Occidental Allegro Playa Dorada

By Rafael Zepeda from New York City • Awesome animation team

Overall Rating: 8   Location [8] • Room [6] • Service [8] • Value [8]

	Entertainment, Animation team, Service
	Mossie Bites/Sand fly bites

We had probably one of our best holidays for a while.

Rooms OK, the rooms are slightly tired however, we did not go to the Dominican Republic to sit in our rooms and watch TV! Yes, we had to move rooms initially due to a leak in the bathroom however, when explained to reception and guest services a room in block 3 was made available. Many people have complained about the room smelling damp, personally, I would not call it damp, I would say it smells no different to any room that has A/C in a humid environment. Having been to Mauritius, Antigua, Barbados, South Africa I have experienced this previously. The smell does go away after a day or so! The rooms were cleaned to our satisfaction daily! I would recommend that you leave your A/C on throughout the day to ensure that the little mossies don't get in!

Food Plenty of choice at the buffet, even for a fussy bugger like me! Would suggest that you book the other A La Carte restaurants early'ish to ensure a booking. We always managed to get a booking with 24 hours notice. The Italian was probably the best of the lot!

Entertainment Wow!! What an awesome animation team! Having been on numerous holidays, my wife and I are yet to experience a team that comes anywhere close to these guys.

Never was there a day where the animation team did not get everyone involved. Even when the weather was not too good, Teddy and Ruben arranged for us to go Go-Karting!

Swimming Pools Very clean. Never found a ciggie butt in there. Yes, you get the odd leaf in there however, what does one expect when there a few trees near the pool. Never found any insects in the pool!

Bars Drinks were good, enjoyed the rum even though we are not used to such measures in the UK.

People We met an extraordinary amount of diverse people at the hotel. They range from honeymoon couples, older couples, families with teenagers, groups of girls/guys! all from various parts of the world. Mostly from Canada though!

Excursions We went on the Outback Safari and thoroughly enjoyed it!

So to summarise, do not go to this hotel if you are planning on spending 24/7 in your room! Go there if you want to have a good time, meet great people and enjoy the sun. Please also remember that this is a 3rd world country and standards cannot be compared to those we experience in the UK and Canada! So I would take comments about smoking etc with a pinch of salt!

My wife and I will defintely be revisiting!
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By All-Caribbean User from Calgary, AB • We'd Go Back - Good Hotel

Overall Rating: 8   Location [6] • Room [8] • Service [8] • Value [10]

Overall we had a nice stay at the Playa Dorada. I went with my 12 year old daughter. We had minor problems. There were quite a few French and German people, so she had a hard time meeting kids.

Our first room (first night) was in Bldg. 1. It had a beautiful ocean view and balcony, however, the smell of Lysol (or some very strong cleaner) was very prevalent and the dust (mold) in the air conditioner was horrible. I requested another room and was told to come back tomorrow. I went the next day to talk to the Air Transat staff (Freddy and Carole) and stood in line for over an hour to be told to come back in a couple hours and they would try and get us another room. I went up to pack our stuff up and the ceiling in the bathroom had partially collapsed and there was water coming into the toilet and floor. I immediately went to the front desk and explained this whole situation again and was promtply given a key to Building 6 (Rm 6111). We had a great room (overlooking golf course). Good water pressure in shower. The people who were in the room beside us (the first Bldg. 1) did not have any problems with smells, so don't know if it was just this room. I would request Bldg. 6 or 5 if you have a choice.

The "hot tub" did not work the whole time we were there (Jan. 4 to 11). I found the pools cold, prefer the ocean. However, we had rain 3 out of the days we were there, so the beach was pretty dirty. Watch out for sand flies!!! They're wicked after a storm!!

The food was very good to excellent. I had lots of roasted chicken (excellent), salads, breads and buns, lots of variety, great deserts.

Hotel staff (chamber maids)were very friendly. We left presents with them that they appreciated, along with a dollar every second day or so.

Beach - Vendor ladies wanting to braid hair - She wanted to do my daughter's hair (just the pony tail, not whole head) for $40 US. I got her down to $25 so you can barter with them!! Watch out for the monkey man selling stuffed monkeys. You can hear him coming, "I Got the Monkey, Monkey See, Monkey Do - too funny! Lots of vendors - just tell them no thanks and they generally leave you alone.

