Great relaxing holiday for a couple. (Sharm el Sheikh)

Member Name: dagenham

Product:	Sharm el Sheikh
Date:	15/06/09 (64 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sun

Disadvantages: The annoying people that try to sell you stuff

Me and my girlfriend stayed in the Ritz Carlton between the 17th and the 24th of April 2007 and I have to say we had a great time there.

I have read lots of reviews saying how the hotel is not a 5* hotel. Well basically it isn't but you get what you pay for. All the 5* hotels I have stayed in have been roughly £800 a night. This holiday cost £500 with flights. Basically if you want 5* go elsewhere! For the price, the hotel is very good.

Rooms:
We booked a standard room. When we got there we were offered a suite for an extra $80 a night but decided to stay in our room originally booked. The room was probably a 3* room though. It wasn't very nice at all. The showers were not power showers and were like running water out of a shower head.
The view was rubbish but you did have a little garden you could sit in if you want. The TVs are pretty poor but the selection of channels are really good. Whenever we were in our rooms getting ready we always found something to watch. The beds were nice and comfortable. The rooms were pretty basic and I would advise you take your own hair dryer as my girlfriend did because there wasnt one in our room.

Pools:
Basically there are three pools. One of the pools is near the tennis courts, close to the back of the resort. Around this pool is a lazy river which can break your day up if you decide to go on it. Theres only about 4/5 rubber rings but its never too busy so it shouldnt take you long to get one. The pool here is really cold but really deep. It's never really busy and has a little water fall thing near it which is nice.

The main pool is near the main building. This is quite a big pool. It gets really busy in there but the pool is big enough to cope with the amount of people. The pool is divided into two sections. The section closest to the main building is not heated. This bit of the pool is really cold. The part furthest away from the building is where the heated pool is and where most people will be.
If you sit round this pool - staff walk round and bring you drinks from the bar so you don't have to walk up there and you enjoy the sun.

The other pool is just past the main pool and is tiny.

Food:

Breakfast is £7 a day i believe but we were bed and breakfast so we didnt have to pay. Breakfast was wuite good. There was a big selection of food to choose from. Breakfast is just a huge buffet.

Dinner in the hotel. I would advise you not to have dinner at the hotel! One couple we were speaking to had a seafood bbq that the hotel arranged. Without any drinks it cost them £130 for the two of them.

My girlfriend and I don't really like fancy food and as most of the restaurants in the hotel only sell this we decided to go to the 'cafe' where breakfast is served. Here there was supposed to have been an 'International Buffet' with food from France, England, America etc. The only food we found that wasn't Egyptian was German Pasta. We ate nothing but still had to pay £60 between us for the pleasure of sitting down.

Naarma Bay is a lot better and cheaper for food. We went to Hard Rock Cafe three times on our holiday because there was a great atmosphere in there, the food was lovely and it was very very cheap. Me and my girlfriend had a big starters each, a big main course each, a big desert each and 2 alcoholic drinks each and the bill never came over £20!!!

We also went to TGI's out there. The atmosphere was really nice and relaxing sitting on the balcony looking out onto Naarma Bay. The food was ok. A lot of the food on the menu they never had and the prices were the same as they are in England. The service was also really bad.

We also went to an Italian restaurant which had a balcony on looking Naarma Bay. The food here was really nice and it was very cheap. But all drinks here are non alcoholic.

Sunbeds:
I have heard lots of people on here saying that there was a lack of beds around the pools. I think they must be blind to be honest. Every day we would get to the main pool about 10 and there would be lots of beds to choose from. When we left usually around 2 there would still be lots of beds to choose from.
Over at the small pool there was hardly any beds being used at any time!

Staff:
The staff at the hotel were lovely. They tried to do everything they could to please you and they all spoke great english. Every one was friendly and did their best to help you out.

Shops in the hotel:
There was about 5 shops inside the hotel lobby. These shops were incredibly over priced. If you go in to Naarma Bay you will find the same items at a much cheaper price. It did make me laugh that in a place like the Ritz, they would allow a shop to sell fake bags. I bought aftersun in one of the shops at the hotel and was charged £14 but I had run out of the one I brought and was really burned so basically I had to pay that pathetic price. I ran out of the bottle in a day and bought the exact same one in Naarma Bay the night after for £5.
One shop though the one that has a variety of different items in. The one that is opposite the other 4 shops was actually quite a good shop. They sold a lot of things I hadn't seen in Naarma Bay, was cheap and the owner was very nice.

Naarma Bay:
It's a bit of a shock when you first arrive there but after a few hours you get used to it. Nearly every Egyptian man there shouted 'Lucky Man' to me while I walking with my girlfriend. And made lots of comments. Just ignore this as it happens to everyone. A lot of people try to get you into their shops. Just ignore them or pretend you can't speak to Language.
The Mall was the best place to shop in Naarma Bay I found. But in the shops you have to haggle. A lot of places will sell you something for half the price they first quoted.
A lot of the shops also sell fake things.
The first few hours may be intimidating but when you are used to it you can really enjoy yourself in Naarma Bay.

Taxis:

A lot of the taxis out there are about 60 years old. They are blue and white rust buckets. Nearly everyone tries to get you into their cabs.

The whole holiday we used a man called Saad whom we had seen recommended on here. His car is basically brand new and a hell of a lot nicer than most of the taxis in Sharm. Saad not only charges cheap prices but he also takes you to places you wouldnt otherwise see. He's a nice bloke and recommended we go to a few different places.
The hotel was charging us £40 each to go on quads. With Saad it came to £35 between us, so less than half price.

Excursions:

The only excursion we did was Quad Biking as we were enjoying ourselves enough around the pool we didnt do any others.
I would definately recommend this excursion. It was quite an experience in the desert.

The Spa:
I had an Egyptian Massage at the Spa at the hotel and I can say that this massage put me off massages for life. I have really hairy legs and felt I was going to come away with no hairs left. When that was finished she basicaly punched my back for half hour and then took £42 for the pleasure! The only relaxing part of the massage was leaving the spa!

The Bar:
The bar in the Lobby is a quite nice and relaxing place to go for a drink after coming back from Naarma Bay. The service is quick and the drinks are nice. My GF said she had the best ever white wine spritzer she's ever had as they put a bit of strawberry in it.
The prices though are very expensive. English nightclub prices!

As a whole the hotel was good value for money and we had a really good holiday! I would definately recommend it to anyone and I will go back in the next few years.

Summary: An in depth review of Sharm El Sheikh and the Ritz Carlton Hotel