What I will say at the present time is this..."It is not as great as some people would have you believe. The hotel has much to learn about entertainment, drink preparation and food presentation. This is definately not a 4* resort, more like a tired 3*. It is also the worst all inclusive package that my family and I have been to. In fact 3* Kos was better."
Sorry if this bursts some of the rarified bubbles that people have created but this is after all my own humble opinion.
Full specifics to follow tomorrow.
PS. Keep smiling!
Hi Templar,sorry to hear you thought the Conrad was 2nd rate,and ruined your hols but I was begining to think it was only me.I look forward with great interest to your full review.
Honesty is Important
Dog
The Good!
Mr Salama, the General Manager, was a very nice and extremely helpful man. As was his No2, whose name I never learned. Both assisted me and my family on a number of occassions in resolving issues. (The alarming thing here is, in 14 years of holidaying I have never before had to speak to a hotel General Manager in order to resolve hotel issues).
The majority of staff were very helpful and all were polite, even those attempting to fleece you out of your money (more to follow).
The house reef, at the end of the jetty was fantastic. The fish and coral was spectacular and could easily be some of the best in the world. The Lion Fish "family" were ever present and were stunning. I counted 6, 4 larger ones and 2 somewhat smaller.
The Fitness Suite was reasonable. There are 2 treadmills, a static bike, an air walker and a twisting thingy. It also has a ful range of weights machines, lat pulldowns, shoulder press, bench press, etc. There is a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi. All-in-all, plenty for all but the olympian.
The hotel clinic and doctor were very good if not expensive. It is £32 for a consultation with the doctor, medication costs are extra.
The pool area is reasonable, there are plenty of sunbeds but to be sure to get one you need to wake up early and put your towels out. Everybody does it so don't feel guilty. I would put my towels out at 06:00hrs. I was never the first and by 07:00hrs all were taken. There are a lot more sunbeds on the beach and a vast amount of parasols. Most people, if not all, could find somewhere to catch the rays. Actually, not catching the sun is harder.
The Bad!
I will start with the general appearance of the hotel. Upon arrival it looked good and we felt that the brochure had not done the place justice. However, upon closer examination, the hotel rooms are tired, there is much staining of the bathroom suites, taps and cisterns leaking. The furniture is functional but showing signs of age. The kingsize bed in our "superior" room was a little softer than a concrete slab.
There are many chipped tiles in and around the pool area. I witnessed 8 people accidentally cut themselves whilst playing in the pool. Also many of the older style sunbeds are well passed their sell by date. I witnessed 2 collapse with people sat/laying on them.
The food! The good news is; there is a different theme for each of the 14 nights of your holiday. The bad news is; the only thing that changes is the name of the theme. The reality of the evening meal is this; there are 5 metal heated food warmers. No1 contains rice, No2 contains vegetables, No3 contains potatoes, No4 some meat (usually chicken, occassionally beef) and No5 contains fish (mostly calamari, at other times sea bass). On some occassions the evening meal look like re-presented lunchtime offerrings, whilst at other times the lunchtime selection looked like re-done breakfast, especially the sausages. The soups and breads are highly recommended, as are the breakfast omelettes.
The drinks! are dire. For the first 3 days all we got when asking for a beer was a flimsy plastic cup half filled with beer and the rest froth. Others (those in their 2nd week) were getting glasses full to the brim. Not being shy, I ask the score and found out the following...Here is your first top tip! Tipping in this hotel is not done after recieving good service...it is done in advance in order to avoid being ripped off or poorly served. Once you grease the wheels of commerce the barman suddenly learn how to poor a perfect beer. The same goes for cocktails. There is a special menu for the all-inclusive cocktails, read carefully as many of these are non-alcoholic; refreshing but not neccessarily adequate for the drinking man/woman. All were very weak until the "bribe", sorry I mean "tip" was made. 2nd Top Tip...don't bribe all the barmen. Pick one at each bar give him a reasonable back-hander (20/30LE - £2/£3) and he will look for you everyday, he will also tell his chums to look out for you when he is on his breaks. So that is how to get a reasonable quantity of alcohol. Unfortunately I cannot say how to get decent quality as all of the local spirits are a bit like petrol. They have all the names; rum, whisky, vodka etc, but they all taste much the same; fiery but little taste.
