We were a bit worried looking at some of the more recent reviews, but the hotel wasnt that bad at all.

Clean and very big, full of germans and russians and very few british (which wasnt that bad actually- not bumping into brits all day). Nothing wring with the food, plenty of it and no bad stomachs!. As expected when you are all inclusive it gets a bit repetitive going to the same place each day for three meals buffet style. Drinks OK..wine is poor and they dont understand the meaning of a small G&T! but rest is ok. Plenty of bottle water avaialble all the time. Rooms ok, but seen better days..abit basic.

Pool warm (although only large one is heated)...Club magic entertainment team are a real pian though, constant music from a team with no taste. One morning we went from Angels to Titanic to Elton johns candle in the wind!! Thought we were supposed to be on holiday!!
They can pester you to play silly games...but if you give them the message day one you are not interested they stay away. was more entertaining watching the germans make a fool out of themselves!
Reception staff arent really interested and no rep to be seen in the week we were there.

Beach nice, jetty to snorkel, although red flagwas up mostdays and when we did go in it was rough and the current strong. Good dive centre though! Will we go back? No, but will go back to Egypt!

Resort looks very nice.
Packed with Germans though so also the main language of the staff is German, they hardly speak English.
Local drinks are terrible.
Lots of choice for the food, but hygene is something else.
Saw staff at the grill dumping food in the bin with their hands and then grab some chicken to slice it without even bothering to clean their hands.
After 2 days at the resort we all (my wife, daughter and myself) ended up with tummy troubles and so we didn't get much fun after all of our "all inclusive" arrangement, since we could hardly drink some coke and eat bread, rice and couscous.
Colleague of me visited the same resort in June.
He's still not recovered of his illness.
Would be a nice place though if they would bother to watch out for the hygene of the food.

I have mixed feelings about Magic Life. I read all of these reviews before going and so was prepared.

Good things:

Staff are great. No one asked for tips other than the porter, there were tip boxes you could put change into. Unfortunately because we were all inclusive, we didn't have that much change.

The place is spotless, they look for things to clean, but the toilets could stink a bit. I expect this from a hot developing country. The toilets in the American Bar are by far the best.

Food is plentiful. There is so much choice. We developed a strategy of checking out what there was first, making a decision on what we wanted, then getting the plate and filling it up, so as to avoid a cold dinner (see later on bad bits though.....). Breakfasts were excellent, and if you have a sweet tooth you'll be drooling over the deserts (even if they all taste of coconut)

Relax pool was deathly quiet most of the time if you wanted to escape the music of the main pool. You have to expect activities round the pool at this type of place, and the Germans lap it up! I think it's great that they have an alternative. The beach is also quiet if you want some peace.

Rooms were better than I expected after a terrible experience last year, but still not 5 star. Comfortable though. The air con was very effcient, in fact often it got too cold and we switched it off.

Gardens are immaculate and very pretty.

Main pool is great if you're going with a family, but there aren't any english speaking children, so best if you go as a couple.

Gym was quite good, we used it a couple of times. The jacuzzi was fantastic, and we both had massages. Be wary of the massages, as they all seem to be 'generic'. My partner had a deep tissue on which was fabulous first time, but the second time was a different guy and was just a generic massage. So he didn't pay for it. I had an anit-stress, which was also just a generic massage. Was good though.

Camel ride on the beach was crazy, excellent fun. We paid 100 LE and they wanted more. Just remember to agree an 'all in' price.

Day trip to Cairo and the Pyramids. Pyramids great, the rest so-so. Booked with Thompson and paid £159 each. Very long day but worth it to see the Sphynx.

My partner didn't use the dive club, he went into Naama Bay where they cater for the British. Camel is supposed to be good, but we only found that out after teh Red Sea College experience, which my partner didn't like very much.

Snorkelling. Amazing. Lots of red flags though. But we managed to get out a few times.

Watching the other inmates dance to the entertainment. Fantastic fun.

It really is all inclusive, you can help yourself to water, there is food almost all day long.

The entertainment staff worked their socks off dawn til midnight.

Climate. Perfect for me. In October it was about 30 degrees with the sun losing its strength at about 3p.m. The evenings were't much cooler, only a few degrees. I can imagine it would be unbearable June-September. Nice breeze during the day.

Bad bits:

The sickness and diahorrea. He had the runs after every meal (literally), and I had my head down the toilet for 2 nights. I felt nauseous most of the time. We both had nasty stomach cramps most days. We didn't clean our teeth in the water, we religiously wiped our hands all the time with wet wipes. In the end I ate only bread, cheese, chips, bananas, soup and pasta. The first time was a tuna mayo sandwich from sandwich corner, and the second after eating at the Brazillian a la carte. We went to a pharmacy in Naama Bay (don't bother with the doctor) - there are other pharmacies outside the resort on the main road, who gave us some anti-sceptic tablets with anti spasm especially for travellers tummy trouble. cost about £3. I took them all the time and it kept the nausia at bay. Eating a poor diet and being sick a lot, I ended up with a throat infection and had to visit the doctor which cost 75 Euros with the medication. No receipt from the pharmacy.

