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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

All inclusive, don't even need to leave the resort!

358 replies

Borgenstein · 30/07/2018 17:28

I'm not judging but I'm genuinely curious as to what people do all day on these all inclusive, all in, don't need to leave the resort, type holidays?

I love travelling. Normally if someone suggest some I go somewhere I go but I've been asked to go on on every of these types of holidays next year. All food is in. There is nothing of interest nearby that doesn't involve alcohol.
The couple that have asked us went to Egypt some years back on a similar holiday. When she got back I asked her if she'd been to see the pyramids? Been to the desert? She laughed and said "god no, we didn't leave the resort, it was bliss".

But what on earth do you do all day then?? I have asked her this very question and she said you go for breakfast (sounds like the same shite menu every day), laze by the pool until lunch time, go for lunch, laze by the pool until dinner, go for dinner (again same shitty menu every day) and then get drunk whilst watching the "entertainment".

Now I don't want to upset this friend as she's been through a hard time lately and she'll be gutted if I say no but the whole thing sounds like two weeks of boring hell.

AIBU to make an excuse as I just can't see what I'd do after 10am each day??

OP posts:
pieceofpurplesky · 01/08/2018 00:16

I think some posters are mistaking an AI resort with a prison - you can leave them Wink! I am currently on an ai holiday - it's been a fair few years since I did one and it's heaven. It's just me and DS. We have explored the resort, visited the huge dunes and been on a buggy tour of local attractions. We have been in the sea and swam in some lagoons. We have eaten in and out of the hotel and spent lots of time reading on sunbeds and swimming in the pool.

Holidays are what you make them - it's only boring if you let yourself get bored. Relaxing and chilling for me are never boring.

PurpleRobe · 01/08/2018 00:33

Sometimes I love sight seeing or adventure holidays and other times I love AI / don't leave resort hols.

It depends how stressed I am at work. If I am mega stressed and just want to be pampered and completely chill then ai / don't leave resort is perfect.

But it must be a good qaultybone and kid free..

  • swim
  • Read
  • eat (massively varied food at the good quality ones!)
  • Drink
  • Tennis
  • Water sports
  • Golf
  • Spa
  • Sauna

Bliss!!!

Gwenhwyfar · 01/08/2018 07:22

"I think some posters are mistaking an AI resort with a prison - you can leave them wink"

My friend who goes to one in Egypt never leaves it though.
Also, if every meal is included, you can't leave for long can you?

madeyemoodysmum · 01/08/2018 07:24

At present stick in a shitty villa that looked fab online with a company we normally use and had no issues with I'd swop for a niace AI.

We are moving sat to a decent place thank god!!

speakout · 01/08/2018 07:28

Also, if every meal is included, you can't leave for long can you?

We have found AI such good value for money that it also allows us to eat out for meals.

On holidays - especially with children it's the drinks and snacks that add hugely to the cost.
Kids drink a lot in the heat, and understandably want to snack and have ice creams etc.
AI provides all this on tap ( including all alcohol- if you drink).

So of course you can leave for meals- no one will stop you, and even accounting for some meals out at restaurants we have found AI overall to work out a cheaper holiday- especially when there are often free kids places.

MrsGB2225 · 01/08/2018 07:31

It’s one holiday out of a lifetime of holidays, suck it up and be a good friend.

ManicStreetTeacher · 01/08/2018 07:33

Wow. All that travelling has made you so understanding of other people.

speakout · 01/08/2018 07:33

Also every AI hotel I have visited have a packed lunch service, so if you want all all day trip they can be picked up at reception.
Really handy if you are out all day- even if you plan to eat out lunch somewhere, lunch boxes with drinks, fruit, cake, sandwiches etc. Great to have just for snacking on, and invaluable if you have kids.

TheHulksPurplePanties · 01/08/2018 07:42

There was a time in my life I would have agreed with you OP. I could think of nothing more boring than sitting by the pool on holiday.

Then I had children.

