. There is a lot of women/women action here. Maybe it's a compliment but I'm not that into women so for me it became bothersome. Never seen such aggressive behaviour at Desire. No one asks here, it's all taken for granted that anything goes, that was my experience. Maybe I just looked like a newbie, I don't know what it was.

The drinks are poor unless you stick to a rye or a vodka or gin or if you like rum. They were very inconsistent. They couldn't make many things we asked for and these were just normal things like mojito, margarita and a caesar. They have no mint, no clamato juice and the margarita was just wrong. I was wishing for a "Red Door" drink which we loved at DRM last November but I didn't even ask if they could make it.

Good things are the Staff, they are so smiley and friendly, the Jamaican's are super nice. I loved that they have a water sports area to take out a kayak or a little sailboat, that is where they out do Desire. Too bad Desire doesn't offer water sports. Also, Hedo has those fantastic floaties, same as the Couples brand resorts! They are so great. This is where Desire lacks. Why can't they splurge and get a few of them for people to use? It's great on the lounger, makes it so soft and so that you are able to lay around in comfort ;). The only floats we saw were at DRM and I didn't want to use them, they were left from guests and they looked dirty, stained with sunscreen and just crappy looking. Next time we will bring a yoga type mat or something like that for our chair but I wish they would provide some floaties!!

My hubby wrote a review of Hedo and summed it up by saying if you are Classy or want a classy vacation, don't go to Hedo for that, you won't find it. Sorry, I don't see the merits of Hedo II and I don't really ever want to go again. We have been to Jamaica many many times but I don't need to go on a vacation to get sick, from the room and the food! The same week we were there was one lady that we know of got food poisoning and was very ill.

We have been spoiled by Desire and didn't even know it until we tried Hedo. It's Desire all the way for us now. Unsure of our next trip date but we will definately go back.
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Re: Comparison of RM/Pearl to Hedo II---Just Returned from H

Postby eddieandjojo » Sun Jul 27, 2014 2:32 pm

Thanks for taking the time to share your insights on your recent trip. You will find that some people are in the Hedo "camp" and will defend the love for it.......us, not so much, we feel the same as you do. Want a classy, sexy, erotic vacation then Desire is the choice, hands down!

:L
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Re: Comparison of RM/Pearl to Hedo II---Just Returned from H

Postby CLG » Sun Jul 27, 2014 3:33 pm

Over the years, we had been to Hedo II many times and loved it. It was our only experience at this type of resort. In 2008, we went to Desire LC for the 1st time and we have not returned to Hedo. Desire showed us a completely different experience that we fell in love with and we will continue to go to Desire; the Hedo experience is something we no longer want.

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Re: Comparison of RM/Pearl to Hedo II---Just Returned from H

Postby Beachside » Sun Jul 27, 2014 5:48 pm

SLINON

We were at Hedo for our first time from the 6 to 13. Not sure if we crossed paths or not. We agreed with most of your post but we really did not think it was as bad as you described as both resorts are in depressed third world countries. Like Desire, the "mood" of the resort changed with each new group. The end of our trip was less pleasing that the beginning. We did not like the showers with steaming hot water and no cold, the single men circling for a score, the lack of "Classy" restaurants and poor service in the pool area, nor the more run down rooms. We did like the overall friendly employee service, loved the Piano Bar, enjoyed the better music than the elevator music, signing rocks and the pool was much more conversation friendly. We also retrieved our own luggage from the room, but the airline lost half of it anyway.

Saying this however, we have no immediate plans on returning to Hedo. Desire does seem to have a better atmosphere to the overall resort. We were glad we gave Hedo a try, we met some really nice people, but we miss Desire and Pearl. Bottom line for us is for the total cost Desire is a better buy.
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Re: Comparison of RM/Pearl to Hedo II---Just Returned from H

