Siva Grand Beach Hotel

great place - Siva Grand Beach

by A TripAdvisor Member

we have just come back from our second visit to the Siva Grand Beach, it was great again, good food, fab beach, nice weather and polite and freindly staff. we will go again but not for a while. Just watch the taxi and mini bus service, book at reception if you want to go where you wished otherwise they take you to the bazaar at Dahar to their brothers shops!!!! would recommend it to anyone as there is something for all ages. Enjoy!!!

Fantastic Siva

by TripAdvisor Member flocat

We have just returned from a 7 day Nile cruise and 7 Days at the Siva Grand Beach. Like many others, I was slightly concerned by the bad reviews on this site, however I need not have been. OK, the Hotel is not perfect, but what is, certainly at the price. The staff are excellent, generally food is OK, but the "extra" meals (optional) are amazing quality and VFM. Oasis restauant 1001 arabians nights @ £6 per head - fantastic, equally dinner by the pool, with 3 waiters and 2 chefs for your exclusive use @ £10 each, 4 courses including lobster main course ! I would definate reccomend this hotel and am looking to book for nov 2006. Incidentally, as a gay couple we never encountered any hostility from either other guests or staff.

Siva Grand Review

by A TripAdvisor Member

Our party of 6 just came back from a week at the Siva Grand Beach Hotel. Yes its true there are lots of Germans and Russians but they didn't really bother us apart from the odd one queue jumping. I suggest when you go for food, choose whatever is being freshly cooked at the time as it will be the hottest. The chef will usually cook one of the choices in front of you. We had a special candlelit dinner by the pool which cost £10 per head and was fillet steak and Lobster...Well worth it! And you have to try the crepes in the afternoon. We did find the breaze quite cold at times, but out in the sun it was fine and we all have tans (not bad for Feb). There was never a problem getting a sunbed. We always managed to find seats for 6 in one of the bars. The staff are very friendly which I put down to us having a laugh with them and the odd small tip goes a long way. We used 50p and £1 coins which they are happy to accept and become your friend for life. The self service beer tap is a brilliant idea. We opted to go snorkelling but not with the tour operator, but the locals just to the right of the beach. Although cold at sea, it was fantastic and for many of us our first time. It worked out to under £10 each. If you go out and about, you will be hounded by people trying to sell you things. We British are not very good at saying no but you will soon learn to and don't be afraid to be rude and ignore them. A word of warning if you choose to ride one of the white taxi vans...Having agreed a price before we got in, when we got to the destination, the driver tried to change the price. We paid 20 Egyption Pounds for 6 people to go to the Hard Rock Cafe and refused to pay any more. Then we found out there is a free shuttle bus every hour so just use that. The other one to watch out for is on your return journey make sure you keep back some small change as the airport staff all want a tip, including the men guarding the toilets.
Overall we had a good holiday and found the Egypt experience fun, but I guess different people have different expectations.

Siva Grand is Grand!

by TripAdvisor Member freakybarbie

Having just returned from a week at the siva grand over New Year i would love for you all to know that the HOTEL is FANTASTIC!
Ignore all the negative reviews on here. It is 4* all the way.

We stayed in a bungalow which was perfect for my boyfriend and I. It was clean and not dated at all. The room service was amazing. We were given a large bottle of water brought to the room every night, the maid was fantastic. He even cleaned up my dirty clothes from the floor and neatly folded them onto the bed. The service was A***
The whole hotel was clean and the staff are constantly busying themselves with jobs to do here and there. The gardens are well kept, the pool area is gorgeous the only downfall...too many germans.

The hotel does cater greatly for the Germans especially in terms of the food. So w ate at the hotel restaurant three times during our stay. I was not impressed but enjoy the pancake man at the terrace bar these are gorgeous and i am sure you will yourself going back again and again.

You dont need to tip everyone. We tipped when necessary. The staff are not rude. Most friendly. The animation was rubbish, very cheesey but.... go out and eat at mafia italian or mandarin lebanese and use the red sea shuttle bus to get to the hard rock cafe!!!!

