Occidental Allegro Playacar

Hi,

My wife 10 other people and I went to Playa del Carmen on April 30<SUP>th</SUP> to May 14<SUP>th</SUP>. We stayed at the Occidental Allegro Playacar. Pablo at the front desk checked us in although we had to change rooms as they first had us by the kiddy playground. It was not a place we wanted to be as we were all adults and without our own kids. After getting that sorted away we were ready too enjoy. The grounds and the pools were well maintained and kept immaculate. The rooms, which are in 8 unit buildings, were small but very nice. My wife and I stayed in unit 38 and it did not smell musty as you might have heard from others about the rooms. The beds were ‘firm’, which we did not mind at all but I saw some people coming back from ‘Sam’s’ with foam to put on their mattress. We all had a wonderful time the food in the buffet was great but the staff made it even better. Edourdo, Javier, Teo, Manuel, Erika, Melissa and Antonio were notably helpful and nice to us during our stay. Including one of our gang having an impromptu birthday party on our last evening. The restaurants didn’t particularly impress us, as the food was salty in the Italian and the staff not as helpful in the Mexican. The entertainment people made our stay at the resort pleasant. Oscar, Adam, Estavan and the dance troop entertained us day and evening either with daily exercise, aerobics, water polo etc. or by a rousing evening show extravaganza and as such deserve a big round of applause which they received every evening. Two of our troop tried to win ‘Mr. Allegro’ (Mark from Canada and Carson) Carson being successful. The Mexican Fiesta night was the most enjoyed with the colorful decorations and folk dancing. Having spent time on the beach and by the pool I can tell you that quite a bit of beach has been lost. There is only about 20-30 feet left enough for two rows of cots on the right side and one row of cots on the other as that side has less beach. All the palapas have been moved back and most of the palm trees are gone. Sandbags are still there and it made entering the water on the right side a little difficult but once you were in the water you didn’t want to come out, as it is quite warm. By the way if you want a cot it is best to reserve before going to breakfast. Just throw a towel on one, everyone does it. When needing to get a little something you can go either to town which is about a 20 minute walk or a 40 pesos (4$USD) taxis ride or we liked the plaza just down the road 5 minutes, it had most stuff. A drug store for that Viagra you maybe needing (Ha, Ha). As well, a nice little Internet Café that cost 10 pesos for 10 minutes (1 pesos/minute afterwards) for you’re emailing needs. They have a conference area so you can arrange for day trips with travel associates. I did find the ‘Occidental Time Share’ people at the entrance a little annoying after a while but as with all sales people some times you have to ignore them or be rude. I have some pictures set up in a yahoo account.. http://photos.yahoo.com/k_hartling/