All the bad reviews of this place are true. The food is AWFUL. Desserts from the buffet get circulated on carts in the restaurants. The Grill restaurant is just plain insulting. So much so that the soggy and lumpy pasta in the Italian restaurant actually feels like gourmet food! The place is rundown, and quite dirty. Linens and furniture have all seen better days...in the 80s! The beach is so-so.

The saving grace are the staff that handle entertainment - the poor guys try so hard and actually manage to help you forget the pitiful place this is.

This is our second time to the Dominican Republic but first time for Rachel (7). The hotel is lovely clean & welcoming. Staff are all very friendly & will do anything to make sure that your stay is brill. Rachel says this is the best holiday & hotel ever!! She still plays the MEREN HITS 2007 CD & does the Club Dance. The brilliant entertainment staff made her feel like a princess every day. They even managed to get me & hubby up a few times to have fun. Entertainment was FUN FUN FUN - very childish humour but everthing done was given 100% by the entertainment team. Brilliant and well worth a return.

I don't want to be one of those travelers that have nothing good to say but this is not what I expected. My husband & I have stayed at the Occidental in Punta Cana and loved it so booking this resort seemed like a no-brainer. But this resort is a much older and not quite as fantasy as Punta Cana.
If all you care about is going on the beach all day and drinking then this is your place but if you want a little more then I'd keep looking.
The rooms are very dated with no fridge. We found this to be hard because you can't drink the water from the taps and they dont provide bottled water. You have to buy it. You can get drinkable water from dispensers and during meals but a bottle of water does come in handy if you want to walk around. My husband and I slept on two twin beds and it was very hard to keep the moisture out of the room. Breakfast and lunch had the same food and for those of you who like salads they don't have much of a selection. Dinners were ok and the restaurants were just so
One of the biggest turn offs were all the sells people on the beach. Every day I bet I was asked 5 times if I wanted my hair braded. Now don't get me wrong, I realize that these people are trying to make a living and I don't put any blame on them I just found it to get very uncomfortable.
We went on the Puerto Plata runners day trip. This was a real eye opener. If you go on this day trip take plenty of money in small bills and school supplies and/or toys for the children. The tour guides strongly advise you not to give the children money, they advised its like killing them as your teaching them that money is made easily. This is a very long trip and I do suggest getting a good nights sleep the night before...You do get to see a lot of the mountain area and the jungle. It was a pricey trip but you do get a real life lesson on this day. If I could do it again I maybe would have done this & the zip cord trip thru the mountain. The zip cord trip seems like it would be a lot of fun.
I want to mention the time share people. They are everywhere. At the resorts & shopping centre. They will do whatever it takes for you to listen to them. These are expensive and not what you think. Yes you can buy these time shares for $18K US and you get I believe two weeks a year for life. But here is the rip off...This does NOT include your all inclusive, you have to pay for that every time you go down there its mandatory plus your flight. You also have property taxes and maintenance fees. This turnes out to be way more then your average trip.
Before going, check with your bank to see if your debit card will work down there.. We couldn't get money out on our last day and it turns out our bank does not allow us to withdrawal from DR. Another Canadian who was there was having the same problem with his card.
Lastly buy the safe. A man from Canada had his wallet stolen the first day he got there. He had the bellhop take his things to his room. He left the room to explore the resort and when he came back is wallet was gone. This does happen often so please protect youself.
Overall I'd rate this resort about a 3.5* I didn't hate it but didn't love it either. I wrote this because I want everyone who goes to this resort to be prepared

