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Why do people choose All Inclusive? Usually it is a rip off?

Why do people choose All Inclusive? Usually it is a rip off?

Old Mar 1st, 2003, 06:57 AM
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Also, there's something to be said for doing or having whatever you feel like without having to stop and think, "Do I really want to spend $15 on a drink? no, I guess not, so I won't have it", or "Do I really want to spend $200 for all of us to windsurf?", nah, too much, so you don't do it. There is nothing so relaxing as doing whatever you feel like because it won't cost extra. It's wonderful.
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Old Mar 1st, 2003, 07:25 AM
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Lets put another face on AI--do you want to spend time thinking where there is a decent restaurant for the night, getting a cab there and then finding one back..not to mention being overcharged because we Americans are all rich...well that's what some people think. I've done it both ways...as long as I don't have to prepare, cook, clean and make a bed that is a positive...If I dont have to have re-cycled food (yes, at one resort in PDC it was obvious)and the food is pretty decent (read reviews ahead of time). Sadly for the average tourist the days of finding places that don't rip you off and you don't get tourists revenge are long since gone...Our fondest memories are being at Jaco Beach many moons ago before there were taxis there and walking to little homes for meals..A restaurant in Cozumel where I thought we had been taken to Cancun by the cab driver....and found a fabulous place..I think called the Cosa Nostra (who would think)where seafood lasagna spilled over our plate..and no tourist in sight..Now, I want to be catered to..to spend extra time around the pool and at the beach. If your ever going to S.D. ask me about the local seafood restaurant on the Malecon where a tourist is never seen..lol or the local restaurant where we had our first chivo (goat)..
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Old Mar 1st, 2003, 10:33 AM
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We just did our twelfth ai at Hotel Mont Vernon in St. Martin. We paid $5,200 Cdn for 2 for TWO WEEKS for ocean front room overlooking Orient Beach. So that's what $3,500 in U.S.? This included:
- flight from Toronto and transfers to the hotel (with bus driver and tour guide)
- good breakfast buffets (loved the fluffy pancakes) & lunch buffet by the pool (the lunch ones were just okay and you also had the option of ordering the ubiquitous burger and fries)
- 8 dinners, count 'em 8 dinners at regular restaurants off the resort - La Main a la Pate in Marigot, La Playa on Orient Beach, Little France and Domaine L'Amandier in Grand Case (only extra cost was more wine or booze - and you could subsitute appetizers, entrees or desserts for just a few bucks more and sometimes no charge)
- some gambling and a buffet at casino on the Dutch side (never went)
- 8 days car rental ($11.50 for liability coverage and gas was maybe another $20)
- some very good buffet dinners at the hotel (it was $30 for the non ai)
- all the wine, cocktails, pop, beer, juices and water one needs to consume in a day (and no, not watered down because drinks for non ai guests were poured from the same bottles)
- although only a 3 star hotel, our room was one of the largest we've had in 12 ai's - it was very clean with comfortable king size bed, mini fridge (albeit empty, not like the ai's on the Mayan Riveria) and a sitting area with nice size balcony with table and chairs
- plenty of lounge chairs out on the beach, cushions for the lounges, those small surfboard things for body surfing (which was hugely popular)
- two 2 hour catamaran sail trips (never even got around to those)
- 1 jet ski ride and 1 parasail per week - about 10 minutes worth to give you a taste to purchase more time (again, never got around to those)
- plenty of peace and quiet as the hotel is perched on the north end of Orient Beach and so our beach was mostly adults lazing in the sun, reading, walking along the beach or just enjoying the parade.
- all of two activities directors who we didn't see much during the day other than to get a volleyball game going or some water aerobics in the pool.
- some cheesy entertainment in the evenings but didn't really care about that as we're more apt to get up early in the day and head to bed early

