To never ever in my whole life want to go on a package holiday AGAIN !!!!!

[medmadness]

Before i start i'm fully prepared to admit my own stupidity in having even gone on this holiday.
we have just got back from a week in majorca in one of the more family orientated resorts,we had our main holiday earlier in the year and this was just a cheap and cheerful week to break up the school holidays a little.
Before we even took off we had to put up with youths swearing on the plane,badly behaved children climbing over seats and shouting and screaming whilst their parents remained seemingly oblivious.
Upon landing i realised benidorm is not a fictional tv comedy! I knew i wasnt going to get culture and the 'real' spain but did not expect to be in england still,surrounded by vicky polland and family.
I cant believe that people come to these places happily year after year as there were some 'normal' families there amongst the 'get here' brigade(if i had a pound for everytime i heard a parent shout this).
Before this holiday i hadnt been on a package holiday since 1996 and i can honestly say if i went again in the next 15 years it would be too bloody soon!

i do not like package holidays have not been on one for years. i have sometimes got a cheap package stayed one night then moved on. i do not like all inclusive either i feel trapped

i am quite happy to not mingle with other english folk when i am on holiday

Well, destination as in hotel may be to blame but Mallorca is a beautiful island and the hotel we stayed in 2yrs ago with a package was stunning with no hint of wild, mouthy people. The east coast and some of the North coast is stunning as is Soller. We payed 5k for us plus 3kids to go in July but I don't think it was so much the cost that put the 'undesirable'* off rather the lack of all day childcare and 'visiting tv guest stars'. It was full board on the beach and we never saw anyone drinking before lunchtime.

*Just to clarify that by undesirable I do not mean poor I mean loud and obnoxious.

We've done package deals and independent travel and have only had one unfortunate experience when we went to Spain which involved food poisoning! Unpleasant memories although we weren't ill until we got home luckily. We carefully pick destinations and hotels and have never sat by a pool for a week. Generally we have always organised visits to places we want to see on public transport or hired a car rather than being ripped off on an excursion. To be honest I would avoid many of the package destinations in Spain, Canaries etc. as it's just not our thing; I have a memory of arriving back in the UK following a lovely holiday to Croatia and sharing a carousel for luggage with a flight from one of those places and we were all open mouthed at the behaviour of the passengers, almost as though we had been deposited in another universe!! We had a fab hol this year in a cottage in South Hams with great weather; lovely memories for our dd's first holiday!

YABU. You don't have to stick to the hotel/poolside for the fortnight if the company isn't wealthy enough to your taste. But at least it wasnt your main holiday, hey

Oh and when it was just us, we never went on package holidays. The research and putting it all together was part of the fun. However, the type of holiday we chose then would, IMO, be a nightmare with 3 kids under 5 (as we had then)

As of next week, if all goes to plan, I will have 4 children of 8 and under. Booking somewhere FB and therefore not having to think about or plan where and what to feed them 3 or 4 times a day just helps me relax a little more. Booking a good quality package with a hotel that offers, say, 3 dining options of buffet, informal sit down and formal sit down means there is still plenty of variety throughout the break. We also always hire a car and go off exploring so its certainly not a 'sit all day by the pool getting drunk type of holiday'.

OP, I think the clue to your disappointment should be in the cheap and cheerful remark. With package holidays to the Med, you certainly do get what you pay for.

carpetlover blardy hell £5k two years ago?? We paid £1600 for 2 weeks self catering for 3 adults for a fortnight. We only spent about £1k on top of that on food, meals out and trips. We stayed in top quality apartments in a beautiful and quiet resort. I can't imagine spending £5k on a fortnights holiday. I'm hoping to avoid spending that much when we go to Aus and NZ in a couple of years!

Well it was full board and the food and wine quality was excellent. The trouble with self-catering with little ones is that it's so difficult to find somewhere suitable to eat. Beach resorts on the Med just seem full of those cafe type places that serve lasagne and chips Where they have the blackboard outside listing all the stuff they think appeals to the British. I don't like eating in those types of places nor feeding the kids crap every night. You can search out nice, authentic resturants but it is quite exhausting with 3 young kids.

