All inclusive holidays

budgetflyer

We were in Varadero about 5 years ago. The service and food in the hotel was abysmal to be kind. We ate out in local casa's every 2nd night, but to be honest, everything we had was quite bland.
Service in most places was pretty indifferent.

Voyager2002

I was in Cuba about two years ago, spending most of my time in local casa but a three-day period at an all-inclusive resort.

The only meals that I would really rave about were the breakfasts served in the casas. Meals in restaurants were fine, but not good enough to be a reason to go somewhere. Within the resort, both the buffet and restaurant meals were excellent value and enjoyable, but really no different from the food served at an ill-inclusive in Morocco where I went the previous year (except that the food available from local restaurants in Morocco was a good deal better than that served in the resort).

DUKE

I've been to Holguin, Cuba, it was my first ever 24 hour AI & it didn't disappoint. In fact I've never had a bad AI, there was loads of choice, & the food & drink have always been really good. I don't go anywhere without checking on TripAdvisor first, it's saved me from many a bad hotel, & took me to some really good ones .... Some people will only ever complain, they wouldn't dream of going on TripAdvisor to compliment. Ignore those that say there's no pizza, burgers, or pies .... Unless that's what you like. Or those that say they don't speak good enough English, their English will more than likely be better than your Spanish. Look at all the reviews, then make your own mind up.

blindman

Voyager2002 wrote: »

but really no different from the food served at an ill-inclusive in Morocco where I went the previous year (except that the food available from local restaurants in Morocco was a good deal better than that served in the resort).

Typo or reality

blindman

What I do not understand is why go AI in a place where's there's loads of local people\sights\culture?

Cuba is unique and deserves to be explored, not spending 14 days on a beach.

Now if it was some small island with nothing else to do for miles then yes AI and lie on a beach would suit me fine.

Each to their own.

hollydays

blindman wrote: »

Typo or reality

:rotfl::rotfl:

catwoman73

I generally take TripAdvisor with a pinch of salt
I like to get out and about and eat local food.

If someone in a review says the food is rubbish do they mean that theres too many bones and shells on the meat. And fish and there isn't enough beige food and roast dinners for them or do they mean that it was all processed rubbish and chips with no local food?

ralph_wilson

Thanks Everybody. We couldn't get into a 2 centre set up so that we could stay in Havana itself so we have opted for one of the all inclusive resorts closest to it and will do excursions and see as much as we can that way. I won't say when we are going 'cos that will tell burglars when our house is empty, but I'll feed back to this post on our return.
Thanks again folks. (I'll spend our hard earned moneysaving cash wisely).

Pincher

I was reading up on Cuba, and there was an odd comment about food. It says due to trade embargo, the variety of spices and ingredients is limited, but they make do with what they have.

Hard to believe, as the climate must be brilliant for herbs and spices.

Must be a golden opportunity for organic farmers. The organic market must be saturated in the UK by now.

Get growing, so there's lots to eat when I get there.

Can't believe the flight prices. You can book some thing in Havana for £13 a night, but the return flight is £900!

Virgin Atlantic has a 20% Rewards Sale going on, so it's 36,000 miles plus £221. Regular price is around £900! That's a good deal, I thought, except there are NO Reward flights until June 2016! Well, there are a few up to 5th October 2015, during the hurricane season!

ralph_wilson

ralph_wilson wrote: »

Thanks Everybody. We couldn't get into a 2 centre set up so that we could stay in Havana itself so we have opted for one of the all inclusive resorts closest to it and will do excursions and see as much as we can that way. I won't say when we are going 'cos that will tell burglars when our house is empty, but I'll feed back to this post on our return.
Thanks again folks. (I'll spend our hard earned moneysaving cash wisely).

We went to Thomas Cooks Royalton Hicacos in Varadero for the first 2 weeks in January 2016. We found a problem with the food in that it was difficult to find hot food in the various places to eat on-site unless it was cooked in front of you. The potatoes/chips, vegetables and various meats and fish were cooked in a large kitchen and transported to various serveries where they were held in warming ovens until needed. When they were at the servery they were kept warm very poorly over hot water baths (bain-marie) and cooling all the time. The coffee in the main dining room was rubbish considering Cuba pushes their coffee quality and asking for white coffee made very little difference to the colour as the milk appeared to be made from powder at a very weak mix.
The small bistro on site did very good plain hot food (burgers, omlettes etc) because it was cooked there and then. The coffee at the bistro and the main bar was also very well done. The staff on the site were very good and the all inclusive drinks were very good.
We went on an overnight trip to Havana, the food (and coffee) there showed how it should be done.
Beyond control was the weather, which threw it down for 11 days out of 14, and it was the dry season as well.
On the last day the flight was delayed for 5½ hours and the time was spent on site with our all inclusive drinks and eating where we had spent 2 weeks discovering where to find hot food.
Thomas Cook paid me £460 flight delay compensation and gave my wife a voucher for £470 for her delay compensation.
I would go back to Cuba and if we used an all inclusive site we would try a smaller site such as Pesquero, but if possible would spend more nights out of the resort.