This was my first ski holiday in 11 years and very different from those I had enjoyed previously. My previous trips had mostly been "boys’ holidays" and while this one was also a “boys’ holiday” it was one with a difference; just me and my 6 year old son, Oscar, as my wife doesn’t ski .
After a lot of research and some very useful advice on here, I selected Esprit due to the childcare available. I wanted the reassurance of knowing childcare was there if I needed it and I liked the sound of the childcare offerings. The final factor that swayed my decision was that Esprit offer a very limited number of rooms in a few resorts where they don’t charge an under occupancy supplement for solo parents. In the Ducs du Savoie this is limited to room 107 and 110 as I now know they are the least desirable in the hotel. More on that later.
Our trip started very well. On arrival at Edinburgh Airport at 6:00 am for our 8:10 am departure there was no queue at check-in and we very quickly had our boarding passes and went through security to get breakfast. At around 7:45 they commenced boarding and we made our way to the BA Embraer 190 that Esprit charter to operate the flights to Chambery. The aircraft normally operate Edinburgh to London City and are very comfortable with masses of legroom. Certainly not your normal ‘knees around your ears’ charter flight. We travelled in what was the East Lothian schools half-term ( the week before most of the rest of the schools in Scotland and England had half-term) therefore the flight was completely full. It did resemble a crèche as there were lots of young and fractious kids suffering from a combination of excitement and an early morning rise.
We left on time and made good progress towards Chambery. The benefit of Chambery is that for a lot of the Esprit resorts it cuts at least an hour from journey time compared to Geneva. The downside is that is geographic location makes it susceptible to weather that can (a) lead to it being closed and flights diverted to Lyon or Grenoble or (b) make for a VERY interesting approach and/or landing. We experienced the latter. I am a good flyer and have flown many times over the years but this flight will go down as one of the most spectacular and bumpy I have experienced. The views as you turn down the valley are stunning. For a lot of the approach you are below the mountains and hills around you. As it was very windy on the day we arrived the plane lurched and bounced for about 10 minutes. It didn’t bother me or my son but there were a lot of screams and shouts from other passengers. The final 2 minutes over the lake were fine and we landed without an issue. If you are a nervous flyer I would not recommend flying to Chambery.
Chambery airport was a zoo when we arrived. We seemed to be the last of the morning charter flights to arrive and there was a queue for passport control that is bizarrely located in a tent outside the building. The queue moved reasonably quickly and we waited for our bags. The two baggage belts were in use for other flights but after around 10 minutes the Edinburgh bags began coming off. As Chambery is so small there are no luggage trolleys and this gave me a problem as I had two large Dakine bags and a ski bag in addition to hand luggage. Thankfully one of the Esprit staff took one of my bags and we were quickly on the coach. We had been due to take passengers who were arriving from Birmingham but as that flight was delayed we left almost immediately.
The journey to Val d’Isere was uneventful. The traffic light and despite the snowy conditions from Bourg we were at the hotel less than 2 hours after leaving Chambery. On arrival the staff from Esprit came out to the coach and whisked our bags away and even took them right up to the room before we even set foot in the hotel.
The Ducs du Savoie is down a lane behind the Savoie hotel. It isn’t the most appealing building to look at but being up the lane away from the main road means it is quiet.
The room was exactly as I had expected from the descriptions on Trip Advisor. A bit tired and sparse but nonetheless functional. I had a quick check of the separate toilet and bathroom and both were immaculately clean. The carpet in the room was a bit threadbare and stained and really needs replacing and was probably the worse bit of the room. The beds seemed to be comfortable and relatively new. There were 2 single beds and another single ‘cabin’ style bed above the wardrobe and shelves.
I opened the wardrobe and it was immediately clear that the cleaner had not opened the door. If they had they would have noticed the remnants of a pair of earphones, sweetie papers and a child’s sports bra! I went down to reception and they were hugely apologetic and immediately dispatched two “Hotel Assistants” (as they are known) with a vacuum cleaner up to our room. The room was quickly hovered and profuse apologies were given. I was happy with this as the issue was dealt with quickly.
