Had a lovely time at the hotel. Was alittle aprehensive at first upon arrival but Hotel is great considering how new it is. We went and explored the complex and found it easy to get around and we found all the areas for different recreational entertainment like archery etc... There is still some work going on in some areas of hotel, but the staff made it a relaxing and pleasurable break.

Reps and Entertainment

Wayne is fantastic, ok so it is a bit Butlins style but after a few drinks you have to let go and have a laugh.... Can't fault hotel for alL the things they had to do to keep kids and ADULTS entertained !!
Walk around hotel and see for yourself they had a great pool with water flumes and as i mentioned b4 archery !

Shops in hotel V's outside Shopping

Well we were warned about shopping in Egypt and when we got there we wasted no time going outside of hotel by taxi.

We were hassled to go in nearly every shop, even saying no they still pestered us.
We did manage to find a few things we liked and got them with a little haggling !

But after we went to Shop inside hotel to buy some crisps and chocs to find they had everything we wanted there, we looked around freely without hassle and took our time. But when we asked the price of some souvenirs (ones we already had bought from outside), patiently waiting to squeal with delight that we had got a better deal.....We were horrified !! most of the items we had got outside were cheaper !! Some even half the price in that shop..and without even haggling !!

SO MUCH FOR HOTEL SHOPS BEING MORE EXPENSIVE !!

Ok so the sweets are more than UK but you do expect that as there not Egyptian brands, they are imported !

Do yourself a favour and check out the shops inside the hotel complex. Say hi to Mido (long hair) from us he's a really good guy speaks fantastic English thanks to his beautiful Wife (British) Some of the other guys don't really speak English good but they do try....
You could save yourself not only some money (taxi's and getting ripped off) but also minus the hassle you'll get outside for shopping !!
By all means go uot and explore but do yourself a big favour and shop in hotel.
Also about CIGARETTES there are alot of FAKES going about in Egypt ! Again don't get ripped off paying for and getting lumbered with fake fags that give you a sore throat !! There were a few guests complaining they had bought some in Naama Bay for 8.00 or less.
Get the REAL ones from shop in Hotel, again the nice thing about shop is you can buy 1 pack of fags and see for yourself, wwe did and stocked up with him and he gave us a good deal for buying a few cartons to take home.

WORD OF WARNING

Egypt in general

We did'nt see any women working there and most Egyptian guys have an eye for the girls/ladies !!

Be warned again they do see tourists as loose women so if you are travelling with younger girls(teenagers) keep your eye on them ! They do look alot older these days they they should !!and can't stop unwelcome attention as well as us adults !! until its too late, we did hear of a few girls being touched !!

We saw and got alot of this attention outside but be careful wherever you are, even on complex !! Its not the UK and some guys there, will push there luck to say the least !! Dress well and you'll be ok, remember it is a muslim country so if you go out with a belt/skirt on you will get this attention anywhere especially in Egypt !!

But overall we had a great time would love to visit hotel again and sure we will. Just next time we'll be wearing trousers ha ha

Just returned from 2 wonderful weeks at the red sea holiday village. This place is definately getting it's act together now after all the initial bad reviews. Anyway the food is lovely, the staff are can't do enough for you, and the place is really starting to take shape.
There is still building work at the back and some of the workmanship leaves a lot to be desired, but all said and done this didn't spoil our holiday and we will definately be returning in the near future.

the hotel is spotless cleaners working 24/7 even dusting the leafs on the plants
the food was good for all/in but i think the presantation let it down
the hotel was a short taxi ride from nima bay
the staff are the best we have seen allways got a smile and will help any way they can
the entertainment team never stop there all good singers and rusty is off his head
id give it a couple of years while its all finished then id go back

Booked this holiday for my family two 16 year olds and one 13 year old myself and partner,What a disaster first choice have really got this one wrong this hotel should never have been open for at least another month.Its not finished,On arrival we had to wait 2 hours for suitcases to be delivered to our rooms we were split up three of us in a jaccuzi suite and the other two at the other end of the complex which is not what we wanted.My son went to use the toilet and was asked for money by a member of staff for toilet paper!its all inclusive!hence he came back to our room in tears having sioled himself this is not good for a 13 year old.No furniture in the entertainment room,was told it was held up in customs,No mini bar once again held up in customs.No hot water .No showers working ,No lights,.
We were given 3 vouchers each to use in the al a carte resteraunts but was unable to book in any of them supposebly they were booked up untill we went down to find them empty.No sun loungers no towels.no outdoor sports complex no snooker/pool table no outdoor cinema.nothing actually for teenagers .we was really dissappointed in this holiday and first choice will now be ourlast choice .What a waste of 4k plus

Good Bits
Excellent rooms,spacious and with effective air con, good food, attentive staff, superb pools, drinks OK. Beach nice, hotel kept very clean.