Yes, there were some small annoyances such as the poor service (except for the bartenders at the pool bar) and such but we don't sweat the small stuff when we are on vacation. So hard to really see how one can say that an ai is a rip-off without really having some personal experience.
For almost the same price, we've done two weeks at the RIU Yucatan on the Mayan Riveria and although there was only one specialty restaurant, the buffets were extensive and quite tasty. On top of that, you get a fully stocked mini-fridge and bar in the room - and I mean fully stocked with bottled water, pop and beer and the bar is 4 bottles of liquor. The service is wonderful, the staff are friendly.
And being on an all-inclusive does not mean we don't go out and explore the area. Not at all, it just means we have the ease and convenience of knowing where we are eating without having to worry are we going to like the restaurant, cabbing it to and from, etc, etc. After a long day in the sun (and scuba diving for my husband) we like being able to relax in our room, getting cleaned up and just walking to the restaurant to eat and chat with all the people we meet.
As everyone says though, it's a matter of different strokes, not a matter of 'being ripped off'!
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Old Mar 1st, 2003, 10:42 AM
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P.S. So that my husband could do some scuba diving in Saba, we did an overnight trip there (arranged through Sea Saba which included accomodation at the very pretty Juliana's and breakfast at Tropics Cafe). We flew over - which was a hell of a lot of fun - and Sea Saba had someone pick us up at the airport. While he was diving, I explored Windwardside and we did a little shopping for lace and Saba Spice, had dinner at YIIK, lunches at Tropics ($3 for freshly squeezed orange juice, ouch) and Swinging Doors. We loved every minute of it and hope to return some day and stay longer.
But my point here - when we got back to Hotel Mont Vernon, we had planned to go to Pinel Island the next day - use the rental to go up to French Cul de Sac to take the ferry over and spend the afternoon. You know, after doling out money for drinks ($3. for juice remember, so we're not talking alcohol here) and meals and this and that, we decided to just stay on the beach at HMV so we stop the bleeding from our wallets for our last 2 days in SXM!
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Old Mar 1st, 2003, 01:25 PM
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I never thought we would go to an all-inclusive; I hate crowds and think the Disneyfying and McDonalding of the world is depressing. But we tried it and loved it; the best aspects being the eating and drinking without pulling out the wallet plus the convenience of everything being there if you want it. Luckily, we haven't stumbled upon one of the loud noisy places.
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Old Mar 2nd, 2003, 06:54 AM
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I have never wanted to have an AI plan because I love to eat at different restaurants and can impulsively eat something or go somewhere that looks interesting during my travels. However, because I travel alot for my job already and don't get to truly relax even in a nice resort, this next trip I'm planning for just simple vegging, pampering, and no planning. And since I'm travelling by myself I don't want to have to travel to and from restaurants somewhere I'm not familiar. I'd probably eat at the resort restaurants anyway. The reviews I've heard about the Coral Marien Resort in Puerto Plata, DR tell me the food is actually pretty good. Since this is my first time with an AI, could you tell me what is normally included and excluded, i.e. alcohol, mid-day snacks, bottled water, activities, etc. Also, I like my private time. Would I be expected to find a seat at a group table or would I be able to eat at my own table? This AI says their plan is 24/7. Sounds like a big savings as I know how much food and drinks can add up as the days pass. That is usually the largest part of my bill. Also, since this is not a business write-off, I like knowing exactly how much I'm spending for the AI so I'm not having to choose between eating or an activity once I've realized how thin my wallet's gotten.
Thanks for any input.
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Old Mar 2nd, 2003, 08:14 AM
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"I've rented cottages and villas and you know what? It's the same old thing as home with a great view. I still have to shop, cook and wash dishes. This is NO VACATION"

I agree 100%. I wouldn't consider renting a self-catering condo or villa for our family a vacation in any way.

