Continental Garden Reef Resort Sharm el-Sheikh

On arrival at the hotel I was totally overawed - it looks very impressive and grand, even more so than we were expecting from the brochure - but it went downhill from then on.

As soon as you get there all anyone wants to do is look for ways of making a tip, carrying your luggage, showing you to your room, showing you how to work the air con, showing you how to switch on the lights, showing you how to use the deposit box - all want an individual tip.

Our balcony was huge, very priveleged I thought ,until I realised there was no furniture on it - I did mean to mention this to the staff but what transpired following this faded the issue into insignificance. I also meant to mention that our safety deposit box didint work as the numbers were all worn off but didnt want to ask for help as it would have cost us again.

The brochure stated that it "featured a wide range of restaurants and bars to meet demanding tastes" that was an overstatement if ever there was one. The Olive tree restaurant was where the all inclusive buffet was provided between 07:00 till 10:00, 13:00 to 15:00 and 19:00 to 22:00, other than that the only one was the El Hamma restaurant 19:30 to 22:00 which you were allowed to use once during your stay and you had to queue up in reception between 09:00 and 11:00 to book it - we didnt bother as we asked some other guests who had and they said they were glad they hadnt paid for it.
The Los Amigos mexican and the Laguna restaurant which were allegedly open ,had been closed for a long time (so the staff told us)

The Olive tree buffet looked very pretty with its colourful salads and deserts however if you wanted something more substantial you were out of luck. Each day there was rice, potatoes, veg and a choice of fish(full of bones), chicken (full of tiny bones - dont even think it was the wings) beef (full of grissle). To get any decent portion from the Carvery chef you had to "Beg for more" or you were given one piece of meat approx 2" x 1" - believe me it wasnt worth begging for.
Breakfast wasnt too bad - lots of cereal, yoghurt, fruit, salad, cooked meat, cheese, hot dog sausages, fried and scrambled egg or omelette but what do we english want with our breakfast - toast - 1 toast machine between 1000 guests doesnt go down too well, you give up queing in the end.

The satellite bar on the beach and the Horizon pool bar open at 10:00 til sunset however your beer is served warm out of a bottle into a plastic cup ,the size you would get for moutwash at the dentist. The beer is slopped in so that the cup fills up with froth and you get a centimetre of beer if your lucky. To get a pint of beer you would need to return about 10 - 15 times. At the Horizon bar you can get a tea or coffee any time you want providing you are prepared to queue along with the other 1000 guests to use the 1 kettle in existence and make your own drink.

The Los Amigos bar (not the restaurant) is the only other one open from early morning until late evening - its a dark dungeon of a place with very little light (perhaps thats so nobody knows its open), here you can get a glass (1/2 pint) but if you want to take it outside onto the veranda (2 stories away from the only pool open) then again you have to use a plastic dental beaker. Bearing in mind this is the only place for evening entertainment, there are only approx 60 seats to be shared out between 1000+ guests.

Actually I lied there is one other bar that you can use - its immediately opposite reception (how convenient) but you have to pay there for your drinks. 2 double vodka and coke and 2 pints of local lager cost us £30 english pounds. On our last night, unable to be bothered to fight for a glass we also went to this bar and orderd 1 bottle of house red and 1 bottle of house white - £50 English pounds.

Although we were told at the Horizon pool bar that they had no cold beer - only warm bottles to be sloshed into the plastic cups, there was a waiter wandering around with an ice bucket selling cold bottles of heineken for $5 us dollars, he couldnt impress enough on his prospective buyers how cold the beer was. Strange that they would sell you bottles aournd the pool but found it a Health & Safety issue to give you a glass for our all inclusive beer.

I did complain to the Rep on the 3rd day of our holiday and he was extemely helpful and most perturbed at what I told him. I asked him to escort me to the Los Amigos pub and requested a beer to take out - of course I was presented with the plastic thimble of froth, the rep was gobsmacked and asked immediatley to speak to the bar & beverage manager. The rep rang me later in the day to explain that he had sorted things out and that some larger plastic glasses were to be ordered for use around the pool and staff would be told to serve all drinks at Los Amigos in glasses whether for inside or out. We tried it and it didnt work so we arranged to meet the rep again on our 4th day and he brought the manager to us. His excuse was that he needed time to order in the glasses (3/4) days. He said the reason the staff wouldnt provide glasses was because people pinched them (not my problem) his order for new glasses wouldnt help me as I was due to leave in 3 days. I was then told that as we were special guests he would tell all of his staff to serve us in glasses no mattter which bar, however he asked that we didnt tell anyone else - how does that work when there are another 1000 guests. He brought his bar staff to meet us personally an told them "they are our special guest, look after them, glasses always" how embarrassing

Needless to say we didnt use the AI facility again and decided to buy some cans from Naama bay and put them in our Mini bar which was empty, or use the pay as you go bar (extortion on legs)

If you go here with children you will have real issues, there are no free ice cream or snacks (sorry cake at 11 and pasta at 4pm) all left over from breakfast or lunch I presume) If you want chips or pizzas you have to buy them.

The only place you could get bottled water free was from Los Amigos bar and its a long way from the pool. I did see the tiny shop open on an evening and you could buy crisps, chocolate and water from there but goodnes knows how much it cost. Our friend told us she tried to buy 3 bars of english chocolate for her little boy because he was starving
but they wanted 100 egyptian pounds (about £12.50 I think)

The Laguna pool looks lovely but isnt open, we were told they were doing maintanance on it and that it would open next week but a freindly bar staff told us it has been shut for a long time and he can't see it reopening. 1 pool for 1000+ guests doesnt bode well for H&S in terms of space or bugs/viruses.

One day when walking back from reception (about 6pm) we thought the hotel was on fire and then we realised they were fumigating the grounds for mosquitoes with chemicals using a generator, we were coughing and spluttering - it really smelled of paraffin, I can't believe that's good for your health.

We had an horrendous time and I will complain to both the tour company and also my credit card company used to book the holiday - that's once I'm fit and well . We both contracted some kind of stomach virus (must have been from the pool as we hardly ate anything) and I also have a chest infection and infected sinuses, throat and ears.

BE WARNED.