Suburban Ohioan here. One of my cousins got married on the beach of an all-inclusive resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. I'm a teetotaler so the watered down drinks didn't bother me. The resort had a number of themed restaurants...which cost extra...but the only one I tried was the Brazilian steakhouse where the wedding dinner was held. Otherwise, I was happy with the sub-par buffet simply because there were so many choices and I could eat there almost literally at any hour. The beach was small but nice and the multiple pools guaranteed I could usually find one that wasn't too crowded. My room was really nice and very spacious. TBH...we went on one excursion (to the ruins of Tulum) and after having to pass through a checkpoint of heavily armed guards and fight through throngs of other tourists and pay for a single square of toilet paper in the small, dirty restroom, I was thrilled to come back to the resort. Roger does have a point though when he talks about the locals not being able to enjoy the beach; however, I got the impression that the locals working at the resort (many as concierges or front desk help) weren't completely unhappy with their job.
Unless someone psychologically can't eat anything but hot dogs and breaded chicken nuggets, why would they go to resorts to eat the same dishes they have in stereotypical midwestern suburbs?
@@TheXstasy That sounds like the same kind of thing that drove the timeshare market and bridal magazines before the former got exposed as a scam and the latter as a ploy to get people to spend more money than their net worth on wedding "traditions" respectively.
@@dominicfucinari1942 Went on a cruise in China. One fellow cruiser said during breakfast she was losing so much weight because she wasn't eating the food. I loved Chinese food so I was quiet and just kept eating.
This is what happened in Bora Bora. All the high end resorts have moved to small private islands offshore. That way, the guests don't have to mix with non-guests or the locals unless being served by one. But as someone who stayed on the actual island, being free of these types of tourists suits me just fine!
It’s also happened in my country Kenya and neighboring Kenya Tanzania especially Zanzibar island. Residents protested to keep several beaches open to the public and same thing occurs with the safari tours too most of them are run by private companies from the UK and lots of the profits goes to the UK and the locals get chump change.
I did an all-inclusive for the first time in February. this is spot on. The hotel was an hour away from the city in forest. Even if you wanted to leave you couldn't. the food was mediocre at best: 4 restaurants themes all coming out of the same kitchen probably tasted all the same. The breakfast was actually pretty good. The beach closes at 6 with the sun still up and so did the pools. the disco was the dj pumping edm on blast and an empty room at 1am. And people trying to upsell you everywhere. We left after 2 nights and 3 days.
I was 36YO and I felt like 60, beaches were lame, practically no waves at all, disgusting seaweed everywere, anoying time share salesman, and mediocre buffet
Sounds perfect. I'm in! I dont see anything wrong with living in a hotel next to a beach with open bar and free food 3 times a day. I'm tired of working and dealing with people i dont like.
That is literally why All-inclusives were invented. For tourists who mostly wanted to lie in the sun, eat food and drink. Not everyone is an adventurous world traveller, who wants to hitchhike across Europe or backpack in the Andes. Some people just want a change of scene and some sunshine at a comparatively affordable price.
@@gemmeldrakes2758There are way more options than the two extremes you mentioned though. You don't have to choose between backpacking and a resort, every flavour in between also exists. And all inclusives, comparatively affordable? Not in this reality. You can legitimately travel better and on a smaller budget by NOT going to a resort
@@gemmeldrakes2758 Even if someone just wants to sit around on a beach and never be challenged in any way and only ever eat the same bland Midwestern food they're used to, you can do that for considerably cheaper by NOT going to a resort.
We just returned from Couples in Negril, Jamaica. I can assure you the drinks weren't watered down at all, and the food was wonderful, with several restaurants all cooking on site. I won't argue with the other points Roger made here.
Well that's like you found a 4 leave clover. I lived there. And stayed in several of the resorts in the north coast from Negril to Portland and 9 out of 10 were just like the video. Specially Sandals and fudging RIU
@@memovilmx6239I stayed at palladium (I hope that’s how it’s spelled) and the drinks weren’t watered. However my honeymoon in Cancun was as described in this video.
