 Poster: A snowHead
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I've spent this weekend going round in circles trying to put together a ski package for 5, with the complication that we had to go Sunday-Sunday and could only go on March 3rd which is still French holidays.
In my head I was trying to get everything bar food for £850 each (I live in the past lol!) - hubby had found a Crystal ski half-board deal to Andorra, with lift passes would have been over £1300 each, so I thought that was way too much - and the flight was 6am from Gatwick which is a 2hr+ drive for us.
I had a look at Sunweb, and they had some reasonable deals, but so many extras to work out I got stressed, and I suspected (though from the comments above I could be wrong) that the accommodation would be very basic - and they didn't really have suitable apts for 5 and I also wasn't sure the inclusive lift pass would be the domaine rather than the local area (e.g. in Flaine - would it be Flaine or the Grand Massif - there isn't much difference in price buying it yourself so we'd always go for Grand Massif).
I had several apts in La Thuile/Sestriere/Morillon identified/saved on AirBnB and VRBO but when I totted up the accomodation, lift pass, transfer/hire car, flights, food I was at about £1000-£1200 each - most requiring ski bus/car to get to the slopes, none with more than one bathroom, some needing 23 yr old son to share a room with us or sleep on sofa bed in the living room.
I was going round in circles trying to find something that I felt ticked all the boxes. I was being unrealistic as we wanted 100km plus resort with mostly blues, close to Geneva/Chambery but not too low, ski in/ski out, Sunday start - I didn't want a lift pass more than £250 each.
Then thanks to the miracle that is the Facebook algorithm a 6-bed/14 person fully catered chalet in Morillon popped up - so I touted for some pals to join us, but also emailed the owner to see if they would let it out by the room, and she not only agreed she also gave my son a room on his own without the single supplement.
So our "package" is now 3 ensuite rooms in a luxury chalet with hot tub (would have been much cheaper if we'd filled the chalet but I didn't want to wait and I really didn't think we could), flights to Geneva at decent times from our local airport, private transfer to the resort, private transfers to the ski lift - it will cost us £1350 roughly including ski passes and ski hire - so much for my budget lol! however I am consoling myself that we will have a full breakfast (might cut down the cost of lunch on the slopes), afternoon tea, 3-course meal - the "kids" and hubby will get wine and beer with dinner (I don't drink) so we won't spend much on apres ski, the owner says they will attempt to source caffeine free coke zero for me. Who knows, maybe I will appreciate the convenience and will not be so tight in future and luxury will become the norm (although if we sneak an extra week in January as planned we'll be doing it tunnel/self catering/studio with bunks in the hall).
The only problem I have now is how the hell do I stop the ski-related FB ads 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@skimummk,
I think the 3rd is still French half term - so you have done well to find something that also does Sun-Sun
My suggestion was going to be look at Austria, as Sun-Sun seems much better catered for than other countries.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Gored wrote: |
@skimummk,
I think the 3rd is still French half term - so you have done well to find something that also does Sun-Sun
My suggestion was going to be look at Austria, as Sun-Sun seems much better catered for than other countries. |
Yup, I knew from previous years that anything other than Sat-Sat is a big issue in France for most of the season - in Austria and Italy there were a lot more options.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@skimummk, Wondering which chalet you're going to there as stayed in a few within that valley, I dont mind not saying if you didn't want it on public forum
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| sugarmoma666 wrote: |
@AndyXZ24, I've seen tour operator prices for lift passes (including Crystal) that have been great value but also some that were more expensive than buying them yourself in resort, never mind if there were online discounts available. The message here is to always check the prices on the resort website to make sure you're getting a good deal.
Also, you mentioned lift passes at nearly £300. There's quite a range of prices out there, with some resorts coming out higher than that. For e.g. Tignes / Val d'Isere is €396 for 6 days, which is ~£343 at today's exchange rates. |
Booking early with Crystal, I took advantage of their 'two for one' lift pass offer === Result was 4 DolomitiSuperSki passes for £134 each...!! 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| albob wrote: |
| sugarmoma666 wrote: |
@AndyXZ24, I've seen tour operator prices for lift passes (including Crystal) that have been great value but also some that were more expensive than buying them yourself in resort, never mind if there were online discounts available. The message here is to always check the prices on the resort website to make sure you're getting a good deal.
