Viva Blue Resort and Diving Sharm El Naga (Adults Only)

Hotel is too far in nowhere in desert. It can be unsafe if you travel and you get a problem underway. Hotel must provide a free shuttle to airport and city centre because drivers know its unaccessable location and ask far too much. Sometimes 2-3× the room rate. Staffs are friendly and helpful. Food is OK Rooms and swimming pools OK. Unfortunately, I would not go back to this hotel ever again till the transportation issue is sorted.

I’ve just returned from a week at Viva Blue, so wanted to give a full review of the hotel and give info on all the bits I hadn’t discovered in my research prior to booking. We experienced a very stressful arrival, there is a £25 per person visa entry fee, which we didn’t know about, which they want in cash. Which we didn’t have. Eventually we got them to agree to let us pay via card. Then in order to get your visa there is an enormous amount of shouting and being cajoled into various queues and lines, to make matters worse we didn’t have a pen to fill the visa in. No one in the airport and no staff would lend us theirs, fellow passengers were as stressed as us, so they all refused as well - it took us an hour to find someone who was willing to help us. Then the ridiculousness of trying to find the private taxi transfer we had booked. Suffice to say it was not the relaxed start we had been hoping for! The hotel is very 3* Egyptian, expect broken and uneven floor tiles, shower doors that don’t close properly and the worst grouting you have ever seen. But it’s very clean and the staff are attentive. The hotel prepared a gala dinner for Xmas eve which was amazing, think Egyptian cruise ship and you’ll have the right idea… flowers carved from fruit, everyone got Xmas stockings, it really was above and beyond. We were in Room 110 fab location and having a little naya was great, air con didn’t work though, even on the coolest setting it was warm. Mini bar in the room is extra charge as is an iron. For us the food was very 6/10, the other locations were not open for food so it was all main restaurant which is very canteen style. All inclusive drinks were as expected, local and large free pours, wine is only available at meal times which was a little strange. Included cocktails were limited to 4 types, the rest are chargeable. Coffee cups are tiny so bring a travel cup from home. Snacks in between meals consist of a plate of left over breakfast pastries. Crisps, pretzels etc are all chargeable. The jacuzzi was lukewarm warm, the pool was lovely and big but very cold, bring googles and do lengths and you would warm up enough to make it bearable. The sea was cold, people were in snorkelling but only for a few minutes before the goose bumps became unbearable, however the attached dive school were fab and they hire wet suits for €7 a day which resolves the problem. This is a windy side of the island so expect the sea to be very choppy but the amazing reef will make up for it. Fab sea life within 100m of your bedroom door. Please note you cannot swim from the shore line due to the reef, you must enter via a ladder and jetty into 10m+ deep sea…. But the underwater view is worth it! Not sure where the mention of a Soma Bay bus came from but it isn’t in operation. You need to get taxis to anywhere, and I mean anywhere. The area surrounding the hotel is like the surface of the moon, so going for a walk is impossible. We had massages at the hotel the

The staff are very friendly and helpful, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay! And we will definitely be coming back. Food was enjoyable each day. They have two lovely warm outdoor swimming pools along with an incredible private beech. If youre thinking of coming here I would definitely recommend the dolphin boat trip through the hotel