All Inclusive vs. cruise for Entertainment

[karinad]

Hi, like everyone else on these boards we're anxiously awaiting the start of cruising! We used to go to Sandals & Couples Resorts though all of the 90's and then discovered cruising and haven't been back to A.I. since then. The entertainment at the A.I. was getting pretty lame back then and couldn't compare to the cruise ships. My question is: Has anyone here been to Sandals or Couples Resorts lately (past few years) and what kind of entertainment do they have? We usually cruise in October and our preference would be to cruise out of the East Coast/homeports instead of having to fly to Jamaica.

 

I don't want to book a cruise for then because of how they're getting cancelled and yet I need to look forward to a vacation. The A.I.'s that I've looked at can be cancelled up until the day before. I hope that someone can update me for what we could expect for our second choice of vacation. Thank you ahead of time for your help!

[lissie]

I have a sun break booked in Australia in August. AIs aren't a thing in this part of the world - I just booked accommodation and a rental car and airfares - the accommodation doesn't even take a deposit until 24hours before and is cancellable up until then. The car will refund if the state's borders close, the airfare will give me a credit.  

 

I agree its a lot lower risk than a cruise at this stage (not that cruises are even a thing in my part of the  world at the moment).  

 

Why would you fly some where and never leave the resort - seems an odd holiday to me. 

[karinad]

Lis, thank you! Back in the 90's it was the best vacation for us with 2 young kids at home. Peace and quiet,  great food, the beach right there, fancy drinks, getting treated like a king and queen, we didn't even want to leave the resort. The grounds were large and gorgeous and the setting was very romantic. There were all age couples there, too. We were ready for a change after 10 years and to see more of the world. We didn't just stay in Jamaica, we went to a different island each year. St. Lucia being the prettiest one we saw. With the cruises we've gone on we were partway around the world but this year I wouldn't want to go to Europe yet. Hoping for next year! Have a great time on your vacation!

[mjkacmom]

5 hours ago, lissie said:

I have a sun break booked in Australia in August. AIs aren't a thing in this part of the world - I just booked accommodation and a rental car and airfares - the accommodation doesn't even take a deposit until 24hours before and is cancellable up until then. The car will refund if the state's borders close, the airfare will give me a credit.  

 

I agree its a lot lower risk than a cruise at this stage (not that cruises are even a thing in my part of the  world at the moment).  

 

Why would you fly some where and never leave the resort - seems an odd holiday to me. 

You don’t need to stay at the resort, you can go and explore and have a much larger time frame than those stopping in the area by cruise ship. It’s like you are staying on a huge “private island” with a lot to do all day every day.

[sanger727]

7 hours ago, lissie said:

 

Why would you fly some where and never leave the resort - seems an odd holiday to me. 

 

You don't have to "never leave the resort". But typically AIs are built in areas that most American's don't want to "experience". AIs are billed as relaxing vacation where you can spend a week on beach or by the pool with a drink in your hand and eat whenever you want without having to worry about the cost. Like cruises, they sell excursions which people often take. It's not altogether different than a cruise other than you don't change locations. Wake up an have breakfast at the resort, may spend the whole day there eating, drinking, and sunbathing (like a sea day on a cruise) or go off on a full day excursion or into town for lunch and then back to the resort for dinner.

 

To the OP, we still frequent AIs and the entertainment isn't even slightly comparable to cruise ship entertainment. I haven't been to Sandals but have been to Couple's recently. The nightly entertainment was mostly local musicians. There was a steel drum band one night. One night was a big production show on the beach with acrobats and a fire dancer that was good. We still enjoy AIs and typically rotate between exotic land trips/cruises, AIs, and Caribbean cruises. 

[George C]

9 hours ago, karinad said:

Hi, like everyone else on these boards we're anxiously awaiting the start of cruising! We used to go to Sandals & Couples Resorts though all of the 90's and then discovered cruising and haven't been back to A.I. since then. The entertainment at the A.I. was getting pretty lame back then and couldn't compare to the cruise ships. My question is: Has anyone here been to Sandals or Couples Resorts lately (past few years) and what kind of entertainment do they have? We usually cruise in October and our preference would be to cruise out of the East Coast/homeports instead of having to fly to Jamaica.

