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 😎)

The butter issue - that's how they do it at home :-)

Certain groups getting huge plates if the "premium" stuff then leaving it. Very rude people talking to staff like slaves. Going topless in an Arab country around a family pool. Getting so drunk that they fell into the pool, smashing all the glasses so the pool in their section had to be closed for a day, then blaming the staff when there was no room in another section. Loud boorish groups of men taking over the pool from kids for a very rough ball game.
But I guess that's modern tourism.

I haven't been on vacation in 8 years.The last time we drove to Florida from Oklahoma,it took 2 excruciatingly long days.We checked into the condo that some friends so kindly less us use bc they couldn't go that week.We went to get groceries and on our way back to the condo we were hit by a drunk driver.
Thankfully we weren't hurt but our entire trip was spent dealing with insurance etc.We will made it fun for our kids though.Worst experience on a vacation ever.....But,we still made good memories!
**And I have an irrational deep seeded hate for humidity and Florida!🤣

@Vodkasquirts I would have def said something urgh

I love a good all inclusive and hate self catering. You can totally switch off and not lift a finger for a week or two, It is a total rest and you haven't got the stress of wandering aimlessly trying to find a restaurant that pleases everyone. You do have to be careful to pick a good one though and preferably one with a choice of Al a carte restaurants.
I did once see a Russian man take 10 slices of toast from the breakfast buffet (I counted), eat 2 and discard the rest!

I tend to go for self catering because I prefer the convenience of having a flat rather than having the family split into different hotel rooms. But, we never cook, we eat out all the time.

Wow, ive never been and this is enough to put me off ever booking AI

Never experienced the butter thing. Were those folk British by any chance.only been to adults only AI resorts. Children would be my worst nightmare. All that dosh for AI and having to listen to whingeing kids and yelling parents, no way.

Oh, god, British tourists on sunbeds asking waiters to bring them non stop cheap cocktails and beers from 9.30 am onwards and making loud comments supposed to be hilarious like ‘it would be rude not to’, referencing their own alcohol consumption all day long as if it makes them brilliantly roguish or something. But they are embarrassing and boring.

Wow, ive never been and this is enough to put me off ever booking AI

Don't be. Just remember that if you pay £300 per person for a week AI in a manky looking 3* resort in Costa del wherever/Egypt/Tunisia/turkey the chances are it will be the worst of those described above. If you pay for a good brand (such as Palladium, Dreams, sandals) then it's going to be branded liquor, good service, unlimited a la carte restaurants and generally more civilised

Hmm. The only time I have been in a hotel that offered AI (we weren’t on it) it was a chic ‘civilised ‘ hotel in a non mainstream package tour destination.

Agreed @pinkmagic1..... it's all about the class of your AI.

If you go 3 star expect all the horrors mentioned but go 4/5 star and it's a different experience altogether.

Chose wisely.

I think the message really here is ' you get what you pay for'! Although inconsiderate boorish wasteful people are everywhere if it's 5 star or not of course.

People's children being allowed to fend for themselves, touching and coughing all over the food. Adult only for us now yaaah

We did AI for the first and last time e this year in an expensive hotel in Barbados. I actually lost weight! Breakfast was the usual stuff but not very well cooked, lunch was salad, bread, and a coup,e of cooked dishes like spag bol or chilli (in 80* heat!). Evening meal was a 3 course ala carte job with minuscule portions. Husband is veggie, only had a veggie option on one night out of the week. He lived off chips and cheese! It cost us a stupid amount of money. Never again.

Was that at a well-known hotel, Soontobe60? Mainstream tour operator?

I’ve only been to the Caribbean once, on honeymoon many years ago, with Thomson, but the all inclusive was fantastic. Steaks cooked to order etc, beautiful fruit etc

Oh god, we are going AI next week and whilst I'm really looking forward to a break I bloody hate AI. Saying that we've done it for the past 4 years as with three kids it works out so expensive to eat out every night and then have them not eating their bloody dinner or buying them endless expensive drinks that go warm and get left.

At least with AI I don't feel like I've paid for it (I know I have haha). The ques kill me (or the people not quing) and we usually eat out around three times a week becuase it's doing my brain in. I'm sure we will have a lovely time though!!

I LOVE AI, makes life so much easier - we use Club Med which is fantastic for families and grandma comes too. The food is really very good ( butter individually wrapped, choice of ok wine by the bottle.
The kids can go and get drinks/ ice-cream by themselves which they love and the cheesy entertainment is fun.
We’ve been to 6 destinations with them, fantastic quality.

I've been AI, self catering, full board on land but I much prefer a cruise, the ones I have been on always have a choice of self service or restaurant meals with at least 2 or 3 choices of venues for every meal. I usually eat at the restaurant for breakfast & evening meal & choose the self service for lunch & snacks. Prices arent usually much more than a good AI resort.

@IsobelRae23 if you’d have said Ibiza I’d have thought you were talking about me ha ha

@Lozz22 No Tenerife! Lol But 🤢how can you mix foods like that?its all so wrong! Lol

@Shodan am I currently married to your XH?

Have to say I love an AI but can’t afford since having kids. I’ve taken them once and they loved it. Won’t go anything below 4*. Never had a bad buffet. Took my mum who was expecting to be wanting to eat our a few nights despite being AI and who was saying she would pay for the ‘proper’ gin not the included one, and wine. She was pleasantly surprised and compared her gin sizes on the plane with a couple who went lesser stars and who had watered down smaller shots!! Never got up really early. Always in breakfast just before it ended and still plenty to eat. If missing that there’s usually another area - pool bar often - serving a later continental breakfast which would do us til lunch. Always had to choose sitting time for evening meal and ore kids was always the later slot but ended up last time on the early slot to get to the mini disco on time. Then pretty much all to bed after that 😂😂.

Sun lounger situation always a pain. Possibly because we often use a brand more popular with Germans than Brits, but one of my preferred hotel chains.

Love not needing to carry cash and worry about it being pinched by the pool. Not having to budget for each meal. First holiday as an independent adult was half board in a decent hotel in salu. Felt hard work trying to find places to eat, although the hotel did serve lunch just a bit pricey. Did Florida one year not long after leaving uni, pre internet days and before I’d ever got a credit card. Room only. Took travellers cheques and cash and realised after budgeting for meals one we arrived (room only) that we only had enough cash to visit Disney OR universal and ended up at universal. That was a pretty grim room only hotel. Done a couple of self cratering type places but the trek to the supermarket to get food was a bit much. After those holidays we entered the work of AI and never looked back. Now I’ve kids I wish I could afford it more as we do camping in the uk and have to budget for every ice cream and carry reusable drinks bottles to refill.

Sad to hear Barbados wasn't that great!
I've heard good and bad stories from people but I've never been there myself.
It's odd how people's experiences are all different. I suppose hotels have bad seasons or changes of staff or management and it all has a knock on effect to how good it is.
It's hard to know till you get there / holidays are a lottery and done your companies just do not care once they get your money.

Oh and I should add that several of the resorts we’ve been to have had the AI buffet plus additional restraints which you can book into for table service, also part of the AI so no extra cost. Often themed - steak, Chinese, Italian, etc. They’re usually nice for a change of scenery.

Also should add that I much prefer 7 nights to 14. Never tried 10.