Day1 Monday 12/26/22
Checked into Hedo today. Despite all of the craziness
we've been seeing at the U.S. airports in the days leading up to Christmas, my
flight was thankfully not cancelled -- but it was delayed considerably
for a variety of reasons. As a result, the 7:30AM JetBlue flight did not take
off for an hour and a half (9AM).
Anyway, I'm here now and that's the only thing that matters
I guess.
Upon check-in, they handed me glossy cards: one was an
invitation to the New Year's Eve party, themed "Amorous Attractions:
Hedonistic Prom Night". The other card was titled "Lustful
Liaison", which was just the theme nights for the last week of the year. Comparing
this to the PDF of the events schedule downloaded from the QR Code they gave me
at check-in (that's new, isn't it?) it appears that the only two nights that
are different were Christmas ("The Naughty List: Boudoir de
Mystique") and this Saturday (NYE, as described above).
One other thing about check-in: in addition to the credit
card, they also asked me for my Driver's License. I don't recall being asked
for this before. This is definitely new. What's the purpose? I was asked for my
passport, too, but then she asked for my license, which I thought was odd.
Initially I was asked for my passport (as they usually do) and
handed it over. Then, she immediately handed it back to me without even looking
at it and said, "You know what would be better? If you gave me your
driver's license instead". At that point, I handed over the driver's
license and she made a copy of that, not both the license and the passport. I
needed the passport anyway because on the form they make you fill out during
check-in you have to enter your passport number. I have since learned that they
are supposed to ask for either or. So,
my best guess is that she probably misspoke because she is used to asking for
the passport alone and the driver's license thing is somewhat new.
Based on the weather reports I’ve been checking, this week
could be a wet one. It rained slightly on my way from the airport and rained
heavily late in the afternoon, stopping just in time for dinner.
No rain today, thankfully.
A little annoyed that they didn't give me a notice about the repeaters
party scheduled for tonight so I missed that. Since I checked in yesterday, they
obviously knew I was here. On a positive
note, I did begin to see quite a few new arrivals tonight, including many
familiar faces from New Year’s trips past.
The downside to the new incoming guests was that it was more of a
challenge for me to find a seat at dinner (Asian Cuisine night, it seemed).
After an ill-advised post-dinner latte, I'm pretty wired-up
on caffeine tonight – at least it’s helping me to stay up late without feeling
drowsy.
Next, the piano bar. Monday night there was entertainment
but no Eldon; Tuesday night was karaoke (ICK!) and still no Eldon. Tonight, the
piano player returned and so did Eldon! Eldon told me that after his horrible
accident earlier in the year he's about 80-85% right now; he wasn't able to
work for four months, getting injured in June and returning in October. It
never ceases to amaze me how he's able to not only recognize me but also call
me by name and immediately pour my usual drink without having to be asked.
Lastly, apparently the disco is a thing again -- or at least
it was for tonight, anyway. Monday, I tried to go in but the door was locked;
Tuesday I didn't even bother. Tonight, when the piano bar cleared out, I left
and heard music coming from the disco; when I entered I found the dancefloor
packed with people stomping to Pitbull's "Fireball". The bar,
however, seemed relatively empty. But at least the disco was back -- if only
for one night.
Day 4 Thursday 12/29/22
Plenty of activity around the pool and in the hot tub today,
but there has been a pattern of clouds mid to late afternoon which resulted in
not only little sun but also no chance to view the sunset later in the
day.
Day 5 Friday 12/30/22
Around 4:30PM today was the first significant rainfall, but
thankfully, it didn’t last too long; just as I was getting ready to leave, the
rain stopped – as a result, I just swapped for some dry towels and stuck around
for a while longer.
Day 6 Saturday 12/31/22
Friday night as I was preparing for dinner, a note was
slipped under my door stating that starting Saturday AM, the main pool deck
would be unavailable all day because they were constructing the set for New
Year's Eve. As of shortly before dinner at 7PM, they were still putting on the
finishing touches, so they just barely completed by the time dinner was officially
served.
Dinner consisted of the usual fare for New Year's Eve (i.e.
the Friday Gala was moved to Saturday so we had lobster).
Mojito bar set up on the pool deck, martini bar near the
courtyard (in that space where the pool/ping pong tables are located).
Went into the piano bar to get away from all the noise; no
piano player that night but some folks volunteered to tickle the ivories.
Just as they've done the past few years, the countdown to
midnight took place in the courtyard which had more than enough space for folks
to dance.
This year and last year, it didn't seem like the place was
all that full for the party -- appeared to be quite a few of the resort guests
but not that many night passes. I say that because there were plenty of places
set for dinner but a number of them were left unoccupied (at least that meant I
had no trouble finding a place to sit down to eat dinner).
Day 7 Sunday 1/1/23
Hangover day for many folks so it was rather quiet; what added
to the quiet atmosphere was that a few folks had already departed.
Day 8 Monday 1/2/23
An even slower and quieter day today as even more people I
know left; quite a depressing day. Late
day rain forced me to pack up and head back to my room a little earlier than I
would have preferred. One last night of
the party before the fun of packing begins.
Day 9 Tuesday 1/3/23
Got up a little bit earlier than usual so that I could get a
head start on packing and grab a quick breakfast prior to check-out. Pick-up for the ride to the airport was
early, so I got to check-in for my JetBlue flight with plenty of time to
spare. Encountered a great deal of
difficulty using the kiosk at MBJ; fortunately, there was a JetBlue employee
there to assist (albeit begrudgingly).
Long wait to check my bag and an almost as long wait to retrieve my
ticket to enter Club MoBay. Once I got
to the lounge, I discovered the flight had been delayed; what started out as a
2:30PM flight eventually didn’t take off until 6PM. Fortunately, the airport pickup driver was on
top of it and delayed meeting with me at the gate. JetBlue eventually got in touch with me to apologize
for the delay by giving me a credit on my next flight – but since it’s only
$50, I doubt it’ll help very much (and not much in the way of compensation for
all of the time lost and inconvenience suffered).
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