AIBU to be a bit peed off about the new all inclusive drinking rule in Spain?

[Pinkycloud]

Don’t want to come across a raging alcoholic but we’ve booked an all inclusive holiday (costing about £7.5k) for me DH and 4 DC and am peed off to see you can now only have 3 alcoholic drinks with lunch and three with dinner. I know six seems a lot but it’s more about being told when you can have them and how many you can have at a given time. We’ve been to this place before (Majorca) and used to enjoy lazy afternoons sipping a beer or three by the pool. Doesn’t seem like ‘all inclusive’ anymore and we’re paying thousands for the bloody thing!

People could always opt for a cruise with a drinks package if AI proves not the ticket 😎

Same thing - only you are corralled on water rather than on land.

Believe it or not there's plenty of time to walk around historical sites, hike etc and fit in a massive 6 or more drinks while on holiday.

I've obviously become a bit of a lightweight!😂 Oh well, at least it doesn't cost me much!😁

*Believe it or not there's plenty of time to walk around historical sites, hike etc and fit in a massive 6 or more drinks while on holiday.

Yes.
You could possibly have a drink at a historical site you walked to!

We stayed at a cottage last year (uk) went on a fairly long walk and stopped at museum/beauty spot for lunch. DH had a beer, we walked back and went to the beach later. Probably shared a bottle of wine with our evening meal. Not difficult to imagine.

I can't read "AI" without visualising artificial insemination! OH is from farming background and the AI man would come to his family farm to artificially do the business to make new calves.

How much of the world do you see on an AI holiday?
Plenty.

We choose AI for one of our holidays because we have a young child and it makes life easier. However, we always choose a hotel which is near civilisation so we can go out an explore the surrounding area.

Moderate drinking and activities are the norm of the day for the majority on holidays. Having a shared bottle of wine with meals, a beer or a coctail doesn't make you drunk and most people are able to enjoy activities and explore surroundings.

Binge drinking is mutually exclusive with enjoying any activities aside from drinking. When someone is hungover they want to sleep if off, and they start drinking the following day is rinse and repeat. Get drunk, being hungover. No time for activities of any kind.

We went out on our last AI trip , we went for a long walk and a trip on a coach to see a bit of the surrounding area. People went across to the beach , it wasn't always stay in one place and the rep was great at giving out local information about trains and buses to get about as well , which was cheaper than the trips.

We stayed at a cottage last year (uk) went on a fairly long walk and stopped at museum/beauty spot for lunch. DH had a beer, we walked back and went to the beach later. Probably shared a bottle of wine with our evening meal. Not difficult to imagine.

But that would be within the 6 units, wouldn't it? There are 6 glasses of wine in a bottle = 3 units each. The beer would be 2 units.

But I would drink less than that. Maybe a zero alcoholic drink after the walk and one or two glasses in the evening with the meal.

My late parents and my inlaws wouldn't have gone abroad at all , let alone AI ( tee total)
My mum would have seen all that food and been disgusted at the waste to be honest.
They preferred the quite life and didn't drink even at Christmas! They just wasn't ones to do anything that involved alcohol .
I wonder if mainland Spain will bring in similar holiday rules too in time?

There aren’t only 6 units of alcohol in a bottle of wine! It tells you on the bottle and is usually about 12 . And depends on what lager you’d drink, a lot of them like peroni, Stella are 3 units per pint

I wonder if mainland Spain will bring in similar holiday rules too in time?

In mainland Spain you won't find an all inclusive hotel with drinks unlimited. This happens in the costas full of foreign visitors, not mainland Spain. I come from Madrid where hotels, hostals and apartments offer accommodation only. Same as Castile, Galicia, Cantabria and Basque Country.

Aren't the Costas part of mainland Spain?

Well that's not quite true Alondra, there are PLENTY of all inclusive hotels all around the Mediterranean coast on the Costa del Sol, the Costa Brava/Blanca.

For tourism purposes, they are not. There are different types of tourism to Spain, the costas full of mass foreign tourists looking for a cheap holiday under the sun with AI, and the rest of Spain. Madrid, Galicia, Castile, Basque country receive a different type of tourism more focussed on searching about history, museums and good food and hotels only offer accommodation and breakfast at the most.

I live in Australia now but I haven't been in the costas since I was young with the exception of Menorca, Lanzarote and Gomera. If I want to go to the beach in Spain I stay clear of mass foreign tourist areas.

There aren’t only 6 units of alcohol in a bottle of wine! It tells you on the bottle and is usually about 12 . And depends on what lager you’d drink, a lot of them like peroni, Stella are 3 units per pint

Oh, I usually drink the smaller bottles regarding beer they are usually 1.2 units. I thought a (small) glass of wine was 1 unit. Yes, just checked the bottle of rosé in the fridge. 125ml glass is 1.6 units. I drink my wine in 105ml (sometimes smaller) glasses so I'm not far out. That rosé is 9.4 for the whole bottle. So it's somewhere in between. Good job we only buy one a week!😉

Sorry , I meant the costas , which are part the mainland . as opposed to being an island.
I agree that other areas and the capital etc are where people go who want a more cultural holiday or sight seeing.

When I talk about the Costas, mass foreign tourism, I refer to the Mediterranean coast of Spain that goes from Barcelona and Tarragona in Costa Brava down to Costa del Sol to Granada (Costa Blanca is in the middle of both), together with Majorca and Ibiza.

I don't need or want 3 drinks with lunch, then with tea.
I want: maybe a glass of wine with lunch.
A beer or 2 around 3 or4 by the pool. And bear in mind beers are never pints, but cups. Possibly a beer before going to get ready for tea.
Wine with meal.
In an AI, you're never at the table long enough to drink 3 alcoholic drinks.

In an AI, you're never at the table long enough to drink 3 alcoholic drinks.

Urgh, do they chuck you off the table? Hate that.

Depends if you stay in your hotel all day or not.
It's perfectly possible to leave an AI hotel, they don't hold you hostage inside them! So you can see as much of the area as you can if staying in a non AI hotel or a self catering apartment/villa.

Never known them to.

I think some people believe all AI are the same.
The last one I went to had several restaurants on site, all which looked and worked like a normal hotel restaurant - just without the paying at the end. So you could book a table, or just turn up. You ordered off a normal menu. You had your table as long as you liked.

In your opinion.

You must be so much fun. All I ever see from you is misogyny and pearl clutching.

Fascinating thread. I considered an all inclusive deal but didn’t once think about the booze. It’s not on my radar on holiday with children. I would normally have a g&t or glass of wine each day with dinner but nothing more.

Really amazed to know that so many people equate holiday with drinking a lot!

Not trying to sound sarcastic. Just not my thing and I don’t like feeling even slightly tipsy when I’m in charge of children somewhere different. Also, if it’s sunny and hot I don’t like to drink any alcohol because it gives me an instant headache!

Sounds like the one we went to. That was mainland Spain and had a drink limit. It’s quite a nice hotel though and- there’s no way to say it without sounding snobby- not full of Brits Abroad drinking lager by the pool all day. We picked it because British people complained on trip advisor that everyone (guests) was Spanish and not all the staff spoke English 😁