"Overall it was good. We havent been to Egypt in 30 years , so if you are used to Turkey , its quite different..the hotel´s guests are mainly Russian speaking , Italian and British.
breakfasts were plain , lunch and dinner much much better options , coffee not so good , alcohol quality quite low..we were not there for food or drinking so for us it was not a problem..the territory and landscape are well taken care of and picturesque..air conditioners in rooms work well but are extremely loud , i regretted i didnt have ear plugs , some night we had to turn it off to rest from the noise..
when we arrived at around 10pm they put us in a very old and dirty room but the next day when asked they moved us to another , better one..the hotel is quite old and in need of rennovation
every evening at 8pm there is entertainment shows , we enjoyed them..the personnel was nice and friendly , housekeeping daily plus bottles of water , a little fridge (minibar) in every room..many people at the beach , sunbeds really close to each other , no privacy , the same at the pool..swimming sitiuation was good , swimming (snorkelling) with fish among corals , was really intersting , even better than when we went on the yacht around the coast..
there are people walking around the beach selling diving and yacht trips , we had very good experience with Misha , we bought several diving trips through him and were always happy with it , he is honest , friendly , not pushy , speaks good Russian and English..we had an unpleasant sitiuation on the yacht with some freelance diving instructor however Misha has ressolved the issue because we have purchased the trip through him (excursion-diving business at the hotel) , super professional , definetely recommend using him for all your outings , dont recommend using freelancers in Egypt (of course there are exceptions)
Dont recomment using SPA services either, overpriced , low quality , very pushy ..for some reason only men in the spa area , quite uncomfortable for women considering that its mostly women services there, never heard of anyone recommending massages in Egypt, heard only bad reviews..my husband went to a barber , who was a man and it was ok , later he had a facial treatment from a woman , you never see women around the hotel , they sit (hide) in some little rooms..the woman was talking constantly about her hard life , begging for tips , acting completely unprofessional , when my husband returned to the room he said he felt like he was a psychotherapist for almost an hour listening to the womans hard life , he also said he felt pity for her which is definetely not the way you want to feel at the treatment , he felt it was all about her not the client (him)..we also rented a vip beach cabin for a day (40 dollars) and didnt want to do it again , was far away from the sea or the pool, all the 'premium' services were quite weak , not worth the money , they dont know how to sell and provide those kind of services..Another woman Mona who is walking around and selling spa services was quite annoying, pushy and unprofessional , cant really speak English or any other language besides Arabic, it seems that women in Egypt dont really work and when they do work or have to work , they do really bad job , hate to say it but thats the impression we got..
All in all I recommend the hotel for around 8 days , for families , couples , divers..many return guests there , people who come every year or even twice a year..the hotel has its niche for sure , my mother and sister go here a lot , a ride from the airport was around 12 min..
another warning is the airport , it was super confusing there both on arrival and departure , please read about it more to be prepared , not to stress or waste time like we did , wont write about it here , its a whole another long topic )))
whats important to understand that Egypt is the country which works in old fashioned ways that has little to do with nowadays realities where people want transparancy and simplicity and not negotiate the price of 5 dollar slippers that the locals want to sell for 20 to tourists, they all want to talk and tell you their whole life story and sell you extremely overpriced services and products..but of course there are some young modern people with whom its easy to communicate and do business with..
beautiful nature , sun , coral reef with colorful fish (take your snorkelling stuff with you) , authentic architecture of the hotel , bars , lounges , terraces with sea view , food was 7 out of 10 , can always find something tasty"
