We have just returned from a week at the Mexicana and I have to agree with most of the reviews. We are not fussy eaters but the food was terrible. It was cold, poor quality and badly cooked. We had chicken every night and we felt we were treated like 2nd class citizens because we were all inclusive. The cold drinks were served warm and in plastic glasses unless you were paying then they got the chilled glasses out. There was only one restaurant for all inclusive guests unless you were prepared to pay then you had a choice of restaurants. The accommodation was ok but certainly not 4 star maybe 2 or 3. The staff were friendly and helpful and we did have a good time and met some lovely people but I would not stay at this hotel again as they do not understand the concept of all inclusive. We would recommend quad biking in the desert that was great fun! Also the show and meal at Fantasia was good value for money. We used the hotel taxis which were cheap and the one time we used the blue and white taxis the driver tried to rip us off!! I gave up on my favourite pastime of shopping because I could not stand the hassle from the shop keepers trying to get us in the shops. Overall we had a good holiday but no thanks to the Mexicana.

Just returned from a week at the Mexicana and had a fine time! We booked a cheap week all inclusive and really couldn't complain for the price we paid! All in all, the hotel is very clean, room was huge with balcony, the gardens are maintained well, pool was lovely and the sun was shining!! The only two comments I would have is that firstly, the all inclusive option is confusing, as there are time restrictions in the bars as to when it is covered, and down at both beaches, you have to pay for the food and drink, so that isn't good, as I think all in should be all in!! The second comment would be that its quite a quiet hotel and apart from one bar, there is no entertainment or anything going on in the hotel really, so its either good as a base if you don't want to do much or expect to pay money everytime you want to go into Naama Bay. People were complaining about the food but to be honest, we never starved and you must remember that you are in Africa and the food is going to be limited to the basics, such as pasta, rice, potatoes, chicken, etc., and there is nothing fancy. However, it was displayed lovely and cooked well, so again, you should not have a problem! One night though, we missed dinner but found a lovely Pizzeria called Blu across the road and it was great, very cheap!!
I would recommend Creative Mexiciana to anyone looking for a cheap sunshine break, but I don't think I would recommend it for a two week holiday as the entertainment is poor and the food would then probably get repetative! Hope this helps!

We recently spent 7 days at the Creative Mexicana after a 7 day cruise on the Red Sea. The cruise and stay were both advertised as 4*. The cruise in our opinion was 5* the stay at the Creative Mexicana was at best 2*. The hotel was lovely our room was lovely and housekeeping was very good. However if you were all inclusive as we were expect to be treated as 2nd class citizens. We had toast and eggs every day for breakfast because there was little other choice other than potatoes and brown beans and horrid sausages. The natural yoghurt I had to send back one day because it was horrible far worse than "gone off". The drink for breakfast was orange squash - if you wanted fresh orange juice you had to pay for it and not until 10.00am when the bar opened!!!! If we went down to the beach we had to pay for lunch which we did because the burgers were very good and we had to have one decent meal in the day. The dinner in the evening the choice was grisly beef tough chicken or fish with so many bones in you had very little meat. All inclusive had drinks served in a plastic tumbler whether it was vodka tonic, brandy, beer. Wine at dinner you had to fetch fromthe corner which was boxed while waiters stood around talking. Managers walked round the restaurant talking very loudly on their mobile phones and on our first evening they sat on the table next to us and shouted you will have to speak up there is a lot of noise in here. It is very unlikely we would go back to Sharm but if we did we would not stay at the Creative Mexicana and would recommend if you want 4* then DO NOT go to the Creative Mexicana.

We have just been to the Mexicana as part of a package holiday. I didn’t think I would write a review but I think people should know what to expect. I would like to start by echoing what most people have said, that the hotel is very picturesque, clean and the rooms are great and there are 2 swimming pools, with one heated. The only down side about the pools was that the sunbeds were so crammed together it was difficult to get on them - you soon got to know the person next to you :-)

If it wasn’t part of the package I would never have chosen it because 1. the ‘All Inclusive’ was the most limited AI I have ever experienced 2. it was an inconvenience having to get a shuttle bus to the beach and 3. the majority of staff were unfriendly.

Food - limited times to eat, 7-10am breakfast/1-3pm lunch/7-9pm dinner. And if you don’t like rice, chicken, beef, veg (courgettes & carrots), potatoes, you’re pretty much knackered. This was the same for lunch and dinner, in fact breakfast was much the same but instead of chicken and beef there were chunks of frankfurters with cooked onions, although you could get eggs any way you wanted and pancakes which were nice but the queue’s were usually quite long. They had salad as well but the dishes were such a mix of different things with sauce over you had no idea what you were eating so I ended up giving this a miss. Oh and they had pasta which was a tomato sauce and you could pick other bits like onions and ham to go in it. In the afo the children could have ice-cream between 4-5pm and adults could have tea/coffee with 1 bite size cookie. In saying all this the majority of the food was edible there was just no variety.

Drinks – you could get drinks at the big pool bar between 10am-6pm, then you had to go to the nightclub bar from 6-11pm, after that you had to pay for your drinks (entertainment, which was Karaoke on Thurs and Belly dancer on Mon, conveniently started at 11pm). You were only allowed 2 drinks at a time (one for you and your partner) you couldn’t take 4 at a time to save you going back, and you had to take your 2 plastic cups back before they gave you another 2, this was a pain if you were sat at the small pool because by the time you got back round to it from the big pool bar you had finished it. They do this because not everyone is AI. Also the drinks are limited to local wine/beer and selected spirits, which we got by on :-) Also if you arrive early and can’t get in your room don’t get a drink from the Amigo’s bar by reception as this is a charging bar anyway even if you are AI. A few people got caught out that way.

Staff – the majority were not very friendly at all, if they managed to smile it would have been a miracle and they weren’t very attentive. However, if I had been on my own with one of my girlfriends we would have got too much attention so I preferred being ignored. The guys giving out the towels were friendly and helpful.

If I was going to go back to Sharm, which I don’t think I will because you get a lot of hassle from the locals, even when they give you a price (ie in the taxi’s) they want more and sometimes start shouting at you, which I’m not particularly bothered about but it could upset some people, anyway if I was to go back to Sharm I would definitely look at one of the ‘nicer’ hotels which, in comparison, the rest of them appeared to be and within walking distance of the beach. The Mexicana has a sister hotel ‘Creative Grand Resort’ which we had a walk round and it was stunning. However before we went we looked at the reviews for this one and it didn’t get very good reviews either. Needless to say I can’t say about the food/staff etc. but it was a lot bigger and spacious and within walking distance to the beach.

I know it sounds like it but we are not complaining, we got what we paid for and we met lots of great people and had a good laugh, I just wanted people to know what it is like if they are looking to book it outside a package deal.

Tips – don’t book trips with your rep, you can get them a lot cheaper in Naama Bay. Unless you are particularly keen on diving, snorkelling is just as good. If you want to dive there are quite a few wrecks to explore. Only pay 20 Egyptian Pounds in a taxi to get into Naama Bay from the Mexicana. Pay no more than 80 EP to airport. Don’t be tricked by them saying they need an extra 20 to get past security when you arrive at the gates to the airport.