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Costa Rica Hotel, Resort & Villa Reviews Reviews
Occidental Allegro Papagayo Hotel All-Inclusive
01/11/2005
Reviewers Rating:  Excellent
Allegro Papagayo by Occidental in Costa Rica
Pat & Reece, Newmarket, Ont
December 2004
We have traveled extensively all over the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America for over 35 years now and now feel compelled to finally write a review. This is our second trip to Costa Rica and this trip confirms what we felt the first time we were there.
This country has the largest diversity in landscape we have ever seen, one hour you can be laying on a beach, next hour be in a rain forest or at any number of completely different valleys or mountainsides. There are a tremendous number of different eco-tour options which you can take to fully experience all of the natural beauty of this unspoiled country.
We had a smooth check in when we arrived at our hotel and were in our room within the hour (on Dec. 28th the busiest period of the year, not bad) .the room was fine as were all the facilities. The hotel is on a Cliffside so you use shuttles to move up and down the hill. We never had to wait more than a few minutes for a ride. The food is as good as we would expect for a hotel in this category, always lots of choice. Neither our friends nor we experienced as much as an upset stomach and that's a first with me. We had brought down our own liquor and wine after our unfortunate experience at the Santana Beach hotel in D.R. last year where both were of such poor quality that they were undrinkable. No such problems here, Brand name liquors, and the wine was Concho Toro from Chili which I drink at home, needless to say we were happy campers.
The dance troop type of entertainment is typical; they entertain the kids for an hour beforehand and seemed to have a good turnout
We believe what can make or break any holiday is the people you have to deal with. At this hotel the staff is friendly, your servers smile and seem to enjoy their jobs and the facilities are clean and well maintained. What a pleasure.
The extent of our complaints would be no facecloths some days or the maid forgetting to reload the coffeemaker in the room. There is only one ale carte restaurant which can be booked the day before. The tenderloin steak we had was excellent; others ordered huge lobsters for a $20 up charge.
We thought the water excursions were expensive seadoos were $90 per hour, the sunset cruise was $70 in a small boat. We took their boat to coco beach at $25 a person and then were told to stay together as a group and our escorts would take us into stores they recommend, supposedly
For our safety (commissions or kickbacks anyone?!), this is baloney and an insult to the Costa Rican people (ticos) who are the nicest and most honest people you will ever meet. We went our own way and spent time in the local bars and stores. As on our previous trip to this country no problem anywhere anytime with the locals who never bother you.
Costa Rico is excursion country and you can go on your own or by large bus arranged by the tour operator. We recommend you use someone like True Tours. Best eco tours of Costa Rico. Call Luis Corrales at 506- 816-2047 or Email him at corralesgonzo@yahooo.com . Luis used to drive transport truck in Ontario so we felt very safe with him at all times, speaks English well. His trusty sidekick’s name is Danny who you will act as your guide all day long. The best part is it costs less than a bus excursion. $120 a day! $150 a day with guide. This is for your own 12 person bus!.
I am not talking per person so get a group together; you pay your own way into the sights you go to see.
We had Luis take us to Hotel Borinquen, an upscale spa (www.borinquenresort.com) we spent the day there with Danny. They have a rain forest trail where we saw monkey etc. then to the steam baths, mud spa and hot spring tubs, pool and Jacuzzi. All for $40 per person, they serve an excellent 3 course lunch for $10. Afterwards our guides stopped wherever we wanted for a beer or a picture. You cannot beat this for value and we highly recommend these amiable guys.
In closing I will relate our experience on new year’s eve. The hotel was packed so we were sitting in an overflow area having arrived late for the festivities. The area we sat in was served By a kid who must have been brought in from “inland”. We just couldn’t get any service out of this boy, because every time some young thing came walking by wearing a halter top and micro min skirt with pierced navel he would seen halfstep, jaw open, in frozen animation, mesmerized. Rather than bitch and complain we just cleaned up our own dishes, poured our own wine and watched the kid. It was hilarious. Thank you Allegro, we had a great trip.
Reece & Pat
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