Bad bits
Have to be up at 0700 to bag a sun bed by the main pool, achtung baby !!
Evening entertainment is a joke, very poor quality, held in a large room with chairs in rows like a conference, no tables. The bar is a table in the corner with a few warm bottles. Most people sat in reception playing cards. Nothing at all for children over the age of 5 to do in the evening. No pool table, table tennis, cinema, amusements etc.

Overall
Decent quality hotel but has been let down by opening to soon. The sunbed problem is fairly acute and there are still several large blocks of rooms to open which will only make things worse. I went to HV Turkey last year which was slightly better in my opinion.

26th Jult - 9th August 2007 OUR REVIEW

Here Goes......
The flight: For those who don't know (We didnt) All drinks incl water, Kids packs, Headphones, Pillows/Blankets have to be BOUGHT on the plane. They show films but you cant listen to them unless you buy headphones.

You will get tea, coffee or orange squash with your meal if you have purchased one but only 1 drink during the flight is included & its quite cramped.(our ankles blew up like balloons on the flight home).

The transfer from the Airport to HV only takes 15 mins max.
As we were delayed going there, they very kindly gave out cold drinks on arrival - much needed & they had some food for us in the buffet restaurant even tho it had passed midnight!

We were given our room keys, pool towel vouchers & holiday info & were told our luggage would be at our room after we had eaten.

We had a kids den room number 5102 which in our opinion was THE best situated room on the complex. Absolutley beautiful & BIG. Yes we had a shower in the bath itself, the bathroom was very big & the bedroom was massive! the King Size bed was sooooo much bigger than our king size in the uk. tho the mattress was very firm.

We couldn't work out how to set up the playstation in the kids room but a phone call to reception the following day got somone to come & do this for us(much to our sons relief!) - take ps games with you.

Our room's patio doors looked out onto the main pool, & direct onto the pool bar - just a swim away. the slides were to our left as we looked out, the bridge on our right & the kids pool incl bucket & water fountains further on the right.

Just over the bridge was the ampitheatre, down the steps was wavelenght - the kids entertainment centre & just across a path was the beach!

The Mediterainian, Bamboo & Sari restaurants were to the left. We went to all 3 restaurants during our stay, with the Mediterainain beng by far our favourite. The Bamboo (chinese/asian) was poor & the Sari had us leavng the restaurant with the food still on the plates.

The main buffett restaurant was a mere 2 min walk. Breakfast 6.30-10am, Lunch 12- 2.30pm, Dinner 6.30-10pm
We really enjoyed the big selecton of food at all sittings.

Eggs, Omlettes, Bread & Rolls, Cereal, Fruit, Pastrys,Cakes & Desserts, Salads, Pasta & Sauces, Vegetables, Soups, Cold Meats & Cheese, Beef, Turkey, Lamb, Duck, Koftas, Burgers, Sausages, Vegatarian, Potatoes, Chips, the list goes on!

Also the serve food near the main pool buffet style during lunch time like pizza, burgers, kofters, chips & salad if you dont feel like going to the main buffet restaurant.
You can get Ice Cream from the main pool bar & they serve afternoon tea near the buffett restaurant. So you really can eat all day if you wish!

Please, please, please JOIN IN with the daytime activities adults. We did & we had a ball!!

There is plenty to do, ie: Archery, CroKick, Waterpolo, Crazy Curling, Killer Darts, Killer Pool, Chipping golf, Beach Volleyball, Table Tennis, Adult Bar games, Daily Quiz & of course SHORT MAT BOWLS.

Different activities are organised each day by the In2Action reps who are absolutly fabulos, made our holiday very very enjoyable. You get a certificate for winning or sometimes for not winning! & let us tell you, once you have got one you will want as many as possible.

What can we say about the evenng 'entertaiment'?
The word Poor comes to mind but maybe we are being a little harsh, it was pretty bad but the beers helped!
we - Pip & Daz won the 'MR & MRS' competition on our 2nd week !