It was not uncommon for the pool bar to run out of beer in the late afternoon, although they always had some if you wanted to buy it. Finally on the subject of beer, you never get a bottle of beer at the hotel unless you purchase it. The bar staff are told to get at least 3 drinks from each 500ml bottle.
The Staff! There is one particular front desk worker who is little short of a crook. I will not name him, for legal reasons, but he works the morning shift. He overcharged me for transport into Na'ama Bay and when questioned told me it was because of the exchange rate. He then falsly recorded the sum of money in his records to hide the overcharging. I reported this to the General Manager and was re-imbursed my cash. The sum of money was not great but it was the principle. Similarly, the same man took our money when paying our room bill and then failed to stamp our reciept. He only stamped it when we insisted that he did so. To add insult to injury he attempted the same scam, on us, 3 times. Another Top Tip...if you incur room costs, laundry, room service, mini bar, etc. pay your room bill every 2 - 3 days. This way you will be able to check and verify every item. If you leave it to the end you might find "extras" that you don't recall having. I avoided this, but others got stung and were told by the First Choice rep to prove that they didn't have them.
The mini-bar is not all-inclusive and the costs are extortionate. £1.40 for a regular size mars bar, twix or bounty. Beers, wine, water and savoury snacks equally over-priced. Little shop at the Baron Hotel next door much better for water and soft drinks. Top Tip...have the mini bar emptied and fill it with your own stuff bought at shops in Na'ama Bay.
The Hotel Shops! There is a small parade of shops in the hotel. They are over priced...typically 300%-400% Here are just 3 examples. Papyrus painting...Hotel shop £62...Na'ama Bay £13; 100g bottle of perfume...Hotel £25/£30 (dependant upon a whim)...Na'ama Bay £20; Gold Nefertiti Pendant...Hotel shop £65...Na'ama Bay £25.
Finally, The Ugly!
The First Choice rep in the hotel is a disgrace. She was totally incompetent. She failed to deal with the issues raised as a result of the terrorist bombings to anyone's satisfaction. She also failed to deal with an issue whereby my 13 year old son was assaulted and hospitalised by another, 16 year old youth, also a First Choice customer, to my satisfaction. The details of both these issues are not for this forum as I am intending to take legal advice. What is fair to say though is this. If you are not interested in purchasing excursions from First Choice then do not expect any help or support from the First Choice rep, Clare, at this hotel.
I have much more that I could say but feel I have said enough at the present time. If you have specific questions that you wish answered then please fire away, I will do my best to answer them. Na'ama is excellent, with great shops and restaurants, Dananeers Steak House & Seafood Restaurant I highly recommend...try the Chateau Briaund £6, it's fantastic.
Steve
like templar we arrived back from the conrad early hours friday morning and i have to say we are glad to be home - and this is not just because of the bombs that went off while we were there.
i will post a full report when i have ploughed through the washing and recovered my sleep also !!
what i will say for now is the beach is beautiful and snorkelling fab !
BUT - the hotel did go downhill in my estimation quite rapidly toward the end of the first week.
please beware of the mini bar - they tried to say we had eaten £16 ( yes - english pounds!!) worth of chocolate out of it in the day before we left !!!
now i like a good bar of cadburys as much as the next girl - but thats taking the biscuit !! they only had bountys and galaxy anyway !!
it took some to get the bill corrected but i did in the end.
tina b ( amateur dj !!!!) and i met pippy and yes i am the one who has the insect repellant story - im sure you are all dying to hear about it but i will keep you all waiting whilst i try to clear a space on my kitchen floor through the washing !!!
tina b
It was nice to get clean towels and bedding every day.
