Reviews of Flamenco Beach Resort Hotel, Marsa Alam, Egypt

Fab, Fab, Fab

Overall Rating:

10/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Sep 2008

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Super Pol

Comments:

Top marks for this hotel / resort.

We travelled to Marsa Alam in Sept ’08, we had our original holiday (10 days in Namma Bay) cancelled due to XL airlines going bust.
This was the closest they could get us (7 nights in MA) we had a very low thoughts about the place, being in the middle of nowhere, Resort hotel stuck in one place.
When we arrived we were greeted with drinks and our check in took all of about 3 minutes (takes longer in UK hotels !) our bags were deposited in our room and not a sniff of a beg for a tip from the porter.
The week then continued to amaze us, from the glorious well maintained walk ways (swept 4 times a day !) to extensive breakfast / lunch and dinners, everyone’s palette was catered for with a wide and well known selection of goodies and a few new ones I had never seen.
The Beach was a stones throw from our room, and so well kept that at 4pm every day a group of employed locals in uniform would walk the length of the beach clearing all the rubbish / water bottles / cigarette butts away – I have NEVER seen this done before.
We had towel origami left for us each day, it’s the little touches, and such helpful staff we could not sing their praises enough. Tip – Take your Crocs or some safe/sturdy water friendly shoes if you want to wade into the Lagoon to snorkel or swim – you won’t get far without footwear!!!!
The restaurant staff deserve a special mention as they really made our holiday – I was stirring my coffee one morning with a dessert spoon as it was all I could find, I felt something on my hand and a waiter gently removed it and replaced it with a tea spoon – no hassle, no drama, just quietly and politely!
We were slightly apprehensive of the evening entertainment, we’ve been to places where it’s bingo or nothing! But we got to the Ali Baba Tent to find a lighting rig and stage arrangement. One night there was a magician, next a traditional dancer, next a David Blane type act (bed of nails / glass walking etc) Acrobats, not a sniff of bingo ! Really impressive !
The Bedrooms are basic and twin rooms are twin single beds (rather than the usual advertised “twin” but you get a double bed instead), it was so well cleaned that to be honest all you need is somewhere to hang your clothes and sleep and wash !
If booking ask to go on the 2nd or 3rd floor as the ground floor can be where you get the people traffic, and very noisy, also the patio doors are not particularly secure, so if you are worried about things like this then best to book a higher room.
The one and only down part to the entire stay was the bar manager and his waiter at the Ali Baba. Being two girls travelling on our own, we are used to getting a bit of unwanted attention, but these guys took it too far. They asked us to leave the Resort and go to the local café with them, ‘but don’t tell anyone’ they said, oh ‘and we know your room number’. Very worrying ! They didn’t leave us alone all night, and we had to leave with some other guests – so please be careful if you are ladies. We did inform the hotel manager via our suggestions form and feedback forms – so hopefully something will be done about this type of behaviour. All the other staff were professional, friendly, fun and lovely to be around.

We took a day trip to Luxor – very well priced, £55. It’s a very long day, up at 5am back at 10.30pm ! But my god it is worth it, so don’t be put off (take your pillow on the bus with you – it’s a godsend when you just want to rest your head!!). Our rep also told us to take some toilet roll with us on the trip as you sometimes have to pay for a sheet at a time in public areas while out visiting. Very good bit of advice!!!

Great hotel, exceptional value money, clean, beautiful beach, and would definitely consider going back for a lazy week, and that I feel is the biggest compliment you can give a hotel !

We booked a last minute holiday...

Overall Rating:

7/10

Board Basis:

Full Board

Date of Holiday:

Sep 2008

Tour Operator:

Thomas Cook

Submitted By:

Mrs N Green

Comments:

We booked a last minute holiday to the Flamenco Beach hotel after reading reviews on trip advisor. We had previously visited the Sheraton Soma Bay last March (5*), and loved it. This hotel is definately a mid range 4*. I travelled with my husband and three years old daughter and experienced no problems (health or otherwise) at all.

We booked full board after reading that the hotel was in a remote area and didn't want the hassle of having to pay a huge bill on checkout for food.

My general impressions were good overall, however there were a few issues.