@@Welgeldiguniekalias In the mid '010s Decade, they usually had the Chainsmokers, Skrillex, and Avicii in mind. Who's leading the genre market nowadays?
@@dominicfucinari1942 I have no idea to be honest. It's been years since I last went to any nightclub type of establishment. Looking at the charts, I can still see the Chainsmokers in there plus a bunch of names that I assume are one hit wonders who will be starting a new project under a different name next week.
@@guanxinatedTampa Fl has three man made lagoon beaches that are part of suburbs of single family homes. Google it and check it out. I’ve been a few times they are pretty cool.
@@guanxinatedA change in scenery and weather, with armed security, no learning local languages, and not having to take out your wallets and purses to be mugged and swindled? Yeah, it might not be 'authentic', but it's nice to just stay in a resort, and do a few package trips to a nice waterfall and see the local shanty town from a moving vehicle. 🤷🏻
I did all inclusive with my wife in San Andrés Colombia and honestly it was super enjoyable, the resort is in the city centre and at night you can just walk anywhere. In the resort you can book 5 types of different cuisine restaurants, use their kayaks, private beach, private sail boat. I stuffed myself with food and watered down cocktails. The exchange rate is beneficial and it was totally worth inclusive it
That’s a rare experience. Usually these types of hotels are on isolated beaches far from anything remotely interesting. You got the best of both worlds!
I’ve always thought resorts are dumb Paying all that money to be present in the appearance of it but then you gotta drive away from the area to enjoy a more authentic experience And legit support the place you’re visiting 3:53
Come to think of it, it would be eerie if nobody around me in such far-away places, let alone tropical places, had any darker hair than mine. I have the palest shade of brown hair possible while still being considered "dark", and if nobody there even had so much as black hair, it would be a horrible visual mismatch at best.
@waltersobchak1719 All people. The difference from one person to the next isn't whether or not they care about "experience a new culture!" (which you can't do in two weeks anyway) or holiday crap you wouldn't look twice at in your own country (museum, zoo, ...), it's whether they can admit it.
@waltersobchak1719It's a big effort, and usually only worth doing somewhere western, otherwise it'd be way too dangerous for average tourists to visit anywhere with kidnapping risk, and mugging beyond people trying to slap on some stupid bracelet and make you pay £10 for it.
@@Iffy50honestly… it depends. 25 to 30 years ago, when you go to Bali, the public beaches are full of trash. The locals cared very little about keeping their own beaches and seas and lakes clean. So to enjoy the beach you really had to go a a private resort’s beach (unless you don’t mind lying on the sand amongst trash that smells). Things have changed from since then though.. the public beaches in Bali now are much cleaner.
As one of those locals I can tell you it's not safe in our area. As a side note let me answer some questions that I actually gotten asked. Do you have electricity (this was on a chat room you know on the internet 😂) ? My answer: Only when we can catch stray tourist to chain to a treadmill. What do you eat? Me: Stray tourist it's not like we eat McDonald's or other normal foods Can you swim? Me: It's an island pretty much all locals swim. Why isn't there so many locals at the beaches? Well it's an island pretty much beaches everywhere and after awhile most people just get sick of beaches. Just think about any local tourist attractions in your area after awhile locals stop going because they been there done that.
Also I have this thing called job. This prevents me from going to lie on the beach everyday. The eating 'stray tourists' bit was hilarious. I lol'd. If the tourist board knew you were doing, they would've had fits.
