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Allegro Beach Resort Trip Report
Sent in by: Chip and Beth
My wife and I just returned from our honeymoon in Aruba. We had the time of our lives!
Aruba is a beautiful island with some of the most friendly local people you can imagine.
All in all, we had a wonderful trip – however, as with anything, we hit a few minor
bumps on the road. Hopefully this information will help you enjoy your trip even more than
we did (if that’s possible)!
HOTEL:
We stayed at the Allegro, which was in the high rise area on Palm Beach. I
wouldn’t stay in any other area – the low-rise hotels looked like they were
straight out of Daytona Beach. While the low-rise area was a bit closer to downtown, they
seemed to lack many of the excursion piers like the ones located on Palm Beach and the
beach area didn’t seem nearly as nice.
As for the Allegro, it’s a great property that has one troubling
contrast. The lobby and common areas are really nice, the landscaping is beautiful, the
pool is absolutely fabulous, and yet the rooms are in poor shape. We stayed on the fifth
floor, and had a great view off of our small balcony of the pool area and the ocean.
However, the room could best be described as 1970-ish Holiday Inn. Even though the
furniture was outdated, there were other problems – everything from a towel rack
coming off the wall and a horribly discolored shower, to a missing sliding mirror door on
the closet (and the glass in the other door was cracked). At a restaurant in town one
night we ran into a former Allegro employee who told us they used to receive many
complaints about the rooms at the front desk. It’s really too bad the hotel has let
its rooms slide so badly, because with just a little work and updating this could be a
beautiful hotel.
From time to time, you may see a posting on this bulletin board with the
e-mail address of the manager of the facility. I’d read a posting from someone who
was going to the Allegro for their honeymoon and had e-mailed the manager a room request.
Based on my experience, don’t waste your time. I sent three e-mails to different
addresses given to me by the Allegro office in the US, and none of them were answered.
Also, the room requested I’d made via e-mail wasn’t honored.
Even though we were disappointed in the room, I don’t want to give the
impression that we didn’t like the hotel. Once we were out of the room, it was really
nice! The restaurants and bars were simple yet clean, and the lobby and casino area were
nice. The landscaping is beautiful – huge palms all over the place, with tropical
flowers and shrubs underneath. It was really gorgeous.
The casino was nice, but geared primarily to slot players. While there
appeared to be several hundred slot and video poker machines, there were only about three
or four blackjack tables, two roulette tables and one craps table. There was free bingo in
the casino every night at 10:00, and the tables were crowded around this time. The pool
was by far our favorite part of the place. It was amazing – it wasn’t a
rectangular pool, but one that meandered around a large space. There was also a moat that
surrounded most of the pool area, so you would walk over a collection of tiny bridges to
get to the pool. The pool itself was spotless. A large island in the middle of it
surrounded by boulders contained two hottubs – the island was accessible via a bridge
which crossed the pool. We only made it to the beach twice – our
first night and our second night. Otherwise, we were very happy at the
pool! I’ve never been the type of person who could sit in a lounge chair
by the pool and relax, but in this place I could. It was great! Right off of the pool area
is a Red Sail Sports shop. If you’re on the all-inclusive plan for the Allegro, you
can get free floats for the pool. These are very comfortable, and I spent most of my time
floating around the pool with an Aruba Sunset in my hand.
Another really cool part of the pool was the Splash Bar, which was the
swim-up bar. There’s seating in the pool on these huge boulders, and it’s the
most comfortable thing you could ever imagine! I’d always wanted to stay somewhere
with a swim-up bar, and it was definitely as much fun as I thought it’d be.
There’s a sidewalk that runs parallel to the beach that connects all the
hotels. It’s a great place to walk in the evenings – it’s lit by
streetlamps, and lots of people seemed to be out walking every evening. It’s a great
way to wrap up a fun day.
