Coming to the end of our first all inclusive and wondering if they’re all a bit like this…? Or if it’s our family that doesn’t fit them?

[Xrays]

We’re staying at a 4/5 star resort in Ibiza. It’s got very good reviews on trip advisor, good reviews online elsewhere etc and I know - before someone pounces on me - that we are incredibly lucky to have a holiday at all, yet alone this one, considering how much people are struggling financially right now. This holiday was booked and paid for with some inheritance money from my Mums passing just before covid and has been rebooked and cancelled many times. It’s our first time abroad as a family, Ds aged 11 who has autism and dd aged 20 (normally at university). We’re a close family, and dd really wanted to come, no issues with all being together etc (I know lots of people here are often horrified at older teens etc going on holiday with them)!

But it’s all been a bit underwhelming. Mainly the food aspect. Most of the food is buffet style with kids running riot, it feels like a school canteen with lots of kids screaming, everything feels sort of cheaply done - pizzas that are freshly cooked only have a small amount of topping in the very middle and edges bare etc, the pasta dishes are basically like pasta bakes you could make yourself from a jar from Tesco, lots and lots of chips and everything at breakfast feels like it’s sat out there for ages - except for omelettes which they cook in front of you. I’m kind of sick of omelettes now…! Feels a bit like if Haven did an all inclusive- and just to be clear, I love Haven and we go there every year but I wouldn’t consider Haven 4/5 star and pay to eat there all inclusive!

I guess what I’m wondering is if we were / are just a bit unlucky and other places are better / have more fresh food cooked to order or if they’re all a bit like this? Or maybe we’re just really fussy? (Perhaps we are). I’m thinking ahead to our next holiday and just not sure whether to look at another all inclusive or whether to go for self catering - and use that as a base and eat out (and that’s basically what we’ve ended up doing this time, we’ve given up trying to eat here, which is a shame as we’ve paid ££££ already for food…)! I don’t feel I’ve had a holiday if I have to cook as I do that all the time at home.

Looking to see what other’s experiences are and if you have any ideas of better AIs or elsewhere throw them at me….! Or just tell me they’re all like this and I’m being too fussy and I’ll look for self catering apartments etc.

They are not all like that. I’ll often opt for AI as long as it’s five star. Some buffet but other restaurants a la carte. Always amazing quality

We stayed at the gran castillo in lanzarote and the buffet there was fantastic. Freshly cooked joints of meat, fish , several types of potato dishes, fresh veg, a huge salad bar, omelette station, steaks cooked to order. And 2 other a la carte restaurants on site too.

Have done all inclusive in turkey - it’s nice but a bit like your experience.

Have done 5 star all inclusive in Mauritius now that was UNREAL pure pure luxury

Sounds like you’d have to spend more for better 🤷‍♀️

We’ve had both ends of the spectrum and the luxury all-inclusives we’ve been to have been absolutely amazing. Multiple fancy restaurants in beautiful locations, swim up cocktail bars, amazing breakfast options - even the beach bars do delicious bbq food. Champagne and spirit top ups in your lodge every day. Even ‘free’ scuba diving every day! Different world!

We did AI once and I wouldn’t do it again. A big part of the fun of a foreign holiday is eating out in different places - from fancy restaurants (maybe once or twice), a taverna on the beach, a tucked away café-bar, or a simple homemade picnic on the beach.

A certain type of person goes on an all inclusive

Make of that what you will

Chalk one more point up to AI if insufferable snobbish twats like you don't go to them.

We do, the last one we went to have nine restaurants, you can also dine at some restaurants outside at no additional cost. Below is a menu from one of the hotel restaurants.

https://ikosresorts.com/menus/IAN/Ouzo-Dinner-Menu-IAN-EN_GE_FR.pdf

Can’t answer for others, OP, but we basically only do AI if there are no other alternatives (eg, the Maldives). As a general rule, I think they benefit by keeping costs to a minimum so you’re unlikely to get really high quality options. Am prepared to be shot down in flames for this though…

It's disappointing when the marketing for AI makes it sound as if you're on some magic carpet ride of amazingness at Downton Abbey levels of service with sun.

Fundamentally AI is 'full board' plus a onsite bar, and I would never book full board in the UK as I find it too restrictive and samey. Great deal for the hotel though.

I did an AI holiday twice with my first husband, both in the Caribbean a long time ago. It was a different life as we were pretty well off then before kids, and my expectations were sky high, but in actual fact it was all a bit meh. First time was sticky drinks, lots of flies, a nonstop succession of weddings and apparently a thousand American junior school kids. Second time was adults only and it just felt very antiseptic, processed and frankly dull.

I think the sad truth now is that £1k each for a big holiday is no longer such a big budget. Take the positives from the experience but yeah, I'd trust your own instinct that AI isn't for you.

Quality of food differs a lot between resorts. You have probably gone at the prime time for families with pre school age children given it’s not school holidays yet so probably larger number of crying children than normal.

I think when they’re catering for many people the food will always be cheap and cheerful. All inclusive is great for families with young kids, bland food they’re happy to eat and the parents sacrifice that for on resort entertainment and children’s noise being accepted. At 11 & 20 I would have gone for a villa!

We go AI, out of season, and pick one where there’s no kids club, no playground etc so it’s not really attractive to families with little children because ours are grown up so that’s not what we want from a holiday anymore.

