Before booking this holiday my partner and I looked through hundreds of reviews good and bad.
We landed late afternoon and upon arrival we hassled by the airport staff for tips (a dollar is more than enough). The coaches all wait outside and are easy to find.
On arrival you are kindly greeted by the reception staff and your luggage is taken to your room. Our room was amazing, we had a very large bed, television with some english channels, well decorated tiled bathroom with shower facility. The balcony overlooked the main pool area and had a table and two chairs which was nice to sit out on at night with some drinks and snacks. As it was sunset when we arrived we had amazing views out of our balcony.
As you arrive at the breakfast area there is a menu to show what cuisine is available each night (e.g. when we arrived we had Egyptian food the first night). As you enter the breakfast room you need to supply your room number and are then showed to a table of your choice (inside or out).
The breakfast selection was really good and the chefs cook food to order (at the egg station) we had egg everyday as well as pancakes, bread, croissaints, pastries, cereal, waffles, potatoes, beef sausage, fruit and yoghurt. You can have water, tea/coffee, orange or apple juice.
Most mornings we sat outside to eat breakfast which was nice as the temperature was moderate.
The Marriott is close to many shops and cafe's for daytime entertainment. As you exit the hotel take a left just opposite the hotel is a man called David's shop he is extremely helpful and made us Papyrus paper name bookmarks for free as well as told us how to tell the difference between fake and real papyrus (real can bend without snapping and if you lick your finger and wipe it on the real papyrus you will not have any of the ink on your finger).
If you want to see more shops and cafe's take a walk along the main pathway and you will come across the CORSINI cafe which is cheap and very nice inside (a bit like a costa) we had a panini with mushrooms and a pesto sauce which one one of the best i've tasted. Further along the path are shops which sell very nice scarves ( I bought 2 for myself and more for gifts, I also bought some scarab beads, perfume glass decorated bottle and my boyfriend bought a nice new pair of sunglasses). We had to haggle to get the prices down but if you tell them you saw them elsewhere for cheaper they will bring the price down ( I think we paid half for the scarves)!
If you can walk even further along and you will come across a shopping mall to the left which is quite posh inside.
At night time we went to many different restaurants including; Heaven (marina), The White Elephant (Thai restaurant in Marina) and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe (past the corsini cafe about 10 min drive from hotel). If you are going to the Marina it is worth using the shuttle bus which will drop you off and collect you at given times. All of these restaurants were reasonably priced especially the Thai restaurant which was very cheap!
Whilst in the Marriott we booked some excursions through our Thomas Cook rep. The first excursion was to Mahmya island which was idyllic. On arrival you are shown to straw mats where you can sunbathe or go snorkelling off the white sandy beach into the clear sea (we saw lots of fish). After a while you are taken on a boat trip and offered a chance to snorkel on the reefs then taken back to the island for a buffet lunch (the lunch we had was really nice with lots to choose from). The food was included in the trip price however, you may need to purchase your own drinks. We paid around £20 for this trip per person.
The second trip we booked was to go to a Bedouin village by jeep. We were picked up from the hotel and taken to a open air (almost arena) in the middle of the dessert where we were given Egyptian tea (not to our taste). you are then offered the chance to ride a camel which is worth doing and they are very cute. The jeep tour then takes you to the Bedouin village where you get to have a look around and see the people (I needed the toilet and so used theirs which were nicer than some at home). Afterwards you are taken back to the arena for a buffet plus live entertainment. The buffet has a wide selection and the traditional dancers in their spinning bright outfits are very talented. Once the entertainment is over you are taken back to your hotel around 9pm or even later.
Overall the hotel is in an excellent location, the pool and beach are clean and very refreshing to swim in. The presentation of the hotel is immaculate and the staff are extremely helpful. Our only problem with the hotel was the pestering on the beach from people wanting to make you join in activities and the bar staff tried to give us sample cocktails and charge us. The bar member that did this was then rude to us when we ordered ice creams later on saying we needed to pay for them (as if we didn't know).
To finish on a good note this hotel is one of the best i've stayed in and would recommend to anybody interested in having an amazing trip. The hotel pool and island is incredible and the restaurants are delicious. The hotel rooms are very comfortable, clean and large.