Also, you mentioned lift passes at nearly £300. There's quite a range of prices out there, with some resorts coming out higher than that. For e.g. Tignes / Val d'Isere is €396 for 6 days, which is ~£343 at today's exchange rates. |
Booking early with Crystal, I took advantage of their 'two for one' lift pass offer === Result was 4 DolomitiSuperSki passes for £134 each...!! |
Very nice! They tend to only offer these early though, and booking early you always pay a premium so I guess it’s a clever marketing ploy, but for people who book early it’s an extra perk (not me I’m not that organised  )
The CS/TUI Black Friday nonsense is now over and the prices have started decreasing again, overnight they withdrew the £50 p/p off and the prices of some holidays went down by nearly that exact amount, odd that isn’t it?
I’m still not sure what to do, I’m thinking the option of gambling and booking a package late might be the best option, I’m a bit of a gambler and my partner definitely is not so getting her to go along with that one could be tricky
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Looking at crystal compared to our search a few weeks ago I would say on my brief browse things in Jan are about £200-400pp more expensive at the moment for France and nearer £600pp over the holidays. Looks like there’s a sweet spot to booking & now is not a good time. This is probably when DIY/drive does come into its own/sunweb as it will be cheaper or you chance it (you can also chance with self drive as there’s always a ferry). If I’m honest we do still love the excitement, when I booked this package my husband said he was disappointed that we wouldn’t be driving as it’s always exciting & it seems to like snowing on us. It’s a sense of adventure you lose with packages!
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Looking at crystal compared to our search a few weeks ago I would say on my brief browse things in Jan are about £200-400pp more expensive at the moment for France and nearer £600pp over the holidays. Looks like there’s a sweet spot to booking & now is not a good time. This is probably when DIY/drive does come into its own/sunweb as it will be cheaper or you chance it (you can also chance with self drive as there’s always a ferry). If I’m honest we do still love the excitement, when I booked this package my husband said he was disappointed that we wouldn’t be driving as it’s always exciting & it seems to like snowing on us. It’s a sense of adventure you lose with packages!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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We went to the snow show at the NEC last year looking for a reasonable deal to go to Flaine or Val Thorens or somewhere similar but met a couple who run a company out of Val Cenis and offered what I thought was a good deal for accomodation, lift pass and ski hire, with an additional but reasonable price for shared transfers. We had to book our own flights, but all in it came to around £750 each.
We went to the snow show again this year hoping for something else, but it was about half the size and mostly equipment sellers and chuggers. I started looking for deals and everything seemed to have gone up loads, so we're going to Val Cenis again for almost the same price.
Obviously Val Cenis is a smaller resort, but had relatively good snow last year compared to a lot of other places and there was plenty of good skiing to be had.
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| Rh2205 wrote: |
| Looking at crystal compared to our search a few weeks ago I would say on my brief browse things in Jan are about £200-400pp more expensive at the moment for France and nearer £600pp over the holidays. Looks like there’s a sweet spot to booking & now is not a good time. This is probably when DIY/drive does come into its own/sunweb as it will be cheaper or you chance it (you can also chance with self drive as there’s always a ferry). If I’m honest we do still love the excitement, when I booked this package my husband said he was disappointed that we wouldn’t be driving as it’s always exciting & it seems to like snowing on us. It’s a sense of adventure you lose with packages! |
In order to get reasonable value with Crystal, you either have to book early (late June or early July) to get cheaper prices + 2 for one LP; or you have to get a last minute bargain. In Tignes, the LP offer is worth nearly €200 each and prices usually go up around €200 pp for HB in a 3* hotel.
If there is a snowy November and bookings are strong....then there is little hope of decent value.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Old Fartbag, same with any TO IME.
When I used to use TO's we generally went off peak weeks and would start looking less than 2 weeks out but one year some guy booked at the end of the Summer.
I think the former lends to those that have a lot of flexibility - small, dynamic group, who can change plans at short notice, work with different airport/destination options whereas the latter is better for those who don't have that and want to be sorted early.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Layne wrote: |
@Old Fartbag, same with any TO IME.
When I used to use TO's we generally went off peak weeks and would start looking less than 2 weeks out but one year some guy booked at the end of the Summer.
I think the former lends to those that have a lot of flexibility - small, dynamic group, who can change plans at short notice, work with different airport/destination options whereas the latter is better for those who don't have that and want to be sorted early. |
Agreed.
