lynwestie wrote:

As a family , A/I for us every time but I wont do cheap unless it comes under the "decent at a bargain category"

I could not agree more Lyn. Its false economy to scrimp on an AI hotel as usually the poor quality will see you heading out for meals and paying twice. This happened to a lad at work this year, he booked a cheap well known AI in Alcudia and payed the price for not taking advice.

We have done both s/c and AI, as most people have said not many people do all meals in the apartment so if you are going to cook breakfast and then lunch and then dine out for your evening meal this is not fully s/c. As we only get one holiday a year we do not want to be tied to the kitchen sink for 14 days we do this at home for the rest of the year! We did enjoy AI as we can drink , mainly soft drinks all day without having to keep an eye on the spending money.My other gripe with people who dismiss AI because they do not get to visit the area that they are visiting, most people who are not on AI frequent their favorite food/watering holes so do not spread their wealth that far anyway however it is the choice of the individual what they do.

Regards
Alan

Summer will be interesting for us- as we are going AI, which I vowed I wouldn't do again as I liked the choice of going where I wanted at night. We are off to Playacar in Mexico but couldn't find a SC place with good enough reviews which cost less than AI- which is bizarre. So we booked AI on a gorgeous stretch of beach and we won't treat it as AI for evenings. We will go out as often as we want. Our hotel has good reviews as well.
I can see the attraction of AI, particularly for families with young children.

We did S/C after years of AI and to be honest I would go back to AI. We were in Cyprus and apart from the local taverna, everywhere else was either very expensive or wasn't somewhere we'd take the kids. A meal in Paphos harbour, nothing special, 1 course with a drink each set us back 80 euros, a 'cheap' meal at the local at least 60. Over 2 weeks it amounts to a lot, so we cooked at least every third night to stretch the budget and that was on top of buying in for lunch and breakfast.

I absolutely love A.I. Don't need to worry about meals or drinks or whether our money is sufficient. One must for us is that it must not be less than 4* and so far, we have never been disappointed.

I have never tried all inclusive and the thought of being tied to one hotel or chain of sister hotels ect puts me right off! The holidays I like are ones where I can get up when I'm ready ie 6am or 10am. And not have to rush off for breakfast then have to return from where I have ventured to that morning for lunch then rush back for evening meal. My holiday is all about discovery of out the way places local culture eating where locals eat, sometimes real basic up in the mountains or a realy up market resturant, but ultimately it's my choice where, what and how, not eat and drink as much as poss of the same things because I feel I've paid for it! Watching people in the past who stuff there faces, dive to the buffet and even argue about how much they can take realy has put me off! But, it all depends on what you constitute to be your type of hol if you don't like being out and about and happy to stay within easy reach of your base I'm sure you would love all inclusive.

I think the whole point of AI is you can get up at 6am or 10am whenever you want really. Can't see why you cant if you are AI anymore than on your kind of 'adventure' holiday. It's just a stereotype to describe something as for 'people who stuff their faces, dive to the buffet and argue about how much they can eat ', if you have never been AI I'm not sure how would know this anyway ? Have taken numerous holidays over the years including AI, Safaris, travelled most of Europe by boat, train & other forms of public transport, luxury villas, camped, ski-ing all sorts of stuff really.
Taking one kind of hoilday does not automatically debare you from enjoying another kind, unless you are a person with very little imagination.

Doe

If you read my post again you will see that I didn't say all people stuffed there faces I said my experience was of seeing this as I was at a hotel that had all inclusive guests as well as bed and breakfast and sc and saw first hand a family like this that caused a lot of upset amongst other guests so I was giving my personal view of what I had seen. I have been on many many different type of holidays and yes as you say all are different and we would be very dull if we didn't try the variety of things available to us, but this one incident had personally put me off going al. I know lots of people who love there al hols but just to tied for my personal taste! I apologise if my post led you to believe that all people who went on al hols to be like this, this was not my intention.

I have only been on two AI holidays and the one hotel was better than the other , bith of these hotels on the Costa Brava but different resorts , i would not rule out going AI again if i went further a field , i suppose you have to do your research for AI the same as when booking any hotel accommodation , the worse hotel out of the two we went on was a AOA definately a case of you " pays your money and takes a chance "

For us, both have their advantages and disadvantages, and it depends on our destination, which we'd choose. If it was somewhere far flung like the Carribbean, then I'd choose AI every time, but for places closer to home like Greece and Spain, then it would be SC or B & B. I will admit that if I've paid for a decent AI, then I'd grudge paying out again when I got there. I don't mind a walk out and about, or a trip or drink or two, but I certainly wouldn't want to be paying for meals out. My European holidays center on eating the local food, jumping on public transport e.t.c so for this I find SC best. My son has 4 children, so AI would be the only way he could afford to go - that's when he can afford to go anywhere

I won't cook when we're abroad - I want to get away from all the domestic drudgery so we prefer to go half board. We've done quite a few Lakes & Mountains holidays over the last few years where packed lunches have been included which has saved us quite a bit of cash though - it's also more convenient when you're out walking anyway. On beach based holidays we try to stay in 'Aparthotels' so we can make our own lunch and store some drinks in the fridge etc. We generally self-cater in the UK as it keeps costs down and I don't mind cooking so much when I've been able to take some of my 'home comforts' with me.

We only ever do SC as we like the freedom of being able to eat where we want, when we want and not be tied to eating at the same hotel for 14 days and nights. I don't like being in the hotel all the time so it would drive me crazy to have to eat there for 3 meals a day every day, we love to walk around the town and try different places to eat. We also like to be able to get out and about away from the resort.

I know a lot of people say with children they prefer AI but as ours tend to drink water 90% of the time we aren't spending a fortune on soft drinks. Neither me nor my husband are big drinkers either, we like a couple of glasses of wine or a beer but that is it. In an apartment you have a fridge so you can stock up of drinks anyway and we love having the space in a villa or apartment. Our children love trying out different restaurants anyway and we would never leave them at a kids club or anything.

I also think that cheap AI is really a false economy as you always get what you pay for in these circumstances and I would hate to go on holiday and eat awful food for the whole time! To get a good class of AI hotel you need to pay for it so it does work out expensive, booking an apartment and eating out can work out cheaper in the end.

Some people also seem to think that if you go SC you have to cook - I don't cook on holiday but we do like to have some bread, cheese, fruit, salad etc. so we can breakfast and also lunch at home some days. Cooking full meals on holiday - no way