we have just returned after a two week holiday at this hotel, and i can honestley say [never again ], the food was terrible, we were half board and had to eat out all the time so thats what most of our money went on , there was for breakfast something called mashed [fowl ]beans it looked foul as well. We stopped going in there after third day. The pool was nice, big enough but there was a problem one day it was very dirty and cloudy but they sorted it out eventually. Theres a egpytian man selling newspapers for £3.50 a bit dear, but later when you have read it he wants it back then sells it again FOR THE SAME PRICE , i was looking at a paper from the man on the next sunbed to me the next thing the paper man asked me if i finished with it [ he wants it back ] he was not happy with me because i never paid for it what a[ ripe off] most of the waiters are polite i think thats because we were paying for the drinks, the best thing was the snorkeling the fish are lovely . our room was basic they do put clean towels and sheets in overrall would not stay here again

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I realise that these reviews are relative. It depends what you are used to and therefore expect, and if you believe you got value for money – which obviously depends on how much you paid. However, I have just returned from 12 days at the Mexicana and yes, the food wasn’t great, but overall it was OK.

Quick overview of hotel amenities:
• Large pool with a music centre playing quite chilled out music (most of the time) all day,
• Smaller pool which is generally a lot quieter and has no music but can attract the kids as it’s easier for parents to keep track of them in this area,
• All inclusive restaurant (more like a school dinner hall)
• An Italian restaurant (we never ate their but it was usually busy)
• A steak house (which we never saw anyone in at all)
• The grounds are pretty
• A masseur (at the large pool)
• Three bars – pool bar during the day, evening bar and another all-day one by reception
• Table tennis, basketball court

We got a free transfer to the hotel and were the first to be dropped off so didn’t see any of the other hotels provided by our travel company. Our impression was ‘simple but effective’.

Hotel Room
I phoned ahead to say it was my birthday whilst we were there and I would like a nice room. I didn’t see any other rooms but ours was large (more like an apartment) and very clean with everything you could want – lounge with 2 sofa’s and TV, a kitchen with glasses, plates, cutlery, and most importantly a fridge/freezer, large bedroom with fitted wardrobes and another TV and large bathroom (no bath but the shower was great – constant temperature and very powerful)

Cleanliness
Our room was cleaned daily by a very friendly guy who always left us flower petals on the bed and most days did a design with the towels. We always made sure all valuables were hidden away but it was more of a precaution than anything I felt necessary. We also read that if you leave anything on the bed the cleaner assumes it is a tip for him – this includes Mp3 players, sunglasses etc so be careful.

Staff
We found most of the staff to be very friendly – especially with the ladies! I think if you are going to go to Sharm you have to except that all the men will stare at the ladies. I lost count of the times I was told I was a “lucky man”. There was only one member of staff that I didn’t like and I think he was the hotel Manager – he never cracked a smile and was quite rude. The guys you saw most of served you breakfast, lunch, dinner and worked at the bar between meals They start at 8am and finish at 11:30pm with a 30 minute lunch break. Understandably they got tired and weren’t always full of the joys of spring but most of the time they were a good laugh and polite.

Facilities
For the first week we spent most of our time at the hotel sitting round the pool. There was no shortage of sun-beds the pool was clean and the atmosphere was peaceful. I had a massage one evening and had agreed/negotiated 60 minutes for me and 30 mins free for my partner. This was one of my few complaints. I didn’t like the guy doing the massage, it seemed like he had learnt from a dvd and after 40 minutes he thought I was asleep so walked off. I realised that he had stepped away and got up but he had disappeared. He came back 10 minutes later and told me that my massage was over. I asked him to check his watch and he agreed that it was now 50 minutes since he started the massage but didn’t offer any apology or resolution. He gave my girlfriend her massage and then I told him I would pay him two-thirds the price we had agreed as he had only given me two-thirds the time we agreed. He tried arguing but in the end I just gave him the amount I wanted to pay and walked off – determined that his attitude wasn’t going to ruin my birthday.

The second week we were there was a lot busier and I think the filter in the pool had difficulty coping as the water went very cloudy, to the extent that you couldn’t see the bottom of the pool. We simply spent our remaining days round the smaller pool which was much cleaner.

The evening bar was also quite naff. It reminded me of Butlins. It was the same every night...a cheesy disco and not much atmosphere.

