Club Med Phuket

A short getaway from the haze of Kuala Lumpur to the white sandy beach of Kata and clear blue sky of Phuket. This was my 2nd experience in Club Med (the 1st was Cherating) and Club Med still made me smile with happiness and satisfaction.

We booked a 4 days 3 nights stay (29 October-1 November 2015) for 2 adults and a 3 year-old. We arrived in Phuket on our Air Asia flight from Kuala Lumpur at about 1pm and rented a car. It took 60 minutes to get from the airport to Club Med and the trip was fairly pleasant. 

On arrival we were greeted by one of the GOs, who gave us ice tea, a cold towel and ribbons as our identification. After a short briefing, another GO escorted us to our room at block H (H stands for Haadyai) and gave us an information pamphlet and other relevant information. The room was spacious - a king sized bed and single bed for the kid, with a shower on one side and toilet on the other side. The internet in the room was good. Below are the details:-

Room
Our room was on the ground floor with a view of the garden and trapeze. Once we are out of the room, we had a beautiful view of the ocean. It was amazing to watch the sun rise and set over the ocean every day. The H block is quiet and a short walk to the bar. We did not mind the walk as it helped us work off some of the calories. Toiletries like body lotion, shower gel and shampoo and conditioner were supplied. The resort also provided 2 bottles of water every day.

Food & Beverages 
There is a wide variety of food comprising Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Thai and Western foods. There are also lots of salad, desserts and fruits. Everything was very YUMMY and fresh - we even had oysters flown in from France.  There was a free flow of drinks, including beer, cocktails and mocktails throughout our stay and a small counter at the bar for kids to order special drinks based on their favourite cartoon characters. They also provided morning snacks before lunch and afternoon snacks nearby the bar area, always making sure that guests have enough to eat.   

Beach
To get to the beach you need to go to a small gate, near the bar and cross a road. Club Med has 2 security personnel manning the point to assist guests to cross the road. Please ensure that you are wearing your ribbon tag all the time at your wrist. The sea is warm and fairly calm. My little girl enjoyed herself making sand castles. She even had her hair braided by the traders at the beach. The cost of braiding the whole head was 800-1000 baht. However, for just 1 braid, it costs 30 baht.

Pool
The sad thing is that Club Med Phuket does not have a baby pool. They have a small section for kids aged of 4 or 5 onwards. My little girl is 3 so she was unable to enjoy that small section of the pool. The baby/kids pool is located at the Mini Club. We did not go to the Zen pool as we had our little girl with us all the time. If you want a nice pool chair facing the pool, it would be better to go there early and put your towel and bags to secure a seat. 

Activities
We had so much fun. We just wanted to stay there as long as we could and did not want to go home. Below are the type of activities offered in Club Med Phuket:-

(a) Trapeze
The highlight of my visit to Club Med will always be the trapeze. The circus team ‘GO’, consisting of Wish, Patrick and Mani helped me learn to fly and taught me a few tricks, i.e. knee hang catch and back somersault (which I’d already learned at Cherating), whip with catch and the split. The teaching of the tricks starts at 4p.m. everyday and after practice, if you are ready, the GO will allow you to do the catch with them.

The circus team - Mani, Patrick, me and Wish

(b) Yoga, aqua yoga, zumba, body sculpt & core classes

I cannot forget the energetic Claire Kelly, with her non-stop pumping zumba, body sculpt and core classes. It was a great workout.

(c) Daily activities for Kids
There are activities at 4pm every day for kids. You need to check out the time-table near the fitness room to find out the details. We were there on Halloween so there was pumpkin carving session. Also, from 8-9pm., almost every night, the Petit and Mini Club will organize fun-filled activities for the kids, e.g. sports, performances on stage and “treat or trick” on Halloween. My little girl had so much fun joining the Halloween “treat or trick”, where she was brought around to collect candies, met up with all the witches and was dancing on stage, led by GO WoonSen and Gai. We thought that she may have stage fright but turned out that she coped well with her favourite GO, WoonSen.

