Coral Sea Aqua Club

“Excellent resort... Beyond expectations”

I'd never been to Sharm before so I booked an all-inclusive break to Charmillion Aqua Park with my fingers crossed after reading lots of positive reviews. Travelling with twin toddlers, it was important the place was clean, friendly and the food was varied and good. Hand on heart, I was SO impresse… more

I'd never been to Sharm before so I booked an all-inclusive break to Charmillion Aqua Park with my fingers crossed after reading lots of positive reviews. Travelling with twin toddlers, it was important the place was clean, friendly and the food was varied and good. Hand on heart, I was SO impressed (and as a former travel editor by trade, that's not always a given). The resort is spotless and there were people tending to the gardens and repairs ongoingly. The pools are clean. The rooms are decent sized, clean and very comfortable. There's fridges and safes that actually work. I was super impressed by how friendly and helpful everyone was, especially the restaurant, animation and poolside lifeguards. My kids are little and scarily overconfident, but I honestly felt there were people looking out for them at all times. On the kiddie water park (we didn't use the big grown up one as I'm too much of a scaredy cat and it was too difficult with the kids) there was never less than three or four lifeguards across the kids park pool at any one time. The food was really good and as far as is realistically possible when serving on this sort of scale, they made a real effort to vary it as much as possible and the daily grill, plus access to the a la carte Indian (delicious) and Italian was a big plus. Again, they made a decent attempt to be authentic in terms of dishes and flavours, even for a picky Brummie used to Baltis on tap. My one worry was the lack of direct access to the sea. Its actually easy to get to on the free hotel shuttle. If all you want is beautiful soft sand, then the Charmillion beach might disappoint. There is a beach, but it's quite rocky to walk out. That said, we sat in the warm waters for a few hours and we're amazed by the many different brightly coloured fish who came up to say hello. Naama Bay is close (£12 return in a cab) has a sandy beach. We went for one day, had lunch in one of the seafront restaurants and had a dip. It was fun, but the resort waterpark was better. There was minimal hassle really about trips. We went on a glass bottomed boat to see the coral which was well worth the £65 for a family of four. The only drama was the flight time. Keeping two small kids happy for five hours is tough. Thankfully our return was a night flight and they slept all the way... That's my plan next time! I've travelled all over often independently, but I love family all inclusives as it's so easy with the kids. This trip was amazing value and the resort really didn't disappoint. I've done Turkey and Tunisia a few times recently, but for the money, Sharm wins hands down. My only worry is will we be able to afford to go back now we are stuck to kids school holidays... I hope so!

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“Amanda”

Omar the lifeguard very good very friendly helpful and polite team lifeguard very good hotel excellent restaurant and food superb we will come back housekeeping excellent pool l9vely and clean waiter service clean towels daily all staff fun polite and lovely people gardens well kept

“One of the best family holidays ever!”

Hey everyone, we’ve just got back from Charmillion Aqua Park after a week of all inclusive pampering with our 3 kids aged 13, 11 and 8…. they absolutely loved the hotel! - Don’t forget to book your table at the Italian and Indian restaurant the moment you arrive as if you are all inclusive one boo… more

