All Inclusive recommendations

[MrsPie]

I am new to Mumsnet and there seems to be a wealth of help out there.

We want to take the kids away in the summer holidays (aaaaah price) and go all inclusive as at 9 and 6 they bleed us dry in drinks and ice-cream. What countries do it well?

In terms of VFM I would recommend the caribbean. It is probably a bit dearer than going to europe or canaries but you get such a higher standard. Direct Holidays have got some not bad prices. Went to AI once in Menorca. Cost us about £600 each for the week and it was the most awful place I have ever stayed in

Hi, we went to Corfu AI a couple of years ago, the hotel was the Iberostar Regency Beach, it is quite isolated, but lots of things for the kids to do, and the food was fantastic, the one and only time we haven't got fed up of it on a two weeks stay. The alcohol side had a bit to live up to, but if you like lager/wine you should be set.

Beautiful place, would go again in a heartbeat.

We have been to the Fortena Hotal in Malta, great place, we went back again twice.

Malta is lovley, lots to do and has buses which go everywhere.

I would second Alibobster's suggestion. The Caribbean does great AI. We usually go with
Virgin. Not cheap, but you can get much better prices than the brochure if you ring round.

we've just come back from an Iberostar in Morocco, and that was pretty good too, though it was termtime so no kids' clubs.

We went to Iberostar Cozumel Mexico and it was a lovely hotel but not the best location for kids, we transferred after a few days to Iberostar Paraiso del Mar and that was FANTASTIC!!!!

www.iberostar.com/EN/Cancun-hotels/Iberostar-Paraiso-del-Mar_3_71.html

It is a big resort but don't let that put you off, the kids would love it, we hope to take ours to the Iberostar in Dominican Republic one day....

Well, thanks for all your help. I will certainly look at the Corfu one and clearly these Iberostar resorts are popular (I've never heard of them before).

We would prefer to do the caribbean but, like you say it's the cost and for me the plane ride would be torture but not a deal breaker.

Thanks for your recommendations and any more welcome!!! Many thanks and thanks for making me feel welcome on the site.

We've gone AI in the Caribbean (Jamaica and Cuba) but we also stayed at the Serita Beach in Crete a few years ago - booked through My Travel. They were all 4* plus and pretty much similar standards from what I remember. I don't think there was a big difference in price (although Crete was probably slightly cheaper), but the Caribbean has the disadvantage of longer flights and we found that we needed a lot more spending money because everything outside was so much dearer (excursions, souvenirs etc)

i went to domnican republic last december with my family, me, husband, 2 kids, 1 infant and it cost 2200 for the lot of us. we stayed at occidental grand flamenco 4* resort. loads to do, plenty of restaraunts, loads of space, great beach and spent £200.00 spending money, but that was on baby stuff that i forgot to take and sun lotion!

p.s. i didn't feel a need to go on excursions as its to hot going on coaches and looking at stuff with 3 kids in tow! My motto was if their happy then so are you, and they certainly were!!! I never buy souvenirs cos i think they look cheap and tacky when you get back home ( who really likes carved wooden statues and things made from shells and sand anyway)? each to their own though. I tend to let the kids buy special friends a present back home.

Turkey and Egypt have some wonderful AI hotels (often with water slides) but will be very hot of course during July/August. Some parts of the Caribbean can be quite wet during our summer months so be sure to look into that. The DR, Cuba, Jamaica and Mexico tend to be a little cheaper than some of the smaller Caribbean islands and they all offer a huge selection of AI hotels with kids clubs. Don't book anything without checking out the reviews on Tripadvisor and other hotel review sites first though.