All-inclusive resorts, yay or nay?

Huge yay. Also, you can still explore if you stay at one, depending on where it is. You aren't under house arrest when you are there. Granted you might be wasting some money doing so, but it's fefdefinit an option.

I'm probably against the idea, personally. I imagine if I were to ever vacation, I'd want it to be specific to the local flavor, and not particularly curated. Who knows.

acheron_xl said:

I'm probably against the idea, personally. I imagine if I were to ever vacation, I'd want it to be specific to the local flavor, and not particularly curated. Who knows.

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I actually do both.

I've never been and will only consider it with the kids as I can see how it would be good to relax and not worry about them but without kids? No way, always have so much fun exploring and coming back with exciting tales of going off the trail or finding cool bars or restaurants or just plain experiencing new cultures.

Yay, buy only if you want to relax. You shouldn't go to one if you only want to explore countries.

Sometimes you just wanna unwind for a week.


Also, similarity, staying on resort at Disney with a deluxe meal plan is like being in your own little world for a week. I'd highly recommend it. Nothing else matters when you're there and it's amazing.

All inclusives are great for vacations where you just want to relax. Not every trip has to be an exploration extravaganza. I find those type of trips best when it's just adults as you get more value. Kids don't eat as much and can't drink alcohol so you don't see the return on investment like you do with adults. A lot of times my son will eat a banana and cereal for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch. You don't want to pay an all inclusive fee for that!

JealousKenny said:

All inclusives are great for vacations where you just want to relax. Not every trip has to be an exploration extravaganza. I find those type of trips best when it's just adults as you get more value. Kids don't eat as much and can't drink alcohol so you don't see the return on investment like you do with adults. A lot of times my son will eat a banana and cereal for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch. You don't want to pay an all inclusive fee for that!

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When I was a kid I ate like a starving Hippo in all inclusive resorts tbh
And no I was not the fat kid, quite thin actually

Make sure your kiddo eats big to dream big bro

tbh

HELLL YES. if you travel anywhere tropical etc. all inclusive is the way to do it.

Steelrain said:

My next vacation is going to be to an all inclusive in Aruba. I'm usually all about the cultural experience but I really just want to chill and decompress on a beach with drinks after a hectic year and a half . The big plus is having to worry about anything.

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I was in aruba a year ago. I can tell you I had a hell of a time on resort and off resort. Make friends with the workers at the resort.

We did the following that week:
Did a Party Bus( a kukoo kunuku),
Crashed a Party bus with a ton of the hotel workers and literally partied on the bus all around the island.
Did an ATV tour(i HIGHLY recommend doing this)
and on resort you cna have a hell of a time too.

After years and years of going on vacations with my girlfriend (then wife) and doing all of the booking and administrative tasks and organizing on our own, we were staunchly against the idea of going to any type of all-inclusive.

But a few years back, we went with some friends and it was an absolute blast... sitting back every day getting wasted by the swim-up bar and never having to worry about carrying our wallets around to pay for any extras.

So now we pretty much alternate from all-inclusive to 'do all the work your self'.

I think it's worth experiencing at least once, but I've found that it's cheaper to just buy food and drinks as needed.

Maybe it's better when you're older? Like, retirement older. My grandma seems to love these resorts, I don't see myself enjoying a trip to somewhere if I can't explore it and possibly get into a little trouble.

Give me a week at a 5* all inclusive resort in the sun somewhere and I'm happy.

It's nice to be able to pay your money up front and go away without having to worry about anything for once in a while.

Best vacation I ever had was at an all-inclusive resort.

Wife and I went to a Sandals resort for our honeymoon. Not a care in the world for a week. No carrying a wallet, nothing.

Perfect example: we were at dinner one night (steak and lobster, and it was delicious) and I was going to order a molten lava cake for dessert. The waiter said juatb1? My wife said yes, we will split it. I said no make it 2, why split when it's paid for already?

Eggs Benedict every morning for breakfast, drinks all day, choice of any restaurant and no pricing on the menus. It was awesome.

Just don't be lazy. You don't HAVE to get pampered. Walk up to the bar and order your drink yourself.

winjet81 said:

After years and years of going on vacations with my girlfriend (then wife) and doing all of the booking and administrative tasks and organizing on our own, we were staunchly against the idea of going to any type of all-inclusive.

