We arrived at approx 8:30 pm, and were met at reception by friendly efficient staff, and soon had keys to our rooms and our all inclusive wristbands,(bright pink). The luggage was brought to our rooms by bell boy, who obviously expected and got a tip. We had 3 rooms, 2 of them, twin bedded and 1 with 3 beds. The 3 bedded room was in the main part of the hotel overlooking the restaurant terrace and swimming pool, but had no balcony, only a large window that everybody could see through, so the curtains were kept shut. The other 2 rooms were down a nice path towards the beach 2 or 3 minutes away. All of those rooms had small balconies. The rooms were large enough with tv and mini bar, and had adequate facilities. The air conditioning was brilliant and was a godsend as it got so hot even in October.
Access to the restaurant was by way of a spiral staircase with 20 odd steps, (AND NO RAMP), so not much use to the disabled and children in pushchairs.Breakfast was the same every morning, with a chef outside cooking omlettes, and pancakes to order, and the usual selection of cakes, pastries, bread and jam, cheese and fruit etc. Lunch and dinner were much the same, but there was only usually a choice of 1 or 2 main course meats that were served to you by chefs, and you had to keep asking for more, which was answered by looks of bewilderment.The rest was on a serve yourself basis, but was usually veg and pasta, and some sort of soup that could be mistaken for washing up water. The salad bar had plenty of choice, but the best bit was the selection of deserts i guess.
The bar was situated by the pool and was the only all inclusive bar except the one by the beach which closed around 4pm. You could normally get a few drinks if there was a few of you, but they kept putting polite notices in front of you reminding you that it should be 1 drink per person. The bar was never very busy and the staff were generally ok, except for one bloke called Hanna, who must be one of the most ignorant and obnoxious people of all time who scowled at everyone and seemed to wish he were anywhere but there. The drinks were from bottles and served in plastic beakers, which by the time they had turned the bottle completley upside down inside the cup, it was barely half full, and would only top it up if pestered enough. We thought it was because we were british, as we were the only british there, but they were the same with everyone. I must make a special mention of one of the waiters called Esam. He was brilliant and each evening he made a point of coming round and bringing our drinks himself, and even brought extra towards the end of the all inclusive. We tipped him well and it was totally worth it. The all inclusive finished at 10pm prompt, after which you had to use the cash bar inside, which wasn't cheap.It's a good job we brought a good supply of vodka with us, for later in the evening.
There was entertainment each evening, but was more geared up for our foreign friends, and there was a 20 minute slot for the kids first, which after hearing the same songs for 14 nights got a bit monotonous.
The most annoying thing of the holiday was the bug sprayer. He was out every morning at about 5am walking up and down the path to the beach spraying a very thick dense cloud of smoke to kill bugs etc and the noise it made was unbelievable. He repeated it at about 5- 5:30pm when everyone was still around, and the smoke was so thick it hid everything and everybody, in the vicinity, i'm sure such a thing wouldn't be allowed over here.
The pool was plenty big enough for the amount of people using it, but although there were quite a few sunbeds, it would be wise to reserve them with towels early on, as the russians germans etc did. Most people strolled the 2 or 3 minutes to the beach, but again access to the beach was by way of 2 flights of steps, which made it awkward for the infirm and parents with children. The private beach wasn't very big but there were plenty of sunbeds, but you had to be down there early to secure them. I was down at 6:30 am on several mornings, as the sun rose at 6am and there were already plenty reserved. I think the towel man made quite a bit in tips reserving them for people who sometimes didn't appear till lunchtime.
The hotel seems to have more rooms than is stated, and is set right in the middle of a very busy road surrounded by shops and bars, where you are stopped every few seconds by sometimes overzealous traders, the worst of which tried to flog you cigarettes, at all sorts of cheap prices. The road it is set on is a dual carriageway, each with 3 lanes and the most crazy drivers in the world. You take your life in your hands each time you want to cross over. The KFC was right opposite our hotel, and is at least half the price we pay over here and in my opinion is just as good. There is also a Burger King and McDonalds within 5 mins walk. There is a bar called Spicy directly opposite the hotel and the staff are very friendly and serve very good food at very low prices.
I must also make a special mention of the houseboy, he cleaned our rooms to the very highest standard every day, complete with clean towels etc, which were more often than not placed on the bed in the shape of a swan or a crocodile. He folded all our clothes up, (more than my daughter does)and put everything in neat piles including any money i left lying around. We tipped him about 5 or 6 times in the 2 weeks we were there, and it was worth every penny, and the look of appreciation on his face each time said it all.
All in all the hotel was fair, but would be better in a different location, and i dont think i would go there again. Having stopped in a 4* in Sharm El Sheik, i would just about call this hotel a 3*, but we enjoyed the holiday.