Omg I have a friend who travels twice a year and EVERY TIME he’s back he ends up getting sick and misses work 😅 I always tell him bruh all you do is go out on your backyard and you get all fucked up 🙄
I’ve seen a video before talking about this in a more neutral light. All inclusive resorts are ‘vacation’, visiting other places and experiencing the culture is ‘traveling’. Sometimes you just want a break from the hustle and bustle of real life, you don’t want to do a lot of planning, you just want to relax and so you want a ‘vacation’. Sometimes you want to experience another culture, and you want to ‘travel’. As a mamma of two littles, considering a third in the future (second is just a newborn) a resort sounds pretty good. Some resorts have childcare too, which I’d consider utilizing. Especially if our littlest would still have naps, an all inclusive resort could be a good option,
@@gopackgo4036 I do but wouldn’t I be busy regardless of where I live with two very young kids? I don’t get your point. Right now I am barely driving anyway as I want to wait until my newborn is 3 weeks old to take him inside in public. And I’m tired. Still could conceive of a break at an all inclusive resort. It’s difficult driving around to activities with little kids that aren’t strictly for little kids, as most traveling activities aren’t geared toward little kids, and going out to many different places is tiring with little kids, and also logistically difficult with their naps. My 2 year old still naps for 2 hours in the middle of the day, which means I have to get home by 11:15, and often can’t get out of the door in the afternoon until 3:00. If I was at a resort or she could nap in a pool cabana or something, we could actually make a full day out of ‘vacation’.
@@rachelle2227 My point was I can just tell by your comments you basically live to sit around in a house or resort all day and drive everywhere. As someone who has done it before, I’m warning you, it’s terrible for your mental health especially once your kids leave.
Just stayed at Margaritaville Cancun. I swear this video was that. You're basically paying for a week of house keeping and a cook. You don't gotta clean your room depending on the resort these days and cook your own food. I've been to all inclusives that weren't like this tho
@@fluffytail6355 right. You feel it especially when you get home. "What do you mean I gotta clean my own room and cook my own food. And there's not alcohol everywhere!?!? "
My sister came back from a themed all inclusive and everyone got sick. It sucks you are broke, but at least you didn't get sick on a vacation you paid a lot of money for.
Unless you go to the very high end resorts, the food is still cooked with the same ingredients which means it all tastes the same. If you went to a low to mid-end resort that had great food, you either have a very low standard for food or that resort did not offer anything else (like a great beach, many activities, etc.)
@@MrBeatboxmastadepends - I have been to an all inclusive stay at Fairmont - the restaurants are all independent and have different cuisines. The best one I have ever been . The second all inclusive was at Rixos - his video sums up it all.
@@MuneerBaloch At 1K/night before even including the all-inclusive upcharge, it falls into the very high end box I mentioned. It's not once in a lifetime rates but it's pushing the limit of where the middle class could afford to go every year.
I stayed at my first all-inclusive last summer in Cancun. It was so nice to just relax in the pool, and since I’m a lightweight, I knew I could keep drinking and not be seriously affected by the alcohol. I also took opportunities to try foods I hadn’t had before. My job keeps me on my feet and running all day. And sometimes you just want to do NOTHING.
Booked a resort in Sharm el Sheik, Egypt. Everything was mediocre but it was alright. We booked a few excursions and outings and the moment we ate something from outside the resort we got hit by severe food poisoning. (No we didnt eat raw vegetables or meat and yes we checked the meat and fish for being cooked well.) Sometimes, there's a reason why you stay at your resort. Also..why does everything have to be high end, state of the art, ultimate experience? Im happy if the weather is good, i get to swim, got nice food and maybe a few outings in nature. There's nothing wrong with mediocre. Absolutely nothing.
I've studied tourism and yeah... that's pretty much it. People go there in order to feel safe in another country but, in my opinion, there are cheaper and safer ways to travel. If you have company with you, don't be lazy: do a good research and plan your trip. Staying in a resort it's just like going to the nearest beach and drinking at its drink stand.
Roger likes concentrating on the stereotypes and he's pretty good at it. Though it seems (as unlikely as it may be) as if he never went to an upscale resort.
100k actually looks a little too cheap for 3 years of Cruising. Indeed it's about 91$/day and that may be enough for a good vacation but for sure not a "paradise", especially on a ship that has extra costs
@@y_fam_goeglyd Or Norovirus. In which case the cruise ship company should throw in a free colonoscopy with their prepaid package. You've already completely evacuated your bowels, anyway.
I stayed at a Sandals resort and I drank mostly black label Johnny walker scotch from the bottl. The beer was red label which is a good beer. The food was good and very many options. I would go again I sure some are bad but not all of them.
