 Poster: A snowHead
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Just got a price for next year and the cost has gone up 20% on this year. £100 of that is because the wee one doesn't qualify for nursery anymore so would be in spritelets and snowclub, but even so, 20% is a big hike!
So, looking for alternatives, unless it's possible to haggle with Esprit?
Might even consider Canada or the US if it's going to cost that much.
I am a big fan of Esprit, everything this year was perfect, but i don't think i'll be allowed to spend £3k on a ski holiday!
So, list your alternatives here please:
Must include at least some kind of ski instruction for a 3 year old. Might need to go the self service route and do a chalet.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Hi,
One option would be to take a look at family ski who offer similar packages to esprit but are a much smaller company so are able to be more flexible.
Given that the childcare etc is the most important part, if you are considering going it alone the best plan would be to find the chalet first and then book travel etc round it. Try posting what you're looking for on the chalets and appartments section here, and in the solutions room on www.chaletsdirect.co.uk and see what replies come back . . .
Good luck!
Heather
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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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Mark Warner shoogly?
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we go with snowbizz, which offer self-catering appartments (but you can have a catered package if that is important to you).
we are going again next year, which will be our third time. They run a 'toton ski' for 3-4 yr olds (class is 10-11, but htis is part of a creche 9-1) and 2 hour classes for 5+, at the same time as the adults.
all instructors speak english well, the resort is small and very compact (so great for lugging sets of skis around). the childcare is excellent, it is snowsure...
the main drawbacks are: a)no swimming pool b)a small resort (but for those who demand a large area it is next door to a national park, allowing a lot of potential for off piste).
have a look, they are great for family ski holidays.
oh and if you book soon you get it at this year's prices.
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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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When our kids were of that age (some years ago) we had very positive experiences of The Family Ski Company and the do seem to be thriving, so they must get someting right! Their prices for next year are published. We've also had positive experiences with Ski2 in Champoluc, Italy, but thats hotel based and not chalet.
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take a grandparent.
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shoogly, I have had three very good holidays with Skifamille, and an ok one with Esprit. Not the cheapest but kids are 100% looked after.
Sorry re read your post, 3 year old instruction is not always easy to arrange.
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I would also recommend snow bizz in puy st vincent. Very good value excellent childcare and ski school. My daughter skiied on her third birthday in the snow bizz totons class and loved it.
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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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shoogly,
As daughter sev112 is gettin golder (will be 8 next year) we are getting close to the point where we can be more flexible
But looking at the past 4 years, it would seem that a good bet is to play teh waiting game - every year there have been reaonable discounts, then amazing discounst (taht we never have teh bottle to wait for )
To my mind, and i accpt i might be lucky in this respect (but no excessively so), it's worth easily at least £500 (if that's what youre looking at) to have a 100% briliant holiday where the kids come first
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Our first ski trip with kids was a DIY trip to Breckenridge. Second was an Esprit trip to Tignes. We had a humungous discount with Esprit, but, had we paid the brochure price, Breck would have been much cheaper and, overall, it was a much better experience. Esprit were pretty good, but the childcare was too overbearing for parents who actually enjoy being with their kids: in a private condo, family meals were much more fun; I preferred to drop my own kids off at the ski school; and it was good to have time with the kids on the slop for an hour at the end of the day.
Most US resorts have first class childcare arrangements. The most child-friendly place we ever went to when our kids were young was the Huntley Lodge in Big Sky - a long way to travel, but worth every minute of the journey - fabulous ski school, safely deserted slopes, as many kids clubs as we wanted to use, genuinely slopeside accommodation with a staffed locker room (a massive bonus if you have more kids than adults), very family-friendly restaurants with the best breaksfasts that I've ever had in my life anywhere in the world, an outdoor swimming pool and the opportunity to take a day trip to see the bison and geysers in Yellowstone. It may be a tad expensive these days with rising flight costs and a dodgy exchange rate, but it would be the best family holiday that you'd ever have.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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a staffed locker room
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Jonny Jones, does that mean staff to get kids sorted out, into their ski boots, etc? sounds good! (if you haven't got grandma to do it  )
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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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shoogly, Loads of options. If you really want to stick with Esprit but don't mind where you go and if you can go out of school holidays then just pick the best of their late offers near to the time, they have loads for off peak weeks.
I agree with grey and snowymum about Snowbizz. We had a fab holiday with them when our son was just 4, they are really helpful and provide a truly personal service. Your little lady could go into half or full day creche. She would ski in Toton Club one hour a day and you could very easily take her out yourself in the afternoon if you wanted, lots of scope for easy practice areas. There is a little playground and a fenced off sledging area too. It is a sunny, friendly resort, everything in one place, ski-in ski- out. Superb.
Look at Neilson's Hotel Aaalborg in Les Deux Alpes. Very good, great staff, great childcare. Right on nursery slopes. You might have to make your own lesson arrangements as they might only ski them from 4 IIRC.
