130 Reviews
Traveller Rating
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Excellent54
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Very Good56
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Good14
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Average4
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Poor1
Review Overview
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Cleanliness
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Entertainment
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Food
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Service
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Location
suitcases arrived at our room an hour later.
room- we upgraded to a kids den via email a couple of days before we arrived.so glad we did as the room was massive plenty of room.they put an extra foldup bed in our room for our 13 year old and this fitted in the den room so we had our room to ourselves.the mini bar had been emptied before arrival and bottles of water put in as requested. you get the playstation from the reps and that plugs into the side of the tv plug(no seperate socket)
the bathroom was massive too,we had a bath with a shower over it.
we had room 5101 which was right next to the main pool. step off the patio and onto the sunbeds.the hotel doctor is next door too.
pools- quiet one, main pool,kids and activities pool where you played volleyball,waterpolo etc.
there are kids clubs running all day, everyday
which our kids enjoyed.
food- pancakes,omlettes,fried eggs, cereal and fruit for breakfast. there was a good choice for lunch and dinner too including soups and salads which my husband enjoyed.
tummy bug- yes we got it,got tablets from the chemist that worked for me but my sisters daughter was given the wrong medicine which according to the doctor she didnt even need.also another family were given the wrong medicine by the pharmacy for their 9 yr old daughter which didnt go with the other tablets and made her very unwell indeed. so our advise would be go to the doctor onsite and not the chemist.
we did have a good holiday despite getting ill but i wouldnt return as the flight was too long for us and they would have to sort out the sickness before we would go back.
Travel operator: firstchoice
The restaurant is fine but the food is a bit repetative. However, there is a massive selection to choose from and you'll never go hungry. Breakfast is from 6.30am - 10am and is in the main restaurant area. We never had any problems getting a table but we did notice over the last few days that it was getting busier. Bottled water is available free during the breakfast period only and you can take as much as you want. You will need a lot as you can de-hydrate very quickly in this heat. we were taking up to 12 bottles per day.
lunch is available between 1pm - 2.30pm in either the restaurant area and/or at the snack bar near the pool. The menu is generally pizza, chips, burgers, salad, chicken etc...
Dinner is available between 6.30pm - 10pm in either the main restaurant or you have 3 other a la carte restaurants on site (although we never used these).
Swimming pools - very clean and the deepest part of te biggest pool is around 5', which is great for the kids. There is an activity pool but be warned that this is often used throughout the day for kids games and you are often asked to vacate it for certain periods. The main pool is massive and is split into t section either side of the bridge, which also has a swim up bar. their are 2 water slides, which are 'manned' during the day and are great fun!!
Sun-beds - there are plenty of them and the pool staff are very accomodating in getting you these. However, i used to get up around 6.45am to get mine and towards the end of the holiday i was finding that more and more people were getting up earlier so set your alarm clocks!! You will find that from 2pm onwards people do start to leave the pool area so sun beds are easier to get.
Weather - well it's what you go to Egypt for isn't it!
it is very very hot every day. you will never see a cloud in the sky. They say the average temperature is around 38-40 degrees. However, we spoke to some people who had a thermometer and they had it reaching the early 50's some days. The evenings are cooler but still very hot so all i can say is use plenty of sun cream. When we landed at Sharm airport at 9.30 evening it was 35 degrees! However, you get a lovely breeze for most of the day, which is very welcomed.
Entertainment - the entertainment team of 6 are excellent and very professional and do a great job. They put on shows every night and are great with the kids and adults and during the day get involved in games around the pool i.e. water polo, volleyball etc...
Hotel staff - very friendly and will do what they can to help you. if you tip them occasionally they will get you most things. they are paid very poorly and a small tip will go a long way. The cleaners do an excellent job so make sure you tip them when you leave.
little moans - the entertainment in the evening is generally set around the ampitheatre. this is an open area, which has been heated up during the day and the floor / walls are very warm. there is no allocated seating and you have to find your own seats, which is a mix of hesian mats and the sun bed cushions from around the pool. it's on a first come first served basis and does get very busy. i noticed that a lot of the parents let their kids just run around and took up a lot of space on the floor area with the sun bed cushions and this can be a bit frustrating at times.
The music and entertainment generally goes on until midnight and is very load. if you have small kids or babies, who need to go to sleep early i would ask to be sited away from the ampitheatre area.
The pool bar has an awful chlorine smell, which if you are down wind from it, can take your breath away!
Rooms - the double rooms are just one main bedroom, which you all share so there is very little privacy. bear this in mind when booking. especially if you have older children.
Shops on the site are generally more expensive than those just outside the hotel. there is a 24/7 supermarket just out of the complex on the left hand side and an ATM just a bit further up.
Overall - despite a few moans i would certainly recommend this hotel. i think its good value for money and the location is great. Sharm is a relatively new resort so not much to do outside of the complex unless you like water sports but a great place for a family holiday. i went on a 1/2 day snorkelling trip to Tiran island, which was organsied through the Aquarias team (located on the beach) and it cost me approx
Travel operator: First Choice
Travel operator: First Choice
We picked the Holiday Village mainly because of the facilities available for the children, but the hotel was excellent on all levels!
The hotel is kept absolutely spotless. The rooms are huge and cleaned to an unbelievable standard each day, just watch out for the slippery floor in the walk in shower room!
The catering staff are very aware of hygiene requirements with the front of house chefs wearing gloves when handling food. The chefs would refuse to serve food that was undercooked, even if this was requested by guests (eggs etc).
