Stayed 11 days All Inclusive in July which was enough

Airport Collection: Agreed up front price with hotel to pick up party of 5 from airport but got charged twice as much by taxi driver for 2 cars - hotel refunded the difference after complaining. Costs 20 Euros each way but plenty of taxis at airport if you want to haggle.

Hotel Arrival: Free drink given, passports taken, fairly quick process

Room: Excellent, adjoining rooms overlooking sea on top floor. Bathroom door would not close and bath plug would not lift up but both eventually fixed without complaining. Large beds, firm and comfortable. TV with great cartoon channel for kids and English news and film channels. Fridge large enough to keep some drinks in. Room cleaned every day

Entertainment: Mainly Italian driven - the team didn't appear to make much effort to include non-Italians. Activities included water polo, volleyball, occasional football. We liked the ping-pong although the team never organised anything. One decent evening show (music through the last century) otherwise nothing much to watch.

Beach and Reef: Light covering of sand on solid rock but fine for sunbathing on. Snorkelling superb, like an aquarium. Didn't see the point of diving, could see everything from the surface. Saw everything we wanted to see apart from a turtle and whale shark. On a par with, or perhaps slightly better than, Akumal in Mexico.

Trips: Got the hotel bus to Naama Bay (about £1.50 each). 2 hours is more than enough, constantly pestered but since they all have the same sales pitch (e.g. come and sign my guest book), you soon learn how to respond.
Took a walk up the beach to Baron Resort which looked much better than Melia Sinai, although the reef was probably not as good. One of the shop keepers was very rude after we decided not to buy his goods.
Took a Camel trip in the desert; £13 each. Great experience although the constantly racing Quad Bikes spoilt it a little and the £15 video of the event was of poor quality

Staff: Generally polite, friendly and helpful. One or two in the main bar were a bit grumpy

Tips: Small change does not exist in Egypt, or at least that's what they'd have you believe. Think it's a way of keeping tips high. In theory, should be possible not to tip any body, but my conscience got the better of me. Not sure that tipping provided any better service than normal though; with hindsight, I could have tipped less.

Drink: We were All Inclusive which would be better named Mostly Inclusive. Had to pay for bottled water, which is understandable in a country with no rainfall. Could get glasses of water for free at the bars and one bottle at meal times. Nothing free after 11pm. Beer (Luxor) not very nice, could only drink so much before feeling rough. No cocktails available in AI price.

Food: Good selection although mostly the same every day. Hygiene is a concern. Hot dishes are in covered pans but the serving spoons are obviously constantly being touched by other hands. Cold dishes are left mainly uncovered and un-refridgerated again with flies and hands finding their way over them. Best food was that being cooked in front of your own eyes, although some was handled by the chefs after being cooked. Some people we spoke to had some stomach upset or other during their stay as did our party, although kids were fine (they ate mainly fresh pasta and pizza). I caught bad bug on last evening, from the food, contaminated glass or whatever. Luck of the draw I guess, but shows no sign of abating after 3 weeks (and 1 stone less!)

Departure: Got to the airport but had left our passports back at the Hotel. We're stupid but would have thought the Hotel would have something in place to stop it happening, especially since other people have done the same. £20 return taxi trip to retrieve them just in the nick of time

Overall: 11 days was enough; there's only so many times you can traverse that reef, beautiful though it was, and we'd reached the limit of food choices. Food and drink hygiene definitely a concern; went to a Mexican AI last year with no troubles whatsoever. The reef was the main attraction; would return to the area but would investigate the Baron next time.

this review is written purely on the hotel experience and nothing else and i will keep to the facts and try not to let any personal opinion.

lots of good and a few negative things to say.

Hotel taxi arranged to collect from airport did not show, easy to get a taxi outside airport though. hotel arranged a freebie taxi on return to the airport.

You have to pay for tea and coffee facilities in the room, even if all inclusive. this may change next season according to hotel management as lots of english have complained! i explained that this is usually the norm in five star hotels around the rest of the world.

Mini bar is not stocked, but useful as an empty fridge. we took a box of wine with us and it fitted in the fridge. (we were not ai)

You get a towel card per person when you arrive, to be exchanged daily for your beach/pool towels. the hotel has a shortage so we only got two (party of three). the pool boys will not give you extra towel unless you have a card. The towel fiasco continued for one week with one of us asking daily at reception for an extra card. Eventually had to say we would complain in writing , yes we got a towel card later that day. a bit of a hassle really.

We broke a glass in the room and although reception informed immediately it took 24 hours for the remnants to be brushed up and three days for the glass to be replaced, again having to speak to the front of house manager.

the room was kept very clean.

the food was good and varied, dont eat the prepared salads, stick to hot and well cooked food. ice creams and ice were fine. There were no problems with birds or flies on the food. if you leave your breakfast uncovered to go and get something else then the birds will come to your plate, cover with a napkin. no birds in the evening.

the hotel caters very much towards the italian charter crowd and they have their own entertainment team, who will not ask you to join in unless you are italian. They are very loud and do most of the activities on the beach.

the hotel entertainment team are lovely people and kept our five year old very happy, painting, videos and kids mini disco at night.
the entertainment seems mostly in italian.

i had no problems from any egyptian men, and i'm slim fairly attractive and smile at most people! i'm also a regular traveller to far afield places lots muslim, so would not wear any clothing that would offend outside of the hotel. bikinis and costumes are a must on the beach/pool. there were women topless and this is frowned very much upon and the women will get unwanted attention.

the staff at the bar /waiters were lovely , very polite looked after me as i was on my own with hubby diving. never once felt violated or stared at!

the snorkelling is lovely, best early in the morning before 9.00am. the diving according to hubby was as good as thailand and indonesia, but a lot more expensive.

had a manicure in the hotel beauty place and my five year old could have done better! but i'm not going to get worked up about it!

the hotel is not near any facilities (but it is not advertised as) and is a way from naama bay (again this info available).

no welcome drink when you arrive, please have water with you as you will be thirsty when you get to room!

well thats the facts as i remember them. a good hotel for doing nothing and going nowhere, dont expect loud nightlife.

not a five star in comparison with other parts of the world but a typical charter hotel, catering for one/two week holidaymakers.
i would have said this was a three star hotel comparing thailand/
indonesia/malaysia and other middle east countries.

if you are a business traveller and are used to five star business hotels then this will disapoint, or even if independant traveller.

if you book charter holidays regularly then you will find this hotel meets all your needs. hope this review of the hotel helps.

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.