Trying to drag a stroppy two year old up 90 crumbling stone steps to the top of a Buddhist temple in Bali, while also carrying a fussy 9 month old on my back, only to not really get to see any of said temple, and then have 9 month old vomit all over me and the poorly air conditioned taxi in the 2 hours of crappy traffic back to the hotel...

Well, fuck site seeing.

Spending a few blissful hours actually reading and relaxing, while the kids entertain themselves in the pool and not having to find food that they will eat on an exotic menu is my idea of heaven right now.

Although, to be fair, they are 5 & 6 now and we have been doing short excursions on our trips, AND we only holiday in places that DH and I have holidayed before the kids so we don't feel like we are missing anything.

Maybe soon we will be able to do an adventurous holiday, but right now, all-inclusive is my idea of heaven.

CrabappleBiscuit · 01/08/2018 07:48

With kids it’s great.

Just me and DH it wouldn’t work. We booked into AI in the Caribbean once, stayed in the resort for the first and last weekend and hired a car and booked into different hotels and visited a different island. It was way cheaper on flights doing that.

When we got back after the two weeks the other guests hadn’t left the resort....

There’s only so long I can lie in a beach or by a pool and read, and it’s about a day.

But each to their own. It’s not my way of relaxing...

serbska · 01/08/2018 08:33

Also, if every meal is included, you can't leave for long can you?

LOL they don't come and hunt you down and insist you sit down for dinner...!

Actually - saying that one hotel we stayed in in France had all meals included, if you were going off hiking, biking, archery, canyoning, whatever, they would give you a massive picnic bag. A couple of times we got back from our activity jut at the end of lunch service and the manager was practically strong arming us to sit down and have a hot lunch!

Tinycitrus · 01/08/2018 08:41

Yy sightseeing with children in 30 degree heat can be miserable.

serbska · 01/08/2018 08:49

Thanks to all this talk of holidays I've just booked the family into my favorite AI tropical resort pre-xmas. Bliss.

Rosti1981 · 01/08/2018 08:53

We used to do v adventurous holidays but did our first all inclusive to Morocco when DD was 2 and I was newly pregnant with her brother. We had been to Marrakech a couple of years ago and loved it stayed in

Doggood · 01/08/2018 08:54

I haven't had a holiday in years.

I spend my whole life running about.

My idea of bliss is a week lounging about, eating, drinking, sleeping in the sun, swimming and going to the beach.

TheHulksPurplePanties · 01/08/2018 08:57

Also every AI hotel I have visited have a packed lunch service

Yes to this. In my young, single travelling days I found staying at AI's was a great way to travel around South American/Caribbean countries where it wasn't advisable for a women to stay alone in a hostel or less security heavy hotel. They were cheap, they offered packed lunches, and they offer a lot of transportation services to tourist attractions/hotspots etc.

I didn't get to "experience the culture" or what have you, but I got to see some beautiful sites safely.

Rosti1981 · 01/08/2018 08:58

Oops hit post too soon. We had stayed in the medina pre children and had lots of wandering around soaking up atmosphere and day trips out to mountains. With our all inclusive we picked a resort that had a minibus shuttle to the medina as wanted to go back.

Well. With a 2 year old and being newly pregnant, I kept saying "shall we go into the medina today?" and every day it just felt like sooo much work. So I'm embarrassed to say we literally stayed in the resort all week, ate unlimited lovely food and drank cock(mock)tails. I swam a lot, read books, DD went to a kids club a bit and made friends with various children we kept bumping into, she tried a little pony ride round the grounds (and once a man on a camel offered to give her a camel ride but she wasn't having it!). There were activities available but we didn't even do many of those, just wandered and read and took siestas. I think post children holidays (especially when pregnant) are really quite different, and I'm not really a sun worshipping deckchair loving type. Just a bit of swimming, reading, napping and eating is good these days. As the children get bigger hopefully we can be a bit more adventurous again and we won't want to just sit/lie about quite sooo.much.

