All inclusive holiday irritations....

[CupoTeap]

On holiday and in the restaurant......there is a huge block of butter put out each session with a knife to help yourself with.

I am getting more and more irritated by the people who insist on scraping a bit of butter off with this knife and then back to the butter to repeat before putting the knife down.

JUST PUT SOME ON YOUR PLATE.

Anything else I should be looking out for to annoy me

(I'm actually having a fab time and am very relaxed 😎)

I prefer self catering.

Last year went to an apartment complex in Spain which were self catering apartments, but with restaurants on the site and AI was an option.

It would have been too much for me. I'd rather just get some freshly baked bread and a nice salad from the supermarket. And a bottle of decent wine too, if course.

We only did it once, in Egypt a few years back now.

Felt utterly institutionalised at the end of the two weeks, the constant shlepping from one meal to the next was too much, was glad to get home and have a lie in before breakfast!

^did AI as a poorest student in Malta in my early 20s. £250 each AI for a week. It was grim. Didn’t eat there once.

Not all AIs are created equal. Google the Ikos resorts in Greece and tell me they don’t look nice^

I agree, but Ikos resorts are very very expensive, you can probably add a 0 to your £250 price tag PP these days.

I don't like 'buffet AI' but don't want to pay for naice AI, so we don't do it.

I don't mind a buffet breakfast but for lunch and dinner I want to be served at a table outside a restaurant or have lazy nibbly bits with booze on the terrace, so this is what we do.

Probably costs about the same or even slightly more than mid range AI but a far nicer experience, even with having to do a couple of supermarket runs and daily washing up, but nowhere near the cost of Ikos level AI. The only time I do buffets for lunch and dinner is on diving holidays where the food is cooked fresh for the group of around 20 people, is usually excellent and as you're out at sea, that's the only choice.

'Not all AI s are created equal ' is so true.
Thanks to this thread , I've looked up some of the links and some places look amazing!

I dont understand it. I wouldnt want to eat in the same resturant all week. Not just the food because obviously you can choose different options. But the views, the staff and the ambience is different in each place. Eating out is so cheap in Southern Europe as is booze, I don't "get" the AI thing, no matter how luxurious.

I LOVE AI! Not been to a bad one yet, all the buffets have had nice tasty food and i've not had any bad drinks either.
I always book somewhere with a few specialty restaurants too though to mix it up.
By going AI we've been able to try new dishes that we wouldn't ordinarily order due to the risk of paying for a meal we don't like, my 3 year old also loves the new meals

I love an AI - so much easier with the kids and normally have loads of activities for them too. But I hate buffets and will only use them for breakfasts so we only go to hotels where there’s a choice of several table service restaurants included. We’ve done Sensatori ones a couple of times over the last few years and they were lovely. (As were Sandals pre kids)

I’ve done upmarket AI as an adult and it was fab. I did a cheap one as a student and had one meal there as it was just too vile even for poor students so you do get what you pay for. I’ve not done an AI holiday with kids yet but while we were doing a villa holiday we went to the local ‘naice’ AI hotel for the day. although I thought a buffet would work with my toddler, I hated it. We were all up and down like yo-yos and didn’t really get a chance to talk and enjoy our meal as someone always had to stay at the table. It really put me off bookin an AI until the children are older and I’d want one with non-buffet options.

Why is it easier though ? If the dc have to sit through a resturant meal anyway ?
IME the Greeks, Italians and Spainards love children taking them out is no problem. I will have to check but I think our Dcs love it too. One of the best bits of the holiday.

Blueskies agree on Club Med ski AI, fabulous. Easiest way to do it, IMO.

Why is it easiest? Nothing could be easier than a catered chalet.

I knew a (childless ) couple who went everywhere on holiday and she was incredibly fussy , but they could afford the more upmarket AI places so the food was great apparently. She said that going anywhere where Americans tended to go was good as they have high standards and the food isn't recycled!

Sorry I thought we were talkimg about Summer holidays. Have done catered chalets twice- not mad about them tbh. Didnt like the set meal times or being cooked for by a gap year student. Smart Austrian hotel however was wonderful.

JudefromJersey I wonder if we went to the same place. I only ate in our hotel once as a student too. Paid less then you though/£150 for a week!

I agree it's a complete Pita to get tired kids out for dinner after a day's skiing. But wandering around in 28c warmth looking for a nice resturant after a day on the beach is different.

