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Hedo 3: April 22nd - April 29th This year our group grew even more - we headed down with 54 members joining us through Castaways Travel and met up with another 50 guests who joined us from elsewhere. We arrived mid afternoon on Friday to check in ahead of most of the group. Immigration line were extremely long this year but despite the length they are managing the lines better with everyone waiting in queue for the next available clerk instead of 20 different unorganized lines - we got through in about 50 minutes. Our bags were already off the carousel and waiting for us when we got to baggage claim and after about 15 minutes in line we got through customs without having any bags opened. The Superclubs lounge was moderately busy and we were on our bus and on our way in about 15 minutes. The bus rides are a bit longer this year as construction is leading the routes on detours around certain areas and the detours are rough roads that travel slower. We found throughout the week that almost everyone was at LEAST 3 hours from the point of landing at the airport to arrival at the resort...some were even longer! Fortunately this should be temporary until portions of the road are constructed. Check in was smooth and for a Friday our room was ready when we got to the resort at about 2:45pm. However, throughout the week, no rooms were ready before 3pm and in fact, often the later arrivals were waiting until 4pm or later. Saturday was busy checking in a large number of guests. The resort was overbooked and some guests were bumped to breezes - an advantage of traveling with Castaways is that NO one gets bumped and in 99% of the cases, no one with Spring Break will be bumped either. Throughout the week a number of resort events and group events stood out. Our Meet and Greet in the piano bar got the ball rolling Saturday evening but the big event was Monday night on the rooftop of the Scotch Bonnet with appetizers, drinks and fruit and ice sculptures. Congratulations to D & B for winning the 3 night return trip for Spring Break 2007! Tables were reserved for the group every night...usually in the Main Terrace dining room and one night in Pastafari and one in Munasan's. Dinner Wednesday night, the night of our group theme "Sexy in Uniform" had the largest attendance and what HOT costumes! Taking a group shot turned out to be an event in itself this time! Pole dancing classes were a huge success and despite some nervousness everyone learned that there are moves they can do and feel sexy and enjoy pole dancing at their own level. We even had one brave male, E., join us for our first lesson and he did extremely well! Glenn is still working his magic in the piano bar and a few group members impressed us with their singing talents! Karaoke is now done about 2 or 3 nights when Glenn is off. The disco was pretty crowded most nights. Music volume is greatly improved over previous years! Though it's still pretty loud, it's finally not uncomfortable for most people to be in there. Earplugs are still recommended for those who are sensitive to loud music. It was great to see many of the ladies get up on the pole and dance in the disco at night feeling more comfortable after a lesson. Tuesday, PJ night, turned into our annual invasion of the cage by the ladies of Spring Break! This always seems to draw a lot of attention for some reason!! Some of the ladies even got up for the rump shaking contest and did VERY well! The scheduled group trips fell through as some members were partying so much they couldn't get up or didn't even want to leave the resort. So two small groups went out to the Falls with shopping in Ocho Rios and Horseback riding at Chukka Cove. Both groups reported having a wonderful time and a great trip. Additionally the group started up a round of body shots in the nude pool with Mary Ellyn finally convincing the EC's to hand over the bottle of Rum Cream and got things going. Friday we enjoyed body painting at the nude side and wound up with a huge crowd joining in. It was the largest number of participants we've ever seen for body painting! Some remarkable talent was displayed and a huge thanks to C. who brought a ton of extra paints and loads of various brushes! Every day and night some members of the group joined in the games and contests run by the Entertainment Crew. Reggae lessons, Battle of the Sexes, Rump Shaking Contests, Music Trivia, Pimp vs. Ho Show game - a big thank you to P for his underwear contribution to the ladies on their scavenger hunt!, and of course the Wet T-shirt contest - which was won by our own member C! Resort Info: The entertainment crew was phenomenal! As always very talented, creative and friendly. Some of the group had the pleasure of being present when we gave some very special gifts to Spike and Webmistress for their help and inspiration for Mary Ellyn and the group last year when they took time out for pole dancing lessons and started a new tradition for Spring Break. Thanks to HedoTemptation for being our spy and finding the perfect gifts for them! Special thanks to David, Maureen and Sharlene in the main dining room who took such great care of us every evening and Nola as always who always looks out for us and took care of us in Pastafari. The bartenders kept everyone happy and the new trainees did very well keeping up at the nude bar. Special Thanks to behind the scenes staff like Adrian and Garfield for arranging and planning our special events like the cocktail reception and meet and greet. The resort was clean and several areas were recently painted and they are making their way through painting all of the rooms. The new bathroom in the piano bar is not only convenient but beautiful. Towels were the issue of the week: after purchasing and installing brand new machines in and attempt to better keep up with towels for the beach and rooms, the brand new washing machine did not work! Towels were then outsourced and while the resort was doing everything they could it was impossible to keep up with the needs of the guests though they did an admirable job and most guests were patient and reused towels when they could. It certainly wasn't enough to ruin our trip and everyone tried to be understanding. A few items disappeared during the week from room and bags at the pool. The rule to live by...if you have anything of value, do NOT leave it out in your room and keep your safe key with you. The staff will do what they can to help return items but expedience is key so report missing valuables immediately. Checking Out: The weekend was sad as most of the members left around the same time, though a few got to stay over into the next week. Our trip back to the airport was long with lots of lines and waiting. The drive was still about an hour and a half as we stopped at a couple of resorts to pick up guests along the way. Airport lines for checking in with your airlines were all extremely long...with more long lines through security and then again immigration. We barely made boarding our plane when we left the resort 4 hours before scheduled take off. Thank you to everyone who joined us for making this a fantastic trip and we enjoyed meeting all of you!
hugs,
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