As promised earlier, more about the rooms. Due to the solo parent deal I had, the only two rooms available to us were 107 and 110. On booking the sales adviser gave us 107 as it was bigger than 110. However, as I was soon to discover 107 is directly above the kitchen and while the noise wasn’t extreme, it was audible enough to mean I seldom got to sleep until after 11:15 pm as that is when the banging and crashing from below ended. It started again at around 6:00 am as the staff began preparing breakfast. 110 would not have been much better as is above the bar. I would imagine the same issue would be experienced by 108/109 that forms a Family Suite.
The plus points of the room are that they are spacious, the beds are comfy (as comfy as a single bed can every be), there was plenty of hot water (a bit too hot at times) and the water pressure was excellent so the bath filled quickly. There were plenty of sockets for plugging in chargers and other electrical equipment. There was also a TV that received BBC stations although the signal was sometimes poor. Since we stayed the BBC channels have moved to a different satellite that is focused on the UK so the channels may no longer be available in France.
As Oscar is under 12 he wasn’t allowed to eat with me and had to take the kids high tea. The choice is fairly limited and I would say is more “kiddie comfort food” than highly nutritious. However, after a long day skiing it is probably exactly what kids want.
Esprit operate “Chalet Dining” for adults and unless you specifically request to be sat at the same table with the same people all week they will move you around. As a solo parent this worked well for me and I enjoyed meeting other people. The evening meal service starts with canapés and cocktail in the bar and then they ask you to sit in the dining room at 8:00 pm. You make your dinner selections at breakfast and there was normally a choice of two starters, three mains and two puddings. Biscuits and cheese are offered at the end. There is unlimited wine with the meal. My personal view is that the food was good. I am a very fussy eater but always found something that suited me and that I enjoyed. The hotel staff were brilliant; very friendly and helpful. They were all young, British, gap year kids who still seemed to have bags of enthusiasm.
As most kids were at ski school and needed to be ready to go at 8:30, breakfast started at 7:00. There was a good choice of continental and a very good choice of hot items. Sausages and bacon were as we get in the UK and they even had black pudding on some days! It would have been possible to stuff yourself at breakfast and avoid the need to spend a fortune on lunch on the mountain.
Oscar has only been skiing for a year and after reading the description in the Esprit brochure I elected to book him in to the “Sprites Intermediates” class. On the first day I decided to go with him to the class to ensure that he was happy and that he was in the right group. The kids are walked, in ski boots, the 10-15 minute walk to the meeting point. Their skis are taken in the minibus but I think a couple of kids found it hard going. I walked it and had to carry my skis and was glad when I got there. The “Snow Rangers” get the kids fired up as they walk and have then singing. Anyone who has been on a Eurocamp type holiday will be familiar with the songs!
Esprit classes are run by EVO2 and are exclusive to Esprit with a maximum of 8 kids. There were 7 in my sons’ class. As the weather was poor on Day 1 they were restricted the nursery slopes and the Village chairlift and Poma. I hung around for a while to watch and was pleased to see that the kids were all roughly of the same standard and Oscar fitted in well. Another benefit of the Esprit classes is that each group is accompanied by an Esprit Snow Ranger. On more than one occasions the Snow Ranger intervened in sibling squabbles that were resulting in a bit of pushing and barging that could have led to someone getting injured. She was also able to feedback to the children’s parents.
I had booked Oscar in in to supervised lunch followed by Snow Club. My expectation was that he would be too tired to ski all day and would welcome the opportunity to have some play in the afternoon. How wrong I was. He never used Snow Club once (£220 wasted) and insisted on skiing with me every afternoon. I didn’t have an issue with that as he has progressed so well that he did not hinder or hold me back in anyway. The boys were on holiday and we were going to ski together!
Esprit offer two evening childcare options; Cocoa Club from 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm and a listening service for the same period. Initially I tried to get Oscar to go to bed and get some sleep but he was having none of it. Understandably, he didn’t want left in the room on his own so he went to Cocoa Club. He quite enjoyed it but after a few days he had made a couple of friends and a very kind offer from the boys mum for Oscar to go in their room and watch DVDs instead of going to Cocoa Club was very welcome. On the first night, Rory the floor monitor was asked to go in at 9:00 pm and turn off the DVD. The boys all crashed out soon after and I then carried Oscar down to our room after dinner. This was then the pattern for the remaining nights. It worked for us and made us all happy.
In summary, I cannot fault the staff (hotel and childcare) or the food. The hotel is a bit shabby but it is fine. I think that what Esprit do is brilliant. It seemed to work for all the families I met and as a solo parent, it worked very well for me.
