|
I have to disagree with the last reply. All-inclusives are *not*
necessarily a waste of money. I just got back from Cancun and stayed at
the Cancun Palace, which offered an All-inclusive plan, which we did.
Now, to me, there are severak reasons why going all-inclusive is not a
waste of money:
1) First, going all-inclusive at this hotel only added $180 to
the trip price per person - about $26 a day. (Our all-inclusive
deal also included two free tours - which ranged in price from
$30 - $65)
2) We did not go to Cancun for the food. We went there to relax,
party and have fun. Eating was only a necessity that needed
to be done in order to survive. The last thing we felt like
doing was trudging out every morning, noon and evening to find
some food - especially since there were 7 of us, and it seemed
to take an eternity to get everyone ready to head out anywhere!
Also, I found the food at the hotel to be very good. One person
in the group found it to be fair to poor, and the rest found it
to be good.
3) Convenience. I could walk up to any of the bars or restaurants
(and snack huts) and order anything I wanted - and didn't have
to worry about signing any little form to bill it to my room -
which the guests who were not all-inclusive had to do. And, during
the average day, I would say I made an average of 15-20 trips to
the bar or restaurants. For the group I was with, we would have
averaged spending between $70-$80 per day between the drinks
and food we had every day at the hotel)
4) Our all-inclusive included some watersports - windsurfing, kayaking,
etc. Because of this, we did some of these activities - which
we definitely would not have done if they had not been free.
5) Contrary to what everyone says - *not* all food in Cancun is cheap.
*Some* food down there is cheap - but some food seemed expensive.
And drinks - *definitely* expensive (unless the only place you
buy a drink is in the many tiny bars that never have any activity -
there you can get a beer for about a dollar (7-8 pesos)) But,
at the bigger (and more famous) places, drinks ranged anywhere from
14-48 pesos ($2-$7) and mixed drinks from 30-68 pesos ($4-$8) -
this is not my idea of cheap drinks. (The 48 pesos beers and 68
pesos mixed drink prices are from Senor Frog's where they give
you a half-yard glass)
6) One final note - our all-inclusive included all gratuities - so
we were not constantly hounded every time we got a drink or
some food (which we definitely encountered when we went out to
some of the bars and clubs) But, at the end of the week, we did
tip our maid (same one each day, we checked) and a few of the
bartenders (the ones who were nice - there were some who were
not)
So, if you are going on vacation with the idea of sampling the native
cuisine at the many restaurants, or do not plan on spending any time lounging
around your hotel - don't go all-inclusive. However, if you plan to spend
a fair amount of time just relaxing at your hotel, and do not really care
what type of food you will eat, I would definitely say go all-inclusive. It
really is not that much more expensive, and to me, at least, the convenience
it offers outweighs the small price increase. (As a side note, I spent $200
while I was down there - going out to bars and clubs and buying some souvenirs-
while I had friends who went down the week before and stayed at the Holiday
Inn (not all-inclusive) and spent between $400-$600 for the week)
As for the group of friends I went with, we decided that we will always
go all-inclusive unless the price difference is incredibly high - and we
are already planning next year's vacation....
-rob
|