Red Sea Holiday Village

8 readers found this review helpful

First time we did al inclusive me my husband and my son and his girlfriend had a fantastic time we stayed in swim up rooms and they were great very clean and well maintianed the staff at the hotel were very friendly and helpful would definately go back there again agreat time had by us all. Would recomend if adults only holiday swim up rooms are the best.

39 readers found this review helpful

Just got back after a week with my wife and 3 year old and i was worried as some of the reviews were poor but i put these down to other peoples unfortunate experiences as i loved every minute. Hope this helps:
Room- we booked a standard,ground floor with pool view. We were put into a swim up room on arrival. Seperate toilet/sink/shower areas, large bedroom with door onto patio and gate onto our own sunbeds leading into the swim up pool. Cleaned daily to a high standard. Allowed us to swim in morn in peace then moved down to big pool for a bit of fun.
Food-lots to choose from (check every area before deciding what to eat)with cook as you wait bars for omelletts/eggs,pizza,roasts,pastas etc kids/english/egyptian. 3 uses of the al la cart restruants in 1 week to break it up-enjoyed every meal we had in there and it was nice to be waited on. The buffet restaraunt does get very busy and there are alot of impatient people rushing around. Snack bar is just that, basic snacks for those that cant be bothered going to the restaurant.
Entertainment-mainly catered for the kids. The Team work tirelessly and put on some really good shows. They also have 1 egyptian entertainment night and comedians and magicians so it is not just the 1st choice team. There are loads of activities day and night for adults and kids if they wish to join in.
Pools- 1 main (2 x slides and swim up bar), 1 kids with slide), 1 activity pool (for swim lessons/canoeing etc)and a quiet pool. The swim up pools are omly for those that are in those rooms.
Sunbeds-not an issue in swim up rooms. For 2 days there were loads of beds available at midday, the other 5 days i just dumped my kit near the pool as myself and my 3 year old spent the whole time in the pool so didnt need one. Either book early or be flexible.
Beach-lovely views and layout but sand is rough and pretty naff (no sandcastles). Snorkelling is fantastic but wear swim shoes (cheap at argos). Only spent 1 day on beach as there is more to do at the pool.
Loved it, hope this helps

16 readers found this review helpful

Been back for 2 days after 2 weeks, wish was back there! Had an amazing holiday with partner and our 3 year old daughter. Cant fault anything with hotel, food, staff, etc. everything spot on. Weather was hot, did reach high 40's though!!!! We are looking to go again next year, highly recommend to anyone. We didnt experience any pool closures whilst there, nor did we ever have a problem getting sunloungers (we didnt tip these either). Only downside we had, we went off complex, if you dont need to DONT, we ventured off for 30 mins max and must of been pipped by 20 taxis after business. Beach shoes are best if you go in sea as it is a little sharp. All hotel staff work like trojans and very long hours, so we personally didnt find tipping them a problem. Although our daughter didnt want to go to kids clubs, there always seemed plenty going on for all ages. A la carte restaurants were beautiful. Main restaurant had a vast choice each night, we didnt find it boring or repetitive. I read a lot of reviews before we went, but find it difficult how people can be so negative about such a great holiday place.

19 readers found this review helpful

went for 2 weeks with our 2 children and parents,
the weather is amazing but too hot for some (mid july not great to young children and their grandparents), the sea and reefs are amazing the number of fish to swim about in is out of this world.
the room we had was great and especially good because of the kids den. our cleaner was great with the kids and we had a competition each day to see who could make the best towel object. unfortunlty this is not the case with all rooms. my father inlaw had a room away from us and it was smaller than a travel lodge room and felt horrible, fortunatly he was in the room by himself but had a family next door with 2 adults and 2 children it was also a good 5 mins from the main pool which also leads me to the pool situation. the advert says there are 6 pools but 2 are for the swim up rooms only, 1 was for adults only another was an entertainment pool another was a paddeling pool for kids which left one main pool
the amphitheater was way too hot in the evening which forced us to the indoor area where it was the same routine each night, bingo (not good for late 20s people who want to party) then a quiz and some karaoke (which lasted about 30 mins). when we did stay in the amphitheater we quickly realised that all the entertainment is inhouse by 4 first choice staff, there are no performers bought in so its naff every night. unfortunatly because of local law there is no beach bar in the evening, the all inclusive bar closed at 6 and was replaced by an al acarte seafood restaurant.
the battle for sunbeds was a complete joke unless you are willing to pay (not even tip) the towel guys to secure your bed you had to get up as early as 5 in the morning to get a good one (in the end i was putting towels on beds before i went to bed)
the first choice staff were a little bit usless when it came to dealing with complaints. unfortunatly we had to see them a few times and to make it worse we had to que as other people were complaining about other bits and bobs.
the kids clubs seemed a bit badly organised which put our 2 off leaving them to find their own entertainment i dont think this was helped by the verbal abuse my wife received from other guests when she asked for her change in egyptian money as opposed to scotish notes. (apparently she was being rascist against scotish people but we wanted egyptian so we could tip the guys on our boat trip) which now leads me to the boat trip.
i dont mind tipping when i want to but it seems you have to tip no matter what, i found this hard to do as they left my father inlaw another man and 2 children in the sea as the boat drove away and we had to shout at the captain to turn around, this was beacuse firstchoice had overbooked the trip and didnt tell the captain of the boat because we were over health and safty numbers, we even told the rep our dad wasnt on the boat but she happend to find someone else with the same name and assumed was him, i think she was more interested in her tan. oh and a young girl fell over and broke her arm and there was no first aider on board.
i found the food ok for me my wife and our kids the only problem was that it was the same thing over and over but you could mix things up a bit. a couple of people were sick in our group my daughter was ill for a couple of days with diaorrhea and my dad came home ill for about a week but i did tell him to perhaps lay off the sea food.
my personal biggest problem with the holiday was the holiday goes themselves. im not a rich person nor am i a snob i had to work hard to get the money for my holiday and there just seemed to be a lot of larger groups who started drinking early in the morning and carried on till late in the evening leaving their kids to run riot.
i understand that people go on holiday to have fun and enjoy themselves but i think getting drunk/rude/aggresive and swearing in front of other peoples kids is a bit much. (especially as the holiday villages are designed for kids)
we went to aqua fantasy in turkey last year and even tho the climate is nothing like egypt i would go there again for the service and amenities.
to sum it all up it was ok the weather and sea is great the people and hotel themselves let it down, if you are thinking of booking and are not willing to sit with naff entertainment while surrounded by overly drunk groups then avoid.
ps the only reason i have rated the beach low is because its more of a shell beach than sand and the kids can only paddle for about 200 meters untill its deep enought to swimm