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Snowcoach still seems to be offering some reasnobly priced holidays, but what caught my eye was the cost of using their coaches to the Alpes. If I read it correctly their charge for a coach transfer was £144, from London. Not far off what some companies offer from Geneva. Mind you with Easyjet offering £55 return from Birmingham to Geneva that is not that great a saving once you factor in the cost of getting to London.
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You know it makes sense.
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| skimummk wrote: |
I had a look at Sunweb, and they had some reasonable deals, but so many extras to work out I got stressed, and I suspected (though from the comments above I could be wrong) that the accommodation would be very basic - and they didn't really have suitable apts for 5 and I also wasn't sure the inclusive lift pass would be the domaine rather than the local area (e.g. in Flaine - would it be Flaine or the Grand Massif - there isn't much difference in price buying it yourself so we'd always go for Grand Massif). |
50/50 in my experience whether the accomodation is good or not - we had a great apartment on a great deal with Sunweb in Valloire in 2019; in 2020 the apartment we got through them in La Plagne was a bit grim. They can be good value, but as has been said, watch the extras.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| AndyXZ24 wrote: |
| johnE wrote: |
| Quote: |
I did think fly to Lyon, Lyon to local train station then bus up to the mountain but with two suitcases and skis that sounds quite treacherous to me
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The biggest hassle would IMHO be at the airport and perhaps the tram into Part Dieu. The getting on and off trains bit is the easy part. Can you not get all your stuff into one suitcase and a back pack?
As to car hire. Geneva is possiby a bit more than Lyon or Turin. I had a quick search and got the following figures for a week in January for a ford fiesta: Geneva 271€, Lyon 257€ and Turin 199€. In all cases you will have to factor in the charges for chains, insurance etc.
Actually, the £650 per parson from Crystal doesn't appear too bad to me. |
Indeed the £650 CS doesn’t seem bad until you factor in the lift pass which is £270 ea so takes it to nearly a grand each, I guess that way takes the hassle out of it but when I’ve been abroad recently I always book things separate and get much better prices than package holidays. |
We were last paying those prices 15 years ago. Skiing, when people are honest about the total cost of the entire trip, is incredibly expensive. Post pandemic we have personal experience of hotels, taxi transfers, lift passes and ski rental increasing at 20% per season. Taxi transfer went up 50% overnight.
Unless only rip off deals are left with Crystal, I’d travel with them. Taking away lots of hassle and potential for things to go wrong.
I say that as someone who 95% of the time travels independently, until a Crystal deal for the Dolomites was too tempting to miss. We do book 8 to 12 months ahead whether package or independent …. you get exactly what you want.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Oh and just as an aside, if using Crystal, don't forget to book via TopCashback or Quidco. It's generally around 1% cash back, but they do have occasional offers (currently 4% on December departures with TCB... makes you wonder if bookings are down right now... could suggest some decent late deals in the offing...)
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| TMinfidel wrote: |
We went to the snow show at the NEC last year looking for a reasonable deal to go to Flaine or Val Thorens or somewhere similar but met a couple who run a company out of Val Cenis and offered what I thought was a good deal for accomodation, lift pass and ski hire, with an additional but reasonable price for shared transfers. We had to book our own flights, but all in it came to around £750 each.
We went to the snow show again this year hoping for something else, but it was about half the size and mostly equipment sellers and chuggers. I started looking for deals and everything seemed to have gone up loads, so we're going to Val Cenis again for almost the same price.
Obviously Val Cenis is a smaller resort, but had relatively good snow last year compared to a lot of other places and there was plenty of good skiing to be had. |
MGS SKI?
Parents of British slalom skier Billy Major.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Funnily enough, Crystal prices appear to be decreasing quite significantly, after their Black Friday deals several holidays I’ve been tracking are now below the BF price, going to keep an eye on the late deal offers I think, hopefully will be able to grab a bargain.
Took my partner to her first ski lessons at snozone last night, to try and entice her into coming as a first time skier and she took to it pretty well, having done ski lessons in Finland I was however quite sceptical of how they were instructing, luckily enough we had empty slopes and a quiet lesson so quick progress was made and we were already doing intermediate stuff by the end. I think as I’ve ski’d before being told to go down the slope like a zombie (arms out front) was quite frustrating given I was taught the opposite by my Finnish instructor many moons ago
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FAQ