We considered staying at the Holiday Inn, so one night we walked down to
check it out. The rooms looked much nicer than those in the Allegro, but the property as a
whole wasn’t nearly as nice. The pool was very plain, and the hotel pretty much
looked like a low-end Holiday Inn. We were very pleased with our decision to stay at the
Allegro. If you’ve got the $$, stay the Hyatt. It’s right next door to the
Allegro, and we were blown away by it. The landscaping is beautiful, there’s a big
stone restaurant in the middle of a pool filled with black swans, caged tropical birds are
scattered all about - there’s even a big waterslide at the pool! I checked the rates
when we got home and
they were running a special for about $375 a night, and I don’t think there’s an
all-inclusive plan at this facility. However, it was really breathtaking.
All in all, my wife and I decided we would stay at the Allegro again given
all the great amenities. The rooms aren’t great, but we weren’t in the room all
that much, and the rest of the hotel far outweighed the disappointing parts. We would have
no problem recommending someone stay there – as long as they knew about the rooms
up-front.
ALL-INCLUSIVE VS. NOT
ALL-INCLUSIVE:
My wife and I also decided we’ll never go to another resort that
isn’t all-inclusive. We loved it! It was so cool to not worry about cash for food or
drinks all week long. I know I’ll be very offended here the next time I walk up to a
bar and am expected to pay for a drink! It made our trip much more enjoyable to not have
to worry about $$. I know you pay up-front, but at the Allegro we definitely felt as if
we’d gotten our money’s worth. To us it’s the only way to go.
DINING:
The best food we had all week BY FAR was at the hotel. If you’re on the
all-inclusive plan, all meals are included. The food was basic cruise-type – not food
you’d find at a five-star restaurant, but well-prepared and plenty of it with a huge
variety.
We started out the day a few times with room service, which offers basic
continental fare. The breakfast buffet at Topaz was excellent – there was an omelet
station, along with tons of traditional breakfast food. The orange juice was some of the
best I’d ever had! The lunch buffet here everyday was also very good. They’d
alternate one cooking station each day – one day they’d have fajitas, the next
day hot dogs and burgers, etc. Lots of other great buffet food was available. Tradewinds
(located next to the pool) was also open for lunch. We only ate there once, and it was
good. Be sure to try the grouper
fingers! For dinner, Tradewinds is called Papayas. Reservations are required here, but
were never a problem to get. The food here was very good – we ate there twice.
I’m not a huge prime rib fan, but the prime rib dinner there was outstanding. Also,
don’t miss the tortilla soup. Topaz was also good for dinner. However, on nights
where there’s a show with dinner, the buffet is closed.
Caruso’s is the Italian restaurant at the Allegro. You get to eat there
once as a part of the all-inclusive program. It’s a very nice restaurant, so be sure
not to miss it. The setting is great, service is outstanding, and the food was good as
well. Drinks are of better quality here that at other bars in the hotel as well – it
looked like only top shelf liquor was used.
As a part of the all-inclusive program, you’re also automatically
registered in the Dine Around program. When we checked in, we were given six certificates
good for $50 per person at a restaurant that could be chosen from a list of about 20
places in town. We were initially excited about this, since it seemed like eating at the
hotel every night would get old. However, we were very disappointed with the restaurants
we went to.
Our first trip out was to the Waterfront
Crab House. My wife got crab legs which were good, but my seafood sampler
plate was swimming in grease. Appetizers, drinks and entrée’s all came to $107
– so we paid $7
for the meal.
Our next trip out was a disaster. We went to Bonoonoonoo’s.
My wife and I debated on the way back to the hotel if the place should really be called
Blah-noonoonoo’s or Bo-sucksucksuck’s. We had 8:00 reservations, and arrived
right on time. The hostess told us it’d be just a few minutes before we were seated,
and to wait at the bar. The entire restaurant only had one bartender, so this guy was
really working and it took awhile to get our drinks. After 45 minutes, we finally gave up
on a non-smoking table and asked to be given a smoking table (which was open).
From here it got worse. Long story short, at 10:00 we still didn’t have
any food. Our waiter, who spoke very broken English and couldn’t describe many things
available, told us there’d been a problem in the kitchen. When the food finally
arrived, it was disappointing as well. We scarfed what we could, left our Dine Around
coupons on the table and got out of there as fast as we could. Based on our experience, I
wouldn’t wish dinner at this place on anyone.
