Holiday date 23rd June - 7 July 2008.
Party - Me, Hubby(Sam), Daughter Rachel, My Mum, and Ian (our age - a friend).
Ages from 19 to 61 yrs.
We paid £525 pp for the room upgrade, flight and A1
Holiday should have been £825 for A1, but got upgraded free of charge as booked a year in advance, it was a B & B hotel.
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Picked up by Ian and drove to LUTON at 4am to catch flight to SES at 9am.
Got diverted because of a major accident, so had to try and find a way through back streets to Luton, not a good idea when you havent a tom tom. But Ian very experienced, and got us to the Air park, and we parked up for the 2 weeks. Air park bus took us to airport, approx 15 mins journey for £99.00.
We went with Portland/Thomson.
Settled in line to weigh cases etc and check in.
I approached the deck in (34), i was the lead name, me and hubby already bought in advance our exit seats(being 5 ft 11).
There were 5 in our party, we were allowed 20kg in hold and 5 kg hand.
All the suitcases were not weighed together, one of ours went through with hubbys, and the last 3 together.
She informed me our cases were over by 3kg, resulting in a £22.50 charged. We all argued the fact that this was wrong!!
1) 19.7kg
2) 10 kg
3) 22.5 kg
4) 15 kg
5) 18 kg
One cases was just over, but she wouldnt let me put clothes out of one case into the other, the rest were well under.
We had to go over to another desk (information). They understood where we were coming from, and this argument lasted an hour and half!
First of all she said that we were only allowed 15kg and 5 kg, but i stated on tickets it was 20kg and 5 kgs.
We argued and argued and the young girl on the deck will get reported, i am sending my evidence in. At no time were we given the opportunity to empty contents into another case. Disgusted we got through the check in and went through to catch plane. No time for breakfast or drink.
Flight over on the Tom 3263 good.
Staff ok.
We did have one concern, we were at the back of the flight on exits, and my family were right on the first 2 rows. There was a rumpus over exit seats, thomson at check in had double booked some exit seats that were already purchased months ago. So the passengers that booked them on the morning didnt get them and had to sit elsewhere.
SHARM EL SHEIKH - AIRPORT
Walked into sharms airport and lined up, normal proceedure after coming here for 5 years.
I asked the Travco man what to pay for the visa in, he said any currency.
When we approached the deck, the visas were £11.00 sterling! I said i wanted to pay in $ and he said no, Sterling only. I said that every time we came to sharm we always paid in $. This is a scam - on the next window it said the price for a visa was $15.00 which should have been £7.50. It is getting such a rip off. Anyone no choice paid for visas, except my daughter, she didnt want to go from the sinai.
Collected coach from car park, noticed the airline staff had broke my brand new suitcase, the wheel had fell off. Not impressed!
We were quite shocked at how many people were going to SBR, normally only a few but nearly a bus load. I wondered if any of them knew HT, didnt have time at that point to plug it
Time will come later.Check in normal.
Already requested my usual room of 1105 for the last few years and got it.
Mum and Ian got next door, so happy.
We had a bed situation in 1103, huge bed, but mum and ian arent an item, there was a room at the bottom of the lounge area with bunk beds, but Mum thought it would be too hot in there for Ian to sleep.
We all un packed, and we showed them around the complex.
At dinner later Mum still wasnt happy about the bed situation and asked for a move, it was a slightly smaller room, no lounge but they seemed happy. So they moved all the stuff again.
It wasnt a happy room for them though in room 1102.
The hair dryer broke,
The door wouldnt latch properly, although it looked shut, push it and it opened.
Safe dodgy
Electrics dodgy
Bulbs had gone out in room.
All in all they loved the room!
Our room had some new finishing touches, for years i have been saying it is too dark in the bedrooms etc. They now have extra lighting and mats on the floor which although looks pretty, its lethal, you slid all over.
We were happy with our room, the huge big ones you pay to upgrade to with thomson/portland.
ALL INCLUSIVE OPTION
The breakfast was nice, usual egg man, croissants, cereals, fruit and fry ups etc.
