It is not a real 4* and so don’t expect anything like British 4*.
The three corners Palmyra isn't the worst resort in the area and for its faults we did have an OK time. In the end however, we left feeling a little disappointed as well as being actually Ill from the poor food. I doubt I would return but this feeling goes for Sharm itself as well as the complex.
We went with “holidayexperts” and flew with Thompson, the local “reps” a company called “A2B/Tarot tours/youtravel” were useless and gave us NO information except for a list of excursions.
Overall
It’s just OK and you can get much better for the same money, but then If you’re not careful you could get worse too... I would suggest not expecting too much from Egypts star rating, I think anywhere with running water automatically gets 2 stars!
5* should really be your absolute minimum in Sharm.
It's a large good-looking complex with some unfortunate flaws to spoil it. Not in the best location but certainly quiet. Plenty of taxis flying past and only £5 to Namma Bay or limited free shuttle to Old market (don’t bother unless you like hassle) and Namma.
Pools and general appearance are nice and the Oriental corner tent was a comfortable place where you could just sit and relax, watch TV or enjoy the shisha pipes if it took your fancy.
Staff are all friendly but this is common in areas where the pound is king and all the complex shops (as well as everything else) are nothing but tourist traps geared to rip you off.
Food was not good at all but I suppose that it depends on how well you normally eat and how tolerant of cold cheap crap you are.
Rooms
Our room ground floor and was large with a good sized double bed and a set of bunk-beds and ensuite bathroom. The room was clean although a little worn with some dirt, cracks and mould in the shower etc.
There was a slight smell in the bathroom but this seems to be common in most hot dry countries and wasn’t a massive issue. The shower wasn’t “4-Star” and barely held itself up but it did produce hot water, which is a plus. The lighting was poor with none in the actual shower cubicle making it a little claustrophobic and so we had to leave the curtain open.
There was an old TV in the room which offered a couple of English channels that had some surprisingly good films on and a good sized wardrobe and drawers.
We got a little unlucky with the position of our room and ended up right in the far back corner which meant that our door backed onto a building site full of Egyptian workers, while there wasn’t any real noise to speak of, the presence of strangers so close to your room even at night was a little disconcerting but on the plus side, the hotel did have a 24hr guard sat in his little chair opposite our room. It wasn’t the most pleasant of views but at least our balcony faced inward toward the gardens and pool.
Some of the rooms also had very large dresser mirrors and panelled ceiling areas with holes in, while these didn’t bother me, some of the female guests I spoke with where a little “creeped” out by them, too many horror movies maybe?
The “minibar” was empty and was little more than a worryingly old noisy fridge that managed to convince me that it would end up blowing up or giving off some noxious gasses, luckily it was only me giving out any noxious gas and the fridge chugged on. The air conditioning worked fine and we had no trouble with the room temperature.
Room Service
The room service was daily, the change of towels were a nice little touch when each day they were folded into a new shape such as a swan, hearts and even a crocodile. They seemed to give the room a quick tidy and a once over which was adequate but I never once felt that the rooms were “spotless” but that said, I didn’t find anything in Sharm to be. Oh and the room service also seemed to have a slight obsession with folding female underwear up too! :S
Food & Drink
Food was the biggest disappointment for us and it was far from 4 stars.
We knew that it would be a buffet type system but we weren’t counting on the Egyptians seeming inability to understand the simple concept of Hot food and the cooked food was not kept warm as the heat lamps were never switched on. This was the same for breakfast, lunch and Dinner.
Dinner for example was served from 7pm until 9.30pm but unless you were there and eating by 6.59pm you had no chance of getting anything above even Luke warm. This of course led to the inevitable rounds of sickness and bad stomachs, most guests got it and one woman ended up in her room on a drip!