Our 2 sons Adam & Daniel enjoyed the kids club. Just a word of warning tho, not all organised activities were free. some of the partys had to be paid for ie: the Chocolate party , the VIP party & Extreme creations. we had to pay

Just got back from Red Sea Holiday village yesterday and we all had a brilliant time. There is still some building work going on but it really didn't effect us at all. The staff were all lovely, tripping over themselves to help you and were constantly having a laugh with our kids, in fact we found this to be the case wherever we went in Sharm!
Our room was amazing, we had a kids den and a lovely view of the pool and sea from our balcony. Our bed was so big you could have fitted about 5 people in it! The bathroom had bath and shower, both very nice. The maid service was excellent and we came back every day to the most amazing towel creations!
We never had any problems getting sunbeds, we would go down to the pool about 10.30am and tell one of the many sunbed guys how many we wanted and he would go get them along with towels, so you don't need to take any beach towels with you!
The food was great, such a wide choice and our kids loved the different non-alcoholic cocktails. You could also get unlimited supplies of bottled water at breakfast time and then refill them throughout the day at the many bottled water stations and unlimited supplies of ice cream!
We all ate the salad and the ice cubes and none of us had stomach upsets.
The daytime activites were brilliant - zip wire, fan descender, high ropes. Then there was the kids clubs, our 12 year old son was learning to DJ and make videos and our 6 year old did archery, bowling, basketball etc.(just a few of the many activities!)
They also held family and adult activities during the day.
In the evening the kids club ran from 9pm til 11pm, which our kids enjoyed the most and it gave us time to ourselves.
The sea is lovely, really clear and very warm although it seems everyone just uses it for snorkelling, we didn't really see anyone lazing on the beach. The snorkelling is amazing but you need to walk out really far as far out as the jetty on the right of the Holiday village jetty, this is where all the really big fish are. Our 6 yr old didn't particularly enjoy this and from what I could see nor did alot of the younger chldren, so we would put our son into the morning kids club, 10am - 12am and off we went.
There are lots of excursions to do with First choice but we found that for the exact same excursion from the Egyptian tour guides you paid alot less. If you walk down towards the beach from the hotel and turn right, about 5 - 10 minutes down the road on the beach is a very good tour operator. The First Choice trip to Cairo to see the pyramids starts at something like 4.30am and you fly back the same day!(very tiring)! We planned our own trip, flights at a reasonable time, booked into the Marriot for 1 night arranged a tour guide for the Pyramids,Sphinx,Museum and taxis there and back all for less than what First Choice charged!
One word of advice, don't get into the old blue and white taxis at the airport. There is a fleet of them, the cars are horrible, they charge way over the normal price and the holiday village won't let them in. There are other nicer taxis that you can take and they are cheaper.

I would have to say that overall this has been the best holiday we have ever had and much better that the Holiday Village in Turkey.

the first 5days were a nightmare, but improved when we changed rooms. room next to all building work, woken every morning to so much noise ,our room was next to the quiet pool,which was not so quiet.bare wires,no lights on steps,boxes with pision on them(no locks), rooms full of dust. my 9 yr old was wolf whistled by work men,totally distressing for her.
food improved in the secound week.
egyption staff great, couldn't do anothe for you, they even got your sun beds.
entertainment for kids was great, my daughter had great time, you had to pay for some things in the club., but didn't mind. e3 entertainers kept me sain the start of the holiday, as i was so streesed,great thats all i can say.
reps. felt so sorry for them. firstchioce landed them in hot water, sending predapature letters out, telling us everything up and running(not).
if firstchoice had held off opening for a a few months, it would of been great 14 days, instead of 9days.everyone that arrived the first 2wks got offered money back. will be using it for mexico holidayvillage, got to better.

i have a young son in a wheelchair and i was sold this hotel as being wheelchair accesable which we found out on arrival not to be the case.
hotel was not finished ,rooms still being built,could not use a lot of the facilities as they were not ready for use.
beach was not good sand was very gritty
the only good thing about this hotel was the food was good and the rooms were big.

We were the first group of customers to arrive at the hotel when it opened, so we were a little apprehensive.
The rooms are fabulous, spacious and clean and the air con is fab!
The hotel staff were all really friendly and always had a smile for you.
The food was ok, expecially if you have a sweet tooth. The quantity and variety of cakes at breakfast was like nothing I've ever seen before. I didn't feel that there was enough variety.
We made friends with the entertainment staff, who always made time to talk to us and were excellent with our 3 year old Joshuah, who still talks about 'rusty'.
We enjoyed it so much that we've booked again for next year.