Coral Sea Water World

I honestly cannot recommend Coral Sea Water World Resort for the amount of money they charge.

I stayed at this hotel for two weeks, so this review is not based on a first impression or one random bad experience. It is based on my actual stay, and unfortunately many of the problems happened repeatedly.

First of all, I have to mention that the way TUI describes this hotel is much better than the reality. In my opinion, around 70% of the description does not reflect the actual standard of the hotel. On paper, it looks like a proper 5-star all-inclusive resort, but once you arrive, the experience is very different. The description creates high expectations which the hotel simply does not meet.

The hotel does not feel like a true 5-star resort. The food is very repetitive, and after a few days it becomes boring. There are some decent restaurants inside the hotel, which I would rate around 7/10, and the desserts are actually quite good, but the overall food experience is nothing special.

It is also clear that the hotel has been renovated, but the quality of the renovation is poor. From a distance it may look refreshed, but when you look closer, the standard of the work is disappointing. For a hotel in this price range, it is simply not good enough.

Another big disappointment is the lack of a proper house reef. For a hotel in Sharm El Sheikh, this is a serious downside, especially if you are expecting good snorkelling or easy reef access.

The service at reception and at the bar near reception was also disappointing. The alcohol served in the hotel is very low quality and unpleasant. If you have already booked this hotel and you plan to drink alcohol, I would strongly recommend buying a bottle at the airport before you arrive.

Another issue is that some restaurants inside the hotel charge an additional fee of around £5 per person. On top of that, drinks are also charged separately. These are not imported or premium drinks, but the same drinks that are served for free at the normal bars. For an all-inclusive hotel, this feels very strange and disappointing.

I was also unpleasantly surprised by the different treatment of guests depending on the room category. Guests who booked more expensive rooms, for example rooms with a jacuzzi, were happily taken by golf buggy to the hotel gates. However, if you booked a standard room, this service was not even offered. It feels like the level of service depends not on the fact that you are a guest at a supposed 5-star hotel, but on exactly how much you paid. For a hotel of this level, that is very unprofessional.

The water park also raised safety concerns. I personally saw staff telling guests to throw their shoes down from the slide tower instead of leaving them safely at the bottom. That says a lot about the level of organisation. Some of the aqua park staff seemed poorly trained and not very professional.

The table tennis equipment was terrible. The bats and equipment were in very poor condition, which is embarrassing for a hotel that presents itself as 5-star.

Entertainment was basically non-existent. I could hear music from another hotel around 800 metres away, but I could not hear any proper entertainment from my own hotel. That says quite a lot.

There are some positives. The hotel grounds are large, green and well maintained. The waiters and housekeeping staff provided good service. The desserts were tasty, and the external companies offering diving and water sports were good.

However, overall the hotel is heavily overpriced, located far from the Old Market area, and simply not worth the money. For this price, you can definitely find a much better hotel in Sharm El Sheikh. After staying here for two weeks, my conclusion is simple: this hotel does not match its price, the TUI description, or the standard you would expect from a 5-star resort.

Rooms were clean although well overdue a lick of paint and general fixing around the hotel grounds - wouldn’t call it grand at all.

Staff were friendly but do expect a tip for things like mattresses for your sunbeds.

Drinks pretty awful all taste like sugar with watered down alcohol.

No bottled water around the hotel at all most hotels have fridges filled with bottles of water all over the hotel. 38 degrees heat and you have to queue at the bar for a small plastic cup of water - now wonder people get sick here they’re all dehydrated.

First hotel I’ve been to that doesn’t provide drinks in your fridge either just two bottles of water that get replaced everyday.

Entertainment during the day does not exist other than darts very very poorly organised. Nothing happening during the day other than bad pool music. Every other Tui hotel has various day time entertainment this just was so flat and boring. Night time entertainment was dire couldn’t even see it tiny little stage can’t even call it a stage no lighting so barely visible crappy little dance and very poor host, never had such bad entertainment in my life. Really ruined the holiday as there was just nothing to do all day everyday. Daughter hated it. No fun at the hotel at all.

Food was pretty good a wide selection even for fussy eaters.

Water park was ok but only certain slides on at certain times. But again dead no entertainment in the day or even music just a dead atmosphere.

WiFi is ridiculous have to sign into it every 5 minutes and we paid the extra 10 dollars still useless.

Hotel don’t play the football so we went over to Arab bucks and motion bar - entertainment was a million times better but shouldn’t have to leave the hotel to see entertainment.

Excursions to White Island and buggy’s were the highlight of our stay but booked with a company outside the hotel.

In all honestly this isn’t your usual tui hotel at all it’s like a badly run family hotel I would not return and have no idea why anyone would return there’s far better hotels out there a lot cheaper. The hotel has potential but all the things mentioned need addressing.

Coral Sea Waterworld in Sharm El Sheikh, the hotel itself is beautiful, with fantastic facilities that make for a super comfortable stay, the grounds are cared for everyday and kept spotless. Every member of staff from the front desk to the restaurant team and the lifeguards, are incredibly friendly and attentive, always ready to help with a smile. Including the animation team who work hard day and night to make sure there's always something fun happening, keeping everyone entertained, shoutout to Budda who was extremely welcoming and enthusiastic, organising most of the activities making sure to involve as much people as possible. The location of the hotel is great, only 20 minutes from the airport and conveniently close to local attractions like Arab Bucks, The Hard Rock cafe and more, which are within a few minutes walk from the gates of the hotel, with Soho square being only a short drive away. One of the best things about the hotel is that it is beachfront offering amazing views and unique experiences to see incredible marine life just from walking out to the beach and onto the jetty. The rooms are very clean and modern with an incredible balcony view and really friendly cleaning staff who always let on and say Hi. More than likely will be coming back here next year:)