My husband and I are thinking about doing a last minute “all inclusive” vacation in December to Mexico, DR, or the like.
The few we’ve been looking at include air fare, hotel, all meals, drinks and snacks, as well as shuttle to and from the airport. Some also included gratuities.
We plan to stay on the resort, with the exception of water sports, which are included in some, but not all of the packages we looked at.
How much spending money do we need?
Any other suggestions?
Thanks!
Last time I did the all inclusive thing in Mexico, I was reading stuff about the resort prior to leaving and ended up stumbling on the fact that the average employee there makes something like $3-$5 a day. So, I made sure to bring $100 in one dollar bills and each day when I went to lay out or whatever, I’d bring $20 with me and was sure to tip pretty liberally. Well, I mean, I didn’t tip more than I would in the States (a couple bucks on a drink, depending on the complexity, etc), but you should have seen the service I got compared to other folks. I went to a bit of a far off chunk of the beach to sprawl out and as I was sitting there tanning, a waiter came allllll the way over to me with a tray of drinks and said, “We thought you’d like these!” I didn’t see them do that to anyone else and I’m fairly certain it was because of the few bucks I kindly gave them for blending my whatever-it-was-with-rum.
For meals at the resort, I’d try to guesstimate what the meal would have cost me if I had to pay and tipped the US-appropriate 15% or more, depending on how good the food/service was. Again, this resulted in us being treated very, very nicely when we returned to the restaurant.
If you are staying on the resort property, and won’t be buying jewelry at the gift shop our souvieniers - or upgrading the wine - and its an all inclusive - pretty much you’ll need:
Thanks ladies.
My husband and I rarely drink, so there won’t be any upgrading. We’ll stick with the drinks available.
Any more suggestions, bring 'em on!
When going to a Mexican all inclusive, drinks are usually included - but specify your pour if you want something particular. i.e. their basic rum is something nearly undrinkable, but they will pour Bacardi if you ask for Bacardi (not that you are drinking much, but what you do drink should be worth drinking). They all seem to have perfectly acceptable margaritas out of a jug though - I suspect THAT is necessary.
Meals will be for the most part buffets. If you have ala carte options, they usually need to be booked in advance. Call the resort. Watch meal times - for us it wasn’t uncommon to be wanting to eat earlier or later than the restaurants were open.