We stayed at the Holiday Village with our 2 year old daughter for a week and totally loved it!! We were sad when it was time to come home! We have booked to go back this November - CANT WAIT!!!

After reading some of the previous reviews we didnt know what to expect but DO NOT WORRY - YOU WILL HAVE A FANTASTIC TIME!!!!!!!

We booked a Jacuzi junior suite which was fantastic - Room was a very good size as was the bathroom and wardrobe space!!! For this year we have booked the swim up rooms which look fantastic!! Although we did think about booking the standard room as we spent very little time in outr room and the standard rooms are still a very good standard!!

The food was amzing - we were very surprised - Plenty of choice and even my partner was pleased and he can be quite fussy!! Also plenty choice for wee ones!! We visited all the A'lacarte restaraunts they were all very good!! Our Favourite was Bamboo the Chinese !!

The staff at the hotel are all so friendly - all always smiling and happy to help you in any way!!

Our daughter was too young to try out the Kids clubs but all the other kids always seemed to be happy!! When we return we will def try her at the clubs!!

We had a great time and cant wait to go back!!

Enjoy xx

Holiday Village Red Sea
11th Dec 2008 to 25th Dec2008

Here is my report from our recent holiday

Arrival: Didn’t buy a visa at airport so we were pretty quick at airport. We arrived at the hotel
about 7pm, check in was pretty quick. Second drop off point after the airport. We were shown
to our rooms without our luggage which was fine but when I tipped the guy a £1 he asked me for
“5 English pounds”. I refused. I soon discovered English pounds are there favourite words in
Egypt.

Standard Rooms: NO BUGS. We had two standard ground floor rooms with a connecting door
(Block 10 next to quiet Pool with pool view). The rooms were large with Satellite TV (no kettle,
£4.00 per day for hire). Shower’s red hot….great.
The beds were like bricks but this didn’t bother me. (Ask for Z bed if unhappy). Yes, the
workmanship is poor but it doesn’t affect your holiday.

Jacuzzi Rooms: Smaller than standard rooms and the Jacuzzi didn’t have hot water. Its cold at
night in Egypt. You do get a housecoat and slippers

Swim up rooms: Pools are freezing in the winter. NO ONE went into these pools due to the cold.

Housekeeping: Everywhere is cleaned by males some good some not so good. I had one swan
made from a towel in 2 weeks, a bit disappointed especially when I had tipped him £10.00 on
our arrival.

Beach: Building site sand but beautiful clear water with loads of fish waiting to be fed. Walk
along the pontoon and feed the fish, its amazing. Bar, Trampolines, climbing frame and volley
ball on the beach. If you walk along the next pontoon that belongs to the Grand Azure you get to
the end and then get kicked off it. It’s a long long walk, so remove your AI band before you go to
the pontoon. If you refuse to leave they call security.

Restaurant: Lots of choice but a bit repetitive. Typical A.I.

Hotel Grounds: Are really beautiful with plenty flowers, well maintained. Big place, nice pools.

Hotel Staff: Everyone is really nice and even nicer when you tip them. Tip the bar guy and you
will be served drink all day & night without moving. Tip the towel guy and you will have beds
every morning. Well worth the tip.

Hotel Costs: Internet £1.50 per 15min (slow connection), no discount for an hr.

Newspapers: £4.00 (Yesterdays Sun, Mirror etc). The guy who sells them refused a tip from me
when he helped my son who had been injured. That was a first…lol.

Zip wire & Ropes: £20.00 per person

Hotel bus to Naama bay: £1 per head, one way.

Beach Pedalos: £15.00 per hr

Beach Camels: £5.00 per ride and doesn’t go very far. Camel man is very friendly though. I fed
his camels fruit and veg everyday. Very friendly camels too.

Entertainment: If you have small children then they will have a ball. A bit boring for us adults
and teens.

Quad Biking local price: Single £17.50 and doubles £20.00. Fantastic time, remember your scarf
and glasses

Swimming with Dolphins with Aquarius Diving: 15min swim with dolphins plus a show, £75.00
per head, every age. First Choice doesn’t do this tour.

