Allegro Cozumel Resort All Inclusive

What People are saying

A comedy sketch + What is Good what is Bad - A complete breakdown for a Family

Alp S on 18/11/2017 17:21

After spending 5 days, in a boutique hotel in Tulum and having the time of our life, we drove our hired car to the port, took the ferry, got a taxi an arrived at the hotel.

It had a luxury entrance/reception which was so different to our rustic previous experience.

The receptionist lady, after a 10 minute wait called us and said "passports" (no welcome), went to photocopy them, made some phone calls, and said - "How can I help you?" Not believing my ears,I thought must be getting lost in translation - I said "we want to check in."

After 5 minutes of typing, she said your room is not ready, you are early by half hour, you need to wait. I started to loose it slightly and said "you have not said welcome yet, we have been travelling for 3-4 hours now, in this heat - can you not even offer us a glass of water as a sign of welcoming?"

She order some fruit juice to all the fed up tourists in the waiting area.

She told us to go and have lunch, and the room would be ready when we come back which we did. After 10 minutes typing, she said "how can I help you?" starting to think there is hidden camera somewhere I asked her "don't you remember us? we are back, is the room ready, i could not care less for a room, kids need to change and start swimming" she said we are early and she told us so, and can not give us a room, but made a phone call. After 10 minutes on the phone, she hung up and said "how can I help you?"

Trying to choose between burning the hotel or myself, I decided to ask for the manager instead. The manager came and we explained the situation. She managed to get us checked in and gave the keys. I asked her "are you not going to explain anything about hotel/clubs/restaurants etc.." the Martian-Receptionist jumped back in and said "I explained everything to Senor before", I disagreed and asked manager to explain again. She did, and asked if we have towel cards, which we replied no, so she explained that system as well. We landed back on earth and walked to our room.

Amazing room - very clean and spacious. We had an interconnecting room, so kids had a great time.

Kids pools are great, main pool is so so. The main issue is - trying to be careful here - "Americans". Majority of younger ones seems to have bought a Cooler Beer Glass, and having it filled to the top from the pool bar (why the necessity to store high volume beer I don't get as you are already at the bar allday) and drinking/chatting as groups of 10 for about 3-4 hours a day, every day. I am yet to observe a toilet break!! So I decided no to use that pool

The sea/beach is amazing anyway. The east facing coast does not get effected from the seaweed problem which the whole Peninsula is struggling with.

The restaurant was great - really high quality food at dinner. Lunch is ok, just ok.

If your wife feels like you HAVE TO visit the Asian (its japanese teppenyaki) or other private restaurants, you first need to visit guest services. If you can manage NOT TO set fire to them or yourself, you get your vouchers and can immense yourself in this completely unnecessary & overvalued tradition of "I must try all restaurants in the hotel". After a very mediocre (but great fun for kids) teppenyaki experience, I went back into main restaurant and had some proper food. If I am in Japan, I would not try a Mexican experience, why vice versa.....

Room service was great, very tidy clean rooms.

Scuba club was very good, I took a speciality course, very cheap as well.

To summarize; Beautiful grounds, good hotel, great room, great service, great kids facilities, not too far from town but the management team are from Mars!

Here is another proof of their un-earthliness; We were given a complimentary red wine in the room on arrival, so I wanted to serve it and have it with my wife, no opener or wine glass. (there are no glasses in the room). We called reception and ordered first day, second day, third day, fourth........we are still waiting as the wine is aging

Allegro Cozumel--Barcelo's Bargain Basement El Cheapo Resort

GrandLevelMember on 03/11/2017 22:30

It appears that Barcelo has designated the Allegro Cozumel as his bargain-basement el cheapo resort, to be sold to domestic guests and their hordes of free children, or to corporate entities with the ability to buy out the resort and basically take it over. While I was there, one week featured incredibly loud thumping disco music until 3 am because of private parties held in the beach and pool area. When security/front desk was attempted to be alerted, it was found that the phones were taken off the hook or simply not answered. During the day loud radios were also permitted. The new policy of selling day passes very cheaply to domestic guests and three day weekends with children free for domestic guests resulted in long lunch lines and children running freely through the lunch restaurant while their parents sat texting with their phones. These domestic guests were rude to the Allegro staff and to the non-domestic guests alike. Staff was completely overworked with long waits for drinks at the bar and long lines at the main buffet for breakfast and dinner. I went into the disco at around 2200 on a Saturday night and being the only foreigner in there I felt very uncomfortable.

The Allegro has become a kindergarten. Adults have fewer rights than children, it seems. There is a children’s pool, yes. An adult pool, NO. Guests chose to put their children in the “relax” pool, some in diapers. It was impossible to attempt to swim laps in that pool, with children outnumbering their parents by 2:1 or even 3:1. I also saw First Club guests with their children in diapers in the First Club infinity pool. Staff did not prevent this from happening, nor were children under 12 without parental supervision ejected from the First Club pool unless a member reported this to First Club staff.

