Has its own beach, great staff, good selection of pools, great for families
Disadvantages:
None that I can think of
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Having just had a great holiday in Egypt, I thought I would do a review on the hotel we (my girlfriend and 3 friends) stayed in whilst we were out there.
The Hotel is the Hilton Sharks Bay hotel and I will try and include everything I can remember.
The Check-in This was very efficient and we were told to check in after we had been hurried to the main restaurant for something to eat as we got there so late as well. We had booked food for our rooms on arrival and after we had eaten, the sandwiches and fruit were in our rooms as well!
The porter took our cases and loaded them onto a ‘golf buggy’ and took us to our rooms all the time having a joke with us and asking me what had happened to the ‘other ‘girlfriend and why this year I had someone new lol!!! The member of staff was very funny and really friendly and it was him who waved us off as we left as well (with a playful tear in his eye!)
The Reception The reception is as many others in its layout, which comprises and main desk on your right as you enter and there is also a security scanner similar to the airports to walk through as well. But I think I only walked through this on our check in night at 10 pm.
The main floor area is large and open plan with comfy seating and a wall mounted plasma screen which shows topical news channels and sports channels occasionally too.
Below the Plasma Screen on this wall this is the Customer care mangers desk which you can go to to discuss everything from the rooms to the food and if you have any complaints then they will try and resolve them but as this was such a superb hotel no moaning was done this end!
There are toilets in the main lobby and also a computer room where you can access the internet for a sum of 60 Egyptian pounds (£6) for 1 hour and you get this from reception. There are also a couple of small shops which sell jewellery and gifts.
There is a cash point machine which when you use it says that your card issuer has retained your card! Don’t panic as it doesn’t retain the card, but it certainly made my heart flutter the first time I used it as you can imagine!
The bank is situated in the main reception too, to exchange your English pounds etc. The rate is 11.24 Egyptian pounds to our 1 pound.
The Layout of the Hotel As you leave the reception through automatic double doors you walk along a raised platform to the rooms near reception.
You pass down a spiral stairs to the main ground floor which the main restaurant is sited. This is called the Mahfouz Restaurant
Here you can eat your main evening meal and is the only restaurant where you have your breakfast from 7 am until 11 am. The breakfast consists of omelettes, cereals and toast and a good old fry up! You get orange juice served by a waiter and Tea and Coffee also. There is a children’s eating area with plastic seats and tables and a wall mounted TV screen showing cartoons.
This restaurant seats about 200 guests in total and the opening hours are from 06:30 to 22:30.
Further down the stairs on the ground floor which leads to a Chill Out Bar which we found very nice and I will run through this later on. This path takes you to the main pool area where the pool is 3-4 metres deep by the pool bar with seating so that you can swim up to the bar and sit and drink to cool off! Here you can see the building adjacent which has a hairdressers and fitness studio with a sauna and steam room inside.
The pool is fairly large with a shallow end where you can play water polo and volleyball. On a Wednesday night this area has dinner tables set up all way round for the ‘Oriental’ theme night which includes entertainment from belly dancers and tricksters. The food is served as a self service format and food ranges from BBQ chicken, rice dishes, fish and pasta etc. The usual salads are readily available and there was also a selection of sweets for dessert.
Opposite the main pool is the Il Rustico restaurant which serves really nice pizzas, freshly cooked to order and pasta dishes. At lunchtime they also serve chips and burgers for those missing a McDonalds!
The lunchtime menu and certain foods at night for dinner are cooked on the BBQ and it is all Buffet food so you can help yourself to as much as your tummy will allow! Lunch is served here between 12:30 and 15:00 but it is open all day really for soft drinks just inside the doors and in the evening dinner runs from 19:00 to 22:30.
