Hi everyone,
I have booked a week at the LTI Grand Azure for 28th July and am just wondering about the All Inclusive. I have never been AI before, and some people I have spoken to have been AI to Egypt (not to this hotel though) and have mentioned that not all of the restaurants are included in this, and if you wanted to eat in certain restaurants in the hotel you had to pay. Can people that have already been to this hotel please clarify whether it is just the buffet restaurant or all of the restaurants that are All Inclusive? Thanks!! Gemma

hi
everything with regards to eating here is free!! there is seperate a la carte restaraunts chinese italian etc but when we were there in november the only bug bear about them was to book them a few days before!!!!
in fact even then you could eat in a different place for at least seven evenings of your holiday!!
regards
stevie

nicolaw,
My daughter is a very grown up 4 and is in to all things girly, my son is 8 and will be ecstatic so long as he can find someone to play football with!!
dsj37

Flying out Thursday for 2 weeks and cant wait
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Going there on Thursday this week for 11 nights

But boo hoo I'll be sad when you're on your way there as it'll all be over for me.

are you going to Ras Mohamad?

Have a great trip Suze.

Look forward tohearing all about it upon your return.

Nicky

Hi Suze,

Your flying out the same day as us. So your still be enjoying it whilst we are. As for Ras Mohamad not sure yet I think were just going to go with the flow when we get there, haven't been diving for a few years now so it would be nice to give it another go somewhere special.
Leave Gatwick about 09.45am this Thursday not that im getting excited about it or counting down the days

im going to the grand azure for 2 weeks on 27th june, and from the reviews cant wait - is there any dress code for restaurants or can you wear anything you like???
Im going there for my honeymoon, does anyone know if the staff do anything for you if they are aware...ie upgrade??? heres wishing eh!!!

jo90 - have a look through these pages about all things LTI related but I think I remember a post saying that for the a la carte restaurants, which all have to have prior bookings, men have to wear long pants, thats about it.

To find out if they will do anything special for you email Ehab using this address.

grandazure@tropicanahotels.com

He is very helpful and will do his best to help you out with any questions and queries you have about the hotel.

Good luck for the big day

Hi J90 we went to the LTI in feb. and had a fantastic time! As regards long trousers in the a la carte resterants , yes the men do have to wear them. And inth main resterant in the evening.They didnt seem to mind much in the daytime. Hope you have a fab time ! Try the chinese resterant in the hotel the food was lovely but book early because it does get very busy!!! Have fun!!!!

jo90 - have a good wedding and honeymoon.
Ehab is really helpful and I am sure he will organise something for you. he has arranged a birthday cake for my daughters birthday, so I am sure you will get something.

Nicky

I have just got back from the LTI Grand Azure I went out for my 40th with a friend.

We stayed in a junior suite as my friend took her 2 year old and you cannot fault the rooms. The hotel and landscaping were fantastic and had a great time around the pool. Quad biking on Sinai was the best day out ever. We booked through a guy called Luka (I highly recommend him) who goes around the poolside selling his trips rather than the tour reps in Reception. He turned out to be brilliant with us and acted as a local guide for our week and went on many other trips with him including shopping, we both felt quite safe using the knowledge of a local guide, one of the funniest experiences was going on the Egyptian bus rather than the tourist bus into Naama, I think women don't tend to use buses in Sharm and he didn't charge us anything for hanging out with us!

The only thing that took the edge off a brilliant holiday was the food and we were very very careful, especially with a small child but still ended up with bad tummy's, but it is was bearable and we could do we losing a few pounds to compete with some of the russian super models in their strange array of swim wear!

Hi

Thanks for the review, sounds like your trips were fun. What were the facilities like for a 2 year old?

Sorry you got bad tums. I have started giving my daughter the probiotic yoghurts and my husband who always gets a bad tum where ever he goes is going to start the tablets next week, so we shall see if they acctually work.
I am hoping I won't be affected as I have even been to the Gambia where everyone in our group got quite sick, apart from me. So fingers crossed.

Nicola

Hi All

Am just back from GRAND AZURE, 11th - 25th April. We had a standard room with three of us (2 A = 1 C (12 yrs) and it was plenty big enough.

I asked for an upper floor with sea view and thats what I got.

I found the whole place brilliant. The waiting staff were exceptional, in particular on the lower level buffet was Foad and Samed they worked hard and tirelessly and always with a smile. Mido in the restaurant terrace bar was also a good guy a water fight ensued one night!

There were REGULAR management inspections all the time, and you could see all the staff react when a "suit" came around.

I met up with another HT correspondent which was my first internet date and good fun. HI MARY AND PETER!

I would not criticise anything but a couple of pointers! The pools were fffffreezing (but I like warm water!) The kids didnt notice though.

One of the slides in a "black hole" which is different to the holiday brochure pictures (but this is good).

The sea was not as warm as I expected.