Yeah it can be a problem but there was nothing like that where we stayed. All the restaurants advertised traditional Greek food. I never saw anywhere advertising lasagne, chicked nuggets or roast Sunday dinner. We also ate in a few times as the supermarket was great and it was dead easy to make a salad or a pasta dish. We also had fresh bread and jam or fruit and yoghurt for breakfast every day. I appreciate you might not want to do that when on holiday with 3 DC but you seem to be paying an awful lot for the privilege!

UABU a weeks package to Majorca was our holiday ( not just a quick break)
One horrible over tired toddler on the transfer coach back to the airport, but otherwise no complaints.
Beautiful clean, German owned hotel, large pool. Reasonably behaved kids. No sun loungers, but I burn so who cares. I just swim with the DCs.
Nice clean beach, sun brolly, mat good book. Plenty of peace if you are happy to swim out of your depth. DD1 will snorkel for hours, dd2 (10) will swim, read and built sandcastles, DH will swim, body board if there are waves and build castles. So everyone is happy.
Go to local supper market, buy bread, cold meat cheese, olives etc and sangria, bear and soft drinks. Have lunch on the balcony, everyone else had gone all inclusive so nobody was about.
Hired a car and went to the mountains, beautiful.

I don't know where the op went, but defiantly stick to east coast not around Palma nova, Magaluf area. Went there as broke student and defiantly far more of the wrong kind of Brits.

A package holiday doesn't have to mean sitting around a pool everyday. We have done package holidays and independent holidays and we have had an equally good time on both types. Its worth checking out the hotels on trip advisor and thinking about what you do and don't like. We like a quiet clean hotel with good food in a non party location. We never go to the rep meeting ( I agree with whoever said earlier .. Its just a chance to sell ). We usually hire a car for the duration of the holiday so we can go out each day and see the area. We did a package holiday this summer and never used the hotel pool at all because we never had time. We did find our hotel peaceful /quiet and well situated . This was Mallorca too.
Mallorca is a beautiful island, we have been twice and had several lovely day trips exploring the coves/ beaches/ castle/ towns etc.

Exactly kingprawn-it is merely the way of booking it-nothingmore. Once you have booked it is up to you what you do and I fail to see the difference between the two methods, except that if you have unforseen events like volcanic dust you are better off package and if,like me, you go skiiing alone with 2 DCs it is nice to know that you have a rep to call on if you fall and have to go to hospital.
If you are going to go all inclusive, never get off the site, are very cheap and it is a huge hotel with lots of rooms booked by the same company then you are asking for trouble. (if that isn't what you want). You have to do exactly the same research that you would do as independent travellers. Our last one was a lovely small hotel, we were the only people with that particular travel company, there was another British company, a Dutch company, a German company and lots of independent travellers. We booked a couple of trips through the rep, simply because it was easy, she came and sat in the foyer and had coffee with us. We could have booked them in town.They were small, we were on a minibus-no one was from our hotel.They were all English but that was useful because the guide only had to speak one language-not many people speak Portugese.
Our next one is a sort of package, travelling and flexible-we could have booked the flights and the same hotels but because they block book we get a much cheaper rate than we could ourselves. We are treating it as a base with bed and breakfast and will be eating out.
Some people seem terribly snobby about package when it is only a method of booking-nothing more and nothing less. (unless you either don't do your homework or actually want to stick to a huge hotel with people on the same holiday and 'safe' food choices etc.)

Lots of people, like kingprawn hire a car when on a package holiday. We don't-part of the holiday is not driving, but we do use local buses or trains.

Oh yes exoticfriuts, trains abroad are good too. I love the fact they turn up when the timetable says they will and cost a reasonable price!! We have used trains a lot when we haven't hired a car.

Sorry exoticfruits - I can spell really... 'Tis early

Good luck with budgeting £6k for Aus and NZ busters! Our family of 5 (3 teens) went this summer and the flights alone were more than that!

