Sonesta Club Sharm El Sheikh - Naama Bay

Just got back from our first visit to Egypt and after reading the reviews of others we were a bit worried but we shouldn t have been, the rooms were spacious and really clean, the cleaning man Alaa was fantastic and he made our stay more enjoyable.
The weather was fantastic and the the pool area was spacious but the guys working in the upper pool bar wern't the best mannered slamming the drinks down on the bar looking bored out of their skulls.
We went all inclusive which meant we got local wines, spirits, soft drinks and beer free but not ice creams or lollies which was dissapointing as we have a 5 year old daughter who would have enjoyed them,the meals were ok if a little repetative the only down side was lack of different meals for kids, they must have thought that all children lived on chips chicken and beef burger thingies, one piece of advice tip a waiter early and he is yours for the duration of your stay meaning drinks waiting for you as you sit at your table.
All in all a very enjoyable stay if you like a quite holiday with very little night life and entertainment on site.

I took my family (Wife and two sons age 5 & 8) to Sharm el Sheikh's Sonesta Club Hotel on April 27th 2008 for 2 weeks. We stayed all inc and we had a great time.
The Hotel is immaculate and is constantly being cleaned and maintained. The grounds are lovely, with lush lawns, flowers and palm trees everywhere. There are many pools to choose from and all are spotless. At peak times sunbeds are in demand so if planning a day by the pool then get your towels out pretty early.
The rooms are nice but very basic and are cleaned with towels changed daily if required. There is a mini fridge available.
The pool bar serves local beers, spirits, cocktails and fizzy drinks. It has a selection of cakes and pastries and at certain times serves fresh pizzas. The drinks are served in small plastic glasses and the bar staff are usually rushed off their feet serving them so dont expect to be served the perfect pint because you will be disappointed.
Their is a relaxing bedouin area at the back of the pool bar with low benches and tables and Sheesha pipes on offer. (10 LE) Tip the staff and they will look after you.
The restaurant is usually very busy at meal times and it serves a variety of foods. A big Salad bar is always available. Omlette chef at breakfast time, Pasta chef at dinner. There is a selection of cereals for kids. Coffee, Tea, beers and wine are available as well as soft drinks. Selection changes evry evening and food was good quality but buffet style sevice. There is also a vast range of cakes and pastries on offer but no ice creams. staff are freindly and helpful and more so if tipped.
There is also a few large water slides located at the new section of the hotel.
Reception staff spoke very good English and were extremely helpful.
Dont pay more than 10 LE for a taxi into Naama bay. 30 LE Old Sharm, 80 LE airport.
Stock up on water and drink plenty.
Use the private Sonesta beach and get a timetable of the courtesy bus. Snacks and cold drinks are available at the beach for All inc guests.
Watch out for the many Russian tourists, they have NO manners, are arrogant and often push in front of you at meal times, at reception, and whilst walking through doorways. the Egyptian staff really dislike them a lot.
Good value holiday with the only real gripe being the poor service at the main pool bar and the quality of the drinks. If they get that part sorted then no problems at all (apart from the Russians that is!)
Enjoy!

1 reader found this review helpful

Had a fantastic time at the Sonesta Club! Hotel clean, Rooms spotless, staff great (really like the english)...if you tips the waiters, especially in the restuarant, they can't do enough for you (keep filling your drinks up before you have even finished the last)! I am a fussy eater but thought the food was brilliant, something different every night, fresh pasta everynight cooked with a sauce and ingredients of your choice, fresh meat(beef, chiken, fish etc),salads etc, i was very pleased with the food, didn't get bored once...puddings delicious too...this is the second time for me in Egypt and was slightly poorly the first time but this time i had no problems at all, bottled water is available, you get tokens from reception, can have as much as you want...dont drink or brush your teeth in the tap water!
Only bad thing is the entertainment, okay for young children if they like to join in but nothing really for adults...need to make your own entertainment :) we prefer it quieter anyway!
Some people complained about the groundsmen(cutting the lawns, watering plants etc) saying they were noisy but they are only doing there job and the hotel wouldn't look as good if they didn't!
Glad we didn't pay extra to stay in Sonesta Beach...the beach isn't great, very busy, but great for snorkelling! We tended to stay by the pool, which was very clean! No need to take towels as there is a towel service at the side of each pool where your allocated one towel card per person at the start of the holiday and you can get a clean one everyday! Pools great, nice and big, three big water slides too!
Not far from the town, you can walk straight through Sonesta Beach onto the promenade and walk along the sea front into Nama Bay, a nice walk on an evening...we walked along the road the first night and taxis just beep constantly wanting to take you into town, but it is only a ten minute walk away...if you do get a taxI, ALWAYS get a price before you get in! Nama Bay is very busy, they do hassle you into bars and shop but just be polite and say 'NO THANKYOU' and keep walking and they will leave you alone, if you do stop and talk before you know it your in a shop and buying something you didn't really want! A lot of places want you to sign guest books...my advice is don't go in (they will say have a free drink, its egyptian hospitality but then if you don't buy anything can become quite aggressive...we ended up in this situation and felt quite intimidated), not all are like this but some are, understandably they are trying to make a living but they see the english as being rich and if we were living in Egypt we would be but we don't and living costs are different back in England but i dont think they completely understand that!
Went to the Pyramids by plane,really enjoyed it, a long day but glad ive been! Told that Luxor was good too but didn't get chance to go there!
Would definately come back to this hotel, had a great holiday!