We still had two coupons to go on our last night, but after the bad results
we’d been having, we decided to stay at the Allegro and hit the Topaz. My wife and I
both got excellent cuts of prime rib, and the service was great.
One word of warning if you venture out to restaurants – read the fine
print on the menu very carefully! It’s standard practice there to add 15 % to your
check automatically for a “service fee”. It’s then explained in the menu
that if you had good service, you could feel free to tip above this amount! Also,
surcharges are levied on some of the better-quality items if you use the Dine Around
program. For example, the crab legs my wife got at the restaurant were priced at around
$25, but there was a $15 Dine Around surcharge. This means $40 was charged to your Dine
Around coupon. Again, just check the menu before you order so you won’t be surprised.
DRINKS
We’d heard that drinks at all-inclusive places were normally very weak.
This most certainly wasn’t the case at the Allegro! The drinks were STRONG! However,
a big disappointment was the frozen drinks. My wife was so looking forward to a good
strawberry daiquiri when we arrived, and they were horrible! It was a bad mix, and the
pina coloda’s weren’t much better.
As a result, there were a few drinks we noticed lots of people drinking by
the pool on our first day that quickly became our favorites. The Aruba Sunset was our
favorite. It was made by mixing rum, banana daiquiri, peach daiquiri and peach schnapps.
It was very good. The yellowbird was also great – it had grapefruit juice and a few
other things. These two drinks sustained us for the week.
Don’t be afraid to ask for other drinks that aren’t on the menu at
the pool bar. There are only about 14 or so listed, but they can make up pretty much
anything they understand. Some things we drink here haven’t quite made it down there
yet – a whiskey sour was whisky with margarita mix! However, there are a number of
top shelf brands behind the bar (like Absolut) which are available for the asking.
Also, take bendy straws with you. I’m serious! You have no idea
how hard it was to be floating on a raft in pool and have to lift your head to reach the
straw on your drink. Bendy straws would work great!
AIRPORT:
The airport in Aruba is an adventure in and of itself! When we go off the
plane, we first had to go thru Aruban immigration. Several hundred people were crowded
into an area that contained only five immigration officials. The line moved pretty
quickly, and we were only held up about 25 minutes or so here. They checked your
“Welcome to Aruba” card we were given on the plane (as well as our passports or
photo ID and birth certificate), we grabbed our luggage and were out of there.
Leaving the country is where it gets interesting. When you go back to the
airport, the departing flight desks are in a new part of the facility. However, it looked
like everyone was leaving about the same time (around 4:00), and the terminal was packed
with some gates lined up out the door. The lines moved slowly, since you had to fill out
paperwork at the gate. After you checked your luggage here, you moved into another line
for Aruban immigrations. Here they checked your “Welcome to Aruba” card you were
given when you arrived. Here’s where it got confusing – after leaving this line,
you had to re-claim your luggage and go thru Aruban customs. Once you made it thru here
you checked your luggage again, and then headed to the gate.
This was a time-consuming process which took nearly two hours. I didn’t
pay much attention to our travel agent when she said we should leave to go to the airport
at 2:30 and our flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until after 5:00, but she was
exactly right. Don’t be late. Our plane sat at the gate for about 45 minutes, and the
pilot said we were delayed because the Aruban airport staff still had to do many
calculations by hand and it took longer for planes to move out. Quite a reassuring
thought.
We thought we’d cleared everything at this point, but not quite! Our
flight was scheduled to stop off in Nashville, drop off passengers and then head to
Louisville. When we were about to land in Nashville, we were told everyone would have to
exit the plane and this time go thru US customs. This meant we had to get our luggage off
the plane, go thru the customs process in Nashville, then get our luggage back on the
plane for the return leg home. All in all, it was quite an experience.
SHOPPING:
Aruba is a great place to go and enjoy the sights and the ocean – the
shopping isn’t great. To me, it was just like any other Caribbean island where you
had either shops with carved coconut monkey heads or shops with $10,000 Gucci watches
– and nothing in between. We went to the main street in Oranjestad where one of our
cabbies told us the local’s shopped, and we couldn’t find anything of interest
there. We also went to the three malls near the cruise ship port, and couldn’t find
anything either. You’ll find lots of island touristy stuff, and that’s about it.
