We recently stayed at the Akassia Swiss Resort from 17th - 31st Dec 2010.
Weather great (windy for most of the time though - could be time of the year), staff are fantastic, friendly, Hotel is clean, not over crowded, food is excellent for all inclusive and drinks are good also.
Only bad points, all-inclusive does not work in the Aqua Park - you have to pay for drinks there and also in the 'Disco' at night where many of the Animation Team shows are. They also allow smoking in the disco room which is not nice if you don't like smoke!
The 'Cobra Show' you have to pay extra for (8 Euros Adults and 6 for kids over 6), this is not like the rest of the shows at night which are free.
All inclusive in reception does not start until 10AM
The Hotel mainly attracts German, Italian and other European customers. This is OK but we only experienced 5 or 6 english families so bear that in mind!
Kids food can be limited, the kids corner serves Pizza only which is OK but when there for 2 weeks with fussy eaters, is a bit limited for them!
Positives - The Hotel is great, clean, spacious, staff are great especially with kids, beach is great, plenty of sunbeds and snokelling is superb!
I wouldn't personally go back but would definitely recommend for families with young children. The Aqua Park is great although a few pools/wave pools are a bit too cold - the slides are fab but the carrying of the rings and inflatables can be hard work with the constant wind blowing and can feel cold also.
Location is not the best as is several hours from anywhere but we knew this before we went so cannot complain.
Would strongly recommend the trip into the desert to see the Bedouin people by 4x4! This included a camel ride also! Brilliant value for money!
Animation Team were very good, most of them (and there are quite a few!) were very friendly and approachable as you would expect.
Breakfast mainly eggs/omlettes/scrambled with cheeses and meats with orange drink. Bread was lovely and fresh. Coffee also very good!
We sometime ate at the Beach Restaurant which had chips and pasta and fresh made pizzas with salads/bread etc. Generally very good.
Evening meals tended to have a theme which was nation based so OK if you like German or Italian or Egyptian Food but we found very little on 2 nights but again, we can't complain as the rest of the time it was great!
Our Rep was a Thomas Cook lady called Andrea who was helpful although we didn't see for several days but we did have some extreme weather! (Rained like hell!)
Waterslides attraction with our kids wore off after a couple of days and they mainly used the smaller kids heated pools with slides.]
We used 'Sofi' (the quad and camel ride chap from the beach) to book the Quad Bike ride into the desert which was very good but suspect you could barter a better price than perhaps we did.
We as a family of 4 had stomach upsets, youngest of 9 didn't at all, 15 yr old had a day with upsets as did my wife but I was upset for much longer but to be honest this is normal for me with all-inclusive - it almost comes as part of the package! Be aware of the Pharmacy at the Hotel as the chap massively over-charged us for cheap tablets for upset stomachs before our Rep sorted him out and got us a substantive refund!
We flew from Birmingham to Hurgada which is over 5 hours flight but the bus journey from Hurgada is easily 2-3 hours so be aware of this. If you can, do get a flight to Marsa Alam, you will easily save yourself 2 hours on your journey.
- Akassia Swiss El Quseir
- Akassia Swiss Hotel El Quseir
