"Warning! Long review 🤣
Background - UK Family of 6 including 4 (not fussy eating or snobby) adults and kids (fussy ish 🤣 age 9 and 5). Previously been to Rixos Belek & other places in Turkey, most of the Holiday Village hotels, Sandos Hotels in Mexico, plus other well known family holiday destinations in Spain, Disney etc but never done Egypt before.
Booked a room for 2 adults 2 kids and then added on the 2 adult family members into their own room, all in main side (cost extra but advised it was better by TUI lady). Late flight from Bristol arriving at 11.15pm ish.
Check in & Room - Started off smoothly. Not much of a queue, seemed efficient. Asked for passports of people staying in room 1 and then passports for people in room 2. Advised we could have adjoining rooms despite not requesting or asking so this seemed great. Offered block 2 or 3 but advised by staff that 3 was new and interconnecting and he was saying a family suite. So assumed we had been upgraded as it was a 70th birthday and wedding anniversary celebration which was on our booking notes. Kids were shattered given the time so couldn’t wait to get to bed. Arrived at the room with help from staff with luggage to top floor. This is when it became shambolic. Opened door to find a small room with x2 single beds. And a second room with 1x double bed. Each slept 2 max. My mother assumed both rooms were for us since they were so small and no way one could sleep 4 people. Went to speak to reception who were quite rude and said that’s what we had booked and that was that. My husband said this was not possible since our room stated is slept 4 with a pool or garden view and this room could not accommodate more than 2. It was clean and new but that’s about it! Whilst I was finding my confirmation via TUI, my husband spent 45 minutes deliberating with staff at reception who were adamant we had to pay £160 per night extra to upgrade to a suite. We point blank refused and stood our ground. I did not need a suite, just a room to sleep 4. They said they had no other rooms and that we had no choice but to stay here and they would look at changing rooms tomorrow. I said this was not possible since we needed to sleep x4 people tonight! I was not expecting one of my children to share a double bed with my Mother and Stepfather in a separate room. They argued for a further 20 minutes that there was no other rooms in the hotel until I refused to move and miraculously there were 2 rooms available in block 5 on first floor and a further 2 higher up. I asked how this was possible since it was so late and they said nothing was available just minutes before and they used the excuse that someone had ‘just checked out in the last 10 minutes and they had also cleaned the room in that time’, all while I was standing at reception. We stressed that we did not need rooms close to eachother and my mother’s room was fine. Anyway, we went to see block 5 and again, there were 2 single beds and a small 3/4 so still not enough for 4. We went back to reception again, really annoyed by this point due to the time and the hassle since this was a supposed 5* hotel!! They said it was an upgrade (LOL!). The room appeared bigger but much older and certainly not a room in a 5* hotel and the view. Well, I will put this in comments for you. They argued further there was no more they could do until the next day so I admitted defeat to get my children to bed since it was now in the early hours and we had been travelling since 9am. I shared a small bed with my youngest whilst my husband and eldest had single beds. Went straight to reception next day who had no idea there was an issue despite some of the same staff on duty. They told us to return at 12 n midday. Nothing at 12. Return at 3pm, nothing at 3. Advised we were not unpacking due to the uncertainty and they were delaying the start of our holiday and told to return at 4. Again nothing at 4 and I was so pissed off by this point I started to unpack. Our beautiful cleaner Mohammed got us an extra bed within 5 minutes of asking and was more helpful than all reception staff put together! My husband then had a call via room phone and was shown to a room the exact same size with same beds in block 2 right by the entertainment stage. Would not benefit us whatsoever. Completely pointless to even offer this so we stayed in this room with my parents nextdoor. Really spoilt the start of the holiday and didn’t give us much confidence of the way the holiday would pan out.
Food & Drinks- Pleasant and enjoyable in Turquoise. Not a great variety for British people in my personal opinion and not 5* but definitely catered well to lots of other nationalities as a lot of stuff on offer I’ve not seen at other destinations. Examples such as stuffed intestines and lots of veggie options on one night such as green bean masala, lentil masala and eggplant masala but lacking in other options. What we did have was tasty but not always very warm. It was also extremely repetitive and I didn’t find there was ‘themes’ each night like was stated. You could have pizza and pasta each day plus salads but limited options for children bar nuggets each day. Food Court was lovely at main side with good variety. Not as good Aqua side. The Italian was lovely, had a great meal here and also at Mangal which was stunning. Guest services booked us in with no issues as the app / link was rubbish. The staff were very helpful at all food areas and very concerned if your experience was not great. They would ask for feedback and we explained food wasn’t always warm and Said went out of his way to try to help us here and offer for Chef to cook fresh food etc etc. I personally think Egypt is very different to other counties food wise and this is not a criticism but an observation. We are not big drinkers but what we did have was fine. The beer, prosecco and rum were lovely and some cocktails. Had no issues. Bar by main reception was lovely too as well as X lounge by the beach.
Staff - Restaurant staff including Said were amazing. The ice cream guy at the beach was so funny! Our cleaner Mohammed was just amazing. Such a lovely boy who helped us so much. Pic of him in comments. The only staff who were not great were at Reception. Having said that, we needed late checking x2 until 6pm and managed to secure this free of charge due to the way we had been treated with our rooms. The buggy drivers also deserve a special mention and the Pyramid guy Abdul was fab.
Pools - Awesome, clean. Fun! Water park was good fun also but I think we made the right choice staying at the main side as I think it was far better for us. Lovely atmosphere, not too busy! ALL Pools were as warm as a bath for anyone thinking they are cold!
Facilities - Great and lots to do. Grounds are well kept and so pretty. The gardeners work hard! Nice little touch having the ping pong tables! Didn’t use kids club but looked nice.
Water park was fun but not many slides for kids under 1.2m and they are very strict on this.
Entertainment in evening was good.
The jetty was great and some fab snorkelling opportunities there. Shops across the road cheap. But expect to be hassled! Chemist across the road also great. Unfortunately myself and my youngest were both unwell. She was vomiting and had diarrhoea (one dose of domperidone and antinal and she was on the mend albeit a bit fragile). Unsure if she swallowed any pool water??? Myself, definitely had the Egyptian tummy. Unusual as I work as a Paramedic in the NHS for almost 20 years and I’m immune to most! But oh well. I needed Antinal & Streptoquin as the cramps were pretty intense! I don’t think I swallowed any water so god knows! Not blaming the food either as I genuinely don’t know what caused it. Tried not to let us spoil the holiday and dosed up so fast so get rid of symptoms asap!
Excursions - Semi submarine boat trip - awesome - but my god you get hassled at the dock before going!
Private boat trip with snorkelling - highlight of the holiday and totally immense! Hassan our private diver / snorkelling teacher was amazing and we had so much fun.
Buggy in the dessert - my mother and stepfather did not enjoy this, said it was a boring, flat ride, following a guide whilst getting continually hounded by people to buy things and trying to put bracelets on you!
Weather was the best we’ve had on a holiday and overall despite the issues, we had a lovely time and really enjoyed.
However we will not return as in our opinion, it was not as good as other places we have visited and the constant hassling to sell you trips / excursions / spa experiences or stuff at the shops outside was so relentless it put me off and that of the illness too! Most likely to return to other countries based on personal experience although I think this is good for the price since it’s a lot cheaper than Turkey!"
