OK let me start with the good.
- reef in front of the hotel was very good great snorkeling
- general beauty of the resort

The bad (where to begin)
- Food was sad. You are stuck with either a buffet which is the same everyday, or a simple sandwich or pizza meal by the pool. The buffet wasn't good at all no flavor, no Egyptian dishes, and it didn't look clean. We too saw birds flying around inside near the food.

- Rooms were simple and boring. The beds super hard. If you want a large bed they simply move to smaller beds together. Not the romance we wanted on our honeymoon. Also they had a tough time keeping the air conditioning working in our room. I called 4 times to have it fixed in our 4 day stay!!!! The final morning I called the front desk, they picked up, and I said "guess what my problem is." They replied "air conditioning?". I said "please come fix it for the 4th time".

- Service - I had a 1/4 full plastic glass of water and went to the bar to ask them to fill it up. He started to put in boiling water, and I asked him what he was doing and said he could only give me hot water or else he had to charge me for cold water. I have a water filter, so I said no thanks for the charge and asked how am I supposed to drink boiling water... This is a small example of how they will try to charge you for everything.

- Scuba shop is furiating to work with. I have dove on over 30 dives while my wife has done 8. We are both versed and know what we are doing and never had a problem. She got her open water from PADI and myself from YMCA. I have dived around the world and never had a problem with my YMCA card, until I dove there. They first forced us to do a check dive with them in front of the hotel. I said I didn't want to dive in front of the hotel as I had spent much time snorkeling it and wanted something new. They said guests are required to do it. So they charge you for that..... Later that afternoon we were to do a boat dive, but after our check dive our guide said he thought we should take a buoyancy course from them before he would allow a boat dive. I started to get furious and told them I have dove everywhere from Belize to Thailand and have ONLY done boat dives up until this point in which they made me do a check dive. We had absolutely no problems on our check dive. They finally said I could go but not my wife. They then said there might be current and she might have problems (I thought it was a buoyancy issue....). They said we could pay 150 USD to have a dive master hold her hand to make sure she didn't have problems. I said that was ridiculous, and that I swim daily and am probably a stronger swimmer then anyone there and I could take care of her if she had a problem (which they had no reason to believe she would have a problem). I told them we were on our honeymoon and we were only going together. They told me all other dives were booked for the day, but we could dive tomorrow. I was furious for having to pay a full day rental for the scuba gear and told them I was not going to pay another full day. Needless to say they were unwilling to work something out with us so that was the extent of our diving (a silly check dive). Upon turning in our equipment I heard the manager tell the person helping us that we should be charged a cancellation fee since we didn't do the boat dive (again we wanted to they wouldn't let us without taking a floating course from them!!!). I was furious they would even consider charging a fee after ruining our dive experience. Again, we had zero problems on our check dive.

- Location - So after seeing these negatives we figured lets just go offsite for everything. Well good luck with that! They have a taxi desk in the hotel but to go anywhere they will charge you 25 USD base, so figure 50 USD round trip!!!! This made it so expensive to leave ,we felt trapped. The hotel should have more arranged transport with the hotel buses we saw in the parking lot but never seemed to go anywhere!

My wife and I spent our 5 week honeymoon travelling around the world (Portugal, Cairo & Sharm el Sheihk Egypt, China, Vietnam, Australia, and Fiji). This was the ONLY bad experience from all our travels around the world in a wide range of accommodations. We would NEVER stay here again. Everyday we were there presented a new problem and as soon as you let that problem roll off your shoulders a new one from the hotel presents itself. Avoid Avoid Avoid!!!!!

There is no reason to stay here. Bad food, bad service, A/C worked 1/2 the time, bad dive center, bad location, bad transportation, and they nickle and dime you to death.

We have had a lovely holiday at the Melia Sinai. We stayed in rooms by the Isis pool which is a quiet area of the hotel overlooking a swimming pool with a pool bar. (The drinks here are included in AI)
The food was very good for a buffet style restaurant, with pancakes and omelettes for breakfast and pasta cooked with a choice of sauces for lunch and dinner. In the evenings there also was a bbq outside. We did not have any problems with the cleanliness of the restaurant nor did any birds go near the food.
If you want some variation you can eat at the pergola restaurant where the cheeseburger and chips was great. It cost about £20 for all 4 of us to eat lunch there.
The evening entertainment is not great (there was a kids disco) but if that is what you want this is not the hotel for you, if instead you would like a cocktail overlooking the beach it is great. We did use the bus to visit Naama Bay which was interesting and the children enjoyed the small museum. There was a lot less hassle than I expected and euros were widely accepted.

The staff were very helpful and did not hassle my 18 year daughter and a few euros to the pool boy meant our sun beds were reserved and waiting for us every morning.

I think it is unfair to give this hotel a poor review based on other experiences in Egypt as other reviewers have done.

This is a great hotel if you would like a quiet break in the sun with some great snorkelling and we will return.