4 readers found this review helpful

good points: clean, good food, freindly staff, nice pool, amazing snorkelling, nice gardens, pool only closed twice due to kids being sick.beach clean and water crystal clear
bad points: use of sewerage water for the gardens stinks awful, hassel from vendors outside hotel, but also from the in house masseurs. dissapointed with the dervice at the a la carte mediteranean. the beach is not really sant, its sharp gravel.

13 readers found this review helpful

I stayed at this hotel with my husband and two young daughters. Admittedly, it wasn't exactly what i was expecting, but it was a great holiday. My babies loved it! Which is what the holiday was for, the children.
My daughter is 9 months old and very petit for her age and I found the highchairs too big for her, despite being able to sit unaided, she was constantly having to be sat back up, as she would slip down. The straps were too large and also quite dirty. I would definately recommend taking a travel booster seat/chair which you know your little one will be comfortable in (I really wish I had taken mine), I ended up feeding my daughter in her buggy, which is now a mess! Take your toddler's own cutlery as no small cutlery is provided nor are there plastic plates for the little ones which would have been handy but not essential.
We booked a room with a kids den so that our 2 and half year old would sleep better. But, without realising the bed's in the kids den are bunk beds with permanent stairs to the top bunk, quite a hazard for an ambitious toddler. We ended up wrapping a quilt around the steps to stop her attempting to climb them. Also, we had hoped the babies cot would be in the kids den, but the cot is two wide to fit through the door and so she was in the room with us. The room was big, plenty of space. A lot of hanging space, but only 3 drawers, which made unpacking a little tight. No BATH in a kids den! just a shower. Wish I had booked a baby bath.
Na'aama Bay isn't somewhere I would be visiting again and I wouldn't recommend going there. It's just full of tourist type shops and a few restaurants. We were constantly hassled by taxi drivers and of course the shop owners, but I didn't find them rude or aggressive in fact quite the opposite, but it was just annoying.
None of us were ill during our stay, except for a slight upset tummy for half a day, which I think was more to do with not drinking enough water.
We did experience someone pooing in the pool, but this was on our last day (hour) and so didn't affect our holiday. I don't know if it was on purpose or an accident, but there was certainly children who weren't wearing proper swim nappies. Although, despite the pool staff acting immediately and stating it would take about an hour to clean the pool, I don't think I would have been able to put my two babies (or myself) back in.
The beach! Hmmm! It's a coral beach, which means a lot of hard coral and not a lot of sand. Footwear is needed by all. No building sand castles or digging big holes. The beach next door had more sand and I would have happily sat there for the day, but as it's for another resort this wasn't allowed. I can only assume the sand is bought in and First Choice don't see the need to do this. Very disapointed by the beach.
The hotel is clean, although it is quite tired and could definately do with a makeover. The staff are great and fixed any issues within the hour or reporting them. The food was a little hit & miss but we all managed to find something to eat at all three times of the day. The First Choice creche staff were great. My two loved going and were always happy when we went to collect them. Great service that I would happily recommend.
We will definately be going back to Sharm, but will do some further research before booking. The Red Sea Holiday Village is ok, but I wouldn't but it as my first choice for my next stay.

