I tend to worry to a fault so I read almost all the reviews before our trip. After arriving, I told myself "Don't believe everything you read!" It was beautiful!!!! I'll try to give a short report of our trip. There were 20 members to our group varying in all age groups. We flew out of San Antonio which was alittle more money but you get there at 9:30 AM and have a whole day. Wear your swimsuit or have it in your carryon so that you can go straight to the beach. You will leave your luggage in the lobby after you check in (it will be safe--it was like the "honor system" at Schiltterbaun--If it's not yours just leave it alone) and will have to check back with the desk for room assignments. They say 3:00 but I went back at 1:00 and they had a room. Yes, the rooms are small but you are only in them to sleep and change clothes. The only complaint I have is the beds are very HARD. The platforms were solid concrete with a inner spring mattress in it. They closets are dank smelling but you're in a jungle for cryin' out loud!! When we were leaving, I spoke with a manager and was told that rennovations will begin September 1. Everything will be redone. This property was the first resort on the island and has recently been purchased by Oxidental. The people working at the resort are a very gracious, harding work, polite people and there is no reason to be rude and abrupt. I saw that happen a few times and it was totally uncalled for. A comment was made in a review that if you didn't tip heavily you would be ignored well, that isn't so. I tipped the young man cleaning our room $10 and had pleanty of towels and clean sheets everyday. Americans have so much and the only money you spend is on souvieners, so share alittle. It will be greatly appreciated. The grounds were kept immaculate. Ficus trees trimmed to look like peacocks and teddy bears. Words cannot explain. Yes there is a faint (and I mean faint) odor of septic but because the wind blows you will hardly notice it. Don't get hung up on this it's hardly worth a thought. We felt very safe about letting the youngsters go off by themselves. Another aspect I really liked-- children 17 and under have a different color wristband and cannot check out swimming gear or water crafts unless an adult signs out for it. Younger and older teenagers don't like it but I did!!!!!! Two of our young adult had a wreck on a moped. Thankfully it was not serious. You have to be 25 to rent a car and only have a license to rent a moped. Take out the insurance and drive slowly the roads are alittle rough. If you wreck, you will be charged for the deductable. Now for some tips----------------------
1. Even if your spanish is terrible the residents appreciate you trying to communicate in their language and are very patient with you. I took a small spanish dictionary which helped when I left a note asking for more towels.
2. Wear your swimsuit or have it handy when you arrive.
3. There is a pharmacy across the street which came in handy for the accident victims.
4. Go buy or take a large sports bottle, the glasses are small. When you are away from the beach it gets hot and sultry.
5. Get out to the beach early, take your towel cards and get beach towels the day before and go lay it on the loungers maybe a snorkel or two then go eat breakfast. No one will move it.
6. Take insect repellant. The mosquitoes come out when the sun goes down.
7. Underwater cameras are a must.
8. When you go to breakfast, take your plastic bag from the closet for dirty clothes and grab a few rolls at the bread bar. You can feed the fish in the bouyed area. You can even stand at the waters edge and they will almost beach themselves to get the food.
9. Pay the money for snorkling at the reefs. Walk up the beach to check prices. They will come to the pier at the hotel to pick you up and maybe drop you off so you don't have to walk back.
10. Take a bar of soap and maybe a candle to scent your room. They have liquid soap and shampoo in the showers.
11. Take your own snorkle and fins. They close up shop and pull everything in at 4:30. Just when it's getting nice to be in the water, they close. Also, when you check out swimming gear (boogie boards, life jackets, snorkels ect) you have to return it in 3 hours and recheck it. If you don't check it in before they close you pay $5 the next day when you return it!!!
12. Read about dress codes for the restaurants in the evenings. No exceptions. You will have to change. Even the buffet at night won't let men in with sleeveless shirts.
13. Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen
14. Use the lock box in your room and put the key in a safe place. If you put it on the lanyard with your room key and you lose it some dishonest person can go to your room and steal your things. The room keys are like house keys and have the room #'s engraved on them. Maybe this will change when they remodel
15. Don't lose anything--- towels, keys ect they have big replacement charges.
HAVE A GREAT TIME!!!! We will be back !!!!!!!!!

I was so looking forward to a vacation where I could relax and enjoy myself. After being at the Allegro for 12 hours, I was ready to go home. The food was horrible, the drinks were worse. The smell of sewer outside our room was certainly not pleasurable nor was having the electricity go out 3 times during the week. If you really want to take a relaxing vacation, go elsewhere. I will never go back!

I'll try to comment on things others haven't... My best friend and I have been back from our trip for almost a week and I am still relaxed from the experience. If you are comfortable at a Super 8 motel, this place is paradise. We spent five days without phones, clocks, or schedules. We only left the resort once, to spend a day in XCaret, and this is a HIGHLY recommended daytrip. My key observation about the Allegro, though, after reading literally all of the reviews before we left: if you treat the staff like people, they have TONS of personality and won't hesitate to help make your stay more comfortable in any way they can. Ricardo at the front desk is accommodating and helpful, Mariana is a charming beachfront waitress who's as eager to help you learn spanish as to learn a few more words of English herself, and overall if you take the time to call someone by name and give them a smile, you're as likely to have a great experience as if you'd tipped them all with a $20 up front. We occasionally tipped our bartender $1, but always took the time to chat while they were mixing drinks, and subsequently our drinks always turned out somehow better than those of the guests next to us on the beach. In the buffet, we made small talk with our server at each meal, and suddenly they anticipated what we wanted to drink, came back to check on us, and always gave great suggestions on what else to try. No, this hotel is not a luxury resort. We did take air freshener for our room but didn't really feel we needed it. The upper rooms do carry noise significantly, but the downstairs rooms are comfortable albeit small. We did notice mildew, but we also know that the maids are hard working and doing the best they can in a ridiculously humid climate. If you're up for a beautiful beach, friendly and interesting people, and you have a decent attitude toward other human beings, you're going to love it here. Don't worry about the bad reviews unless you're ultrafinicky. The food is "hit or miss." Mexican night was unbelievably good, Caribbean night I didn't enjoy so much, but if you like seafood (more than I do) there is always an abundance of fresh fish and shrimp dishes, which were getting rave reviews from the seafood lovers at our table. Hopefully those who hated the place will find someplace else to stay and leave room for us to come back next year...

We would not go back if given the trip for free!!
The reviews I have read surprise me. People talking about taking air freshener and bug spray etc. Who would consider even going to a place they needed such things. I wish I had had some reviews to read before we went. Check in staff was rude. Room was filthy. Black mold growing on blinds. Very hot and poor lighting. Lizards and bugs in the room and crawling across ceiling. We took pictures of the filth so we could laugh about it some day after the anger goes away. Smell was awful. Food at pool was greasy and almost everything was fried. Always out of towels at pool unless you got there very early. Pool activities staff were good and that was the most enjoyable. Grounds were nice. We left after two nights and went to the Grand Xcaret. It was wonderful!!!