3 weeks before our holiday, I checked out TripAdvisor to confirm lastminute.coms write up and to bask in the 5 star loveliness that my boyfriend and I had excitedly just booked. Every review was utterly depressing. We were shocked to read reports of cockroaches, food poisoning, rude staff and so on and resigned ourselves to the fact that our 5* hotel was going to be anything but.

However we soon realised it wasn't all that bad! Yes, if you are expecting 5* luxury, this is not what you will get, and you may have been as taken in by the reviews on travel agent websites as we were.

However if you have booked and now can't cancel it, don't despair. Modify your expectations a little and you will still have a lovely time!

Room: The rooms are average but incredibly clean and well appointed. We requested a king size double bed and got one! The shower was powerful and hot.

Clientele: In winter, this is all Russian. We met one other Brit couple in the hotel in the whole week. No big deal - the Russians keep to themselves and no "Brits abroad"! It actually made for a better time in my eyes!

Beach: The beach is private, but not sandy. It's man made of grit and the Russians love their loud, Euro-pop. However there are a couple of very quiet sun terraces with ladders down to the water and the amazing reef, and these were a nice place to relax and listen to the waves.

Snorkelling: The Rojana's grounds drops down to an amazingly beautiful and easily accessible reef. If you're going for snorkelling, the Rojana is great and has a dive centre on site.

Accessibility: If you have mobility problems, avoid the Rojana. It is hilly and the complex is massive. If you are able-bodied, don't be put off - the gardens are lovely and a walk after a day in the sun is actually quite nice.
The Rojana has a fleet of reasonably priced taxis which were readily available for trips to Naama Bay, Old Sharm etc.

Food: All eastern European. No Egyptian or Western. If you like your food bland and tasteless, but in massive quantities, you'll love it here! We ate out twice in Naama Bay at Viva on the sea front - excellent food and fairly cheap. Great sheesha bar right next door.

Rojana staff: They love the English (and my Kiwi boyfriend) and have little time for the Russians. Great sense of humour and love a joke. Tip them and you will be looked after very well!

All in all, we had a lovely time.

I am going to give a fair and honest review of our stay at Royal Rojana. My husband and I went with our three teenage children, 18, 16 and 14. If you are expecting wonderful surroundings then you must remember Sharm El Sheikh was built about 20 years ago on a desert so the landscape is going to be rugged but once you step inside the hotel grounds, the views of the Red Sea and Mountains are spectacular. If you like wandering outside your hotel grounds then this probably isnt the holiday for you, we did walk to the Local Supermarket situated at the next Hotel along but the walk was not pleasant as there were no paths and it really was a dumping ground for plastic bottles, crockery and even syringes, so I would give that a miss. Staff at the Royal Rojana are outstanding. Rooms and Hotel and clean. Food is adequate and I would say that if you have a fussy child as we do then I would not stay at this Hotel. Our 16 year son survived mainly on Melon and Bread Rolls, he does love chips but could only get them daily lunch times at the Bay Watch but chips were not on the menu every evening. But there was always chicken, potatoes etc. The pools were clean and plenty of them to go round, they were cold but in temperatures of over 35 degrees were much needed and once you had swam a couple of strokes you didnt notice the cold. Daily entertainment was great around the pool area although you were not hassled to join in. Evening entertainment was poor and consisted of competions at 10pm and was not really in English. Snorkeling at the private beaches were fantastic. I would recommend you take American Dollars as the exchange rate is great at the moment but they do take sterling, euro and egyptian pounds (but they would rather not). A visit to the Pyramids is a must but be prepared for a long day but it will not disappoint you and is awesome. Also, the Quad Biking was unbelievable, we did the Sunrise one, which meant being collected at 3.40am but there were not as many people and it was cooler at this time but the kids loved it. I would say that if you are looking for a holiday full of English people, with evening entertainment and plenty of english food then this resort is not for you but if you want a relaxing by the pool holiday, fantastic snorkeling and wonderful weather then this holiday cannot be faulted. The All Inclusive does not include Ice-Creams but we was told to give them a miss anyway as they were not worth the 2 euros, also, when a man walks round offering you smoothies which you accept he will come back later taking your room number as you will be charged for these. Water in your rooms in also not part of the all inclusive deal. We feel 10 days would have been enough unless you have lots of money and can do more excursions, we did 3 in 14 days and really 2 more would have been good but with 5 in our party it does become costly. But we all had a fantastic time and to be honest it doesnt matter where you go there are always going to be niggles of faults with your holiday but if the other option is being at work in freezing cold England then the faults are soon put to the back of your mind.