I have already booked with Esprit again for next year although due to the lack of a Sprites Advanced course in Val d’Isere we are going to Belle Plagne instead. That is supposedly their flagship hotel so it will be interesting to see the difference.
In terms of the skiing I can say nothing other than it was fantastic. We had loads of fresh snow and generally good conditions. There were a couple of disrupted days due to wind but there isn’t much that can be done about that. Queues were not too bad either. It could be a bit slow getting a cable car up to Bellvarde but if you were prepared to join the standing line then it cut the wait dramatically.
I really enjoyed skiing with Oscar. He has really fallen in love with it and never wants to stop!
The video below shows the type of conditions we had. No fancy kit was used in the making of it just my Samsung Galaxy S3 and an old Panasonic camcorder!
Sounds like you and Oscar had a blast ! Glad he's caught the bug - you just need to convert your wife now.
Excellent report with lots of very useful and candid info that I'm sure many people will appreciate, especially those in a similar position to yourself.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the one thing that is really lacking, especially from a sole parent point of view is the Ski Hosting. I'm aware that this is no fault of Esprit's or any of the other tour operators, but it used to be such a handy feature of trips with Esprit, to break the ice with fellow encourage group skiing without having to be too pushy.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
jonkgray78 wrote:
Thanks Gaza, great report, sounds like you had a fantastic time.
Thanks jonkgray78, we did have a fantastic time. It was good for me to spend a lot of time with Oscar as I generally leave home on a Monday at 5:00 am and don't return until Thursday or Friday evening.
Frosty the Snowman wrote:
Great and very informative report. Skiing with your kids is just awesome.
I couldn't agree more but what was interesting was some parents approach to this. I had taken the precaution of booking Oscar a place in Snow Club in case he decided that he didn't want to ski all day everyday. However, there were some kids who were handed over to Esprit staff at 8:30 and the parents didn't see them until they had to collect them at 6:00 pm from High Tea. Some would be in ski school in the morning, taken back for lunch and then out again with an instructor in the afternoon for what Esprit call Sprites Xtra. Basically it is instructor led guiding and is less formal that the morning sessions. Other kids were taken back for lunch and then spent the afternoon in Snow Club. Each to their own but I could not imagine going on a ski holiday with Oscar and not seeing him all day.
dsoutar wrote:
Sounds like you and Oscar had a blast ! Glad he's caught the bug - you just need to convert your wife now.
Excellent report with lots of very useful and candid info that I'm sure many people will appreciate, especially those in a similar position to yourself.
In the weeks leading up to our holiday my wife started to feel a bit left out of the preparations and began to make noises about revisiting her decisions not to ski. However, since our return the noises have died down and she was happy to let us book again for next year. The biggest sway for us is that next year our February half term is the same as Edinburgh and most of England and as my wife is a teacher would have to go then as opposed to the week before which we have booked. Going half term with my wife would cost us in excess of £2,500 more than we are paying for the two of us the week before. That money can go towards something we can all enjoy as a family.
I hope my review does help others who have a non-skiing partner. I was a little apprehensive before booking at what my experience would be but most people were very welcoming. While Oscar and I were away my wife had a few days in London and then went down to Dorset to meet up with friends we had when we lived there.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the one thing that is really lacking, especially from a sole parent point of view is the Ski Hosting. I'm aware that this is no fault of Esprit's or any of the other tour operators, but it used to be such a handy feature of trips with Esprit, to break the ice with fellow encourage group skiing without having to be too pushy.
I read your Trip Advisor review and it help me decide to book the holiday.
I agree with you about the lack of ski hosting but I managed to work around it. I had various offers to ski with other parents in the morning but generally declined. My usual routine was to see Oscar off and then get the bus up to the foot of Solaise. After a warm-up around Rogoney I would follow Oscar's class for a while and then head off to explore. I actually found it quite useful to listen to the instruction his class were getting as I am largely self-taught and after all you are never too old to learn! Although I can ski to a high standard I was conscious that I may hold people up. I was, and still am, recovering from severe sciatica so my general fitness was not where it needed to be so I have to stop more frequently.
Our afternoons were a mix of skiing ourselves or with a couple of other families. One afternoon we bumped in to fellow Snowhead muppet and her family at the Bellevarde restaurant. We had never met before but muppet spotted Oscar's Snowhead stickers on his helmet. They very kindly led us down to La Daille.
