lisalovespurple,
see you at gatwick then!! what time are you getting there? do you have seats booked together?
we live on the south coast so takes about 45mins to drive to gatwick, hopefully no holdups!
we are going with `hill70`.
glad we will be missing the strikes!!!

justine

Lucky you!
We live up near Milton Keynes so are leaving about 6.00am to allow 2 hours for parking etc.... Should be at airport by 8.30

We haven't pre-booked seats but we decided 1*3 + 2*2 would work well for us so I'm sure that won't be a problem.

I haven't heard of any strikes - just as long as we don't get nearly 12 hour delays like we did last year coming back!

oh you`re getting there early!!!
we weren`t going to leave home until 8.30am!!! maybe we should leave earlier? cos we have not got seats booked together.

Hi to all that have been...

Please can you confirm what you tipped with????? sterling pound coins or was it Egypt pounds?? getting very confused now!
I am going to stick to using debit card for spending money..
We are now getting really excited...3 sleeps!

Joanne

Would someone please be kind enough to explain which block numbers the swim up rooms are. It looks as if there are two blocks looking over the Gardens and then one block behind these, then two blocks looking out towards the quiet pool and then one block behind these. Which number blocks are which?

Many thanks for your time and trouble

Block 7 is the one overlooking the gardens,and its backed onto the hotel next door.It is also the nearest to the Al-a-carte restaurants and the beach.I think block 12 is the one near the quiet pool which was anything but quiet when we were there

Thanks very much Jaytrip

Wow so many questions will try and answer them..........

We took about £100 in Egyptian and the rest in English, changed it into Egyptian at the hotel.

You could pay for excursions in Egyptian or English and the same for bingo.

I think we tipped in English mainly.

Swim up rooms are in block 7 8 and 9 and also the blocks behind the quiet pool - we stayed in block 7 which was pretty central for eveything.

Excursions are Cairo etc and water parks and snorkling and also the quad bikes. I think you can book the snorkling and quad bikes outside cheaper but I would be careful re your holiday insurance if you book outside especially the quads as you may not be covered.

We cant wait for our holiday after this weekend I think the suitcases are going have to come down we collected our tickets yesterday

Kazee x

Hi all...
Suitcases are packed..house is clean..1 more day at work and 2 more sleeps and we are in HV..
Any last minute hints and tips from peeps who have been already??
really looking forward to this holiday and have even managed to upgrade to a kids den! so me and hubby have a bit of peace!
Got £100 sterling in Egypt cash and the rest on debit card..girl at thomas cook said that would be perfectly ok for all inclusive.. hope so because its too late now!

To all those going this Thursday...see you there!

Have a fab time, I promise we will not wish your holiday away so ours will come quicker

Kazee

Thanks Kazee

We been watching all those lucky peeps already been and gone and cant believe how quick their hols went by! Just hope when you out there it doesnt fly by so quick!

Hopefully post my thoughts when we back....
Joanne

hill70
I hope you have a great holiday

very jealous
Hay you haven't got any room in you suite case have ya
well have a great time all the best and the only tip i have is have loads of fun relax and tell all when you get home
shandygirlx 102 sleeps to go

Hi everyone
We got back at 2am yesterday - just finished my first day at work, boring.................................!
To anyone who still has any worries, don't. Everything there is really good and you will have a fantastic time. The only things I could complain about are the fact that the beds are rock hard - really hard mattresses.
If you are looking to buy inflatables for the pool then get them here - they cost about £14 in the shops at HV and £7-£10 in the shops outside. Rip off!
Please please don't get caught out - there are loads of shops within a couple of minutes' walk of HV and they are really good to go and look around and have a haggle. However, their sales technique is to wait outside on the pavement, stop you and chat to you about England (telling you they prefer us to the Russians etc). They will then tell you that they only opened their shop a week ago and would you come inside and write some English phrases to help them with their advertising. Once inside you will be offered drinks etc but you will not get out without buying something. We met a couple who got caught out and came away with some aloe vera which they had been charged £50 for! They paid just to get out of the shop!
If anyone wants to know anything, just post and I'll do my best to answer.
Tracy

Hi Tracy
glad you had a good holiday..shame back to work so soon!
We are off to HV tomorrow and are really looking forward to this hol now that the reviews are coming back more positive. think the holiday is what you make of it. just going to make the most of no work for 2 weeks and no cooking for 2 weeks! yipee!
How did you find the food? have they sorted the sunbed problems out...I dont want to wake up early on my holiday!
What films did they play on the plane?

Joanne

P.s Sorry no room in any of our cases for any extra luggage!

Hi Tracy

Glad to hear you had good holiday and that the bad reports should be taken with a bucket load of salt.
Do you mind answering a couple of questions?

Did you take local currency or pound notes? which do they prefer in the hotel?

Did you take any imodium type stuff with you or buy the local stuff or did you not need it?
We have a little girl and don't know if they do kiddies version over there, do you?