We went to this hotel in June. The hotel, on looks and amenities, it was more like a 3 star. it didnt have a minibar, or a tea/ coffee making facilities. the food was the same thing every day, and it was the worst hotel i have stayed in my life. I know this may seem a bit inappropriate, but I want to give a womans view on how egypt was rather than the hotel itself as then it will be a review that applies even if you dont stay at this hotel. I know my review is really long but please read this as I really dont want someone to go to egypt and feel the same way as I did whilst I was there.

Upon the landing at sharm el sheikh airport, the english of everyone there was really bad- even our rep who was there to pick us up, he had to explain a lot of things to us, but most of it we could not understand. Mainly the people at the airport were rude- shouting at you to hurry up when you were paying for your visa to leave sharm etc etc.

Our first day in naama bay, we got the hotel bus and we arrived around 11am and were there to 1:30 pm. The hassle that we received was a lot but not anything compared to how it is later on in the day, maybe only one person trying to hassle you at a time rather than loads, but agressive! Very very agressive! If you declined to go into a shop/ buy something they would follow you ask you why, inist you answer them etc etc.

The taxi ride in to naama bay from the hotel, if you didnt get the timed shuttle buses which were infrequent, we couldn't afford, so we used the Egyptian bus service, which you can catch from the main road about a mile away from the hotel. This is also where you go if you want to catch a normal blue and white taxi which would charge around 60 le for a ride to naama. On the bus that you can catch from the main road, The locals pay nothing if they are only going down the road on the bus but most pay half Egyptian pound to 1 LE. we were often quoted 50 LE, and the cheapest we paid for the bus was 10 LE. The men on the bus made suggestive noises to me and always made sure they had a good look. Getting on and off the bus was a nightmare, their eyes were constantly fixed on my crotch to see if they can see anything.

I cannot put in to words how bad our experience was of this country, but I will try my best. In short, PLEASE DONT GO HERE IF YOU ARE A WOMAN! IF YOU ARE A MAN ONLY GO HERE IF YOU HAVE ENDLESS SUPPLY OF MONEY THAT YOU DONT MIND JUST LITERALLY WASTING AND WATCHING THE LOCALS LAUGH AT YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE A MUG FOR PAYING FOR IT.

The thing that upset me the most as a woman were the Egyptian men. Only Egyptian MEN live in sharm el sheikh. Most are from Cairo that have gone there to work. I cried on 4 occasions because of how the men made me feel. They look at you like you wouldn't believe. They stand and stare and bend down to look up your skirt and come so close to look down your top and if you are sitting down, you can guarantee that men will be crowded around you trying to look up your skirt/ your legs, your arms etc. this was the case in Cairo No matter how conservatively you are dressed, unless of course you are wearing a burkha. In the whole of Egypt and esp sharm, the men make these kissing and click click noises with their mouths as they stare at you as you walk past, which means “hey do you want to have sex” or “slag” or something along those lines. Men often shout things out to women. It is normal for the men not to talk to the woman if she talks to them but just stare at her [---]/body. It happened on quite a few occasions where I went up to the counter and asked for something and they all stared at me. At the airport upon leaving I wanted a sandwich, I repeated myself three times and they didn't move, just all pointed and nudged each other to look at me. My husband finally had to come over and ask on my behalf. When buying something, or asking a question, they always answered my husband or looked at him for money. I arranged a tour with a company did all the talking whilst my husband sat next to me and at the end would not let me sign the tour vouchers and insisted my husband signed it.

We went to a club once whilst we were in Sharm, and that was to a club called Pacha. There were a few locals in there but most worked there. My husband and I both went to the toilet and I came out first and sat on a chair waiting for him. A cleaner came out of the toilet and stood over me with his groin nearly touching my face asking me what my name is etc. I screamed for my husband and he came running out and the cleaner denied doing anything. My husband of course then had to sort him out in the toilets as I was so upset he couldn't just let it go. Needless to say we never went to a club again.

Towards the end of the holiday the men and how they harassed me- even whilst holding my husbands hand, made it not possible for me to leave the resort, I couldn't deal with it, you feel so violated as if you are a piece of meat, and there is nothing you can do, you cant gorge all their eyes out can you? Not when its every single Egyptian men.

We did two tours with a company called Fayed travel. We did one to Abu galam where you can go snorkelling in the blue hole and a safari and a trip to Dahab- please look up the blue hole in Dahab in wikipedia and I think you will see exactly why I am so upset there wa sno warning when they were selling us it, or even at all not even on the day, about how dangerous it was to snorkel or dive there and unless you are an expert you should not go. On the day we saw children from 9 or 10 being taken to snorkel at the blue hole and they were happily selling it to a dad and his 6 year old son at the travel agents. We did one to Cairo also to visit the pyramids, sphinx museum etc etc. lets just say that what you see written down when you are paying for it is not what you actually get when you go on the trip. A lot of things that were written down to be included in the trip the tour guides charged you for and denied they knew it was paid for- even when you showed them the itinerary And they do not follow the itinerary either and take you where they want to take you which is usually to these random factories making papyrus and Egyptian perfumed oils where if you buy something the tour guides get commission. You will see what I mean if after this review you still do go to Egypt and go on a tour.