Yes you had to get up early to get a sunbed by the pool thats if you wanted to have your eardrums assaulted by the "music" which was, in my opinion, much too loud, there is no way you are aloud to fall asleep by the pool, you have to listen to the row they play which was the same everyday, and you cant listen to your personal mp3 or cd player because the pool music is that loud you cant hear it!
The beach is a much more peaceful option but even there you get blasted by the Italian aerobic instructer in the morning, that is until they all went home after the bombs! The beach is superb, and the house reef is truly stunning, I went diving on the house reef most days and I did two night dives and it was exellent! I recommend using Sinai Divers down on the beach rather than the Aquarius divers who are at the welcome meeting because to dive with them you have to travel, and with such a good house reef on the doorstep there is no need, in fact in the afternoon you see loads of dive boats dropping divers off on the reef. I had my family with me so I didnt want to go off on a dive boat all day so it was ideal for me, and the staff at the dive center are very helpful.
To sum up we had a lovely holiday despite the bombs, and apart from the "moans" we found the hotel to be great, the staff are always helpful and its very clean, we felt safe in the conrad and as the banners in Naama bay said "we are not afraid"
Sorry to hear that your stay at the Conrad wasn't particularly pleasant I have to disagree with the tipping though, my partner and I didn't tip until the end of the holiday and always had great service, our beer wasn't frothy and the the measures were usually far too strong! I couldn't even drink my vodka n coke! However, we sunbathed at the beach everyday and so frequently used the beach bar where it is always the same barman Mohammed, who doesn't speak much english but is lovely and will never let your glass get empty!
This wasn't the best all inclusive package i've been on in terms of food, entertainment and yes the rooms were tired but clean which was fine with us. As for the reception staff etc they were excellent throughout our stay and we had no problems whatsoever! There was a really good crowd of people out at the same time as us and so we had a fantastic time as did the majority of people we spoke to I guess your holiday is what you make it!
I know fully well how to make the most of a holiday, that's why I didn't come running home with my tail between my legs when the bombs went off. My family and I have taken holidays all over the world and this was most definately the worst. I refrained from mentioning the stomach upset experienced by approximately 70% of the guests, including myself; the dire entertainment, the rip-off BarBQ, the rip-off dinner/culture show (both of the previous cost an extra £10 per head and are exclusive of drinks, you cannot have all- inclusive drinks at either of these events) or the beauty shop that sliced the feet of one customer and was forced to refund another customer the full cost of treatment after the manager saw the bruising all over her legs after recieving a "waxing". I've seen assault victims look better. Perhaps the comment you made about the only thing that matters what the beer being good says more about you than anything else. Oh, and imagine my suprise, you're Scottish.
So, again in my own humble opinion, a holiday isn't just what you make of it...sometimes the product is crap and IMHO this holiday didn't do what it said on the tin. If it were just down to me being a whinge and not knowing how to holiday like you professional holiday makers, I wouldn't be seeking legal advice, would I? There were issues and First Choice need to address them, to my satisfaction!
I'm glad your holiday went well, but mine and others, during the 21 July - 4 Aug fortnight did not. For the benefit of those reading this, and my previous post, everything that I have stated is fact and was witnessed by myself. I have not reported any hearsay, of which there is much. I recount only that which I know to be true. It is for others who were in the Conrad during that period to report their own experiences.
PS. There is also a disco on site. it has no atmosphere and was only ever frequented by a handful of people, usually teenagers.
PPS. Here's one last very true story for Kerry to patronise me over. On the wednesday of our 2nd week an emergency summit of African leaders was held in the Sharm area at the request of the Egyptian Government. SO, the weekend before, all of the African Leaders descended upon the hotels Conrad & Baron. So for 5 days we had Colonel Gadddafi in our hotel and others and in the Baron they had Gaddafi's son, and others. Along with the leaders where their henchmen, all armed (guns were seen) and strutting around like they owned the place. There were also gun boats patrolling the waters just off the hotels for the duration of their stay. Now, call me old fashioned but after a major terrorist incident you wouldn't really want your holiday hotel frequented by high profile political leaders who themselves might be potential terrorist targets and who, in the case of Gaddafi, have a history of terrorism and thuggery? Or maybe you would and I just need to learn how to make the most of it!! Finally, just for good measure, the Libyan henchmen decided to start "touching up" the teenage girls in the disco on the wednesday night, resulting in the disco being shut down and much animated discussion between them and a bar manager.
