More about Reef Oasis Blue Bay Resort
Goor Hotel But Not 5 *****
by TripAdvisor Member LADYSCOT
My husband and I have just returned from holiday to Egypt we stayed for a week 29th Nov to 6th Dec 2007 at Reef Oasis Blue Bay this was our fourth visit to Egypt but only the second time in Shalm we had a good holiday but the hotel has still a way to go before it will be a 5 star,
we had room 6137 it was large clean had a mini bar with soft drinks and water which was topped up each day but best of all it had tea and coffee which was great because we dont do breakfast and in the past have always had to go to restaurant just to get a cuppa so it was great being able to make one in room only problem with that was they only ever left 2 creams but plenty of tea and coffee, we also had a very large veranda but only used it once because on the one occasion we did we where bit to bits= I can only think it was the time of year we went because we have neaver had bite's like that on any of our other visits to Egypt it was not just us we saw lots of people with bite's simply because they where as big as a pound coin ( but that's nothing to do with the hotel and I am only commenting on it just to let anyone who is thinking about going to take sting cream and sprays we always do and thank goodness we did because on this occasion we needed them )
The hotel does have 5 restaurants that's one of the reasons I chose it and we did eat in four of them did not get round to the Italian, food was good in all off them but other than being called different names it was more or less the same menue's, dont get me wrong I am not criticising the food it was all fresh and good they just have to rethink there menue's but I must say that they are trying to be a 5 star but got a way to go.
Our room was one of the furthest from reception-beach-and restaurants it did take about 10 minutes to walk but we did not mind we where also next to the pool with shoots and children's club and when I first saw it all I could think of was the noise during the day but we hardly heard a thing on the one day we where there during the day because on the days we where not out of the hotel we chose to go to the beach which was great but would not like to be there when the hoter is at full capacity, the staff was plesent and on some occasions our drink orders neaver arrived but these thing happen the staff have a lot of people to serve and I can understand them forgetting the odd order or two == but where the hotel does need to do some work and quickly is the entertainment it was BAD BAD BAD It consisted of youngsters from about 15 to 20 years of age who on 5 nights out of 7 put on shows with them dancing about to piped music it was the worse entertainment I have ever seen and I have traveled a lot == the other 2 evenings where Egyption folk nights and they where professionals brought in to the hotel so all I can say to the Reef Oasis Blue Bay is change your entertainment team.
An excellent break
by TripAdvisor Member DiverSteveLiverpool
Having just returned from the Reef Oasis Blue Bay, I'm surprised at some of the reviews. I took my wife & children (age 4 & 6) to the Reef Oasis and had a great break.
The rooms are spacious and clean, the minibar was always stocked with soft drinks without an issue & I found that the staff at the hotel could not do enough for us. Our room was near to the leisure pool & kids club and even with the slides & kids club we still found it pretty quiet.
The hotels private beach is good, and will be even better once the elevator is installed. All of my party enjoyed the snokelling on the hotel reef, I'd really recommend it.
After reading the comments about the difficulties in getting drinks, I ordered a double round on my first night, which arrived fine & I found little issue with drinks ordering throughout the holiday. With certain bar staff in the Bistro bar, drinks were placed on our table before we had finished the first round, so I couldn't knock that !
The food was fine in the buffet style restaurant, with a mix of themes throughout the week to keep things varied. We did try the italian restuarant which was 50/50 food wise, so we didn't try any of the other restaurants (Note - the French restaurant is adult only).
This was our first time to the Red Sea and we were very impressed, we will certainly be going back to Sharm & may well go back to this hotel.
Beautiful Hotel, Service needs improving
by TripAdvisor Member vic1721
We have recently spent a week in the Reef Oasis Blue Bay and had a wonderful holiday.
The hotel has not yet "officially" opened and we were told that this would be happening early next year. Everything is still very new and the grounds are not yet fully established, but nonetheless, they are well looked after and are still very very beautiful. There are still a few building works going on, which is for the honeymoon suite aparently but this does not affect your stay whatsoever and you do not see this. So for those of you worrying that you are going to be staying in a building site.... THIS IS NOT TRUE!