If you have a cloudy afternoon and want to kill some time then I’d suggesting going
to one of these areas just to say you went, but otherwise, don’t waste your time.
TRANSPORTATION:
Your first exposure to transportation in Aruba will be your airport to hotel
transfer. If you’re on a trip where the transfer is included, skip it. It’s only
about a $16 cab fare to the high rise hotel area, and it’s well worth it. If you use
the transfer, odds are you’re going to get stuck at a few other hotels before you get
to yours when other guests are dropped off. Then, when you make it to your hotel,
you’ll have a number of people all trying to check in at once. By taking a cab, we
made a straight shot to out hotel, and we were checked in and in our room within 10
minutes of arrival. The transfer from the hotel to the airport when we left was fine, so
I’d recommend you use this.
Cabs on the island are terrific! People use their private vehicles, and contract thru a
cab service on the island to drive. As a result, the cars are all different, but the
“taxi” signs on the roof or the front windows are all the same.
The cabs are unbelievably clean, and many are newer model cars and vans. We
rode in a new Honda CRV that was really nice, and many times we saw a large red Mercedes
taxi picking up guests at our hotel. One of the highlights of our trip was the great cab
drivers we met. Nearly every single one of them was extremely polite and helpful, and had
lots of great information about the island. They also went out of their way to take care
of you. For example, one night we were looking for a pharmacy in town after 8:00. Since
most everything was closed, our cabbie went to three different locations before he finally
found one open. He then walked us to the window so we could pick up what we needed. Trust
me, it was NOTHING like cabbies in the US.
Rental vehicles are all over the place, and you need to be careful here.
I’d read horror stories about people renting from small agencies and getting bad
cars, so I’d go with the established agencies. From what I could tell, Economy had the nicest looking
vehicles on the island (they have an outlet right across from the Allegro, and you can
also book your reservation in advance via
the Internet).
We rented a Suzuki Samurai from the Avis desk in our hotel. The first one
they gave us was completed ragged out – rusted seats, no radio, bad transmission, the
whole nine yards. I asked for another one, which they gave me. It was in somewhat better
shape, although there was still no radio. The clerk told me none of the Samurai’s had
radios – can you remember the last time you rented a vehicle and didn’t get a
radio with it? Go figure. However, most all of the Samurai’s we saw on the island
looked fine on the outside but were in bad shape inside.
If you go to the other side of the island you’ll definitely need a 4X4,
and for this sort of excursion the Samurai did just fine. However, for tooling around
town, it was in bad shape. If you can, find a place that rents the Geo Trackers –
these looked to be new and in much better shape that the Suzuki’s. Just make sure you
don’t do into the desert in anything but a 4X4.
EXCURSIONS:
The key to excursions is to BOOK EARLY! The popular trips fill up very fast.
I was really wanting to try a resort diving course, but by the time I got around to trying
to book one on Wednesday they were all full. The half-day Jeep tours also sell out
quickly. If you stay at the Allegro, there’s a DePalm Tours desk in the lobby area.
They not only handle DePalm, but pretty much any other excursion as well. The tour desk
staff are very helpful, so use them for bookings. Try to figure out what you want to do
(in terms of organized excursions) in the first day or so, then book all your trips at
once. They don’t last long.
Since the Jeep tours were full, we decided to do our own in the Samurai. We
enjoyed this much more than if we’d been on an organized tour. You can get free maps
at the DePalm desk, but don’t put too much heed into them. THERE IS ONE STREET SIGN
ON THE ENTIRE ISLAND OF ARUBA, and it identifies Main Street! There are some directional
signs to hotels and the like, but once you get away from the Palm Beach area, you’re
on your own. However, since the island isn’t all that big, you can’t get too
lost.
We set out to explore the eastern side of the island, and this ended up being
the most enjoyable part of our trip (for me). If you do this, try to get to the Natural
Bridge first. From there, head north. You’ll pass some of the most beautiful
coastline and sights you’ll ever see. Travel is very slow on this road – and I
use the term “road” very loosely. It’ll take you an hour or so until you
end up at the Alta Vista chapel, which is really something else. Take a few moments to go
in – it was built back in the 1700’s, and Arubans still go there very regularly
to light candles and leave flowers at the altar. The road from Alta Vista will have you
back at Palm Beach in just a few minutes. So, be
adventurous and take off!