The main meal times is a let down. I am not going to slag off and say the food is appalling and disgusting, it wasn't. What i will say is, it caters mainly for international gusts who are used to sauces, spices, pasta with everything. The food is extremely rich and has distinct aromas.It doesn't cater for the English, eg, normal potatoes without sauces, meats not in sauces etc. Even the Bolognese sauce on the pasta well i couldn't see it. The food is a let down for the English, and i did make some suggestions to the Thomson rep in which she was passing on my comments to Chef.
The lunches were slightly better than the dinners. To be honest though we ate out. I am not a fussy eater by any means, but all 5 of us didnt enjoy it for the above reasons.
You receive 3 bottles of water a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The desserts were very nice by the way, and the soups.
You can drink all day by the beach or pool bars no problems there.
Our room was situated by the biggest pool - the italian animation. Its a great laugh there, British people were joining in with Julia the Italian crew for aerobics in water, and volleyball in water. Loud music and good.
The temperatures in sharm in the day were in the 40s, we didnt come back nearly half as brown as hiding under the brolleys all the time. Having done this trip in May, June (twice), July and August. i would never go back. The best time to go and high season is from October thru to April. Temps are 80-25.
The Citadel restaurant and the Dome restaurant are the same, you can eat all breakfast, dinners etc.
We ate at all the free ones, never tried the Gondela or Le Cafe.
Toilets on site very clean, grounds super and all the staff are very friendly.
I cannot fault anything except the food, if they get that right for English guests, then they will not have problems.
Eating outside of complex
We ate next door with LaToyah, Mr Cairo(he is from Cairo, our nickname) at the Oonas bar and restaurant. It is the only place upstairs you will get a panoramic view of the bay. Open from sunset to sunrise. They are great friends of ours. Trips can be done here, very safe and cheaper.
Also ate out at the Pomadero in Namma Bay, it is the restaurant with sprays coming out over people while they eat, near to the camel bar. Always enjoy food here.
We also had a good meal in Hard Rock, the best meal of the two weeks one thinks.
The worst place and never to visit again was TGI fridays. People were walking out of the place, the food was disgusting, cold. A lady had a bone in the middle of her salad. Service was extremely poor. Upstairs in the air-conditioning it was freezing. I had serviettes going up my arms, i couldn't feel them. The toilets were flooded and someone had got loose bowel motions and it was splattered all over seat and wall. We did report it, but they didnt seem bothered.
In Naama bay itself, we did notice over the years how much quieter it is. Hardly any pulling you into their restaurants and hassle. I warned my family over it, but was shocked. Ian in the day went to the museum and no one came at him. The guy on the bus going back to the airport said that Naama bay is changing, and that next year you will notice a difference.I wondered if it was because mostly everywhere is A1? I dont know, but we never got none.
Trips
Mum and Ian went to Cairo on the plane around £155 pp.
Rachel and her dad went on the Ras Mohammed boat trip in which they enjoyed, we also bought the dvd for £15 of the day, and it was excellent.
Rachel, me and her dad went on the Quad bikes, fantastic as usual, but they desperately need servicing, and it burnt my daughter leg and its blistered.
Now for the Luxor trip.
Luxor
I am not going to spoil what you see at Cairo or Luxor, what i do want to share with you all is our experience of what could pontentienally have been a disaster.
Me, hubby, mum and ian flew over to Luxor, mum wasnt feeling brilliant that day, but still came.
I always wanted to see tutukarmum etc, and this was going to be my hi light of the week.
We had been in Luxor for half an hour and went to see the tombs, the first tomb was next two tutukarmuns.
The tomb was closed, but because it was 54 degrees, we were trying to get some shade. There were steps and mum felt unwell and sat on the steps.
We all had our backs to her, all of a sudden she fainted/collasped. She fell to the side, and i grabbed her and supported head. Everyone was looking and the guide didnt have a clue what to do. I took mums pulse it was scary, very low. I instructed someone to give me a fan or hat to waft over her, took sun glasses off and chucked a load of water over her. Four mins she was out! I tapped her face, and she had pins and needles in her hands and arms. I got her around, but she couldnt stand up, all floppy. It took 4 burly men to get her out of the tomb, also she was sick 4 times.
I waited for a truck with a non english person driving in it to take us back to the coach. The travco guide said she should go to hospital when we got back to coach, but by this time mum was coming back to me, given biscuits, water and sprite.I said hospital wasnt necessary, plus i had passports and the rest of them carried on with the tombs. Mum paid £155 to stay on bus all day.