The hotel is located in a peaceful area, and directly on it's own beach. It also has it's own diving centre, which is very well managed and run. We were impressed with the cleanliness of the hotel in both the bedrooms and resort area in general. The resort is ideal for divers, families with young children and couples. There is nothing to do here if you are looking for a lively nightlife. There was a big Italian presence here, and all the entertainments staff were of Italian origin. This was not a problem for us (my husband is Italian himself), and in fact, it may have been why the food was better than expected, although it got pretty repetitive. All meals were served in the main restaurant on the lower ground floor, leading directly out to the gardens and pool. It was buffet food, and every breakfast you could choose from a selection of omeletes, cereals, mini crepe pancakes, toast and Egyptian food, mini danish etc. Lunch and dinner were pretty much the same, although every evening, there was a barbecue on the terrace outside serving a selection of meat, fish dishes and chicken. THe food was of a good standard overall. There is also a beach restaurant serving pizzas, and the fine dining restaurant, which is located on the ground floor, opposite the main reception, and has panoramic views of the resort. If you decide to eat here, you get a discount of 30% (I think) if you are half / full board). The menu is small at lunch, and even worse at dinner (set menu of one starter and one main - We did not eat dinner here as I am a veggie and the main was always a meat dish). We did, however, eat lunch here and the food was fine. There are two ice cream stations, one by the beach and one next to the the fine dining restaurant, serving lovely ice cream.



Niggles/ problems:

Staff in the restaurant are badly managed and seemed to spend a lot of time chatting to themselves or running about in a flap. If you want a drink, order early as it may take 10 minutes to arrive. For the first three days, we were told that we were entitled to a 'free' bottle of water with our at lunch and dinner, but on day 4, we were told that it was not included and had to pay for it. It was very annoying. We also found out that it depended who your tour operator was. With my husband being Italian, they thought we must have been with an Italian tour company and the Italians were getting the 'free' water. There was always a shortage of cereal bowls at breakfast and often guests were having cereals from coffee cups.



Pool area was badly maintained. The water was clean but there were chipped tiles around all of the pools, including the baby pool. Some of the the overflow water drains around the pool were also damaged / broken so you could easily step through one and hurt yourself if you are not watching. You are given 'pool' cards at checkin and use them to get a beach/pool towel. However, If you lose your card, you can't get a towel ...and if you try to get new towel (ie if your towel gets wet or dirty), the staff are really huffy about it.



There was a kids play area on the beach with a couple of baby swings and older kids swings, a slide and a playhouse. Beware: the slide is cracked at the bottom, and the play house has nails coming out of it inside the house, something we luckily discovered before my daughter hurt herself. The advertised 'kids club' was non existent. There was an Italian entertainment girl who I sometimes saw with playing with a couple of kids in the pool, but nothing else. She also had very limited English. There was a mini disco advertised but I have no idea where it was supposed to be (possibly ali baba). It also started at 9.15, which was quite late for my three year old.



There is an 'ali baba' 'club' area located on the outskirts of the resort, which provides music and dancing for those who want it. In our experience, this outdoor club was not well used at all.. apart from this, there is no other organised entertainment. This was not a problem for us as we have a young daughter, but may be for others.



Rooms- perfectly adequate and a good size. However, please note that if you are allocated a room on the ground floor, as we were, the patio doors are not secure at all and can easily be opened from the outside without a key. They This was a bit of a shock to find that you can not effectively 'lock' your doors, so I would reccommend that you make sure that you use the safe in your rooms (key from reception). We never felt that security was an issue but you never know.

If you're after a totally...

Overall Rating:

9/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Feb 2006

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Miss H Graham

Comments:

If you're after a totally relaxing holiday then this is a good choice. The hotel was very clean, and modern, we had a room overlooking the swimming pools and sea. There are 2 main swimming pools, one heated and one not although you would think the one that was heated wasn't! The weather in february was hot but by around half 3 it got a bit cool and the evenings were definitely jumper weather.



The hotel entertainment staff tried their very best to pleased everyone and did a good job of it, there are plenty of activities to choose from such as yoga in the morning sun, volleyball, aqua-aerobics, table tennis, and others. There are no bars or anyhthing near the hotel so unless you go on a day trip you will stay in the resort.



The food is average, lots of selection but its all typical egyptian stuff apart from the a la carte restaurant which you can eat in if you pay a little extra.



All in all a very good holiday, they do diving lessons too but i didn't try them so not sure of prices etc.