The rooms are very nice, modern and clean with large balconies, lots of storage, comfortable beds and a large bathroom with a walk in shower.
Yes, this is a large hotel but there are many different pools and bar areas so you are never far from anything. Golf buggies are on call from the reception to take you back from your room and we never had any problems getting one.
The Main pool near reception is heated and that is lovely overlooking the beach. There is also a jacuzzi area on your way down to the beach which is great for a bit of relaxation! The beach is great and the jetty is fantastic for going snorkeling around the coral, you really will see some amazing sights.
The main restaurant serving breakfast and dinner was a buffet style. The selection of food was good but service was something to be desired! One morning, a member of our group had to ask for coffee 5 times before finally getting some and it was a regualar occurance to be eating our breakfast with our hands because we couldnt get any knives and forks! However, I do think that the restaurant is understaffed and this is the main reason for the lack of service.
The Italian and Frech restaurants were fantastic, Service was much much better and they both had great atmospheres and fantastic food! The fish restaurant was ok, but not as good as the other two.
We would go to lunch in the restaurant overlooking the beach which again, lacked service. A five star should not expect guests to ask for drinks and cutlery three times over before it is actually received. I really do feel that this was due to the lack of staff though as all the staff were running around like headless chickens!
The bars were great, service here was faultless and a raport can easily be made with these guys which made up for the bad service in the main restaurants.
There are shops and a pharmacy on site which is great as you do not actually need to leave the resort if you don't want to. However, we did venture into Naama Bay which was quite busy and noisy and full of the usual tourist souvenier shops .
With regards to dodgy stomachs.... we were all completely fine! We did not drink or brush our teeth with the tap water and stuck with bottled at all times. We made sure that we had antibacterial lotion for our hands which we used after handling the money as this is said to be the main cause of infection because it is so filthy! We also took Pro-biotics a week before and during our holiday (TRAVA is the name of a well known one from a pharmacy) as this kills any viruses.
The hotel is lovely and I think with a little gently tweaking here and there eventually could make a 5 star but at present I would say 4 purely because the service is lacking so much in the main restaurants. The grounds and facilities are superb and I would have no hesitations in coming back here next year.
Fantastic hotel, fabulous value, perfect location
by TripAdvisor Member Vivienne1001
When we booked to stay at Reef Oasis was a little worried as no reviews available. However, did not need to worry. Fantastic hotel; don't be put off by size. It is very spread out, like a village really with several pools and restaurants to choose from. Buffet breakfast very varied, lunch available in hotel restaurants plus on beach. Evening meals in main restaurant (buffet style) or in a-la-carte (booked on day or night before) Some choices extra charge but all serve excellent food. Days are shorter in Nov so need to get up early to make most of brilliant sunshine. Average temp was 27C - snowing in Britain! Taxis to Neema Bay very cheap: worth a trip in to see/experience! Rooms immaculately clean and staff could not have been more helpful and friendly. If you travelling with package hol to avoid long transfer via many hotels!!!!! the trip by taxi to/from airport good idea as only takes about 5-10 minutes total and really cheap! We enjoyed it so much....Booking to go back!
Average not 5 star
by TripAdvisor Member BexleyheathHooch
Hotel is new on a large site ,we were in room 6141 at the back of the complex with a good 8 minute walk to the main area for food and reception.Room was large, bathroom with a walk-in shower.
Fridge with soft drinks and water refreshed daily.Room cleaned daily ,good service.
Good pools with no problem getting sunbeds or umbrellas, towels always available.Each pool has a bar serving to 6pm.
Poor signposting to where things are.No names on Restaurants or bars .Weather as always in Egypt excellent average 30s.
States in brochure Internet but only if you bring your own laptop, no public access.
Lift to beach not installed yet, bus transfer available but easily walked.
