Anyone gone to an all-inclusive resort?

[SierraStar]

Hi ladies!
I'm looking into planning a vacation to an all inclusive resort and wanted to hear from those of you who have been.
What were the pros/cons that you experienced?
Which resort did you stay at?
Thanks,
Carmen

[kk junebug]

we honeymooned at an all-inclusive, The RIU Palace in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico...and LOVED IT!

i know that AI's aren't for everyone. but we totally enjoyed it. our resort was HUGE w/2 pools, swim-up bars, etc. they also offered other watersport activities, but we basically lounged by the pool or on the beach all day, so we didnt really utilize those services.

what DH and I liked the most was the ability to eat/drink whenever we wanted for "free"...we didnt have to worry about carrying money around. and the food at our hotel was good! i've heard complaints by some people that the food variety gets old after a while, and while i can see that happening..i also didnt have too much trouble being creative w/buffets.

if you have a laid back attitude, and go w/the flow, i think AI's are a great deal. especially if you like the occasional cocktail :)

[dizylizy]

We stayed at a Sandals for our honeymoon- Ocho Rios. Loved it! we spent a lot of money on excursions and had a great time. the food was good if a bit on the greasy/oily side. but loved the rum balls! loved the idea of drinking, easting as muvh as we wanted on the resort and not worrying about getting back to the room. we could even go to other Sandals resorts. swim up bars, beach, 4 resturants,a piano bar, three pools on site, and the activity directors had lots of things for people to do. plus, scuba diving lessons included and some water craft to use...
I say go for it.
my cousin has gone to Beaches and Sandals 4 times!

[pocahontas]

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE AIs. We honeymooned at Beaches Curacao which is a little known treasure among All-Inclusives. It was gorgeous and we had a great time.
PROS
Drinks morning, noon, and night. :p
Three great restaurants included which featured Italian, Japanese and American cuisine (the American one had a breakfast buffet every morning that was YUMM!)
Nightly entertainment ranging from mariachi bands to karioke to an outdoor circus right outside OUR room! (Others had to walk over from their rooms to see it but we just sat on the balcony and watched!)
Free snorkeling
Scuba lessons w/dive afterward included! (Couldn't beat that for DH! He was set on doing this.)
Did I mention free daquiris for breakfast, lunch and dinner?;)

CONS
Rooms were a little antiquated...could use a little updating and fashion sense to bring them out of the 70s. LOL
Spa was extra (but I heard that is with most resorts...we paid for a couples massage, pedicure and facial regardless. So we were undaunted. :) )

As you can see my PROS list vastly outweights my cons and what's more is I think that list would have grown if we'd actually taken the shuttle out off the resort into the town but alas, we couldn't seem to muster the energy for all that...it was our honeymoon afterall. :D DH would like to go back at some point...so maybe then.

[pride&prejudice]

We went to Secrets Excellence Rivera Maya, just south of Cancun, Mexico. We LOVED it! We went for our honeymoon, and also our 1 year anniversary/summar vacay.

PROS
- Drinks all day long, and we could try new drinks
- Meals included
- Seating for meals, you just went. Friends of ours went to one in Cancun where they had to pick their dinner place in the morning. We like this where we could just randomly decide.
- Pool right outside room. This was our one splurge to ourselves and we will probably always wind up doing it. They have swim up rooms where you have a little yard and the pool that circles the place is at the end of that, make sense?
- Entertainment
- All types of activities ranging from Tequila Volleyball to Beach Party
- The best service I have ever had. I seriously got spoiled, becuase the people who work there bend over backwards for you. I went to and AI in the continental US, and got so upset becuase of the service, but then realized that it was probably on par, but I was spoiled in Mexico. :p
- Good "bang for the buck". What we paid for the whole package was just phenominal.
- You could do excursions. We did a lot on our honeymoon, but ont eh next trip it was more of a week of relaxation. Also, they had the bad hurricane not long after our honeymoon, and the prices of the excursions have gone up a little from that.
- It was right next to the quaintest little Mexican Fishing village. It sounds funny, but I loved the village. Plus, they had a grocery store where I could get tequila to take back to the states that wasn't marked up. :p

CONS
- The second year we got stuck in the "noisy" section. Basiclaly our room was on the corner near where all the activities were. It wasn't too bad but the first year we had it in the spa section and it was soooo quiet.
- Non couples. I have noooo problem with people goign to AIs. However, it is funny when they come to one that "specializes" in a couples vacation and they get upset when the people won't cater to large groups. We had not problem with them, its just that alot of them made huge stinks when they didn't get their way.

We really didn't have too many cons on our list, we just loved it way too much. I've already told DH that I would love to go back for our 5 year anniversary. :o

[KrissyCat7]

We have been to two all inclusives (Aventura Palace, Starfish Trelawny) and we will never travel outside the country again without going to an all inclusive.

We like to eat and drink a lot so it really pays off for us. We even had all our tours included at Aventura Palace which was really nice.

[Sashi]

I've been to one, Aventura Spa Palace (http://www.palaceresorts.com/Resorts/AventuraSpaPalace/Index.asp) in Riveria Maya. I guess the same as KrissyCat7. Tours were included for us too.

I liked it there, no kids, which is why we chose that place. I felt the food was ok but the drinking was plentiful if you like that. The pools were excellent, no ocean except for two man-made ocean like pools with fish and kayaking, etc. It was nice, relaxing, spa treatments were great but not the best I've had. I've heard Iberostar Parisio Lindo was EXCELLENT as well in Riveria Maya.

Good Luck

[Maggie8202]

BUMP!
We are looking into doing this in August with a bunch of couples.
Anyone have any thoughts on Breezes in the Bahamas?