Sunsail Beach Club Holiday

AM doing a summer season in the Royan (SW france) with canvas holidays. For the winter a ski season would be a laugh.

Have met alot of folk that have done that and loved it!! think i may do it myself next winter...

Cristal are apparently not bad, but heard mixed reviews but thompson/TUI dont treat their staff well.

One girl I knew was a chalet host, 5 of them lived in the attic, they couldnt stand up straight (no head room) and the walk between shower (was fun in its self) and their bedroom (shared) was across a mezzanine, open to the chalet down below... whats was even worse was that they had to use the kitchen in the customer's chalet to cook which was far from ideal....

She still had a crackin season though...

Would recomend it to anyone & everyone, regarldless of age... seriously i have met alot of "mature" couples doing summer seasons! sorry for being a bit off the sailing related topic

I too have done a summer season (not sailing unfortunately but camping) and it is not the sort of job that you do to make money. What you make is play money. So long as you get your accom paid for,  you should be fine! food on the continent (ie self catering) is dirt cheep. I worked out that if i had to i could live on 5Euro a week if i never drank or smoked. this was in a touristy part of frace too.. not sure if Greece/turkey would be more expensive but i would imagine it would be cheeper...

Def something i would recomend.... only 2 weeks to go before i go back out anyway!

only one warning i will give.... its addictive!

I've done 1 season with sunsail, followed by 3 at Neilson (the first 2 in uni holidays and 2nd 2 after i'd finished before i started my 'proper' job.

In my experince Neilson were a far better company to work for.  We got paid more at Sunsail, but had to spend almost every night eating with guests, with rules about staff not sitting too near each other etc.  They're also much stricter about uniform and stuff like that, which you even have to wear in evenings.  Accommodation was shocking for staff!  don't get me wrong though, i had a wicked summer!

Neilson paid less, but i had much more free time (a big plus if you want to improve your own sailing/windsurfing etc) we were also encouraged to improve and learn new skills - in quiet weeks some of the nannys were sent on the beginner dinghies course, and i did my safety boat course for example.

basically it depends what you want to get out of it, but i would defo recommend neilson.

Hi

If you have read the previous posts, you will know that I have worked for Sunsail for a number of year. I would recommend it to anyone, but I would warn you that it is hard work and the amount of sailing you get to do can be limited (depends what club you are at). If you are interested about any aspect let me know and I will answer as best I can.

Sailor Girl did you friend work at either Marverde or Javalin, if so I will prob know them.

Rich