Bar Service. Terrible, not enough staff ,on a couple of occasions asked for a beer,no, wine,no, coke no.This was at the poolside bars.Not sure of the cleanliness of the plastic tumblers that the refreshments are served in .
Bistro waiters were quite good but that was down to my daughter being there,soon changed when I was on my own.
Reception .Miserable people.
All the staff were dressed the same with no name tags as to who
they were or where they worked or who was in charge.
Food Average to boring .Main self serve restaurant had to wait outside for a table in the evening, only reason is that the tables had not been cleared away, not enough staff.
Tried the French and Italian Restaurants,French OK, Italian poor,three us for dinner only two main dinners came up after having 3 starters, had to prompt the waiter for wine ordered after waiting 20 minutes.
Entertainment. don't' expect much and you won't be disappointed.
If thinking of going to Reef Oasis,I would give it a miss until they have sorted out their staffing levels and attitude.The hotel seems rudderless ,this must stem from bad management.
Not 5 star hotel even with improved service.
Shame having been to Neuweiba previous year where the staff could not do enough.
Disappointed of Bexleyheath
Would not stay at this hotel again
by TripAdvisor Member ChrisLeigh_Essex
I booked this hotel having read previous reviews so expected some things not to be completely up to scratch, this was an understatement in some areas, though I will give a balanced review as best I can (starting at the begining)!
When my boyfriend and I arrived at the hotel it was about 17.30 (local time). We were told to take a seat as our room wasn't ready. We waited an hour for our room and the reception staff seemed to be completed disorganised. They took our passports on arrival and then they couldn't find them when I went to ask what was going on with our room. They then put 4 of us in a golf buggy and drove us to our rooms. I thought it was strange that I had asked for a quiet room but when I went out on the balcony we were opposite the children's pool with children's club (friends of ours who joined us half way through our holiday advised us that they could hear the children's club which was quite loud early in the morning!). Thankfully I phoned reception immediately and asked to be moved, I like piece and quiet when I'm on holiday, I appreciate that others don't, but everyone wants different things from their holidays. I was however impressed that within 5 minutes we were moved to another room much nearer the beach.
The rooms were really spacious and modern with the most comfortable beds and sheets I've ever slept in. Also the drinks in the mini bar (only soft drinks) were part of the all inclusive.
Reception had given us a map of the resort but I thought it was really strange that when we went to the "24 hour" bistro to get some food, we were told we had to make a reservation. Later that week we found out that the reason for this is that the fish restaurant isn't finished so some evenings they used the bistro for the fish restaurant, however we weren't told this when we went to the bistro.
We then went to the main restaurant which was huge and reminded me of a school canteen. This is when the problems started. The service got progressively worse as the holiday went on.
Tables weren't set per room so you found your own when you arrived, unless you were lucky and were shown to a table. Then we would normally find that the table wasn't set. So I'd ask for whatever was missing and it would take about 10 minutes for them to come back with the missing items. The staff would then take your drinks order and then forget to bring you your drinks. On one evening it was an utter joke. We took a table outside to get away from that "canteen feel" and the waiter then took our drinks order, 2 waters and 2 alcoholic drinks. I then realised that I didn't have a napkin and asked for a napkin. About 5 mins later a completely different waiter came out and gave my napkin to someone else. The alcoholic drinks arrived though mine was wrong so I sent that back (apologetically saying that I must speak clearer). We hadn't got any water by the time we went up to get our main course. Unfortunately I also had to clear my own table of starter plates as the waiters hadn't come back. Eventually half way through my main course, my drink came but it was so strong that I couldn't drink it, even my boyfriend couldn't drink it. So by this stage, I had eaten my starter and main course without having had any drink whatsoever. The only reason I had any food is because it was self service. The water arrived just as we were about to go up for dessert. Thinking it couldn't possibly get any worse (oh, how wrong I was!), when we returned to the table they had cleared everything away, my undrinkable drink, the water and my boyfriends beer, cutlery the lot. At that point I made a decision that I would never return to the hotel, though I would return to Egypt. The above wasn't an isolated incident either. One morning I asked for a cup of tea, they then bought two jugs of coffee, they changed one coffee to hot water but didn't bring any tea bags so I took some off another table, I then realised that I didn't have a tea spoon either so went to get one myself, they told me that they would get me one. There I am, 5 minutes later, no teaspoon and a mildly warm cup of tea, which in the end I stirred with my knife.
