Club Meds: the new look

Call out the gendarmes. Once billed as a hide-out for hedonists, the worldwide playgrounds of Club Mediteranee are soft-pedaling the old image that these are sanctuaries for the sybarite.

While it may surprise old Club Med hands, the French vacation outposts are pulling the plug on certain indulgences in a beefed-up campaign to woo new members.

Remember all the whispered tales about blithe spirits slipping off on nightly patrols to someone else’s bungalow on clandestine searches for companionship? Well, all that’s changing. Because now it’s more likely that club members will be found (ho-hum) curled up in a hammock stretched between palms outside their own bungalow. Reading a book or perhaps just snoozing.

This, at any rate, is the picture Club Med’s execs are putting across in a not-so-subtle endeavor to attract families with children.

No more nocturnal searches for the opposite sex, no more alcoholic orgies. Just good clean family fun. And while it’s unlikely that everyone is going to buy this story, the village chiefs indicate that uninhibited vacationers are getting a cooler reception. But more about this later.

From tents to temples is the circuit this worldwide carrousel of playgrounds has taken since its spinoff in France shortly after the hostilities of World War II ended.

Once the exclusive domain of singles in their 20s and 30s, the clubs today are attracting families as well as older groups. Club Med wants moms and pops and kids, and to show they’re serious the organizers have gone so far as to establish baby clubs staffed by pediatricians.

Besides families, Club Med is pursuing mature travelers 40 and up. They’ve even nabbed one or two in their 80s.

This isn’t to say Club Med is spurning youth. On the contrary, the 100-plus villages worldwide are invaded weekly by new enforcements of young vacationers bent on spending their energies windsurfing, playing tennis, scuba diving, riding, backpacking, river rafting, skiing, ad infinitum.

No one is required to dress in the latest fashions, and employees speak to members in a dozen languages.

With the world its oyster, Club Med has established camps even in communist nations--Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Romania.

At one point the club had its eye on a beachhead near Yalta in the Soviet Union, but backed off for a number of reasons.

One of the hottest items on its worldwide agenda was to be a village in China. Only 10 miles from Hong Kong, the dateline was to be Sui Mui Sha. Figure that: beads and bikinis in the land of batwing sampans and water buffalo.

Well, it didn’t work out, and more than one Westerner doing business in Hong Kong is disappointed--as are dozens of Japanese couples who made known their intentions of honeymooning at Sui Mui Sha.

So what happened?

The Chinese simply decided they’d prefer something a trifle more sedate, so they leased a couple of villas to Club Med on the grounds of the Imperial Summer Palace outside Peking. No golf or tennis. And none of the other club-oriented pursuits. So rest in peace, Chairman Mao, rest in peace. Instead, the inns are serving as staging areas for China’s sightseers.

Shelter is provided in suites done up like a mandarin’s palace, complete with TV and telephone. In addition, Club Med has leased a ship for three- and four-day cruises on the Yangtze River and intends to introduce a third inn at Xian. Again, though, no beads or bikinis. It’s simply not Mother China’s style.

One can test the traditional Club Med high jinks on the island of Phuket in Thailand. A dip in the Indian Ocean and then zip off to the elephant farms of Chiang Mai and a gabfest with monks during teatime in a temple.

One can hardly get more exotic than that.

Phuket Island is only a short flight from Bangkok and the 90 acres Club Med occupies on Kata Beach. It’s not exactly “The King and I� but it’s close.

Guests come eyeball to eyeball with water buffalo. They learn the martial arts and dine in a restaurant/bar that resembles a Thai palace, complete with Thai dancers.

In Malaysia, near the village of Kuantan, Club Med Cherating involves a sweep of low-rise buildings with beaches, swimming pools and a disco. Unlike a number of other Club Med properties, the menu here lists all the exotic specialties of the region, including Malaysian, Japanese, Indian and Chinese fare, along with an interlude of classical music at sunset.

At Club Med Cherating scholarly types join languages classes while others bone up on silk-screen art. Or for those who’d rather loaf than learn, the G.O. organizes canoe trips into the jungles and picnic safaris along stretches of milky sands.

Other Strongholds

Others jet off to Club Med strongholds in Mexico, the Caribbean, North Africa, Europe and the South Seas. A new club on the island of Bali opened only last December. Snuggled up to the Indian Ocean and framed by Mt. Agung, the village occupies an old 35-acre coconut plantation 10 miles from Denpasar airport. Balinese dancers entertain guests who keep the spirit nurtured in two bars and a couple of restaurants.