There are villas that come staffed though. Every one we've rented in Jamaica has come with at least a maid and cook and gardener. So not only are we not cooking or cleaning, we aren't waiting in line either!
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Old Mar 2nd, 2003, 04:25 PM
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Travelin: your all inclusive is going to include breakfast, lunch and dinners and you will most certainly get your private time because ai's don't do 'group' tables like cruise ships or Club Med. If you want a table for two by yourself you should have no problems getting one.
All pop, juice, coffee, tea, beer, mixed cocktails, wine and water from the bars will be included and this is all day. Don't know what the set up is on bottled water, but if anything like the Mexican mayan riveria resorts or in Cuba, there is bottled water in the minifridge in the room.
Uusally, the only items you may have to pay extra for on top of the ai price is the room safe, personal shopping, massages, tips to particular staff who deserve something extra and excursions off the resort. And sometimes the room safe is included. Does your t/a or travel brochure describing the resort not say what's all included????
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Old Mar 2nd, 2003, 05:33 PM
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When we did Sandals in Mobay they put you with other people every night. Have they stopped doing that? I kind of enjoyed it MOST of the time. I like talking to different people from various places. Unfortunately one night we were put with a couple where the guy was drunk on his butt, he was loud, obnoxious and F-ing everything. The next night we went to dinner and the host proceeded to seat us with this same couple. We put a screeching halt to that! I could never figure out why management let him carry on like that in the dining room.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2003, 12:28 PM
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We've done both and have enjoyed both. And, actually, we have spent more money at the non-AI's. My husband sometimes just doesn't feel like leaving the resort for dinner or paying for taxi's all the time. We just returned from an AI on saturday- our first in three years - and most nights that we stayed in, we asked them to serve it family style.(We were there with friends). They were very happy to do so,and we were able to try foods and enjoy more than just one entree, in smaller portions. I also tried liquers that I normally may not have tried. One of the restaurants did have buffets, but the other restaurant had a sit-down dinner six of the other nights. We are people persons and go on vacation to relax, but not for the peace and quiet. There were activites every night, music and dancing. During the day, we spent most of it around the pool, reading, swimming, talking, playing games or sitting in the hot tub. A big misconception is that people never leave the resort. That is just not true. We ate dinner out twice and lunch once. BTW, the friends that we were with live halfway across the country. How did we become friends? At an AI.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2003, 06:08 PM
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To Smokyboy and dreamer2...

I live in NY, Orange County. Here is an added vacation savings. In the last week I probably burned up about $200 in home heating oil. When gone I leave the house at 56 degrees. Also I probably save $50 in groceries for the week and $25 in booze for the week. I probably save another $25 in booze for the week after because of a hangover.

So here is some fancy vacation math...

$2000.00 - cost of vacation

$230 - utility savings
$100 - food / booze savings
$80 - gasoline savings (i don't have to drive)
$50 - lunch out savings (again i don't have to go to work)
$25 - telephone savings (not being home)
$100 - dinner out savings (no reason to have our weekly dinner out)

See I already saved about 1/3 of my vacation by simply not being home for a week.

At an AI my wife and I simply spend nothing. We do go to veg out, not think, not worry, not cook, not clean, see some sights, and most of all relax.

If this vacation were for two weeks we would save $1170. THe price of the vacation would go from $2000 to $2700.

See what happens when the vacation would be three weeks. It seems that the $585 weekly savings is greater than the weekly land rate at many resorts.

I am lucky that at age 38 I have 21 years with my employer and I get 6 weeks of vacation every year.