 

I don't want to book a cruise for then because of how they're getting cancelled and yet I need to look forward to a vacation. The A.I.'s that I've looked at can be cancelled up until the day before. I hope that someone can update me for what we could expect for our second choice of vacation. Thank you ahead of time for your help!

We did sandals last about 6 years ago we did whitehouse I think they changed the name now. Love the resort but entertainment is lacking compared to cruise ships ,  they did have a opera singer one night and a piano player played for 1 hour each night . also did a hard rock in punta Cana , really surprised at lack of entertainment.

[lenquixote66]

11 hours ago, karinad said:

Hi, like everyone else on these boards we're anxiously awaiting the start of cruising! We used to go to Sandals & Couples Resorts though all of the 90's and then discovered cruising and haven't been back to A.I. since then. The entertainment at the A.I. was getting pretty lame back then and couldn't compare to the cruise ships. My question is: Has anyone here been to Sandals or Couples Resorts lately (past few years) and what kind of entertainment do they have? We usually cruise in October and our preference would be to cruise out of the East Coast/homeports instead of having to fly to Jamaica.

 

I don't want to book a cruise for then because of how they're getting cancelled and yet I need to look forward to a vacation. The A.I.'s that I've looked at can be cancelled up until the day before. I hope that someone can update me for what we could expect for our second choice of vacation. Thank you ahead of time for your help!

We have never been but good friends of ours go on a regular basis to Sandals.

[Joebucks]

In general, your average cruise ship is going to have better entertainment than your average AI. Some AIs have stepped up their game and/or are in areas that lots of other activities are nearby. I'd say Cancun for example. Some AIs are in terrible areas that you might not even want to leave the resort. You would have to do your research on the experience you are looking for. Whereas a cruise ship is going to be a more consistent experience. Your megaship entertainment experience is also going to be tough to beat.

[SelectSys]

12 hours ago, karinad said:

We usually cruise in October and our preference would be to cruise out of the East Coast/homeports instead of having to fly to Jamaica.

 

I don't want to book a cruise for then because of how they're getting cancelled and yet I need to look forward to a vacation.

Why not wait a bit more before deciding?  It seems that the barriers to cruising are breaking down and more restarts are happening this summer.  You will always be able to book an all inclusive and the availability of cruising may surprise you.  I am actually taking a "wait and see" outlook myself and may want to take a cruise this fall as an alternative to a fall beach vacation.

 

BTW - My daughter just got back from her first all inclusive experience at an alleged 4-star resort in Cancun and was very disappointed relative to cruising.  As such, I really agree with @Joebucks that you need to do your homework before heading to an all inclusive.  Of course you could make the same claim regarding cruising and cruise ships!

[Mike981]

In my experience there is no comparison. I appreciate that they try to promote local talent at the AI's, but we usually got an 80's feel to their productions. 
Funny that on our last couple of cruises we didn't even go to the big productions.

[karinad]

I should've specified better when asking about the entertainment. We're kind of low key when looking for entertainment. On the last couple of cruises we skipped most of the theater production shows. We enjoyed the comedians, rock bands (DH has been in the same top 40's rock band for 40 years) and a show or 2. DH does enjoy the beach and like the heat more than I! We found out about wandering off the resort our first time in Jamaica! Never again! The resort that I'm looking at is Couples in Ocho Rios. The cruises that I'm looking at are one out of Bayonne, NJ and it just goes to the Bahamas on the Oasis of the Sea. The other one is the Pride CCL out of MD. This one does stop in Turks. We're not nuts about the Bahamas and we're mainly looking at these cruises just to get away and not having to fly. We usually d 10 or more days but this doesn't look possible out of our home ports this year. Also, with the AI we'd only do 6 nights.

 

We've never been to any of the AI in Cancun but I've heard that they're not impressive compared to Sandals or Couples and those are the only AI's we've ever been to.

[iancal]

Our experience in the last little while is that entertainment on the mass market ships is very iffy at best.

