Occidental Allegro Papagayo Hotel All-Inclusive 03/27/2006 Reviewers Rating: Great
My wife and I arrived at the hotel along with about 150 others and immediately were all lined up to check in. They have a form that you have to fill out and could have helped speed up the process by handing out the form to be filled up before you get to the desk. Rooms were already assigned and when asked if it could be changed, we were told no because the hotel is full. Our first problem with the hotel was that they make a big thing about guests using the room safety deposit box. But, they could not provide the $2 a day lock and key until 3 days into our 7 day stay. Why can't they just include it in the room rate and make sure that each room has the lock and key? Our second problem came as we clambered down a steep ramp from the shuttle bus to our building 15 and then up to the third floor. Thankfully the porter was very willing to haul our two suit cases for us. The next more significant problem was that we were tired and very hot and cranky and there were no towels in the room. Not even a face cloth. So we called housekeeping who said some one will come and stock the towels. We went to dinner and a walk and came back about two hours later to no towels. A second phone call and after another hour we got two bath towels warm from the dryer and were told there were no other towels available. After a less than stellar start to our vacation, we called the next morning about the lock for the safety deposit box and were told guests were checking out at 1pm so please come after that. I said can someone just bring one to the room and we were told we had to fill out a form so no. I said could I just reserve one and I was told it's first come first serve. To get to the lobby you take the shuttle and kill at least 30 minutes for each visit. We made two visits to the lobby that second day and were told too bad, no locks. We actually talked to some others in our 150 group and they said they had locks and keys in their rooms and did not fill out a form. We had booked an excursion to Nicaragua for the third day and we were leaving at 6am. We asked to see the manager that second day in the evening during our second visit to the lobby. He offered to give us an envelope which he would store in their office safe. No one at the front desk offered that. I really wish they would just buy the lock and key for each room and up the rates to include something that is so essential and convenient when staying at such a resort. As for the towels, we found out that with two dollars left for the room cleaners, you not only got three bath towels, but face and hand towels and a bath mat. One day we forgot and sure enough we got only 2 bath towels. As for the food, I really got to enjoy fresh pineapple every day. The rest of the food was not exactly spicy but certainly catered to North American palettes. The Italian restaurant is worth a visit if you can make that reservation early enough. The Tex-Mex is pretty much the same as the Tex-Mex day food in the buffet dining area. The buffet dining area had the same breakfast fare every day but for lunch and dinner had different themes each day. The Costa Rican day was my favourite and my wife loved the seafood day. We did not really use the snack bar as it's pretty much all fried snack foods. The nachos were not bad. The bars were adequately staffed with friendly and quick service. The lobby lounge was particularily not busy at most times so service was very friendly and I had to ask for no more because the drinks kept coming! The Pablo's Bar is the main bar by the pool and at times was too crowded and not quite able to cope. However, I did not go thirsty long! As I mentioned above, we did go to Nicaragua for the day tour. That was the highlight for me as it did change my mind to a great extent that even though it is still a third world country, it is making great strides to get past it's violent history and move forward to give the people a better life. Our tour included a bag of a water bottle, a sandwich, an apple, cookies, and a juice box as our breakfast snack. Since most people did not eat it all our tour guide told us that at the end of the last stop, a market in Masaya, he along with a local security guard would hand out the leftovers. There were about 20 or 30 kids who know the routine and thanks to the security guard, each one got something and he seemed to make sure the older kids did not take from the little ones. We had some stuff left over so our bus made a few stops along the road back to Costa Rica to hand out some goods to families walking by the road. Never once did we feel threatened by the kids constantly selling cashews or asking for apples or the personal shopping assistants who followed us through the markets. They were polite and never an annoyance. The other tour we did was the Coco Beach and sunset tour. The tour guide insists that the group should stick together to bargain for better deals especially at the stores he likes. We did not and we heard no one got a special deal as prices are as labelled and not for negotiation. I think he is after a "finder fee". The sunset tour was great as we were joined by some dolphins splashing about our boat. We did not go to the White Sand Beach Resort as many people were reporting alot of jelly fish stings. Even at the black sand beach we saw some. Overall, we see that this resort has some problems that really should not be such an issue. Towels and locks can't cost that much. During our first morning, the tour company rep offered a few words that certainly struck home with me in that if all the troubles you have are small, don't sweat the little things. Just enjoy the big things! We did really enjoy the drinks and food and even the cheesy nightly entertainment which showcases the fact that these young Costa Rican entertainers are really working hard. From our chats with the locals we did meet, they are really happy that people come to visit and do want to make our trip enjoyable. For someone who is working 12 - 16 hour days like some of the waiters, they do a good job. We would go back and yes we would be ticked about not having a lock for the safety deposit box and would hope for the best as far as towels go. Others that we talked to had air conditioners that did not work so we certainly counted ourselves lucky.
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