There were some people complaining of sickness / diarhea when we were there, but we were eating and drinking at the same places and we were fine! This could be (as we witnessed) British guests visiting the toilets at the side of the restaurant, not bothering to wash their hands, then rummeging in the bread rolls spreading god knows what around (no fault of the catering staff!!!)
The food was hot, plentifull and varied. There were always brilliant omellette stations for breakfast,with great pasta and pizza stations at lunch and dinner, as well as an aray of different foods each day. They do try to cater for the English tastes with liver & onions, Beef / Turkey roast dinners / Curry etc on offer.
The only downside of the buffet restaurant was that at peak times it is too busy and you do need to queue for the cooking stations. To get around this we visited all of the a la carte restaurants (all very good), the seafood beach restaurant (excellent!), and attented the Egyptian Beduine night (Sunday), on the beach,(You need to pay for this
Travel operator: First Choice
Travel operator: first choice
We arrived back yesterday and wow the hotel is really beautiful,our room which was in block 10 over looking the quiet pool was lovely and the cleaners made it spotless everyday,no complaints at all there.We ate in the buffet restaurant for most meals and they had something to suit all tastes at all times,the waiters,chefs and bar staff were all lovely,very polite and helpful and great with the children.The hotel itself is in a great location,near to the airport and shops,we felt very safe wandering about in the evenings with 2 small children.All the hotel staff were friendly and helpful and always greeted you with a smile which you dont see very often.The entertainment staff and swimming instructors were great,it was the best entertainment i have seen in a hotel-the 5 main entertainers are so talented and funny and work so hard like all the staff seem too there. The only staff in the hotel who were a dissapointment were the First Choice Reps in Customer Services,who really didnt seem to give a damn about anything you had to say,and were more content just sitting in the office,when we had problems with our room service bill due to the on site spa messing up and charging us twice the repswere no help and nowhere to be seen which was dissapointing,and we wernt the only ones saying that!!!
Would i go back to the Holiday Village?? Of course i would.Yes i had a dodgy tummy whilst there but to be fair and i have spoken to alot of people who have been to lots of different hotels in Sharm it seems quite a normal thing wherever you stay in Egypt,i really think it is because its so hot out there and the air con-which is heaven probably doesnt help,but it didnt spoilour holiday in the slightest!
Travel operator: first choice
Now the restaurant, heard a few bad things about this hotels food, me and my family thought it was great tho always sumthing on offer a lil repetative tho, but hey what do you expected your in Egypt.
Entertainment: excellent the guys and girls where great entertained us every single night with out fail, my girls loved the kiddies disco. main shows scott great voice, Alli the entertainments manager what a great character she was our favourite always happy. All round the team were all very good.
Activity Clubs, Well can honestly say these guys made our holiday my girls paris and paige loved it, always in and out of the clubs superb, and Anna around the pool everyday dont think she had a day off while we were there she was great worked very hard, Paul or (sweeney) as the girls and eventually me and my wife started calling him this was his surname we think, this guy was Fantstic, said hello every morning, afternoon and evening in and out of work he definalty led by example, always encouraging to the kids and we even spotted him giving advice to other reps we coming back in October and hope he is still there, he's a Portsmouth fan so if anyone reading this is going out he is die-ing for a pompey shirt, cause he forgot his, the whole team once again were Fantastic. my girls say hello to Linzi and Linda in Wavelength.
The beach is very gritting so be aware we brought pool shoes from the shop there to stop grazing our feet. swimming where great us and the girls loved the slides.
Just also want to say thank you to everyone for a great holiday and were see you in october hopefully
Travel operator: First Choice
We had a Swim Up room in block 7 which was fantastic, the pool was cleaned and tested on a regular basis. The room was cleaned daily and was spotless. Yes some of the finishes around the hotel maybe a little rough, but this in no way affected our holiday. Please remember that this hotel is open all year round and things will get damaged and broken and I am sure will be fixed in due course.
The food is good, plenty to choose from, people say that food is repetative, but you decide what to eat its not forced upon you, there is plenty of choice. The soups at lunchtime and evening meal are really good and there are lots of fresh breads to choose from.
We had no problems with food running out. One of the problems is not with the hotel, but parents letting their kids run riot around the food, picking food up and putting it back, dropping it on the floor etc.
All of the hotel staff work exceptionally hard and are always smiling, saying hello and very helpful and friendly.
The hotel is in a good location, its a short transfer from the airport to the hotel. Yes planes do go overhead, but this was not a problem. People who compalin about this should haved booked a hotel with a longer transfer. Beach is great, with a bar and a jetty. There is a walkway along the beach front so you can get to see all of the hotels.
We only saw the evening entertainment which was very good, all of the entertainment team work very hard. The First Choice reps were on hand and we had no problem in speaking to them they were always helpful. We made sure on our last day we told them what a good time we had.
Alot of people were nit picking about minor things, one person even complained that it was too hot and wanted to go home. If the reps were allowed to get on and do what they should be doing rather than dealing with nit pickers, people with genuine complaints would be dealt with quicker.
This hotel is really good value for money, excellent location and of course the weather (please be aware it is very hot here). There were no clouds in the sky so the sun shone continiously (it was really nice). There was a nice breeze in the morning.
What lets this hotel down is some of the client group staying here, parents that dont control their children, people who just pick fault with the slightest thing and people who have no idea how to respect people including other guests and other holidaymakers.
The Adult Only View Bar is great (no kids allowed)
We are planning to return next June
Travel operator: First Choice
The staff were so friendly and the entertainment staff God knows how these guys do what they do.
I would definitely visit this hotel again.
Travel operator: first choice
Travel operator: Firstchoice
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