As we didn't really get to see Cairo when we did the trip, went to Cairo on our own from sharm the following week- we got on a bus. There were woman in Cairo, and you pretty much got the same response from them- stand and stare at the foreign girl not wearing a burkha. I was wearing white cropped trousers and a plain black t shirt but still. Often younger women would make comments to you and stand and laugh if they saw a foreign girl without their heads covered in a scarf. I don't think they like foreigners at all. They just want you money and that's all they want.

Whilst walking in Cairo we got tired and sat on a wall in the shade to rest. I instantly got a crowd of old men around me just staring like they have never seen a woman that's not in a head scarf and a burkha before.

In Cairo, if you do go for a day, be very careful. No one speaks English there hardly, not even taxis and there are no public toilets. We were walking along khan al khalili market and a man was walking past, he was really nice and offered us to show us around khan el khalili market in Cairo We didn't want him, but was grateful to find someone who could speak English- my husband was suspicious right from the start. He was with us for a good hour, would not leave, hinted on quite a few occasions we just wanted to be left alone to do our own thing, but insisted all he wanted to do was help us and at the end give us his business card. When we got firm and said we definitely want to go he begged to give us his business card. We went along to his shop where he became really really aggressive and rude and demanded we buy some of his scented oils. My husband is quite a big man, so we could have left through force, but I did buy something from him in the end as he was so desperate and he started off at 350 LE and finally went down to 100 LE which was something I was willing to pay for the perfume. After him, we had three further men in Cairo doing the same thing, pretending to help and asking if they could give us their business card, of course after the first one we ran away from them as fast as we could to lose them.

Lets just say that Egyptians do not what customer service is. They do not know what it is and so how can they practice it? Not once have I had an apology from an Egyptian, after the lifeguard at the hotel make suggestive comments to me and we complained to the manager, after the food was inedible and after my bikini was ruined by the cleaner, not one apology from anyone, but instead swearing and rude behaviour.

My husband has covered most of the complaints at the hotel. All I can say is, if you want to snorkel and that's all you want to do, this hotel is great, but not if you want to frolic in the water by the beach etc. we wanted a bit of the frolicking on the beach so we went to Naama bay where you can pay- yes pay to just actually step on to the beach. It ranged from 3 to 5 pounds- UK pounds, to go on the beach per person. If you do go all inclusive- what my husband said, the same disgusting no edible food that gives you food poisonging.

My husband has not mentioned it as I think he feels bad as I could not get the bracelet in the end as we were too peed off to carry on looking and just went to have a drink but this is what happened. Unless you are into tat- I mean serious tat, and unless you don't mind being seriously embarrassed buying something for your family friends, you wont find a gift or a souvenir to bring back from sharm. It says that gold and silver is cheap- but it is not, its inflated European prices with a very poor finish. I was looking for a silver bracelet to bring back for my 7 year old sister- I was willing to pay for something nice, but I couldn't find anything! We went to a shop in Naama in the Mina mall I think it was called, which sold jewellery and tacky ornaments. He tried to sell me something which I would be embarrassed giving to a beggar let alone my beloved sister and when we refused to buy, he went away, two men came in and accused my husband of stealing this thing which was something I wouldn't even pick up if I saw in the street l;et alone want to steal. They wouldn't let us out until we paid for it and my husband had to use physical force against the men to get out. Presents for my sister and my dad were bought from the duty free area in the end.

Lastly, expect to pay a lot of money in this country for everything- 2 to three times as much as you would in the UK for small things like coke and food and just over UK prices for everything else.

I suppose what upset me the most is that it was our honeymoon, and we wanted a really special holiday in a 5 star hotel and we spent a lot of money as well as all our holiday left for that year on it, and instead all we got was depression! I know it sounds a bit extreme but the truth is we did. The people made us so on edge all the time that we ended up arguing and fighting with each other the whole time I wouldn't wish my worst enemy the experience we had in Egypt or this hotel. And yeah we really do mean it when we say unless you are over 60 or you want a hotel catered for the rich I mean filthy rich over 60s then don't stay at this hotel- it is lifeless

I cannot believe that there are people that exist in the world as nasty as 99% of the Egyptians we met its harsh but its true. There was one nice shop keeper woman who was nice to us but that was the only person. They pretend to be helping you out and the first chance they get they corner you and demand a tip, even when you don't want or have asked for their help.

My daughter (12)and I booked a late deal to sharm el sheikh.We stayed at the Melia Sinai resort.Its rated as a 5 star hotel but to us it was more of a 4 star.The rooms were roomy and very clean,the amenities all were great except for the "so called" entertainment programme was virtually none existant and when it was ,it was of very poor quality ,you almost felt sorry for them.The staff were great and friendly and nothing was too much trouble.The food was average and varied.The staff at the Dive centre were also very helpful and informative.As this was my first experience at snorkling and diving this was vital to me .The only draw back to this place,was the location.If you needed to go anywhere you had to get a taxi.it was rather remote.So if you are the type of person who enjoys shopping and bargaining then this isnt the place for you.The staff at the health club all very experienced.If you fancy an Egyptian massage ask for a young lady by the name of DOODOO......she was amazing!.for certain will go again and stay at the same hotel.all in all a brill holiday.
Jasmine
UK