We went on the Outback Safari booked through the Hotel. It was our best trip!! It included a trip to Cabaret beach. Excellent waves for body surfing or boogie boarding.

The Catamaran trip for the day was a disappointment as it had stormed the night before and the waters were VERY rough. We lost about 1/2 our passengers when we got to the snorkeling place (Sousa beach) as they were sick and had to take a sea-taxi and then a cab back to our hotel. Lunch wasn't good (cold cuts of some sort, potato salad which I didn't chance and the cole slaw was pretty bad). Couldn't see any fish because of merky water. Have done this before in Cuba and it was excellent. Just a bad luck day of weather.

I drank Presidente beer mostly at the hotel, had a couple rums. They're very free with the booze. Good for those who like to really party it up.

There's a shopping plaza down the road about a 5 minute walk. You can also take a horse and carriage ride. I didn't participate in this as the horses looked like they were half starved and old and didn't agree with it.

Went parasailing but you take off from the the boat instead of the shore. They took us way out in the ocean. Would of preferred to stay closer to shore to see scenery.

We would go back to this hotel.
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By lilbambina77 from Kentucky • What a trip!

Overall Rating: 8   Location [8] • Room [6] • Service [8] • Value [8]

We took our first trip to the Domincan Republic this August and we loved it! The room was simple but comfortable and pretty clean. There are some general mainenance that's could use some attention, like water leaks. It would hurt to assign more staff to keeping the beach cleaner. But obove all I was very satisfied with the staff. Everyone was very friendly by the time we came home I felt like I had made many new friends! Be sure to stop by the Gift Shop and talk to Sam!
Try to make your dinner reservations and book your tours as soon as you can due to availability. I would have to advise to anyone who plans on booking tours, becareful and make sure you get as much information as you can so you don't repeat certain activities. They can be pushy, but don't give in. Tell them exactly what you want to do and make no exceptions. Know that you have the right to shop around. There are tourist centers everywhere. You can even check down at the Plaza. We went to Damajagua, the waterfalls, and Paradise Island. Both are highly recomended! This a beautiful place with beautiful people!
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By carmen from Miami, FL • Puerto Plata Experience

Overall Rating: 4   Location [10] • Room [6] • Service [4] • Value [6]

	Very nice Area Great location
	BAD service

I was not happy with the way I was treated and the service in the hotel...let say the good first, the food is great daily variety, the people very friendly, but I had reserve a suite, when I got in the room was not ready, they had me wait till 6pm to give me a room. When I got to the room I said this is a standard room is not what I paid for, well they claim is all they had and there was nothing they can do, I said ok then I want a credit on the difference I paid because is not what I want and what I paid for. The lady said nothing they can do, only to wait to the next day to see if there was any Suites available.
Well we got stuck with that room , not happy already, the next day I went 3-4 times thru the day to question, they gave me stories until finally the 3rd day I was giving my Suite, but nothing to compensate, no credits, no nothing but a apology..very bad customer service.
Then the room service came to clean the room 2 days in a row and all they did was do the bed and trash, left me no towels until 5pm because I called for them, no soaps..NOTHING..in general not happy..I did like the restaurants, pool area, beach area and location in general. rooms need a little work but the suite are very highly recommended.
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By thiawroane from NC • Jack Tar is fine!

Overall Rating: 8   Location [8] • Room [6] • Service [10] • Value [10]

Went in early April during Easter break. Check-in was simple, not overbooked as some reviews say, but there was a wait to get into the room. The buffets were okay, but try to get reservations, the food is better, although the service is spotty for relatively empty restaurants. Plenty of activities, and the shows at night are somewhat goofy, but the dancers are actually pretty good! The beach has too many European smokers leaving butts in the sand, and quite a few topless bathers who really ought to leave their tops on. There also seemed to be a lot of local women looking for love in all the wrong places, and foreign men taking advantage of the situation. But everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The Dominican women are stunningly beautiful. Marvelous golden brown skin and well-chiseled features. Be prepared to change dollars into pesos. The locals will take dollars, but the only change they want to return is pesos. The local ATM's dispense pesos too. The only place that freely return dollars for dollars is the casino. No kids, which is a plus, but you get enough of them on the shuttles to and from the airport. Overall a great value!
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