The rest of my post I stand by and once again, Kerry, sorry for any offence caused by the aforementioned references.
Apology accepted and I had no intention to be patronising and so I apologise if it was perceived that way. All I intended to do was show readers of this forum that not all experiences at the hotel have been negative in terms of drink measures, service etc not to any of your other unfortunate circumstances which I couldn't possibly compare my holiday with. With hindsight I should have worded it differently:-S
I was there same time as Kerry , Mrs Mac and Altoman none of the things which happened to you happened to us which is nobodys fault you gave an honest review which is what this sites about but i agree with Kerry reguarding the drinks most nights Mrs Mac ordered a gin and a coke and had to split the gin into 2 drinks as it was far to strong as many people did
also i found the food to be lovely we didnt have a problem yes sometimes you did get the same things but alot of brits were moaning at the start you coulnt get chips and things like that so you did find the rice and chips were part of every meal but im vegetarian and usually always eat salad this was the first time ive not eaten any as there was always something good and hot to eat every day , i also think on alot of all inc hotels people will say the foods repetetive but whilst we were there most folk said they enjoyed the food so much they only ate in Naama a few times choosing to eat at the hotel then head into Naama later .
I found the staff very helpful with or without a tip they were always willing to help and trying to make your holiday as relaxing and enjoyable as they could i dont beleive those that tipped got better drinks than others .
Im sorry you didnt enjoy the Conrad as much as i did we had decided after 4 days we would be returning to the Conrad in the future as we loved it but whats for one isnt for another can i just say aswell on the minibar topic i actually got a discount on my bill from the receptionist as did our friend we had quite a big bill which was itemised and correct but the man gave us £20 off the bill which he didnt really have to do as i was counting the money out to pay the full bill i never asked for it i suppose you were just unlucky on that aspect i have had it done to me in the past in a local hotel at home .
Finally i think we all entitled to share different opinions but i dont see the need to condem the Scottish it shouldnt be a slagging match i was offended to read an insult like that and dont believe it should be aloud on this site i know youve apologised but it was said and it shouldnt have been i do hope you get your knuckles rapped for that .
Kind reguards
Debs
Ps i must also add i had a wonderful french manicure in the beauty salon as did many others.
Like I said, I'm well chuffed for you that your holiday was great, mine was less than that. I make no apologies for my honest report.
A point to note is this...how good your holiday was at the beginning of the season is less relevant to people about to embark on their holiday, than my more recent experience. Perhaps the complaints early on about drinks being too strong have led directly to our and other's drink being too weak.
Finally, your great holiday does not improve mine, however much you wish to try and tell me that I am mistaken.
djanej,
Templar,
I'm beginning to form the opinion that you should only post on this particular thread if you are prepared to blow smoke up the **** of the Conrad!
That's sorted then. Let's all go to the Conrad. Apparantly it's great.
Our visit was recent and therefore my opinion is valid. I came back two weeks ago and Debs last week.
The point I am making is that the Conrad must be rated only as a fair place when on HB, but great value for money on an AI basis.
I wouldn't return as I would prefer to pay more for a better holiday eg. Caribbean AI for £1000. I feel reviews and criticisms should be relevant to what you pay. You don't get RUI quality at the Conrad but then you don't pay RUI prices.
Well put caveman. Yes the rooms are tired, the entertainment is poor and the food can be repetetive. the quality of the food was ok though and as you said you get what you paid for. We all had a good time and felt that we got value for money. On our satisfaction questionairre we pointed out the rooms could do with being spruced up and a little more variety was needed with the food. Hopefully they will listen, we are going back next year.
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