Not completely true, I stayed somewhere great recently in Saint Lucia that had 7-8 restaurant options. They were all pretty good and one did local Carribean food. I still had the opportunity to go a local fish market/ pop-up grills/ tourist trap. But nobody should feel shame in wanting to just chill out on a beach for 2-3 weeks… I’m completely fine with my reasons for going and had a great time
I mean to be fair in a handful of cases they aren't lying when they tell you the area off the resort is dangerous for tourists it's just that in the majority of cases they're lying for their financial benefit
@@zurielsssI remember going to little touristy little islands when going on vacation in Bali and Malaysia (like those islands where you can go to see turtles put in small pools or those ‘floating villages’) when I was little. Sellers would gather around the boat when you disembark and crowd around you trying to sell you their wares, the sellers with booths/stalls will literally shout at you then reach out to grab you or pull on your sleeves to prevent you from walking past without stopping at their stalls first. And all they’d be selling are tacky touristy trinkets at exorbitant prices.
@@Alasterius41 never had that experience when I visited Thailand, but I have experienced it in India. Not yet visited Malaysia and Bali though. At this moment with the Japanese yen so weak, most people I know travel exclusively to Japan for the value for money
@@zurielsss well.. yea, well, maybe the situation has changed for the better nowadays… but I wouldn’t exactly call the situations I described as ‘safe’ either. At least it scared me quite a bit as a kid. So no, I’m not sure I’d bet on South East Asia being ‘safe’, probably ‘safer’ in comparison to Central America, but getting pickpocketed/snatched/robbed is still very possible in South East Asia (excepting say, Singapore).
@@JH-pt6ih From afar, it looks like a red or orange cocktail with orange and green mini umbrellas. Meanwhile, I know only of "Mid" from Final Fantasy V. What does it mean 3 decades later?
@@dominicfucinari1942 I'm not sure your age of course other than you're likely over 35 given your 30 year context clue. I am over 35 as well, so I may be altogether wrong on the mid slang front. But I'd imagine mid means middle of the road - nothing special - mediocre - middling. OP is saying if being average by hanging at a suburb with a beach is wrong they don't want to be right. And I agree the emoji is a cocktail.
I’ve been to a couple resorts in the riviera maya and they were all pretty awesome, they had multiple restaurants that were really good, the drinks were also great. We were really close to the local area that was so dope.
@@CanItAlready RU-vid's "artificial intelligence" has added Translate to English below your comment (no kidding!). When I click on it, the only thing that happens is that your three emojis move a little tiny bit further to the left.
About privatizing beaches (that the locals can’t enjoy) It’s so true. I’m from Puerto Rico and the hotels in Dorado do exactly the same. Thanks for the video! Awesome
Hey look, I been to many all inclusive resorts in my life and some of them were top notch. They had 5 to 6 restaurants and top shelf alcohol. All depends on where you go.
This still sounds kinda cool And there is sea there, with all the water activities. Part with cleaned beach with no locals sounds like greatest benefit possible
Jewel Grande resort and spa in montego bay, jamaica. 6 different themed restaurants with delicious top quality food, beautiful property. Breakfast buffet has jamaican and intetnational food including american. Wonderful service, drinks too strong, had to ask for half alcohol. Spa services extra. Helpful tour desk. Family of 4 last january in a 2 bedroom suite w butler service $6800 us for 5 days. Best experience of my life and would love to go back. All jamaican staff and they're allowed to enjoy the property on their personal time. Pretty much the opposite of this video lol.
With that ammount of money you could have known lots of places.. For that ammount of money you could have spent over 8 or 9 days in diferent hotels and diferent kind of forest and beaches here in costa rica and costa rica is not cheap . To some tourism is about relaxing to me is about knowing something New, I can relax at home.
Jamaica is known to have the best food in the all inclusive world BUT all inclusives still suck. $6800 is a lot of money for 5 days, I could go to three countries in Africa for 4 weeks, stay in beautiful accommodations, visit safaris and go on local tours across the countries and stop 48hr in Europe for that price.
You know you can do all that, at the same high quality, while spending a lot less money if you just book things for yourself instead of going to a resort?
