We arrived home from Baron Resort Hotel on Thursday evening,3rd November, after 2 weeks there and a really lovely holiday.We took the Pemium All Inclusive option. Firstly I need to say how anxious I have been about it after reading many Trip Adviser revues. We were origionally booked at the Baron Palms, my husband and I travelling with our family and 5 grandchildren..eldest 6 and under with the youngest being 5 mths. I had been concerned after reading the bad revues for that hotel due to the Egyptian bug problems they were encountering in September and therefore we changed to Baron Resort...many thanks to T Cook for sorting it too.
I am going to be completely honest as we as a family found it......the flight was cattle class but we survived and sped quite quickly through the airport as we were the only flight in at that time of evening when we arrived.. private transfer and good check in going straight to the rooms and off for late dinner. When we went back to our rooms, ground floor due to Thomas Cook policy for children, we were really pleased as big with nice terrace/balcony overlooking the gardens and sea. They were at the end of the property in a seperate bit at the front of the hotel, next to one of our daughter,son in law and 2 grandchildren so nice for us. The beach was really near as was the pool and good as we didn't have to enter the hotel at all to get to the rooms. Our other daughter,son in law and 3 children were a few rooms away in 2 rooms with comunicating doors. Brilliant rooms, a little jaded,mainly the bathrooms but we enjoyed our time spent in them as the sun went down quite early so had a couple of hours before dinner. Nice big flat screen TV,good AC, kettles and tea/coffee making facitities (kettle nessecary for sterilising for baby) 2 big comfy beds pushed together in our room, great toppers available and put on while we were at dinner, good pillows and a pillow menu but not nessecary as the ones we had were more than fine. The room was cleaned well, fresh bedding daily...sometimes not full amount of towels left and had to ask for shower gel to be replenished. All fine with the room and requests regarding the family rooms made by me to Mr Khaled were met, extremley grateful for that as nothing worse if you arrive late with little ones and problems with beds/cots etc.
The pools a fantastic..perfect for adults and children....gradual walk in main pool so kids loved to play on the edge, lovely to swim in and extremely clean if a little cold second week. They started to heat it on 1st Nov so even better. Aquarobics were great fun done by the animation team....people have said on TA that they are a pain pestering you. We never felt that at all, they were fun and didn't persue it if you said no or didn't pick up on it, there are signs available from the towel stand to put on your bed to say leave in peace. Towels were great and you could change them for dry ones during the day. Our two year old was paddling alone watched by us nearby and one of the pool boys was watching and looked concerned...not always watching though so watch them yourself. The pool is a great depth too as half of it you can stand in ...the other does go deep. There were loads of fab comfy sunbeds,wooden with thick comfy mattresses and plenty of nice clean, sturdy umberellas, tables too. Availability of sunbeds not a problem although as we had young children it was important that we were near the edge of the pool so made sure we were out there early to get them. As the sun went low at 4pm we were out earlier than normal on holiday anyway, so not a problem. This brings me to the weather...absolutley fantastic,30+ everyday but with a breeze which made it perfect and never uncomfortable.
Food.......i'm not a massive buffet person but the family loved it with the children. The Italian Restraunt was lovely...nice decor and a little more special,you can eat there every night but needs reservation...food good too and served beautifully, the Tirimisu is just lovely. The Indian Restraunt was the best i've ever eaten and in such a cute Pavillion by the beach, again fab decor. Service better first time we went than second..quite poor that time,but food no different. You get a voucher per week for this. The Egyptian restraunt is on Baron Boulevard aroung the corner near to Baron Palms, again nice food, mezze starter, great soups and okish mains...lovely pastry puds.The seafood reastraunt is the pool bar by day and our worst meal, mainly as we didn't like the fishy mezze starter and lots of bones in the fish..not great in the dark !! Others more into seafood may love it. The pool bar by day was brilliant for lunches and as we were all inclusive I sort of made my own meals up with the lovely salad choice aswell as sea bass or chicken..the chips are good too. The children loved the food there and everyone enjoyed the meals. The rosé wine was good too and plenty of bottled water, beer fruit juice etc. They serve good milk shakes and have the best chocolate ice cream in all the restraunts there. Little pastries at the bar and toast if you want in the mornings too. The Beach bar is just brilliant...a real big part of our holiday. Lovely circular bar and seating area on decking with afternoon tea served at 4 and a great place to have pre dinner drinks..we ended up there nightly too. The kids loved it in the dark.....Salsa,stretching,yoga, games all done by the animation team. It has a really nice promenade,car free, to walk along for a little way too past the new Sensatory hotel and a couple of good playgrounds for the little ones. Didn't knw about that before so a nice surprise..we chose not to go out of the hotel areas as quite happy . Some have said about the men pestering you on Baron Boulevard but if your polite back they seem to be ok. The one shop we went into the man was really nice and gave small gifts to the children. One fantastic thing for families was the Ampitheatre...kids disco,shows etc , something on nightly. A real must and the Animation team are really good ,taking part,performing andjust being around.
