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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

About the All Inclusive holiday

135 replies

teacherandguideleader · 23/08/2013 20:16

DP and I have recently returned from holiday. We chose not to go all inclusive as we like to have the option of getting out and about.

Most of the holidaymakers at our resort were All Inclusive. I have never seen people eat so much in all my life. Breakfast was a buffet and people were coming back with plates piled high with food (and made several trips too). DP and I had a slightly larger breakfast than normal as we were half board and a bigger breakfast meant we didn't want lunch. However, not only did a lot of these people have an enormous breakfast, but by 12 they were gorging into burger and chips from the pool bar, often followed by a mid afternoon 'snack' and an equally enormous dinner.

DP and I did work out that it would have worked out cheaper for us to be A-I, as we stayed in the resort of an evening and after a couple of cocktails it would have paid for itself - we would then have had a smaller breakfast along with lunch rather than just a bigger breakfast.

The one thing that struck me was how many of the people were clearly overweight and by quite a lot. I did start to wonder whether it is somewhat irresponsible of holiday companies to offer All Inclusive holidays which seemed to be 'stuff yourself silly at every opportunity' when as a nation we are struggling so much with the health implications of obesity.

This is probably more of a rant than an AIBU - I was just so shocked by what I saw!

OP posts:
Purple2012 · 23/08/2013 20:19

I agree people eat because its free. We do all inclusive holidays but we don't do this. We tend to have a fairly decent breakfast and miss lunch then have our evening meal. We don't drink a lot either. I don't see the point in eating and drinking to excess when it makes you feel awful.

insummeritrains · 23/08/2013 20:26

I agree. We've been all inclusive once and I have to say, I have never seen so many greedy people in my life - same thing, plates piled high and going back 2 or 3 times, so many drinks and then back to the pool bar a couple of hours later. It's almost like people are terrified of not getting their money's worth Grin

I did notice a large amount of overweight people, in fact most were.

towerofjelly · 23/08/2013 20:30

I noticed the same on a recent holiday. In fact I think I realise I have quite an issue with greed and felt really pissed off with the huge plate fulls. I am talking about you DH.

SirChenjin · 23/08/2013 20:32

I've never been on an AI but my 2 work colleagues go every year, and being able to pile your plate high and eat and drink throughout the day is one of the main attractions for them. Horses for courses and all that, but it doesn't seem like a particularly healthy way to spend 2 weeks!

AtYourCervix · 23/08/2013 20:33

It's not so much the piled high greed that got me. It was the piled high waste left on the plates. Like 6 hard boiled eggs left, or a plate with 6 pastries, and piles of fruit abandoned.

foslady · 23/08/2013 20:34

Yep - same thing seen here, and the waste is awful. I find though that having all that food and drink available makes me eat less, and come home lighter - result! Grin

NoComet · 23/08/2013 20:34

Never noticed any particularly greedy behaviour in Majorca or Ibiza at all inclusive hotels.

We generally do 1/2 board as I like local stuff for lunch not pizza and chips. DD2 falls askeep waiting in resturants in an evening and you buy food she diesnt eat. Buffett then a stroll for a drink works much better.

AI is getting tempting as lunch out was very expensive last twice.

Figgyroll · 23/08/2013 20:35

I have friends who always go away on All Inclusive holidays and boast about how much weight they've managed to put on in a fortnight - the most was one stone each. Shock Goodness knows how much food they managed to put away.

DH and I recently had an All Inclusive holiday in a five star hotel in Majorca for a week (the first time we've tried it) and ate our usual amounts but admittedly did drink a bit more than we usually do (pina coladas, especially). I put a pound on, that's all. The food was amazing and plentiful but we witnessed people loading their plates then going back for more but leaving loads too - the waste was dreadful.

EndoplasmicReticulum · 23/08/2013 20:36

Is it cause or is it effect? Are the people choosing all-inclusive because they are greedy people, or is the all-inclusive making them so?

My brother used to go on these, he would come back a stone heavier.

KittyLilith · 23/08/2013 20:37

Why were you all so bothered about what other people were doing? They're not affecting you. I've been on an AI holiday and hadn't noticed it but I wasn't paying the blindest bit of notice ti other people.

BackforGood · 23/08/2013 20:38

Maybe it's peculiar to certain resorts or hotels, as we've just got back from our first AI holiday, and didn't see much waste at all. Food was absolutely gorgeous, and I suspect we all ate more than we would have at home, but not to excess, and I certainly didn't see food being wasted.
It worked out SO MUCH cheaper than our previous self catering / going out for a meal in the evening holiday.

BestIsWest · 23/08/2013 20:38

YANBU. What about the impact of All Inclusives on the local economy?

SirChenjin · 23/08/2013 20:41

Kitty - the whole point of MN is to share your opinions on all sorts of things, otherwise it would be a very quiet and rather boring site to be on....

