For Helen (Her Indoors) This was her 3rd visit to this hotel and my 2nd. Yes we will be going back there again. We requested the same room as we had last year but it was not available instead we had the room directly above it. Nice garden view away from the hussle bussle of the pool area, nice and quiet for us "Oldies". We had two small problems with the room, mainly the air conditioning control box was damaged and a very minor fault with the curtains. We reported the problems to the room service chap and by the time we came back from breakfast (1st day) The room repair man was there assessing the problems. I explained my concern over the AC control box and my minor concern over the curtains. He could not have been more helpfull. Shortly after we returned from the beach around 3,30 in the afternoon, there was a knock on the door, one of the hotel's service team came in and fitted a new control box to the AC. The curtain issue had already been dealt with earlier in the day. I would class that as first class customer service.
The rest of our stay went without a hitch. 3 trips away from the hotel with Thompsons. VIP cruise including 3 snorkling trips and BBQ lunch on board. Highly reccommended, although, in January the red sea is still a little cool.. .. . We only did one of the three dips but will do it again next time, to see the coral and fish face to face, so to speak unbelievable!! The BBQ lunch was very good, various salad's chicken, fish and shellfish and hot soup! Well it was quite chilly out on the water, a sea breeze which later in the year would be quite pleasant and cooling was a bit chilly in January! The trip to St Catherines is a full day job, we left the hotel at 5am returning at around 6pm. I think the snoring on the coach kept the driver awake well it certainly kept me awake! St Cathrines is only open to the public for a few hrs each day so expect to be part of a much bigger crowd. Stay with your guide!! There is time to wander around after the all too short tour. NB Only part of the monastary is open to the public! After our visit was over we were taken to a beach side resteraunt in Dahab, Not a place I would personally have chosen to eat at but that said, the food was well presented and quite good. Tea Coffee, soft drinks etc were not included in the price! £1.70 for coffee or tea? The down side of the day was then to be taken to a fixed price market??? Where nothing had marked prices?? Many of those on the trip were dissappointed by this and got back on the coach empty handed. Note to Thompsons the time spent at this market, in my opinion would have been better spent at St Catherine's! Note to Tropicana Grand Azure. We were provided with a "Pack up" breakfast" Which was "Basic" to say the least, especially when compared to other hotel pack up's! 2 small bread cakes, 3 small danish pastries 2 small pots of jam, no butter, 1 small carton of fruit juice and 2 pc of fruit. Others had cheese, sanwitches, savory pastries, cerial bars. What the couple next to us had in their pack up would have lasted most people a full day, breakfast to supper!
Quad desert safari and sun set over the mountains. . . . . DO IT! If you have never been on a quad before, don't worry. You are given full instructions before you set off, and a quick test drive before you leave the compound, any questions, just ask the guides. When you leave the compound with your guide you will be riding for about 20 mins just to get used to the quad, after 20 mins or so we then took a water break and climbed onto a platform to see and photograph the sunset over the mountains, fantabulous. Then it's back on the quads for another 30-40 mins to the next stop, near a bedouin camp where you will be offered bedouin hospitality in the form of their special tea, a warm drink made from desert hibiscus leaves ( I Think) Naturally very sweet and quite pleasant to drink. This is followed by a short talk about the bedouins you are then offered some of the trinkets and jewellry they make. At this stop you will find much to everyone's amazement a spotless flush toilet block with his and hers, it was welcomed by most of us. Then it's back on the quads to play follow my leader in the dark, all you can see ahead is the tail light of the quad in front, dark is dark! Back to the compound for coffee and a chill with your new found friends.
The Hotel, The staff, as always smiling, friendly and always ready to exchange a few words. from room cleaners, porters, bar staff, waiters, cooks, chefs and desk staff, 5* personalities, all of them. The room's as mentioned by others, are getting a bit "Tired" but are always kept spotless by the room staff. The bath in our room could do to be replaced due to cracking in the base, but it was useable but not what I would call inviting, this is our only negative view of the room. The hotel is stated as 5 star maybe it is not quite but certainlty 4 star plus and we look foreword to our next visit, Same room again please!
Thompsons staff and giude's 5 star all the way as always. In the hotel Daniella and Hitham and later in the week Louise, (Lucylastic) Brilliant, nothing ever too much bother. The guides on the trips, all very knowlegable about ther specific trip and in many other ways. Thank you all for making our stay in Sharm so successful.
See you all again soon.
Charlie n Helen.