I eat a lot of fruit and salads while I’m away. There’s always so much to choose from. I, also, tend to eat a lot more fish than when I’m at home. I don’t drink, at all, either and DH isn’t a massive drinker.

The restaurants can be noisy and canteen like, especially in the evening, so we either go down late, when the rush has gone or we eat out for our evening meal. We definitely don’t book AI thinking we’re not going to leave the hotel, like some people do. That’s really boring and it’s bad for the local economy.

I don't like AIs for many of the reasons you have mentioned and if you are a bit of a foody and not big drinkers then I think it's a total waste of money unless you can go very very high end and to one with multiple included quality restaurants.

I also don't like the fact (and we've been to an AI twice) that they seem to attract a lot of people who want to drink all day, every day . We've had several episodes of people getting lairy and glass smashed by pools with people who simply have been on the lash all day (with kids around too) . Wasn't exactly relaxing.

I do understand why others enjoy it , especially with younger kids and budget constraints- but give me an apartment or a villa and nice meals out freshly cooked every night.

When our older kids were younger we always went all inclusive, as with 4 of them, it worked well and was cost effective, some were better than others, so a bit hit and miss. We went to one last year in Spain and it was terrible, (prawns in warm salad cream anyone?) we ended up eating out a lot, so it's put me off now. we're not big drinkers, so it doesn't make any sense now to go AI now. Self catering is the way forward for us, so we can choose nice restaurants and food.

Mitsis hotels have fabulous food.

No they are not all like that. You very much get what you pay for.
I know £4k sounds a lot but holidays have rocketed in price like everything else.
I've stayed in a variety of AI and the cheapest was very school canteen with children running around. The best was adults only and had food so good I couldn't have eaten better in a restaurant.
My ideal holiday is a nice hotel but breakfast only and eat out.
However over the years AI has served us well with fussy eaters and hungry teenagers who can eat their own body weight several times a day. They also love the constant activity and scope for meeting other kids. Once DC were mid teens we went back to eating out but still stayed in big hotels.
Now it's just DH and me we often do HB to get the best of both worlds.

Nearly always go A I there are options like you've described, usually for the kids,but we've always had lots of other options ,fresh fish , grilled meat etc.veg potatoes and usually an option to dine a la carte in a fancier restaurant in resort. We go to Greece though, Mitsis hotels are great as a PP has testified to. Think you've been unlucky. I love breakfast too: fresh juice fruit ,yogurt and cooked options wherever we've been, plus all day coffees tea etc. these can be just as expensive as alcohol these days

I have only done AI at Club Med and they have been excellent but expensive. We did it for the kid's activities rather than anything else but they were great holidays.

Better places - says who ? Ibiza has both tacky parts - like everywhere does- and lovely parts. This sounds like snobbery to me.

Never been AI with full board/drinks but our recent trip to Madeira we had half board including our evening meal.

All buffet but excellent stuff. Three nights from seven there was a theme to the food like local delicacies or fish.

Red meat was freshly griddled and available rare if you asked. Everything else was hot, well presented and properly done. Don't remember pizza as an option but given what there was it wouldn't have touched my radar.

I don't know if it makes a difference but there were very few UK guests, mostly German and French.

It depends where you go. I've been to an excellent 5 star AI.

We did AI when the kids were young and it made sense due to all the different activities available for both kids and adults. The food was amazing and there was a choice of four different restaurants you could eat at - the extra-posh one for an additional charge. It was Club Med and I couldn't fault it at the time.

I did also find the amount of food and drinks made available was a little too much. It felt like people were constantly on the look out for the next laying out of buffets etc. I did find that aspect a little strange, and the worst bit was I felt a little like I was getting sucked into it.

We did AI last October with a large family group in Lanzarote, in a fairly large complex - the food was okay and the salads out of this world. You could find something to eat most meals although we did eat out a couple of times.
When you compare this to another AI in a much smaller Greek hotel - the food was incredible and very tasty. Themed nights so that different tastes were introduced such as curry/indian/chinese - in two weeks we never ate the same thing twice.
An AI in Sharm el Sheikh was an interesting experience and they added in Special nights for which you paid extra -e.g. Seafood BBQ -in our case this was cancelled due to lack of interest which was a big disappointment for DH as he loves seafood. But when we told them of our dismay they arranged an evening for us in the bar where one of the chefs prepared especially for us a full BBQ seafood platter which drew the attention of many people who wanted to order the same thing - but were told it was a special order just for us by arrangement and next time book a place for the BBQ!!
But lately DH and I prefer to eat out and put our money back into the local restaurants and businesses - it gets us out and about in the evenings and exploring our local area and we are fairly adventurous eaters so love to try new tastes and dishes.
Many people book the AI so that drinks and ice creams are free and that works fine for those who are big drinkers - we do drink but not massive amounts so AI can be an expensive option when you drill down into the costs of everything. But equally others want to know that they can eat their usual fare abroad as well as at home and AI can take away this worry if you have kids that will only eat something and chips.

Ah, but you see I do go on holiday for the food. I've never done AI, as I'm too worried we'd have the same experience as the OP, so this just confirms my suspicion that it's not for us. Give me a little family restaurant in Sicily, or even a French supermarket and self catering, every day of the week. Cooking our own food is better than crap food.

Yes and no, we usually use the ai resort as a base so we can splash out on some really decent restaurants, the type you might not pick if you were eating out every night. But a fair amount have a la carte restaurant as well as buffet style.

Last one we did pre Covid had an Indian and Thai themed restaurant I think!