Parrotel Beach Resort

This was my first time in Egypt and I had heard that the hotels were of a very high standard, being 5* I had high hopes for the Parrotel Beach Resort, but was very disappointed. Upon arrival at 8.30pm, after checking in and being shown to our room, we were told to go straight to dinner as it finished at 9pm. We got to the restaurant at 8.50pm and managed to get one plate of food, then everything was quickly packed away. Normally you wouldn't worry, as all inclusive you'd go and get a snack later on. But not here, snacks are only available during the day. But don't hold your hopes up, as their idea of a burger and chips snack is an empty bun and cold chips. This was the case every day we tried... The room was nice and clean and the beds were fairly comfortable. However, the curtains were hanging off the rails, which made it very tricky to shut properly and keep all of the light out in a morning. Plus there is no hot water after about 10pm, so after a long day travelling and just wanting a nice warm shower and bed, we had to face ice cold showers! The food in the main restaurant, where we were forced to eat every meal due to the lack of all inclusive snacks, what was there was good, but there was very limited choice every day and the same thing each day. This was the case for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The staff were also lacking, having failed to show us to a table, offer drinks etc. The pool looks nice and is clean, but you need a wetsuit to go in! I have never experienced such a cold pool, it made going for a swim a very unpleasant experience, even my children couldn't brave it for long and usually they'll spend hours in there, so that was a real shame. The beach is stoney and the water is too shallow to swim. The best thing about this place was walking along the pier and snorkeling from there. The reef and fish were amazing, but be aware that you are in very deep water with a fairly strong current. Not suitable for young children or weak swimmers. The entertainment was non existent, unless listening to baby shark every night floats your boat... There was a fire show one night which was good and that was it. We also had problems daily with our room key not working and had to keep going to Reception for a new card and our safe also broke about 4 times during our 7 day stay...