PrincessoftheSea · 01/08/2018 09:00

I went on this type of holiday many years ago before I had children. I remember the pool as being crowded and just people everywhere. I also don’t want to eat hotel food on holiday. I think this type of place must be for people who like to holiday with a lot of people around them. If I was going to just relax by the pool , I would hire my own villa with a pool in a place where there were also interesting places to explore so you could do a bit of both.

MorrisDancingViv · 01/08/2018 09:16

Also, if every meal is included, you can't leave for long can you?

Just because you've paid for the meal, it doesn't mean it's compulsory to eat it. Depending on the hotel/location/rating AI can be cheaper/better value than sc/hb/fb.

In any event, I find with my dd that she's ready for a change of scenery after 2/3 hours so heading back to the hotel for lunch isn't a hardship.

rather get B+B or half board and then have a mixture of pool time and visiting local attractions

You do realise that you are allowed to do that in an AI? I've never stayed at the hotel all day. Admittedly, it may not be best value for you, but on the other hand it could be.

Also every AI hotel I have visited have a packed lunch service

One hotel I stayed at didn't do this. However, instead, they'd give you a paper bag and you could make up your own lunch from the breakfast buffet. I loved this as we could make rolls exactly as we wanted and as many as we wanted.

We quite often order a picnic and use it as snacks for dd when we are out of the hotel.

XiCi · 01/08/2018 09:19

Also, if every meal is included, you can't leave for long can you?
This really made me laugh. I think there are some people that think that you have to stay and have all your food and drink there. We went to an AI in Cuba and used to go to a local nightclub remember someone saying that they couldn't go because they had already paid for all their drinks at the hotel so weren't paying more. I think most people esp with kids just use AI as a base as it works out cheaper for kids drinks, ice creams etc but will always go out and explore and try local restaurants as well.

Branleuse · 01/08/2018 09:48

yes. AI hotels are a prison camp and it is illegal to go out for meals elsewhere or do day trips

littlestrawby · 01/08/2018 09:49

I love AI! I really value just having the time to unwind and relax and not need to plan anything in terms of meals or travelling to places etc. And I never have time to read books at home so doing that on holiday is bliss. I would have the odd trip to see the main sights but other than that would mainly read around the pool Grin

My close friend is the complete opposite and is constantly on the go on holiday (often not even booking accommodation in advance and just going with the flow!). We would both struggle to enjoy each other's holidays but can see the appeal for each other. Each to their own!

Taffeta · 01/08/2018 10:49

My favourite thing on holiday is to find a secluded beach and beachside seafood restaurant and spend the day snorkelling, eating fish and drinking wine.

Perfectly possible to do this on an AI. You hire a car and, er, go out. We do it nearly every year in different Med destinations. DC love the hotel, we love the days out. On a typical 14 night holiday, we’d probably have 5 or 6 days out. Most as above, some wandering round old towns etc.

When you have DC it’s a balance of finding something for everyone.

I’m guessing OP doesn’t have DC.

Hoppinggreen · 01/08/2018 11:00

The one time we did AI we hired a car and went out for the day.
As lunchtime approached we decided to find somewhere to have lunch and one member of the party tried to insist we drove the hour back to the resort to eat as “ she had already paid for lunch” ( no financial problems just tight). The rest of us said no and we found a lovely beach bar/cafe to eat in. Tightwad refused to eat anything even when someone else offered to pay “ on principle “ so we all tucked in and ignored her. We didn’t get back to the resort until early evening so the daft cow must have been VERY hungry!!
It’s the only time I’ve done AI but we did explore as well and ate out a few times if it was more convenient

muttmad · 01/08/2018 11:04

Id love to have a week AI with someone to cook my meals, clean my room and entertain my kids, while i relaxed and actually had time to read a book or lay in the sun!
As it is we are going on a caravan holiday where i will still have to do all the daily chores, I'm sure the kids and OH will have a lovely time .....