This review is both honest and hot off the press. My wife and I have just returned from staying at the Caribbean world resort Soma Bay this morning. Some background info first.....We have both travelled to Egypt before, staying in Sharm El Sheik namely the Marriot. I'm being honest when I say Sharm was not for us. It was a little like an Egyptian Blackpool, to many bright lights and Bars and to much hassle and yes we both got really bad stomachs. The food in the Marriot was poor, never hot and not much choice to the extent we had to eat out on more than one occasion, the accommodation was tired.

You do find that a lot of people report that the red sea resort hotels cater mainly for the russians and the Italians and I believe that to be true, I especially found that at the Marriott. To be fair when you think about it If the russians saw what was happening in places like Benidorm (although I've never been I'm assured its like a miniature britain) selling burgers, hot dogs fish and chips every where you go. I guess the red sea resorts is the russian Benidorm and because there are far more russians and italians than brits the hotels do as the benidorm hotels do and that is to cater mainly for the masses.

This year has been a busy year for us, it was late when we decided that we needed a break, some where nice and hot and not to far away so we decided on Egypt again, the problem was where to go and what hotel to stay in. I spent many hours researching hotels and locations on trip advisor. We didn't want to spend a great deal of money on really expensive hotels although we did want 5 star because they tend to be that much better than the lower graded hotels.

We decided on the Caribbean World Resort Soma Bay. The hotel complex looked good on there own web site, the bedrooms looked large and plush and the all inclusive deal was what we wanted so we did what most of you readers do and just went for it,.. there's just to much choice don't you think..

Hand on heart I can honestly say that in our opinion it was the best choice we could of made, The complex was really nice, modern and very clean, the rooms are great, well furnished and have a small mini fridge. The bathrooms are large with a walk in shower. Shampoo, shower gel and body lotion is provided daily, you can have your mini fridge stocked with soft drinks and beer for approx 18 euros,.. again to be honest I thought the price was far to expensive as we were on an all inclusive deal and got it all for free anyway, although your fridge does come in handy for storing your bottled water and anything else you want to put in there...

The complex has a main restaurant located near the reception which is a serve you self style buffet. The food was really good with lots of choice to be had with different tastes going on each night, there is also a barbecue area outside the restaurant serving all types of meat and fish etc every night.

Around the complex you will find other small eating places, one close to the main pool area, one larger close to the beach. Many small bars can also be found all around the complex.

I've seen some negative comments about the pool but in my opinion the pools are great, they are well maintained clean and always checked for chlorine levels etc. When we was there one was heated and like a bath the others were quite refreshing.

The beach area was in my opinion a little run down. The beds and sun shades were tired and spaced to close together but apart from that it was really ok..

To summarise:

Pros..

All inclusive deal was great, eat and drink anything you like all day long
Food was good lots of choice, italian restaurant especially nice... food great
Accommodation was good. Large modern rooms well furnished, we had (sea view, king deluxe)
Pool area was good, clean and well maintained
Restaurants was good well spaced out around the complex
Reception very modern and people very helpful
Staff everywhere were great
Great place to take the kids, small aqua park near beach, free of course.
Rooms were cleaned to a high standard. linen,towels etc changed daily
Good choice of english speaking TV in room for us britts
Good entertainment at night. early animation for the kids and later for everyone, different theme nightly

Cons..

Beach area a bit tired in need of upgrade
Touts around complex selling tours etc a bit annoying, politely say no and they leave you alone
Location...other than the complex nothing to do at night, saying that if relaxation is all your after then great. Hurghada and Sufaga about 35/40 mins away

Tips..

Tip the waiters,..Towel guys. room cleaning guys etc.. and you will be looked after very well

This was a very honest report in my opinion. I'm well travelled and stayed in some top notch resorts and hotels throughout the world. I believe myself to be well educated in giving you my thoughts so if you go to The caribbean world resort Soma bay...Please enjoy

Last words

My wife had a slight stomach problem during our stay which lasted approx half a day. We believe this was caused by Egyption wine not the food. We returned home completely stomach problem free (Honest)