Fabulous review there Michelle . Will catch up with it all a bit later on my return home

Thanks for your report Michelle - glad to hear you had such a good time

ps Didn't know Cleopatra wore trainers?

Glad to hear you enjoyed your holiday Michelle and I am looking forward to reading more

Glynis said :

Didn't know Cleopatra wore trainers?

Ah its surprising, haven't you ever see cleo on a quad bike

Hi i am back again, as i said had a lovely drinkies with Gray and family they are great people.

There wasn't any problems in November with tummy upsets and looseness for us, quite ironic really we were constipated. We kept off milk, salads and ice, although saying this Sam ate it all last Nov and he was fine. We ate everything and anything, stuffed our faces and food was lovely, improving every year. Sonesta Beach is having another al-a-carte restaurant built by early next year, it will be part of the Italian restaurant that you pay to eat in. Now whether or not they will charge, or in fact be part of the A1 option i am not sure.

I thought that SBR was all A1, but they do bed and breakfast and half board, some visitors had red bands and some white, otherwise they are yellow. I am not sure which tour operators do this, but to be honest you seem to have less tummy problems if you stick to one place.
Some friends we met went to HRC and next day ill as we were for several years in a row, and i certainly wouldn't touch fridays either after i was ill seeing the kitchen and loo. Hard Rock is very expensive for drinks we had a Sakara and a Malibu and coke and it was £12, you pay £2-3 in tax and service charge. They also measure the short to the letter as well.

The camel bar was the first time we had gone up with gray and family, if i remember right it was on three levels, toilets and heated lamps if you are feeling chilly. Good atmosphere all the same.
Last November i didn't go into NB at all, we did last June though. I noticed some changes more malls and side shops than ever before. We felt over the past few years that the 'hassle' we once had is virtually non existent, now whether its because i am more aware and divert our attention elsewhere i don't know, but it made a refreshing change. Having spoken to a lot of people in resort, more said the hassle is getting OTT in places like Turkey, Cyprus and Dom Rep etc.

We started walking a long the peace road to get to NB as we thought we would get hassled going along the promenade, but did not get any.

Entertainment in Sharm has improved since the first time we went, along the promenade, most of the hotels have belly dancers, singers like Zaki etc, good places to watch the football is the Hilton at the pirates bar, they have 3 screens and you can watch it and have a drink.Most hotels have football on in their rooms, or an array of screens in Naama Bay.

November is a really busy, herds of people, but there is one thing we discovered that i want to share with you. On the top road opposite the hard rock and fridays are an array of bedouin style shisha paces to sit and watch the world go by. Sam looked at the menu, ordered me a sprite and asked if he could have a sakara as beer was not on the menu. The guy said yes they did and went away from the bedouin tent and came back from somewhere with the beer. We then noticed after 5-10 mins people were leaving the beer after drinking half a pint. I smelt it and it was foul, Sam suggested it had been watered down, or worse still any holiday maker that left the drink had behind the scenes tipped it into a glass all the empties! It was flat and cost him £1.50 a pint. Sam left it and we walked a long to the taxi rank towards another tent and had another beer, this time asked for it to be opened in front of us. We did get hassle in here, mainly from canvassers selling trips, plates with photos on it etc. The beer was beer here though. Before we left i asked Sam what he had done with my daughters t. shirt, he thought i had it in which i didn't. We realised we had left it in the other tent, they all looked the same, but the tent with the horrible watered down beer had a small camel figuring outside of it. Not expecting to get the t shirt back, a guy ran over to us, remembered us amongst all the thousands down that night and said we had left it. We offered a tip, but he wouldn't except, so it was genuinely nice to have an honest person.
We only ventured on the beach twice, we were packed like sardines, admittingly because i know most of the staff now, they saved us a spot at the front, but eventually under duress went tot he hotel around the pool. The pool man always got our spot ready and as most were on the beach, it was lovely and quiet.
I found that there was an awful lot of British people in resort which made a change from Russians who are extremely impatient, pushing in and rude! But what amazed me was how some english people do not wear sun cream in the 84 degree heat

A couple who sat next to us , she was disabled very white and as a carer hurt her back. They were nice people but didn't wear any cream until the lady started burning up. She had on morphine patches and came out with an allergy. I recommend the doctors, her skin was in a right mess, she only ate Mcdonalds as well and couldnt understand why she felt sick and was loose. In the end i had to give up ! She would rather suffer than pay 35 euro for the doctors. Then i realised that perhaps she hadn't got insurance because she was on morphine patches on her back (as in a wheelchair).

We had a laugh in the restaurants, all the waiters or most of them remembered us, they kept plying us with wine after wine, we said no but they kept on coming with more. In the casablanca restaurant we actually had to leg it because we were nearly under the table with wine, whisky and cocktails, and no we didn't ask for them, they kept lining them up on the table! Every time we tried to escape, he came back with more.

If i found any negatives on the hotel it would be the pool swim up bar near reception, we did not find the staff at all friendly and will be writing/emailing the hotel. I have never been to a perfect hotel, whether 5 stars or 8 stars so to speak. I am not a picky person that goes around looking at tiles in the swimming pool to see if they were chipped, or seeing if there was any mould in the shower room. I go to enjoy my holiday, if i had any reservations at all, i know the Sonesta beach would be there in an instance without a fuss.

