Harborside - Meal Plans

Anyone have any thoughts about the meal plans at Harborside? We're going next week (first time) and are considering one of the plan options, but would like to hear from those who have been there before we decide.

I do think the meal plans cover the costs of the meals not a huge savings but you do save somewhat.We eat almost all breakfasts in and make a few lunches and will be having at least 2 dinners in so it dosn't pay for our family.

Depends what your normal eating habits are when you're away from home. For me, I typically will eat at least breakfast (cereal) in the room. Also, if dinner is a larger portion than I need, then I'll take it home, and either eat it for lunch, or if it's large enough, for dinner. All are extremely easier to do in a timeshare with a full kitchen (table, fridge, microwave).

If you'd otherwise eat all of your meals at Atlantis restaurants, the meal plan could save you money. We ate at some places off Atlantis, so the meal plan wouldn't have worked out well for us.

Jeff

I find the Atlantis meal plan too inflexible.

Can't get it for 4 or 5 days - must be entire trip. Must buy it before you arrive and know what restaurants you can even get into for dinner. Must eat breakfast at the buffets every day (where I tend to overeat) or the money's wasted. I just bite the bullet and trade dollars for the freedom to eat where and when I want.

In fact, I don't remember ever reading a post from anyone who bought the meal plan. Maybe someone will let you know how it worked for them. ... eom

We're going to have ~13 people at Harborside later this year, and just finished chatting about whether to get the meal plans or not. It was universally agreed not to do so.

I used to buy the meal plans, before I bought into Harborside and stayed in the hotel towers. In the 2000 to 2004 or so era, they offered a slight discount off sticker prices. Sometime around 2005, the raised the prices for the plan significantly, and it became bad deal....you had to eat the full monty every meal in order to approach seeing any savings...and even with that it might not have worked out to be any savings.

Being over at Harborside, it's nice to have at least a few quite mornings of breakfast in your unit. That alone makes the plan uneconomical.

On the other hand, In 2008-09 the had some specials on the plans which made it an okay deal. And if you have a curmudgeon in the group that will whine at every meal because of the prices, then sometimes the overcharge for the plan is worth it...I found that my BIL didn't complain when he knew everything was already paid for in the plan.

komosatp said:

...I found that my BIL didn't complain when he knew everything was already paid for in the plan.

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It's amazing how many people think that All Inclusives (in this case, meal plan) have to be a better deal, without comparing it against expected out of pocket costs. Maybe it's as you mentioned - having as much as possible prepaid makes it easier to enjoy the vacation.

For some island resorts, where there's not much around, and/or it's not that safe to go out, meal plans can make a lot of sense. However I've been to both Harborside and Cancun, and I thoroughly enjoyed the off-site meals (in Cancun, all of them).

Jeff

JeffW said:

It's amazing how many people think that All Inclusives (in this case, meal plan) have to be a better deal, without comparing it against expected out of pocket costs. Maybe it's as you mentioned - having as much as possible prepaid makes it easier to enjoy the vacation.

For some island resorts, where there's not much around, and/or it's not that safe to go out, meal plans can make a lot of sense. However I've been to both Harborside and Cancun, and I thoroughly enjoyed the off-site meals (in Cancun, all of them).

Jeff

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If your staying at the hotel at Atlantis I think the meal plan is worth it.

Transit said:

If your staying at the hotel at Atlantis I think the meal plan is worth it.

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IMO, this is especially true because

1. You don't have a kitchen

2. The restaurants are much, much closer to your room!

JeffW said:

It's amazing how many people think that All Inclusives (in this case, meal plan) have to be a better deal, without comparing it against expected out of pocket costs. Maybe it's as you mentioned - having as much as possible prepaid makes it easier to enjoy the vacation.

For some island resorts, where there's not much around, and/or it's not that safe to go out, meal plans can make a lot of sense. However I've been to both Harborside and Cancun, and I thoroughly enjoyed the off-site meals (in Cancun, all of them).

Jeff

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If your staying at the hotel at Atlantis I think the meal plan is worth it.

We have been going since 2001 and unless you are really big eaters it is not worth it--especially staying at Harborside!

Another vote for not worth it!

We have the taxi stop at the super market prior to taking us to Harborside. Pick-up groceries for our breakfast, lunch, snacks and a few dinners. We'll eat a few dinners off site and a few at Atlantis.

We tend to travel to Atlantis with larger groups (10 or more) and this is definitely our preferred method for dining.

Are they still gracious enough to allow you to bring your own bottle of wine and charge you the "cork" fee of $100 or so? Now thats a deal :hysterical:

hi, just got back from a wonderful week. hurricane season started 2 weeks early.

this is the first year we did not have the meal plan and i think it saved us about $1500 if not more. my DH and I ate breakfast in all week and the kids had 2-3 breakfasts out. if they had lunch out they could not order anything for lunch.

dinners for the 8 of us ranged from $300-700 depending where we went. we did not order drinks or dessert at dinner. we loved Cafe Martinique. we tried new places this year since we had the freedom to do so, with no meal plan.

just added up all the charges and not having the meal plan saved us $2000. that's a lot of money and most importantly saved me about 10 pounds.