The shows we have seen lately have been poor....at the high school level.  So much so that we usually select an aisle seat well back so we can leave without disturbing other guests.  Same for magicians.

 

Nor do we consider a third or fourth run movie as a 'show'.

 

We feel the same about entertainment at AI's...of which we typically do at least 1, sometimes 2 or 3 each as part of an extended land trip.  Usually 5 star.

Edited June 4, 2021 by iancal

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, iancal said:

Our experience in the last little while is that entertainment on the mass market ships is very iffy at best.

The shows we have seen lately have been poor....at the high school level.  So much so that we usually select an aisle seat well back so we can leave without disturbing other guests.  Same for magicians.

 

Nor do we consider a third or fourth run movie as a 'show'.

 

We feel the same about entertainment at AI's...of which we typically do at least 1, sometimes 2 or 3 each as part of an extended land trip.  Usually 5 star.

 

The big production shows by cruise line dancers/singers can be a little ragged around the edges.  In all, I enjoy the lounge shows or guest entertainers much more.  

[karinad]

7 hours ago, iancal said:

Our experience in the last little while is that entertainment on the mass market ships is very iffy at best.

The shows we have seen lately have been poor....at the high school level.  So much so that we usually select an aisle seat well back so we can leave without disturbing other guests.  Same for magicians.

 

Nor do we consider a third or fourth run movie as a 'show'.

 

We feel the same about entertainment at AI's...of which we typically do at least 1, sometimes 2 or 3 each as part of an extended land trip.  Usually 5 star.

I have to agree with you with the entertainment on the ships going downhill in the last 5 years, at least. We've been very disappointed with the movies or lack of them and no, we don't go on a cruise for just the movies but we do not go to the movies at home. I used to like the experience of going to the big theater to watch a newer movie on the ship, especially on sea days.

[Honolulu Blue]

My experience is probably of limited relevance to OP's questions, but I wanted to share that I'll be experiencing a themed event at an AI in October and a themed cruise in March.  Both cover the same theme (the 80s), both figure to have much the same entertainment (bands bands bands, a few movies, trivia), and both even share a musical act - though I have my doubts that she'll show up to one due to a possible conflict.  The AI experience looks to be a bit more expensive per day, but it offers a ridiculously large room to rest in from all those concerts.  The cruise experience offers the chance to travel to several different ports, but the room is a typical interior - pretty small.

 

It will be interesting to compare and contrast these experiences.  This will be my first experience in an AI.

[Hlitner]

We have recently been to a high end (comparable to Sandals) AI and the entertainment was still "lame."   We have also been on many cruise lines where the entertainment was "lame" (especially HAL).  As to AIs the way it works is kind of interesting.  Assuming that you are vacationing in a place that has multiple AIs (such as the Cancun area, Punta Cana, Jamaica, etc) the AIs often share the same entertainers/shows which simply rotate among various AIs.  So the entertainers and shows we recently saw in our Playa Mujeres resort simply move from place to place (everyday).  So the typical Michael Jackson show (seems to be a staple at many AIs) in Cancun works 6 nights a week at 6 different AIs.  We talked to one small rock band at our AI who told us they were delighted to again be working 7 days a week at 7 different AIs.  

 

Cruise ship entertainment really varies depending on lines and the ship.  So while the mega ships of NCL and RCI may have some very good entertainment in their main theaters, when you are on one of the smaller HAL ships you might find yourself being offered a BBC Documentary Movie for the evenings entertainment!  MSC uses there own in-house group of singers/dancers to provide the main shows 6-7 nights a week.  Other lines generally work their Production folks no more then 4 nights a week (sometimes less) and try to make up the difference with Guest Entertainers that run the gamut from "lame" to "darn good,"    And when you take long cruises (measured in weeks/months) and the in-house Production staff only has 4 shows in their repertoire it can get amusing.  On one long HAL cruise the in-house folks did not work a single evening for over 2 weeks (we were friendly with one of the signers who admitted to being completely bored).  