When we went on a trip we went through Sharks bar, Dahab etc and although the hotels looked ok, it wouldn't be an area for me as it is to quiet and not much to do, plus seeing some of the beaches up there, the sea is miles away although the beaches were virtually empty. Usually at night we tend to go tot he Oonas bar next door to SBR on the roof top with Hagazzi and gang, they are like a family to us.

When we checked out of the executive room the man on reception said when we come back, we can have any room we want as a free upgrade, now that is some service, how many hotels would say that, they are lovely lovely staff and everyone welcomed us back, and that is why i still remain the sonesta Queen

SONESTA CLUB........

Although we only saw one room as it was being cleaned i did not personally like them, very small in comparison with SBR, old looking and dirty.However we visited the sister hotel a few years a go and it only had one pool, it had improved now, more pools and several pool slides like an aqua park. In fact over all for children it is better than SBR. Both hotels have kids clubs, but SC has more for them to do.It looked the same as SBR in the grounds but on a much lesser scale. They do tend to hassle you to get in the shops though which i would be annoyed at. It is about 15 mins walk from here to the beach via the busy peace road.

SBR has a good bank but unless you have to, i wouldn't take travellers checks, they do not like changing them, and wont unless you have your receipt, saying this, thomas cook over the road were fine, they also give you cash from your credit card.
Ali-baba on the roof offers a bit of a view near the shops, you can sit at SBR enjoying a drink that isnt part of A1, but to be honest i didnt fancy sitting at tables, i prefer the Oonas where you get the only view of Naama Bay.

REPs................

We went with Thomas Cook and although flights good, and the rep in resort was ok, i could have been more enthusiastic. Hardly any trips were offered, and there was no quad biking trips. So i went to the Thomson rep and booked it with them lol. TC said that quads were dangerous, well thomson did a great trip on the ultimate desert adventure.

** A word of caution for any of you that decide to go with a different company instead of your reps on trips because they are cheaper to bear something in mind*

1) If you have a travel agents insurance - you will not be covered on it at all should you have any problems.
2) Also if you go to cairo/ or red sea adventure to Ras Mohammed etc, who in the hotel knows you have gone?
3) you could be with foreign people instead of English.
4) If you get hurt, you are stuck in the desert, or worse still in cairo/Jerusalem for example and need help, your rep will not help, its your choice for the sake of a few pounds you are taking your life in your hands.

If however you have your own insurance the same above applies, except that for instance with quads, make sure insurance companies state the size of the quad, if you go over and exceed the limit, you will not be covered. If you have an independent insurer and go on a thomson trip like we did, thats ok as thomson/ thomas cook etc have insured the actual trip as opposed to the individual person.

I have written a full scale report on the Sonesta beach reviews for anyone who would like to read it......

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/reviews/egypt/sinai-penninsula-and-red-sea/sharm-el-sheikh/sonesta-beach-resort-hotel/

Michelle x
sonesta beach resort queen.

Hi i am back again, as i said had a lovely drinkies with Gray and family they are great people.

Thanks Michelle it was great meeting you and Sam

Hard Rock is very expensive for drinks we had a Sakara and a Malibu and coke and it was £12, you pay £2-3 in tax and service charge. They also measure the short to the letter as well.

Tell me about it the two beers we had cost us £11

The camel bar was the first time we had gone up with gray and family, if i remember right it was on three levels, toilets and heated lamps if you are feeling chilly. Good atmosphere all the same.

We have always visited the Camel Bar Roof - at one time it was only divers who went there but obviously it's in the middle of the main prom at Naama so will get busy

I noticed some changes more malls and side shops than ever before

Tell me they springing up faster than mushrooms in Autumn

Entertainment in Sharm has improved since the first time we went, along the promenade, most of the hotels have belly dancers, singers like Zaki etc, good places to watch the football is the Hilton at the pirates bar, they have 3 screens and you can watch it and have a drink.Most hotels have football on in their rooms, or an array of screens in Naama Bay.

Getting really European in entertainment values in some places which puts me off sometimes

we discovered that i want to share with you. On the top road opposite the hard rock and fridays are an array of bedouin style shisha paces to sit and watch the world go by. Sam looked at the menu, ordered me a sprite and asked if he could have a sakara as beer was not on the menu. The guy said yes they did and went away from the bedouin tent and came back from somewhere with the beer. We then noticed after 5-10 mins people were leaving the beer after drinking half a pint. I smelt it and it was foul, Sam suggested it had been watered down, or worse still any holiday maker that left the drink had behind the scenes tipped it into a glass all the empties! It was flat and cost him £1.50 a pint.

We found out about these places on our first visit by someone kindly telling us to avoid them (a friendly hotel staff we bumped into on the strip)

I found that there was an awful lot of British people in resort which made a change from Russians who are extremely impatient, pushing in and rude! But what amazed me was how some english people do not wear sun cream in the 84 degree heat

A couple who sat next to us , she was disabled very white and as a carer hurt her back. They were nice people but didn't wear any cream until the lady started burning up. She had on morphine patches and came out with an allergy. I recommend the doctors, her skin was in a right mess, she only ate Mcdonalds as well and couldnt understand why she felt sick and was loose. In the end i had to give up ! She would rather suffer than pay 35 euro for the doctors. Then i realised that perhaps she hadn't got insurance because she was on morphine patches on her back (as in a wheelchair).

Silly lady (I could call her something else) I too wear Analgesic patches (Buphenorphine - a type of morphine derivitive) and we buy Annual insurance specifically for ALL my medical conditions for just over £100 for both of us- - - What you do find is that some people think you have to put up with tummy problems on holiday