They were mending the jetty to the reef and considering they put a closed sign up to get on with the repairs everyone still kept up the mile long walk and back (it is definitely worth it) I saw a Lion Fish a small grey moray eel, cornet fish, nemo and loads and loads of others (you can get a recognition book in the little shop)

The hotel reception do not change up money (they were a bit stand offish) but the shops in the hotel would charge at 10 LE to the £

Some of the food hygiene procedures left a little to be desired. But they were trying to hard to get it right light wearing latex gloves when handling food - but they never seemed to change the glove! In the Tropicanna the chef squiging the raw mince around the screwer to make koffta kebabs used the same gloved hand to remove the cooked ones!!

In the main restaurant a chef was preparing stir fried beef (it was lovely) but used the same scraper for the raw beef then dished up the cooked beef.

Everyone I spoke to seem to have some tummy troubles (instant diet) but we all laughed it off. When you cram in 50 weeks of eating three large meals a day sitting in 30+ heat and drinking alcohol for two weeks you must expect some "troubles" and we took the pro-biotics before we went! Take lots of diacalm or imodem with you and get on with your holiday is my advice.

Did St Catherines a wonderful trip thru the mountains but St Catherines was crowded. The trip included Dahab which I was told was brilliant for shopping but after the statutory stop at the papyrus factory we only had 30 mins in Dahab you cant get in and out of one shop in that time in Egypt.

I have said I would never return to the same place twice but I would make an exception for Grand Azure I would go back tomorrow at a shot.

If anyone sees Foad ask if he remembers Trevor from England whose lense fell out of his glasses into his dinner!!! You should get a good laugh out of it.

Werner Lau diving on site were BRILLIANT also got a 10% discount because we were with Thomas Cook, if you book on line before holiday you also get a discount! I think the reps are on a back hander from the other dive company. My husband a Master Diver was very pleased with their service. My son 12 took his open water referral and they went over and over anything he had trouble with until he got it right to make sure he passed they were very rigorous and thorough in their standards.

Any question please email.

I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY IT

KAREN

Hi Karen

Thanks so much for your post, I am going tomorrow morning to the Grand Azure and reading your post has made me even more excited than I ever was before!!

Glad you had such a good time, hope we will too and I will say Hi to Foad for you

hi all sorry I haven't posted sooner.

The wife and I got back from the LTI at the end of March, and I have to say it's the best holiday we have ever had.

We have stayed in some superb places over the years and some very very good hotels; however the LTI was one of the best and more importantly the staff there made an outstanding holiday.

The food was spot on and changed every day, I can get bored quickly with food however I was delighted every night whether it was simply in the buffet style restaurant or one of the specialty restaurants. In regards to these we found the Italian the best (the filet steak was outstanding, and rare means rare), then the seafood restaurant. I found the Chinese restaurant the worst out of all of them, nothing like you would get over here.

In regards to entertainment, there wasn't a lot going on, however a trip to naama is outstanding, the place was lively yet relaxing, we had a curry at the camel dive club (as good as you get here), and then relaxed on the roof terrace for the rest of the night, there are also loads of night clubs etc.

In relation to trips we didn't do much (I was diving every other day); however a day spent relaxing by the pool was much needed, and excellent. The one trip we went on was an evening trip to dehab which we loved, we had a great time with the other brits and the seafood dinner was excellent.

On the diving front I dived 14 times with Camel dive that picked me up from the hotel whenever I went out, I completed my advanced course with them and dived ras and tiran, however the best day was my final dive day where I got up at 4am to dive Thistlegorm what an experience.

Back to the hotel, we sat most nights in the lounge area where we had the best service from the guys serving drinks, we got to know most of them very well and learning a little Arabic goes a long way.

I have to say that I was concerned about being in an Arabic country, we have been to Tunisia before and found the people very over bearing, however the Egyptians are a superb nation, I have never met so many genuine, friendly people in my life, I spent every day sharing stories and having a laugh with them.

Excellent hotel, excellent country, you will have a superb holiday.

If anyone has any questions then I will try and answer them.

All the best

Hi Nicola

Facilities for under 4's weren't brilliant as the kids club is geared up for 4+, there is a train that goes from the lobby to the beach which is good fun for children and you can get burger and chips from the sea front, he wasn't that keen to eat the food in the main restaurant. The pools always keep kids occupied and the staff are really good with all the children, they just seem to love playing with them. The entertainment in the evening by the animations team didn't start until 9pm by which point he was fast asleep.

You will have a blast and have a good time - I'm soooooo jealous!

CYA

Thanks everyone for the good reviews just posted. can't wait to get out there now. Just under 5 weeks now and wish it was today.

Cheers Flowerpot for the kiddie info, my kids will love the train then as we didn't know there was one.

Hows do you handle the airport with kids if its as bad as people say it is?

Cheers

Nicky

This may just be coincidence.
My wife had an upset tummy while we where there and just drank just bottled water & ate dry bread for two days, When she stopped drinking the bottle water (Tea, Coffee & Beer instead) she was fine!!
We noted that the bottle water has a high sodium content. Don't know what effect this has, any medical experts out there?
Six year old Daughter no problems.

Enjoy your Holiday