Postby SLINON » Tue Jul 29, 2014 6:15 pm

Beachside, we agree with you. We are glad that we finally tried Hedo, we got it out of our system and will now be happier than hell to stick to Desire. Hedo has some good things but not enough to get our hard earned $$. The people are fantastic but one really bothersome thing was the constant Ganga smell and the beach vendors. Say what you want about the Desire rooms but Hedo is worse, we got sick from the A/C which has never happened anywhere else. I really hate their buffet setup. The single guys are creepy and a nuisance. The women/women action was really annoying.....to me....way too overboard. The showers were a joke, I just hated to step in there to try to adjust it, really frustrating. I can't believe they don't just put in a regular shower head. The food was ok for the most part but to haul ass all around the buffet every night, sweating and tired was not a good way to start the evening. We like the little comforts of Desire such as the pool/beach service, the nice loungers at Pearl, the fantastic pool with such a beautiful view, the full service restaurants and the amazing hot tub. The spa was great also. We just can't return to Hedo after comparing.
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Re: Comparison of RM/Pearl to Hedo II---Just Returned from H

Postby tandainla1 » Thu Jul 31, 2014 6:17 pm

Thank you for your review of Hedo. We always wonder in the back of our heads if we're missing something by not going (the fact that they allow single males has always been a turn-off for us) but your post made it very clear that we would not enjoy it. Sticking to Desire. Now, if only we can talk them into opening a new one on the west coast.
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Re: Comparison of RM/Pearl to Hedo II---Just Returned from H

Postby paradox » Sat Aug 02, 2014 4:56 pm

Hi All,
I thought it might be interesting for us to post our feelings about Hedo (which we love) prior to our first trip to Pearl on the 14th of August 2014 (2 weeks!). After the 22nd, when we return, I will update this post with my thoughts about Pearl and then do the comparison. I think all too often, we are inclined to compare, rather than state what we love about a place prior to other influencers and then compare so that we don't color our memories.

We have been big fans of Hedo 2 and even more so of Hedo 3 before it died. What we loved had nothing to do with the rooms or the food or the beaches (hell, Hedo 3 didn't really have a beach to speak of, and the water was infested with black urchins). It had to do with making friends. We found the atmosphere to be one where everyone is accepted, you always make friends, you do things you didn't know you wanted to try (*body shots) and you went home and wished that you could go back while on the plane home.

Before the Desire brand came about, Hedo was the only game in town, and my wife and I used to longingly think about the great times we had there with our friends. The other thing we loved about Hedo was the friends. We invariably came back with at least one new set of friends that we never stopped talking to. These are people form all over the world that we still go and visit, call to talk to when we need a friend, and get birthday cards from, even when our family forgets. We never slept with these folks, we just became friends and it never ended. The message boards were filled with fun folks who wanted to help and connect and make sure we had a great time form the second we arrived to the moment we left and we saw their smiling ass cheeks on Moon Hill as we drove away.

We have been at Hedo when it was 17% full and also when the Fluffernutters were there (100% occupancy), who are the group associated with the new owners of the property. In both scenarios, we had an amazing time, as the group, not the size of the crowd was what mattered (I guess size doesn't always matter). I will say that two trips ago, prior to the new owners taking over last year, we had an amazing time despite the water, food, towel and low class state of the place. We almost decided not to go back because of the stomach distress I (but not she) suffered from, the poor food choices, and the rest of the complaints seen here. However, we did go back almost a year ago and had a tremendous time. The food has improved, the DJs are great in the nightclub, making the dancing and the vibe awesome, the parties were always fun and well attended, and the pool and the beach were just perfect places to laze away the day with all of our new friends. The new owners were on premises and they spent a couple of hours with us floating naked on the beach with us getting our thoughts about what they could do better and what we needed to come back year after year. they kept in touch by email and they, from what I hear, are hard at work on each and every one of the issues that have been posted around this site as negatives.

We have seen the new rooms they have started building (and some area already available) and they are VERY nice. Many, if not all, of the issues people have posted here are being addressed, including the water and the air conditioning being half assed in some rooms, which I hear is being completely redone. But like many of you, "soon come mon" is not soon enough for our hard earned money. It was time to see what they rest of the world had to offer for adult vacations. That being said, the reason we are going to Pearl this year is that we have some money in the bank, and even though Pearl was more expensive, we wanted to go to a place where they feel is supposed to be more upscale and classier. I am personally worried that this will mean it is also in danger of having lots of cliques we won't be welcome in (we are still hoping some nice folks come to our aid in helping us plan for the theme nights and what to expect on our trip after posting a plea for help in the forums...so far nothing), and people that are more about being doing their own thing rather than than being fun with us (and no, I don't mean sex either, as we typically do not play on these trips).