On St. Lucia in the Caribbean, village headquarters are in the Old Halcyon Days Hotel. Besides free riding, Club St. Lucia operates a couple of yachts that deliver romantics on overnight trips to peaceful coves.

Scheduled to open in ‘87, the Sandpiper at Port St. Lucie, Fla., is aimed at duffers with families. Besides 45 holes of championship golf, the village takes in five swimming pools, a mini-club for youngsters, 19 tennis courts and an aerobics center for the entire family.

Granted, certain Club Meds still cater to topless vacationers. But more and more the philosophy involves resorts for all reasons. And families are big business. They jog. They bicycle. They scuba dive. In the Bahamas on the island of Eleuthera, youngsters are learning circus skills under a big top. Acrobatics. Juggling. Low-wire acts.

Computer School

Another club features a computer school. And at Club Caravel on Guadeloupe in the Caribbean free French lessons are part of the package. Club Med tells how vacationers can “dine in French, sail in French and sunbathe in French.� What’s more, nobody is stuck away in some stuffy old classroom. Not on Guadeloupe. Lessons are taught on the beach with the surf whispering to both class and professor.

At clubs in the Bahamas vacationers are given underwater cameras with which to film fish, grottoes and the island’s celebrated blue holes. A baby club has been established at Paradise Island--complete with pediatricians, and during summertime in Colorado the Club’s Rocky Mountain destination is devoted exclusively to “kids of the world� (ages 8 to 13). The setting is Copper Mountain where the small fry arrive from as far away as Australia, Hong Kong, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico and Canada as well as the United States.

Seventy-five miles west of Denver, Copper Mountain attracts youngsters for summer encampments lasting from one to two months. Activities range from tennis and sailing to mountaineering and bicycling. Others shoot rapids on white-water rafting trips, attend rodeos and join Jeep safaris to ghost towns.

Other day-trips take in Glenwood Springs, the old mining town of Leadville, the ski resorts of Breckenridge and Aspen and the tomb of Buffalo Bill in Denver. Serious types study languages, learn to operate computers and enroll in arts/crafts and drama classes.

Circus Acts

On the lighter side, Club Med’s pint-size guests are taught circus acts at Copper Mountain by an ex-Ringling Bros. performer.

One of Club Med’s newest resorts has cropped up at Sonora Bay on the Sea of Cortez, a 90-minute flight from Los Angeles. Members bunk in two- and three-story cottages that are surrounded by mountains, desert and sea. Free riding lessons are part of the package along with windsurfing, water skiing, snorkeling and aerobics. In addition, tennis is taught on 29 courts, 14 of which are lighted.

At Sonora Bay, sunset cruises are offered along with a two-day expedition to a Mexican ranch where members spend the night. From Sonora the club also does two-day rafting/camping trips.

Vacationing at Club Med means never having to dress for dinner, never having to pop for a picnic. It’s all part of the package--everything but the drinks.

Worldwide, the club operates 106 villages and more than a million members vacationed with them last year.

The same philosophy prevails that prevailed in the beginning: Pay once and put away the purse or wallet. Drinks are still bought with beads and one settles with the bartender when leaving, the moment when one returns to reality and the world outside with its tensions, crowds and traffic.

Choice of Activities

Until then, club members do exactly as they please. This may mean simply swinging in a hammock. Or taking a stroll along a moonlit beach. Or getting reacquainted with the kids. Or one’s wife.

It’s the same at all the clubs, be it Marrakesh or Martinique or some other far-flung destination. No newspapers, no radios, no TV.

More than a quarter of a century has passed since Club Med got its start as a tent village in Europe and it remains a bargain.

Having said all this, I confess now that I am not the Club Med type. Even though my travels have taken me to villages in Israel, Morocco, the Caribbean, Mexico and Tahiti. Sorry, it’s just not my idea of solitude. I prize privacy too much to dine with strangers (musical tables they call it) and play games with other strangers.

On the other hand, for gregarious types (and families who enjoy sharing their leisure with others) it’s terrific.

And there’s not a prayer of being lonely. Not a chance.

Prices vary from village to village, but some examples are Club Med Guaymas at Sonora Bay, Mexico, $775-$950 a week per adult, Club Med Caravelle in Guadeloupe, $1,300-$1,555. Prices include air transportation, meals, accommodations, everything but drinks at the bar. The range in prices is seasonal. Children’s rates available.

Membership fees are $25 initiation, $40 annual per adult, $15 for children under 12.

For more information, see a travel agent or call (800) CLUB MED.