Hey everyone, we’ve just got back from Charmillion Aqua Park after a week of all inclusive pampering with our 3 kids aged 13, 11 and 8…. they absolutely loved the hotel! - Don’t forget to book your table at the Italian and Indian restaurant the moment you arrive as if you are all inclusive one booking in each restaurant is included in your package. - Food is amazing at the Buffet. I have a sensitive stomach but did not experience any problem during our whole stay even when I was trying the chilliShenouda Zarifd all the sweets! - Shenouda Zarif at reception is your guy.Nader Isaace and approachable. - Nader Isaac in the mini market around the corner has everything you need during your stay: cigys, mosquito spray, souvenirs, etc. He is extremely friendly and genuine. He is Samy Malak Mark another mother! - Samy Malak Mark around the corner in the Swim shop has some great fashionable clothes. I wish we had more space in our luggage. Make sure you visit him and buy Egyptian cotton wears as they are better than what we Alicia Prenses’s a top guy too! - Alicia Prenses in entertainment is a great person. She will tell you everything about what’s happening at the hotel. Make sure you keep an eye on the pink board near the entrance of the restaurant too as this notice board tells you everything! - Tipping the guys at the bar is a great idea as rather than you constantly going to queue at the bar they will bring your drinks to your table (wish I knew this earlier!). And you don’t have to order the cocktails every time - you can make your own drinks - part of all inclusive. - Rooms are very comfy. I saw some reviews about outdated furniture etc but you’re only sleeping in your room and you are out most of the time 🤷🏽‍♂️ - The location of the hotel is perfect. We flew to Cairo and back with the kids early morning and it’s only a 5-10mins taxi ride. Make sure you go to Farsha Caffe too. Taxi at the hotel might be pricey so either use the app inDrive or call Mohammed, a top taxi 00201096502183 as his prices are excellent - he’s in what’s app too. We used Sun International (as recommended by the hotel) for our activities. Quad bike desert safari is highly recommended and we also booked our climb of Moses Mountain in the night to see the sunrise from the top. Experience of a life time but not for the faint hearted. We made some great friends at the hotel and will go again soon - we will be choosing the same hotel again! Have a great time and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need any more info.

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“Loud busy aqua park in Sharm-el-Sheikh. 4*”

Sharm holiday FYI - 40-something dad of a toddler, travelling with my wife and child. We wanted some sun, 5 days of catching up on sleep, relaxing by and playing in the pool. Travelled in October (before half term). Location This hotel is 9 mins drive by taxi from the hotel. This is great, super … more