Food
As you have probably gathered from all the other reviews, the food isn’t great. It is very much like a school dinner hall. There is always a lot of bread, including loaves that you cut yourself. Pudding was the same everyday – I never had any as it didn’t look appealing. Always has a salad bar although I was warned to stay away from the salad as it is washed in tap water which can make you ill. The soup in the evening was always quite nice. There was always rice, potatoes and a fresh pasta bar. The pasts is cooked in front of you but it is the same source every day with no meat in it. They had a BBQ some days and the steak was OK – quite dry and thin but edible. I think it was an extra £100 to go All Inclusive so we ate there most of the first week but for the second week we ate out which was never more than £10 for the two of us.

We went All Inclusive and, as some people have suggested, we didn’t feel we were treated any differently from others who went Half Board. The hotel was clean, everything in the room worked fine, the staff were pleasant and the food was bearable. If you want a 4* or 5* and want to spend your whole holiday at the hotel and not experience any of the culture outside then this probably isn’t the place. But, if you are looking for somewhere to chill out a bit without having to worry about filth between your visits to the beach, or Old Market, or Na’ama Bay or whatever tickles your fancy then the Mexicana is fine.

This hotel is in a very pretty setting, with mexican style hacienda dwellings on two floors. Bougainvillea abounds. I would only give this hotel two stars rather than its supposed four, and for the first time ever - and I love holidays - I couldn't wait to come home.

I would not recommend this hotel on, unless you go on a Bed and Breakfast basis and eat out. We arrived and I had especially asked for a room close to all amenities as my mother is an older lady, who has difficulty walking too far. We couldn't have been further from amenities and had to climb stairs to get to room. We asked to change but were told that as we'd arrived at 2am we would have to wait until the morning. We were moved on the next day, but only after the extremely helpful Wings Rep intervened.

The Bellboy doing the removal was very helpful and even suggested we leave clothes on hangers and then moved the clothes for us, so we didn't have to repack.

We had read on the internet that the food was repetitive and "samey". But we figured that the type of people who might put reviews on the internet, generally have an axe to grind and these reviews might not be balanced. We were very wrong. The food was atrocious. Breakfast considered of what we thought was a powedered egg mix which you could have turned into a four inch round paper thin omelette. You could also have a pancake. There were grilled vegetables (undercooked), mashed potatoes (lumpy), and undercooked white shredded cabbage with hot dog sausages in it. There was a selection of raw salad type vegetables, cucumber, wrinkled tomatoes, shredded red cabbage and some sort of turnip with hummous and tzatziki. There was stale/dry bread and a selection of stale or dry small pastries.

We never went for lunch so I have no idea what that was like. You could order a Pizza or Salad from the Pool Bar. I did order a tuna salad, which arrived and contained no salad leaves but was a mashed mixture of tuna with huge amounts of raw (strong) onion and green pepper. No salad leaves in sight. My mother had a steak (read shoe leather) sandwich.

Evening meal consisted of recycled salad veg and tzatziki and hummous from the morning. A soup, rice, pasta, undercooked (almost raw) vegetables or potato. For pudding we had the same every day except on one day where it was Egyptian Day and they had some lovely pastries. Otherwise it was Blancmange, Creme Caramel, Set Custard, Jelly and Chocolate Pudding. In reality it was basically just a selection of different colours blancmange. The only fruit on offer was melon or dates, occasionally sliced orange. Never any other fruit not for breakfast or dinner.

The service was good and the waiters were friendly and attentive but didn't speak much english. There were many polish people in the hotel and we wondered if the hotel was trying to cater to their tastes as it was not to an english person's taste. However, polish people we spoke to didn't like the food either.

The pool bar was good. We only drank water, so no idea what the drinks are like, although we were told that as the hotel is "all inclusive" they buy only the cheapest spirit to hand on to the customers. The waiter told us this. They were quite disaparaging of the all inclusive guests.

The grounds of the hotel are very pretty with bougainvillea and nicely tended shrubs. The cleaner worked hard and left pretty flowers on our bed. After we tipped him several times he began to leave extra things, like we suddenly acquired a box of tissues, hitherto absent and then we suddenly got new fluffy towels instead of the threadbare ones we'd been getting.

The hotel is shabby all round. The stripey beach towels are threadbare and grey. The bath towels equally are shabby and grey (except the last two days we had new ones). The tiling in the bathroom is blackened with mould and there are no complimentary soaps or shampoos provided. There's a dispenser with hand soap in the shower and by the sink.

