"We stayed here 28th October to 4th November, which included the hotel transition from Iberotel Redsina to TUI Magic Life Redsina.
Overall we had a great week and plan to return - there are lots of things to like about the hotel, but some niggly things that prevent top marks.
On the positives, we enjoyed the main pool area including life guard interactions and the bar staff. Everyone is really friendly especially Life Guard Mohamed, and Amr and the team at the bar. Waiter service to your beds, friendly chat and recommendations. The pool itself is large and divided into sections by bridges that you can swim under. It does need a clean around the walls though, there are quite noticeable tide marks. Lots of fixed parasols but it does feel a bit crowded compared to similar hotels, especially when trying to move your bed to get more sun.
We didn't visit the adults pool other than to walk through on the way to the slides. Looked nice, but it's 145cm up there compared to 155cm around the main pool - which is odd. There are some shallower areas in the main pool but as I say, broadly it's 155cm deep.
The slide area is great - the slides themselves are varied and fun, and the food court up there is great too - pizza, sandwiches, burgers, nuggets etc. I've had a few cheeseburgers in my time, as my waistline confirms, but the double I had here is probably the best tasting cheeseburger I've ever had. Soft drinks only at the small bar there.
We also enjoyed the beach bar (a proper separate bar area with tiled floor, not just sand/reeds) with oversized Connect 4, dominos, cornhole toss, a swing. It's a nice chill out area and close by is the Street Food restaurant with daytime a la carte lunch options, though this is about to change name to Green Curry, so not sure if/what will change.
We also like the main terrace entertainment area. Entertainment was standard but fun; belly dancer, acrobats, DJ etc. Though it gets very busy and is standing room only if you don't get there early - and this is October/November, so I can't imagine it being any better in summer.
Things we would like to see improved: the evening food options. The main buffet is fine in terms of quality (not amazing, but we've been to Sharm many times over the years and it's up there) but it's very repetitive and could do with being properly themed. You only get one visit to the a la carte evening options, which is as advertised, but at other hotels you usually get a visit to each restaurant included per week; this includes Jaz hotels we've stayed at and other TUI hotels.
Considering the price hike with the switch from Jaz/Iberotel to Magic Life, I'd expect this as a minimum. Then I'd like to see the quality of the food and service improve too. In Trattoria for example, the service was ok but I saw staff actively asking why a family hadn't tipped (they didn't like the food or service) and the food was ok but nothing special, and they got our child's order wrong. Easy mistake and quickly rectified, but something just felt 'off'. The a la carte should feel special and it didn't.
And while there is good waiter service at the main terrace in the evening (thanks Amr), if you go to the actual 'Wunderbar' bar prepare to be ignored. Literally, I stood there twice in the same evening being ignored while one pretended to clean the bar and then disappeared into the glass wash room, and another chatted with his pal at the coffee machine. I only got served when a waiter arrived to collect a table order (Amr, again!). They need a decent supervisor at that bar.
But they were exceptions, not the norm, and service is usually very good.
Please seek out Omar in the coffee shop area just on the other side of Wunderbar - what a lovely and kind gentleman who will happily recommend a cocktail and bring it over, and have a bit of fun with the kids too. We only discovered him on our second to last night, which we regret.
Final improvement recommendation: Spray for mosquitoes. The mosquito situation is the worst we've encountered and again, we're not strangers to Sharm or Hurghada. But at other hotels, you see them actively spraying/fogging the bushes and grounds regularly. We saw this only once, and only around an area near the beach/Trattoria where they were putting on a private function on the Saturday night. So obviously the VIPs got mosquito prevention, but us mere guests don't. I know it's unavoidable but again, we've seen much more active treatment at other hotels and we had to visit the doctor because of the reaction my wife had to some of the bites. Not good, and while we have insurance, the doctor fees were very expensive.
I've also forgot mention the daytime activities/ entertainment. This changed with the introduction of Magic Life...for the worse. Example - under Iberotel our 9yr old could participate in the darts competition around the pool, but suddenly there's an age restriction when Magic Life took over. Very annoying and disappointing for the kids, who could play one day and then not the next.
One final positive: the grounds really are lovely. While being a fairly large hotel, it doesn't feel too 'meandery' (I'm looking at you, Holiday Village) and the foliage and features are really nice - probably the best gardens we've seen in recent years.
Would we visit again? Definitely, but probably only for one week outside of the summer season, and we'd choose the Holiday Village a few hotels up for a two week summer stay - our experience is that it has better food options, better kids activities, better poolside experience (less crowded) broadly better service too - but it's a close call in this aspect. If I did choose here for a two weeker I'd be anticipating eating out a few times - the prices and service up at Arab Bucks is brilliant, for example.
Thanks for a great week - sad to leave, and maybe see you again next October.
PS: late check out is 50 USD subject to availability. Our pick up was 15:45. They let us keep the room til 2pm for free, or 50 USD if we wanted it til 3pm. We saved the 50 USD and thank the hotel for their pragmatism on this."