I worry that the clothing optional aspect will mean that we will be uncomfortable getting naked because others will all choose to be in various states of clothed. I am worried that the party feel will be isolated to specific times of the day and that vibe will be subdued. I am worried that the girls will be doing the dressing at the events and the men will be doing the drinking and watching. Some people complained about the single men at Hedo. I will state this clearly. In TEN years of going to Hedo, we have NEVER had a problem with a single guy. If you have, I am sorry, as the guys we have me were polite and if they showed an interest in my wife, it is because she is hot as hell and they would be dumb not to. She said no, they said fine, and the world never ended for anyone. Just our experience.

Anyway, these places are about a feeling, and a state of mind in our experience. If the environment is ripe for imagination, then anything can and will happen, and if it is not then the dollars, or food, or air conditioning, extra trips to the bathroom, etc. add up to exactly nothing. We are looking for that magic, and we are hopeful that Desire has this intangible that we have found so many times on our trips to Hedo. If not, we know that we can find it in Jamaica, and all those things that others find annoying will fade into the background of the magic of Hedonism. Hopefully, we will find the magic in Mexico, coupled with a different environment. One that we can hem and haw over every year when trying to decide where we next want our incredible experience to happen. If you think about it, we should all wish this problem on the rest of the world. Right?

Thanks for reading this missive, and if you are going to be at Desire the 14th-22 of August, I request you look for the hottest redhead you have seen and her clearly idiotic husband saying/doing something stupid and come over and say hi.

I respond to Olaf and like to give warm hugs. She is Leelu and is pretty damn close to being the perfect being.
Cheers & Safe Travel.
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Re: Comparison of RM/Pearl to Hedo II---Just Returned from H

Postby Beachside » Sun Aug 03, 2014 9:44 pm

@paradox,

Nice post, enjoyed the read, can not help you with good information on Pearl, only have been there on Day trips. If what you have said about the owners of Hedo looking to make improvements, that would be great, they can only bring a better product. The no water, then days of boiling water was really, really bad!
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Re: Comparison of RM/Pearl to Hedo II---Just Returned from H

Postby desireaddict » Mon Aug 04, 2014 7:57 pm

Our first trip to Hedo III was the 2nd year it opened and it was still in great condition. We met great people, some of whom with which we still travel (but now to Desire).

Hedo II is another story. Been there twice. First and Last time. Glad to hear the new owners are doing some fixing up!! We love Jamaica and the Jamaican people, but all of our favorite resorts have closed. (Must be us that's the problem!!)

DA
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Re: Comparison of RM/Pearl to Hedo II---Just Returned from H

Postby SLINON » Wed Aug 06, 2014 4:32 pm

The Grand Lido Braco was our favourite ( but we were married there so of course that was our favourite). We didn't get to try Hedo III but wanted to, We do like the Couples but it's too tame with just a nude beach area, nothing like Desire or Hedo. Desire is our preference now.
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Re: Comparison of RM/Pearl to Hedo II---Just Returned from H

Postby latinos28 » Thu Aug 07, 2014 12:43 am

We just came back from Hedo July 11-19 with a group called Jons Fluffernutters he is the New CEO of Hedo this was the first time to Hedo and first time with that group. Hedo is no luxury resort the rooms are a motel 6 six type of room, we really did not spend much time in the room but it has everything you need to be comfortable. Each resort has it's own charm both have pro and cons but we have decided that we will visit each resort once per yr we had and amazing time at hedo met very nice people group very welcoming and the single males non pushy very respectful if your open to that. Food was very good at the sit down restaurant buffets not to good in my opinion however breakfast buffet was amazing.

The jacuzzi I'm going to say hedo wins hands down been to desire about 16 times and in my first 2 nights we saw more actions than the 16 time we been. We saw MFM, DP'S,. They don't have beds around the hottub which I'm sure make it a bit uncomfortable .
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