All Inclusive

At the last minute I have been roped into going on a family holiday with my sister and her two kids.

Now I'm happy to go on holiday, but my idea of a holiday is some fancy hotel right on the beach with a huge room overlooking the sea, just a short walk from fancy restaurants that charge £30 for a bread roll.

However, I find myself going on something called an "all inclusive holiday". This is completely alien to me and I'm not 100% sure what it means.

My sister seemed to be suggesting that food and drink was included in the price, but how can this be - I'm only paying £500 and that includes the hotel and flight. How can that include food and drink? What will I be eating and drinking, bread and water?

And then she said something about self service, and your wine comes out of a tap! A bloody tap!

We live in a strange world. Your all inclusive stories would be much appreciated.

If you stay in a decent hotel and the food is good then all inclusive is good value. where it falls down is if the food is shite and you have to go out of the hotel complex and buy your evening meal elsewhere.

If you have a family then an all inclusive holiday is a bargain because the kids can have ice cream and soft drinks all day.

A lot depends on where you are going.

I almost started the exact same thread a few months ago after going all inclusive for the first time in my 20 years, in all of which I've been on at least one foreign holiday.

I'm not a big fan. One of the best parts of a holiday for me is going out and rooting for somewhere to eat. I'm not a fan of buffets either. Pissing around in a queue with plates and big spoons doesn't have the same novelty as sitting at a table, waiting for somebody to bring out a meal that's piping hot and fresh from the oven. I'm also one of these people that eats several small meals a day as opposed to three ordinarily sized. When you go all inclusive, you can only eat at three different periods during the day, and usually the rooms don't have the equipment for you to be able to cook your own snacks and stuff.

No complaints about the unlimited Turkish lager, mind.

I once went on an 18-30's all inclusive. Considering how easy it was to get laid I'm pretty sure the slags were part of the all inclusive deal.

I went all inclusive for about 4 years then last year went self catering - I hated that holiday purely because I was back to watching the pennies and always taking the cheapest option.

Natasha, once you've been all inclusive you won't go back.

Owen Owen Owen wrote:

Natasha, once you've been all inclusive you won't go back.

With wine from a tap? I don't think so, I'm already looking for a way out of this.

All inclusive in Cuba was great (holiday cost about 900 quid and that inlcuded upgrade on the plane), but then also decided to leave the hotel a few times which included an overnight stay in Havanna (one of my favourite cities in the world) - in total an extra 300 was spent.



But the all inclusive was a great deal - free beer, free food, and even upgrading to a more plusher restaurant for nothing!!!

bwfc71 wrote:All inclusive in Cuba was great (holiday cost about 900 quid and that inlcuded upgrade on the plane), but then also decided to leave the hotel a few times which included an overnight stay in Havanna (one of my favourite cities in the world) - in total an extra 300 was spent.

But the all inclusive was a great deal - free beer, free food, and even upgrading to a more plusher restaurant for nothing!!!

How can it be good food when it's costing you next to nothing? Surely it's Turkey Twizlers and chips?

Can't be doing with all inclusive, half board maybe with a decent breakfast but some of the stuff I have been served up on some all inc. holidays I wouldn't give the dog.

You're best bet is to look at reviews on the hotels food and see what they have said.

The only time i went all inclusive was when i was about 9 to Tenerife and i got measles and had to be quarantined on the plane on the way back.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:The only time i went all inclusive was when i was about 9 to Tenerife and i got measles and had to be quarantined on the plane on the way back.

You probably caught it from the turkey twizlers.

Natasha Whittam wrote:At the last minute I have been roped into going on a family holiday with my sister and her two kids.

Now I'm happy to go on holiday, but my idea of a holiday is some fancy hotel right on the beach with a huge room overlooking the sea, just a short walk from fancy restaurants that charge £30 for a bread roll.

However, I find myself going on something called an "all inclusive holiday". This is completely alien to me and I'm not 100% sure what it means.

My sister seemed to be suggesting that food and drink was included in the price, but how can this be - I'm only paying £500 and that includes the hotel and flight. How can that include food and drink? What will I be eating and drinking, bread and water?

And then she said something about self service, and your wine comes out of a tap! A bloody tap!

We live in a strange world. Your all inclusive stories would be much appreciated.

not everybody you know is a rich as David Nugent then?

thought you came from a rich and posh background... one who's familys book 'all inclusive' holidays

that said, I did go on one once and it was horrible, was a last min thing with the ex mrs...

we never ate in the hotel as it was like feeding time at the farm, you know a 'buffet' (trough) style 'restaurant'

the drinks were shit too, we ended up buying the non free wine and going back to our room of an evening or eating out...

never again...