Altinkum · 23/08/2013 20:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

insummeritrains · 23/08/2013 20:42

kitty I think it's human nature to watch what's going on around you and be curious about other people. plus I'm nosy

CaptainSweatPants · 23/08/2013 20:45

Is it even possible to put a stone on in 2 weeks?!!

MrsBW · 23/08/2013 20:46

Always go all inclusive. Never seen gorging of the type described in the OP...

Elsiequadrille · 23/08/2013 20:48

We went on an all inclusive holiday many years ago (never again), it was the over-indulging (by others) on alcohol rather than anything else.

I remember attempting to take a scotch pancake from a pile of around 20+ and being informed it was a woman's breakfast (by said woman). She then proceeded to eat the lot. Confused

Altinkum · 23/08/2013 20:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LeGavrOrf · 23/08/2013 20:48

Oh I don't know.

I went AI in December and didn't really notice this behaviour. Mind you the hotel I went to only had a buffet in the morning, for lunch and evening it was waiter service with a menu. So you can't really pile your plates up like a pig.

I liked it not because of the cost issue (I didn't really eat that much anyway because of the heat) but just for the convenience of just having what you wanted for food and drink (cocktails especially) without having to fiddle around with cash or signing it to the room and having to check etc.

Mind you the hotel we went to had only a couple of British guests, the vast majority were Scandinavian so perhaps they behave differently. I think it is revolting to pile your plate high just because you can.

Original poster
teacherandguideleader · 23/08/2013 20:49

I should have made it clear in my OP that I know not everyone does this - there were people eating sensible amounts. Maybe I noticed it more because I am constantly teaching children about how to be healthy.

Best is West - you are so right about the local economy. I remember as a child going on holiday and always going to a range of restaurants in the evening and them all being packed. On this holiday, the few restaurants in our part of the resort were deserted, including the newsagents and supermarkets.

OP posts:
ILiveInAPineappleCoveredInSnow · 23/08/2013 20:53

We went on an AI cruise this summer. We were away 15 nights, and DH put on 3lbs, DS nothing, and me 6lbs (but I am also 29 weeks pregnant, so I have an excuse!).

I didn't see anyone gorging themselves, but I wonder if that's because of the environment, where it's posh restaurant type thing. We usually had toast, cereal, fruit or pancakes for breakfast and only had a cooked breakfast a couple of times, and at lunch had a sandwich, salad or soup, and then 3 (out of a possible 6!!!) courses at dinner which was an indulgence! We also had cake and coffee in the afternoon a few times, and twice we stayed up for the supper club at midnight but I don't think that's a particularly overindulgent holiday. Most people were pretty similar to us.

SeaSickSal · 23/08/2013 20:54

Yes! Perfect. There should be legislation to stop people indulging themselves on holiday. People should be forced to eat porridge for breakfast and lettuce leaves for lunch and be limited to their daily points allowance for alcohol and there should be legislation in place to force this to happen. Why not throw in an enforced march or two to get the fatties moving.

It will do wonders for the economies of struggling countries because so many more people will want to go on holiday if legislation is brought in restricting the amount fatties can eat. Because so many more thin people will be able to go on holiday.

a) You didn't pay for all inclusive. Tough titties if you regretted it and felt a twinge of jealousy looking at all the other people with their free food and drink.
b) They were doing something called enjoying their holiday. You might want to try it next time instead of sitting monitoring everybody else's food and drink intake and working yourself up in to such a steaming fit of indignation you think legislation is an appropriate response to other people enjoying themselves on holiday.

acer12 · 23/08/2013 20:56

Yep that's me! We go all in as it does work out cheaper for us lot but if we want to eat out we do.

I will go back for seconds especially for desert because I'm on holiday so if I want to be a greedy bitch I will!

Jesus , who gives a fuck what other random strangers eat on holiday. You should be enjoying your holiday rather than judging what people have on there plate. As long as its all eaten and not wasted who cares?

none of us are over weight either, well dh has put weight on this year due to a footie injury but if we were why do you give a flying toss! We work hard all year so holidays are for indulgence.

Are you sure you were not just jealous that people were enjoying them selfs and you were just sat pissed off as you had to pay for extras?? Green eyed monster me thinks ...

LtEveDallas · 23/08/2013 20:57

We go AI every year. Neither DH or I ever put weight on, and this year I think DD has probably lost weight as she was generally too busy to eat!

I don't care what other people eat. Maybe they just have large appetites OP, or maybe you were just at a particularly downmarket resort.

I do care about waste and have been annoyed watching people take large helpings of unfamiliar food and then wasting it when they realise they don't like it. I take very small helpings of 'new' dishes as I am keen to try new foods, but aware that there are a lot of things I don't really like.

But on holiday I certainly don't try to eat particularly healthily, nor do I force DD to. In fact I positively encourage her to have a pudding after every meal, or an ice cream and hour after dinner. It's a holiday, it's nice to spoil yourself once in a while. I save the healthy eating for the other 50 weeks of the year.