 

Hank

[ontheweb]

50 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We have recently been to a high end (comparable to Sandals) AI and the entertainment was still "lame."   We have also been on many cruise lines where the entertainment was "lame" (especially HAL).  As to AIs the way it works is kind of interesting.  Assuming that you are vacationing in a place that has multiple AIs (such as the Cancun area, Punta Cana, Jamaica, etc) the AIs often share the same entertainers/shows which simply rotate among various AIs.  So the entertainers and shows we recently saw in our Playa Mujeres resort simply move from place to place (everyday).  So the typical Michael Jackson show (seems to be a staple at many AIs) in Cancun works 6 nights a week at 6 different AIs.  We talked to one small rock band at our AI who told us they were delighted to again be working 7 days a week at 7 different AIs.  

 

Cruise ship entertainment really varies depending on lines and the ship.  So while the mega ships of NCL and RCI may have some very good entertainment in their main theaters, when you are on one of the smaller HAL ships you might find yourself being offered a BBC Documentary Movie for the evenings entertainment!  MSC uses there own in-house group of singers/dancers to provide the main shows 6-7 nights a week.  Other lines generally work their Production folks no more then 4 nights a week (sometimes less) and try to make up the difference with Guest Entertainers that run the gamut from "lame" to "darn good,"    And when you take long cruises (measured in weeks/months) and the in-house Production staff only has 4 shows in their repertoire it can get amusing.  On one long HAL cruise the in-house folks did not work a single evening for over 2 weeks (we were friendly with one of the signers who admitted to being completely bored).  

 

Hank

Just one comment--DW enjoyed the BBC documentaries.

[Hlitner]

44 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Just one comment--DW enjoyed the BBC documentaries.

LOL.  We also enjoy some BBC Documentaries which we can watch in our own Family room on a slow evening.  But we do not think it is appropriate main entertainment on a ship for which folks are paying big bucks.  Imagine a future HAL marketing campaign.  "Enjoy our evening entertainment of recorded music, BBC documentary movies, dark nights, and a ghost ship after 10 pm.   It would be a best seller :).

 

Before you flame me, keep in mind we have spent over 500 nights on HAL vessels and do enjoy the line for some of its great itineraries.  HAL still represents 2 or our next 6 booked cruises so we have not given up :).  DW and I know that when we take a long HAL we had best load a lot of books on our Kindles since reading is often the best entertainment option.

 

Hank

[karinad]

I've been comparing the price of cruise vs. AI. Keep in mind that I'm looking at later in Oct and 7 nights and a balcony cabin and least expensive room at the AI. The AI comes out less expensive because of the gratuities and the drinks. Drinks aren't a big deal for us but we wouldn't pass a few up. Also, with the AI we would need air, which we can use miles. There are cheaper AI but I'm looking at Couples, which we have found better food quality than Sandals MD. I've never had a bad experience at either Sandals or Couples.

[Mike981]

22 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

The big production shows by cruise line dancers/singers can be a little ragged around the edges.  In all, I enjoy the lounge shows or guest entertainers much more.  

 

We also enjoy the lounge shows and guest entertainers more.

[SuiteTraveler]

In fact there is an AI with entertainment that could easily outrank any entertainment on a cruise ship and that is Hotel Xcaret.  It is the number one AI in Mexico and staying there includes passes to all of their parks as well.  Food is as good as if not better than most cruise ships as well, the spa is amazing and the rooms...well they are pretty fabulous, too!  https://www.xcaret.com/en/hotel-xcaret-mexico/

[ontheweb]

7 hours ago, Hlitner said:

LOL.  We also enjoy some BBC Documentaries which we can watch in our own Family room on a slow evening.  But we do not think it is appropriate main entertainment on a ship for which folks are paying big bucks.  Imagine a future HAL marketing campaign.  "Enjoy our evening entertainment of recorded music, BBC documentary movies, dark nights, and a ghost ship after 10 pm.   It would be a best seller :).

 

Before you flame me, keep in mind we have spent over 500 nights on HAL vessels and do enjoy the line for some of its great itineraries.  HAL still represents 2 or our next 6 booked cruises so we have not given up :).  DW and I know that when we take a long HAL we had best load a lot of books on our Kindles since reading is often the best entertainment option.

