Cruising vs All Inclusive Resort

[Cruise a holic]

5 hours ago, FastShip24 said:

You can get bored on any venue.  Entertainment is subjective

So true, not a fan of cats and have walked out of many cruise ship "entertainment" offerings!  Some excellent AI's actually have decent entertainment and music in the evening.  But the push is for daytime activities.

[George C]

I know this doesn’t apply for poster but another big plus for the resorts we did which was mostly sandals is they were adults only , plus tipping wasn’t even allowed , bars had top shelf liquor. 

[zimmerman]

It’s all relative… you can get an all inclusive hotel that has crappy food, local spirits and even worse entertainment. Or you can get great food and great drinks.

 

Similarly, cruises can have terrible entertainment too.

 

I think we only made it through more than 50% of one show on our Alaskan cruise last summer.

[zimmerman]

It’s like most things, it comes down to budget.

 

we can only afford inside cabins / balcony if the right deal is available (and we always get the drinks package). At that end of the market, the equivalent all-inclusive hotel isn’t that great (or comparable, in my experience).

The ‘ok’ food on the cruise is more than compensated by the convenience and variety that a cruise offers.

 

I dare say, if we were in the bracket where we could afford a suite then the equivalent budget for an AI resort might be more appealing.

[superduper123]

Not related to the cost of drinks, but I would imagine the teens would have more fun on a cruise. Especially the newer, bigger ships with all the amusement park type activities.

[topnole]

7 hours ago, FastShip24 said:

You can get bored on any venue.  Entertainment is subjective

Everyone’s opinion is subjective so that makes zero sense.   Entertainment is part of the value and that is what you said was being discussed.   But guess what, value is subjective too?   
 

Her comment was completely relevant to the conversation because ships provide a ton of entertaining that AIs don’t.   You’re not going to see an ice skating show, or and aqua show, or Grease at an AI.  The AI is stayed at also didn’t have a casino or a flowrider.   Those things are part of the value in cruising that would be compared to an AI.  

[LivLove2Cruise]

2 hours ago, superduper123 said:

Not related to the cost of drinks, but I would imagine the teens would have more fun on a cruise. Especially the newer, bigger ships with all the amusement park type activities.

I completely agree.  I think my niece and nephew would love cruising. 

[lcpagejr]

My 2 cents.... I feel "boxed in" in  AI resorts. Depending where you would travel to ...you just can't wander off into town without safety concerns. Additionally a big plus for cruising with children/teens... especially at that age... They would have Teen club night activities which would keep them occupied and allow worry free fun for the adults.  

[Tatka]

We just got bored in A/I after several times and switched to cruising. It was a wonderful chain Iberostar... and we used it twice during Covid again, but for us cruising is more.

 

Visiting various places

Way better entertainment.

We LOVE sailaways and many other things about cruising. We LOVE being in a middle of the ocean.

 

Just all around more interesting vacation for us.

 

As D and now D+ we get enough included drinks now.

Edited July 9, 2023 by Tatka

[Tatka]

For us advantage of cruising (at least from US) includes possibility to drive to several ports (4 are relatively close, and several are far away,but still reachable) rather than flying to A/I. Makes it cheaper.

[Tatka]

4 hours ago, zimmerman said:

It’s all relative… you can get an all inclusive hotel that has crappy food, local spirits and even worse entertainment. Or you can get great food and great drinks.

 

Similarly, cruises can have terrible entertainment too.

 

I think we only made it through more than 50% of one show on our Alaskan cruise last summer.

 

Very rarely even the best A/I reach the level of entertainment of RCI. Even when it is not the best RCI entertainment.

[George C]

1 minute ago, Tatka said:

 

Very rarely even the best A/I reach the level of entertainment of RCI. Even when it is not the best RCI entertainment.

Totally agree, we once did a hard rock resort in Caribbean, entertainment was almost nonexistent, did have a 1800;sq Ft suite.

[Tatka]

Just now, George C said:

Totally agree, we once did a hard rock resort in Caribbean, entertainment was almost nonexistent, did have a 1800;sq Ft suite.

