UPDATE
I couldn't leave you all without an update.
It was exactly as expected. Super pricey and actually just bit meh at times.
Night before we went, MOH and another girl fell out big time over cost and plans. I ended up in the middle smoothing it over at 111.45pm the night before. Not that anyone was particularly grateful... [more on this below]
7 of us. Everyone was on one of two planes (3 on one, 4 on another) to get there so we could share transfers. MOH booked these in advance. No-one had actually bought booze in duty free as (i) everyone expected a cheap shop when we got there and (ii) it was a bit of a stupid idea anyway. However, transfer taxis refused to stop at a shop or cash point for anything because they were "on a schedule" and our plane was already 20 minutes delayed. Luckily I had taken a big box of crap Sainsbo's wine in my hand luggage which I am pleased to report was a great idea because there wasnt a shop for miles near the villa and so for the first night all we ended up with at a hen do was this and a couple of bottles of vodka bought by the MOH. Not even a sniff of anything bubbly. People had to buy booze on the way back from the beach club the next day which took a bit of faffing to do...
More importantly, MOH had booked an entire mini bus for each transfer. 4 of us, on a whole massive mini bus with over 20 seats. It was EUR 70 for a 20 min journey. Everyone just looked baffled but paid.
Villa was lovely but a bit unnecessary... it sleeps something like 15 people but there were 7 of us! That aside, it was a lovely place with hi tech speakers, a massive kitchen, big pool, sun loungers etc etc. Lovely but v expensive.
Beach club was as expected - pricey! EUR 20 to sit on a public use bed was a bizarre addition! Then the drinks were insane of course. We cut the cost a bit by ordering jugs of sangria and sharing the cost but it was something like EUR 48 for a litre jug. Lunch was even worse - EUR 24 for a burger and 38 EUR for a standard bottle of wine... I didn't drink much there at all. I took a bottle of water and kept costs down. What was bizarre was how quiet the place was. I heard that the other beach clubs had music and were fun etc, but the one MOH picked was very chilled and, honestly, a bit boring so I resented the cost...
Clubs. Where do I even start. EUR 40 entry to Ushiaia wasn't actually too bad as the place was open from 3pm til 12am. However, we didn't actually go til 9... having said that, I am eternally grateful for this tardiness. It was by far the most boring experience of my life so far. The atmosphere is pretty exciting when you go in as its the massive open air club, but when someone charges you SEVENTEEN EUROS for a vodka and coke and NINE EUROS for a bottle of water, so you end up stone cold sober pretty quickly, the repetitive beats and mostly-swaying on the spot gets boring very quickly. It was full of middle class people apparently trying to be a bit cooler than they were and it was just dull as dishwater. The same beats over and over, interspersed at regular intervals with pointless 2 second puffs of fake smoke or fire which I can only assume were designed to try to peak people's waning interests just didn't do anything for me. I bought one drink and was clock watching for about 2 hours.
You will all be pleased to know that I refused to then go to Pacha at 2am. One other person agreed with me and stayed at the villa with me as neither of us wanted to pay 50 euros for another boring experience. I'm so glad I did this because everyone else only stayed for an hour and a half anyway so it seems like a massive waste of time and money and I understand basic drinks were about 10-15 euros each.
No taxis included at all in the price we paid. nothing at all within walking distance. MOH had booked the massive mini busses everywhere so it cost a fortune. We did try to suggest that we should get normal taxis but she couldn't cancel at short notice without incurring fees.
We did have a couple of fairly cheap tapas dinners in the old town which were really fun and had amazing food, so it wasn't all bad, but overall I spent £350 and i only managed that by being careful and refusing things/drinks. I think the bride enjoyed it which is I guess what matters, but it cost me over £1000 all in...
I said above there would be more on the bitching of the night before and the ungratefulness... in a nutshell, i spent the night before trying to make a massive row go away and all i got was the girl involved (not the MOH) being a total passive-aggressive bitch to me for the entire weekend. Even the bride noticed but of course didn't say anything to her - just apologised to me. So that was even more of a waste of my time. FFS. I hate big groups of women and the bitching. This is why most of my friends are men.
Anyway - i hope this didn't disappoint!!