@@erinrenman1479 I actually did try to book an excursion myself before arrival. It got cancelled, I had to get our resort butler to use his connections to help me track them down to refund my money. He knew them since they used to work with the resort.
What you do is stay at a cheap all-inclusive the way you can afford to adventure out. That is how we do it, but on a day you just want to relax on the beach and swim you can.
Not a joke. I went to one in Costa Rica years ago, and it was exactly as how they describe it on this video. The salesguy told us this was the "Disney World" of Costa Rica. We sat for the obligatory 60 or 90 mins of their BS, and having legally complied with our obligation, got up and left. We ran into another American couple we saw had sat at another table for a sales pitch and we asked them how much they were selling the resort for (we didn't get that far when we left). He told me $76,000. They didn't buy, of course. I have this sense of dread owning something in a country where right outside the resort walls, people are begging in the streets, there is filth and lack of maintenance, and there's this sense of poverty and hopelessness, where the lady that cleans your room is probably not living in decent conditions at home. I left a good tip for her.
Went in one in Greece... drinks were awful, but icecream was decent, icicles were good and food was amazing (Italian cook and staff). Very nice beach, you could go and mingle with locals (Greek people are great!). The staff tried to get us to do a lot of activities all together though, and that's not the way I'd relax on vacation.
Some people don't go to other city's hotel for the experience of all inclusive and stay in their city's hotels. I used to believe tha was a waste, but actually it's ingenious for people that don't care about other places, just a room they don't have to clean, kids having fun in the swimming pools and unlimited buffets.
To each their own. I believe all-inclusive suits those lifestyles that need it. Exploring and seeing what the country has to offer is cool and test my adaptability skills to new situations.
I have really enjoyed all the all inclusive I have been to, the drinks were not water down and I ate at a different restaurant every night with different food. You do need to make an effort to adventure out and visit the local economy which we did, and historical and cultural sites. However having the option to just relax on the beach or at the pool is a great break from visiting the local area and all the walking always good to plan a couple rest days.
I went to an all inclusive resort in Mexico once. I don't drink that much, but the food was pretty good. And they organized sight seeing trips and scuba diving. It was fun overall. You just went to a bad resort.
We did Sandals for our honeymoon. The drinks were probably a bit watered down, but not terribly so. There were several restaurants with good food. A decent amount of activities. The only bummer was the beach dinner with a personal waiter. Good food, bit it wasn't as just us as we'd have expected and took a while for the food to get out to the beach. Would go there again.
It may be dumb in your opinion, but that doesn’t make it a dumb reply. Cars are way too prevalent and cost way too much money when you factor in the hidden costs. His comment puts into perspective that cars resemble all-inclusive resorts. You miss out on a local authentic experience by being in one. When you drive everywhere, you block yourself off from your environment. (This is, assuming your city wasn’t built for cars. If it was then there likely isn’t much to see walking anyways, and if there is it’s separated by highways and sprawling parking lots).
This doesn't seem bad at all to me. If I wanted a tourist trap-ridden vacation, there are plenty of options for that, but sometimes it's nice to just lay in the sun like a beached whale and drink 20 virgin samosas. If this is really the worst you can make this sound (and you really went out of your way to slant it as hard as you could), it still makes me want to go more than not.
@@chunkybird1241 The video overstated every other drawback, why shouldn't I believe this isn't overstated too? And the video didn't even go so far as to call it "suffocation", which is another step up again in overstating things.
You’re missing the point. Go to Florida, or go to Jamaica or Aruba and don't come back bragging to us about where you went unless you left the resort. You’re promoting the delusion.
well, the ironic thing is, for a poor schlub like me, who hasn't been on a vacation in many, many years, all that subpar stuff sounds pretty good, sign me up, lol
@@ryanm4013 People like to romanticize danger. Before I toured Israel everyone asked "is it safe"? It's a reactionary statement. No thinking involved. There's lots of them. Next time it rains (anywhere) count the number of people who say "we need it". Followed up by all the bobbleheads nodding up and down.
