All-Inclusive... Almost

finesse910

I have a rather odd request. Has anyone ran into any All-Inclusive Resorts that actually are not all-inclusive? My fiance and I are extremely budget-conscious, so we were both thinking that we would rather pay up-front than have to be worrying or concerned about money throughout our honeymoon.

Here's the catch.
Neither of us really drink.

So many of the all-inclusive resorts include alcohol, which we are not interested in at all. We're thinking that the fact that the alcohol is included might be jacking up the price quite a bit. Therefore, I was wondering if anyone has found any AIs that do not include your alcoholic beverages.

Also, I'm not really looking for a cruise. My fiance gets motion sickness and has never been on a cruise, we're not really wanting to find out if he gets sea-sick on our honeymoon.

ARJ6511

This is something I would contact a travel agent about. I haven't heard of AI's not including alcohol, but I'm sure some have the option. I'm just not sure where.

Jells2dot0

This form of AI is really popular in the South Pacific (Fiji) or Indian Ocean. Of course, getting there costs a fortune! I'm not sure what your budget looks like, Fiji may be a great option for you! Air Pacific often has buy one, get one half off air deals!

allisonkbye

I think AI's are all or nothing, except for cruises. 

Have you thought about aruba? There are some AI's there, but a lot of the resorts there are not, because safe and easy to travel around the island and they have a lot of good restaurants/things to explore. So you could just pay for your flight and hotel and order food off restaurants menu's that you can afford. 

Some resorts also have different sections within a resort. For example, when we looked into going to Iberostar resort in Jamaica, you could pay a lot to stay in the 'Grand Rose Hall' section of the resort that had premium top shelf drinks at their bars, or stay in the 'Rose hall suites' section that still included drinks, but not premium ones, and was much cheaper to stay at! 

SuMmErKuTiE

We stayed at a resort in Fiji where it was "mostly inclusive" for our HM. All of our meals and most activites were included, even our airport transfers, but alcohol was extra. We got a free bottle of champagne upon arrival since we were honeymooners, and they had a free wine tasting night, other than that we had to pay for our drinks throughout our stay which wasn't a big deal, since we are used to cruising which is the same as in you get your food for free, but alcohol is extra.

Most of the resorts in Fiji are mostly inclusive, and may be what you're looking for.

finesse910

Thank you so much, everyone! So many great ideas.


Fiji sounds..... absolutely incredible. I'll definitely look into that. Great idea about contacting a travel agent, we've been meaning to do that because right now we're long distance so meeting with a travel agent is tough to arrange.

Jells2dot0

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_inclusive-almost?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:11Discussion:bea470e2-ca8d-4768-9b75-8e3fea8de275Post:8e72ef67-184d-426e-981c-9f5a2b212a5c">Re: All-Inclusive... Almost</a>:
[QUOTE]Thank you so much, everyone! So many great ideas. Fiji sounds..... absolutely incredible. I'll definitely look into that. Great idea about contacting a travel agent, we've been meaning to do that because <strong>right now we're long distance so meeting with a travel agent is tough to arrange.
</strong>Posted by finesse910[/QUOTE]

If you really want to look at Fiji, there are a lot of South Pacific Specialists that deal with clients over e-mail and phone. I have booked several of my South Pacific trips via agents that were not located in my home town. I highly recommend taking a look at the following links to see if you can find someone in your area or, if not, contact someone on the list. A lot of these specialists are used to working with people via e-mail or phone because of their specialization. There are a lot of clients, but not necessarily where they are located. Really good agents are just as easy to deal with over e-mail then they are in person!

<a href="http://travel2-us.com/travelagents/search.asp">http://travel2-us.com/travelagents/search.asp</a>

<a href="http://www.fijime.tv/matai_travel_agents">http://www.fijime.tv/matai_travel_agents</a>

krizzo17

I came across a bunch of places in St Lucia with an AI/meal plan "option"...you could include just some meals, all meals, or go AI with or without alcohol. Off the top of my head the ones I remember were Windjammer Landing and Ti Kaye Village, but I remember seeing that a bunch of other places as well.

KH 2012

Atlantis has the option for a meal plan!  try that

kristinanddan

There are resorts with meal plan options, but the ones I've seen are crazy expensive.

hmccurdy9

I am in the same boat.  My fiance and I are not big drinkers either and are trying to find a place for our honeymoon.  We just want somewhere that we can get a meal plan that does not include Alcohol.  Trying to find a place is starting to become frustrating. I am going to look at a few places mentioned above.  We are thinking about St. Lucia but are really open to go anywhere in the Caribbean. 

cindyn9178

Honestly, all inclusive resorts/vacations are going to be CHEAPER for you than booking a regular resort and then paying for everything separately. We have gone to Riveria Maya Mexico, all inclusive for under $1000 per person including airfare. (7 nights). So that's a round trip flight, 7 nights in an amazing resort plus all your meals for $1000. I honestly don't think that including alcohol would really jack up the price that much at all, and that would also include ANY beverages, not just alcohol, because they all come from the bar.

Also, not sure what your budget is, but if you have to go to Fiji in order to get this "mostly inclusive" plan, you are already spending much more money as compared to going somewhere else with an all inclusive.

finesse910

Yes, Fiji is definitely out of our pricerange. As I said, we're really just shopping around and trying to get a good deal while finding something that we would also enjoy. Maybe paying for alcohol, even when we're not drinking it is an option- but again- just looking around. I don't like paying for something I'm not using. Though cindyn9178  brings up a good point that beverage is not limited to only alcohol

lizr7313

We stayed at Peter Island Resort in the British Virgin Islands. We got the meal plan since their food was extremely expensive. Not sure if this is within your budget but it's definitely worth checking out.