Re the OP - we never did a package holiday until about 3 years ago (except for skiing) - we thought they'd be not for us - but in the last few years we've done Tenerife, Crete, Gran Canaria - all with Thomson and absolutely loved it. I'm sure its down to the choice of resort and hotel, and for that I thank tripadvisor - don't leave home without out it!

YY to tripadvisor! These days I would never book anywhere without first checking on there. However, I read the reviews carefully as some people complain and mark down because they don't like the decor or they had to queue at the bar or the bar staff would only allow them 3 alcoholic drinks per order etc. Whereas, on a package with the kids, I am looking for reviews about the cleanliness of the pool and whether it is well maintained as well as general hotel cleanliness and food quality.

We have done villa holidays before but firstly, I found it quite dull as we were quite isolated and secondly, with 3 young children I think you need something more and we didn't want to have to get in the car each day. The kids club arrangements at the hotel we chose in Mallorca 2yrs ago wasn't childcare but what they called segments. So they provided a timetable and the kids chose a few activities they wanted and we booked them in for the 1h/2h sessions. This was perfect for us but I know it would have put a lot of people off not to have childcare type kids clubs. I also really liked the fact that we could eat with the children in the evening rather than mass catering for the kids followed by a listening service. Part of the holiday for us is all being able to eat together every day. IMO, young children only learn table manners and how to behave in a resturant if it's modelled to them. They don't learn that if handed finger food every evening at 4.45 on a massive refectory table with 40 other whinging toddlers/preschoolers.

what the fuckc did you expect????

Oh and Busters, I don't think we paid over the odds for what we got. With 3 very young children I certainly didn't want to be seeking out supermarkets and suitable resturants. We spent many years doing that when it was just DH and I but I cannot over-emphasise how much more relaxing it is for me not to need to think about what and when to feed them. Paying what we did ensured that the food and wine was of a good standard as was the accomodation.
And I have to agree with thekidsmom, good luck with that budget for Aus! But then if you aren't taking kids then crap flight times will help keep your costs down. With the Mallorca holiday, we could have saved a few hundred quid by opting for different flights but the 8am flight was by far the most expensive but the best for 3 young kids.

Yes my proposed budget might be a tad optimistic!

Well I checked on trip advisor before booking our Egyptian hotel, plus someone I know had been. Neither said anything about the risk of getting beaten up poolside so I suspect I was unlucky. And as it was just me and 9yo dd I wasn't going to Egypt unless it was on a package holiday. I felt a lot more secure with the backup of a rep and holiday company if needed.

A package holiday to a family resort in Majorca. Why did you not check the resort before you booked. The clue is in the title.

It is not that it was a package holiday, it was your choice of resort and hotel.

YABU

I have had just 2 all inclusive holidays (tho several packages)!
The difference between the A/I was staggering. One being a 5* in Mexico, the other being just like the one the OP has just been on. The problem with the latter being that most of the children had the most disgusting manners imaginable, for instance they would order a burger, take 2 bites out of it, decide they want to go into the pool, and fling the burger over their shoulder en route.
Cue their Mothers shreiking that there were rats around the hotel!!!
Yes, it is because your revolting children cannot even be bothered to find a bin for left over food.

So, I for one will never be taking an A/I in Majorca again, unless it comes very highly recommended by someone I trust!

I've just had a package holiday to a 5* hotel with spa (adults only in the spa which had its own gardens and pools) and the hotel was bliss, absolute bliss.

The flight was as you described, kids jumping off the end arm rest into the aisle whilst being ignored by the parents. And the private taxi transfer to our hotel was a knackered old minibus.

Next time I'm reverting to just booking them all seperately, may be more hassle but possibly the travel side of things may be less stressful.

We have had many many GREAT AI holidays. Pre ds's and post. Since ds's, to Ibiza (quiet NE side, not clubbing bit !!) and Fueruventura. My 2 ds's eat like gannets, and dh and i like to eat and drink constantly, so beleive me, we get our moneys worth !!
We have always researched, via Tripadvisor etc very very carefully.
So I don't 'get' OP at all.