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Which makes for a better overall vacation experience, all inclusive or not?
Results so far:
| Inclusive | 55% | 270 votes | Total: 490 votes | |
| Not | 45% | 220 votes |
Inclusive
by hisbabydoll
Created on: July 29, 2008
All inclusive vacations are what you should book if you are looking for no-muss, no-fuss relaxation. All-inclusive prices generally include all food, domestic and non-alcoholic beverages, nightly entertainment, tips and recreational activities. Once you drop your suitcase on your bed, you can roam around your resort or cruise ship without carrying your purse or wallet.
While people may think all-inclusive vacations are expensive, they are usually cheaper than pay as you go vacations unless you plan to sleep in hostels and cook your own meals during your pay as you go vacation. Vacation times often inspire un-checked spending. You're on vacation, right? So why shouldn't you spend as much as you want on dinner, entertainment, drinks and a multitude of other things while you wander your chosen vacation spot? Unfortunately, you'll often return home to a credit card bill so huge the stress of paying it undoes all the relaxation you garnished from your vacation spending free-for-all!
If you booked all-inclusive you can eat whatever you want, drink until you can't see straight and have a load of fun without spending a penny. Sure, resorts usually have a tuck-shop for toiletries you've forgotten - but even there many resorts supply all the essentials for free. You could still go on a wanton spending spree by paying to join a trip outside your resort, but even then it's a controlled amount of time where you can spend money.
What's included in the price you pay?
FOOD: On top of daily buffets and 24-hour snack bars, many resorts offer free luxury meals which you sign up for when you arrive at the resort. For instance when we went to Cuba we had two luxury meals we could pick to eat at instead of our usual buffets and snack bars. We picked Italian one night, and Seafood the other. The best resort buffet I ever ate at was one at a Jar Tar in the Dominican Republic. For breakfast and lunch they offered a huge array of fruits, salads, sandwiches, finger foods and hot meals. For dinner, we signed up for seatings and had a choice of 8 entrees to pick from every night. If we were still hungry, we could ask for seconds. To eat the same amount out of our own pockets would have cost hundreds of dollars each day! When we were travelling in China and Italy, our all inclusive package included meals at luxury restaurants we couldn't have otherwise afforded.
DRINKS: Coffee, tea, juice, sodapop, and domestic beer, wine and spirits. Premium beverages can usually be purchased at an extra price, but why bother unless you have a very refined taste! Usually the tropical resorts offered delicious mixed drinks like Pina Colada's and Daquiri's!
ENTERTAINMENT
All inclusive resorts usually have one or two entertainment options at night as well as one or more discoteques. Many shows involve audience participation and are designed to help you meet fellow travellers if you want to do so.
SPORTS and ACTIVITIES
Activities usually include things like language lessons, historical or scenic tours, dance lessons and artistic pursuits. Sports offered for free usually include: shuffle board, darts, ping pong, water sports, hiking, basketball, and beach volleyball. Some resorts also include a round of golf a day, horseback riding, scuba diving, and para-sailing. Most resorts also offer a fully equiped exercise room.
The great thing about all-inclusives is they like to promote their amenities. You can pick and choose before you go! For instance, do you want to stay at the resort offering bar service until 2am, or the resort offering 24-hour bar service?
ADDITIONALS!
I've never been to an all-inclusive which was truly ALL inclusive. There is usually something you can manage to buy if you really want to. Examples include:
* Hair Styling
* Manicures and Pedicures
* Massage
* Trips outside your resort
* Internet service - sometimes this is included, sometimes not.
* Souvenirs
* Gambling
In the end, I find it less stressful to plan for an all-inclusive vacation. Once the vacation is paid for, at most I need to bring a couple hundred dollars for "just in case". For other vacations you still have to book your flight or pay for gas; pay to sleep somewhere; pay to eat; pay for entertainment; and THEN bring spending money. Vacations aren't a good experience if you spend the next year paying them off!
Learn more about this author, hisbabydoll.
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Not
by Sandra Piddock
Created on: September 12, 2008
We've taken all kinds of holidays, from camping to city breaks, basic hotels to luxury resorts, self catering, half board, full board and all inclusive. We've enjoyed all of these experiences, as we're the kind of people who see each holiday as a new and exciting adventure. We look to see the good points everywhere we go, and will only complain if something is totally unacceptable, as we realise that each country and culture has their own way of doing things. Just because it's unfamiliar, it doesn't mean it's wrong.
All inclusive holidays have many bonuses, and we thoroughly enjoyed our all inclusive break to Lake Como in Italy. All inclusive is great if you want a complete chill out to recharge your batteries. It's also a good option for those on a strict budget, as you know you won't have to find extra money for food. All you need is a little spending money for shopping and excursions. If you have a large, hungry young family, all inclusive can save you a lot of money in drinks and ice creams. Another bonus is that your kids can try new, unfamiliar foods, and if little Johnny doesn't like anchovies, it hasn't cost you a fortune to find out. So all inclusive can be a great holiday option for many families, but it's not really for me.
All inclusive can tie you to your resort if you're the type of person who considers that if you've paid for all inclusive, it's a waste of money not to be on hand for every meal and snack. If you go on an excursion, the hotel will usually provide a packed lunch, but these are invariably basic and fill a gap rather than stimulate an appetite. There's also a real danger that you will binge on both alcohol and food, because it's there whenever you want it and it's 'free.' You're likely to return from your holiday feeling sluggish and overweight, rather than fit and refreshed.
For me, though, the real reason why I won't go all inclusive again, unless I win a holiday in one of my competitions, is cultural. I love discovering little restaurants tucked away in back streets. You get the most wonderful and unusual food at ridiculously low prices. Pick a restaurant or bar full of locals, and you'll be caught up in the atmosphere, even if you don't understand a word of the language. Hotel food may make a token effort towards local cuisine, but they have to feed (and please)several nationalities at the same time, so you're likely to get everything with chips, and watered-down versions of local delicacies. As it's all inclusive, many of the better ingredients, such as seafood and tender steaks, are unlikely to feature on the menu. With all inclusive, the food is similar the world over, and you'll miss out on the chance to explore the distinctive tastes of your particular holiday region.
We always go self catering, but I'm not chained to the kitchen sink. We raid local supermarkets for something a bit different for breakfast, picnics and barbecues on the beach and late night snacks. Supermarket shopping at home is a chore, but on holiday it's a cultural experience. Every evening, we go off and find a nice restaurant for our main meal of the day. We've never had a bad meal, because we avoid the 'tourist traps' on the promenade or the main streets. Instead, we eat where the locals eat.
We eat where we want and when we want, which is imposible in a hotel which has to feed hundreds. There may be a two hour service span, but what if you're not ready to eat in that time frame? You eat for the sake of it, which is far inferior to eating when you're hungry and ready to relish the flavours of your holiday home. All inclusive may be the choice of many, but it's not for me.
Learn more about this author, Sandra Piddock.
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