19th - 26th Jan 2012

Having read some of the reviews on this hotel after having booked it I was a little worried.
I needn't have been.
It does exactly what you should expect from a reasonably priced all-inclusive beach hotel.
First impressions on arrival are the extremely noisy foyer, but you soon realise that this is the main meeting point in the evenings for all guests as the main bar and three of the 'a la carte' restaurants are based here.
The family suite, which we were upgraded to, was clean and spacious, with bath and separate shower in a oversized bathroom.
Two single beds were pushed together and made up into a king sized on the third time of asking. The shower leaked, but that was what the bathmat was used for.
The room was cleaned thoroughly everyday.
There are four a la carte restaurants but the booking system sucks, You have to queue up at 10 each morning to get a table for the following evening and it's like being at a 'Take That' concert when the doors open, however, if you can put up with this, the food is very good. I would recommend the Italian and Fish restaurants.
If you are not prepared to play the booking game, the buffet restaurant is open every evening, with a different theme and the food is plentiful and tasty. Breakfast and Lunch are also served here with a great variety and quality of food.
Grounds of hotel are vast, with loads of swimming areas and then there is the beach with sun beds and windbreaks available but get there early or you miss the best spots.
It is a long walk over the coral reef until you get to deep sea for swimming, so you may choose to use the pools for this, but the coral is stunning and fish aplenty.
Would recommend for a good priced relaxing holiday in the sun, but if you like to check out the local nightlife you need to be in a hotel at Naama Bay.

Just returned from our 3rd visit to this resort and once again we had a great relaxing holiday. We upgraded for the 1st time and I must say it was well worth the extra to get a spacoius if little dated suite together with wine and fruit basket, Executive lounge with newspapers/mags and limited international spirits, fresh juices and vitamin drinks, Aquarium restuarant wonderfully run by Emad and his team who made us feel really special and having our laundry done before leaving was a great bonus - no washing and ironing to worry about. As always the resort gardens are beautifully maintained and very member of staff went out of there way to make our holiday special. The al a carte restuarants were well run and served beautiful food - only complaint were those holidaymakers who think they have a right to queue jump to book. Would def return provided troubles in Eygpt do not escalate

For me it was first time to Egypt, so I have nothing to compare with. But still - I'll share with some of my impressions. Overall - there were good things and bad things about this hotel. This is definitely NOT the 5star hotel but on the other hand - probably I would return here sometime with my family.

The hotel territory - I think that hotel territory with a lot of plants is the best part of this hotel.really grand and quite beautiful. Really large swimming pools but none of them were heated so during January when the average air temperature was around +20 they all were empty because of the cold water.

The room - first of my impressions were quite terrible. The room was really large with nice balcony but with a lot of spots on the carpet as well as dirty bed linen (although needs to be said that it was changed next day when I left the blanket over). Also the cleanliness standards in the bathroom were not satisfactory (spot on the mirror, old and bad working shower, not very clean floor) and as there has been advised before - take your own hair dryer with you. Quite old and overused towels. The TV was old, mostly only Russian channels and quite bad quality. So, if the rooms were renovated they would be amazing, but now you could all the time feel the marks of the hundreds of people who have been in there before.

The food - again the first time impressions for me was real frustration. The central restaurant is quite large a lot of different food. So if you look from the outside then it seems OK. But actually the old dishes and overall atmosphere makes you feel more like in the canteen not in the restaurant. Staff seemed really busy and working all the time, but their passing by with a lot of dirty dishes really didn't raise your appetite. So, the first evening I just walked along the tables and tried to think what could be eaten in order not to have problems with stomach later. Because of the variety of food I still managed to find something quite tasty but because of the surroundings it was never felt like a dinner in restaurant but more like a way to quickly fill your stomach. There is also late dinner (at around 24 o'clock) but that was made from leftovers from the dinner time so quite unpleasant. Because I was spending my time outside the hotel during daytime I never could book the a la carte restaurants (that can be done at the reception only during particular hours) :(
The breakfast was quite good, I think the best part of the meals especially if You wake up quite early before all the others when the tables are clean and it's calm around.

The drinks - this must be said!! Be prepared that drinks served in All Inclusive program are really bad. The coffee is terrible. And I was really sorry that I haven't taken any "normal" coffee from home. The soft drinks are local version of Cola and etc. The beer as well as all the other alcoholic drinks were local as well so quite bad, as well. I tried the beer and decided not to try anything else. Actually, I was wondering about those people drinking wines and beers - are they really enjoying them just because they are for free?


The lobby - was really nice and I loved to spend my time there but it would be much nicer if it wouldn't be allowed to smoke inside. As the January nights were quite cold it was not pleasant to sit outside because it was chilly but if sitting inside be prepared to change all your clothes afterwards because of the smoke. Important notice - the lobby was the only place with wi-fi available (at least I could connect to it in my room) but during rush hours (21-23) it was working really slowly. Besides it was not working some evenings because of some connection problems.

The animation team - one word - "amateurs". Most of the shows you could see could be compared to the shows You have done as a shoolchild, except that some of the were made us a comedy shows with a lot of sexual jokes. For me they seemed to vulgar and therefore not funny at all. But the worst thing about the animation team leader (the French speaking guy) was the fact that he was constantly laughing about his own jokes, as if the audience would appreciate it more when he shows that now it's time to laugh. BUT - if you have free evenings then this was the way how to spend them.

The children activities - this time I came alone but I noticed and I think that this hotel is the most suitable for families with small children. there were a lot of children attractions around the pool and on the beach, as well as nice children discos in the evenings.

My overall rating - I had my own diving attractions during daytime so I could manage the hotel during evenings, but I think I would feel quite depressed if I had to spend all my time at this hotel. I think it used to be really beautiful and impressive 10 years ago when it was built but now it has survived to many guests and needs serious improvements in the rooms and dining area to give the best experience to the guests.