The menu seemed OK at first and may have even been edible but for it all being cold each day. Being all inclusive, they food was all cheap and of a low calibre, It generally consisted of a recycled rice dish, a meat and chicken dish, a baked/fried fish and a selection of pasta and the standard daily veg . Alongside this was the daily “special” some of which were a BBQ (Beef and “Chicken” although I know Rabbit when I see it!), Pasta, Roast chicken/turkey and some “arab” dishes.
There was also a salad bar, bread table, two soup kettles, a desert table and the kiddies corner (daily burgers, sausage, chicken nuggets etc).
Soft Drinks were a choice of Coke, 7Up or Fanta plus Tea and coffee. The alcohol was limited. It included Sakara beer, which is an OK lager. Wine, which came in red, white and rose and was actually fairly nice and then some local spirits, whisky, brandy, rum, vodka etc and a few cocktails made from the above. A word of warning though, one night I decided to try a “whisky” and I have to say that whatever it was I tasted, It was not whisky! I’ve had some rough whiskies (even the same brand elsewhere) but this was actually very bad vodka with food colouring in it...again I feel heavy cost cutting like with the food.
One night, fed up with the buffet we opted for the paid “Chez Pascal” restaurant hoping for something better. The choice was Seafood platter, Steak or mixed grill at a cost of 10 Euros per person (with everything else being included anyway, it was 10 euros for the “steak” alone), suffice to say nothing improved. We got the steak but the whole dish was again cold and the pale stringy “steak” looked like it had just recently been hit by a car and scraped into the kitchen. I asked for them to heat it up but as I said they simply didn’t seem to understand what “hot” is and it returned as cold as it left. I couldn’t eat it and I did complain it was to no avail and I was charged the full 20 Euros. Two other couples were eating, one refused to eat it and walked off while one opted for the seafood which looked quite tasty and they seemed happy enough.
Evening entertainment
The evening entertainment started between 9-9.30pm, some was done by the hotels own “Animation” team while others were outside acts. While again not 4-star and lacking the quality of some of the European destinations it was in some parts at least, entertaining.
The disco looked gorgeous with stone walls, pillars and some carved benches and had the feeling that it was in a cave and part of a real club. This was swiftly let down by the DJ who insisted on playing nothing but his own personal favourite Egyptian electro, dance and trance tracks with only the odd familiar well worn track to keep anyone remotely interested in the disco, of course being mainly families this didn’t go down too well.
While open until 1am, it was all but empty by 11pm and all bars closed at midnight, I almost felt that the DJ was hired to deliberately keep people out of the disco and off the beer!
Pools
There are number of pools (4-5) with each block essentially having its own good sized pool and then the big main pool. The pools are clean and we had ample sun beds during our stay. Two of the pools had pool bars, the 'children’s' pool bar didn't seem to have clear opening times but the main pool bar was open and served soft drinks, beers and spirits. Unfortunately the 'whirlpool' type section was broken during our stay.
The poolside musical entertainment soon became tiring with the same electro type tunes being played all day broken only by the quick to annoy “three corners happy holiday” tune and the “bumba”. In pool entertainment included Volleyball, polo and aerobics but the polo/volleyball always ended up becoming “man only” games with Polish Vs English to the exclusion of any older kids or girls.
Beach
The beach was pretty good and far better than some of the others I saw. While there’s no sand just a fine shingle, I didn’t mind this because it doesn’t stick all over you like sand. There is long shallow very rocky reef leading out to the deeper sea which had some good coral and fish, great for snorkelling.
There are some watersports such as the banana boat but as usual you really need to fight for a honest price. There are a few other little shops etc and the dolphin restaurant did a decent (and cheap) pizza which was such a welcome relief from the hotel! There are your usual touts selling excursions, massage, beauty treatments etc but a word of warning, always get a price before you get anything and don’t agree to any “samples” unless you’re ready to pay out!
The beach toilets were quite grubby, the beach bar only served soft drinks and the lunchtime sandwiches were ‘interesting’.
The beach changed back in November and the new beach is nowhere near the hotel... It is a 15 minutes shuttle ride away down in Sharks bay but these are free and run up to 5pm on the hour.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.