In the cold climate where I live it does not sound unreasonable to take a four week trip in late January / early February which will really end up costing us $2500.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2003, 08:35 PM
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I'm jealous of your vacation time! With my employer vacation tiem maxs out at 4 weeks and doesn't carry over. I've been been there long enough to have 3 weeks;however, it doesn't matter who you are or how much vacation time you have, you cannot take 2 full weeks in a row unles you have a family emergency or illness!!!!! They get a tempto come in for every person who is out more than 5 working days in a row. It would cost them way too much in temp service costs to allow people to take their vacation in large lumps like that1

At any rate, here is my take on AIs, sometimes I may want to go on a trip to sightsee. but that to me is a TRIP. A vacation is different, you don't go to sightsee you go to relax and nothing else! I'm not a timid travler, but sometimes we jsut like to get away from our busy jobs (both of us work more than 50 hours/week each not including our long commutes). We ike to fly of to an AI for a few days and do nothing but lay out at the beach, hang out at the swim up bar and dance the night away. We don't want o carry around wallets or worry about what we spend. If I get a nice umbrella frink and it begins to grow warm but is only half gone, I just throw it away and get another. i never think oh, I spent $5 on this drinkI can't throw half of it away. We probably end up each orderig 6-7 drinks/day not because we are heavy drinkers but because of the above scenario. Same goes with food. If I want to order 4 appetizers and 3 entrees at dinner and "pick" a little bit at each one for a bunch of difernet tastes, I don't have to worry about how much that would cost at a restaurant. As for the buffet thhing, there are nice AIs an dnot so nice AIs, teh nicer ones only serve bufffets at lunch and have 5-6 different sit down rests for dinner to shoose from. Also if you like peace and quiet you choose a resort known for that (some AIs cater to an olderr quieter crowd) if you want kids programs, you choose that type of resort, you want spring break atmosphere, choose it etc. All AIs are not alike!
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Old Mar 4th, 2003, 07:25 AM
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sunlover,
Some of what you described about your behavior at AI's is a little disturbing to me, and I seem to remember you posting this before registration when you were Kim.
You said, "If I get a nice umbrella frink (sic) and it begins to grow warm but is only half gone, I just throw it away and get another."
How wasteful! This type of behavior just perpetuates the stereotype that some people have about AI guests.
You said, "If I want to order 4 appetizers and 3 entrees at dinner and "pick" a little bit at each one for a bunch of difernet (sic) tastes, I don't have to worry about how much that would cost at a restaurant."
Do you realize that most of the people who work at the AI's make very little money, and that your wasting food the way you do is probably very offensive to them?
(It's offensive to me!)
I realize you've paid your money and you can do what you want, but your attitude and your behavior on this issue perfectly illustrates why I will never go back to another all-inclusive.
We've been to 2 AI's, and the "By God I paid for it and I'm going to eat and drink all I can," attitude we encountered there will keep us from ever going back.
I guess the negative responses you got last year when you posted this didn't do anything to educate you - I thought it might.
Too bad...
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Old Mar 4th, 2003, 07:56 AM
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Diana,
I saw Sunlover's post this morning and realized who it was also. This person's behavior is where the stereotype of people who frequent AI's come from. The whole "ugly american" thing, selfish, greedy and thoughtless. I don't know why it would be fun to waste food and drink and why a vacation is an excuse to turn off good manners and thoughtfulness.
This is precisely why I don't and won't ever go to an all inclusive resort. It's all about mindless consumption and that's just not my scene.
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Old Mar 4th, 2003, 08:22 AM
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Diana, thanks for posting that, I agree. I also felt very sad, after reading sunlovers post.
A family member just returned from a Al and metioned being very upset with the children at the resort. Ordering food right and left, and leaving or throwing it out after a bite, only to go back and order something else. Freash bottles of water were taken into the pool to be played with and poured over there heads. The saddest part for her, was, it was her own children, following what all the other children were doing and when she put a stop to it, their comment was it's no big deal mom it free!!! She had always had, that kind of attitude about Al's, making comments like boy, I can wash my feet with the bottled water if I want. She is so upset that she has passed this attitude down to her children. She also said when the kids returned to school and the teacher asked the children to tell what the best part of there vacations where. Her first grader jumped up and shouted the swim up bar's. She wasn't to proud at that point. She's now looking at the Al thing in a whole new light.