(d) Theme Night & Halloween

Salaree's Halloween Costume. She said she's a friendly witch

Haunted Passageway

Each night there will be a theme for dinner. On the first night, the theme was white so all guests are asked to wear white. If you don’t have white outfit, you can get it at their souvenir shop. Second night was sports day and certain guests were given sports certificate and the third night for us was Halloween. We were lucky to be there to celebrate Halloween. Kudos for a job well done to Club Med Phuket and going all out in decorating the stage for Halloween and the haunted passageway. The entertainment for Halloween night was SIMPLY THE BEST. The day when we left Club Med Phuket, it was Glow night. The guests were asked to wear fluorescent colours.

(e) Scuba Diving & Snorkeling

There were tutorials for diving in the swimming pool. However, once you are ready for diving, you will need to pay for it. As for snorkeling, we did not have the time to sign up for it. 

(f) Golf & Archery

We did not have the time to sign up. 

(g) Souvenir shop

This shop sells T-shirts, dresses, toys and small souvenirs like handicraft from Phuket, etc. The prices here are not cheap. You can get things cheaper outside of Club Med. Even though, there was a sale on most days on their T-shirts, it was still not cheap. 

(h) Party after 9pm

The night is always young at Club Med. There will be a party, music and dancing to entertain the guests and the guests can join in the dancing session with the GOs. Sometimes if you are lucky, you will be able to sample a drink concoction specially made for that night and there was also one night we were served with coconut. The party can last until 2am.

Performances: I always look forward to show time by the circus team from 9-10pm. almost every night as they will put up amazing and spectacular aerial shows with their hoop, silk, rope and cube.

On the 1^st night of my arrival at Club Med Phuket, the circus team performed aerial shows at the swimming pool. It was stunning. Unfortunately, on the last act of cube, the foundation of the steel was not strong and it was on the verge of collapsing. Luckily, the aerialist realized that it was too shaky and dangerous, so they decided to jump down into the pool and those GOs at the pool had to secure the whole beam from falling down.

On the 2^nd night, we were entertained by GOs dressed up in celebrity and superstar costumes, imitating celebrities like Madonna, Kurt Cobain, Whitney Houston, Spice Girls, etc.

On our last night, we were entertained by the Halloween performances. One of the performances that we cannot forget was the Whitney Houston, where she rose from the grave and managed to scare the shit out of those kids that were seated at the front row. The kids ended up crying and ran back to their parents.   

Baby, Petite and Mini Club
The price for Baby Club is 2300 baht for full day and 1200 baht for half day and the price for Petit Club is 1900 baht for full day and 950 baht for half day. There is a playground and kids’ swimming pool at the club.

Kids' swimming pool

Excursions
We went to the desk to find out about excursions that Club Med Phuket arranges. As this was not our 1^st trip to Phuket and we have been to so many islands hopping, elephant trekking, temples and Fantasea, we decided to just stay at the resort and enjoy ourselves.    

What’s not included in your booking fee?

Almost everything is included in your booking fee, apart from the Baby Club and Petite Club, excursions outside the resort, premium alcohol, spa treatments and scuba diving.

Verdict

We left Club Med at 5pm as our flight was at 8.30pm. Although the check-out time was 11am (which was pretty early), we did ask at the reception for an extension of time. However, it was not allowed as our room in Block H needed refurbishments. If extension was allowed, a payment of 300 baht per hour needs to be paid at the reception.

Club Med Phuket was kind enough to allow us to use all their facilities (i.e. food, drinks, pool and activities) and we were told that we could use one of the rooms at Block A for 1 hour (complimentary) if we need to. We did not use it in the end and my husband took a shower at the shower room, with towels provided, and located near the excursion desk.        

We had a great time at Club Med Phuket and will definitely be returning to Club Med Phuket again.  

Last day in Club Med and Salaree posing with the GOs

Salaree's favourite GO WoonSen

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