But a few years back, we went with some friends and it was an absolute blast... sitting back every day getting wasted by the swim-up bar and never having to worry about carrying our wallets around to pay for any extras.

So now we pretty much alternate from all-inclusive to 'do all the work your self'.

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That's what I'm saying. If you are a big drinker on vacations there's nothing else like it. Most resorts have gambling to boot.

I won't go to a resort unless it has a swimup bar.

They are great. We usually do one every two years. 2016 we did Hard Rock Rivera Maya, and 2017 we went to Punta Cana. Previous one for me was in 2014, Cancun.

Perfect for relaxing and getting wasted. I always try to go out at least twice to see the sights or do something nice. Had a freaking blast. Trying to do one next year as well. I try to alternate between meaningful trips and lazy ones. Good balance :p

If I had a family, I'd probably like one of these things. Safety and comfort.

I have an explorer's heart myself so I wouldn't pay for one of these things while I'm unmarried. Hell, I go exploring my state every other weekend.

I did an all inclusive 6 years ago in Dominican Republic, and now its all I can do. I have been to 7 different resorts, key things, dont go cheap youll get what you pay for, and adults only resorts are worth their weight in gold.

Ive done them in both Punta Cana and Riviera Maya, I much prefer Mexico as theres actual things to do off resort, and the food is generally much better.

yay. Did an all inclusive in cozumel a while back. Unlimited drinks, food and room service was great

We love All-Inclusives. Both me and my wife almost exclusively go to All-Inclusives when going on holidays except when we travel to meet my parents in Portugal.

We try to do it every couple of years and it's been always for 2 weeks. It's an amazing feeling to be able to just set your mind free and not have to worry about anything.

I am personally a big fan of not having to take my wallet with me anywhere, not having to worry if we exchanged enough money, or using our card and the bank putting extra fees.

It really all depends on everyones personalities but for us it works incredibly well, in fact we just booked a couple of months ago another 2 week all-inclusive to Turkey.

It ended up costing about £1300 + Insurance (£20 for both using a comparison website) + £100 exchanged money (we got it on one of the GBP/Lira peaks), and to be honest, that's really not that far away from what it would cost for other people to go for 2 weeks on holiday anywhere with Hotel + Food and Drinks everyday + Entertainment + Insurance + Exchanged money.

You get a different level of appreciation from the people working at resorts usually, they remember what you like, they go out of their way to make your day as well.

If boredom is something you are concerned with, you can always be part of the entertainment provided by the resort, go on excursions, do some water sports, or if none of that appeals to you, you can go and travel outside the hotel to the local scene, maybe the nearby town and check the local places like museums, restaurants and so on.

We are not heavy drinkers, or even light drinkers to be honest, we just occasionally have cocktails but the ability to have whatever you want whenever you want without having to worry about paying for it is mind blowing to me to this day.

I am a huge.. HUGE fan of food, so to me being able to eat whenever i want, whatever i want is amazing.

Last year we got every early afternoon for lunch some fresh pizzas cooked in a massive oven in front of us at the Pool Bar and sometimes we had it by the pool, but occasionally we took it to the beach which was just a few steps away.

- Eating everyday to this background never got old
- Pizza by the Pool
- Pizza by the Pool
- Beach

Again, for us it makes perfect sense price wise for the amount of time we get, plus no worries about food and drinks. It's really not far off what travelling would cost with meals everyday anyhow.

I mean it depends on what you want. If you want to experience the culture and lifestyle of another place...then don't go to an all-inclusive resort. That's not what they're for; they're the white-washed, 'Disneyfied' vacation destinations. Which can be fine too. I went to an all inclusive in Punta Cana and had a great time smashing mamajuana shots for hours on end at the pool and then stuffing my face at the hotel buffet. At the end of the day though, it barely felt like I had left America.

I feel you, OP. I cannot really unwind in those types of places. I'm all for the exploring of towns, staying in small cabins or small bed and breakfasts, and trying lots of new things.

But I get that not everyone unwinds the same way. Parks and Rec illustrated the need for personalization of treating yourself perfectly.

We stayed at an all inclusive this february in Cancun. It was insane and it was nice not having to worry about food, we got drunk every night and had a suite with a fucking balcony that overlooked the ocean. We could fit like 50 people on that bitch. It was amazing.

