 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm just an occasional poster here, but thought I'd share my experiences of last week.
First, from what I can make out, Alpine Elements has quite a dubious reputation around the forums. So naturally we were apprehensive about booking with them. However we'd been on a summer holiday with them before which was fine, and they are probably the cheapest chalet operator out of the UK. I am pleased to report that Alpine Elements were quite frankly excellent. The transfer at Geneva left minutes after we collected our bags, not like some holiday companies who wait sometimes an hour or two for various flights to come in. Our driver stopping for a Red Bull in Albertville was mildly amusing, though.
The admittedly tired-looking but nevertheless functional chalet (Marcelle) was chosen because it suited our party - 3 families. It's location was excellent. Almost ski-in-ski-out with literally one minute walk to the end of the road and on to the piste. Returning to the chalet was even closer once the tricksy back-route behind the chalet opposite was figured out 
Our host (Ricky) was superb. A carefully-prepared 3-course meal every night with veggie alternatives for two of our party was pretty well faultless. And he was very helpful in other ways - showing us around for example.
The chalet was one bend in the road below Meribel's "Rond Point", located at the highest part of the central resort area. The nearest lift was a short traverse away, and the Chaudaune area where various bubbles and chairs departed was just a short descent away. We opted for the 3-valleys pass which was more expensive than the Meribel pass. We're glad we did as links on the Les Menuirs and Courcheval sides of the greater resort were well placed for hopping around the ridge. And the snow was generally better there too!
Although the snow we were skiing on was over a week old (last snowfall on 25 Dec, we arrived on 2 Jan) it was in pretty good shape, especially at the higher slopes. Only on the last day, after a thaw-freeze-thaw did it become uncomfortably icy. Fortunatelt for this week's skiers there was a large dump the day we departed.
Prices were unsurprisingly high. Buying food on the slopes is hard to do on a budget. However one restaurant - called Chalet de Neige (I think) - half way up the 3 Marches lift system offered humungously large omelets for EUR7 which could easily be shared amongst two adults. Coffee wasn't always expensive either. I paid only EUR1.70 in one place (probably the same place) which is cheaper than many of the chains in the UK. A portion of chips in a self-serve in Mottaret cost EUR3 but the same snack in a cafe over in Courcheval was EUR6.
Didn't do any apres-ski, being a family group, so can't comment on that.
Main weak-point was check-in at Bristol airport which took 2 hours, each pass seemingly having to be typed individually. Needless to say, it was much quicker at Geneva on our return.
Hope everyone has a good time on the snow.
A
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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McWulf, glad it was so good - nice to have a positive report. You make a very good point about huge omelettes - we thought that last week. I had an omelette and chips - huge - easily big enough for two and I couldn't finish it. Trouble is, my OH won't eat eggs. 
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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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Oh, not so good a deal then!
I shared mine with my daughter and divided it 60/40. Neither of us could finish our portions!!! Also ordered chips which was pointless, as my son had plenty on his plate which also contained two unfeasibly large sausages. 
Dunno why omelets are so cheap. Sausage and Chips costs around EUR9 and Spag Bol comes in at around EUR11. Many main courses cost more than that. There must have been around 6 eggs in that thing - and loads of cheese and bacon.
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