Crystal 2000, Courchevel 1850

A snowHead

I am new to the forum, and I Am sorry if I am posting this in the wrong place.

I have just booked the Crystal 2000 with Esprit Ski. It is new to them this year, so I am ignoring the reviews I have found about it (I didn't have a good experience of Crystal Club Hotels the one and only time I have tried them, so I hope the bad reviews are due to them).

I have been reading the reviews of Esprit Ski on here and have decided to go for a holiday with them as we will be going with a 4yr old and a 1yr old when we fly out.

However my question - has anybody been here or seen the hotel, if so please can you advice which Ski rental shop is closest to them?

Many thanks

A snowHead

not sure which is the nearest shop, but Esprit can organise them for you

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Looks like you're up the hill a bit from the center, but if it's any use I can strongly recommend Ski Higher. Our party 2 years ago used them (http://www.skihigher.com/shops/courchevel/courchevel-1850.html), booking on-line instead of using the TO. It's small, friendly, cheaper and virtually no queues, whereas everyone else who used the TO recommended place had to queue for 2 hours each end of the week and complained about rushed service. Swapping ski's halfway through the week was no problem at all either.

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NickyJ, looks like you are a bit out of town. One year with Esprit we got the kids skis through Esprit so their gear was with the other kids (might be relevant for your 4 yr old) and the adults got their gear from another shop, Dr John, seems to give a good recommendation

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks I will check out DrJohns recommendation. How far is it to that shop from where our accomodation is?

I haven't booked the ski's through Esprit because even using the free ski's offer for our daughter if we booked through them it was coming out almost £100 more expensive that if we booked direct via htt://www.alpinresorts.com web site. I don't know where the ski shop actually is though, and they appear to be a middle man. Has anybody used them?

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Here is a link to the JPG I am looking at to choose a shop.

http://www.skiset.com/plans/21_skiset.jpg

Which of those on this map are closest (or easiest to get to, if we take the bus into the resort centre) to the hotel?

Thanks.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

THe New Solarium branch is closest to you. You're up in the rarified atmosphere of the Jardin Alpen/Altiort area, which is great for ski in/out and has a certain cachet, but not within quick walking distance of the centre (although there are regular free buses up and down). There will be some hire joints closer to you, it depends how sensitive you are to prices and queuing. My guess is that on average pick-up/drop-off days it will be quicker for you to bus it down to Ski Higher and back again than to queue in the larger places, but it is just a guess.

After all it is free

Boabski directed me to this thread....

I just got of the phone to Esprit and have a provisional booking for the same hotel so this is all good info.

How much are we talking about here to rent skis? Not a problem for us as we're kitted out - Esprit are charging £35 return per set of skis.

If it's a lot, it may be cheaper to buy a 2nd hand set on here and take them with you.

We used (UK based) edge to edge - http://www.edge2edge.co.uk/index.html - this year (no affiliation). they deliver to your chalet/apartment in 3V too (and are a lot cheaper than renting locally; though not as cheap as e.g. snowrental.net, you do get to choose your skis and can get some good gear).

We were happy with them.

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You know it makes sense.

We're probably going to Crystal Hotel too - with a <1 year old and a 5 year old. Thanks for the useful info everyone! Very Happy

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Just booked for w/c 31st Jan.

Kids very excited about not having to walk a long way in ski boots at the start and end of each session. Adults just very excited. Smile

Went to Courchy (as we like to call it!) with Esprit in 2009 and loved the ski area, but Lordy, was there a lot of walking in boots involved.

I think this will be the first trip where I won't be able to keep up with Elder Daughter.

A snowHead

We've recently booked for wc 13th Feb. (dreaded half term week).... Would be good to here some early reports from those going with espritski to see how it stands up.

My wife can't keep up with the eldest (9yo with 3 weeks snow time, 1 esf, 2 austrian ski school (Ski Schule Bruck) and 2 gold medals in end of week ski races and already happy on most Red's and the 5 year old just wants to go straight down and over jumps.. Heaven help me my legs are getting to old for this lark but at least I can beat them at the drinking (for now at least!!!).

A snowHead

We booked out ski's with Intersport in the main 1850. It worked out £100 less for 2 pairs of skis, and 1 childs boots, ski and helmet package.

The ski's hired out from Esprit were via the shop in the hotel so those were a lot more convenient. The only down side was the idiot in the hotel ski hire shop, was told to replace the poles with new ones for those they hired out. This idiot, then replaced all hired poles including those we had hired from Intersport and that other families had also hired from other locations. We reported it the following morning when we realised they weren't our poles, however those poles had gone down the hill and they couldn't find them again. In the end we were charged 30 euros for 2 sets of poles, which we did get reimbursed (with the help of the hotel manager).