First Choice swimming lessons: £30 in resort or £22 prebooked for five 1/2hr lessons. Girls are
really nice. You can have private lessons too. Lessons are held in the quiet pool.

First Choice to Cairo: By bus, £60 by plane, £170. You see 4 pyramids and get to spend 15min at
each one. It’s a long journey by bus which leaves early hours 1 or 2am.

Accident: One day my son was hit on the head with a rock at the beach. Within
minutes management had arrived and whisked us off in a golf cart to the doctor who works in
the hotel. While examining and cleaning my son’s bleeding head the doctor explained everything
to the manger who translated everything into English. That was a first class service that never
cost me a penny. Thank you Holiday Village.

Outside Hotel: To the left there are shops, bars and a supermarket that sells everything (good
prices). To the right there are shops, KFC, McDonalds, Starbucks and further along is Burger King
and a large supermarket. Be prepared to be harassed to death especially women. Sorry Egypt
but its true. They do have laws against it, so complain at the hotel/police if not happy.

Theft: I have travelled all round the world and never had anything stolen before. First night we
arrived my camcorder was left on the bus or on top of our luggage (never seen again). Same
night my son left his brand new flip flops at reception (never seen again). Three days into our
holiday someone took my sons new sweater from our terrace (never seen again). A week into
our holiday, I caught an English couple stealing my Christmas decorations from the trees next to
our apartments. No excuse as we were the only family to have decorations on our trees and
patio doors, shame on you. To top it all off, three days before we were leaving we discovered
that 4 t-shirts and a pair of jeans had been stolen from our Wardrobe in the ROOM.
Management said they would speak to the housekeeper and have his room searched; he never
got back in contact with us again. This was all reported to the First Choice Rep’s. Apparently
there is a lot of stealing going on in this resort by tourists and staff, so beware.
A first choice rep had £1500 stolen from her office the week before we arrived and another rep
had money stolen from her ROOM. A couple we met had there inflatable items stolen from their
terrace so remember your magic marker pen.

Reporting a Theft: I was advised by the reps, management, interpreter and the local police to lie
about how the items were taken/lost. If you accuse someone then you won’t get your report
from the police there and then as they have to investigate it and that can take some time even
after you have gone home. Or is this there way of keeping the crime rate in Holiday Village and
Sharm down?
The police station is next to the Coral Sea resort which is next door to the Holiday Village but you
still have to get a taxi and tip the Service Air guy (Interpreter). First Choice don’t take anything to
do with it..Typical. The officers I spoke to were very nice and didn’t undress me with their eyes.

Best bit: The weather and the quads
Worst bit: Harassment by the local men and the hotel thieves. Plus the dish washer damaged
plastic glasses that look as if they have been kicked up and down the beach…honestly. I binned
several while there..

We stayed at the holiday village between 11th and 25th December and it is the best holiday we have ever had.. It even beats our 2 weeks in Cuba. The room was huge with great views and was constantly cleaned. The overall cleanliness of the hotel was 100%. The facilities at the hotel were fantastic with lots to do throughout the day and night including camels on the beach to have a ride on. We found the main buffett resturaunt brilliant with a large variety of food to choose from. The Chinese and Indian were ok but the Mediterranian was by far the nicest food and is well recommended. We spent most of our time around the heated pool which was great for the kids and was great for the adults as Ahmed the barman was constantly supplying us with drinks. We would like to give a big thankyou to Mohamran who was an outstanding waiter and made our two weeks stay even more enjoyable with a constant supply of drinks and extremely friendly attitude. First Choice were brilliant and very helpful if you had any queries, especially Sue the Manager and the evening entertainment guys were great fun . A big thanks to Simon and Adam for sorting out the Birthday surprise for my boyfriend. "Good luck to you guys, wherever you go next". First Choice had plenty of trips to choose from and we chose the red sea cruise. Well worth the money and a great day out. If you decide to go to the Holiday Village over the Christmas period you will not be dissapointed as our Christmas Eve Gala dinner and evening entertainment was made so special by all the staff that we didint want to come home. It was by far the best christmas that we have ever had. The Hotel even put stockings from santa on the bed for the children which brought tears to both mine and my boyfriends eyes. We found the whole experience absolutely amazing and told the management that we will be back for xmas 2009. They have vowed to better our experience. We cant wait to go back. We strongly recommend this hotel to anybody who is looking for a family holiday to Egypt. We would never go to any other hotel now. One thing that we would say that you may read on other peoples feed back is that there are a few rude russians but not as many as we expected and for us we found that the rudest and most ignorant people were infact the English which was a dissapointment given the effort that the Egyptians go to, to make your holiday perfect.