This hotel was lovely overall, nothing special about it but for a cheap all inclusive id say it was pretty good.The rooms were lovely and very clean our room was quite far from main restuarant and pool but that didnt bother us.The hotel was building a new pool during our stay but we didnt ever hear noise or get disrupted during our 2 week holiday and i belive the work was due to be completed by christmas 07.The all inclusive wasnt bad breakfast was probally the best meal of the day but all meals were generally ok again nothing special about it. To get to the beach you have to cross a very busy road so not ideal if you have children although they did put on a shuttle bus that ran every ten minuites if it wasnt full.The beach was small but very nice and the water is the clearest i have ever seen and the fish are just beautful.Staff at the hotel are ok they didnt speak much but were never rude and if we had a question they didnt mind helping.

1 reader found this review helpful

Well from the last 2 reviews I can definately say that the food was Great!!
Such a good choice all round, from salads, to pasta, pizza, soup, loads of dessert and different types of bread. You could get fed from first thing in the morning till late at night.
The restraurant staff where exceptionally nice, we had a table reserved for us on several occassions.
The health spa was very good value around £35 for 2 hour session including massage and when we went back for a second session it cost £25.
Entertainment was not that great but ok so long as you had a few drinks!!!
Only complaint was that we was charged on checking out for a chair that was apparently broken on the patio, we didnt even use the patio so no way could we have broken it - we was charged £5.00 not much but not the point.
Drinks in the night club are very expensive - get drunk before you get there.
All in all me and my friend had a great time and we would go back again!!!

i am a 20 year old female, i visited sharm last year. It was amazing and very hot. i enjoyed it so much that i am going again this year in may and staying in the same hotel!! The food was different but your in a different county what do u expect, but there was also something for you to eat..
The hotel is so clean and tidy you cant fault it one tiny bit, the rooms are cleaned every day to a very high standard. There is only a struggle for a sun bed if you go out after dinner.
There were some building works going on but that didnt effect the holiday one bit as the never worked out of hours. (so it didnt disturb you).The pools are very big with very good entertiment. i also heard that another has been added!
The hotel is 10 min drive from the airport so no long tavels. Egypt is still a developing country so it isnt so commercialised, which is a good thing. (no blackpool with sun, like some places!lol).
narma bay is less than a drive away, but there are plenty of bars and resturants to suit everyones needs.
Any one will enjoy it as long as your not a complete moaner!!!
anyone going on holiday enjoy!!!! coz i sure will.

we went to the sonesta club hotel in augest 07 the weather was very hot, very friendly staff. the rooms were terrible, but were very clean. they serve beer and soft drinks in plastic cups, which were very warm all the time. the only things which was included with the all inclusive deal was the meals and the pool bar drinks, ice cream, ice lollies, ect you had to pay for. there is no entertainment what so ever. except 1 hour at night. they stop serving the free drinks at 11pm.

this is the first time i have ever bothered to write a review, iam a 23 yr girl, and normally has better things to do, !
this hotel is definatly 4*, big clean, lovely rooms, couldnt knock it, BUT the food was awful, iam not a fussy eater, but it really was. i ate out most nights.
i have been on many hols , to many countries, but egypt is somewere i honestly would not recommend.put it one way every english person on my flight home, said they wud never come back.
i have rated 4 cus hotel lovely, just not the actually place.
3 main big reasons, namma bay is the most mivering road i have ever walked down, you get truly harrased, they do your head in.i want peace on my hol, not to get bombaded.
next reason THEY RIP YOU OFF. IT S THE MOST EXSPENSIVE PLACE I HAVE EVER BEEN,
last reason, unless you eat at macdonalds, kfc or pizza hut, your food is disgusting, and makes you very ill.
my advice, go somewere else, iam not a moaner, iam easily pleased, but defo not wiv this place.

Well I'll start on a positive note, the hotel was very spacious and extremely clean. There was one very nice member or staff, sorry but that it's. We went for Christmas and Egypt gets very cold at night and if you go the same time of year don't go to Sonesta Club, the only all inclusive drinks are outside bars.
The food was up there with the worst food I've ever had, day after day mush after mush but the food in Naama Bay is awesome and very cheap so if you was going self catering it wouldn't harm you. They also rip you off if you pay for drinks in the hotel up to 4 pounds a drink and they even charged me 6 pounds to use internet for 1 hour. I have to add that Egypt is fantastic the beaches are incredible but for all inclusive don't go to this hotel.

We've just returned from a week’s holiday at the Sonesta Club in Sharm El Sheikh.
The hotel was clean - armies of workers busy themselves around the grounds early in the mornings mopping and sweeping.
The waiting staff were friendly and helpful - you will find they are even more helpful for a daily tip of 20 Egyptian pounds (or about £2). If you start tipping as soon as you get there, you'll find it oils the wheels and makes your stay more pleasurable; but you don't need to tip everyone, just stick to one waiter and they'll seek you out when you arrive at the restaurant and see you alright.
The food is ok but all inclusive food is rarely fantastic and as the hotel caters for so many different nationalities the choice for fussy young children was limited, but we got by.
There are acres of swimming pools but if you are travelling in the winter months, there are only two heated pools. They were still never overcrowded when we were there.
If you need the beach, you can use the sister hotel across the road - ten minutes walk at the most. The beach is small but again wasn't ever overcrowded.
The room was tidy and the unusual problem with our plumbing was sorted out eventually but you need to keep on at them as an Egyptian five minutes is in reality quite a bit more.
Overall I would definitely recommend the Sonesta Club.
PS If you ever get a cab, agree the price before the journey. The cabs at the hotel are the cheapest and if you go to Naama Bay don't get a return cab off the rank. Just walk twenty yards in the direction of your hotel and a travelling cab will pull over and stop to see if you want a lift. It worked out as being half the price. If you need to get a cab from the airport to the Sonesta Club, it should only cost about 100 l.e. The cabs at the airport will try to charge anything from 200 - 400. Bless them; we all need to make a living.
Happy hols.