I was furious to think if i hadnt had been there, she could have died, Travco reps, the agents for Thomson hadnt a clue, all of them should have basic first aid. The doctor said in result when mum was checked over that she was extremely lucky, it was very serious, she was so white and pulse very low. Thank god my nursing and caring skills came in. We were truely concerned and anxious. Mum is ok now, but she has passed out at home as well before now.
Other than that, we had a lovely day, but heat was killing everyone, and the day was too long in the sun. By the way i told the rep in resort about mum, all she said wasm well they offered to take her to hospital!! Slowly going off thomson.
PHARAOHS REVENGE
All the party went down with this for a couple of days each. My daughter was the worst with cramps and squits, hubby and Ian were sick as well, i just had the runs for a couple of days. We all at some point had to see Doctor in resort. I had 3 injections, Ian had 3, mum had 3, and Rach and Sam had 1 injection.
Keep off red meat as it doesnt digest well.
Milk in resort is pasteurised, so eat cereal and pasta, rice etc.
Salads act as water so will go right through you.
Drink, all the time sprite, it acts as a tummy agent for bacteria the friendly kind.
Dont eat any fruit, goes to water in the gut.
Drink sprite, but not too much water. Water hasn't anything in it, eg, sugar for energy, and it cannot cling to foods being deposited.
Water in barrells in resort hotel is fine, you can drink this and the milk.
Eat bread to bind you up. If you have cramps or squits, you must bulk up.
Stay out of the sun as much as possible.
I bought Prebio7 from holland and barrett, they were really good, it is friendly bacteria, took 2 a day, it is like actimel in a tablet.
I would also advise taking out the excess on your holiday insurance. We will get all out money back from the doctor.
CASINO
We went to the casino one night. The rep told us to take $, so we changed money from Egyptian to $, when we got there, it was mainly euros to play poker etc. The people in there were cold, they didn't want to help us, we didn't know how to play etc, but wanted to learn. All the fortnight on the reps advise we were changing english, euros, Egyptian, and $. We must have lost loads in resort. Didn't enjoy experience in Casino.
MONEY
I wouldn't advise taking any other than English or Egyptian, they do not like it. The rate in resort was 10.71 in which we go to our bank on site. I would also like to mention that if you bring $, and want to change them back via the bank or Thomas cook out on the peace road, they chuck them back at you and say they are too old, or fake!!! The casino gave us a 20 euro, no one would change it until we got home, they said it was dodgy even though casino gave it to us. Taking muiti currency is a nightmare, they are getting so strict.
holiday over all
Had a good holiday, cannot fault hotel at all, its still my baby, but they need to do something about the food.
Will stay with hubby on holidays, Ian and Mum were so tired all the time, we never got to show them what we thought they would like. No arguments, but we are all different people.
The best news out of the two weeks was my daughter has passed her exams and has got in with distinctions at University (Lincoln) on a media course, To see her happy face, was the hi-light.
I will just say though it isnt an eperdemic on the squits etc, a lot of English in all hotels were getting it, Sonesta club, Hilton, Coral sea, Ritz Carlton, Holiday village etc. It is caused by the extreme heat and air-conditioning and going from hot to cold. Keep air-conditioning off at night, you are breathing in germs from recycled air. If guests came in the winter months, they wouldn't get this problem, only really happens in summer months.
If i havent covered anything you would like to know, please get in touch on HT or via Pm, i will do my best to help you have a fantastic time through our experiences
I will also let you know how my complaint goes with thomson over the baggage problem.
Michelle x
Sonesta beach resort queen
.sorry to hear about your mums nasty experience . I trust you will be letting Thomson know how badly trained their staff are in basic first aid . And given the heat in Egypt during the summer I would of thought that it something they need to look at pronto.
and that they were going to talk to the woman who charged us for the suitcase incident, and that reps need first aid training. They told me that i wont get to know the outcome of the results. In other words nothing will be done. I did think about sending my information with a copy of the letter to Abta. That day there were so many people who had to pay more. We were not no way near the 20kg. I shall not be travelling with this company again, no refund given as they said they couldnt prove it 
