Poster: A snowHead
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Hello everyone
I'm looking to do things a bit differently this year and book my trip in advance to take advantage of early discounts. I spoke to a really helpful guy called Nick at ifyouski and he suggested Club Med in VD as it's fully inclusive except ski hire. The price worked out much better than my normal Xmas trip with Mark Warner but I wondered if anyone had been with Club Med before and if so would you recommend? Tripadvisor seems to give very good reviews.
Thanks for any input!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Would highly recommend - went a few years ago with all the family - ages ranging from 10 - 70. Everyone had a great time, delicious food and wine and no pressure to join in the entertainment.
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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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Would highly recommend
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That's exactly what i wanted to hear. I've been with MW so many times but think some of their places are looking a bit tired now. I'm going to book it asap before the early bird discount runs out!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Davecon70, Been with them for several years (not to the one at VD). They are very good. Great food (often too good ) and they really are all inclusive. It's possible to spend the week in resort without paying an extra euro unless you fancy tipping your ski instructor.
You can do the ski hire with them if needed (I believe it may be slightly more expensive than a local hire), which has the advantage of being within the hotel. They are good quality.
Only warning - they can be/are very french - but you get used to that
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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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@Davecon70, Before the kids came we used to do the Club Med in Val D'Isere regularly. Only reason we stopped was that they used not to take children under 12. Anyway, great place, fantastic location, good food and as has been said no pressure to join in anything at all. We also used the ski guiding that was on offer, which was actually just the ESF from Val D'Isere. That was a bit mixed, sometimes great ( Alain Marchant ) and once a guy who seemed to be trying to teach us how to do the Eurotest, spent the week screaming down the hills behind this guy at speeds that were just short of ridiculous. Good fun anyway.
Highly recommended.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Not been to CM in VD, but been to CM in LDA. Very good. V French as @skitrack says, but not a problem. Expect to put on a few pounds in weight over the week. Good food and good wine and beer. We hired skis with CM - expensive, but good quality and no fuss with changing kit. Ski instruction was a mixed bag. Mrs and I had an excellent instructor. Kids instructors weren't do good - but that may be more of a problem with the kids not the instructor .
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We did Club Med in peisey Vallandry. It was good, but we wouldn't do it again. The food and accomodation etc. were all excellent. I'm pretty sure the ski hire was included, so I'm not quite sure what @skitrack, is referring to. The downsides? Not that many. For us, the big one was that we'd effectively paid for lunch in the package so we felt it would be stupid to pay for it all over again eating on the mountain. Personally, I don't want to go back to the hotel for lunch. Mountain restaurants are a big part of the holiday for me. In addition, it all felt a little too institutionalised. We've done summer CM's and they work really well. the big draw is that all the activities are included. For a skiing holiday there is only one activity that matters so the 'all inclusive' bit is less relevant.
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@foxtrotzulu, +1 on the institutionalised bit. You can feel that you have spent all your time in one place. Ski hire was not included when we went to LDA - about 5 years ago, I suppose.
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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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it all felt a little too institutionalised
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hotels always feel like that for me, especially half board and especially if it's one of those places with huge long corridors where you have no immediate access to the outside. 3 meals a day would be even more so. I much prefer to stay in a SC place and occasionally eat out if the mood takes me. Or cook a good meal, or just have some crackers and cheese and a glass of wine. Even at Uni I never lived in Halls and wouldn't have liked it as in those days it was all "meals provided" and there were too many rules!
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The other point, which might be just my inner meanness was that we also felt we had to be in ski school all day long, because we'd paid for it. The one day we rebelled, eat lunch elsewhere and skived off in the PM was bliss.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@pam w, I agree with most of your points apart from the uni hall thing. Large volumes of calorific low quality food. This is what they want. Or this was what I wanted, aged 18.
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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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Or this was what I wanted, aged 18.
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Not I. I lodged with my Welsh great-aunts in my first year, 7 miles from the Uni and had a Honda 90 bike for commuting. Then in the second year got together with 3 other girls in our own flat. That really was bliss; we learnt a lot and lived together for the next 3 years. We are still all in touch. I have spent a fair amount of work time in hotels, paid for by the British tax payer. But it's not my idea of a holiday and one reason why I won't be doing the Snowheads Birthday Bash again - I really don't like living in hotels and eating the same sort of stuff every evening.
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@pam w, I thought it was just me felt like that about hotels... thank goodness for the EOSB. Sorry, totally irrelevant thread creep!
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You know it makes sense.
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Not irrelevant, @Gämsbock, as the OP is contemplating Club Med....
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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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@pam w, I agree it's a v relevant point. I enjoyed CM a lot, but I did feel a bit institutionalised at the end of the week. If you enjoy hotels, CM would be a good bet.
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Poster: A snowHead
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If I had to stay in a hotel for a week would prefer CM because at least it would be good for my French!
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