Another occasion, I repeatedly had to ask for two beers, we sat there for what seemed like 15 minutes, no beers, well I had enough and saw four waiters standing together and went and had a word with them, they all looked at me as though I was mad!!!
You may think I'm being over the top but when this happens at every evening meal you begin to get a bit fed up with it (as this is meant to be a five star hotel).
On a positive note the food was really good at the nightly BBQ by the pool (service there was good also).
It was evident that you would place your order with a waiter, he would then tell another waiter about your order who then forgot, they never wrote anything down, and the waiters were extremely distracted and had a low attention threshold.
Our friends joined us half way through the holiday and they experienced the same problems as us too. On the final night we made a booking at the Al Dente Italian restaurant and the service was no better, they got my drink wrong, they missed out a complete course from our order and after the main meal, again, we ended up clearing our own table. Unfortunately also I then spent the whole night and following day with an upset stomach. My friend did too, as we both ate the same main course.
It seems to me that there isn't anyone steering this ship and if they are not careful service alone will see this hotel go into decline.
On a positive note, Chico who works in the bar, was absolutely fantastic, he was very welcoming, remembered our names, our drinks, always had an eye on what we were doing, replacing our drinks without us having to ask. Other staff should take notes out of Chico's book.
The spa was really nice and the staff were very knowledgeable about the treatments they were giving, the gym was hi tech and had fantastic views out to Naama Bay.
There is some building work going on, but nothing too loud that it would ruin your stay.
The lunchtime canteen (down by the beach) was like butlins, service was the same as the main restaurant. Though you can get lunch and snacks around the pools and on the beach itself which we ended up doing.
Also our friends, one of which is a diver, was very disappointed that the dive shop wasn't open. He went to reception and found out that he could go to the shop between 5pm and 6pm to book his try dive so he could then carry on as normal with his dive trips. At his try dive the instructor was 40 minutes late, it turned out that the instructor was a replacement instructor as the original guy was upstairs by the pool chatting up some bird and this guy had to travel in from somwhere else.
Would I stay at this hotel again? No. The hotel itself was very classy in terms of decor etc but the service was really bad. I felt bad as our friends normally stay at the Hyatt and they stayed at the Reef Oasis because we did. Next time, we will definitely be going to the Hyatt.
I think that unless the service is vastly improved, when this hotel reaches full capacity, it will have a lot more dissatisfied customers, I hope they manage to up their game.
lovely hotel
by TripAdvisor Member susiemDerby
Just returned from this hotel and want to balance the reviews.
We had no problem with check in and were shown to our room straight away. The rooms are very comfortable and large with the mini bar topped up with free soft drinks and water every day.
We were situated close to the childrens pool but this was not noisy at all.
We did need the map provided and a few extra signs to restuarants may have helped but it didn't take long to find them all.
We tried all the pools out and particularly liked the 2 big pools that had less children around.
We ate at all restaurants and it was easy to book the table the night before.
Our favourite was the Italian but the french and fish restaurants were very good as well. We opted to have the set menu and not pay for any extras, most drinks arrived as requested but some staff do forget your drinks order occasionally. Neither of us had any stomach problems.
I have stayed in 5 star hotels before and this was mostly as good as any of the others. The staff do work very hard and it would probably be better if they only waited on set tables to prevent them from forgetting who they are serving.
The beach was great and we both enjoyed the snorkelling from the pontoon.