Speaking of the First Club, while I was there the morning breakfast was late 5 days out of 7. This was on some days due to rain downtown, other days tardy appearances by First Club staff. When they did open, the egg dishes were ice-cold and front desk personnel more concerned with their Facebook accounts than in helping the bartenders to set up breakfast. NO consistency in cooked dishes such as bacon or pork sausage. Some days very nicely done (but cold), other days droopy and fatty and undercooked (and very cold). The hash brown patties were soggy and cold. The sterno cans stink to high heaven when they burn out, making the eating experience very unpleasant, and leaving a bad taste in one’s mouth and nose for a long time. Seating at tables has been reduced from 12 to only 6, and of there are no bar stools available anymore. The TV in the First Club is so old it does not support playback of movies on USB key. I was told about 5 years ago that TV was going to be replaced by a larger one—never happened. All upholstery in the sofas and upholstered chairs in the First Club are filthy and stinky because the “no wet swimsuits” rule is not enforced. The coverup and no bare feet regulations also not enforced, ONLY if a member complains. Same with the No Smoking on the deck rules—not enforced unless a Member complains. On numerous occasions there was nowhere for a non-smoker to be outside the First Club without stinky cigarette smoke blowing in the air. The door handle in front of the First Club desk is so rude that I wouldn’t even touch it. The 5:00 snacks/hors-deuvres have gone downhill. The resort in general has a problem with the C-word—CONSISTENCY. One time the short ribs were excellent, another time undercooked and almost inedible. The shrimp are not deveined—NOT very appetizing.

First Club rooms have not been renovated in years, except for a glued-in glass panel that is an accident waiting to happen in the the bathroom, which also has a very slippery tub with no non-slip strips. The furniture is old and shabby, there are no comfortable chairs to sit in (if you are watching TV you have to be on the bed). TV signal is mostly unwatchable, snowy/distorted. Beds still have concrete platforms. Beds are old and saggy and have noisy springs, sheets are too small and shabby, some sewn together, pillows are a joke, are too soft and stink of mildew. Towels are shabby and grey, some have Allegro Vacation Club logos on them--it hasn’t been the AVC for 8 years now. The door in the unit I stay in has 1 inch gaps top and bottom which allows horseflies and scorpions from the jungle into the room, I have been stung by scorpions on 3 occasions and by the tabanos (horseflies) on more occasions than I can count. Ceiling fans do not reverse to blow upwards for a more subtle airflow in the room, they also wobble and make noise. The air conditioning is ice-cold but provides NO dehumidification, resulting in cold clammy sheets and also in your clothes hanging in the closet. Water is finally hot but has no regulation and can switch from scalding to cold in an instant. The rooms on the hotel side (not First Club) have seen more improvements that on the FC side, with walk-in showers and beds with box springs and replaced mattresses. Leads me to believe that Barcelo does not care about the First Club, and as Members we have money invested in this place. Oh, they did get the golf cart back to the First Club, although most of the time it wasn’t running because of a flat tire.

Now, let’s talk about the food. I never did go up to breakfast at the buffet, it’s so steaming hot in there that dining there is uncomfortable, I don’t like to sweat when I am eating. NO air flowing through there, and some of the ceiling fans blow UP to the palapa roof way overhead? Also with there were long lines for breakfast, and I dive at 830 most every day—even arriving at 700 I would not have been able to make my dive boat pickup at 830. Dinner in the buffet was even more steamy, and the food only so-so. The Italian was good but had no consistency—guess it depended on the chef on whatever night you were there. The Italian not nearly as good as it was a couple years ago, when they had carpaccio tuna and beef and more of variety of cheeses on the salad bar. The dress code has been relaxed, people wearing trucker ball caps and in flipflops and sometimes in sleeveless shirts, like I really want to see some guy's hairy armpits at a sit-down restaurant for dinner?? Staff appeared to be afraid of enforcing those rules. Then again, el Senor Barcelo himself wears ball caps at the nicest restaurant at the Occidental next door. The Italian also suffers from the C-word—CONSISTENCY. Different nights, different chefs, different food. The Oriental has consistently good food, the show is great, but suffers from no enforcement of dress codes. WAY too much salty soy sauce! Make sure you drink plenty of water! This restaurant is also not nearly as good as it was a couple years ago, when they had a sushi buffet with thin-sliced tuna and myriad sauces.

Lunch was a long wait to get in because of the domestic guests and their myriad children. These guests were rude to the staff and rudely elbowed foreigners out of the way at the buffet lines. Food never varied, the paella was instantly picked over leaving only rice, burgers were soggy and greasy, salads not great except for some cole slaw with raisins that was served once or twice during the week. Jacqueline, the pizza chef, is to be commended! She made pizza the way you wanted, if you were lucky enough to be late to lunch after the crowds. The ice cream machine was consistently broken down.

