Hi Andy

You should be fine as the flights are showing for Thursdays as well as Mondays, see my post above for details.

Have a good holiday Graham.

Doe

Thanks Doe

We will be leaving in 9 hours

Graham

Going now bye everybody

And then he was gone

We'll just all sit here and wait for his return, let's hope after all the swopping and changing he had,that in a few hours he will be sunbathing by the pool, a beer in one hand and sun cream in the other, roll on June

sunbathing by the pool

hope you are having a good one in the sun

Who mentioned sun, when we arrived it was pouring and had been for a couple of days, never mind we took the good Scottish weather with us and by the next afternoon the sun was out and the skies were blue

What can I say about the Sonesta Beach hotel, brilliant.

As you know we were told at the last minute that we were being moved out of the Ghazal Gardens to the Sonesta Beach and I must say that if we were going back to Sharm it would certainly be our choice of hotel.

The hotel is set in extensive landscaped grounds and I counted 6 pools that were for use by guests 2 of which were heated.

The hotel is set at the far end of Namma Bay with it's own stretch of beach for hotel guests. The walk in to Namma takes about 20 -25 minutes (I think) we never actually timed it, we just enjoyed the stroll along the promenade.

The rooms are what I would call 'rustic' with dark wooden furniture. The king size (double double) room we had was very spacious.
All the staff were very friendly and nothing was to much trouble for them.

I will post a review in a few days and also a link to some pictures.

Michelle your info was spot on thanks for the heads up
Oonas was a great little place to go and watch the sun set over the bay with a small refreshment and a Shisha pipe.
Last year in the Sofitel in Luxor we paid £20 sterling for a Shisha pipe, Oonas was a bargain £1.50 with a free refill.

Thanks for your Birthday wishes Briar I hope you had a good one also.

Graham

I have now uploaded some pictures, so if anybody else is going to the Sonesta Beach Hotel they can have a quick look before they arrive.

http://community.webshots.com/album/562328367urtotx?vhost=community

Hi Graham

i am so pleased the info i gave you, helped.

I see by your pics you have a picture of Kareem the shisha pipe man, did you ask for a special mix? Hes brill at doing them, but doesn't speak English. There was a big guy from cairo that used to work upstairs, he was good at English and talked for ages about Cairo. Did you meet Latoyah who runs the bar downstairs at the Oonas?

What room number did they give you, i always go in 1105 if i can, opposite the Italian pool.

I hope everyone else that has had the misfortune of changing their holidays get a good deal.

Michelle x

Hi Michelle

Yes we got the special mix from Karim (Kareem ?) tha big man from Cairo is still there and Latoyah is still in the bar downstairs.

last year in the Sofitel in Luxor we paid £20 for a Shisha pipe, it was only £1.50 and Karim refilled it later for free, 75p each

We were in 2203 near the pool at the 'blue wave bar' (which is all yellow) is this the Italian pool ?

Graham

Hi graham, the pool you were near is actually the best pool and view, the Italian pool as we dubb is where the entertainment is at night near the pool, it has a theatre background on the board, they are the only nation that swim with a cigarette in their mouths! its in front of the blue wave pool lower down.

What did you think to the A1 option in the complex?

Hi Michelle

The AI option in the Sonesta Beach was OK, Meals and drinks were good. I can't comment on any snacks available, to be honest I didn't notice any but then again we weren't looking for them as we only eat at meal times.

Mrs Kiltie could was a bit miffed as she could only get a glass of wine with her meals as it wasn't available outwith those times but she could have a cocktail anytime !
The beer was Sakhara and it was nice and I could get cups of coffee anytime so that was a bonus.

It looks as though it could be open to abuse, AI guest were given a yellow wristband to wear however there were no checks made at the bars or dinning rooms and several times in the evening I had a jumper on and nobody ask to see your band.

To be honest though, as this was our first time to Namma Bay we didn't know what to expect food wise but in future I think we would just go B&B, although this AI holiday only cost the 2 of us a total of £638.

Hi Graham

I am not a fan of A1 i hate being restricted to schedules and times, and most foods are repetitive, but our upgrade was free, so beggars cannot be choosers. Sonesta isnt B&B any more which is a shame, but great for drinks that are free and ice creams which i know i will use.

Roll on June

Michelle x

Hi Michelle

The Sonesta is still a mix of both AI and B&B and I know if I was going back I would just get the B&B option.
The guests in the room next door to us were on a B&B basis and they went with Thomsons.

I did mean to have an ice cream but never got round to it now that you mention it

Hi Michelle

I noticed the other day that Portland were offering the Sonesta Beach on a B&B basis, as I was quite tempted to book myself.

Trouble is it's now disappeared off their web-site. This was for a week in April. It might be worth ringing them when your next thinking of booking and see what they are prepared to do.

I wonder if it's one of those hotels that offers different boards for different seasons.
Perhaps they only offer AI in the summer months when you like to travel, but off peak like Graham and I they do BnB & HB as well.

Doe

OMG, now i do not understand what is going on, i booked my holiday to the SBR last June on a b&b basis as always. Info came back booked. But the end of last year they sent me a letter saying we had been upgraded as the SBR is now a A1 hotel. But the letter stated we wouldnt be charged! In which we wasnt. So my party of 4 had a free upgrade.

All this was booked with portland.

I am going to ring them, this is ridiculous.

Michelle x

That seems like a good deal Michelle booked B&B and you get a free upgrade to AI.

Do you think will that work for me if I book a luxury 5* hotel in the Caribbean on B&B

Well i was thinking like Doe that it was a winter thing to go B&B, but all the portland web sites are A1 whichever month you go. I rang portland up, for once they are not being helpful I need to get to the bottom of it purely because of the next time we book. I am going to email the hotel as well, to see if they shed any light on this.

I was definitely told it is now a A1 hotel as with Sonesta Club, and everyone that booked it had a free upgrade.

Hi Michelle

Def mixed basis last week, if you find out let me know, as I said we would now prefer to go on B&B only.

There is such a choice of eating places in Namma Bay and unlike some people, although we were on AI we still liked to eat out several times.

On my letter from portland it states at the bottom....

We are writing to advise you that due to a system error, the basic board basis at the SBR will now be A1. A revised letter will follow shortly to confirm. Your holiday cost will remain the same.

Rang portland and it seems i will need to ring another number that is shut, so no news at present.

Seems confusing. But if you have a free upgrade to AI, well you can't go wrong really.

You might have more luck finding out what's really going on when you get to the hotel, especially as you are such a regular there. I hope all the hotels dont go AI, I can understand it outside of NB, but it would be a shame if all the ones along the front go AI.