Creative Badawia Resort

Not so Creative Badawia

I was one of a party of 10, ranging in age from 23 – 86. We stayed All Inclusive.

The hotel is, as other reviews state, clean and tidy. The rooms are basic, but remembering its 3star status, they meet expectations. The pool is refreshingly cool, and has a pool-side bar – where we spent several hours each day! However, the pool tiles need replacing; I cut my foot, as did several other people as they got out of the pool. Infact, my foot, 6 days later, is still infected.

Breakfast – Not bad, pancakes, omelette, pastries, fruit cordial and tea / coffee. The Coffee is so bad at breakfast, I couldn’t face eating. I had to wait until 10am to get a decent cup of Nescafe from the pool bar. Lunch – think back to what was served at Breakfast. Then look at what is being served for lunch. The breakfast pancake leftovers are made into cannelloni etc. Dinner – think back to lunch. The carrot and courgette salad is now a Ratatouille. You get the picture!

We gave up on the all inclusive food on the 3rd day. Perhaps we should have given up on the first day! 6 of the 10 people got really ill. It may not have been the food, but for the first few days we spent all our time at the hotel relaxing. One person lost 2 ½ stone, mother-in-law lost 1 stone, partner lost ½ stone and a friend lost 8 pounds. They were very ill! Had my Great Aunt got the tummy bug I don’t think she would have survived!

Food which you order and pay for is basic but quite good, we enjoyed the sandwiches and pizza. However, just phone KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut and for 80p sterling they deliver to your room or poolside. Atleast you know the food wont make you ill.

All inclusive drinks - Great selection, generally served cold. You can’t order a bottle of beer, or a bottle of water but so what! A bottle would only go warm (drinks are served by the glass).

Room service - The hotel will tell you room service is 24 hours, but it isn’t! We often came back to the hotel around midnight, and were unable to even get a coffee.

Turn right out of the hotel, right again towards what looks like a dead end. Just 3 or 4 mins from the hotel entrance is a Shopping Mall with KFC, Pizza Hut, Costa Coffee etc etc. A godsend for our party, as 6 out of the 10 had to stay within 50 yards of a toilet. They had Tatu playing in concert one evening too…

Free bus to the beach – however, the hotel area is at the rear of the beach, but the all inclusive option does give you free soft drinks. Free bus to Naama Bay at 9pm, but the return at 10.30 was too soon so we took a taxi – very cheap.

Hotel Staff – most were generally very good and very friendly. Some were a little too friendly. One of our party, in her 50’s was hassled by one of the staff every day for “Room Comfort”. He would knock on her door at night, and she had to leave the phone off the hook when she was in the room alone because he called non stop. She found it funny to start with, but bear in mind she was sharing her room with her 86 year old mother, it was just ridiculous.

Another of our party was followed to her room every night too, so had to take a detour around the hotel so not to walk past any staff.

The hotel is home to two shops, one selling oil and glass, the other odds and sods. The oil we got from the hotel shop cost £18, in Old Sharm it was less than half price. Be warned!

The gift shop is good, and the guy serving is very friendly.

ESSENTIAL TRAVEL TIP – it was so hot, the sun cream we took was not strong enough. Factor 15 in the pharmacy over in Sharm costs about £9 sterling, factor 30 about £14 sterling and total block almost £20 sterling. Therefore, buy before it in England!

Don’t use the pharmacy near the supermarket, - use the real ones in the shopping mall. I got ripped of, charged £7 sterling for Antibiotics, whereas in the Mall they were 70p sterling.

I cant wait to see what reviews my friends leave about the hotel – theirs will be much worse than mine!

All said and done, please note that I have travelled to many different countries, and have even lived in India (Goa) for almost 2 years. Would I stay here again? NO! Not even if we got another bargain of £360 for 10 days all inclusive. Would I go back to Sharm, YES! I would have had a fantastic time had my friends not been so ill.