 

Hank

All I said was that she liked those BBC documentaries, nothing more. Actually, she would have preferred more dancing and dance lessons.

[Hlitner]

1 minute ago, ontheweb said:

All I said was that she liked those BBC documentaries, nothing more. Actually, she would have preferred more dancing and dance lessons.

That is another interesting past issue of HAL.  We met a nice gentleman (on HAL of course) who used to be a male dance host on both HAL and Cunard.  He spent a few years, as a single guy, cruising all over the world for free for which he was required to spend a few hours every evening dancing with lots of ladies.  He said that although some of the ladies were quite nice and fun partners, many were not (some of his stories would make you blush).  He finally stopped doing the job but still cruises as a paying passenger (and he is now very choosy about his dance partners).  But when we started cruising on HAL dancing was a very nice activity with decent bands playing music (every night), the dance hosts to help the singles, and usually a decent dance instructor couple who did a great job with daytime dance classes (on sea days).  Like many things HAL....that is all gone.  These days you are lucky to even have a decent dance band (perhaps they would have you dance to the sound track of BBC Documentaries).

 

Hank

[ontheweb]

12 hours ago, Hlitner said:

That is another interesting past issue of HAL.  We met a nice gentleman (on HAL of course) who used to be a male dance host on both HAL and Cunard.  He spent a few years, as a single guy, cruising all over the world for free for which he was required to spend a few hours every evening dancing with lots of ladies.  He said that although some of the ladies were quite nice and fun partners, many were not (some of his stories would make you blush).  He finally stopped doing the job but still cruises as a paying passenger (and he is now very choosy about his dance partners).  But when we started cruising on HAL dancing was a very nice activity with decent bands playing music (every night), the dance hosts to help the singles, and usually a decent dance instructor couple who did a great job with daytime dance classes (on sea days).  Like many things HAL....that is all gone.  These days you are lucky to even have a decent dance band (perhaps they would have you dance to the sound track of BBC Documentaries).

 

Hank

They actually responded to our complaint about the lack of dancing after we completed the after cruise survey. What they said was that if we had been on a larger HAL ship, there would have been dancing. We were on the Maasdam.

 

Maybe, you could share some of his stories. Sounds like they could be very interesting.

[sanger727]

On 6/4/2021 at 3:24 PM, karinad said:

I should've specified better when asking about the entertainment. We're kind of low key when looking for entertainment. On the last couple of cruises we skipped most of the theater production shows. We enjoyed the comedians, rock bands (DH has been in the same top 40's rock band for 40 years) and a show or 2. DH does enjoy the beach and like the heat more than I! We found out about wandering off the resort our first time in Jamaica! Never again! The resort that I'm looking at is Couples in Ocho Rios. The cruises that I'm looking at are one out of Bayonne, NJ and it just goes to the Bahamas on the Oasis of the Sea. The other one is the Pride CCL out of MD. This one does stop in Turks. We're not nuts about the Bahamas and we're mainly looking at these cruises just to get away and not having to fly. We usually d 10 or more days but this doesn't look possible out of our home ports this year. Also, with the AI we'd only do 6 nights.

 

We've never been to any of the AI in Cancun but I've heard that they're not impressive compared to Sandals or Couples and those are the only AI's we've ever been to. 

my most recent AI experiences were at el dorado maroma (near playa del Carmen) and couples negril. We really enjoyed both of these resorts. The food was very good. They both had relatively private areas of beach for beach walking. The daytime entertainment was alright. Nowhere near the amount you would have on a cruise ship but there were activities going on. The evening entertainment was usually local musicians and they each had a ‘show’ one night. So that might be up your alley. Though, unlike cruise ships, there weren’t different musicians playing throughout the evening. It was one show time, usually around 10. We enjoyed the included excursions at couples - diving, snorkeling, and a catamaran ride. We felt less comfortable on the beach and walking off the property - we were offered weed at least 5 times a day. In mexico we have never experienced that and felt much more comfortable walking around the beaches and towns.