I prefer a cruise. I nevee went to a All Inclusive. But its nice to no hace to care for food.

It all depends on what you are looking for in a specific vacation.

If you want to get to know a country and see the sights then no.

However, if your primary aim is to relax, rest, and decompress then an all inclusive is great.

Clay said:

I just felt so lazy the whole time. I guess it's cool being able to hang out by a pool with a view of a gorgeous beach and order all the alcohol and food that you want, but it got old really fast. We only stayed for four days and I was ready to leave by about the middle of the third. I'm not used to being pampered and served on like that, and a lot of the time I didn't even see the point. I watched a ton of people have staff bring them drinks from a bar that was 20 feet away. I just don't see how that's cool or desirable or worth the vacation time..

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I don't understand. The only difference is you pay for food and drinks upfront. What difference does it make otherwise to what you spend your time doing? I mean I guess if someone is so obsessed with eating and drinking as much as possible every day for the costs to be worth it they do nothing but sit around the resort and eat and drink that's dumb but that depends strictly on the person.

Anyway I've been to various all-inclusives. Some were kind of shitty but most recently I was in Dominican Republic at a place called Paradisus at Palma Real and that was fucking LEGIT. Expensive as hell but we got the rooms using points so at least that was covered. The food was fantastic and the bartenders were all hilarious and did NOT skimp on the alcohol. There are also like 6 restaurants on the property and those you pay for separately but those were also excellent.

Every other day we'd leave to do a trip/excursion/activity. Good times.

I'm not a fan because the quality of the food and drink are usually average.

I would say YAY.

I wouldn't want every holiday I take to be an all inclusive one. But when you literally just want to go away somewhere and totally relax for a week they're great. Don't have to worry about taking money out with you, its totally acceptable to drink through the day, it was a lot of fun. I would say if you're going to do all inclusive, you may as well go all out and do at least a 4 star resort, or even 5. Drink is drink wherever you go, but the better the resort, the higher the level of food. Also research before you pick, the majority of all inclusive resorts are set up for families, if you're going as just a couple you want to find a place that's either adults only, or has a dedicated adult area.

You act like an all inclusive resort forces you to never leave the resort. While you *can* stay at the resort the entire time, you don't have to.

Seems like many others feel that you can't leave the resort as well, did people feel that they didn't have a choice in the matter?

I was at one in Riviera Maya 2 weeks ago and I thought it was fantastic. Granted it was the weekend after Labor Day, so it wasn't as crowded.

I've been to one. I found it kinda boring - I'd pretty much prefer any other type of holiday over an all inclusive resort.

Yay yay yay, it's hard to go back once you've done it. It was way more relaxing as everything is taken care of.

Definite yay. My entire life is planning, work, scheduling. It's really nice to stay at one of these and just not have to worry about anything. Have free drinks while you wade in the pool or walk to a nearby beach.

And again, you can still explore. When my wife and I were staying in Cancun, we rented a car for a day and went to some temples. It was great.

I've done it once, during a destination wedding. My one friend kept bragging, "Oh man, you can get TWO lobsters if you want! How amazing."

Yeah, well, to nobody's surprise, the food was awful and the portion sizes were laughably small.

Obviously not all "all inclusive" hotels have lousy food, but yikes, it was bad enough to turn me away from them for a long, long time.

Every time I've been travelling in the last five years, it's been "travelling" not a "vacation". Absolutely slammed itineraries, thousands of kilometres of driving, packing shit all over the place and untold fathoms of walking.

I don't regret any of my travels because I've seen and experienced a lot of cool shit, but I did an all inclusive in Cuba (which I wouldn't exactly recommend) and I sure would like to just sit on a beach and do fucking nothing for a week at this point in time.

I'm doing my first all inclusive resort holiday in a few months.

I'm looking forward to doing nothing and drinking my weight in beer.

The one time I did it I was impressed by how much other people there wanted to get out and actually see the place. That said, most were awful and I lack self control so given more than a week would probably have actually died of alcohol poisoning.

All inclusive resorts are my ideal vacation. I don't want to go anywhere, except the hotel, when I travel. So it's perfect

They are great for beach towns, islands, ski/mountain resorts, etc. Basically places where there might not be much to do but check out the beautiful scenery. I would never do it somewhere like Europe, Japan, Brazil, etc. Places that have a ton of culture and historical sites. They are also great if you have kids.

