Having just returned from the Radisson Blu/Sas we feel the need to leave some sort of report on this hotel, First off please do not think we are some sort of holiday snobs who feels the need to moan about any little thing possible, we pay good money to take a holiday which we work hard all year to earn.

OK, The hotel in its self was of excellent quality,we stayed in the marine club rooms and must say it was a superb room with adequate space, huge bathroom complete with two showers, one over a full size bath,the room was made up every day with clean fresh towels etc,The facilities around the hotel were superb the pool spotless,the staff helpful and friendly.

Now for the bad bits!

Unfortunately the food in this hotel did not live up to what you would expect from a worldwide hotel chain,to say it was diabolical would be unfair to say it was bad would be fair, we have holidayed in Egypt before and never had reason to complain about the food ever before, it would be no good us trying to pick out single items it was just generally very poor,

The Beach is off only what you can describe as very coarse sand/grit sand with the only access to the sea via a jetty out over the protected coral which is OK because the authorities are trying their best to protect it, the only problem is that if you want to go swimming in the sea the only way in is down some steps with everyone else who has the same idea causing some sort of unorganised chaos because its one way in one way out, also one word of warning when you do get in you are immediately in fifteen to twenty metres of sea water which isn,t too clever if your not a strong swimmer,

The guys that feel the need to hassle you every day of your holiday trying to sell you quad bike trips, henna tattoos, diving/snorkeling trips massages in the health club and the poor kid trying his best to sell you a copy of the sun newspaper for

I think the General Manager of The Radisson SAS deserves a big pat on the back. What a fabulous hotel! There is nothing to moan about, the hotel is immaculate, all the staff respectful, friendly and so helpful. The animation team were hysterical and made the holiday. Ahmed was too funny and made all the guests laugh and want to join in. They were mega. The location was perfect for us. There was enough to do in Nabq Bay and itwas lovely and safe. It was fantastic value for money. If I had to moan about something, it would only be that the pool was freezing and once I did get in, my arms went numb after a couple of strokes, which wasn't a problem, as we then swam in the sea. People do come round the pool and try and sell you things, but you just say "No Thank you" and they wish you a good day and go away. Just respect that they are trying to earn a living, and go with the flow. This is definately a 5* hotel, (And I have stayed in many 5*s all over the world.) We had no bad tummies at all nor did we get bitten. Very simple: Dont eat salad, or drink ice cubes. Also take a mossie repellent to put in your room and spray yourself at night. You cannot fault this hotel for anything. Cleanliness, fab staff, pool area, everything. Breakfast could be a little disorganised, but so what!!!!! You're on holiday, CHILL........... Get into the Egyptian spirit, have fun, haggle and be polite.

We are booking to go back next year. The holiday was magical! So well done ALL the Radisson SAS team!

The food was awful infact I had room service by 2 in the morning I had food posioning not very nice.
The hotel staff where great if they liked the look of you if not they ignored you.

The only people we thought where helpful was our rep and a taxi driver who where great.

There is not enough sun beds or umbrellas as they do not tell you that the hotel across from the main road can come in and take them which they do from 6.00 am

The hotel and surrounding gardens were both maintained to an excellent standard of cleanliness. The staff are really helpfull and very cheerfull. It was a very nice surprise going back to the room each evening after the beach to see what amazing figure the cleaner had made with your towels and flower petals on your bed. The one thing I found dissapointing was access to the sea, as the reef on the beach is protected the sea is only accessible off the jetty,it was quite rough and as a weak swimmer it was not an option.

we have just arrived back after 2weeks stay at the raddison not the golden resort it was brillant.we stayed half board extra which ment we could eat in any restaraunts on the complex,they where all to a high standard the french was the best out of all of them but the others wern't far behind.the rooms were big and spacious and cleaned to high standards every day,the gardens are well kept and breath taken.all the staff were helpfull and allways smiling.the buffet style restaraunt was clean and well run.the hotel was out of the way but we haggled for a taxi the same driver took us to narma bay for

The Portland Direct brochure lists the hotel as a 4.5 star hotel. Radisson themselves boast a 5 star rating. You would be v disappointed if you thought this hotel was a quality hotel. We have stayed at better 3 star hotels in Europe.

The most disappointing aspect of this holiday for us was the hotel food/restaurant and the service. The rural, solitary location and lack of evening entertainment would maybe disappoint other holidaymakers.

