"We have been staying in Ali Baba Palace for twelve days.
We arrived in mid January and left at the end of January. We have been to many different all inclusive hotels in Turkey, Bulgaria and Egypt and this is by far the best hotel we have been two. We travelled with our kids who are 5 and 1 and it was equally perfect for both of them. The hotel has many facilities and arrangements but the greatest part of the hotel for families with kids is the kids club, all the programs made by the animations team and the aqua land and heated pools.
The kids club:
Ammy in the kids club is exceptional. The club is opened several hours a day and many parents leave their kids above the age of 5. She is excellent at keeping an eye on them and managing conflicts and ensuring that smaller kids and older kids don’t clash.
The animation team:
They are reallu the heart of the hotel. They have several programmes a day and I really didn’t realise how much they add to the hotel until they had the day off on a Saturday and all guests including me almost felt restless due to the lack of any events and entertainment.
During our stay they had aqua dance, pool volley, yoga, dance lessons, Egyptian parade, fruit festival, karaoke night, Mr and Mrs Hotel, colour party on the beach, kids disco every night, Ali baba dances and I could continues for ages. The entertainment is really exceptional and never once were me or my kids bored.
They stand out in the sense that you as a guest feel seen and heard. As an example they had a pool party with foam and Ordrigo insisted on taking a family picture of us in the water from my phone (who doesn’t want that?). Ozo has completely stolen my son’s heart. He runs to him every chance he gets and I did feel obliged to go get him as I felt he was disturbing but not at all. On the contrary Ozo would always look for him and pick him up, tickle and play with him and that is just wonderful to see. They are always chatty, and in a good mood. They are never to busy to fill you in on the days program and what I appreciate more than anything is that they are eager to have you join events and programs but not clingy. A charming persuasive way is something they all possess and a no is always respected which makes your holiday relaxing and joyful both at the same time.
The food:
is great and has great variety. The breakfast is always the same but there are many choices and I usually eat the same for breakfast at home every day so it didn’t bother me. Lunch, dinner and everything in between is with great variety. Indian night, Thai inspired, Arabic, eastern and the quality is really good. I especially liked Noureddine in the kitchen. He is very customer oriented and were always ready to bring us drinks and eased our meals so we never had to pick the kids up to get them. Ahmad who makes the pizza in the Italian restaurant is very quick and kind and very loving towards customers and especially kids. The same goes for the guys who fries the eggs for breakfast every morning. How he remembers all peoples order amazes me, but he is quick and his overview is great.
There are three buffet restaurants, snacks by the pool and food by the beach. What more could you want?
The gartner Barry was also lovely and gave my daughter flowers every day. Very kind and respectable, and smiles every day.
The pool:
For my preferences I did feel the water was a bit on the cool side even though it was heated but the last two days were amazing so I guess it improves at the end of January.
The children’s pool was heated but is covered in the top I guess so the kids can stay in the shade during summer but that makes it quite cool and chilly with the wind from the beach in January. It would be great if the cover could be removed during the winter months. Just an idea.
The shop:
Super over priced. Do NOT shop there and go to Spinneys in Senzo Mall. Everything for more than half price. The guy in there charges ridiculous prices.
The hotel really has it all and we only left the hotel twice to go to Senzo mall for a change of scenery and because the prices in the shop is 4x the prices of things in the mall.
Aqua land:
My kids thought the water was too cold however the small children’s pool was warmer due to the size. I could imagine it is wonderful during summer months.
Lobby bar:
They have coffee, tea, lemonade for self service, soft drinks and also alcohol, however I don’t drink so I don’t know what they had. They also had slush ice for the kids and lollipops. Popcorn, ice cream and candy floss were also available to buy. The waiter Mohammed Morsy were very kind, friendly, good with the customers and was always smiling. His service was immaculate.
The room;
We did order a double room but were upgraded to a room with the single beds which was amazing for us. It was spacious, rooms were cleaned every day, water was filled in the fridge everyday and towels changed. The only downside was that the beds are really hard. Both me and my husband has sore backs from staying there 12 days. The pillows are also hard and big and upon asking for other pillows we were told that there weren’t any. We ended up folding a blanket and using that as a pillow so our necks didn’t hurt from the height of the high pillows.
During our stay we accidentally broke a mirror in the bathroom and we of course poid for the damage and they changed it immediately the day after.
All in all a wonderful stay but it would have been a bit bette with better beds, pillows and warmer pools this time of the year because of the wind from the beach."