We go on full board holidays in lakes and mountains areas, with kids’ clubs. So you get all your food included and childcare and entertainment for the children, but you’re not wrecking a local economy. The hotels are family owned and the business model fits with the hospitality tradition of the area, which is a few restaurants and cafes catering for people in B&Bs but otherwise self catering or catered hotels. One of our children has big food issues and is able to eat food he likes from their children’s menus and the rest of us eat delicious local food. We spend the days either doing outdoor things or visiting nearby towns or relaxing with books. We always put on weight as the food is so nice despite the exercise but it feels like a good way to achieve the benefits of AI without some of the downsides.

My ideal holiday is a lovely rental somewhere we can eat delicious food either cooked by us or in restaurants, but with kids that becomes harder work and involves spending for less reward! We will go back to that once we have older children who just want a pool.

Sorry I thought we were talkimg about Summer holidays. Have done catered chalets twice- not mad about them tbh. Didnt like the set meal times or being cooked for by a gap year student. Smart Austrian hotel however was wonderful.

Someone brought up club med ski and said it was the easiest. I was interested to know how it's easier than a catered chalet that's all.

Personally I like boutique hotels, but when I have used a catered chalet I've always been asked what time I'd like to dine and I've never been cooked for by a gap year student. Or on a sailing holiday either for that matter.

Horses for courses. I have never stayed in a privately catered chalet. I still like to eat at diffrent times on different days.

How any times do you have to bang your head on the keyboard to explain that not all "AI" places are the same?

Some people on here are describing (either they have or haven't been) Butlins-type affairs. Of course some of those rock-bottom Spanish places sound awful, but not every resort is like that.

To my mind skiing sounds horrendous (cold, queueing, getting leg broken) and so do cruises (norovirus and trapped having to sit with old people boasting about their grandchildren) and as for Centerparcs... but as I have been to none of these I am not qualified to write them off.

Also not all AIs are buffet. The one we go to has table service and a menu for dinner.

Blueskies agree on Club Med ski AI, fabulous. Easiest way to do it, IMO.

Why is it easiest? Nothing could be easier than a catered chalet.

If you have children it’s probably on a par with Ski esprit catered chalets and childcare.

With club med you have everything included on site including ski hire, nearly 24h child care, ski lessons for the kids, off piste guiding, adult lessons of various levels etc

I can’t think of another provider who bundles absolutely everything into the package like that.

It’s nit dramatically easier than a catered chalet but it’s different. Catered chalets work best IMO if you can book the entire place out and have exclusive use. Club med works better for me when we are a group of 4.

She said that going anywhere where Americans tended to go was good as they have high standards and the food isn't recycled!

And if she believes that, she's a bit dim.

Centreparcs was nice but expensive ( I went once in the early nineties so I guess they are really expensive now!) I liked it but didn't have children then. (I know mumsnetters are divided)

Done one reasonable A1 with younger kids years ago and it wasn't too bad. They enjoyed it and that's the main thing. For one week you can put up with most things and not having to worry about food is a bonus.

Most other holidays were the sun coupon at Havens type places and they were ok but done on a low budget or Euro camps in France and they were very good value. Only been once and was impressed. I love a French supermarket but self catering can be a pain with hungry kids.

I do agree that some people need to watch their manners a bit on any holiday. Behaviour can be annoying : use the correct utensils at the food counters etc! It's just being polite and thinking of others and hygiene around food etc.
Holidays can be a minefield.

NaturalBorn I am not just talking about lovely food (NOT all buffet) with Club Med AI Ski, Ski pass/lift pass/ski hire/lessons/apres ski/mountain restaurants etc...

I provided a photo... sum total of my efforts.

And I've been to many... all great.

We stayed in a lovely over-18 hotel in Alcudia last year; the hotel had a deal where for about €45 you could eat in the hotel three nights of your stay. The food was pretty good - yes, there was the usual buffet fare, but they also had a fresh omelette station and one night they did a barbecue which was really high quality, fresh meat and fish grilled in front of you.

I thought it was a good compromise, as it meant we ate in nice restaurants every other night and didn't have to worry about how much we were spending.

AI is the same as all things - you pay your money and make your choice. Going on holiday as a lone parent they were a godsend - I knew if all my cards/cash got lost/stolen we would still be able to eat and drink and there would be stuff going on to keep dd amused (although the pool was always enough for her!).