All inclusive - experiences please

[HousewifeOfOrangeCounty]

Having left it very late to book our holiday I'm rather tempted by a couple of deals that are all inclusive. We've never done a hotel type holiday since having the children and the idea of not having a huge bill at the end appeals to me. I really don't want to be cooking on holiday, so it's either A/I or self catering with lots of eating out.

However I have many reservations, so would love to hear of your experiences. Reservations are that the food would get boring/repetative/horrible and we end up eating out anyway. We feel trapped in the hotel? The 'local' alcohol isn't good and we end up paying for 'international' brands anyway?

On the other hand I like the idea of saying 'yes' to the dc's everytime they want a drink or ice cream.

Arghhh - I don't know, what do you think?

we have been A/I twice, the first time was fantastic, there was always five or six main dishes with plenty of veg or rice, chips was at every meal and afternoon snacks was hot dog, burger, pizza and chips so if the ds was hungry he could have his tea at 4pmish and we could have ours later with him just snacking at the evening meal.

the second one wasnt as good, it was very catered towards french and german people and we struggled as i don't eat fish or red meat, so we just filled up at breakfast (took a couple of cakes and fruit in my rather large handbag back to our room even though we werent supposed to) if we didnt like what was served for lunch we waited an hour and the snacks were usually chips with either sausage or burger. then at teatime if we didnt like it we went out for tea. our holiday didnt cost us much more that it would have done if we went self catering so we didnt mind having to pay a little extra to eat out.

Housewife... where have you picked up a last minute deal from? My mother has suggested a wee holiday said I'll have a look .

Thanks countydurhamlass - we've worked out that most places charge another £250 - £300 per person for a/i. There are five of us, so it adds up especially if we don't really use it and eat out loads anyway.

I'm perfectly happy to eat out a bit.

Kiwibella - still haven't booked it, have spent a lot of the day looking at various websites and getting more and more infuriated. There aren't any deals to be had tbh its more about finding something left.

Not all inclusive with drinks but have you thought about a cruise? Kids clubs, all you can eat (top quality stuff usually) plus entertainment included.

You are not stuck in one resort and get to see a few places.

tefal - we have done a cruise before it wasn't for me.

we always go a/i and have 3 dc's aged 12, 6 and 19 months. we would never do anything but a/i as the kids can eat and drink whenever they want. we always do excursions and usually the hotel will do a packed lunch for u so u don't need to spend money on food. well worth it if u can get it for £250 pp as that is a bargain

I second the AI. I think what is most important is that you go somewhere where the trip advisor/ holiday watchdog reviews say the food is good. We loved it - a bottle of Cava every night with dinner, food cooked for you every night at the grills station. Unlimited drinks - whats not to love if you get a good place!

Which country are you looking at? And is that price for 1 or 2 weeks?

I have never stayed AI but when I lived in Turkey I ate in quite a few AI hotels where friends worked. I can only speak for Turkey as I have no experience of any other country but you really do get what you pay for. If you are spending £250, after you have taken off the cost of the airfare you don't have much left over for accomodation and food so you would not get a decent quality hotel, the rooms would be small and cramped, the food would be sub-standard, boring and repetative and the selection of drinks would be very limited and possibly only be inlcuded until a certain time eg 11pm or midnight.

To get a decent quality hotel you have to pay for it and good quality doesn't come cheap.

The best thing to do is read up hotel reviews on somewhere like Trip Advisor to find out what theseplaces are really like as thre are some real horro stories on there!

i think any holiday is a risk whether it is the cost or the place you visit it is always the luck of the draw. we have had a couple of hotels which weren't so good but you make the most of it at the end of the day

I think the £250 - £300 that Housewife is talking about is the additional cost for All Inclusive.

We have just booked an all inclusive holiday this year for the first time in ages.

Worked on the basis that eating out in some countries is not as cheap as it used to be previously so that can add up over 2 weeks. Certainly if going by some of our more recent holidays.

Also as some have said it make it easy if dd wants a snack at any time or an ice-cream. 2 euros or more for an icecream can soon add up.

Some places do include international drinks in the AI others don't but I have never found it a problem.

I think it depends on the set up whether the food gets repetitive. The first AI holiday we did, we were fed up of the food after a week and were glad we weren't staying longer. The next time, there was more variety and more hot food cooked as you wanted it so we were fine.

Look at where you want to go and then see if any of the reviews give an idea of what it costs to eat out. If it going to cost you 25-30 euros each per night then AI doesn't seem such a bad option over a couple of weeks.

We always go AI but don't always stick to the hotel food in the evenings. We tend to buy out own branded alcohol with us too. With AI you have the choice of not spending too much if you don't want to.

I know what you mean about having reservations about going AI and I did too...but I am really glad we did because we would have wasted so much money on food if we hadn't gone AI. The kids were very fussy when we were on holiday (they eat anything here!) but it wasn't too stressful because if they wouldn't eat something, we'd try them with something else. Truth be known, we got them something each evening and they wouldn't touch it and basically ate chips all holiday!!! (they NEVER eat chips at home and I would never have ordered them chips in a restaurant each evening which would have meant that we'd have ordered them something and then they wouldn't have eaten it and we would have been stressing about the money it cost. Yes you pay for the AI but at least they can have what they want and doesn't matter if they don't eat it. And also the amount we would have spent on bottles of water doesn't bear thinking about!! Yes, it does get repetitive after 2 weeks but I thought it was worth it.

I always read the reviews on trip advisor, obviously some you have to talk with a pinch of salt but if they all say the food is rubbish/great you tend to think it must be right. We went to a lovely AI in uerteventura-Suite Hotel Atlantis.

We've done AI more than a dozen times (all of which have been long haul holidays) and have never had a bad experience. The only thing I would say is we personally would never book AI for anything less than 4 star hotel. 4 star and above and you can be pretty sure that the quality is good, anything less than that may be questionable.

We did AI 2 years ago in Lanzarote and it was really worth it. It was a RIU hotel, and the food variety was inmense. Plus you could get soft drinks and beers anytime of the day, so I think it actually worked out cheaper than half board. In such heat, the kids need lots of drink, so it is just convenient that they can go over to the bar and ask for whatever when they need it.

Agree with Hersetta though. Ours was a 4* hotel. Some of my colleagues's experiences in cheaper hotels were not so good.

Ah yes I have to admit I've only been looking at 4 & 5 * and am a regular on trip advisor. I've finally booked it and the trip advisor reviews are all fab, they say that there are mostly italian families and not many british. Personally I quite like that, although am slightly concerned that the reviews say that the Italian families look like they've stepped off the catwalk at night - must go shopping.

I think you may be right about A/I - we looked at some half board places, but when you factor in soft drinks for the dc's, ice creams and drinks for us A/I looked far more attractive. We'll see.

Am very excited, it's the first time my children have been on an airplane and the first family holiday that didn't involve driving to france and staying in a caravan.

I'd only ever do it if the hotel was luxurious. Otherwise you get cheap local plonk and school dinners.

Agreed. We are big eaters and big drinkers, so we get our moneysworth.