The Hotel Rooms The room we had was very spacious and had a TV in a unit with a slide out shelf and adjacent to this we had a cabinet which had the tea and coffee facilities on it which obviously included a kettle, tea bags and sachets of coffee which were replaced every day. Below the TV within the same unit was a small fridge which had a few cold drinks in it such as Fanta, Coke, Sprite and a couple of cold beers! You also had three 2 litre bottles of water to drink, and I found it useful to keep at least 2 in the fridge for a nice chilled drink when we got in from being round the pool side sunbathing all day.
We had twin beds which were about the size of a double bed. These were very clean and made up everyday by the housekeeper who tirelessly made various objects out of the towels, one of which was very funny!
There was a built in wardrobe which had a section with a safe in it and an area to put your shoes as well. There were also spare blankets and pillows in the top of the wardrobe. Why there was a blanket god knows when most nights it was 30 degrees and we had the air conditioning on!
The shower room was a good size and was very clean. It was a large walk in shower which at first was temperamental on the temperature but a bit of a play sorts it out. The basin was in a vanity type unit and was large as well.
The toilet was central to it all and also was clean upon arrival.
The only downside to the shower room was that when you had a shower the water did tend to go into the room a little bit in front of the toilet and caused a puddle. Thankfully I never got the blame for missing the toilet as us men do!!
We had a lovely balcony which had a patio chair and table set. We sat outside often in the early evening before dinner for a cup of tea and chill after our days diving.
The room was Air Conditioned and this only operated if the patio doors were shut firmly, and had the bonus of a remote for it too so if it got too chilly you didn’t have to get up and turn it off or adjust the heat. Lazy or what?
The room was always tidied and cleaned to a high standard. Clean towels were put in our room every day and the sheets were changed every day.
Facilities The Hotel has 4 pools the main pool which is 1.2 metres deep to a depth of 3-4 metres, a small children’s pool with a slide (which we loved) which was in the format of a beach and at its deepest only 1.4 deep. The other pool was a small pool you can see from the main restaurant and isn’t very deep at all about 1.2 all over. The final pool was about 1.2 going to a depth of 2.4 so it wasn’t very deep all round and very nice to stand in and cool off.
They have a sauna and a steam room section adjacent to the main pool and pool bar. This has separate facilities for men and women. They have an on site hairdressers/barbers and do a complete massage in the fitness suite where you can also use the gym should you wish (if it’s not too hot a day!) The Hotel has a small arcade of shops on the second floor of the reception building but it has no disabled access to it which isn’t very good if someone wanted to look around the shops. The owner of 1 shop was really nice and was explaining the meanings behind many pictures he had to sell and the quality of the hand made pictures was very good.
The shop opposite was a little store type which sells cigarettes at about 1 pound 60 a packet and Pringles and cakes drinks, medicine, gifts and many other useful bits and pieces. You can also book day trips in a little shop in the corner of the arcade.
Kiddies Play Area This is near the children’s pool and they have a team of staff dedicated to look after the children and entertain them during the day. Not sure what activities they did, but I know they certainly learnt some dancing as they were in the chill out room one evening looking very good at the actions for ’Superman‘!
The Beach Finally you go to the far extent of the site to the Beach. This is a 5 -10 minute walk from reception and is sandy and really nice.
The steps lead down to it past a beach bar serving cold drinks and cocktails. As we went all inclusive we were tight and just had those cocktails and soft drinks rather than paying out for others but lots of tasty cocktails were included on the all inclusive basis so we were still spoilt for choice. You can also get a book to read from the small bookshelf on the Towel Point which is where you get your towel for the day in exchange for a card given in your welcome pack to your room.
Down on the beach is a jetty which you can snorkel and on which we dived (see my Sinai Dive review) and witness the beautiful corals and marine life.
Summary I would highly recommend this hotel for anyone thinking of staying In Sharm-El-Sheikh and there is so much to do in the local area and just outside the hotel complex in Naama Bay which is just a short trip away.
It’s an ideal hotel for people looking for diving and snorkeling and the beach is lovely and secluded and as I already mentioned only a short walk away. We really enjoyed our stay here and we would definitely return in the near future and get a few more trips in to see the Pyramids and Luxor.
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