Now back from my holiday so thought i would give a report.
First the flight going out for the Brits my flight was from Bristol you have to then go to Manchester to take on fuel to take you across to pound but we was there for about 1 ½ hours + the 9 hr flight so this made it a long flight across and the entertainment on board didn’t work on most seats so this was even worse for the crossing.
No problems getting through the airport THERE is a 10$ PP entry fee going in and a 20$ exit fee but if you booked or fly with First Choice you DON’T pay the exit fee like the other airline would have to.
Got to the hotel Occidental Allegro Playa Dorada just a few minutes getting through reception to the room that was Ok in block 5 221 not the best view but no one for sitting outside on the balcony, it was of the golf course but lots of trees to look at.
The room was big with a good size bathroom with shower and bath; the air con worked fine keeping the temp set to 24Deg.
There are 4 main restaurants and a snack bar by the pool in the middle of the hotel.
There is a buffet restaurant this is the main one that has a theme night every night for the main meal and lots of other dishes to choose from the hot press, always found something that i liked overall good.
The other 3 restaurants was a Italian, Mexican and a grill bar restaurant that was mainly meat, i tried the Italian and meat restaurants both was good with the meat one better, you have to book these up before hand if you go for a week you can go 3 times and 6 times for the 2 week stay.
There are 4 Bar’s 1 by the middle pool/snack bar open 10 till 6 one in the beach pool a beach bar that is not on the beach (local government own the beach so not allowed on the beach) and the main bar is in side just of the beach pool /lobby this is open from 10 till late 01:00 most nights if there is not a disco in the disco beach bar just a min stroll down the beach 3 times a week this is still part of the AL.
There is some sort of entertainment every night didn’t see it every night but was good from all accounts (your own taste).
If you like to sample the local spirits that’s ok again that in the AL but if you like the branded names you have to pay for them i think it was about 130-150 pesos, a lot of the Canadians brought with them there thermal mugs ½ pints up to pint and ½ mugs so you could consider this idea as you will get a plastic glass till night time when the pool is closed you can have a glass then.
The bar staff was great have a good laugh with them if you (Girl) ask for a sex on the beach drink they all start laughing and start speaking Spanish so i can guess what they are saying??!!
The beach is fine with plenty of loungers there you will get the traders selling their bit’s like t-shirts paintings carvings and massage or hair braiding but they don’t bother you, there is also the tour guides that have the best deals so they say didn’t go on any so can tell on that front.
The beach if you like to is a good walk in both directions to the right take you away from the other hotels and is very quiet to the left is along the main hotels and the boat ride jet ski banana boat.
By this hotel the water gets a bit choppy later in the day when the wind get’s up by 12:00 and i does every day i was there (2 weeks) it’s quite windy but if you walk up the beach to the right it’s a lot calmer in sheltered water and it’s warmer to.
The plaza is only a few min walk outside the hotel to the right but still in the safety of the complex here you have shops money exchange, cash points a few bars that show all the British Football Hemmingway’s and Philp’s Bar a bit small for some.
There is a golf course only a few minutes’ walk away for a round of golf it’s 75$ round (18)+25$clubs+15$caddies compulsory, it’s cheaper after 15:00.
There is a casino in the hotel drinks are free if you are playing and there is a casino down the road could be inside another hotel, there is a disco there to.
Is side the shopping plaza there is a disco called coco bongo this is where most went by all accounts it was v good and there is another one called the Road way this sells meals to.
Internet in the hotel is not cheap 3$ 15 min 5$ 30 min 8$ 60 min some hotels it’s free or you can take your laptop and use the free wifi in the Hemmingway’s bar or the golf course bar this as a laptop on the bar that you can use but you would have to buy a drink i would think but its free to use and they do meals there to.
All together it was a good hotel did meet a another 2 British girls from Plymouth that stayed in the Paradise Beach and only stayed there 1 night before moving to this hotel because they said it was a disgrace there words and talking with a lot of people on the beach from most hotels it was a mixed felling about every hotel some liked there hotel and others didn’t even in this hotel a Canadian couple asked to be moved from there room block 2 to a better room so they moved them to block 6 these seem to be the newer rooms blocks 5 6, so everybody has their own thought and tastes.
Hope this helps if you need any more info just ask.
Gerry
Plymouth
England