"We went for a week in the sunshine to escape the grey wet gloom of England, and got just that. 20 degrees warmer, clear blue sky and a total vitamin D tonic. Good value as we are fortunate that we can avoid peak school holiday prices.
Having been before many years ago, we had forgotten just how noisy the restaurants are, especially because the layout encourages walking between each of the 4 main restaurants as each has slightly different items. The bbq outside the Soprano restaurant often had tasty items, as did the pizza ovens outside the main restaurants, opposite ends of the main restaurant area. We would do a tour, collect our choices, and then eat outside the Culina fish restaurant as we found that was quietest.
The drinks were ok, but were cheap non-branded. Most bars did draft larger, but our preference was the bottled ‘Stella’ (don’t think it was real Stella).
Self serve fresh orange juice on the bar in the main restaurant, and later in the morning in the Soprano restaurant, was always a lovely breakfast treat, along with the omelette/fried egg stations, and huge choice of cheese, breads and pastries.
As mentioned in the Top Tip, if eating outside for breakfast or lunch, don’t leave food unattended as the birds immediately swoop in to help themselves. There are also occasionally birds eating the bread and cakes within the restaurants, so avoid items with peck marks. The staff do try and deter the birds by shooing them away and feeding them stale bread by the full size giraffes outside the Asian restaurant, but the birds seem to prefer the fresh stuff.
The wifi was intermittent, so we bought two SIM cards from the shop opposite the entrance to reception. £10/600 EGP for 15gb, which was way more than needed. That the only option, but well worth it. At the airport coming home I noticed that the Etislat concession as you leave the airport terminal had 20gb for $5.
If you are coming to Egypt in the next few weeks I’m happy to post them to you free of charge as there is plenty of data left on them.
There are book recycling shelves outside the Columbus coffee shop (huge choice of biscuits and pastries), and the Lost and Found office at the end of the corridor between the book recycling and the ATMs. We found the machine made coffee just as good as the ones the staff made. Extra bottled water is available in all the bars to collect as you pass.
We brought after sun with mozzie repellant in it for the evenings, and didn’t get bitten once. We only brought hand luggage and got caught out by the 100ml regulations at Luton as we thought that limit had been scrapped with new machines being introduced (not yet, at that airport, very annoying and confusing), so replaced it at Boots airside.
We are in our early 60s, and loved all of the slides in the water park. Great fun, and by the entrance to the hotel grounds. Follow the advice of the slide staff and cross your arms tightly to avoid elbow friction burns. Ouch. Also enjoyed the snorkelling from the end of the pier, and the long walk along the pier to get there. We also prefer the vibe of the quiet pool, which whilst not heated, was refreshing to cool down in and get some swimming exercise.
A particular shout out for the Barman Amir Mahmoud, who was usually at the quiet pool bar next to the Golden Spa or the aqua park bar. Always friendly, smiling and courteous, great proactive work ethic doing the round of all the clients to see if he could bring them anything……. and to Mohammed Adel in the Soprano restaurant, who was also friendly and smiling.
Also a mention to the reception staff, who accommodated our email request for a quiet room that got the morning sunshine. Thank you! (royalalbatros_grm@pickalbatros.com)
Finally a big thank you to all the amazing chefs and kitchen staff for producing such a wide range of seriously tasty food!! We loved the huge variety, and always found something appetizing. (Particularly scrummy nougat occasionally in the Soprano restaurant in the evening, and strawberries which were always incredibly popular)
There is a really good, Fixed Govt price, chemist on the far right of the row of shops opposite the hotel entrance. Very helpful pharmacist, Raouf, who was very knowledgeable. It is rare to find a fixed priced chemist, and by comparison another we tried was 4 times the price. The sunscreen in the picture was 250EGD/£4, so next time we will get it here rather than bring it. They also stock many items that you can’t get over the counter in the uk. You can email to check before coming.
greenpharmacy2030@gmail.com
Our flight was a few hours after checkout so we used the showers and changing rooms in the Golden Spa by the quiet pool.
Have a wonderful time and enjoy the sunshine."
