Is allinclusive worth the money?

mummytofour

sarymclary wrote:

OK, I'm totally sold on the AI option. I'm planning to take my brood of 4 boys (5 - 14 yrs) away, and think somewhere in the Med would be ideal (not too long a flight). I'll be on my own with the boys, so the chance of them being independent thrills me!! What I'd like to know, from those of you with experience of these holidays, is where should I start looking first? Brochures, internet? What are the 'catches' other than a 1hr ice-cream limit? Any other specific hotels/resorts that you can recommend?

I'm flexible on travelling - late summer, perhaps, but prefer not to take the boys out of school for more than a few days where possible (tag onto start/end of summer hols/is Oct. 1/2 term too late?).

Lady after my own heart, Im soon to have my 4th boy, have a dd also.

I love AI its great a lot less stressful.

I love menorca as an island great beaches, weather, ppl are nice and its an island, which I like too. I like to get brouchers to see what places look like then, check for best prices on the net. Good luck.

KK

I have only been AI once, and that was with Mark Warner which is expensive and the AI bit only includes local wine and water, but the food was fantastic and the wine very drinkable. Of course you pay pots of money to go because your water sports are free, so wouldn't necessarily recommend this as an option, and we went because we got a free child place and it was term time!

I have been to 2 really good full board hotels recently. The Faro Jandia in Jandia, Fuerteventura was excellent - the food plentiful and very good quality and a beautiful hotel. Plus a heavenly beach - they call it the Caribbean.

The other one was Playa de Las Arenas in Tenerife. A really beautiful hotel, great entertainment, lovely food etc. Brilliant for children.

Neither were All inclusive but they might do it as an option.

I couldn't stay in one hotel for 2 weeks normally (although we did with the Mark Warner one but there was so much to do that we didn't get bored) as the food and the routine can get very samey, but I think all inclusive is a good option for children. Although I always have a tendency to put on weight when I go a hotel with really good food as I can't resist it!

Read the reviews on the web and talk to people to recommend it. Also, would you want your kids to have unlimited access to fizzy drinks and ice creams all day? I wouldn't! Maybe I'm mean, but last year my 4 year old could choose between an ice cream or a slush puppy each day, but not both. She'd have been climbing the walls with a sugar high otherwise!

I think the disadvantage has to be testing your self control! I know when we had free wine, we would drink at lunchtime too, and then cocktails before dinner, then carry on drinking in the evening - my tolerance for alcohol went up loads! Thank goodness I was waterskiing, windsurfing and sailing in the mornings only!

spursman

In answer to ruthyjo i stated in an earlier reply our family although AI do try to get away from the hotel & eat , drink & sightsee locally.
In reply to budgetflyer you say you couldnt eat at the same place for 2 weeks, well a lot of AI are like little villages the one we are in this year has 5 restaurants(2 specialist) 4 bars(which also do bar snacks) so feasibly on a 14 night holiday as we'll have 3 nights away on safari we could eat at 12 different places in 14 nights.
If you were to go to Tobago/Antigua/St Lucia/Grenada etc etc you are highly unlikely to find more than 3/4 restaurants in the areas surrounding the hotels, go to Gambia/Dubai/Egypt(to a lesser degree) & the only places to eat are at other hotels so AI may be restricting but it quite often gives you choices as well
This year in Tobago(ooops last summer) our AI had 3 restaurants, but in the buffet restaurant you could still order off the A LA CARTE menu, wealso went into town a number of times which was about 5 miles away so we had to add the cost of a return taxi to the price of any meals eaten outside.
I would definately reccommend AI to families but as stated earlier & elsewhere dont let your resort be your prison

spursman

ps again it may be a caribbean thing but meals are usually on a 2week rotation, so you usually have 3/4 choices each nite(inc vegetarian option) & these are not repeated for the duration of a 2 week stay, some places have a 1 week rotation but you still have a choice of 3/4 dishes on your 2nd week

Zoetoes

Liz19 wrote:

We think all-inclusive is excellent and our kids are 14 and 11. As Becles said it is great when the kids want a drink or a snack and you don't have to carry any money around with you. We went to a wonderful one in Ibiza (The San Miguel Hotel in Puerto San Miguel) and it was so good we are going again this summer. The food was very good, the entertainment was excellent, it has its own beach and is in a very quiet resort ie. little in the way of shops and there really is something for all ages. I could enthuse about it for ages. Roll on July!

This was our favourite holiday aswell! We all loved it. our kids were 9 & 2 at the time & it was perfect for them. The entertainment was superb, especially Zorro. I wish we were going again!

nomiswlc

We went all inclusive to Portugal in 2001 2 adults & 2 children (9 and 17). Whilst its a big plus not to have to carry around cash for drinks and icecreams etc, the downside is its probably not worth the extra unless the kids eat icecream 24/7 and you drink a pool full of booze. My advice, find out the difference between half board & all inclusive, divide that by the number of days you're staying and ask yourself are you and thie kids likely to get through that each & every day.

Simon :beer:

hollydays

Agree with another poster that Menorca is great for families.My kids also got a great kick out of being able to be independant and ask for what they wanted themselves.As a couple now, we tend to go half board and grab a sandwich a t lunchtime in a beach bar.With 2 kids that could work out expensive.Try this site https://www.all-inclusive-holiday-bargains-co.uk just found this but havent tried it.Looks like you can compare AI with different companies

candygirl

Me and my 18 yer old daughter are going back to tunisia on an all inclusive at easter!!it was brill last year but were going to a better hotel this year,so fingers crossed.we probably wont be able to fit on the plane on the way back!! :rotfl: :rotfl:

cubegame

From what I have read and heard, all inclusive is generally best avoided in Europe. It's nice and gimmicky and standards are not high.

If you're going further afield to say the Caribbean then AI tends to be of a much higher quality. However, you need to search these things out before you go.

rede

Las marinas Aparthotel, lanzarote. rooms are apartments so you do have access to a kitchen.

Kids will love it & you can relax. If you fancy going out for the day, just order a packed lunch as one of your meals

Try these websites to find out what is available.

http://www.medhotels.com/ (hotels only)

http://www.securitytravel.co.uk