Sharm holiday FYI - 40-something dad of a toddler, travelling with my wife and child. We wanted some sun, 5 days of catching up on sleep, relaxing by and playing in the pool. Travelled in October (before half term). Location This hotel is 9 mins drive by taxi from the hotel. This is great, super convenient on the inbound and for the outbound. One thing is that you hear and can see the planes taking off at least 10 times a day, starting from around 0600-2300. They’re so close you can even see the airline written underneath! Really loud, and unfortunately really difficult to escape. Check in - we arrived at about 1100 after an overnight flight. We weren’t able to check in formally until 1400, but they gave us the wristbands so we could use the facilities in the interim. Small lobby but very clean. Friendly front of house speak excellent English. Explained about food timings, where the food hall is etc. given wristbands, even my 2 year old! They also issue towel cards, if lost cost €15 each! When logging in to the WiFi, I saw there was a 5GB data cap for the entire stay! I’ve never heard of that before. It also tells you usage, we’ve gone well over but I think we’re just slowed down not cut off. Certainly enough for WhatsApp messaging, but browsing and streaming is slow. Video calling is also a bit pixelated. The internet was intermittently good, so wouldn’t rely on it for important things (I’m on an iPhone 14 Pro) so unlikely to be device related. WiFi thankfully works in the rooms as well. For those who use VPN’s (I do), mine (NordVPN) did not work at all. Food First of all, we suffered no sickness which is a sign of very good hygiene practices. Plenty of options, however not everything is labelled allergy wise so best to ask or avoid if not sure. Breakfast - this is spilt into left middle and right counters from what I can see. Left - bread, pastries and pancakes all freshly made. Middle - boiled eggs, sausages, french toast and cereals. Right - cheeses, cold meats, salad and yoghurt. There’s also an omelette counter which can get extremely busy (almost 20 min wait between 0900-0945), so you’ll have to be patient. Very tasty, and well worth the wait. Best part of breakfast in my opinion. Usually (green) melon, oranges, grapes, pears and Sharon fruit are the main fruits available, same for all three courses. There’s also falafel freshly fried throughout meal time. Lunch - left - bread, salads and yogurts. Some of the salads look a bit strange but are actually delicious, so don’t be afraid to give it a go. Middle - usually rice, chicken dish, beef dish, fish dish, vegetables and couscous. Right - desserts. Both freshly made (baklava) and not (defrosted cakes of various colours and designs). The cakes are all sweetened and have a homogenous texture. Best dessert for me is the pastry baklava, so good and always finishes a little early. I’m a savoury person so am probably not the best person to ask about desserts. There’s also a pasta station which is freshly cooked but also very busy, great for kids. Dinner - left - bread and showcase meat station eg leg of lamb and plenty of them! They also have grilled whole tuna on rotation which is nice. Middle - rice, couscous, beef dish, chicken dish, and some local cuisine. Left - same desserts as lunch. What no one tells you is that there is a grill outside to the left (as you’re looking at it) of the main buffet restaurant, which is freshly grilled meats or fish. Very good quality there. What is puzzling is that they only serve chips at lunch and not at dinner at all. The pasta station is also there for dinner. If you miss lunch as you’re by the pool, there’s a pool bar which does have some chips and burger/shawarma/hotdogs until 1630. They also have soft serve ice cream for free but it is nowhere near as good as UK standard soft serve. You can also pay for ice cream - nestle or movenpick (50/90 LE respectively). Vibe They definitely take the club part of the name seriously. There is only one setting here - LOUD! Everything is turned up to 11. Music during the day 1000-1700 which isn’t that bad but if you’re trying to get your 2 year old to nap then god help you. Our room was directly opposite the main pool and I felt like the music was being blasted directly from our room. The bass will shake your bones, and at times I felt like I was being defibrillated! The evening show (kids disco at 2100 then a show at 2130) was at the same volume, shouldn’t imagine it would be safe in UK to expose toddlers and kids to that volume but hey ho. The kids loved it! This thankfully couldn’t be heard from our room. Unfortunately there’s one huge negative for me - the Wednesday night foam party. From 2200-0000, it’s the same level of music as during the day, but during the night. The same bass shuddering my skull when all we wanted was to sleep! This could have been half as loud and still have had the desired effect, but it appears the hotel wanted to entertain the entire Sahara desert with the volumes being used. Being placed by the pool clearly didn’t help with the noise. Best to avoid staying here this night AT ALL COSTS if you want any sort of rest or relaxation. Room There are different blocks in the hotel; these are numbered and so rooms are numbered accordingly (block 15 for us in 1523). It should be noted that there are no lifts in any of the buildings apart from the main building where reception is. Our room was on the top floor, which l meant going up and down the steps A LOT. Despite not leaving the resort, I averaged about 15000 steps per day! The room itself was a good size, enough for a couple and one toddler. We had the king size bed which was memory foam and comfortable. I think twin beds are also available on request. Pillows were slightly lumpy but nothing too bad. We asked for a baby cot and one arrived, a wooden one which was quite heavy, I feel sorry for the guy who brought it up the stairs! The cotsize was small, approx 50x100cm max. Room was clean, but a little dated. Good amount of wardrobe space (Double cupboard) with drawers, a safe and a mini fridge. When you enter