Occidental Allegro Punta Cana

[bexx]

I have just returned from two weeks at the Occidental Allegro Punta Cana with my friend. We had an amazing time, here are our plus and minus reports about the resort:

The not so good
Food - the food in the main buffet was inedible as was the food in the Italian reataurant. They seemed to use lots of salt in the cooking and we couldn't eat it. However the snack bar (which was open from 12.00pm - 2.00am) and the Grill restaurant were fantastic. They also do a buffet outside by the pool twice a week which was ok

Security Guards - we had a problem with a couple of security men who hung around our room and at one point flashed a torch through our window at night. We spoke to reception and this stopped.

Monster Truck Tour - we found the guide to be very pushy in asking for donations and tips and this ruined the trip quite a bit. We saw some gorgeous countryside however our last stop was at the house of a witch doctor and there was a large crowd outside demanding money. They were pushing some of the people around and the crowd was very intimidating especially as some of the children were carrying knives. We didn't feel as a group that the guide did enough to control the situation.

The Good
Beach - the beach was gorgeous and there were always plenty of sunbeds available as the resort was not full

Staff - both the bar and animation staff were excellent. They were not pushy and were always happy to help. The animation team were really good and they were a good laugh to be around. I has an accident during one of their shows (a wooden pillar was knocked over on to me) and I have broken a couple of toes. The animation team looked after me and checked on me everyday to make sure I was ok. This was part in think as they were worried in case i kicked up a fuss but it was a genuine accident so once i knew it wasn't too serious it didn't disrupt my holiday too much. The girls on the animation team were great and we had some drunken nights in the disco with them

Facilities - they were all good with the exception of the Spa which we thought was too expensive

Guests - we made some good friends that we will stay in touch with. The people there were all really nice and there was a nice atmosphere at the hotel.

Shows - some of ths shows were a bit lame but on the whole they were good holiday entertainment. The Lion King show in particular was very good.

Overall we had a fantastic time and we are planning to go back to this hotel early nex year. The resort is small but we got a good price and we defintely got value for our money.

If anyone has any questions please just ask

Bexx

[DAKRA]

Very Nice Report

[The Virginian]

My wife and I stayed at 2 different Occidental Resorts in Mexico. The food was the same in both resorts, inedible. So at least they are consistent in this area.

The service in all specialty restaurants was too slow. So slow, after waiting 40 minutes for our meals they arrived cold. Both resorts were very small so you would think it would be better managed.

[bexx]

I have managed to lose half a stone in weight on this holiday so at least something postive came out of the bad food situation

Luckily for us the positives of the resort far outweighed the negatives

[rubio_higuey]

I don't know why so many people complain about the food in AI resorts. You got o a foreign country, expect the food to be local. They will have some mix and variety, but cooking style, ingredients, and many recepies will be dominican. Many resorts run specialty food nights (american, spanish, italian, mexican, etc.)

I have never had problems with the food anywhere I go. I travelled Europe, and North and South America extensively. I don't complain about food and eat anything that looks edible and is not outright nasty. Never ever had serious problems.

Really it's a mistery so many people complain about food in AI's. If you want American food, stay in America. if you want French food, stay in France. If you want Zambian food stay in Zambia. If I go to Mexico, I have to expect that the food be spicier than normal and the recepies, even though "neutral" will have some of a Mexican touch. Same applies for the DR.

And everytime I visit AI even for 2 days, I feel I like put up weight
(must be from all that whisky...)

[bexx]

I did not complain about the food if you read my post again properly, you will see this. I listed it in the not as good section as it wasn't in our opinion, however I also mentioned the good places we found to get something to eat in the resort.