The dreaded Egyptian tummy.............well after freat care taken to not get it,hand sanitiser at the ready at all times,no ice in drinks,bottled water to clean teeth,keeping mouth closed in shower....( good point)....I got it first !!!!! The rest of the adults followed next day. I had been very genned up on this and knew that you have to go to the pharmacy to get their tablets. Once the first tablet was taken things started to get a bit better, we got bad tum pains ,runs but no sickness thank heavens. It became our topic of conversation and you could say bonded us as a family !!!! Yes they are for ecoli,gastroenturitus etc but they work, grin and bear it. Fortunatley none of the children got it and it really wasn't to bad..12hrs and things are a lot better. I was relieved in fact that we had got it over and done with. This had been my main concern but not something to stop me going again.
The beach was lovely although we didn't sit on it...jetty great but wobbly....snorkelling was amazing and free and anytime, just off the end of jetty infront of the hotel. I didn't do it but the others did, no big deal..just nip over and jump in. Always a member of staff there. Tiran Island is lovely to look across to...fab photos.
I'm going to sum it up now...all in all it was a brilliant holiday,the kids were happy so we were happy. The food was great, drink too although not international brands as we know them. Weather the best,pool fab,rooms fab...one thing, a nice bit of freedom for the older children as they could potter a bit nearby to the loo etc.
Critisims would have to be as others have rightly said....no loos on the beach or by Indian restraunt or pool bar. Its a long dark walk at night to the hotel .....its a long walk in daylight too if you have small children. That is one major fault in my eyes. Also some of the staff are quite surly and not of 5* training.....sometimes making you feel stupid even. We have stayed in many 5* hotels and I know that 5* in Egypt is different to Dubai say but still they need a little better training and to be told to be polite, we were always potite and respectful to them.
The staff who made our holiday and deserve a big mention for us were ......
*....Ali in the pool bar and Italian...our little Elsie,2 yrs ,fell in love with him and he was lovely with her and us. Very polite and respectful to us all
*....Amir again in the pool bar and Italian.....always kind,smiley faced and concerned that we had what we wanted. I once said my concoction of a lunch that he brought for me was "bob on "..so from then on he would get me "bob on " !!!!
*....Armie (sorry not sure of spelling) at the beach bar....she was so nice and attentative, kind and lovely with the children....lovely girl.
*....Mohammed at the beach bar was also nice but there were a couple of ones that weren't so helpful there, felt like one in particular was having an obvious laugh at us.
*....Mike in the Animation team was always friendly,sat and chatted and again was lovely with the children
There were others and forgive me if not mentioned
I mustn't forget the washing and ironing service ...fantastic, brought back like new. No washing when we got home ,just a few bits. My daughters loved this...voucher for one bag per person per week. Massage voucher too ..I didn't have it but my poor girls were bruised !!!! Fellas were ok.
I have to say the worst thing was the return journey...private transfer didn't turn up so Thomas Cook person said get hotel taxi to airport and reclaim money there. Hubby managed to do this surprisingly but the airport was heaving, security a nightmare but not good in my opinion...far too many people in the terminal at one time.
All home safe and would love to go back next year.......didn't like the area or airport but hotel perfect and well worth going back for...don't be put off by bad reports.