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.
NickyJ wrote:
Glad you had a good time, Gaza.
Ducs du Savoie is on my wish list
So long as you go there knowing what to expect then you won't be disappointed. It's not luxurious by any stretch of the imagination but it is in a great location. The Gare Routiere is right across the road from the alleyway entrance and if coming back from Solaise or Fornet side then the bus stops almost outside the alleyway. An added bonus is the supermarket beside the hotel. It is great for stocking up on snacks and drinks. There are also a couple of takeaways adjacent to the hotel. Pizza Pizza was very good and sold very large slices for €4.50 as well as varying sizes of full pizza. After we had skied back to La Daille with muppet and her family we got back too late for kids high tea so while Oscar was soaking in the bath I went out and got a large pizza for us and some beer (for me) from the supermarket and we had a boys night in.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Fri 7-03-14 11:44; edited 1 time in total
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
That's one very cute video Gaza! He improved so much in one week!
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Hi Gaza,
I didn't mention in my review, but I ended up taking morning lessons with Oxygene, as opportunity to meet some other folks and also to brush up on technique. I spent afternoons skiing with my daughter and other families, and also wasted the money on afternoon snowclub, apart from the last day when a strong winds, driving snow, and poor vis ended up being to much and she decided not to ski.
I know there's the Snowheads Family bash, wonder if we should start a Single Parents / Leaving Partners at Home Bash - SPLPH'Bash as it were!!
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.
Gaza, good report and very representative of a typical Esprit holiday
Childcare - Excellent
Accommodation - Often tired (but you don't spend too much time in the room so liveable with)
Staff - Usually excellent IME
Skiing with the kids once they realise they can ski - Always excellent
Some Parents dropping their kids off at 8am and picking them up at 6 - Yep there are always some of them, not the way we do family holidays but each to their own.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Oh and Gaza, I'm off to the Deux Domaines in Belle Plagne in a couple of weeks so will try and remember to report back on that.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
reded78 wrote:
Oh and Gaza, I'm off to the Deux Domaines in Belle Plagne in a couple of weeks so will try and remember to report back on that.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
reded78 wrote:
Hi Gaza,
I didn't mention in my review, but I ended up taking morning lessons with Oxygene, as opportunity to meet some other folks and also to brush up on technique. I spent afternoons skiing with my daughter and other families, and also wasted the money on afternoon snowclub, apart from the last day when a strong winds, driving snow, and poor vis ended up being to much and she decided not to ski.
I know there's the Snowheads Family bash, wonder if we should start a Single Parents / Leaving Partners at Home Bash - SPLPH'Bash as it were!!
I didn't see anything confirmed about a snowheads family bash?
My girls spent most the day in skiing & kids clubs but that was very much what they wanted, they had much more fun doing that than being with us. Though we did extract them around 4pm to do some swimming etc before they had tea.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Gaza, great report, which brought back happy memories of many Esprit holidays. I hope they're still singing songs like Crazy Moose, as they did above Courchevel 1850 a couple of weeks ago, right outside one of the swishest hotels, first thing in the morning. Having stayed at both the Ducs de Savoie and Deux Domaines, the Belle Plagne flagship hotel is far more modern and smart with a few luxuries. Also well situated to explore the area. Arguably not so challenging as Espace Killy but more than enough in La Plagne for an exciting week, with the option to nip across to Peisey/Vallandry and Les Arcs if time allows.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
intermediate wrote:
Gaza, great report, which brought back happy memories of many Esprit holidays. I hope they're still singing songs like Crazy Moose, as they did above Courchevel 1850 a couple of weeks ago, right outside one of the swishest hotels, first thing in the morning. Having stayed at both the Ducs de Savoie and Deux Domaines, the Belle Plagne flagship hotel is far more modern and smart with a few luxuries. Also well situated to explore the area. Arguably not so challenging as Espace Killy but more than enough in La Plagne for an exciting week, with the option to nip across to Peisey/Vallandry and Les Arcs if time allows.
LOL! Crazy Moose was Oscar's favorite. The kids belted it out on the walk to and from ski school. The other favorite was " I'm a little teapot".
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?
Esprit's Belle Plagne hotel is great. Rooms are nice standard (not tired at all), large and all the other Esprit +s. It's expensive but we will definitely be back with Esprit (probably 2016)
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Poster: A snowHead
