Tropicana Grand Azure Resort

Wow, not sure all you other reviewers stayed in the same hotel?? We had a fantastic time - and I was really sceptical before we went, as we normally head off to the Caribbean where the quality has always been fab and we were assuming this wouldn’t even come close.
The hotel was the very last drop off from the airport, which meant we got to peek at all the others on offer - and the Tropicana seemed to more than hold its own! Wouldn’t have wanted to attempt to check in at the Hilton, where arriving guests were told to sit down and not "bother" the harassed staff as they tried to check in hundreds of holidaymakers.
We had a private suite, which was fantastic - the balconies overlooked the sea in one direction and very well maintained, lush gardens in the other.
All-inclusive really meant all-inclusive, which was a bit of a novelty as, of course, so often, it rarely does! There wasn’t a restaurant or a bar we were excluded from, and soft drinks were on tap in the main lobby round the clock, despite the warning in the brochure that drinks were only served from 10am.
The food was a little dull for breakfast and lunch, admittedly (although fresh pizza to keep the kids happy - cooked in an open air oven), but we ate at a different restaurant almost every night. The beach restaurant was just fabulous, choosing your own v. fresh fish for them to BBQ. And the Italian wasn’t bad, plus we tried the Egyptian restaurant (not open every night) and sat on cute little pumpkin style stools, trying out local(-ish) fare.
The entertainment was so bad it was brilliant!! You just had to laugh, esp at the cabaret with a rather dodgy looking bloke and his keyboard, along with two "barbie-doll" singers. He seemed to have learned all his stuff from rather warped tapes, but it was incredibly funny.
The pools were great, both pretty big and not too crowded, with plenty of sun brollies to go round. I didn’t see anyone struggling to find a space. And if you tip the staff even a little, they can’t do enough for you. We weren’t even permitted to carry our own towels to the sunbeds and certainly not to move the sun brollies! There did seem to be loads of beach chairs as well, but we didn’t spend much time there, although the beach itself was lovely, and the backdrop Sinai range breathtaking. Word of warning on the scenery though - this area is like Spain was way back when it was just turning into a major tourist destination - lots of building and a fairly bleak and dusty landscape, but none of it visible from the Azure.
We went back to the rooms every day to find some beautiful creations had been made out of our sarongs or even just the hotel towels, with butterfly shapes and all sorts.
There was a pool/table tennis/more pool bar open in the evenings, really close to the main entertainment, and the kids made loads of friends in there playing with Russian kids particularly.
The hotel is right on the beach, and the water is incredibly shallow so you can just walk right out.
All in all it was a fantastic time. We did take a cab in Naama Bay while we were there to have a peek at the shops - don’t bother to pay the extra for a taxi with air conditioning. We had one, but he wouldn’t turn it on, just opened the windows instead! Made us realise just how hot it actually was!! And don’t buy any jewellery from the hotel shop - the guy in there was pretty miserable for an Egyptian and his prices were way over the top.
You can’t change money at the hotel, so you’ll need to take tipping funds with you, but we came back with most of our cash - it was just impossible to spend money (and that’s from a seasoned serial shopper!!) Although we didn’t do any trips.
We didn’t see any insects when we were there, despite going armed with bottles and bottles of deet, wrist and ankle bands etc. Well, except for a couple of dozy houseflies in the room. No wasps, no mozzies and certainly nothing more sinister.
All in all it was a fantastic holiday. We’re going back to Egypt this year, to a different bit, but we’d have no hesitation in going back to the Tropicana Grand Azure