There were two organized excursions we took that were very enjoyable. The
first was the Fun Factory Snorkel Adventure. There are numerous snorkeling trips available
on the island, but I can’t imagine one being any better than this. You’re on
this huge catamaran that takes you to three dive sites. Two are natural reefs, and the
other is a huge German ship sunk in WWII. Don’t miss the ship – it’s the
best viewing.
While on the boat, there’s an open bar. Nothing like a drink to get you
ready between dive sites! After your third dive, there a hot lunch served that was
wonderful. Hot chicken and beef with rice, Caesar salad, crabmeat salad…it was all
great. So at this point you’re full from lunch and tired from swimming –
there’s a huge net across the front of the catamaran where you can stretch out and
the staff brings you drinks from the bar. The sensation of laying in the sun on the front
of this boat, with the water rushing below you and a huge sail overhead was one of the
most relaxing experiences I’ve ever had. The staff also was wonderful. This is a
great trip, and I highly recommend it. It cost $49, and was well worth it.
The other excursion we loved was the Rancho
Daimari horseback ride.
My wife had never ridden a horse, so she was looking forward to trying it out. They pick
you up at your hotel and drive you to their small ranch right next to the island’s
only coconut plantation. Once you saddle up and take off, you’ll ride thru the desert
to mountains that overlook the rocky coastline. It was breathtaking. After about an hour
and a half ride, you go to the natural pool where you can snorkel. Your snorkel and mask
are provided by the tour company. The snorkeling here was good, and the water felt great
after the long ride. The guides will give you something cold to drink here, but I’d
recommend taking along a backpack with bottled water for the ride. It gets hot out there.
Then, for the truly adventurous, they offer you the chance to gallop across a sand dune.
Be careful here – for the most part, all of the horses are good trail horses that do
little more than a fast canter every once and awhile and stay in line for the majority of
the ride. However, the one guy we saw hit the sand dunes was absolutely flying and later
confided it was very scary! It is a great way to see this side of the island. We saw folks
from the Rancho Del Campo ride, and if we had it to do over again, I’d probably use
these folks. Their horses looked a little bit better, but more importantly their saddles
had saddlehorns – ours didn’t. This would have made the ride much easier for us.
However, the Daimari folks were great and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again. The
cost for these horse trips runs anywhere from $40 to $50, which includes round-trip
transportation to and from your hotel. It’s a great deal.
And here’s a word of warning – never take your new wife horseback
riding for the first time in her life just two days into your honeymoon. You do the math.
We – or should I say she - learned the hard way!
We also took the Atlantis submarine ride. The only reason we went was because
I won a gift certificate in a beer drinking contest at the hotel (but that’s another
story). Mine was free, but my wife’s ticket was $74. It was a complete waste of money
– very disappointing. Don’t waste your time! You’re ferried out to the sub
by a pontoon and the actual submarine excursion lasts less than an hour. The reefs they
went by were OK, but they take one side of the sub by first, then turn around and take the
other side by. As a result, half the time you were staring at blank water. Also, the tour
guide spoke very broken English, and it was hard to understand a great deal of what he was
saying. There were a lot of kids on board, and this might be a good excursion for them if
they can’t snorkel. Otherwise, stay away – this is no big thing at all, and is
expensive compared with other excursions.
All in all, I’d say the excursions for the most part are good deals.
However, don’t just rely on them – get out and do some exploring yourself! While
we enjoyed the organized trips, we also had a great time just taking off to see what we
could find.
So would we go back again? Absolutely. Aruba is
definitely a gem worth seeing. While there are other places we want to see, neither one of
us would ever hesitate to hop on a flight and head back to what we thought was the most
beautiful place we’d ever seen. If you’re thinking about going, GO! If
you’ve booked a trip, then have a great time. And watch out for those horses!
Best wishes,
Chip and Beth
We can be reached at Chip@louisville.edu
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