Is it worth your while going all inclusive?

As the title says or would you be missing out on too much if you did?

I think familys need to budget more, It can get expensive eating out etc,  

For families yes , for a couple generally no

I've got to say, I don't think we could afford AI for a family of 5. And I would think that we were missing out on a lot of Tenerife staying in the hotel every night. And if you did venture out, it would feel like you're wasting money. Just my opinion

I've never done it so cant say, I know when we were younger bringing up a family we had to watch the pennies, We usually organised the whole thing start to finnish, Never went abroad until the youngest was 10, Skint beginings  

I would not go AI. My reasons are I like to explore the places I stay in and do not want to be stuck to one place.

Many who go ai are fed up of same shite food and crap entertainment after a couple if days and it costs them more. Not saying all are but I meet many at the bar who come from various.

If you want all inclusive go on a cruise. All inclusive is for dangerous places like Puerto Rica and Jamaica. Too fecking far anyway and full of Yanks, nah.

i would agree - wouldn't use AI in tenerife cos you will be missing out
used it for maldives cos you are stuck in one place anyway and would use it for other "resort-only" holidays where it's not safe to go anywhere else

What we accept here as A.I. does not really cut the mustard. in Mexico for instance in a reasonable 4 star hotel you would have a bar in your room with a selection of premium spirits in an optics gantry ,the mini-bar would be stocked with beers soft drinks mixers and mineral water.
Food is available 24 hours per day wherever you want it ,if you fancy lunch on the beach just call a waiter and it is brought to you on your sunbed, nothing is too much trouble, out of hours there is the 24 hour restaurant, where if you want a bottle of wine to drink in your room it is available any time.
We have been many times and this has been our experience in 4 star resorts as for 5 star ! that is a completely different story

We stayed at the Sandos San Blas in August for a week AI with friends and it was actually cheaper than booking flights and accommodation separately; it also didn't stop us from getting out and about, they were happy for us to have lunch packs if we wanted a day of the complex and they had a free shuttle bus service from there to Parque Santiago 3 twice a day, everyday.

We normally book our flights and accommodation separately and do our own thing but we didn't find ourselves constrained by the AI package at all and if we were coming out again on our own, we would actually go AI rather than self catering.

We have friends who were out the fortnight before us on a self arranged holiday and their 2 weeks cost them over £2500 before they paid for any food and drink - 2 weeks at the Sandos for the same 2 weeks would have been about £1600 each AI.

The food and entertainment were absolutely brilliant all week and their entertainment package is scheduled on a rolling 2 week plan so that people who stay for more than a week don't have to watch the same shows again the second week.

We stayed ina 4 star AI in Cancun. Have to say it was the bee's knees. We found it claustrophobic after the 1st week. Also, the yanks were tipping at least a dollar with every drink throughout the day ( water, soft drinks or beer). Even going to the toilet, there was a guy there holding the door open, turning on the tap, basket of complimentary after shave etc. Only trouble was the yanks tipped him as well. I reckon we were going through 30 dollars a day in tips alone. After the second day, I told the staff I would leave a big tip at the end of our stay instead of this constant drip feed.

This comment was made by a friend who is an entertainer.  He said it back in Sept so I doubt thing will have changed much

I just thought I'd share something about a hotel where I work here in Tenerife. I'm not going to give the name for reasons you'll see later. I've purposely left posting this for a while, so that those who know me won't be able to "guess" which one it is. When I work there, I eat in the hotel restaurant before the show and drink in the hotel bar afterwards, so I get to see more of the "client experience" than in most places I work.

This particular hotel is not AI for most of the time. They only take AI bookings for a few weeks a year, during peak season, and are only totally AI for the last two weeks of August. (Not sure why...)

Prior to peak season, I have always been incredibly impressed with the standards in this hotel. The food is fantastic, the staff are friendly, professional, and can't do enough to make the guests welcome, and the animation team are one of the best on the island. All-in-all it's a great place to stay and well deserving of its enviable almost year-round full occupancy. (The reason why I wouldn't want to "name and shame!)

Anyway, the last gig I did there was during that two-week period when they are fully AI. The first thing I noticed was instead of the usual three helpful, smiling people at reception, there was one totally overwhelmed young girl. Next, I went up to the restaurant to find that the usual quality fresh food had been replaced with "packet slop". Gone were the nice steaks and chicken breasts on the plancha, giving way instead to cheap chicken "wings" and something which resembled shoe-leather. The usual lovely selection of pasta sauces had become a single bowl of "Napolitano" (Basically, just tomato & onion with no meat), and the fresh vegetables had been replaced with frozen. Gone also were some of the desserts, most noticeably the higher quality ones, such as the chocolate truffles. Notable, also, that the table service was slower and altogether less friendly, and I could only see one chef working the grills, where there are usually two or three. The whole staff and the entire animation team seemed completely demoralised and miserable...

This from just doing AI for TWO WEEKS A YEAR! If that is the effect it has on such a good hotel in such a short space of time, I can only imagine how much quality has been lost in those hotels which do AI year-round!

I have been in the Carribean, which was cracking and Europe which was 5star shite.

Well Hawking is against it...

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Sumat wrong with him

No he is OK, I know he is Scottish but you can´t hold that against him.

Meant Hawkins

Mcqueen wrote:Meant Hawkins

No you didn't 

     Scottish? Didnt know that. Difficult to tell by the accent. Thought he was a Cambridge dude.

Yip he's from down that part of the planet somewhere...

I go to LIDLS and eat at home . i never eat food made by min wage staff normally from countries with major health problems ...

we have his lifestory on ZKTV VOD at the moment