The restaurant was always in disarray whichever time of the day we arrived. On most occasions guests had to sit at dirty tables and wait sometimes up to 10 minutes for a waiter to clear away. If you managed to catch a waiter's attention to order drinks, you were lucky. If the drinks ever arrived, then you were luckier still! White wine was served warm for 3 days. The quality and variety of the breakfast was very good, however lunch and dinner choice was limited, often overcooked or lukewarm and with no obvious resataurant management to alert, it was always down to the guests to try to attract a member of staff's attention to replenish. We chose a chicken in sauce one evening which my partner had started to eat. We were then alerted by guests at the ajoining table that their chicken was pink and there was evidence of blood in it. My partner consequently suffered with food poisoning, spent 3 days in bed, as did 2 other English guests we met.

The service in the restauarant was awful - the majority of waiters spoke little English, never apologised for keeping guests waiting for ages to order/return with drinks, would walk past dirty tables. They frequently returned to the table with the wrong drinks (how difficult is "1 beer, 1 glass of white wine" to understand?!) or returned with just 1 of the 2 drinks ordered. With no obvious management presence in the restaurant, I complained to the Thompson rep. The next day, there was a big improvement - tables were clean when we arrived, wine was chilled, waiters more attentive. However within a few more days, it deteriorated again.

Apart from the restaurant, poor service was also evident on the reception desk - a very unhelpful, discurteous and miserable young man manning the desk most of the time. In the gym, the staff member in there could not speak English, was unable to show us how to programme the complicated equipment & simply walked away when he couldnt get our machines working and started watching Arabic TV on the gym TV with 2 other hotel colleagues leaving us to our own devices! In all fairness, the hotel bar and beach bar staff particularlty were always curteous and efficient.

As for cleanliness, the hotel grounds, beach and main building are exceptionally clean. However, the restaurant was not and neither were our bedrooms. Floors were never swept and marked bedlinen was simply turned over.

The location was isolated, no other hotels for about 5km. There were a few shops in the hotel complex but extremely expensive.

Entertainment most evenings - an Egyptian duo or occasional traditional dance troupe - didnt start til 10.30 or later.

I would not visit this hotel again. There were serious cleanliness/hygiene issues in the restaurant which we and other guests reported to our rep and the overall service was appalling.

The rooms were very spacious and cleaned daily to a high standard by the staff, replenishing towels, shampoo's etc..
The gardens the hotel was set in were also maintained daily with the staff working constantly tidying them up.

The food was not bad and there was a good selection for breakfast, however there were a lot of russian and german guests in the hotel where the breakfast probably suited them better - hot dog sausages.

I put 4 for the location. The hotel was about 10mins from Naama bay and after a few trips we were glad that the hotel was a little further out.

Some of the hotel staff were fantastic and could not do enough for you although there were a few who seemed everything revolved around tipping.

There was not much entertainment in the resort itself, there was a disco next door, which was part of the hotel but you often had to pay to get in so we didnt try it. The hotel put on a few different themed nights and would arrange either beach volleyball or football towards the end of the day.
The hotel has its own private beach and diving off the short jetty puts you right onto the coral reef. The fish at the reef were as varied and plentiful as the boat trip snorkeling in the red sea. Best time to snorkel off the jetty is between 10 and 11am.

This was a beautiful hotel with excellent food.

The gardens were gorgeous, with vivid pink hibiscus flowers and lots of little bridges over running water between the pools. As well as ordinary swimming pools, there was an underground grotto containing a heated swimming pool partially inside a cave, which was a wonderfully romantic location. The hotel grounds were spaciously spread out, and very quiet and relaxing.

There were about six different themed restaurants, as well as the main restaurant, which was huge and served a wide variety of buffet food every night. The food was very tasty and a good mixture of the familiar and the exotic. It was stunningly well presented, with displays of fresh flowers all carved out of fruit and vegetables.

The drinks were excellent, including freshly-made smoothies in traffic-light colours (a layer each of strawberry, mango and kiwi), and plenty of "karkadia" made from hibiscus. They gave us a complimentary chilled glass of this on our arrival at reception, which was very welcome after the journey in the hot weather.

The person who did the housekeeping for our room was evidently a talented artist, and made fantastic origami-like sculptures from our towels!

The Thomas Cook rep was very helpful, and there were plenty of interesting excursions, so many that we couldn't fit them all into a week and would like to go back again. There was snorkelling and diving, camel rides in the desert and visits to the Bedouin, and trips to the Pyramids and Luxor and to a monastery on Mount Sinai.

The location was excellent for the beach, but a little too remote otherwise - nowhere is accessible on foot except other hotels, and you need to get a taxi into Sharm-el-Sheikh itself. However, the remoteness didn't matter much because there were all the excursions (which obviously include transport) and because the hotel itself was such a large, varied and pleasant place to be.