Depends where you're going. If I go to Spain or something, I wanna be able to walk down the beach at night and go to different restaurants and bars. So I'll just get the room and breakfast. Then pay to eat in the hotel a night or two if their set up is nice.

When I went to Egypt earlier this year, unless you're going on an excursion scuba diving or something, you REALLY don't want to leave the resort too much.There's literally nothing there and you don't wanna be out at night. So all inclusive makes sense. Plus unlimited pina coladas from swim up bars at the pool (despite how watered down drinks in all inclusive places are) was sweet.

What do you do at those? Like, when you're on vacation and you wake up in the morning and you go "today we're doing/seeing x" what is the x in this case?

Yay. Having food, shops, and entertainment all in the same place makes for a very relaxing vacation, and when you travel with a group of 10+ people, that convenice is really the only way to vacation.

Combination... I'll stay at an all inclusive for all the right reasons but also cab into local towns or go sight seeing etc etc.. But not having to worry about meals etc.. is a fucking nice. Also, resorts like this are often very secure if you visit less secure countries.

DoggosPuppersWoofers said:

What do you do at those? Like, when you're on vacation and you wake up in the morning and you go "today we're doing/seeing x" what is the x in this case?

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Most all inclusives I've been to have private beaches, sometimes 2 or 3 private beaches. Several pools, golf courses.. all included and all private to resort guests only. This means you can take a vacation to an island and literally go to some private ass beach where its dead quiet and do jack shit if thats what you want.

If you want to leave the resort and go in town or go sight seeing, do it. But your food, activies and private secure location waits for you back at the resort. For millions of people, vacationing isn't about seeing the sights or traveling. Sometimes its just about doing absolutely NOTHING, and unwinding from a long year of work back home.

Yay for times we just want to relax. Getting away for 5-7 days, not worrying about travel, not worrying about hotels, not worrying about meals is great.

Going to another country to stay at a resort...

Cocolina said:

It's great for old people

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I'm going next week. We have a child now and everything else in another country is more work then staying at home to be honest.

Plan is to get a car and make trips whenever we feel like it. Like a hub from wich we go from. If we are hungry and did not find anything interesting -> back to the hub and eat etc.

A small child could not give more of a shit about exploring cultures if it gets to tired,bored or hungry on the way. We did that kind of thing last year in Mauritius and it was not feeling like holiday tbh.

I completely depends on what you want out of a vacation.

My wife and I went to Puerto Vallarta earlier this year for a week at an all-inclusive. Our lives had been stressed to the max for the past 14 months leading up to that moment (Cancer sucks, by the way). So we went with a group of friends; 6 of us in total.

We spent most of the time at the resort, but we totally got into the dumb pool games with the staff. I played beach volleyball every single day and I loved it. Rented a jet ski and got up to 55mph on that thing. Went off the resort way up in the mountains to do some zip lines. And drank a LOT of alcohol.

We even decided to treat outselves and got a suite at the hotel. I've never felt like such royalty. I have a video of the room I'm uploading right now so you can see it.

All in all, for 2 people, the entire trip cost us $2300. That's plane tickets, transportation to the resort, and of course all the food and booze you could want.

We stayed at the Riu Palace if anyone is curious, and I highly recommend it. It's the third all inclusive we had been to and by far my favorite.



Edit: In contrast, a lot of my cousins tried to do the cancun thing a couple of times and while they each got down there for about $1200, by the time they got back, they had spent closer to $4000.

I spent $2300 on the trip and brought $400 in pocket money and came back with $140.

I love them. I have enough excitement living in NYC and nothing makes me happier than soaking up some sun, swimming in beautiful crystal clear water and ordering up all the drinks I want. And nothing says you have to stay on the resort. Most will have a concierge that will arrange for a tour of the area or various other excursions.

DoggosPuppersWoofers said:

What do you do at those? Like, when you're on vacation and you wake up in the morning and you go "today we're doing/seeing x" what is the x in this case?

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Nothing. Some people enjoy vacations where they aren't packed with tasks/things to do. They just want to sit on a beach, enjoy a good book and have someone bring free pina coladas all day.

I feel you OP. After like 2 days I'm done. But I get why people do like those kind of places. Great spot for a honeymoon/wedding.