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Original poster

Club med skiing

29 replies

NCTDN · 23/02/2020 22:02

Anyone used them? There seem to be some good prices considering everything is included.

OP posts:
SkiYetiMagic · 24/02/2020 09:10

Hi. Club Med are great for family skiing because they just sort everything for you they make it easy for families which is exactly what you want. I have never been on one but have sold many to customers in previous jobs and would do one if I could afford it!

katieviney · 24/02/2020 10:28

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Youhedge · 25/02/2020 22:02

I’ve been and in summary:

Food excellent
Booze plentiful
RnR possible as kids taken away and all sorted
Kids loved the free roaming freedom of hotel

Lessons shite (Chinese whispers of tuition for kids at the back)
Kit for kids shite - wide feet? Tough.
Kit hire for adults very expensive
Never bothered with adult lessons.

Would I

Youhedge · 25/02/2020 22:03

Would I go again? No I don’t think so

Original poster
NCTDN · 25/02/2020 22:40

Ah now the lesson was the appealing bit. So not as good as usual ski school then?

OP posts:
Youhedge · 26/02/2020 06:37

@NCTDN no. The instructors couldn’t care less, couldn’t speak English (or wouldn’t), lost a child!, hit a child with a ski pole (on her helmet, but still). 12 in a group, no attention. We paid for other lessons at the end of the week as the kids hated them. We were a group of 6 families.

SkiYetiMagic · 26/02/2020 09:41

Hi @Youhedge which Club Med did you go to? Good to know!

Youhedge · 26/02/2020 12:41

We were in Cervinia, but to be honest I've seen lots of small children in club med tops looking unhappy. I thought ours would be OK as they are good skiers and thought they would be doing some off piste, fun park stuff... er, no!

Original poster
NCTDN · 26/02/2020 13:03

Cervinia was the one I was looking at Hmm

OP posts:
itsabitofamess · 26/02/2020 14:51

To be fair young kids in wad group lessons look universally miserable too. More expensive but we always go for less private lessons now.

Youhedge · 26/02/2020 15:34

@itsabitofamess true, we also now go private as it’s actually better value in the end.

BillieEilish · 26/02/2020 15:40

Hi, I worked for Club Med for a long time (10 years ago) in head office and have been on countless ski holidays with them. It is how I learned to ski.

It is absolutely fabulous.

From ski pass to lessons to monitors to equipment, you won't get better.

The monitors have to be bilingual (at least) so hitting and not speaking English is not something I have ever come across. Make a formal complaint (obvs)

BillieEilish · 26/02/2020 15:44

I have only been to Les Arcs 2000, Val D'Isere, St Moritz, Chamonix and somewhere else I can't remember.

My genuine take on things. I so wish I still worked for them and could take DD.

The Apres ski is amazing!

BillieEilish · 26/02/2020 15:49

youhedge I do urge you to complain.

Your experience is not OK at all. But please believe me, not the universal truth. And not the norm.

(And I went on maybe 100 Club Med's) Sob... that was then, this is now! Grin

itsabitofamess · 26/02/2020 16:13

I meant esf not wad!

BillieEilish · 26/02/2020 16:16

When I went it was ESF or equivalent.

I just think there is one disgruntled customer here.

They taught me to ski at 30!
Very well.

Original poster
NCTDN · 26/02/2020 18:26

Is club med worthwhile if you don't have young children? I like the idea of all inclusive.

OP posts:
BillieEilish · 26/02/2020 19:12

It is excellent, truly, but you need to pick your 'villages'. They invented the AI in 1950.

Without children for me would be Otranto in Italy(if younger)
Les Boucanniers in Martinique (if my age), well I went throughout my 30's in a couple.
All ones in Morocco are great without children
Marrakesch excellent for a city break where you can retreat to peace and calm. Definitely not so much for DC's. (Although thy may have shut the one in the centre of Marrakesch now, not sure)
The best for a couple IMO would be Columbus Isle. For an upmarket 'couple' break.
Turks and Caicos and Kemer more 'party'
Gregolimano in Greece is fabulous. etc etc...
there are so many...

The thing with CM is the food is amazing! The locations are stunning and grounds incredible. As are the speciality restaurants. Yes, it is predominantly French, so French is spoken. But so is the food!
CM is the original AI. They invented the concept.

Original poster
NCTDN · 26/02/2020 20:06

I think getting AI when skiing is quite rare though.

OP posts:
BillieEilish · 26/02/2020 20:23

To me, it was honestly their best product.

It was excellent. Amazing value.

You turn up and provide a photo, that's it. (Obvs you bring ski clothes) everything else provided.

As I said, it was 10 years ago but I worked there for over ten years so I have a good idea that it didn't and won't have changed much.

(Went to CM 4 years ago on holiday and it was the same)

Youhedge · 26/02/2020 20:34

Well it was Easter, maybe they’d had enough, maybe I’m a bit of a ski snob, but the lessons were shite. I expect if you drop and run with a 6 year old you’d be non the wiser, but at 10 and 8 ours could make comments, and it was not good... we may have been spoilt by a whistler!
The kit too was ‘one size fits all’. With a child that’s a 6.5 D, and a 3.5 H, it really doesn’t cut it.

It was good value - just come back from St Christoph and 1.5 x the price and the food was nowhere near CM, but I go to ski

BillieEilish · 26/02/2020 22:03

youhedge you sound like a very serious skier! This therefore is not for me to comment on. The most I can get down is a red.

For me, learning, it was amazing. I do agree, I went to St Mo once at Easter and they did keep telling me they had no vodka at the bar as it was 'fin de saison' Only rectified when they realised I worked for the company.

You do make a valid point there, if you go at the end of the season people do seem more jaded.

I do agree with that. I had forgotten.

The ski school is ESF though, not CM. I think you sound like you needed a more advanced level. I went for ski (beginners level/bf at time was very good and enjoyed it) plus the ease of lessons plus mainly the food Grin They fitted my skis and boots etc.
Young Dc's were in the 'snow garden' and seemed happy enough.

DC's were off my radar at that point though.

I think it depends on what you want. As you say, you went to ski. Well, I think most CM AI skiers want a bit of both.

But do agree on the end of season attitude.

BillieEilish · 26/02/2020 22:05

I mean children, not my DC's... I didn't have any. But the ones I saw were happy,

Youhedge · 27/02/2020 07:07

Funnily enough when I wrote my comments I was going to say - the only other ski school I’d avoid is ESF. They are hard as nails! You can always find a sobbing child in ESF. ... but you can also find a crazy french dad with a small child on a vertical mogul run too - it’s clearly the french way it seems.

However, yes I love to ski, will ski anything on a marked piste, love a mogul field, might not prioritise an ungroomed black full of season long icy bumps higher than your head, but I can do it, but I never set out to terrify or been mean to my kids (my DD11 is better than me now though)

Youhedge · 27/02/2020 07:09

... I can still out ski my DD9 - just Grin - I think gravity helps!

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