We did get this holiday as a late deal and felt we had excellant value for money. I would definately return and recommend to friends especially for a autumn/winter break
Brilliant!
by TripAdvisor Member xcharlotte_xx
Really lovely Clean hotel, Room was gorgeous and very modern even had a really good movie channel on our tv which we watch most nights as the entertainment wasn't all that good and didnt start till 9.30 so once you have finished dinner there wasn't anything to do.
During the day there was lots of different activies to do but if you love doing nothing apart from sunbathing this is the holiday for you! there are lots of different swimming pools to choose from and a really gorgeous beach but be warned gets very busy so get down there early for a good spot!
Food: Not very nice for us brits, but wasnt to bad..
we ate out in Nar'ma bay most night as they have TGI'S and Hard ROCK CAFE, the evening meal at blue bay wasn't all that good, breakfast and lunch though was some what better!
Hotel staff really nice, but some reception staff really not that helpful!
I would go back to this Hotel, in a couple of years once they get rid of a few teething problems as its hasnt been open for long.
Huge hotel complex, fantastic snorkelling!
by TripAdvisor Member bex
We were a little worried about some of the reviews we had read bfeore arriving at the hotel but we needn't have worried at all. The hotel itself is huge and has many different facilities on offer. Each day we were finding something new such as another pool or garden.
Overall we had a great time on our weeks stay here but we did find a few things a little tedious toward the end of the stay and i feel its only fair to point them out.
The entertainment was a little poor to say the least and didnt start until 2130 each night so once you had dinner there was nothing to do until then.
Dinner service in the main buffet restaurant was not that good at all. Every night the drinks orders would never arrive until you had asked at least twice. Most of the time we had almost finished starters before even a glass of water arrived. Many guests started taking to helping themselves to the water jugs much to the waiters dismay but what do they expect when service is terrible??
Make sure you place a bag or coat on the table or chair when getting up to get food or your table will be cleared and new guests sat there by the time you come back. This happened every night to new guests. The waiters obviously work very hard and were clearly understaffed but it seemd that all they were interested in doing were clearing tables which we found very frustrating when watching the waiter you have asked twice for drinks continue to clear tables around you. Certainly not 5 star service and i would say not a 5 star hotel until the service improves somewhat.
We also felt the hotel was lacking signage. We had no idea which restaraunt was which until we asked a waiter to point each one out to us. We didnt find the Bistro until 3 days in because nothing told us it was there we just followed someone through the nightclub and it was on the other side! Yes we had a map but that was not very clear.
Rooms lovely clean and modern, we were right over the childrens pool and didnt hear a thing when the balcony door was shut.
Snorkelling was amazing, beautiful beach. We saw a reef shark on our last day just off the reef, we also saw hundreds of fish aswell as a Mowray eel and a stingray. Worth going for snorkelling alone!!!
Please dont let my rant put you off, its a lovely resort, and we had a fantastic time it really was just the buffet experience i did not enjoy. The other eateries were perfect. We would book here again but maybe not for a little while until they find their feet and sort out these little teething problems.
Forum Posts
LTI Grand Azure or Reef oasis Blue bay?
by kirstylou1974
Hi All,
We're about to book yet another trip to Sharm in August and cannot decide on the Grand Azure or the Reef Oasis. Has anyone been? Our main concern is the facilities for the kids. Does anyone know if there's an animation team or kids club at either?
Thanks
Kirsty
RE: LTI Grand Azure or Reef oasis Blue bay?
by stanphil
if you mean the reef oasis blue bay then to my knowledge it's not open yet, due to open for "soft bookings" at easter and fully operational by may?? but the reef oasis beach resort (it's sister hotel stayed there twice) is open and has been for some years that hotel does have an animation team and a childrens club run by the hotel
hope this helps
RE: LTI Grand Azure or Reef oasis Blue bay?
by leedeb76
We've been to the Grand Azure last September, it was lovely. There's a kids club, animation team, ice cream on tap and activities throughout the day.
We liked it so much we're going again in three weeks!
