Sol Sharm

Hotel very clean. Staff throughout the hotel wonderful. Really helpful, could not do enough for you. Clean towels every day for the pool/beach. Room cleaned every day and clean towels as and when you requested them for the room. TV and air con. TV had a couple of English speaking channels including BBC world news. Didn't use air con as evenings were not overly hot and our room did not get any sun throughout the day.
Breakfast very good, fresh omelettes, eggs etc. Cereals, fruit, Danish pastries. Evening meal OK. Soup, salads, fresh pasta, meat, fish, vegetables, rice, chips/potatoes. Not brilliant but didn't go hungry or get upset stomach! Drinks expensive - £2.50 for a beer, £11 for a bottle of wine. I think soft drinks were about £1. Water priced OK at £1 per litre. You will go through a bit as you need to use bottle water to brush your teeth with (and to rinse your toothbrush!) As the water in the resort is that dodgy. Great that you could just sign for everything and not worry about cash, other than for tipping. Used to have lunch at the bar/restaurant by the pool. Sandwiches, pizzas etc. All OK and reasonably priced - £3-£4.
Entertainment in the hotel - VERY poor!. 3 'lads' who were very loud all of the time, including when they were doing their rounds in the restaurant. Were trying very hard when we were there to impress the Italian ladies! (and the Italians in general seemed to be amused by them!) Music around the pool also very loud at times, although did seem to quieten down around lunchtime. Free shuttle to the beach which is only a 5 minute walk down the road. At the beach, free beds and pads for the beds. The music/noise from the adjoining beach hotel (which was Italian) was again very loud at times (although not all the time). Weather was brilliant - we were there the first week of November and it was 30 degrees. Sea really warm too. Hotel pool was freezing and only went in once and got out straight away! The sun started to fade around 4pm. And the evening temperatures were just right (although some people were walking round with jumpers and sweatshirts on!).
Trips - Went on boat trip to Ras Mohamed National park. Would recommend it if you like snorkelling. Stopped at 3 points for snorkelling. Life jackets and flippers/mask provided. Trip booked through holiday rep - £30 each. Really worth it though as well organised, and the staff conducting the snorkelling stops were very helpful - they 'escorted' you on the snorkelling stops, one in the front and one in the rear who had a little motorised float so if anyone got tired, they used him as a 'taxi' back to the boat(and the lunch which was included was some of the tastiest food we had!).
At the hotel, there is a free shuttle bus into Naama bay twice per day, once in the morning returning at lunchtime and once in the evening (11pm. I think) returning early morning. Thought this was a bit late! Only went into Naama bay once, had a stroll around and came back! This was in the morning (10.30am )and place seemed really quiet. Went for a stroll along the promenade which was pleasant (nicer than I had envisaged). Shopkeepers friendly but not overly so if you just gave them a polite no, or see you later. The hotel Sol Sharm is isolated and we were there for a week which was enough if you just wanted some winter sun and some good snorkelling as they were the reasons why we picked Sharm and were not disappointed.
Flight going out was brilliant as only half full so loads of room to stretch out. Flight coming back was delayed 7 hours (at the airport and unfortunately not the hotel). I don't know whether it is a regular occurrence but people on the flight going home had been delayed on their outbound flight by 24 hours. Our outbound flight was delayed by an hour, but this was due staffing problems we were told. You need to vacate your room by 12pm. And it was about £17 to keep your room for the rest of the day. We didn't do this and the hotel kept our bags and made a room available to us to shower and change just before leaving which was great.
Tipping - we used to tip the bar boys in the evening £1-£2 at the end of the evening, we would also tip the restaurant waiters £1 each night (sometimes £2 if we had quite a few drinks with our meal). At lunchtime we would also leave £1. The pool man I just to tip 20p per day and gave him £2 at the end of the holiday. The room boy I tipped £10 at the end of the week. I don't know if any of the above seems generous or stingy but it felt about right. I would definitely go back to Sharm for the weather and the sea. Would probably look to go to a different hotel, (although if the Sol Sharm was all that was available, would go back).
If staying in Naama Bay would look for a hotel who had their own bit of beach as you have to pay to use the public beach in Naama Bay which I believe was packed.
Sharm itself is not picturesque, the desert and the building sites seem to merge into one! But if you want winter sun, great snorkelling, great service, friendly people, then I would recommend it without hesitation.