J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

There are also Aer Lingus flights Dublin to Geneva, I think.

Congratulations on getting the puppies, and the boots, Dave :)

Swingbeep is incredibly well informed and very helpful :)

I think the last room in the Sauze hotel has been booked by someone not from J2Ski :(
I looked on the Crystal website just now and they had no rooms available for the Sauze hotel on the 11th January.

Oh well. We've got 28 people booked onto this J2Ski group holiday now, including 22 people booked into 12 rooms as a direct booking with the hotel, and 6 people booked into 3 rooms with Crystal.

We have also booked our group private taxi transfer between Turin and the hotel for those on the direct booking, and our ski hire, so I know how much the holiday is costing us although it varies from person to person because it's a DIY holiday.

BA return flights Gatwick to Turin = £100 (if booked early, it costs a lot more than that now)
Mini-bus return taxi transfer Turin to the hotel = 49 euros
Shared twin or double hotel room including 6 day area lift pass = 480 euros
Advanced skis = 72 euros
boots = 21 euros
Ski lessons for 6 days, 3 hours per day = 130 euros.

The total for flights, transfer, hotel, lift pass, and advanced ski hire booked direct = £580 (using 1.25 euros per pound).

Going with Crystal was more expensive, but their prices came down, whereas the price of going direct went up because the price of the BA flights increased.
Crystal prices started at £525 for the flights, transfers and the hotel, and they finished at £419, but they had a 2 for 1 offer on ski hire which appeared and disappeared at intervals ...
Their lift pass price seemed to start at £161 and finished at £170.
And their ski hire prices were £50 for standard skis, £90 for advanced skis, and £29 for boots.

So, if you booked with Crystal at the beginning and got half price ski hire, it cost you £731 for the package holiday including advanced skis and lift pass.

But if you booked with Crystal at the end it cost you £589 for the package holiday plus lift pass but ski hire would have been extra (I don't know if they had the 2 for 1 offer on at the end).

And, had we been able to get extra rooms, the DIY price would have gone up by £80 because that's how much the BA flights went up by. But at least with BA you can take 2 items of hand luggage and include your skis/board/boots for free if they're within your luggage allowance of 23 Kg.

I think Andy is joking, Sm4sh :)
I should think you could manage OK with £20 each per day for lunch and elevenses on the slopes. La Rosiere is a comparatively cheap French resort.

You'll get a big breakfast in the chalet, and then tea and cakes when you come back in, before supper, so you only really need a small lunch.

And if you're excessively budget conscious you could do the same as me and buy a load of cereal bars somewhere cheap in the UK and take them out with you ...

Since French food and drink has become so expensive I've started ski-ing with a rucksack and in the morning I fill my thermos with hot tea in the chalet (so far the staff haven't minded) and it stays hot all day :)

The only snag is the French don't seem at all keen on people having picnics inside (or outside) their cafes so you have to either sit in the snow or eat/drink in the gondolas!

What always amazes me is how much I spend in airports or railway stations so the last few times I've been I've brought a packed lunch with me.

I don't know what the euro is going to do against the pound, but from our point of view it's pretty good at the moment, so I bought £200 worth of euros for my own holiday and got 1.25 euros to the pound. If I use my card for buying stuff abroad I have to pay 2.99% charges on it plus £1 fee so I only use it for paying for big things and I use euros for the small stuff. Mind you, I'm ski-ing for 8 days so I will need more cash than you ...

If anyone is wondering why I suggested that particular chalet to Sm4sh, it's because some friends of mine have stayed there several times and are very keen on it, I have been to La Rosiere and I thought the ski area would suit him, and it's well within the total budget of £800 per person he posted on his original thread.

Catered chalet including flights and transfers = £495
Area lift pass for 160 Km piste = 198 euros
'Blue' ski and boot hire fitted in the chalet = 80 euros.

Total, converted into pounds at 1.25 euros per pound = £717

Hey, Sm4sh, you forgot to say it's in La Rosiere :)

I hope you have a great time and you enjoy chalet life :)

Hi DougR,
If you want to come with us on the J2Ski group holiday to Sauze on 11th January 2015, Crystal are doing flights from Newcastle for a total price of £429 including flights, transfers, and half board accommodation in the hotel Sauze. There's one room left.

http://www.crystalski.co.uk/search/ac.18

But other than that, if you still want to go DIY you could look at chalets and hotels that have airport transfers as an optional extra.

For example, I was looking at this hotel in Chamonix the other day when someone was looking for a venue for a Ski Stag weekend, and they do transfers from Geneva for 32-50 euros each way, right to the hotel door.

http://www.verthotel.com/airport-transfers

And when we stayed in the Bonjour chalet in Tignes and went DIY they did an optional airport transfer from Geneva for £66 return.

I have bought my return train tickets St Pancras to Oulx for the group holiday in Sauze for £117 and the bus from Oulx to Sauze only costs 10 euros because it's only about 10 minutes away. However, I can see that going by train wouldn't be a great option for you because you live near Newcastle!

Best of luck with finding somewhere, and I hope you have a great holiday :)

Andid is now coming ski-ing with us, but there is still a room left in the Sauze hotel, booked through Crystal for Curryqueen.

Are there any females who'd like to share a room with her in the Sauze hotel?

This is the last room available in the Sauze hotel so if you're thinking about it you'd better hurry up before someone else books it!

You are welcome to private message me about it, rather than post up on here, if you'd prefer to.