Reebok_Rebel wrote:
not everybody you know is a rich as David Nugent then?

thought you came from a rich and posh background... one who's familys book 'all inclusive' holidays

My sister is the black sheep of the family, she decided to go it alone without my Dad's financial help.

I went to Hurghada in November/December 2010. We stayed at the Steigenburger Al Dau Beach Hotel. I got the flights for free as I work for an Airline. The hotel cost for the two of us 2600 Euro for 10 nights. That was all inclusive, and for me worth every penny. The food and the choice was excellent. I had paid for an upgraded room. Can't remember what it was called, but it meant we could also eat in the a la carte restaurant every night if we wanted to. We tried it once, too posh for our liking so we ate with everyone else. There were three or four different dining options aswell. The only negative was the amount of rich Russians there. Worse than the Germans for barging in everywhere, but with infinately more attractive dolly birds at their sides ! The pool was massive with a lazy river and swim up bars. Hurghada itself is a shit tip, but you really have no reason to leave the resorts unless you want to go scuba diving or visit some big lumps of rock in Cairo or Luxor ! We would have gone again this at the end of 2011, but my missus was worried about the unrest in Egypt.

Dunkels King wrote:I went to Hurghada in November/December 2010. We stayed at the Steigenburger Al Dau Beach Hotel. I got the flights for free as I work for an Airline. The hotel cost for the two of us 2600 Euro for 10 nights. That was all inclusive, and for me worth every penny. The food and the choice was excellent. I had paid for an upgraded room. Can't remember what it was called, but it meant we could also eat in the a la carte restaurant every night if we wanted to. We tried it once, too posh for our liking so we ate with everyone else. There were three or four different dining options aswell. The only negative was the amount of rich Russians there. Worse than the Germans for barging in everywhere, but with infinately more attractive dolly birds at their sides ! The pool was massive with a lazy river and swim up bars. Hurghada itself is a shit tip, but you really have no reason to leave the resorts unless you want to go scuba diving or visit some big lumps of rock in Cairo or Luxor ! We would have gone again this at the end of 2011, but my missus was worried about the unrest in Egypt.

At last, a good story! I fear we're not going to the Steigenburger Al Dau Beach Hotel though.

I can't say I have ever had a bad all inclusive holiday and I've stayed in Turkey and Greece.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

bwfc71 wrote:All inclusive in Cuba was great (holiday cost about 900 quid and that inlcuded upgrade on the plane), but then also decided to leave the hotel a few times which included an overnight stay in Havanna (one of my favourite cities in the world) - in total an extra 300 was spent.

But the all inclusive was a great deal - free beer, free food, and even upgrading to a more plusher restaurant for nothing!!!

How can it be good food when it's costing you next to nothing? Surely it's Turkey Twizlers and chips?

True roasts with all the vegetables. A-la carte menu's from full Italian menu's to to true Central/South American cuisine. Decent bottles of wine (I know my red wines and they were good). Full menu of cocktails and, of course, the local cerveza!

Maldives, £5,600 between 2, was a decent jolly

WOW. You lot hate AI hols doncha?

Well here is a different experience... I guess it depends where you are going, how much you pay, and what the reviews are like maybe too...

I have been AI on most of my adult holidays (not adult in that way filthy bar stewards) and have enjoyed almost all of them. There are a couple of bad ones in there but they were also pretty low priced too.

If you go to a nice all inclusive hotel you should be expecting more than the 3 meals a day option - the ones I normally go to have food of various sorts from 6 am til midnight - from fresh omelettes, fresh baked pizza to order, burger bars, and several resteraunts on complex to choose from. As well as probably 6 or 7 bars. So there you go, it depends, and you don't have to spend the earth to find a nice one, I have not spent over £1000 each on any of them - and have paid as little as £300 for a week.

We've been all over the place, and usually opt for B&B, (3 or 4 star) as this gives us the flexibility to bugger off for the day, after a reasonable start, and lets us pay for what we want to do, rather than an exhorbitant amount necessay for a 5 star hotel. Last September, I decided, due to my revovering from a hospital visit, to go for the easy option, which was the AI holiday, in Turkey. Went with a Thompsons Platinum one in Olu Deniz, (Can't remember the hotel name but it was on the seafront, where the hang-gliders landed !). The food, though it was buffet, was excellent, with changes every day, and most of it cooked fresh, while you waited. Lots of small touches like ice cream by the pool in the afternoon, free drinks, brought by waiters, excellent entertainment every night. Really was a nice change. However, saying that, I won't be doing it again, because we felt on a couple of occassions that we had to get back in time for tea, and were tied to the timings of the hotel. Nat, I would say give it a go, you may well enjoy it. Holidays are about doing something different, even if its only lying around doing as little as possible.