 

We had somewhat nice shows in Iberostars. Again aerials , dancing was not on the same level as even weaker RCI examples. But RCI also has various musical bands in Schooner, Bolero's, Pub.

 

 

[FastShip24]

2 hours ago, topnole said:

Everyone’s opinion is subjective so that makes zero sense.   Entertainment is part of the value and that is what you said was being discussed.   But guess what, value is subjective too?   
 

Her comment was completely relevant to the conversation because ships provide a ton of entertaining that AIs don’t.   You’re not going to see an ice skating show, or and aqua show, or Grease at an AI.  The AI is stayed at also didn’t have a casino or a flowrider.   Those things are part of the value in cruising that would be compared to an AI.  

You realize everyone's entertainment value is different than yours. Why are older and smaller ships just as occupied as the all everything bigger ships?  Just because you offer more does not make it better.  Enjoy your day

[HappyTexan44]

Might not be true of all AI Resorts, but one of the things I didn't like was that the liquor was watered down

[George C]

4 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

Might not be true of all AI Resorts, but one of the things I didn't like was that the liquor was watered down

Not at sandals resorts

[not-enough-cruising]

15 hours ago, FastShip24 said:

That's personal and subjective

This whole thread is personal and subjective 

[not-enough-cruising]

5 minutes ago, George C said:

Not at sandals resorts

Yes, even at Sandals. We went to Sandals in St Lucia (visited all 3 properties), the liquor was LOW grade and definitely light on the pours or watered down 

[FastShip24]

7 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

This whole thread is personal and subjective 

Exactly.   Cruises and all inclusive have their places.  

[Seville2Cabo]

We really don't do resorts anymore as we have access to pools and beaches.  But when we did, we never  did AI.  We really like to explore the area and eat in local restaurants and visit local bars and clubs.  Also easier to find a bar with live music outside the resort.  

 

We have friends that have timeshares on Mexico and never leave the resort.  Not sure I understand, but their choice.  We cruise for itinerary and get off at every port and explore.   

[George C]

31 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Yes, even at Sandals. We went to Sandals in St Lucia (visited all 3 properties), the liquor was LOW grade and definitely light on the pours or watered down 

We did sandals 5 times each time for a week or more but always in Jamaica drinks were fine , I drink mostly Hennessy cognac straight and they were all very healthy drinks. 

[topnole]

1 hour ago, FastShip24 said:

You realize everyone's entertainment value is different than yours. Why are older and smaller ships just as occupied as the all everything bigger ships?  Just because you offer more does not make it better.  Enjoy your day

That’s the whole point.  Everyone is giving their opinion.  But for some reason you were objecting to someone else’s opinion and saying they were off topic as if their point wasn’t valid.  But entertainment is clearly part of the value, albeit obviously subjective, so the comment clearly was relevant.  

[topnole]

1 hour ago, Seville2Cabo said:

We really don't do resorts anymore as we have access to pools and beaches.  But when we did, we never  did AI.  We really like to explore the area and eat in local restaurants and visit local bars and clubs.  Also easier to find a bar with live music outside the resort.  

 

We have friends that have timeshares on Mexico and never leave the resort.  Not sure I understand, but their choice.  We cruise for itinerary and get off at every port and explore.   

One takes on some significant risks exploring in Mexico nowadays.  

[topnole]

1 hour ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Yes, even at Sandals. We went to Sandals in St Lucia (visited all 3 properties), the liquor was LOW grade and definitely light on the pours or watered down 

Better than at some of the resorts where it wasn’t the actual liquor and it killed people and got many others very ill.  That was in the Dominican Republic as I recall.  Reminds me now that my neighbors did one a couple years back and said never again.  They all got very ill during their stay.  And they are world travelers including visiting what many would consider more dangerous places to visit.  

[George C]

Sandals that we went to several times had a very good piano player playing just1 hour each night in there pub, several of the keys didn’t work so piano player just avoided them , we were there 3 years in a row , nothing was done to fix the problem.