All inclusive or self catering

Thegoodwife

We're considering all inclusive this year but I'm worried about tie-ing ourselves to the hotel? Anyone gone this route and loved it / hated it? We're 2 adults and 3 kids.

K.Flyer

Did A/I about 12 years ago when kids (2) were young and you would need lots of drinks, snacks and ice cream etc for them (and yourself). To be honest it worked out very well that time as we were not doing much of the sight seeing thing at the time as they were to young to endure all day in a coach or on a boat.
Since they got a bit older and interested in things and places we have gone S/C all the time as we never knew where we would be from one day to the next eating on the fly.
I suppose it depends on the age and requirements of your children.
If you dont plan ventureing too far from the complex for meals etc it can be worth it to go A/I. But having looked at A/I prices earlier this year for the hell of it, I thought it looked very expensive.
You should compare similar accomodations in same resort, deduct S/C price from A/I price and ask yourself would you spend that difference on food, snacks and drinks during your holiday.
Use TripAdvisor.com to find out more about the hotels in the resort and information on the local restaurants and their typical prices, then do the math.

Best of Luck.

Thegoodwife

K.Flyer wrote: »

Did A/I about 12 years ago when kids (2) were young and you would need lots of drinks, snacks and ice cream etc for them (and yourself). To be honest it worked out very well that time as we were not doing much of the sight seeing thing at the time as they were to young to endure all day in a coach or on a boat.
Since they got a bit older and interested in things and places we have gone S/C all the time as we never knew where we would be from one day to the next eating on the fly.
I suppose it depends on the age and requirements of your children.
If you dont plan ventureing too far from the complex for meals etc it can be worth it to go A/I. But having looked at A/I prices earlier this year for the hell of it, I thought it looked very expensive.
You should compare similar accomodations in same resort, deduct S/C price from A/I price and ask yourself would you spend that difference on food, snacks and drinks during your holiday.
Use TripAdvisor.com to find out more about the hotels in the resort and information on the local restaurants and their typical prices, then do the math.

Best of Luck.

Thanks for your reply - it was very helpful! We were thinking that way alright - kids are 9, 7 and 4 and I don't think we'll be doing much trips. So now we're stuck in the peurto del carmen v's costa teguise argument. Have been to CT before but the ai hotel ticks all the boxes and is just within budget. When we had more money we never put so much thought into it! I suppose this way is better.

K.Flyer

Carefully read through the sections detailing what IS included for each hotel, All Inclusive can vary greatly from one hotel to the next. Especially where children are involved you need to watch out for drinks, snacks, ice cream etc etc being available through most of the day and not being too restrictive, e.g. if one of the kids goes and gets an ice cream and drops it after opening it, there should be no problem getting another one. (or a fly lands in your drink, you just go get another one). Also try to check if they have a varied menu and they are not serving up the same thing too often.
What you are looking out for is the word "un-limited" on just about everything food and drink wise during the day. (alcohol may have certain restrictions.)
Otherwise if its in budget it can make for a very enjoyable holiday because you are not having to think about how much your spending during the day.

tatli_lokma

It depends on where you are going too - we go AI in Tunisia because quite frankly most of the restaurants serve the same food as the hotels! So it is convenient and works out quite cheap when you factor in drinks and extras such as the sun loungers on the beach, snacks for kids, some even give free beauty treatments. But as K.Flyer says, check what is available and ask for recommendations. Some places have time restrictions on the drinks etc. Egypt is also a good place for AI as the quality is usually very good. We had HB in Malta and only because it was only €30 pps more than B&B! but having said that I am glad we didn't bother with AI because it wasn't great foodwise.

I probably wouldn't go AI in Turkey for example - food and drinks, snacks eating out is really cheap, so unless you were getting the deal at the right price, its not really any saving.

The main thing about AI when you have kids is convenience. If there is only a difference between prices of say €100/200 pps for a week then you will surely make your money back. If it is double or more then it might not be worth the extra expense.

Do your research first - not just on the reviews on Tripadvisor, but also in the forums.

Fratton Fred

AI really depends on the hotel. The last time I did it (Luabay in Costa teguise) the food was good, but more or less the same every day. Plenty of ice cream/ slushies for kids though and it was handy during the day.

CT has lots of child friendly restaurants though, so eating out there is very good.

tatli_lokma

IF you do go AI bring your own plastic beakers! that is my top tip! Around the pool most hotels understandably give plastic cups...but when we were on AI in Bulgaria the cups were literally thimble sized! it started to actually get embarrassing having to go up so frequently for soft drinks and water! so we bought water bottles for the water and plastic beakers for the soft drinks!

And I have heard of some AI packages not giving bottled water - or if they do only small bottles. So check that out too before booking!

Thegoodwife

Little Ted wrote: »

IF you do go AI bring your own plastic beakers! that is my top tip! Around the pool most hotels understandably give plastic cups...but when we were on AI in Bulgaria the cups were literally thimble sized! it started to actually get embarrassing having to go up so frequently for soft drinks and water! so we bought water bottles for the water and plastic beakers for the soft drinks!

And I have heard of some AI packages not giving bottled water - or if they do only small bottles. So check that out too before booking!

Wow guys (I'm assuming you are both guys) that was really helpful! As we're going to puerto del Carmen I think we'll just go sc

yer man!

Thegoodwife wrote: »

Wow guys (I'm assuming you are both guys) that was really helpful! As we're going to puerto del Carmen I think we'll just go sc

It can be kinda fun browsing around local supermarkets and trying some new stuff for a change. Interesting cereals and pastries...etc. In a few places I stayed before I never ate in the hotel as it was always the same boring food everyday, I'd always recommend S/C but that's just me.

tatli_lokma

yer man! wrote: »

It can be kinda fun browsing around local supermarkets and trying some new stuff for a change.

Yeah it's like Lidl used to be in the good old days before they had an english translation on their packaging!

PS @Thegoodwife, I am a Laaaady *shakes fist indignantly*

Thegoodwife

and now it turns out that some friends are going the same time so the all inclusive idea is definitly gone out the window.