Just stayed at Playa Real until 4/30/03
I just returned yesterday from the Occidental Allegro Playa Real resort. It was ok. Not tremendous, but good enough. I stayed for 6 nights. I had read on some message boards this place was not acceptable to some peoples standards, but it was fine for me.
It was my very first trip to the DR and had read all the message boards I could find and some were more complimentary than others. I found DR to be a beautiful place with beautiful, warm people as well. I have traveled throughout the Caribbean - particularly Jamaica extensively and through I would give it a try here. I am not the type of traveler that will stay exclusively on the resort though. If I am somewhere new, I want to be out and about taking advantage of my surroundings, not just the hotel.
The good parts:
The staff was very helpful, friendly and courteous. All of them always had what seemed to be a genuine smile and hello. It amazed me because they would be speaking english to us and then switch over to the next people and talk german or french. I was quite impressed!!!
The grounds were beautiful. There are two pools and a play area for kids and everything is right at the beach. When you look out the balcony doors, you can see that beautiful ocean and abundance of palm trees.
OKAY parts
These weren't necessarily bad, but not great either, so they are somewhere in the middle.....
The pool. It looked like a nice area, but the pool looked cloudy
at times.
The water was turned off at night. I can't tell you exactly what
time this happens, but it does nightly. I know it is after 1:00
a.m. or so though and comes back on about 6-ish.
The room itself had potential, but was kind of run down. i.e., it could have used a new coat of paint and maybe a new bedspread. Not so bad, but a little. The beds were comfortable enough and the maids did a GREAT job of keeping the room spotless. We did stay in a regular room with two beds. As we walked through the hotel property, some of the rooms on the bottom floor had the curtains opened and the ones that had the seperate living room and bedroom looked much nicer.
THE LOCATION
It is a taxi ride for $35 each way from the airport. Depending on the taxi - could take 30 minutes or a bit more. On the way, you will pass Boca Chica. We went to San Pedro (the next town south) to a couple of bars on Saturday and Sunday nights. It was good to get away from the resort too!
The BAD THINGS
Nothing here!
If you have any other questions, please feel free to email me at
Sherry0118@aol.com