hilton sharks bay Cant . Been there twice at Easter and main pool was heated on both occasions . food is pretty good by Egyptian standards and their A/I package is exactly that with no hidden extras. Plenty of english , Very friendly and a nice atmosphere . Entertainment not fabulous , they do make a good effort and better than many .

Hoping to get back there myself next year if I can get a good price . Ived already booked some flights at a reasonable cost and there is a good deal on the hilton website for next easter for around £68 per night per standard room A/I at the moment but you need to part with 30% deposit to get the early saver price.

Lynn

The rates sound good for easter.

Thanks

i know my daughter would recommend the Movenpick Resort in Taba.

Hi been loads of times to Egypt espec Sharm. Another forum really rates Hilton Sharks Bay and to be honest personally we were not impressed with it at all. The all inclusive food, drink and serivce was underpar to other hotels we have stayed in Egypt. TBH we got fed up queuing, getting pushed, warm drinks, sub standard music ( ref speakers round the pool ) over booking etc etc. Go self catering or b n b. Also not alot outside hotel and we ended up skipping meals and paying for taxis all the time to Naama and Nabq. Lots have enjoyed this hotel but not for us Im afraid and we defo wouldnt return. Our room was also very very basic and noisy with air cons on roof keeping you awake all night.

I recommend my baby Sonesta beach resort, 15 mins walk from naama bay, so no cabs if you fancy a walk at night along the promenade passing restaurants and bars. We have 7 pools, cannot remember how many are heated as we go in the sea, but at least 3 will be. It has a casino in the grounds as well, and kids playground and several different restaurants, The sea is calm and you walk straight into it without jumping off the jetty and is central. The food i thought last November was really nice. The hotel is about the only one that has the arabic style rooms, they are so big in the double family rooms that its like having your own house with private garden. Most rooms have a pool outside your front door. You can book through a number of web sites, thomson/portland give you the option to upgrade your room at £2 pppn to the massive rooms. Thomas cook are coming in cheaper though now. This November it will be my 7th time in 4 years.

Michelle xx
sonesta beach resort queen

Hilton Sharks Bay is a good one. Ask to stay on the new side..................Pools fantastic!

Afraid I agree with nana 26. Would not recommend Hilton Sharks Bay. Been back a week from there. It isn't terrible, just not very good! The drinks service at all mealtimes was dreadful. I like my coffee with my breakfast, not after I've finished eating and then only when I have asked numerous waiters. Ditto my drinks at lunch and dinner! Some cutlery would be helpful too! Also the main pool on the old side was freezing. The flies in the room and round the pool drove us crazy, even using insect repellent.

Hi Mike

I've just booked the Red Sea Holiday Village for this Easter. Would that be any good ?

Seems a kind of family friendly resort and there appear's to be a lot more at Nabq than there used to be when I last visited Sharm two years ago.

I'm suprised people aren't recommedning the Hilton Sharks Bay that was one of my other choices, I've read loads of reviews and they still come through in the main as very good. (you always get the odd winger lol)

But I managed to get the First Choice Holiday village a lot cheaper than I could get HSB.

The other one that I looked at is the Sunrise Tirana Aqua Park (bit isolated). That was coming out a good deal on Travel Republic for me 400 pounds cheaper than it was on Thomas Cook for my week. TC price did include transfers but TR didn't.

Hope you manage to get something nice.

Doe

With so little time left Chris , Well done again on that excellent bargain

Another that Ive fancied for a while mike but yet to find a good deal on is the Sunrise island view . Thomas cook seem to have the monopoly on that one so maybe thats why ive yet to find a bargain.

As chris has mentioned the holiday village or coral sea resort would be safe bets too.

Im off to the sonesta beach resort over Easter and i'm confident In Michelles recommendation too

lyn

You haven't been yet Lyn

No I havnt Michelle . You have your good reputation at stake here

LOL. I am sure you will love it Lyn. Looks great in all the pictures and photos. and the Hilton Sharks Bay will still be there next year.

I guess one of the things that the Holiday Village and the HSB have in common are they attract 50% plus Brits, whereas a lot of the other hotels are a lot more multicultural and give people a chance to mix with the Italians and Russians.

Do you want AI Mike ? I am assuming that is your preferance, as everything is paid upfront and your spending money is then your own.

Doe

Doepsmc - I'm not whinging about the HSB. Just pointing out that it has its drawbacks. It certainly isn't as good as the AI hotels we have stayed at in Turkey and Tunisia. I haven't stayed at any other Egyptian hotels so can't compare! It may be as good as it gets in Sharm for all I know! But the points I made were facts, not just an opinion! We never got our drinks without constant nagging, the flies were very annoying and the pool was cold. Not even any children in it let alone adults! (Incidentally, there were a great many Russians there. They weren't a problem though.) Possibly they are now understaffed having opened the new section and this caused the service to be so poor.

Hi Mehmeh1

I didn't mean you (or mention you) specifically I was talking about reviews in general, so I hope I didn't offend. Was just trying to help the OP.

If you go on TA you particulary notice this. I don't know what time of the year you went, but I have been twice in April to different 5* hotels and the pools have always been freezing, unless they are specifically designated as a heated pool, this is very common. The sea was warmer.

Doe

We have only been back a week. We went for Feb half-term. They claim that all their pools are heated. The small one with the slide was a decent temperature, but the big main one was very cold. The sea was indeed warmer. One of the main reasons we chose this hotel was because of the heated pools, as most other hotels only seemed to have one of their pools heated, so this was annoying.

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy HSB mehmeh. When we were there in November the large pool was heated- I know this because I compared it with one of the smaller pools which was not!!!!

I didn't experience any problems with pushing, warm drinks etc and had excellent service so I will be interested to see if this has changed when I go back in June.

Talking of flies, i noticed a lot on the beach in November, never seen them before this ! The man with the spray machines were at it a lot on the beach. Why do they appear in the winter months?

I will be interested too pat . We havnt been for a couple of years .Come to think of it I do remember swotting flies if you sat right at the back of the main pool area next to the folliage and I will admit they are a little slow at replacing empty hot tray and plates etc in the main restuarant but in general we found these small things that didnt really bother us . We found the overal presentation and service with a smile very good.I know you shouldnt feel that you need to but generally in Egypt if you give the waiters a small tip every couple of days the difference in service is remarkable .

I do feel that Egyptian A/Is have a little to learn, food can be a little bland and if it's your first time there and used to the likes of the A/Is along the Antalya Coast of turkey you probably would be disappointed . The first time we went we had 2 weeks at HSB as our main holiday and whilst we enjoyed the hotel itself the laid back atmosphere took a lot of getting used to. We actually enjoyed it more the 2nd time when we went back as an extra week to our usual Turkey one in the summer .

lyn

I remember seeing an elderly lady at the main pool with a pink plastic fly swatter, wondering what she was doing!! She was probably right to have it with her- we did notice the flies, and she spent the whole day on guard!!

I would say that the new part of the hotel is much better as far as food goes - for variety and quality. We didn't go expecting the food to be great, and we actually found it fine in all parts of the hotel. I think the good points about HSB more than made up for any minor niggles we had. We don't often return to hotels for a second visit, so I am not sure if we will like it more or less when we go in June - at £31.00 per day for each of us I don't suppose it really matters!!!