A HUGE THANKYOU TO ALL THE STAFF, MANAGEMENT AND FIRST CHOICE AT THE HOLIDAY VILLAGE RED SEA SHARM EL SHEIKH. SEE YOU IN 12 MONTHS.

My boyfriend and I spent a week at the Holiday Village Red Sea over Christmas. We booked the holiday three days before we went and got a very very cheap deal, I found that teletext holidays were the cheapest for hotels in Sharm by far!
The Hotel is only a 10 minute transfer from the airport, we did know that this hotel is very popular with families so we were not surprised by the amount of children at the hotel but if you were hoping for a quiet romantic holiday then I would choose another hotel. If I had children I would defiantly go back to this hotel but for a young couple there was not much entertainment, this we would not have minded if the area surrounding the hotel had more to offer. The taxi journey to Naama Bay was about 20 minutes, please do not use the Hotel Taxi service they charge £150 Egyptian Pounds (return) instead of £70 -£100 depending on how much you haggle with the blue and white taxis at the gated entrance of the hotel. The area of the hotel is called Nabq and is still being hugely developed so there are no bars or restaurants outside the hotel and you get hassled a lot more than the Egyptians in Naama Bay.
The food at the hotel was as expected of an All Inclusive, fantastic for children and for people not so adventurous, but we found it to be quite repetitive so we eat out 3 times and the tokens you get for the A La Carte restaurants were good, although we did not go to the Chinese as we had heard bad reviews. I think the breakfast was the best as there was a lot of choice including an Egg Station where they made omelets and eggs to your liking.
The best place for shopping is the Old Market which is a 10 minute Taxi from Naama Bay and you should only pay £20 LE for this journey. Everything here is a lot cheaper than either Naama Bay or Nabq, there is also a fantastic restaurant that we went to called the Red Sea, it is at the entrance of the Old Market, the fish and shellfish are amazing and is also very cheap! They do not sell alcohol but you can by cheap beer or wine from the off license opposite and take it with you. Defiantly the place to go if you like seafood.
The Hotel was incredibly clean and well maintained, the gardens were spectacular, and the bedrooms were a very good size and the beds huge! One of my sun creams leaked in my bag so I used the laundry service and my clothes had never been so clean and looked like brand new! If you have any clothes that have a stain that you can’t get out take it with you as they charge 70p per item and they are incredibly good! The staff are very helpful and make the stay enjoyable by going out of their way to make you comfortable.
Please do not buy any of the tours from the reps at the Hotel, some are more than double the price that we paid for. We organized ours at a shop in Naama Bay but if you turn left out of the Hotel there is a little hut shop that organizes them as well. We went on a Snorkeling trip to Tiran Island which was fantastic although if you have small children it may not be perfect as you are on the boat for 4/5 hours and the sea was quite rough. Tiran Island is the best for snorkeling and Ras Mohammed is the best for diving. We also went Quad Biking through the desert which is a must, best time to go is in the afternoon at about 3pm so you can then watch the sunset and drive in the dark.

Conclusion: If you have children then this hotel is perfect and all the children seemed to really enjoy themselves. The Egyptians are incredibly nice people and I will defiantly go back although I will stay somewhere a lot closer to Naama Bay. You will be ill if you have ice in your drinks otherwise you should be fine neither of us was ill and we eat salad/fruit and vegetables you save a huge amount of money not having to pay for food and drinks but I would definitely recommend going out for dinner as it is a very pleasant experience. Overall the holiday was very good, I have no complaints about the hotel but I did not enjoy the surrounding area, reward a good service by tipping but do not feel pressured into giving people money, if you say La Shukrum which is No Thank you they will leave you alone.