I believe some people, especially the British are prone to overseas tummy trouble. I saw many many people enjoying the food and having ice in their cocktails, and I'm sure the whole resort wasn't sick. but if you're like me, and prone to catch things, be prepared for illness.

The entertainment sucks, don't bother. However, the ampitheatre was packed when we went. The Germans and Russians were loving it.

The booze. If you like good wine and beer you'll be diappointed. The beer tasted ok, but was weak, the white wine was like a cheap £2.50 from the Garage. The rose was ok (watch out, they cool the glass in ice first - you can ask them not to - all contributing to the tummy trouble). The red was ok too. The problem was that you had the same taste every night, there's no choice of wine.

Very few British people, but to be honest, that doesn't bother us. No body was rude, but they don't really talk to you, which is fair enough. We didn't talk to them either. About 4 other british couples were there I reckon.

The showers in the rooms dribbled - power showers they ain't

The bus times to Naama bay were inconvenient. Designed to keep you at the hotel to eat. The hotel taxi was 12 euros. But you can flag one down outside and pay 5.

Beware of people trying to give you free Hard Rock cafe meals in Naama bay in return for a visit to another resort to check it out. They're trying to sell you a holiday club.

Shopping. No authentic bazzars, just cheap chat. One nice shop in Naama called Alladin, by the Camel Bar. Fixed prices, a bit pricey, but not the same old same old.

Mozzies: on the first morning I got bitten twice on the balcony when I was out there for about 2 minutes, the bites were absolutely enormous. Mozzies love me, however some jungle formula and 2 garlic tablets a day from then on and I never got another bite. Keep the door to the balcony closed all the time and keep the air con on. There's nothing you can do about them, so prevention is the key. I saw some people with terrible bites.


Conclusion:

My partner called it an upmarket Butlins. If you've got a cast iron constitution, and are just after a lazy week or two in the sun, you're fussy about alcohol, and you don't mind not talking to other people for a bit, then I'd highly recommend it.

My wife and I decided to go the Magic Life after hearing great things from the travel agents and internet reviews sites. I'm afraid it wasn't what we had expected and we now feel that this holiday was sold to us on bad advice. So what’s good and bad about it?
The staff are extremely friendly, but watch out for the cheeky chappies that just ask for tips, even if they done nothing for it. There aren’t many British People here, my wife and I spoke to know one throughout the two week period. Mostly German occupied. The Bar staff thought it was funny to take the mickey out of our London accents, at first we also thought this was funny, but repeatedly every time you asked for a drink you'd get a jibe !!!! And it got very annoying in the end.

The food is nothing short of plentiful, the only problem is it takes so long to walk around it all that your food goes cold before you get to eat it.

Local branded drinks and Soft drinks available throughout the day, and food is available all the time.
We both suffered bad stomachs after the first day and eventually we had to see the Hotel doctor, after 180 Euros later we had enough drugs to sink a battle ship and were told not to drink alcohol for 5days. The Hotel cash machine is not always working and the Doctor thought it was strange that we did not have a spare 180 Euros in our wallets, why would we? Were in an all inclusive!!!!

The main pool is fantastic, but very noisy; the whole place is geared up for children so watch out couples. We went to the relax pool which is supposed to be just that, but parents brought there kids there as well so it was no different to the main pool.

If your a scuba diver then you'll need to know that the German run dive center was less than interested in British diving with them. You can only dive if you do a whole days transfer. You can only dive the house reef in the afternoon, and because the sea is so rough snorkeling was only permitted for 2hours in late afternoon.

Evening entertainment was a cocktail of resort staff dancing every night. If that’s you idea of entertainment then fine. I myself like a bit more than 45 mins of skipping and jumping every night.

For a Five start hotel the Room accommodation was not what I would have expected, However I know you don’t go on holiday to stay in you room, but you do if you're ill. The toilet really smelt bad of stagnant water. I grade the room as 3 star.

Finally I must warn those of you who suffer from mosquito bites. I've never been to a five start hotel that didn't offer a mosquito repellant device that you plug into the wall. We found hundreds of the little suckers in our room and we were bitten badly. The hotel didn't offer any assistance to us and only eventually helped after we complained to Thomson agents, even then they only offered a can of spray, which we used religiously every night.

All in all for the money there are many holidays better than this and many at much cheaper prices.