it was advertised as 5 stars maybe 2.5 stars it also said there was 6 bars and 6 restaurants only 1 bar and 1 very bad self service buffet the food was cold all the time we and others told the staff they did nothing about it room were basic no entertainment take my advise look else were

As the title suggests this is definitely not a 5 star resort, we stayed for 2 weeks and even though we had paid all inclusive we ate out probably about 8 or 9 times during our stay.

The food is awful, every day there is pretty much the same things to choose from, mainly rice and chicken which looks like it has been hacked to pieces and is full of bones. The food is over salty and otherwise tastless. There is a pasta station offering just a plain tomato sauce which seemed to be nothing more than lukewarm tinned tomatoes. There are lots of salads on offer which are nicely presented but seemed to me to be a concoction of left over food from previous days - I swear one day there was a beetroot and breakfast cereal salad which I had first thought was chickpeas but I can only describe it as those corn puff cereals that they serve at breakfast! The toaster at breakfast doesn't work properly (only 1 out of the heated bars worked) and I sent a piece of bread round at least 6 times and it was barely warm never mind toasted. The only edible thing we found at breakfast was the omlettes which are made fresh but the fillings are left out in the sun all morning and go a bit crusty around the edges.

The rooms are basic but rather dated and shoddy, the lamp by the beds had no bulb in it and our minifridge didn't work. It took us 3 days to get it fixed after we complained at the reception. The beds are nice and comfy and the cleaner did a great job, he even left us a towel crocodile and a monkey swinging in the bathroom!

The beach is the best thing about the hotel - on the doorstep and lovely. There were always plenty of sun beds and towels. The beach bar did nice pizza and chips at lunchtime.

The drinks are very hit and miss. The beer was sometimes served in plastic cups as small as shotglasses (my partner had to get 4 at a time!). Cocktails were OK but there was no list of available cocktails or drinks and when you asked for the same cocktail twice you often got something completely different. The small lobby bar was the main bar in the resort and it often ran out of supplies. There was a small nightclub upstairs which some nights did not open and drinks in here were charged extra (even before 12 if there was a 'show' on so you had to walk all the way down the stairs to the lobby bar to get a drink then back up again).

The 'shows' at night were very mediocre, we only went to a couple and lost interest. The same shows were repeated every few days or so and very little effort was put into them.

The other restaurants in the complex did not open other than the seafood restaurant which I heard really bad reviews about from other guests. It was expensive to eat there and I thought if I was paying to eat I would rather go out of the complex to guarantee a good meal! The Champagne bar was never open and the Casino didn't even look finished.

I thought other reviews on here were from people being picky but seriously they are completely accurate. If you are looking for a 5 star break I would advise you not to stay here.

As the title of my review suggests, I wouldn't normally have the time or the inclination to write a review on here, however, given that I have just returned from such a shoddy holiday, I wouldn't want anyone else to have to suffer the horrors of the Sol Y Mar...

General comments:

The food is awful; absolutely no variety and it was neither warm, nor fresh. I was ill after my first day, so we ended up sticking to pasta for the rest of the week - complete carb overload! The only thing worth recommending was the pizza by the beach bar, but even then, you have to fight your way past the Russians who are on the whole, obnoxiously rude.

The staff are generally pretty friendly, although the Egyptian waiters / bar staff are very sleazy and as we travelled as 3 mid-20s girls, we were pretty much hassled everywhere we went. This was amusing at first, but after a week of being asked to marry / kiss them, it gets a bit tiresome that you can't have any peace and quiet. Half the waiting staff appear to be searching for a British wife (you can use this to your advantage to get better service from them!), but on the whole, I would suggest to any female travellers not with partners to talk about your boyfriend at home, as it is the only way to be left alone!

We had an issue with our room when we arrived (they only provided 2 beds for 3 of us!) and when we complained to reception, they just laughed at us. Funnily enough, I am pretty sure we wouldn't have been treated this way if we were men or had had a male in our party. I also get the impression that most British guests complain in some form, so I imagine they are fairly immune to it by now.

On the whole, the rooms are pretty basic - we were lucky to find ours was fairly clean, in comparison to others staying in the hotel from those we chatted to. However, as they do not have triple rooms, my friend had to sleep on a camp bed for the week, I would hardly deem this worthy of a 5* rating, nor a suitable alternative for a professional woman on holiday! The towel art however was definitely a highlight! We had swans with sunglasses on, sailing boats and on the last day, a crocodile - it wasn't exactly compensation for the overall experience, but still made us laugh!

All of the overall hotel facilities are incredibly basic and shockingly dirty. The main hotel and beach toilets that you use during the day are absolutely appalling. Every day, they were not clean (full of excrement smeared around the loos, bins overflowing, soiled knickers discarded on the floor, you name it!) I was genuinely shocked at the awful hygiene standards of fellow guests / how the hotel did not seem to care that the facilities were left in this way!

The pool is nice and there are plenty of sunbeds / towels to go round, however the animation / entertainments team are pretty annoying - you get hassled all the time to join in and the music is on so loud that you can't really relax.

The bars frequently run out of supplies, and as mentioned above, you are permanently battling with the Russians (who dominate this hotel), who push their way to the front of the queue, have no respect to anyone around them (fellow guests or staff) and just want to drink the place dry.

I have stayed in plenty of other all-inclusive hotels in the past (including others in Sharm) and this is by far, the worst I have ever experienced. I read the reviews on here before I left and put it down to pedantic / picky people who cannot be pleased, but on reflection, their descriptions are thoroughly accurate. You could definitely get a better deal elsewhere so save your money!