"There are great things about this resort, but there are also a fair few things that could be improved. It has potential to be great, but it did miss the mark in a few areas for us. I’ll try to be as impartial as possible with my review; as I think this resort probably suits some types of guests over others.
We aren’t big travellers to all inclusive resorts generally, and have only done them previously in Punta Cana, Cancún and the Maldives.
First point is we didn’t realise until after booking, this is predominantly a German speaking hotel. It used to be on TUI UK and has been removed for some reason, but we were able to book it from another holiday provider in England. This wasn’t an issue for us, but one thing to consider is it is very German focused when it comes to preferences and also the language they speak to you with most of the time.
As a result of this there were a few niggles for us due to different cultural preferences. One thing being the fact they reserve sunbeds super early and then don’t actually use them for 5 hours after that; meaning the rest of us struggled to get beds especially around the single heated pool. There was also a lot of smoking everywhere - at the pools, at the bar, all around the resort that we just aren’t used to. Another thing we noticed is that there is a strong preference for sparkling water, which is not the norm for us and as a result we really struggled to get still water at the pool.
Whilst we seemed to be the only British guests in the hotel we saw, there were many other nationalities too - Russian, Dutch, Spanish, French etc. So it was a bit frustrating when some staff members continued to speak to us in German on day 5, 6, 7 of our holiday.
Now for the food - it was quite good overall. The buffet wasn’t big, but wasn’t small either, and usually had a good variety and not loads of repetition. The pasta was sometimes quite dense (not from the pasta station as we didn’t try that part), and the only time we struggled was on seafood night as there was very limited choice for us to eat.
The restaurants were a mixed bag - the Lebanese “Zaytoun” restaurant was amazing. Up there with the best food we have had at an all inclusive resort restaurant. It’s a beautiful vibe too right by the pool at night, service was great, we tried so many things and everything was delicious so no complaints here at all.
Basilico had great service, delicious beef was a highlight, dessert was just OK. The Asian restaurant Rocco was probably the most disappointing. Tiny portions, food was hit and miss. Spring rolls & sushi were delicious but gyoza was gummy & mains were small. Good service though, & tempura ice cream was honestly amazing.
Lunch pool bar service was slow and some portions also really small. It was hard to flag them down to order and they often got things wrong. This was our least favourite place to eat lunch, it got very busy & took a long time. The falafel sandwich, fajitas & kofte were good though. Poke bowl was pointless.
Enjoyed eating at the beach restaurant much better. The service was more friendly & polished, they served epic burgers. The Egyptian style pizzas made around the back in the bread oven were one of the best things we ate on our entire trip too!
It was frustrating you couldn’t take food to the pool/to go at lunch, Less than ideal when dining alone especially given how packed everywhere was at lunch. I noticed some attitudes change a bit when I was a solo female - at breakfast I wasn’t acknowledged at all which made me quite uncomfortable. It was never an issue when my husband was with me. However by the pool was totally different, everyone who worked there was super friendly whether I was alone or with my husband so I felt much more comfortable there.
In terms of drinks, we didn’t realise before travelling just how heavily taxed Egyptian resorts are on imported alcohol, hence why everything is their own local brand. I did wonder if this was going to be terrible, but we had no issues. It does taste different yes, but not in a bad way.
The drinks are quite strong, some of the drinks we loved were sparkling rose wine, mai tai, mojito, caipirinha, Aperol spritz, Long Island iced tea. The beer is also perfectly drinkable too according to my husband. We enjoyed the iced coffee and I was a big fan of the strawberry cooler mocktail. Some drinks never came with ice unless you explicitly asked and often they would forget.
We struggled with the extremely slow drinks service at the pool. This really is below par compared to our experiences in the Caribbean. We waited 40 mins or more often. Quite a bit of improvement needed here. The all inclusive starts at 10 but it would be good if they at least served iced coffee before this.
One day we couldn’t sit by the main pool due to people reserving sunbeds and never actually sitting there for hours, so at the next pool across we didn’t get any drink service at all for longer than an hour, they only seem to service the main pool semi regularly at least in our experience. They say they will remove towels from sunbeds after an hour or more, we never once saw this happen after 5 hours or more.
We had standard room, no complaints here, perfect for what we needed - great size, pool view & large balcony. Bed was comfy, everything very clean etc. My only niggle was they don’t have separate shampoo & conditioner but a combined one which felt quite budget to me.
Resort is a medium size, tons of pools but we didn’t realise visiting mid April just how cold they would be so we only used the main pool which is heated. This area gets windy, and it can be a really cold wind, so there were a few days where swimming was a bit uncomfortable, though it warmed up for the second half of the week. The sea was too chilly for me at this time but others did fine so depends how much you feel the cold. I definitely needed a jacket at night.
The resort is pretty and well maintained, there is a walking path all the way round the bay for like 3-4km which we enjoyed. It’s very quiet and peaceful but we would have appreciated a bit more of a vibe at the main pool with background music. The wifi worked well in the rooms but could be very patchy around the resort / at the pool.
Activities and entertainment was very basic. The animation team were great & very sociable, but it feels catered to older people - music was very old & retro, the only lively activity was the once daily aqua aerobics. It was also the same things everyday mostly, we found the evening entertainment cheesy and dated. I think if you are older or like to do absolutely nothing on holiday this resort is for you, otherwise you may find it a bit dull and limited. We would have appreciated workshops, a pool table, modern music, perhaps bingo or a quiz, a jacuzzi for example. We did like the limited games they had like darts, cornhole etc but they were often busy.
The other annoying thing was the spa people came round every day and would disturb you and try to get you to use the spa which was a bit pushy when you just want to relax on your sunbed with a book. It is super close to Marsa Alam airport so if a short transfer is important to you this is a major bonus. The diving is good, the on site diving centre were really friendly and my husband enjoyed all his dives with them. Oh and do not forget sun cream as the resort shop is extortionate and a small bottle cost us £25, obscene!
Overall we didn’t love it but didn’t hate it, it just has potential to be so much better if they improved the vibe and polished a few things to feel a bit more like a true 5 star experience - particularly the drinks service and more modern entertainment/music."