Or a DIY option for you, find an apartment to rent in Siviez, 4 Valleys and use Arc en Ciel ski school (recommended to me on SHs) 'Snowman Class' and wraparound care, they have a creche there. There is also a little outdoor playground. There is hardly anything in Siviez so it will be a quiet holiday but for easy access to the 4 Valleys skiing for you and a superb ski school for the little one, you can't beat it. This is the only kid's ski school I have seen where they really learn to ski straightaway rather than just plod around the jardin. They are excellent.
Crystal can be cheap and cheerful, we couldn't fault the childcare at the Hermitage in Alpe d'Huez this season. Again you might have to make your own lesson arrangements there as they might need to be 4. But a couple of the Crystal resorts have packaged childcare where they can ski from 3, can't remember which, worth a look.
Happy Planning 
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| pam w wrote: |
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a staffed locker room
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Jonny Jones, does that mean staff to get kids sorted out, into their ski boots, etc? sounds good! (if you haven't got grandma to do it ) |
Not quite that good. It means there's someone standing by the entrance waiting to take your skis away and plenty of benches with attentive staff taking and retrieving your footwear for you. It's amazing how much difference little details like that make when you have young kids in tow.
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You know it makes sense.
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Crystal are good. As a family who have to go during school holidays, they are about the best value we could find. They have a few resorts with clubhotels offering good childcare. We have been to ADH (L'Hermitage) and to Claviere (Grande Claviere) and have found both to be excellent. A bonus for us was the interconnecting rooms that each of these hotels have (limited in numbers so have to book early). We have had to part with the best part of 4K for a trip to Flaine next Christmas (24/12). But again, for a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids 5yrs & 3yrs) everything is taken care for. Interconnecting rooms, full board, lift passes, kids lessons and afternoon childcare (& 2 hrs pyjama club in the evening), ski hire for 4, boots and helmets.
Yes it's expensive, but their childcare is good, which makes a huge difference to us.
Just hope it's worth it!
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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, grandparents will be there, probably, but they've now got the skiing bug after their first ski hol this year 
thanks for all the tips. the research begins!
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Poster: A snowHead
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"Skiing Europe" ?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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shoogly, ah! Well at least you can all share the burden. I'm fortunate, as having plenty of time to ski during the season, I don't mind doing the grandmotherly thing pretty well full time for the short time the kids are here. not the same if you only have a week!
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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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paulio, what you mean?
It's more than likely that we'll ski in europe as i'll probably only get one week off work and we're moving house this year so have the watch the budget.
pam w, skiing all season is a dream that i may not attain until the wee one is another 16 years older
Just had a very good phone call with Neilson who are over £1,000 cheaper than esprit for a very similar holiday. only downside is the flights are from Manchester.
Anyone know of any similar companies who do flights from Edinburgh or Glasgow?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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shoogly, Check out Leskis' early bird offers for next year. www.leski.com
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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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www.familyfriendlyskiing.com based in la tania. used them this year with a 4yr old and 7 yr old. ski in / out chalet. superb location. helpful friendly staff. nanny comes to chalet so no faffing about. takes kids to lessons and picks them up.
we have just come back from montgenevre and travelled with zenith holidays. no childcare provided so used the local ESF run "mini - club". this was a leap of faith as always had tour op provided childcare. have to say its was fantastic. staff very good. enough english to understand us and the kids. kids loved it. central location in new building only 100m from the chalet. very family friendly resort. superb instructors.
watch out for lessons with a 3 yr old. its not down to the tour company but the local ski school we used. many resorts wondt take kids under 4. we have skied with 3yr8months in montchavin (la plagne) using Evolution 2 ski school and 3yrs and 4months in plan peisey using ESF (via Esprit). use a small operator with local knowledge who have built up good relations with the ski school and they will sort this out for you
we have used esprit a lot and rate them very highly but they are pricing themselves too high now. we spent £1000 less in la tania this year than if we have gone with esprit and we certainoly didnt get £1000 less of a holiday.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I can't beleive someone said L'Hermitage in ADH was quite good :shock
We were there with Crystall in a "2 room suite" that was little bigger than a ravbbit hutch. The palce was dirty and the food poor. Our rep was fired the day we arrived which didn't help us retreive half our luggage from L2A (not a Hermitage problem I know).
Never, ever again.
I didn't think that Crystal's childcare (which we have used a couple of times) was anywhere as good as Esprit.
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shoogly, looks like backhojo, beat me to it, sounds like we did similiar to you, started off with Esprit and Mark Warner, then prices rose as kids got older, so we switched to www.familyfriendlyskiing.com for about 6 years I think.
Highly recommended, they were great for kids, even took ours back after ski school, fed 'em and then bought them up the gondola to ski with us in the afternoons!
regards,
Greg
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thanks for the tips... much appreciated. I'll look into Montgenevre as well. We have friends in Claviere so that would be nice.
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