vacations.net

Far be it from me to pass up the opportunity to review a new travel site, especially after my last two posts. This one is a bit different, as vacations.net focuses more on all-inclusive travel destinations. Personally, I've never tried an all-inclusive vacation, but I have heard shining reviews from friends and family from their experiences with staying in them in Mexico.

An "all-inclusive" vacation package does just what it says - it includes everything in the cost. Or at least, most everything. It all depends on the specific package, but many of them include meals, lodging, tax, gratuity, and even transportation. As vacations.net states, you can "leave your wallet at home". Of course, you may want to bring your ID and passport.

These all-inclusive travel packages are intended to be as stress-free as possible. You don't have to worry about the cost of anything, as it's already pre-paid. No need to tip anybody, and there are no hassles over the bill. When my sister first booked one of these all-inclusive trips to Mexico, I was a bit quick to warn her to "check the menu". After all, if all meals are included, you may end up with fish tacos every night. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that she and her husband were dining on steak and coconut shrimp as part of their package. Another perk is that these resorts are generally more private than other non-inclusive chains, so you don't have to worry as much about sand-vendors walking up to you on the beach, trying to sell you plastic crap from Taiwan.

The vacations.net site is pretty easy to navigate. My only complaints were that it would have been nice if it remembered my travel dates when I returned to the homepage to try a different destination. I also had to keep typing in my children's age every time I tried to search. Again, it would be nice it if remembered these details from the last search, and allowed me to change them if need be. (Obviously, my kids aren't going to change age from one search to the next.) The site automatically includes the all-inclusive results in your search. If you want other offers, you need to click on the "change" link where it says "All-Inclusive resort (change)".

It would also be nice if they included the estimated cost for the entire stay in the results, instead of just the average per night. Sure, I can take out the calculator and multiply $247.35 times seven nights, but it would be nice if they did it for me. My only other complaint was that it was showing me rooms that said "Exceeds max guests" in the results. If the room won't accommodate my family, why are you showing it to me?

One nice feature is the "travel style" selector. You are able to pick from a list of hotels based on whether they are family friendly, or just for adults, etc. This made it a little easier for me to narrow down results for a family of four. Unlike many of the new travel sites on the net that try to compete with the "biggies" by offering up half-baked affiliate booking links, this is one that I could actually see myself using if booking an all-inclusive trip.

I'm just not sure if the "all-inclusive" option is something that I'd be interested in. Sure, there's a lot of stress that is eliminated, especially when you're staying in a foreign country, but part of the fun of traveling is exploring, trying new cuisine, finding the "local dives". If I had an all-inclusive package, I wouldn't want to eat anywhere else, because I'd feel that we were wasting money. I guess that you need to look at an all-inclusive trip as a slightly different approach at traveling. It's more about getting away from the world, and relaxing in a protected and predictable environment. For the road-weary and those less-inclined to haggle, an all-inclusive package could prove to be a blessing.