I read an article in the Guardian about the All-inclusive holiday making a big comeback. People are feeling the financial pinch these days and they want cheap vacations. And before I crap on All-inclusives, I also see many of the advantages to having an All-inclusive holiday. I had a couple of friends who were going to Cuba and they picked the bottom-of-the-barrel of All-inclusives. It had a large lobby where prostitutes hung out. The food was horrible and you could be guaranteed that whatever showed up for dinner also found its way into the breakfast and lunch menus.
All of us ended up getting diarrhea at some point during our stay. It was cheap. For a young guy looking for a holiday in the sun it was fine. Many years later I took my son to an All-inclusive, again in Varadero. There were a lot of families and Benjamin had fun, making a lot of friends and spending most of his time playing with them in the pool.
I, on the other hand, was bored shitless after a day. I hung around with other parents, blabbing and probably drinking more than I should have. But I was doing it for my son and he had a great time. So if you have young kids, All-inclusives are a good, hassle-free option. My last time at an All-inclusive was in with Lissette. I was stressed out from work and needed a vacation of doing nothing except getting away from the job. Very nice place with no kids to stress me out.
And although the idea of just getting away from work sounded good, we got bored within 2 days. I found myself stewing over work which was counter-productive β I think I got back home more fed up than ever. As you see above, All-inclusives run the gamut of options and budgets.
But what they all offer, in the end, is a hassle-free holiday. Unless you have a lot of add-ons like special tours or activities that you have to pay for , All-inclusives are generally cheaper than independent travel.