there’s a little hallway, then a tiled bathroom with shower (no bathtub) and toilet. Nice space for the sink/getting ready area. There’s also a good-sized balcony which looked over the pool but we didn’t use it at all as we were either in the water or around it. There were no dressing gowns or tissues provided in the room. The windows have shutters as well for the light, but unfortunately did nothing for the sound. Our cleaner Ibrahim was lovely, leaving animal shapes in towels on our bed each time he cleaned the room, which was cleaned to a reasonable standard. The view from our room was very good, and was conveniently placed for the buffet and pool. The aircon is also loud - think being in a plane cabin whilst trying to sleep for your entire stay. This is the same noise in the massage areas and the reception, so moving rooms would not have helped I think (but in all fairness didn’t raise this with reception). It is also very windy, and you can hear the wind gusts above the aircon. If you wanted to sleep with the aircon off, be prepared for a stuffy room (we kept the balcony doors and shutters closed because mosquitoes). All in all, in between the night foam parties, loud aircon, hot bed and risk of mosquito bites, conditions are not very conducive to sleeping. At check in, I asked about the noise and we were offered another room in a more remote area (3 min walk) from reception, but was recommended to take the room we were given as it had a nice view. Not sure which block this would have been, but there was a huge very quiet area near the amphitheater which I think would have been it. Probably should have asked what number the room was so I could see and risk assess for myself. In terms of visitors , they are mostly a mix of English, Russian and native Egyptians. A few times a table I had put my child’s pram at, my own water bottle and tote bag on to say ‘it’s being used’ was completely ignored, only for me to arrive with a plate of my child’s food and child in hand but no where to sit as another family had just helped themselves to my table. This once even happened with a sun lounger that I was sat on! I’m sure it’s just a cultural thing and does happen all over the world. This was only like 3 or 4 times, but enough to make it noticeable. Pool The pool is the main selling point of the aqua park. There’s actually 4 pools in total. There’s the kids aqua park, the adults aqua park, the kids pool and another pool. The pools do not have any slides or anything like that. Spa Whilst on the loungers, everyone is approached by the spa team between 1000-1100 to sell treatments for the day. We took them up on a few. Massage for me and my wife (£90 for 2) consecutively for childcare reasons. Also haircut for myself and child, facial for my wife and facial and pedicure for myself (5000 LE - about £83 at time of writing). All in all pretty reasonable pricing. Let’s tackle these in turn. Massage - deep tissue. Same sex masseuses which makes sense. Due to confusion, we thought it was my wife then me. Turns out it was meant to be me first as no female masseuse available. By the time I actually got started it was 1115 (appt 1100). Massage lasted 40 mins not the advertised 50. This was not indicated at the time of my arrival, but not very professional unfortunately in my opinion. The massage itself was ok, was asked where to focus and how much pressure to use after filling in the paper questionnaire. Unfortunately the pressure was too light. Now I should I have said something at the time but the British in me couldn’t help but say it’s fine when it clearly wasn’t. There are lockers for your valuables. Wasn’t offered a dressing gown to walk from locker area to massage room, but given that it’s a pool holiday I can see why. Once again, calming music was played at club volume ie LOUD, so not relaxing at all. Again could have asked to lower it but I’m British. My wife’s massage was better and she really enjoyed hers, and got the whole hour. Wouldn’t recommend from my point of view. Haircut - Ali spoke very good English, was patient with my child and in the end a good haircut was achieved by one and all. I was happy with both mine and my child’s haircut. Would happily recommend this again. Facial - never had a facial before. Took about 45 mins in total. Again same sex practitioners. Couple of scrubs, coupled with a gentle face massage. Then came the pore cleanser. Think Dr Pimple popper (or any other alternatives) for your blackheads. Very hard pressure, but very satisfying result. Did a great job, my face felt smoother and cleaner afterwards, and got rid of all my blackheads. Would also recommend this happily. Pedicure - also another first for me. Ali (who did my haircut) did it, and did a great job. Foot soaked for like 5-10 mins to get skin soft, then scrub and dry. Next was the best part (sorry for squeamish readers). What can only be described as a small headed veg peeler was used to get rid of all the dead skin I had. Honestly looked like Parmesan shavings by the end on the towel! Very satisfying. Foot scrub with a file, then dry and moisturise with some red stuff which dyes your sole red for a day or two. Again another 30-40 mins or so. Would definitely recommend this, might even do this again in the UK! Verdict All in all this was an ok holiday. The facilities are probably 4 star at best, and definitely struggle against the likes of Antalya. Nothing wrong with that as long as you know what you’re getting. The resort grounds are actually extremely well kept, with wonderful and pretty topiary en route to the tennis court. Most of the hotel is kept immaculately clean. The communal toilets are clean but also a little dated. If you want a relaxing place to stay, this is not it. Definitely more for the uptempo, busy, exciting resort holiday. Special thanks go to AbdelRehman ElRashid on the reception. He was excellent, helped us with missing towels (which happens quite easily) and also when we lost our child’s sun hat. It was in our hands within 10 mins of raising the issue.

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