Hi Angela

If you dont mind me asking did you get a good price for then??

debs

Yeh , it came in at about £2700 which is including an extra £30 per head to change the booking. That's the price for 5 of us 4 adults and 1 child

Hi Debs,

So glad you had a FAB time and pleased everything was ok after the awful incident in town....

My party had quite a few should we go - should we change meetings, but decided to carry on - counting the days down now. I think the most important recommendation is if that people say they would return !! hopefully they are honest !!

How did you get your snorkling gear ?? can you hire it, I think someone said that you can buy it in the next hotel's shops ??

Looking forward to your report !!!!

Kind regards
Gordon

Hi Gordon

We bought our snorkelling stuff in the hotel shop cost about £9.50 each for mask and mouth bit ( you can see im an amatuer) we met folk who haggled for theirs at the shops at the Baron got theirs for about 7 or 8 quid i think slightly cheaper anyway.
Youll love it Gordon we would def go back to the Conrad the location didnt put us off the bus into Naama is no bother and the hotel really is beautiful , havent been to a hotel before where EVERY member of staff says good morning , how are you , enjoy your holiday , whats your name , really you usually get a few dour faced staff but not at the Conrad nothings a problem for them .
As theres a few of you going you probably wont bother that the entertainment is pretty dire we didnt as we met Altoman, Angela , Alan, Lee ( Mrs mac) and Murdo who beleive it or not weve known Murdo for years how ironic is that weve been speaking on here and didnt know it was him
if youve got good company youll enjoy yourselves , we found the entertainment was that bad that you WERE entertained by laughing at it.

Sorry babbling a bit any queries just ask.

Debs

Hi Again

Meant to say Gordon the singers everyone goes on about seemingly left the hotel suitcases in hand the day we were leaving so possibly it will be different entertainment . Due to the attacks sadly a couple of the trainee staff were let go from the Conrad and said they were to come back to Sharm in about 5 months when things start to pick up this was probably due to the Italians who cancelled i think 70 rooms for last week the brits only cancelled 4 , but the singers left for Hurghada so youll have new ones . Its a shame they were c**p but lovely people we got to know them well.

Debs

Hi Debs,

You have set the sights perfectly - the entertainment is what you make it even if it is laughing at them, in the nicest possible way of course

I was wondering how many of the Italians would cancel under the situation.. No matter now you look at it the 'local environment' will suffer for some conciderable time..

Tickets should arrive 'next week'... had it booked since last June so can come quick enough..

Thanks for the info re the snorkle stuff --

Just one other question - was there any probs with 'over weight' luggage, I have laid the law down about what they need to take, but I think its going on deaf ears

Many thanks again..

Hi Gordon

Funnily enough we had 2 suitcases between us one was over one was under but came to exactly 40kg so we were ok . A couple we met were charged £40 on way out but weve been over loads of times and never been charged but we get there quite early dont know if that makes a difference.
Also Gordon i used my switch card in hotel bank and had a problem, my husband tried to withdrw £100 and couldnt get 1000 LE at one time so took the card back out and took £50 then another £50 which is 500 LE each time since returning i notice my account is short £105 , iphoned the bank and they say cause he put his card in and couldnt get money theyve still debited it from my account they cant do anything as its not showing up yet on my statement have to wait and if its not returned forms to fill in and try to claim the money back so beware if your using cards . I used it 3 times there and they came off no problems but the bank says the missing money is showing as a transaction 1 minute before my husband actually got his money.
Also the bank closes between 12.30- 6.30pm each day and you have to cash your travellers cheques there so dont forget thats why we used the ATM machine you can sometimes change english at the reception but theyll tell you to use the bank most times.

Debs

debs thanks for the tip on the banks, we aretaking english money to change overthere, but didn't think about it being from a bank in hotel, will make sure we have got cash changed in advance. only 2 more sleeps then off to conrad can't wait. thanks for all your tips etc.

Thanks for that Debs...

You hear stories about Machines abroad, but you never think it will happen to you eh !! Good luck and keep at them - and how many people dont check their statements when they come home and dont realise ?