We were not ill once during the trip. The hotel does not even gve you ice in any drinks so that is good, just remeber to brush your teeth in bottled water and ignore all salads.

One last thing... do do do go on the quad safari. It is amazing. Driving through the desert at 50mph so exhilerating just remember your sunglasses!!

and ENJOY!

A Real Honest Report On This Hotel

by TripAdvisor Member cocoeagle

This hotel had been recommended to us. There are either junior suites in the main building or 2 storey bungalows surrounding the hotel. We had requested a balcony originally but were not given one. We asked for a balcony the following morning but were told the hotel was full and we would have to come back to reception at 11.30 pm that evening to obtain a room with a balcony. We eventually were given one in the same block with a balcony. All night long we were kept awake by the generator and also as it was terribly windy the overgrown tree was ripping across the roof tiles all night. It was horrendous. The man in the next room complained also. After another trip to reception we were finally given a larger room but on the opposite side nearer to the beach with a balcony. During this time we had been virtually living in a suitcase because the room was unsuitable. The rooms are just basic but OK and clean. The hotel is big and really nice from the outside. Being January the first 3 days were terribly windy and the wind was ice cold. It was bitterly cold at night walking form your room to the main building restaurants. The first 2 rooms did not have any heating but the 3rd room did. It is obviously very windy all the time as the hotel has crescent shaped wind breakers on the beach with two beach beds in. No one was supposed to place towels on the beds until 8 am in the morning but we found when we went down each morning at 7.30 am all the crescent shaped areas had towels already on them by the Germans mainly. None of the staff said anything to them so after 9.30am it is impossible to get a sun bed. The pool area is lovely but wide open to the elements which meant no one could use the beds around the pool on most days because of the cold horrendous wind. We did get 2 hot sunny days with a breeze. In the restuarants however, we found the food was absolutely TERRIBLE. For a 4 star restaurant the food was bad. They had chicken, lamb, beef etc., but it was just ruined by not being cooked properly. We were informed by the rep on arrival that the hotel was 80% Germans, 16% Russian, Swedish etc., and 4% English so there was no hopes of a decent English meal. Other reviews we note say the food was good. Well all I can say if you like good food, cooked properly, then this is not the place to go. Around the pool was a Grill serving Hot dogs and beef & chicken burgers all day, if you like that kind of thing. The Oasis restaurant past the pool was were you ate Lunch. Again the food was awful. For sweet you either had a display of cakes (which we personally do not eat) or fresh fruit which was always APPLES. If they brought the odd Orange out you were pushed by the Germans in a rush for them to grab them. The Coffee and tea were awful( Recomend you take your own). Evening entertainment was the usual childrens 1/2 hour at 8.30 and adults hourly show by the hotels entertainments staff usually singing songs and prancing around. After that there was nothing. The place to congregate in the evening is in the main lobby/lounge with arm charis but again we found that these were always occupied from around 6 pm every night by Germans and you just had no where to sit. There was a small upstairs bar but againt limited spaces. At 5am and 5 pm every day a man comes along the outside of all the blocks with a machine which throws up a dark fog everywhere. Everyone runs to shut their balancony doors. This is for the mosquitos. Unfortunately it does get into your room and the 5 am one means the noise is so loud it wakes everyone up. We gave our room Cleaner Mohamed a £10 tip when we got our 3rd room change on our 3rd day. We only went for a week, thankfully, but when we were leaving Mohamed hung around outside our door cleaning the steps for about an hour. The bell boy collected our cases but they are looking for tips all the time. When we eventually left the room and said goobye to Mohamed he then cheekily asked us "Have you some more money for me". My husband was very annoyed and walked off. Bearing in mind that the £10 tip we gave him is equal to 2 weeks wages to him. Unfortunaately Hurghada is a Military airport and if you have never experienced one before - be prepared. It is chaos. Travel Companies are not allowed into the airports so when you arrive you enter a large room filled with people pushing and shoving in all directions. You eventually fathom out that you have to push and shove with the crowds until you reach the desk and here you give them your passpost, Visa card and what they are mostly interested in the £10 entry fee person. You can either give them £10 English of 15 US dollars. They stick 2 stamps into your passport and then you fight your way back again to queue in the opposite direction to get through passport control. Again they are mainly interested in that you have paid £10 entry fee. When you do eventually get out of there you make your way via your Reps to your coach. Again you are bombarded by boys ourside wanting to take your luggage for you. Your rep will also tell you if you go out of the hotel, it is safe, but you will be hounded by the local shop keepers to get you into their shop telling you how many children they have and no money. They shut the door as soon as you are in and you are persuaded to buy something.After one encounter we stayed inside the hotel after that. We like to walk and had been told we could walk along a large expanse of beach. NOT SO. Each hotel has its own area of private beach which is security controlled and you cannot go beyound the hotel walls. Hurghada is an up and coming resort and is surrounded completely by building work so be prepared for that also. On returning to the airport, again be prepared. It has one small cafe, a duty free shop and then you pass through security into one large room (Like an areoplane hangar). It contains lots of plastic chairs and nothing else. No cafe, no shops and more importantly NO TOILETS. You sit there awaiting your flight along with everyone else. We were approached by one of the security guards who asked us our names, had we any children and then informed us he had 3 children and YES YOU GUESSED IT, Could we give him some money as he could not even afford to buy himself a cup of coffee) We could not wait to get onto our plane. We will definately not be back to the Siva Grand Beach or indeed Egypt again. This type of begging is totally unacceptable.