All in all NOT a great experience at the Allegro. I would give it NO stars but that is not an option. I have been the most frequent guest at this hotel in the last three years, 20 weeks (on 4 separate trips of 5 weeks each) in both 2015 and 2016, but my love affair with the Allegro is over.

Never Again

Angela P on 23/10/2017 04:57

Beautiful location, nice beach. Could be a great resort!!! Clean, renewed rooms.
Very, very poor quality and variety of food!!!!
Japanese restaurant, was very good!!!
Main restaurant, too dark!!!
Employees, not very well trained.
Antonio, bellboy, so courteous!!!!

STILL OUR FAVORITE PLACE!

mudd80123 on 10/10/2017 19:08

I'm a little overdue, but think about writing this review everyday because the Allegro Cozumel is still on my mind! We went in August for 10 days, and once again - had our best trip ever to our favorite place. We have stayed here about 7 times over the last 15 years, and this was by far the best. They have done so many upgrades, us regulars can clearly see major differences. (To start off --- we are low maintenance, and we want a good beach. And in Cozumel, there is no better beach than this. But we are also not expecting to pay cheap prices and then get disappointed that we aren't staying at the fanciest place on earth. You are on an ISLAND, you are off the grid.)

BEACH - can't get better. Beautiful, calm, always plenty of chairs and space, water is perfect. Beach is clean. We had friends who were in Playa del Carmen the same week we were, and they couldn't sit at the beach because there was too much seaweed. But the time we reached the beach each day - we never saw any of it. The crew works really hard to keep the beach pristine and nice. This is a smooth white sandy beach, water is bathtub warm, clear and calm. Not rocky at all - absolutely gorgeous.
ROOMS - much nicer than before. Showers were nicer, best room we have stayed in during all of our visits.
FOOD - breakfast has always been great and still is, and love that they added a small little juice bar. Omlette line is worth waiting for. Lunch is the same - nothing super fancy, but chicken sandwiches and burgers, and the chips + pick & guacamole are still our favorite. But now they have an ice cream machine --- and there is something incredible about this soft serve, and literally ate so much because it was so great. Dinner (buffet) very much improved and food was good. Some nights, the resort was busier than others so we did have to deal with some lines waiting to be seated at the buffet. BUT - you could always get a drink while you're waiting. OR -- one new thing they put out are disposable plates/cups, etc. so if you didn't want to wait in line --- grab a plate, fill it up, and leave! Loved having that option. Took our food to our room one night. Love that they had a little pasta station every night, which kept my picky teenager very happy. And the homemade ice cream - again, sometimes a line to scoop it out but definitely worth it! Dinner (restaurant) -- the new Japanese steakhouse was great! Great show, great fun, great food! Great addition to the resort.
DRINKS - if your drinks aren't strong enough, get two! It's all-inclusive, and so I can't stand when people complain that their drinks aren't strong enough. Get a margarita with a shot of tequila on the side. Or ask for more liquor. The staff will accommodate you.
POOLS - pools were cleaner than they have ever been. I'm sure it's hard to keep these clean because people go from the ocean to the beach to the pool. But pool was clean - we just didn't spend much time there because we were in MEXICO so we wanted to be on the beach.
WEATHER - we had great weather, but we did get hit with a tropical storm that did keep us inside for 1.5 days. But the resort now has wifi (you have to pay for it) but it was strong enough and worked just fine. But the next day, they had double the staff cleaning up the beach. Very hard workers.

This resort allows you to truly feel like you are in paradise and you can be completely off the grid if you want to be. Very relaxing. This is NOT the resort for you, if you want to party all night (place quiets down pretty early) and this is NOT the resort for you if you just want to hang in your room. But if you want to sit on the beach, relax, swim in the ocean, eat some food, decompress, and get away from craziness - this is the place.
In all --- this was the best trip we've had here. Great staff, great upgrades, great service and it was a great price. We had a great time and we are so thankful to the staff for keeping us happy and comfortable and safe, and can't wait to come back!

Great diving

Scubagirl936 on 25/09/2017 19:37

Enjoyed our one bedroom unit at the First Club. Specialty restaurants are very good especially the Asian. Dive shop is well set up but having the first dive leave at 8 am is a bit rushed as breakfast is supposed to be served from 7am at the other end of the property. Eating getting back to room to clean up and change and then go to dive shop by 7.45 is pushing it. It would b much better if the First dives left at 8.30am.
Be aware that we were there during the off season supposedly quiet time but the hotel was letting in crowds of people just for the weekend. They came as families with lots of kids, very noisy. We like to travel during the offseason when the kids are in school.