Sunsail vs Neilson beach clubs

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Monomono

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I am looking into beach club holidays, and have come down to a straight choice between Sunsail & Neilson beach clubs.

We are looking for some decent sailing & windsurfing for me, a nice pool and surroundings for my wife, and the ability to walk into a local town with my 5 month old daughter in her pram for dinner a couple of times during the week.

My wife and I have been bareboating wtih Sunsail many times previously, but have no experience of Neilson.

If anyone has any experiences, thoughts, preferences, advice etc, I would be grateful to hear them!

Cheers
Mono
 
we have been with neilson quite a few times, mainly to vassiliki which is superb for windsurfing but a bit limited for sailing due to lack of boats. I cannot fault the place, the way it is run is excellent, great venue and atmosphere - really not to be faulted (apart from the small number of dinghies but then it is mainly a windsurfing resort). we took a four month old to vass and it went fine including nights in restaurants in the local town

I have lost touch with the other Neilson places as I think all the others we went to (mar menor, gundogan and bitez) are now shut although I could be wrong. Not really had a bad experience of Neilson, did not like sunsail at all on the one holiday we went with them but that was flotilla so not a fair comparison

Have a good holiday whereever you go
 
Only ever been with Sunsail, the first to Turkey (Marm) as a teenager and had great fun getting drunk with most of the crew there....

roll on several years.........Went to Antigua with nipper and had a fantastic time, great and I do mean great Kids club been to many Caribbean resorts with Kids clubs and this was by far the best, Decent food HUGE pool decent kit, plenty of wind (most the time). Resort had just finished a $2 mill refit so was looking as shiny as the Caribbean gets. BUT went past there on business not long back and it started to look a bit tired in some areas and the manager had been replaced and looked a bit of a jack the lad.

Just my thoughts and I am sure many people on here have been there and will have their own views.
 
Been to Club Colonna 4 times in the last 3 years. Usually in either May or November, as has already been said, it underwent a refurb which it needed but they have changed the layout and are now going after the American market (my perception anyway) there were quite a few annoying americans there. I have been there when it adults only and also kids weeks and most of the parents I spoke to were more than happy with the quality of the day care and the options for the evenings. The kit was all reasonable and at those times ie. not school holidays it was easy to get what you wanted. Wind has been execllent for 4 out of 5 weeks I was there. Once F0-F1 for the whole week!!!! As has been said lovely big pool. Good staff, excellent rescue boat. You can also hire a small boston whaler type thing and go to prikly pear island and 3 days a week have drinks put on your room...

Only downers are the beach is ok, its man made imported sand. Compared to all the other on the island its not the best. However, there is a lovely beach just around the corner. There isn't really a town within walking distance, however Taxi's to St Johns, English/Falmouth Harbour, Shirley Heights are all reasonable if the taxi is full.

I will definately be going back some time soon! Also found the food for a buffet to be above average.

Yes the manager did change and I know what you mean about the new bloke, no comment!
 
Can thoroughly recomend Sunsail Club Pirelli, A longer than usuall transfer but excellent windsurfing, dinghy sailing and Day yachts, been there quite a few times, IMHO beats the other Turkey options hands down nicley away from the madding crowds, local town of Dataca is not infested by tourists either.
 
Thanks very much for all your responses - Neilson seem to get a good write-up! We seem to have narrowed it down to being between Lesbos with Neilson or Phokaia with Sunsail.

I think Club Colonna is a bit too far - I (and most other passengers!) wouldn't fancy an 11 hour flight with a 5 month old!
 
Dont be scared of that! my daughter has been on more long haul flights than most adults (ok her mother is a flight attendant) BUT joking aside one of the best thing's we ever did was to make sure we enjoyed the holiday we wanted and if that involved a long flight (Antigua is nearer 8) then so be it!

One thing to watch about Med clubs is the transfer time, sometimes after a four hour flight (on average) then a stonking great transfer, you could have gone to the Caribbean!

Just my thoughts!
 
For a short walk to a delightful small village, consider Finikounda with Neilson. Good range of dinghies and windsurfers, lovely setting, max numbers there about 60, 10 minute walk to village centre, 1 hour transfer. More about Finikounda on my website.

Their Porto Heli is more suited to dinghy sailing than windsurfing due to the lighter winds, also the village is more distant, and not very attractive.
 
And forgot to say, if you can wait until SBS pop along tot he stand and grab a last minute or discount on a forward booking.

ALWAYS deals to be had...
 
We've been with Neilson ( Porto Heli )once and Sunsail - Cepaholnia , Leda Beach Clubs, Melini flotilla . Always impressed by the quality of all the staff but Neilson seemed to make us feel as though we were joining in their family holiday and most welcome.
 
Took the kids to Neilson's 'BeachPlus' resort at Sivota back in May. The location is fabulous and the village about 10 mins pleasant walk away. It's small and quiet with a decent selection of Tavernas along the harbourfront. The kit selection at the resort was excellent and we were pretty much able to use everything without needing to pre-book. This is probably helped by the fact that main focus of the resort is waterskiing so most of the people there at the same time as us weren't heavy users of the dinghies etc. The waterski-ing area is separated from the sailing and winsurfing areas by a sand spit which is a great setup. The kids clubs were pretty good and the kids well-entertained and were taken out sailing (funboats) and to play on the beach.
The staff were great and contributed a lot to a really good holiday.
Downsides? A lot of steps (the whole resort is terraced on a steep slope) and light/variable winds for much of the time we were there. Ideal for honing light airs skills or for beginners but I doubt the trapeze harnesses get much use! If you go there outside school holidays there may not be enough kids around to run the kids clubs. Could turn out to be a problem if you'd specifically chosen the resort because of the clubs and hoped to get some time on the water...
Hope this is useful,
Dewi
 
We did 2 weeks 'Villa Flotilla' (a week of beach/dinghies/windsurfing etc. followed by a week of flotilla) with Neilson based @ Nidri (Lefkas) a few years back. The beach bit was a complete waste of time for us - I wanted to be able to take SWMBO dinghy sailing, but there were no dinghies spare, they were all being used by the 'instructors' (youths with varying degrees of gormlessness) to teach all the zero-experience punters how to sail. If you wanted to do the lessons then fine, otherwise no sailing except after lessons have finished when there was no wind. I wrote a stroppy letter to Neilson complaining that they'd had my money for a week and not provided the promised equipment, needless to say I got no reply.

On the other hand the flotilla week was superb and I would thoroughly recommend Neilson for that activity.

Mike
 
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