hi we returned from sharm early hours thursday morning went to tropicana grand oasis, we did enjoy the holiday although we would not go all imclusive again, only because we like to eat out in the town and to be able to choose our drinks etc.
we went all inclusive as we booked it last minuet tand its alls there was, we had never done it before so it was nice to see what it was like. i cant compare it to anywhere eles as we have never been all inclusive befroe but i inmagine its quite simlar everywhere. we were allowed to have any local drink (i no this is the same everywhere) i thought thats fne although when i tried a vodka it tased stale, i tried another one a few days layter thinking it might have been a didgy one but that tasted the same too. so we stuck to the beer and wine which were ok, although the beer i could drink about 8 plastic cups (they give you these by the beech/pool and still not feel even tipsy and i normally an on my way after about 5 halfs!

so we found we prefere to be able to pay (we didnt really want to pay extra for drinks as we had paid alot of money for the holiday and we only took a small amoint of spending money with us, although if we did want to buy drinks they did look cheap around 3 egyption for say a vodka but it was horrible anyway! but when we went the sister hotel (not included in oit AI) the drinks were much more expensive as were the drinks in the one bar we went into the town-about 5 english pound for a cocktail) and choose what drinks we like and enjoy them more i couldnt have a cocktail as the vodka was horribe and also fruit juice wasnt included on AI although when i asked for my vodka and orange we didnt get charged any extra?

the food choice was good there were 3 sit down reastraunts, a fish, italian and egyption one we went to all of these and they were nice, there was also a main buffet restraunt where breki, lunch and dinner were served, there was lots of varity although some of the food wasnt very good, lots of things tased the same like the chicken, meat, rice, but there were other things to choose from that were nicer, the baguettes andlunch were lovley, the bread is very fresh. there was also a snack bar which served food from 11 till 5pm, some of this food was not very noce the meat-burgers and they had like a mice meat type meat this tased the same as the food in the reastraunt-not very nice but again some other things were ok like the hot dogs and they had pizza slices.

so again i was thankful for the sit down restraunts as i would get very fed up of eating in the same place evry night and the hotel was far from the town, there was a free shuttle bus to tkae you there which you booked the day before, we also had to book into the restraunts the day before too, which is not a problem but we do like to decide what we want to do on the day/night we dont really plan what were going to do in advance, only trips, we usually just do what we fancy on the day/night but we had to decide the day before here, which is fine, but not what wed normally do.

the entertainment, there was something on each night at 9.45, it was very much orientated to the other nationalities, we went to watch it on the first night and the reviews had said it was bad and ot english orientated etc and it was. but it was funny! they had a dance show and got people from the audience up in couples and they had to dance one couple at a time different styles-sexy,rock etc that was quite funny! the drinks were served in lastic cups here too, which is ok i suppose but it means you have to keep going to the bar as my fionce took 2-3 mouthfuls and it was gone! the bar man also tried to give us a cocktail he made, he put everything underthe sun in it i think! it tasted disgusting and went down the plug hole! we never went back for the entertainment!

the other option at night was the main bar which wasjust a bar, no music or anything eles which is fine, but these were the only two choices fr the night time and with it been so far from town you couldnt just walk into town for a change (although you could book the shuttle bus in advance the day before whuch leave at various times and the last one back is at midnight)
they also had an option to go to the sister hotel at 11.30 till 3am for a discotech but out rep told us she had bin told its .like a drag house! and bad entertainment (not sure if it would be included on all inclusive) so we gave this a miss!
so we didnt think this was very good as its not what were used to and we like to go to different bars normally and maybe watch some good entertaiment or english lol. or we fond a bar we like and go there each night after going to some others, but we only had these options at this hotel.