The area where the sun beds are (for sunbeds imagine sardines in a tin, that's how close they are placed. You are rubbing elbows with your neighbour, whether you want to or not!!)

On the penultimate day we had arranged with the reception to stay in our room for £20 (or 200LE - egyptian pounds). On the morning of departure (our flight was at 2.15am), I went to reception to pay my bill and was told that it would be £25 to stay until 6pm. I explained that I had arranged to pay £20 as we didn't have much left, and wouldn't have enough left for drinks that day if we gave all our money away. This made no difference and they insisted on the £25, and then wanted the towel cards back immediately. I refused to pay either £25 or give the towel cards back, finding their attitude quite high handed and rude. I told them that I would give the towel cards back in the evening, when I'd finished with the towels and we arranged to use another guest's room to get ready.

Hugely important to note also is, that every evening at 7pm (restaurant opens at 7.30), a man went around with a machine which smoked, and left a pea-souper of parrafin flavoured smog around the hotel grounds for the evening. We presumed this was to get rid of mosquitos, but as we and others got bitten badly it didn't do much good. One evening we were stuck halfway between our room and reception when the smoke machine went off, and my mother inhaled a great deal of smoke. She then began to wheeze quite badly and we ended up having to get linctus and antibiotics as it developed into a bad chest infection. This stuff should have a health warning, especially for asthmatics. They also cook the outdoor grill food whilst this is going on, so your grilled kofta or fish would have a delicious aroma of parrafin around it!!!

My mother had never visited Sharm before, we have and stayed at the Jolie Ville which was excellent, but I have to say that this sojourn at the Mexicana was so appalling that I have no urgent wish to return to Sharm, and would never recommend this hotel to another person. In fact, on the contrary, I would warn a prospective visitor away. Strongly.

Sharm El Sheikh itself has become almost a caricature of a cheap med destination - or Southend Sea Front!! It's filled with shop after shop selling the same tatt, in front of which the sellers will stand and try to entice you into their shop with offers of their tea or hospitality. This can become quite frightening as they grab you and try to drag you off. This could be because we were two females on our own - albeit we're not youngsters!!

We went to a brilliant place called Alf Leila Wa Leila Fantasia - it's a lovely Aladdin meets Disneyland building, loads of brightly coloured Onion shaped roofs and displays of Ancient Egyptian statues etc. Yes, it's a bit tacky, but we found it quite entertaining. In the centre there's a circle of shops with a sort of ampitheatre in the centre surrounded by seats where you can enjoy drinks or food. The entertainment starts at 11pm (very late we thought) and consists of music and dancers. Very entertaining and well worth the 15LE (£1.50) it cost to get in!

The beaches we went to belonged to the hotel and were ok, there was a coral beach with lots of nice fish for the snorkellers and a sandy shelved beach, in a sort of lagoon-bay, which had lovely warm water and no (well hardly any) fish.

At time of writing I would not wish to return to Sharm, there are too many lovely places in the world left to visit and Sharm has become so overcommercialised and somewhat cutthroat. There is nothing like the sea at Sharm for snorkelling, it's warm, the fish are amazing!! It's beautiful. However I think you can get the same sea at Dahab or Taba and I think I would try these in the future. The egyptian people are really lovely, if you can get them to stop pestering you. I did find it very trying that all the way along the street you are accosted with "what's your name" "where are you from". It's not anyone's business what my name is, and I found that contrary to reports that if you politely say "No thank you" they'll go away, it's simply not the case. They don't give up and you end up being rude, and that doesn't lend itself to an enjoyable or relaxing holiday.

Stayed in april in 2007 first time in egypt got a good deal on teletext. We were all inclusive for one week, arrived and were given a 2 bedroom apartment. The food was really good and varied. Hotel also had a pool bar which was really nice to sit and chill out. Hotel bit isolated altought a short cab ride away from main centre where all the shops and restaurants are. Theres two swimmings pools so plenty of space to sunbathe. The apartments are set in really pretty grounds. Worth going to cairo for the day only a short plane ride, the pyramids are amazing. Hotel had entertainment on everynight the karaoke night is fab, hotel staff friendly. Only thing is you get given towels to sunbathe , ours were taken from our balcony and we had to pay for them. Otherwise a great holiday nice to chill out during the day and a varied nightlife.