However after the fuss etc, I doubt that idiot will do it again (if he even still works there, as his boss said to my husband "I will fire him").

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

The Ski area in Courchevel 1850 is simply great. Don't worry about the Ski hire you will have an excellent time.

Though the £9 pints are a little hard to swallow!!

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NickyJ, glad to hear you are back safe and well. How did you find it? Things I'm interested in, and apologies for the torrent of questions.

General stuff - How were the reps, general accomodation.
Kids - How were the ski schools, and meal times
Adults - How were the separate meal times handled
Accomodation - Rooms and general facilites (bar, pool etc).

Anything particularly good or bad.

Again apologies for the grilling. I love courchy but first time with this TO.

also what's the name of the shop in the hotel?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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ansta1,

General stuff - How were the reps, general accomodation. - The reps were great, they were brilliant with the kids, and seemed to just love being there. Our room was quite spacious, though we had 2 interconnecting rooms so the cot didn't need to go in our room which did help. However there was plenty of wardrobe and shelf space in the hallway in the room, there was also a TV and Fridge, though we couldn't find any english channels. The bath was a good size, with a shower over and the toilet was seperate. Also when we arrived they took the bags from the coach and up to our room for us. They also helped us with the bags to get them to the coach from the airport. Again when we left they helped get them on the aircraft. This was really appreciated when we now have the stuff we need for a family of 4 but one of children can't walk yet.

Kids - How were the ski schools, and meal times Ellie was in spritlets and it was just 3 in their group. From the presentation on the Friday, I don't think any of the groups were too big. Breakfast started form 7am, and were all together lunch was about 12, though I was only there for one of the lunches. Childrens high tea, they went in at 5.

Adults - How were the separate meal times handled The only meal that is seperate is the evening meal. The kids one is much earlier starting from 5, which is the same time I try and get the girls their supper as home. We then took them up for a play, bath then bed. Our girls are in bed at 7pm and 7:30pm, so once we were sure they were settled we signed them into the listening service and went down for our supper. Typically though we didn't get our first course until 8:30 which was a bit late, but they did bring round petit fours in the bar before hand including a complementary drink.

Accomodation - Rooms and general facilites (bar, pool etc). The pool looked nice but I didn't get in it. They needed to do some work to the ceiling so it didn't open until Thursday and by all accounts was very cold then. They had a nice big but cosy bar / lounge area with lots of comfy seats and a real fire in.

Anything particularly good or bad. There were several teething problems, to start with our room was too hot (25 degrees at night with the window locked slightly open), but after complaining about it they managed to get it to a more comfortable 21 degrees. Then the hot water went, but they went to the trouble of bringing up huge soup pans of hot water so that we could bath the children, and even while they were doing that they still kept there sense of humour, and were happy to chat and joke with Ellie. The other thing particuarly good was the location in that it was absolutely a truly ski in ski out location. However that also formed a down side when it came to the evening off for the evening meal. We got their bus into town but the ski bus back up wasn't going for a while when we were ready to go and the girls were both crying because they were tired and cold, so we ended up paying 20euros for the taxi. We also struggled to find anywhere doing hot food at the time they normally eat (between 5 and 6) we got them a pizza in the end but was a bit spicy for my eldest. In hindsight I wish we had got a ready meal or 2 from the supermarket and used the microwave in the parent room - this provided baby change facilities, had a stock of baby jar food etc.

Again apologies for the grilling. I love courchy but first time with this TO. It was for us as well, I was really impressed by them and have no doubts we will go with them again.

also what's the name of the shop in the hotel? I am afraid I didn't even look. Sorry.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

NickyJ, many thanks for the full response. I am now really looking forward to this trip based on the responses so far. I have spent many weeks in 1850 either without children or with 1 in a private chalet so was a little nervous going this way but it seems it's going to be good.

Our 2, 5 and soon to be 10, tend to be slightly later into bed. 7-30 and 8-30 respectively. guess we are going have to decide to let one or both stay up and play while we eat or settle them in the room and rely on the listening service (or a bit of both).

thanks again and glad you had a great time and hope the journey either way wasn't affected by the weather.

Right now time to book the 'boys' trip in Jan and March.

After all it is free

For over 6 ithink there is a coco club to look after the older ones as they are expected to be up
later

There's some very very promising reviews from the last few days here. Can't wait to go now... guess i'll need to make do with our Scottish snow for the next couple of months though!

Help!!

Crystal 2000, Courchevel 1850

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