Doddy - here's hoping you have a nice flight and a FAB holiday, im sure Pippa will have everything organised this week

Rgs
Gordon

Hi Doddy

Another tip we had a nice meal at the Barons Indian restaraunt only £40 for 4 main courses bottle of wine and a few beers well worth it.
Youll also get a good rate for english when i withdrew from back it was 10. something LE to the pound and 9. something for cheques .
Think this has been said already but order a few drink at 10.45pm the staff dont mind they got a good tip off us so they gave us s a few each before the all inc finishes . Dont use the phone in the room i was £150 in 1 week on calls that was with a discount buy a phone card i never did and was another £70 the second week i made 10 phone call in total only cause the terrorist attacks had to call again .
Also get extra bottles of water at night from dinner for the next morning and through the night cause if your an early riser and go to the pool like me about 8.30-9am the bars dont open there till 10 or 1030 and its scortching at that time .

Debs enjoy im so jelous

thanks gordon, everythings packed, going to manchester tomorrow to put cases in, then out for tea, husband finishes today so he thinks holiday starts tomorrow, wish it was thursday.

debs, is the baron within walking distance, thanks for the tips on the AI i have got so many good tips from HT members who have already been. we are planning to send messages home via e mail, i know the hotel has a computer, we are going to take 1 mobile with us for emergencies, not that we will need it. planning on giving waiters a tip, did you do this nightly or when you first arrived, we have got a couple of birthdays whilst were away as well, so hoping we can make them fun. thanks to everyone who has left info on HT don't know what i'll do when we get back pent hours on here.

Just a quick note that when we were there in June the bank would only change english notes that were perfect. We couldn't change some as they had the tiniest rip in them. Hope this helps all of you still to go. have a great holiday.

Julie

Hiya

Just another wee point on using the bank in the hotel, it closes in the afternoon as Debs said, we had no probs using the ATM machine next to the bank, however do not be in a hurry to change money/cheques as in our experience it took 55 mins to cash £50 !!!! There were three people in front of us in the queue (one of them was a local doing their weekly banking). The teller will not be hurried and he was the ONLY person with a 'dour' face we came across at the Conrad.

MrsMac

Has anyone who has stayed at the conrad been on any trips?If so what are the best options?we are planning on trying out the snorkelling etc but although I will be quite happy lounging for a fortnight my other half can't sit still for more than five minutes!!

Oh and before I forget do they supply towels for the beach etc cos that will save me using up valuable clothing space in the case if they do?

Hiya marlabear,

Yes, all towels are supplied by the hotel. You are given a card in your welcome envelope that you hand in when you ask for towels at the beach or pool, we only had to sign for them though.

I didnt do any of the main trips, only glass bottom boat with kids. Hubby had a go at diving- once with Sinai divers (at the hotel) and with Aquarius(through rep) he prefered the second option (felt more confident with them)
Told by people we met that the 1/2 day trip to Tirran island was brill (through kiosk on beach) they were escorted by dolphins they said the guy seemed to whistle and the dolphins appeared

On the subject of dolphins the FC rep at the Conrad is still advertising the trip to Dolphinella see HERE why you should not support this venture. She has it advertised on the list of trips you are given at the welcome meeting, I questioned her about mis-treatment of animals and she told me it wasnt here it was at another site. Another guest was interested in going and she advised them to book through reception.

As for sitting still for 2 mins, its hard to do much else in the heat over there, we had days where it was 56 degrees. Just find a shady bit, kick back and chill

You will have a fab time, the place is out-of-this-world

Mrs Mac

We did three trips when we were at the conrad, we did a full day boat trip to ras mohamed soft drinks and lunch included,half day boat trip to tiran and quad biking in the desert. We booked trips at the hut on the beach we got charged as follows; 4 Adults £40 each 2 teenagers £20 each and the 2 smaller children were free. Hope that helps.

Julie

Thanks to both of you for all your info.Been trying to keep a note of everything I think I need to know and the list is growing steadily ( I also have an extremely bad memory). Anyway thank god I found this sight its worth its weight in gold! xx

Hi Doddy

The Baron is right next door to the Conrad 2 mins walk .
We did give tips most nights we were there as we always sat after 11 we gave a tip onto the bar bill but other people might choose to give a tip at the end of their holiday which we still did when leaving but gave only to our two favourite waiters. We didnt give the room guy or restaraunt guy anything until our last day.I suppose its up to the individual but we didnt always get the same waiters in the bar so we felt obliged to give them a wee tip at the end of the night and the ones we did see more of tipped at the end of the holiday.

Have a super holiday.

Debs