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Old Mar 4th, 2003, 08:44 AM
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Oh please. We're talking about VACATIONS here. If you are upset that the kids loved the swim-up bar, enroll in the Peace Corp, give more to charity, chair a fundraisers do mission work, etc., but let the rest of us enjoy are hard earined vacations without the guilt trip!

I enjoy mine, and let my kids order lots of pina coladas too, and I do so with a clear conscience, since I know what others things I do to help those less fortunate.
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Old Mar 4th, 2003, 12:15 PM
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I think AIs are way overpriced unless you're a substantial drinker while on vacation. The food is pretty mediocre and starts to taste the same after a week. I've sometimes wondered if the average AI kitchen buys three giant buckets of premixed spices and mixes and matches these to flavor all the dishes that they churn out.

As for the "order a bunch of stuff and pick" way of dining, IMHO I get a bit embarrassed for people who do it, especially when their server may have trouble putting one good meal in front of his/her family per day. And why the need to pick when everything tastes generally the same anyways? The other reason why it bothers me is that because they like to waste food/drink, the non-wasters are essentially subsidizing their costs of waste because the resort will jack up the cost per stay to cover thrown away food.

I do like the AIs in the sense that everything's done for you and you don't have to worry about finding activities, restaurants or finding transportation to and from. But still it's "buffet" style - you may get as much as you want, but the quality will be lacking.

I've gone to AIs and will go again, but only for vacations where I just don't have the time to plan. I know i'm paying a premium for less, but the benefit is you get a relaxed vacation with no hassles. The key word for AIs is relaxation. AIs are not known for their gourmet dining or unique experiences. If the focus of your vacation is to eat or enjoy watersports, try another route.
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Old Mar 4th, 2003, 02:51 PM
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Sorry if I offended any one with my so-called wasteful ways. Howeve I do this at regular restaurants as well when I am paying. I am a small person and like to maybe tast a little fish, a little , chicken a little steak etc. There is no reason to limit yourself to one item of food.

By the way, I am probably one of the most politically/socially active peole you will ever meet. But come on, this is vacation for heaven sakes not a journey to better ourselves and children through social awareness. Are you telling me you have never in your life wated a morsel of food or ordered soemthing you found you didn't care for so that you ordered something else, wasting the first entree? Also it seems you have me mixed up with someone else. I never posted under the name "Kim" before. I was a regular poster before but did so under the name "Ang in Chicago" or jsut "ang".
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Old Mar 5th, 2003, 03:36 AM
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Sunlover, ordering 3 entrees is WAY over the line, just not the same as "wasting a morsel of food". I don't believe for a minute, that when you visit regular restaurants and pay by the entree, you order 3 entrees. I own a restaurant and I've NEVER seen anyone do this. More likely you order one entree, eat half, then complain and order another (comped) one, eh?

Can you name one or two AI's that actually "have 5-6 sitdown restaurants"?
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Old Mar 5th, 2003, 04:49 AM
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sunlover, I don't have you mixed up with someone else.
I may not have your name right, but you are the same person who posted on this topic last year and upset so many people.
The wording and the attitude are identical.
I'm amazed you see nothing wrong with this behavior.
You managed to dig your hole even deeper with your last post. I agree with Joan, and I don't believe you order additional entrees and pay for them.
My husband and I are fortunate to be able to eat dinner out 8 times a month at places ranging from inexpensive to top of the line.
I was raised that you DO NOT waste food.
I can honestly say that I have NEVER ordered more than one entree in my life (that's what buffets are for).
If I should eat somewhere and can't finish my food, I take the rest home and eat it for lunch or dinner the next day. There are many times I have made myself miserable over-eating so that I did not leave food on my plate, but that's the way I was raised.
There are people whose views differ from mine who post on this board, and I usually say nothing because they are entitled to their opinions just as I am to mine.
But I find your behavior so offensive, crass, crude, selfish, rude and thoughtless - not to mention just plain wrong - that I can't help but say so.
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