19th February2007, Crowborough, East Sussex,
We have just returned from a week holiday in the Sunrise Royal Makadi Bay resort. We did not want to come home. As we arrived their first words were "welcome home". The staff are all very friendly, the rooms very clean, bathrooms clean with enough towels and showergel, shampoo, conditioner etc. Most of all the beds were very comfortable which is very unusual! We had hot water every night andno problems with electricity we used the heater instead of the airconditioner the first few evenings.The food was of a very good standard, none of us suffered "pharaohs revenge".
We thought breakfast was the best. fresh fruit, freshly baked omelettes, cereals, breads, pastries, pancakes (the only thing missing was bacon!!)fresh juices, coffee, teas, hot chocolate anything you can think of they had. We never used the buffet lunch as there was a pool side restaurant which did freshly baked pizzas, salad bar, chips, burgers, chicken, soup, rice, potatoes,vegetables. The evening meal in the buffet was fine, this seemed to have the same food most evenings. There is a really good fresh pasta bar where you can mix your own pasta sauce with all the various bits in it, there was always a roast meat and fish. again all very nicely and mouthwateringly displayed. the puddings looked nice some strange combinations but all tasted fine. the drinks were very good from the bar lots of juices and cocktails alcoholic and non alcoholic. We tried the Asian Restaurant (not very impressed, food ok but not like our chines restaurants here), Mediteranean Restaurant very good, we never got into the Italian this got booked up quickly. The entertainment is ok, some stretching, volleybal, waterpolo, bellydancing, The eveing shows ok the karoke was interesting especially in Russian!! There were various nationalities there, german, russian, italian, dutch, belgian, austrian but everyone jsut did their own thing.
We had perfect weather 26-27C everyday, some days quite windy but this was quite pleasant. the evenings cooled down a lot you needed a fleece or jacket. The only problem going this early in the year is that the water is very cold. One pool is heated the others are bracing(after minutes you lost feeling in your legs) The sea was still cold too, so unless you have wetsuits you will not be able to snorkle for any length of time. The sea is not good for small children as it gets deep more or less straight away with lots of small jellyfish(these do not sting though)the sand on the beach is quite coarse, so we stayed round the pool. We are early risers so always got sunbeds. Towards the end of our week as more people arrived sunbeds round the pool were full, I do not know what the beach was like for availability. But the poolside staff is very good at spotting beds that are not used for a while and will remove towels that are there to free up beds. We had no mosquitos either. The shops in the hotel are ok. We got fed up with the haggeling for things, it takes too much time. As we were there for only 1 week we only did 1 trip and we chose Luxor. Which was amazing, we decided to go on the aeroplane rather than the coach as wherevere they go, they travel in convoy (60 -70 coaches)for safety reasons. We left our hotel at 3.50 (in the very early morning) and were in the Valley of the Kings by 7.15 (still early morning) whereas the coaches would not get there till 11.00 ish when there would be so many people going round you did not get such a good view. We were back in the hotel by 7.45 so along but very rewarding day. There is high security everywhere you will see police with big guns, the convoys have several armed police cars with them but you do not feel unsafe at any time. We took some egyptian pounds but they prefer sterling, euros or dollars. They also like being tipped, the hotel staff are the same whether you tip them or not. But it is still a hird world country and you will see this when you go out of the complex. the hotel and grounds are lovely, the gardens need a few more years to mature but it all looks great. We had a great time hereand will return ..

We have just returned from two weeks at the Sunrise Royal Makadi and from the moment we turned up there to the moment we left we were treated like royalty. The service we received was second to none. We cannot recommend it highly enough. You will not be dissapointed at all. We travelled with 4 young children and i had no concerns for them at all on this holiday (whilst in the hotel at least!) We can't recommend this holiday enough for anyone that has children. The hotel was the best by far in this particular area - both its position, cleanliness, facilities - just everything. We will definitely be returning.

Very nice hotel to look at,but out of a party of eight people,we were only all together four four evenings due to illness in the whole of the two weeks(diarrhoea). I understand this was their first peek summer season,and it showed i have to say. On the first evening tables not cleared for other guests. Asked to change rooms which they did with no problems. Hope these niggles can be sorted out,as it has great potential. Great location, and as stated has its own sandy beach,so you just walk in and swim!!
Bottled Egyption beer better than the draught stuff you normally get with all inclusive. Cocktails great,an bril g&t's. No problems realy with sun beds on the beach. Tipping helps with getting swifter service at the bar. Few hygeine issues at the pizza place near the beach. Chef rubbing greasy hair,then handling half
frozen cheese to make the pizzas. Verify boat trips as you might go on the same one twice like we did. In general the Egyptions are very friendly,plus most of the staff. They work very long hours for very little.

My boyfriend and I stayed here for a week and it was the best holiday I've had for a long time! All the staff are fantastic and so friendly (they know all sorts of cheesy british lines, like 'Lovely Jubbly' and 'see you later alligator') and they love the British so much more than the Germans and Russians. The food is amazing also, I had a few reserves in the beginning having heard a few horror stories, but we were both completely fine and even eating salad and fruit was fine.

The rooms were clean and huge and nicely decorated and the cleaners are very lovely too and on several occasions we came back to find our towells had been made into a swan or a love heart etc.

It was my boyfriends birthday while we were staying so I was planning on asking about a cake etc, however they already had that covered and I was informed there was a cake waiting and they brought it to our table making a bit of a thing about it and it was a nice touch.

Food-wise, the Meditteranean restaurant was our favorite (go for things from the charcoal grill) and the pizza's which they make fresh for you all day long are fantastic too, served by the pool.

For snorkelling we found that if you go to the beach next door, to the left, there are some amazing patches of coral which are swarming with loads of beautiful fish, it looks just like it does on nature programmes.
If you go shopping then I recommend the Makadi centre which is about a 20 minute walk away, there's a shop there called the Gallery I think and it's got beautiful handmade things in there (I bought a really funky lamp) and the man who owns it speaks very good english and is very lovely to talk to.

Overall I would say this hotel is fantastic and deserves all the praise it's been getting. We shall definatly return next year, probably in the winter again as it's so quiet and much cooler.