Has anyone ever been to a Club Med?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Where?
What was it like?
Did you like it?
Would I like it?

I’m looking over vacationing possibilities for this year, deciding if I’m going to take a vacation and if so where and how and what I might want to do - and I’m thinking about this as an option. Should I just find something better to do or is it as wonderful as the website claims?

2

I haven’t been to Club med, but my husband has, and he loved it. He went about 8 years ago, though, so I don’t know if things have changed. He went to Cancun, and he says there was always a lot to do, day and night, the food was good and the entertainers were fun. Of course, he was a 17 year old guy who isn’t too picky about anything, so YMMV.

I think, though, that value/cost ratio isn’t that good for Club Med. You pay a bit more for the name, when you could get pretty much all the same stuff at another resort. Check out other resorts in Mexico, or the Dominican. Tripadvisor.com is a pretty good site to get first hand information about places you might be looking at. My friend and I chose our resort in Cuba from the reviews there (I’d recommend Cuba, but I see you are american…!)

Go into a travel agent and ask for brochures and catalogues, which should help you narrow down what you want. Snorkelling, scuba, kayak, all-inclusive deals, etc? Are you alone, with family (kids?) or going as a group of friends, or couples, or what? There are a lot of options out there, and a lot of good deals.

3

I’ve found them to be very good deals when I wanted a relatively unadventurous but stress-free vacation that requires zero planning. I’ve been to the clubs at Chamonix, Bora Bora, Moorea, Val d’Isere, St. Moritz, and New Caledonia.

The pros are the everything-included-for-one-price simplicity, food was generally good to great, generally very helpful and entertaining staff, and lots of stuff to do if you want.

The cons are that the Club Med formula is sometimes a bit askew from the locale. Don’t expect to experience the local economy with any intimacy. If you want cultural immersion, Club Med isn’t the way to go.

Also, the staff is very motivated to make sure you have a good time, and at some of the non-kiddie locales this means they really go the extra mile. That is delightful for some, off-putting for others.

All in all, when I want a week of mindless fun they’re very nice.

4

It’s been quite a number of years, but from others I have spoken with, I think things haven’t changed that much. I did a Club Med in the Dominican Republic. I mostly went for all the various activities.

The Good:

  • All the activities are included, as is some instruction.
  • The food was generally pretty good.
  • The rooms were nice and comfortable.
  • I happened to be at the resort during a big french holiday, Bastille Day. So they had all these extras going on that day - decoration, even more exotic meal, etc…

The Bad:

  • After a couple days, and classes, I got really annoyed by the attitude of the staff. Yes, they were there to teach you whatever (sailing, windsurfing, etc.), but let’s just say there was a general lack of enthusiasm. There was also some weariness dealing with the visitors day in, day out. And I also picked up on this real “I have such a great life living here, doing this” attitude.
  • There was a lot of different entertainment options each night, but they got kind of old.
    I think it varies from club to club, but the one that I went to was very singles oriented. And the “meat market” feel just wears on you if that’s not what you’re there for. There were some couples, even people on their honeymoon. But it was definitely geared for the singles crowd. The male staff defnitely flirted with the female guests to ensure they had a good time.

Whether you’ll enjoy it or not depends on what you’re after. The all-inclusive aspect is nice (although you do buy these beads for your drinks). I know for me, it wasn’t the type of vacation for me. But YMMV

5

Club Med has gone ALL inclusive… including the drinks, as I recall.

So the “bead” days are gone.
I’ve been to Turkoise (Turks and Caicos) and found it delightful!
Also to Sonora Bay (Mexico), but I think that property isn’t a Club Med any longer.

6

My co-worker (American) went to one of their resorts in Thailand with his wife (Japanese) and two kids (3 and 5), and said it was absolutely fantastic, mainly because they had so many great organized activities for all the kids to do (circus school, for example).

The kids had a good time doing that, he and his wife had a good time chilling out by the pool and beach or playing golf and tennis, and the food was great.

He also said most of the other guests were European (and pretty friendly), which made an interesting change from the usual Japanese tourist/US military mix in Saipan, Guam and Okinawa.