Is the wine ok? I only drink wine, spirits or lager and lime, and I guess they don't have lime? so looks like vodka here I come.
God that makes me sound ruff, just don't get out much these days so am really looking forward to my evenings under the stars with a few drinks.
Getting excited but still 5 weeks to go, and all little things running through head now.

Lara

Hi Joanne
You will have a fantastic time - I wish I was going back again!
The food was actually really good - it really depends on what you are expecting. If you are realistic in your expectations of catering on a mass scale then you won't be disappointed. There is plenty of choice and there is fresh pasta and fish/meat every lunch and dinner, along with freshly made pizzas. There are fresh pancakes and eggs at breakfast. You won't fail to find something you like.
I saw someone else posted that it is the other guests who cause the problems and this is sooooo true - kids picking things up and putting them back for someone else to eat. I actually saw a woman taking a spoonful of food out of one of the hot containers, put her finger in it to taste it and then put the spoon back in! Unbelievable!!!!!! The worst thing is when you see the kids get plates piled high with stuff and then a few minutes later see them leave the table with nearly all the food still on the plate.
At lunchtime you have the choice of going to the main restaurant or one of the restaurants next to the main pool. In there they only do snacks - fries and chicken or fish usually. Again, you see kids coming out with baskets full of fries and bread rolls to take to the pool just to watch them throw most of them in the bin. There is a bit next to that restaurant where you can get limited soft drinks, freshly made pizza and ice creams.
The plane journey actually went really quickly - on the way there they showed Horton Hears A Who and another kids' film but I can't remember what it was. Ours was a night flight on the way home so I am not sure what the films were, I was asleep!
Have a fantastic time - the entertainment is brill. You have got to go to Kids Village Time (7.45pm at the amphitheatre) to see Dangerous Claude - really funny! Aimed at kids but great for adults!
The sunbeds situation has not been sorted - if you have not put your towels out by about 7.30am you will struggle to get a sunbed. I went out at 6am and was amazed at how many towels were out there. I woke up really early one morning and couldn't get back to sleep so decided to take my book outside - it was so nice it became a regular thing. The sun comes up at about 6.15am and it is beautiful to watch, plus it gave me a couple of hours of 'me time'. By 8am I was going in the pool to cool off, which was nice as I had it all to myself.
Tracy

We seem to have lots of people returning yet there is only one review for August.

You all know how important the reviews were before you left so it would be appreciated if you could post a review, even if it's only a brief one, HERE

luci

Hi Lara
The drinks are quite nice. I only had wine once, in the seafood restaurant. The house white was OK and hubby said the red wine was nice. The rest of the time I drank soft drinks or vodka and orange. The soft drinks are pepsi, their own version of Fanta or 7 up. There are plenty of others but those are the ones we stuck to. To be honest it was so hot I didn't really drink alcohol during the day.
We took about £50 in Egyptian pounds with us but the exchange rate is better there - £10 Egyptian to one of ours. You can pay in Egyptian or Sterling at the hotel.
We did come down with the Pharoah's belly - our GP had given us some antibiotics to take with us and these worked a treat. They symptoms had gone within 24 hours. The pharmacies sell stuff for you but don't bother with Imodium - it won't touch it. They do sell stuff for the kids as well - someone had left a bottle of kids' medicine in our fridge when we arrived (obviously we didn't use it).
Be careful of exposure to the sun - some people were not applying lotion straight away and were coming out on day 2 with blistered backs and shoulders, even though they didn't feel they were burned when they left the pool in the afternoon.
If you can you need to go snorkelling in the sea - the fish you can see are amazing, although the corals in that area are not all that much to write home about. The fish more than make up for it, though. Unbelievable.

I would recommend visiting the seafood restaurant - you pay for the fish but everything else is free. There is a price list outside the main restaurant and you go and choose your fish when you arrive. They then weigh it for you and tell you how much it will be before they cook it. The fish is just fantastic - some of the nicest I have tasted. If you do go be careful of the insects - I didn't see them anywhere other than when we sat in La Mer, which is open air on the beach. There are these bugs which look like earwigs and they were everywhere. Other than normal flies (which have no decorum - they land on your face and everywhere!) we didn't really see any other insects. Unless you count the lizards in the rooms - don't be alarmed, they are tiny and harmless (only about 2" long). There were two in our room and we christened them Eddie and Esme!

The staff at the hotel are brilliant - nothing is too much trouble for them. We had our wedding anniversary whilst we were there and we received a letter in our room that day congratulating us. We ate at La Mer (the seafood restaurant) that night and they brought us a lovely cake and played some music and got us dancing. The entertainment is really good, too - there is a head to head challenge every night, where a member of the audience takes on a member of the entertainment team. When we left the guests were 5-3 up. The challenges are daft things like who can do the most press ups in 30 seconds, but it is really good fun. The game shows are good, too.

Tracy