Little Brittan!

by TripAdvisor Member GaffersLancashire

We have just returned from the Siva Grand after a weeks holiday. We were very apprehensive before we went after having read the previous reviews and were unsure as to what to expect. We had no fault with the hotel, it was spotless, in an excellent positon and well staffed.
The only problem we encountered was in the Terrace Bar - unless you are rather large, round, over weight male or female peron, - who just happens to speak German you automatically became a second class citizen!!. Yes the Germans are out in force in this hotel.
In the dinning rooms most of the tables are seated for 4 people and the waiters will sit you on a table with another party if there is only two of you - just say no and sort your own table out, otherwise they sit you with the Germans who completely ignore you.

The weather was fantastic and extremly warm and temps were in the high 90's some days.
We did Giftun Island boat trip and Luxor day trip - these trips are well worth it and I would recomened them to everybody - although the Luxor trip is a very long day - starts at 5.00 am and ends around 10.30 pm but well worth it.
The hotel food could have been better if it had been served hot - but the Germans like it cold so that's all that matters!!

Overall we had a fantastic holiday and met some lovely English people and we also kept fit with our early morning run to get a sunbed before they all went!! and seeing that most of the Germans were extremely overweight and unfit we tended to get a good spot on the beach everyday!

Hurghada

by LexiB

"An alternative to Cairo"

Hurghada is just wonderful. Yes a fairly new town (around 20 years old I'm told). Definitely a well kept secret. I never heard of it until a friend and I were looking for a trip to go on and our agent told us about it. I love it. I was a bit apprehensive about our safety, but you know what? I felt very safe there. Just don't get taken in and advantage of.

"Another Year, An Awesome trip"

I went to Hurghada AH-GAIN but this time with my mother and niece. What an awesome trip! It's unfortunate about the bombing at Sharm El Shiek, but I'm extremely happy that my family got to experience Egypt. We were supposed to stay at the Shedwan Garden Resort, but do to the company "overbooking" we were happily bumped to Siva Grand Beach Resort. I couldn't have asked for a better time! It was especially nice to REALLY be on holiday and not have to think about the "real world" even for one week.

"Okay, where's the beach/pool???"

As soon as we checked in my niece and I got into our swimwear and "explored" the grounds. It didn't take long to find the pool & beach!