Finally getting around to this. Hopefully it will be helpful to others, especially solo females travelers. We do exist, but not nearly enough reviews!

So, let me start by saying that anyone giving Hedo II a grading over 3 stars is clearly basing it on the experience, not on the resort itself. This is not a 4 or 5 star place. This is at best a 3 star and that is being generous. I traveled with the WWW group for 9 days at the start of December. I was there during a time where the resort was packed my first week and went down the nothing my second. As a solo, I truly feel the experience you have there is definitely determined by the time of year and groups. I recommend a group, so you already have some built in contacts. I still made lots of friends down there outside of the group, but that was nice to fall back on. The resort is very sexually charged based on the group there at the time, so be prepared to see lots of things.

I had a great time, but I want to give you a good idea of what to expect. When looking at the cost/value of the trip, I am comparing to other resorts in Bahamas, BVI, USVI and MX. I understand what they are providing is an outlet, more than a luxury vacation, but it wouldn’t hurt to improve a few things.

Rooms: Very, very dated and uncomfortable. Hard beds, very tiny bathrooms with weird showers. Issues with hot/cold water. My soap dispenser was broken off, so they just stuck it in the corner and the old fixture was molded. Other than that, the room was very clean. I know you are not there for the rooms, but its nice to crash out somewhere nice at the end of a long day of partying or in my case getting injured and being forced to stay in bed. I had the unfortunate event of stepping on an urchin on my 7th day. Nine spines and a dr visit later, I was stuck in my room for most of one night. Before that, I was very rarely in the room but at that point an in room fridge, room service and a better bed and TV would have been great.

Food: Golden Corral on a good day at the buffet. You wont starve and there was always something to eat, but you won’t be bragging about it. Lobster night was good and the grand buffet on the beach was definitely a highlight. The beach grills were great. Jerk chicken and French fries was a daily staple and I miss it so much! I dined at both the restaurants. I did not like the Japanese at all and neither did my dining partners. The Italian was very good. Had lamb both night I ate there. You can ask for double portions or ask for a surf and turf. I dined with groups of 6 or more each time and they were very accommodating with our special requests and bottles of campaigne. I think we drank them out one night!

Service: This is one area where I will disagree with a lot of prior negative reviews. I felt the service staff was excellent. I was treated excellently by 99% of the staff. There was one at the disco bar who wasn’t nice, but that was about it. I work in the hospitality industry and by default am very respectful of others who are too. Some reviews make me think the guests may have treated the waitstaff disrespectfully or had unreasonable expectations. This is the Caribbean! Things are done differently and things generally run a little slower.
----EC Staff: They are all amazing. Yes, screaming “naked water slide” can get annoying after days and days of hearing it, but those guys are working long, hard days to try and get us to have fun so you have to given them credit. Some have their favorite guests who get better treatment. That becomes apparent especially at the Piano Bar and Disco. It can take some of the fun out of it, but overall still a great time.
----Water Sports: I used this perk most days in some capacity. The highlights were the Tuesday booze cruise and going out on the hobbiecats three times. One was broken, but I never had an issue getting one. You can ask them real nicely to sail you over to the little island. Choose a lobster from a trap and get a red bull for about $23 bucks. Great way to end the day!!!!

Gym/Spa/Shopping: The gym and spa looked really nice from the outside and I heard great things. After a recommendation for a lovely couple from England, I walked down 7 mile beach to the Jamaican Pink ladies and got an hour massage on the beach at sunset for $45 bucks. They start higher, but you can always negotiate. I didn’t buy anything in the gift shop or beach vendors except some Hedo branded merchandise. Save your money. Walk outside of the resort to the street market or even the gas station. Me and girlfriend went there twice to get sarongs ($7), hematite necklaces ($5) and Blue Mt coffee at the gas station gift shop for much than the resort. All of it was negotiation the prices and lots of fun. I never made it into town, so I can comment on shopping in Negril itself.

Guests: Hedo is by far the friendliest resort I have ever been to. Everyone talks to everyone!. No one really cares what you look like. There are the supermodel/body builder types there, but for the most part it is just regular people having a great time in the sun. You won’t find many young people there. The average guest was probably 40+. If that’s a problem for you, you wont enjoy your stay. Again, the great thing about Hedo is that it doesn’t really matter and the people that it matters to are missing the point of Hedo. Luckily, most people don’t care and only want to have fun naked in the sun. You won’t see that kind of openness, friendliness and acceptance at many other resorts for sure. As for as the singles breakdown, my first week, there were quite a few single women and men. There was a birthday group there that added to the numbers. When the 2nd week came there were only three single women, but around 6 men still. Its mostly couples. If you are not a swinger, that might be as issue depending on the time of year you go. You don’t have to swing, but some of the nights might be boring if you are not at least open minded enough to be around a lot of the activities going on. Now, things go on during the day at the pool, beach and hot tub as well so be ready for that too if you think it might be an issue.

Disco: Can be incredibly full and fun or dead. Depends on what going on in the Piano bar and what the overall vibe of the guests is. In my 9 days, there were only 3 days where the club got really crazy and everyone had a blast. There were small groups the others nights, but not nearly at the level you would think for a place like Hedo.

Security: As a single woman, I did have a couple issues. Mostly from male guests on night passes and one issue with a resort worker that was handled. Nothing to serious and again both were handled. Hedo is VERY safe and even at 2 or 3 in the morning there are still people up and about. Not that you shouldn’t be aware, but you can always ask someone to walk with you if you are worried. Another perk of going with a group for those first nights before you may have made a lot of new friends.

Beach/Water: Not very nice, but decent. Much better down the beach in front of the other resorts. Lots of grass and sea urchins. This is not the resorts fault, but its just not a pretty stretch of beach. You can get some great pictures of the sunset though!

So, overall I was happy and I will go back. I won’t be rushing back though. I’m thinking once every other year or so. There are better options for the money IMO. Also, the going back is 100% based on the people, not the resort. It is way overpriced for what they are offering. You can get the Super Inclusive perks at the other resorts for the same or slightly more and have a much better food and rooms. Sadly, you won’t have the friendliness and playful atmosphere of Hedo, so that put them above all else as a solo trip. It depends on what you want most in a vacation. If you want to party and be social and don’t care much about the actual resort, Hedo is the best choice I think you can make. I wanted to let my hair down and would not have had nearly as much fun on a solo trip at Breezes or Beaches for sure. If I wanted a quiet beach vacation with great amenities though, Hedo would not be a recommendation and staying next door at one of the nicer places and maybe getting a night pass a few times would have been a better option if you really wanted to check it out.

As I said before, I will 100% recommend traveling with a group especially if you are solo. It can completely make you experience. I’ll obviously recommended Wet Wild and Wicked, but there are tons of others going down almost every month so take advantage of that. Ill be waiting to go back to Hedo with them in 2013!

Feel free to ask any questions.

Happy Travels…