we went into namma bay once, we got the shuttle bus out at 9.30 after having out meal in the nice itailan restraunt at the hotel and came back at 12. we had no idea what to expect and didnt really have much time to look around properly andwith not knowing where things are etc we didnt no the best places to go ect and spent time walking around having a look. it is all very new and modern very different from places we have been brfore, we didnt seen to see any bars as such they all seeme to be shisha bars- which did serve drinks too, we went to one of these and the drinks wernt cheap-like 5 english pound for a cocktail or 4 english for a vodka, but the beer was cheap prob about 2 english pound for a pint.
i dont know if its the same at other places as we didnt go anywhere eles. my fiance didnt like it as the men kept on saying to him lucky man lucky man, and they stared alot at me and people driving past would shout things too, its not like is was dreesed in a skirt or strappy top either, i had black jeans on, high heel and had my fiances coat on zipped all the way to the top as it was a bit nippy i put this on before we got off the bus, its a good job i did as i had a strapless black top on underneath and wouldnt hace dared/liked to have gone into the town with this on or with a summer dress/skirt/strapless/revealing top which is a shame as i like to dress up abit at might when im on my holiday.
this was just our experiance i dont know if this is normal or if they are like this all the time to everyone, the first few times was not too bad but it started to get constant the men working at the shops standing outside saying lucky man, they did this at the hotel abit too, i didnt here it all the time but my fiance said they did (they may do it so the women dont here, just to the man?) and the staring too got to my fiance abit, well quite alot.
but i just got on with it! as i know that thay arnt used to seeing ladys as the egyption ladys have to stay coverd up, although it did get a bit much after a while, i just tried to ignore it.

my faveorite part of the holiday was the snorkleing that as i have read on here was amazing! itwas great lots of didferent fishes we took some phtos with an underwater camera, my fiance enjoyed this also, the beach was nice at the hotel, its not sand its like gravel that looks like sand, but i thought this was better as it didnt get stuck to you! it was really nice.

the weather was also very nice, it was abit windy on the first day, still magaed to sunbathe! after that it was hot hot hot i dont know the exact tempreture but im guessing it must have been at least mid 20's and not a cloud in the sky except for the second to last day there were a couple but not many and they didnt affct the all important sunbathing! we also had a heated pool at the hotel whcih was a big plus for me been able to go in the pool in january when i say heated though i dont mean warm, it was a bit nippy on first getting in but once you were in it was fine and lots of peoplem were in there (prob about the same sorta temp as the pool is in the summer maybe a tad cooler) but they had a big main pool too which wasnt headt i felt the temp and you could deffo tell the difference that one was freezing! but a couple of people did brave it for a quick dive/swim!

so it was a nice break and an experiance, something we have never done before, im not sure if i would go back mainly due to the men (annoys my fiance too much he said he wouldnt go back) we didnt get haggled to much but we only went into town for a couple of hours at night, i loved that it was lovley and warm weather, this could tempt me back but the way the men are let it down for us, we also would not go all inclusive again. didnt seem to see many/any bars that didnt have shisha pipes aswell (altohugh we did have ago on a shisha at the hotel!), and not sure on restraunts, but we didnt have much time to look around.

we also had a fright on the flight into sharm, the flight itslef was lovely, but when we came into land (i dont like landing anyway as my ears pop and hurt really badly) we got close the to runway the wheels came down and everything ready to land, the next thing we new we were shooting back uop into the sky, it was terrifying i was so scared, it was going up really quite fast and it was shaking and hitting air pockets the piolt didnt come on for about 10 minuets (i suspect he was getting us out of danger) but when he did he explained that he had to give us a tour around the bay as there was still a plane on the runway! it was a relife when he told us what was happening and he did well to get us back up away from the plane as we could have crashed, but it was absoulutey terrifying, i was shaken for a few hours after that, then when we did land we had to wait for 10 mineuts to get off as they were fetching the steps to attch to the plane, well we normally wait for everyone eles to get off around us first (dont see the need for the mad rush!) but this time i really just wanted to get off asap and we had to wait!
And the airport was a bit manic too! massive ques, had to do the vsa/imigration card thing and the same on the way back. due to the scare on the way there i was qite scared on the flight back which is a shame as i used to be a nervous flyer about 5 years ago on my first flight in about 5 yars but after a couple of trips abroad i was fine and quite enjoyed flying, but aftyer this i was really quite scared, i had plenty of drinks and tried to deal with it best i could! but i was close to tears at one point, ok after my drinks though! and very relieved when we touched the ground!