28 readers found this review helpful

Went on holiday with my husband and two children 7 and 9 and my parents. After arriving it was a bit confusing getting to our rooms and having our suitcases delivered as this was left to one person to sort ! Apart from that though our room was fab - by far the biggest we have had and the kids loved their den. The food was really nice and the restaurant was clean and well organised all the trays were fully stocked - great idea to have the two sittings. I was also pleasantly suprised as to the quality of the 'a la carte' restaurants - but book early to ensure availability. The pool was kept clean and Elam was very attentive with bringing drinks to our sunbeds ! Abraham did a great job of decorating our beds and umbrella on mine and my daughter's birthday as well. As for the first choice staff they were amazing always jolly and available 24/7 my daughter Tiegan loved Matt and Lianne from Razmatazz - and Brandon enjoyed the footy although a bit too hot !! The beach was great too and the snorkelling was amazing. All in all one our best holidays - I am sure there were people ther who didn't enjoy it, but for what if offered it met the mark on all counts and luckily the previous pool closures didn't affect us - glad the hotel took the heavy hand they did to resolve ! Make sure you take money to tip - that is the only downside you tip for everything although Emil our housekeeper was worth every penny !! Would recommend the Sinai stargazing trip - but beware if you travel out of the hotel you get hassled constantly. Nama Bay is nice for an evening go at 5ish and eat at Hard Rock Cafe and leave by 9 when it gets too busy if you have Kids. Enjoy !!

15 readers found this review helpful

My partner and i have just arrived back from the holiday village. The hotel was kept spotless and our room was cleaned everyday to a high standard. Our cleaner was great he made us things on our bed with the towels an elephant, crocodile, cammel and much more. The food was lovely and always lots of choice, the ala cart restaurants were very good and was a nice change to sit down and be served. Our holiday did not start very well, we paid for a jaquzzi suit when we were booking and when we arrived we were given a room with out a jaquzzi. When we rang reception who were very abrupt about it told us that they no longer alow first choice to sell these rooms, and that we had to take it up with them. As it was late there was no reps to speak to, the following morning when speaking to a rep we were told that the jaquzzi's dont work and that we had paid for the room we were given, this was defonately not what we were told when booking the holiday. Therefore we settled in our room very confused about the situation. Then near to the end of our holiday we were speaking to another couple who had a jaquzzi room and they told us they worked fine. This made us very angry and we will be ringing first choice tomorrow. The room we were given was great it had a sea and pool view which was handy for a morning putting our towels out which we didnt mind doing. The towel situation was bad but considering how big the complex was, it is to be expected that you have to get up early to reserve a sun bed. My partner and I did suffer from dihorea we dont belive it was from the food but the sea water is very salty and we were out in it alot and the pool water was not always clean. We did have 1 time where a child had pooed in the pool but they did not have the correct swimming bottoms on which is shocking when there is so much to choose from for nappys to use in the water. This is obviously not the hotels fault. Thre pool was only closed for about an hour and a half which didnt bother us. The staff could not do enough for you. The pool bar staff were great they work very long hours but still are very happy to serve you and do not expect a tip all of the time. When we were tipping £1 is enough and once you have tipped them they come and make sure your ok all of the time. The only staff we found ignorant was the reception staff they just acted as though they couldnt be bothered to serve you.
The snorkerling is something that you must do, its amazing what you see.
All in all we really enjoyed our holiday and are looking to go back

12 readers found this review helpful

We have just returned from Egypt, this was our 2nd time at this hotel and it was just as good as last time. We work hard all year so the chance of having to do nothing except sunbathe, swim and eat is definitely something we looked forward to and we were not disappointed. Food was good and plenty of it with a wide variety for everyone. The rooms were big and catered for all we needed. We had a conjoined room in block 10 which was close to the quiet pool which was ideal. The big pool we found got very crowded with loud music everyday. All the staff were very friendly especially Ahmed the bar man at the quiet pool.any minor issues we had were resolved very quickly.The beach gets very hot so only went late in the afternoon but was lovely for snorkelling.Would definitely go back again. no issues with any illnesses either and there were 5 of us.Entertainment was good in the evening for the little ones.We went for the chinese restuarant and it was very nice. The quiet pool was very clean. Cannot really find anything to complain about to be honest- only that we had to come home. Sharm airport is very very expensive so buy food from shops to take with you on the flight home!!

8 readers found this review helpful

We have just returned back th the uk after a week in Red Sea Holiday Village and after reading all the bad press that this place had i was not looking forward to it at all !!! I have a boy aged 11 and a girl aged 9, We got there and got an upgrade and we could not fault the room at all!
The food is good there is a pasta station a roast station a pizza station and the is enough to stop the fussy kids moaning at you!!
The First chice reps are out of this world and are all really friendly, The evening entertainment for the kids is really good party dancing,panto,and loads of other things too much to name all of them!!
I think First chice needs to sell it self more as anyone who has been to a holiday village with kids could tell you that you would go back any time but and it is a a big BUT .......sunbeds!!! You do need to get your sun beds early if you want shade we went down at six every morning and we got shade!!!