I did an all-inclusive in Mexico last month. It was pretty good and I found it much better than the last time, we left the resort and went into town but our taxi got pulled over and robbed by the Mexican police. They decided not to kidnap us since there was an infant but took all the money from us and the driver. There were 2 guys in another group that weren't so lucky - they were jailed overnight and came back with nothing but their clothes... passports, ID, cash and cards all stolen.
I went to an all-inclusive resort in Greece in 2022, this accurately characterized my experience for the most part. - The drinks weren't watered down, but the cocktails had horrible flavor. The bottom of bottom shelf alcohol. - The food was served buffet style, but the food all tasted weird, e.g. scrambled eggs were sweetened. - I wasn't ever discouraged from leaving the resort, and I was glad we did. The local towns nearby served food which was actually really good tasting, and it was inexpensive too. The locals living nearby were really friendly, too. With that said, my experience overall was positive, particularly since we didn't lounge at the resort for the majority of the time we stayed there.
I'm confused... If they already paid and everything is 'free' from this point on, why does the resort try to "keep them here"? There's no more money to squeeze from them, since it's all inclusive, right!?
They can squeeze more money by offering their own excursions, while you can find much cheaper ones in the city. Same goes for clothes, accessories, souvenirs, etc.
I’ve been to 3 resorts and only enjoyed one. I’m a simple man I only need the beach good food and drink. One resort didn’t have a beach, one had awful food, the one I enjoyed hit all three benchmarks.
I went to one Southern Mexico. The only thing that differs was there were 7 different restaurants, plus a buffet/cafeteria, and a few food trucks on the premises. This was in 2021 right after everything opened back up after Covid so we didn't want to leave the resort much. Edit: the drinks were not watered down at all. The others were drunk every night😂. I don't drink but they do
That’s happening Greece right now where the stats are saying tourism went up than last year but literally none is seeing that increase except big all inclusive hotels. Small local Business owners are taking a huge hit and yet our government is glad tourism went up (they collect more taxes that way) especially now that they increased the tax rates and complicated the tax code so much that unless you are a PHD holder you won’t be able to now how much money you will have to pay
I was just at a resort in La Fortuna, Costa Rica and the food and staff was amazing! There was only one restaurant. However, it had a free breakfast buffet in the morning that had a lot of the same basic things every day with like 4 or 5 different things that they switched up. If you paid for the all-inclusive meals, then you also had free reign of the whole menu and could get a non-alcoholic drink, an appetizer, entree and dessert for lunch and dinner. I was there for 7 days and did not even get a chance to try everything on the menu - though I did try! The resort was cool and had the usual pools and swim up bar. It also had hot springs, a mud bath area, spa and hiking trail on site. We were definitely NOT stranded there either. We went on several outdoor adventure excursions and also into the downtown area where the park and all the shops were twice.
One can do... both things. I don't go to hot places with beaches to explore culture. I do that elsewhere, usually in places where I'm less likely to be pickpocketed or scammed.
Absolutely. Why go on a vacation adventure if you are just going to act like you are at home? Go out there and immerse yourself in a new culture, where they don't even speak your language. Have a great authentic experience. Get off that beaten tourist trail.
@@monkeytime9851 A buddy of mine went on vacation to a resort. He had mentioned he was chilling in the room looking out the window and playing on his Steam Deck. lol like I can appreciate chilling and playing games, but I thought to myself that if that’s all he wanted to do then why bother traveling?!
While I agree with the general gist of the video people who book all inclusive should know they are paying premium for convenience. And if you want to go to a resort that offers both lots of choice and actualy good food you will be paying out of your nose anyway. I also go to all inclusive, but I go just to relax. If realy want a trip exploring the culture etc of a another country I would arange something myself. But doing that is either A expensive or B having to put up with subpar accomedations. Getting and good quality and cheap is possible, but you have either be lucky or be in a country/area that hasnt become that touristic yet. And in those cases the chance that you will need to be able to speak a different language then english(not my native language anyway) will increase as well.
tip your bar staff well and you won't get the watered-down stuff. And the restaurants are actually sit-down unless you GO to one with a buffet. And those aren't the only place to eat.
